A Mummy's Blog

Time for bed?

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:04:25 GMT

As a parent of a four year old I rarely get out in the evenings. However, last week I ended up in the local supermarket around half seven on a last minute birthday cake expedition. I was very shocked to see so many children out late with their parents shopping.

We always aim to put Isabella in bed for 7pm. Sometimes it overruns to 7:30pm. But whilst she did attend a 6pm - 8pm birthday party (and she still talks about how exciting it was to go out so late) we are quite regimented in our approach to keeping to this bed time.

It seems however, that not all parents are of the same view judging by the number of toddlers and pre-schoolers being dragged round Tesco. Now I know that 8pm isn't really really late. But surely the very earliest the kids would have gotten to bed would be 8:30pm. Some of course may well have been a one off - just returned from a holiday, got to get some milk sort of situations.

It got me to thinking, what time is the right time for a just turned four four year old? Isabella is awake before 6:30am in the morning. I know this because she comes into our room at exactly 6:30pm which is the time her night time clock is set to (if you haven't got one, it is by far the best gadget a parent can have, click here for more info). So she gets up to 11 hours sleep a night, which I think is normal for four year olds.

Even getting up at 6:30am is a struggle to get off to pre-school in the morning on time so I wouldn't want her sleeping in later than that. Presumably that is what the night owl children do when they go to bed what I would consider late - after 7:30pm. Or maybe they have afternoon sleeps (which Isabella has always struggled with and started to cut out from 18 months vanishing completely by 27 months (other than car induced sleep).)

I think the reason we are so structured in our bedtime routine is because for the first three months, we coped on a maximum of five hours sleep, often only three (no it is not possible to function with this level of sleep deprivation). Once we resolved the sleep problems (by switching to formula - not all mums have high quality milk apparently and babies don't sleep if they are starving) we really appreciated the value of sleep or more importantly a child that sleeps at night.

Isabella is also very text book. If she is tired her behaviour goes seriously downhill and the tantrums come thick and fast. If she isn't tired she is a delight.

So are we just lucky that we have a child that goes to bed on time? Are the kids that are out late at night out because they only need 8 hours each night?

Either way, 7pm bedtime works for our family which is all that matters.

Selecting a school

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:18:52 GMT

It is true. Time really does go really quickly and I can't believe that we are now faced with choosing which school to send Isabella to.

We have a couple of months to decide and we are very lucky as we are in catchment for a good school, and there are at three more schools nearby that are considered to be very good.

However, deciding which school to put down as first, second and third choice is going to be tough. The school admissions operates on an equal preference system whereby you aren't disadvantaged at getting into a school just because you didn't put it as your first choice.

I wholeheartedly believe that the best school for your child is the nearest one so that your child can walk to school and easily visit friends. However that doesn't mean other factors don't come into play.

I visited a lovely school today which is out of catchment and too far for Isabella to walk, but a short car journey. It ticked all the boxes except being close enough to walk to. I now have my benchmark against which the other schools on our list have to beat.

I have two more appointments next week but they will have a tough act to follow.

It is easy to get very stressed. The school that your children attends is so important, from what they end up learning to the friends that she will or wont make.

We are lucky to live in an area where generally the schools are thought to be quite good, but that doesn't stop it feeling like a very important life changing decision that has to be made.

All part of being a parent - nits!

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:53:36 GMT

I remember as a child getting nits lots of times. However last night I actually got see them. Whilst washing her hair noticed what I thought at first was dirt in her hair. Then when it moved I knew it could only be nits! Yuk!

I had nits lots when I was a child. I didn't think as a parent I would have to deal with nits until she was at school, but I guess any environment in which she mixes with kids - like pre-school counts.

It was really horrible seeing them crawling on her scalp. They are actually a lot bigger than expected, a few mm long. For some reason I thought they would be like dust mites, invisible to the human eye. We were totally unprepared. Had to send hubby out to go and get a comb and some shampoo. I tried combing out with a normal comb, but the teeth weren't close enough together. Also, combing them out when they are alive is hardwork as they keep moving about.

The shampoo he got was really good. It didn't smell and it only had to be in 10 mins, though it has to be applied to dry hair, so I had to get her out of the bath, dry her hair, then apply it.

Whilst I was doing all this, all that was going through my mind was that these creatures must be crawling on my head. Yuk!

