OT: Women of RS Thread

[BarbMazz]

Originally Posted by nikkipigtails

I can't wait for Olivia to go to Pre-K. Honestly though, I hope we move before then because in our area, she'd probably be smarter than the teachers.

This will show my age, but enjoy what you have now to the maximum. They grow up WAY too fast. I blinked, and here I am with 27yr olds and a 22yo. I can't believe it... I just can't believe it.

And, you know this, but your home is the most important school there is. I know you're not asking for any advice, but here's a small tidbit; make sure she experiences as many different things as possible while she's very, very young!

[CATALYST]

Mine's about 4 too...in July. I put her into school for a couple hours a day too. She loves it. I work at home and watch her. Was kind of interesting trying to talk on the phone while she was potty training, yelling about poop in the background. She hasn't hit that stage that you're in...or maybe we passed it. She's learned that if she wants to watch TV that she has to pick up her toys and now she's starting to do it on her own. I told her to pick up her clothes off the floor in her room and I came back in to check...she had cleaned her whole room. If she breaks one of her toys she comes in crying because she knows it's going in the trash. I caught her throwing a toy in trash. I asked her what happed and she said it broke. I took it out and fixed it. She was amazed..."You can do that?". Now I have to try to fix them all.
For the hand holding thing. Mine went through that a little too. She gets a choice...no running around...stroller, hand, cart, and sometimes she holds my pants pocket. That's it.

[nikkipigtails]

The problem in my area is that the schools are really, really bad. I know that by the time she gets to school she'll have fun with the social interaction but she'll be way ahead intellectually. She's not 3 mnths yet and she's already learned to mimic facial expressions.

[kathywithbirds]

LOL Yeah sometimes I think Erin's smarter than your average kid in this area too. The parents, some of them, are just about smarter than your average radish. Sorry, it's the truth. But the teacher she's got now is great. $ got put into the district from federal sources (title 1 school) because it's a poor district, and a nice chunk went for this PreK program, which is getting attention. The teacher also does dance, so Erin wanted to get into her dance class too. So ALREADY, at 4, we have an extracurricular activity on Saturday mornings. And I was not gonna be one of those moms who pushed her kid into things!!

What I wonder about her is that she needs CONSTANT attention. No playing on her own, no reading to herself, no pretending with her toys. I must be involved somehow. It's really tiring. The only time she's independent is when she's watching TV, which I'm sad to say is given to her a bit much. But in light of her schooling and stuff, dunno, maybe not so bad...

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by kathywithbirds

LOL Yeah sometimes I think Erin's smarter than your average kid in this area too. The parents, some of them, are just about smarter than your average radish. Sorry, it's the truth. But the teacher she's got now is great. $ got put into the district from federal sources (title 1 school) because it's a poor district, and a nice chunk went for this PreK program, which is getting attention. The teacher also does dance, so Erin wanted to get into her dance class too. So ALREADY, at 4, we have an extracurricular activity on Saturday mornings. And I was not gonna be one of those moms who pushed her kid into things!!

What I wonder about her is that she needs CONSTANT attention. No playing on her own, no reading to herself, no pretending with her toys. I must be involved somehow. It's really tiring. The only time she's independent is when she's watching TV, which I'm sad to say is given to her a bit much. But in light of her schooling and stuff, dunno, maybe not so bad...

That sounds EXACTLY like Olivia. She can't even sleep by herself. I have to trick her into going to sleep and 9 times out of 10 she starts crying not even 5 minutes after I put her down. She usually wakes up areond 2 or 3 to be fed again and she won't go back to sleep unless she's laying next to me...If I get 4 hours of sleep at night, I'm excited. I don't know what to do with myself.

[CATALYST]

Originally Posted by kathywithbirds

What I wonder about her is that she needs CONSTANT attention. No playing on her own, no reading to herself, no pretending with her toys. I must be involved somehow. It's really tiring. The only time she's independent is when she's watching TV, which I'm sad to say is given to her a bit much. But in light of her schooling and stuff, dunno, maybe not so bad...

I use TV as a ploy to get what I want out of her. If she wants to watch TV she has to pick up all her toys. Most of the time she never gets to the TV and ends up playing with the toys rather than picking them up. It's a game. I've created an addict with the TV and now I can use it to my advantage. I keep the directions simple and to the point. Put these toys in this box and then walk away and work. She either plays, throws a tantrum and falls asleep, or puts them away. Either way it's a win win. I didn't take the toys out, why should I put them away. Every toy has its place. That is the first part of the battle.

[kathywithbirds]

Originally Posted by CATALYST

I use TV as a ploy to get what I want out of her. If she wants to watch TV she has to pick up all her toys. Most of the time she never gets to the TV and ends up playing with the toys rather than picking them up. It's a game. I've created an addict with the TV and now I can use it to my advantage. I keep the directions simple and to the point. Put these toys in this box and then walk away and work. She either plays, throws a tantrum and falls asleep, or puts them away. Either way it's a win win. I didn't take the toys out, why should I put them away. Every toy has its place. That is the first part of the battle.

Today was not bad!!

I picked her up from teh bus and she had her usual after school cranky time. Then she listened in on a conversation I had with a dog breeder on the phone and she was really interested -- we've been investigating dogs on and off for a bit here -- and I showed her the breeder's website and we talked about the dogs and what a puppy would be like and I read a little to her out of the dog books I have and she listened and came up with her own 'scenarios" (potty training, crate, etc.) In between she munched and I was able to cook (OK, she was a foot away from me the whole time) but she ate good -- that goes a long way in mood improvement for her) and she actually left me alone for a decent amount of time after dinner when I cleaned up and she watched her justice league dvd. I got SOMETHING accomplished while she was present, which is a small miracle.

So yeah, the TV thing worked out -- I spent time then said OK, you can relax and watch tv while mommy does xxxx....

[nikkipigtails]

The swing is the only form of a babysitter I have. Even when Tommy watches her, I still have to watch her. He doesn't spend a lot of time with her so when he has to hold her or play with her she doesn't really know who he is so she tends to cry a lot.

[rlcline76]

Originally Posted by nikkipigtails

The swing is the only form of a babysitter I have. Even when Tommy watches her, I still have to watch her. He doesn't spend a lot of time with her so when he has to hold her or play with her she doesn't really know who he is so she tends to cry a lot.

That is a typical