She was so tired bless her and ended up going to bed two hours late, but at least I seem to have gotten them all out. Will check again in a few days time.

Our other news is that she did really well at swimming yesterday. It was her last lesson so they were doing their badges and she got her Duckling level three. She really is doing well, though I am not sure how much progress we will make during the summer, when I take her swimming she just wants to jump in. But hey, so long as she is having fun and doesn't pick up any more nits.

It is growing!

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:27:44 GMT

I can't believe it. The seeds that we planted last week have started to grow. It is very exciting. I thought we would have to wait weeks for anything at all to happen, but in only a few days little shoots have appeared.

Isabella keeps wanting to have a look. Yesterday we looked in the morning and there were three shoots about 3cm long. In the afternoon she asked to look again. I said 'ok, but they won't have grown since this morning'. Well how wrong was I. They had visibly grown since the morning. This morning a fourth one has appeared, not sure what has happened to the others though, there were about ten seeds we planted.

I know nothing about plants and gardening. I have never planted anything from seeds before. So I am just as excited as she is.

I am thinking, what can we plant next............

Learner Gardener at Large!

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:03:56 GMT

Whilst I am a big fan of gardens I am not a great gardener. Isabella however loves all things creepy crawly and flowery. So when I noticed a half price kids planting kit in Tesco, I thought why not and bought it.

The kit had everything needed to plant some sweat peas. It was really very straightforward even for someone like me who knows as much about gardening as I do about astrophysics - i.e. nothing.

Opening it up, inside the large red plant pot were two round earth like discs. We had to move to the sink and pour warm water on it. After a while of leaving under the hot top the soil erupted and hey presto as if by magic the soil filled up the pot.

Then we had to plant the seeds. Unfortunately I hadn't realised that we had to soak them in warm water for a few hours. Ooops. Oh well, we put them in a little bowl, popped down to the beach (great weather for it) and upon our return we were able to push them into the soil.

Now we just have to wait. We had a little look this morning and nothing had happened overnight. No idea how long it will take for anything exciting to happen - if at all. It says on the box that they can be planted March to June. Is late June ok? Hope so. It would be a real shame for our first venture into gardening to go terribly wrong.

Spurred on by the fun of planting, today we took our first step towards destructive gardening. Well, clearing the front driveway of weeds and the leaves left over from winter. I know we are a little late, but I am only now confident enough to do outside activities where there is a danger of coming into contact with creatures of the eight legged kind.

Since my hypnosis therapy and I have to say the difference is amazing and I have managed to do things (like sweeping up leaves and pulling out weeds) that I couldn't do before. There were a few scary moments, like when Isabella had a large spider crawling up her arm. It was actually quite funny in a way. Isabella wasn't bothered, she thought it was great, but I was worried she might start to panic if it went near her face. So I picked up the nearest thing to me, a long garden hoe, which as Daddy pointed out was perhaps a little extreme. He came to the rescue and swiped it off her arm. But what is interesting is that I didn't really panic, I didn't have to go inside and have a cuppa to calm myself down and we just got carried on with the job.

Isabella had such a good time that unfortunately she didn't quite make it to the toilet in time, which is something she hasn't done in a very very long time.

So, we have planted from seeds some sweat peas and done a pretty reasonable job on tidying up the front driveway and Isabella has had a ball. Guess the next step is to tackle the back garden - er, maybe not quite ready for that challenge, but perhaps we could help out a bit.

Walking home from school!

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:05:40 GMT

Yey, we did it. Yesterday, despite a dodgy start to the day, the weather turned out to be quite nice in the afternoon. So I rang a friend and we arranged to leave the cars behind and walk up to the school together.

It is actually quite a nice walk and enroute there is a little park. So whilst it is a 20 minute walk, which I think is quite a lot to expect from a three year old having already had a music lesson followed by half a day in pre-school, broken up into two halves it really isn't that bad.

I did feel rather pleased with myself, saving money on petrol and getting some exercise, especially as I had been to the gym whilst she was at pre-school, so lots of exercise for me yesterday.

Isabella was rather confused when we arrived home though. She wanted to know how the car had gotten home. I suppose as I had driven her to pre-school, she was expecting it to still be at pre-school, it took some explaining but she seemed happy in the end.

So from now on, if the weather is nice enough and we aren't in a hurry (i.e. got ballet or a playdate to go to) I will be walking to collect my daughter from pre-school. Yes I am a fair weather walker, and we aren't ready to do it in the mornings before school, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Would you Bee-lieve it!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:30:10 GMT

On the way to ballet yesterday disaster struck. Isabella started crying for apparently no reason. Then, I spot it, on her chest is a bee.

He has somehow settled on her and crawled down into her leotard, perhaps got stuck and stung her chest. I struggled to get him off her whilst at the same time cutely aware that I needed to comfort my near hysterical child.

I steered her out of the waiting room for her ballet class, I was concerned he would fly at the other children and babies in the room. Now I know that bee's can only sting once and then they die. But what if he had only stung her a little and his sting was still in him. I don't know if that is possible, but I thought better to be safe than sorry.

Outside, he flew onto her skirt which I was then able to remove and I could then focus on my poor baby.

Isabella's ballet teacher came out to help. She took Isabella into the toilets to put cold water on it, but Isabella was really quite hysterical and I just wanted to cuddle her and talk her out of it (distraction I find is always the key). With the doctors surgery next door, I took her in, leotard round her waist and making enough noise to ensure swift attention. The receptionist booked us in as an emergency appointment with the nurse. Everyone kept commenting on her chicken pox scars. A month on the spots are still clearly visible, especially on her torso which was currently exposed.

With her sat on my lap I was able to calm her down. We talked about her dinosaurs (her favourite toys) and how they are bigger than the bee and how the bee was very silly to have stung her. In the end she was giggling away. Someone suggested I give her some Calpol. I had some with me in the first-aid kit but I thought I would wait and see what the nurse said - and she confirmed that that wasn't necessary.

After about fifteen minutes the nurse was able to see us and she confirmed that the sting wasn't still in there (apparently it is quite obvious if it is) and if she was going to have a reaction to the bee sting she would have had it by now. She recommended I got something for bee stings from the chemist which we did after her lesson (which she caught the last half of).

What is bizarre, is that this is the second bee she has had on her in less than a week. I took her to the park at the weekend and she had a bee crawling on her face, which then crawled onto her sunglasses then flew off without incident. I guess there is something about her that attracts bees. I suspect it is the the flowers, she loves flowers and is constantly picking daises and dandelions, she probably has the smell of pollen on her.

I have always said to Isabella that she doesn't need to worry about bees, if you don't hurt them they won't hurt you. I even saw on Loose Women (lunchtime telly) this week they were talking about how wonderful bees were compared to wasps who serve no purpose - and I was agreeing with them. So can't believe she has been stung by one.

This morning she says that she knows that the bee didn't mean to sting her and then went on to say 'Bees are sometimes friendly'. So hopefully she has not suddenly developed a phobia of them, as before this happened she really liked bees. With her sitting on my lap whilst writing this have asked her if she still likes bees and she replied with an enthusiastic nod of the head and a big smile! They never fail to amaze.

Too old to be pushed?

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:34:58 GMT

At what age should the buggy be given up? We were at Chessington yesterday and were quite surprised by the number of older kids being pushed around in a buggy. I think Isabella was two and a quarter when we last used the buggy. Whenever we go shopping or for any days out, we always just walk. Granted she is very tired at the end, but isn't that part of the point to tire them out and give them exercise?

Having said that, I am considering walking Isabella to her pre-school; currently I drive. It is a 20 minute walk, and with the way she walks it would take forever and potentially wear her out too much before school. I would feel a bit odd pushing an empty buggy home, but I think this is a valid justification. Pre-school is tiring enough, without wearing her out beforehand, and she is probably too tired to try it on the way home if she has been in all day.

So I can understand that people who walk to school, might want to use the buggy, but when you are going for a family day out - surely the priority it to try and keep them out of the buggy as much as possible.

It is hard to transition away from the buggy. Isabella would often ask for her buggy just because she can be quite lazy given half a chance, but she does actually enjoy being able to run around. I am sure if we took it she would end up spending most of time in the buggy.

As easy as riding a bike

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 06:54:23 GMT

When we first bought our daughter her bike, I was really surprised to see how difficult she found it to ride. It is a big girl's two wheel bike with stabilisers. I knew of course that riding a bike with only two wheels would be difficult.

How many children is TOO many?

Fri, 23 May 2008 12:51:00 GMT

Did you see last night's channel 4 documentary titled '13 children and wanting more?'. It was as you would expect about families that had a lot of kids. I just can't imagine it.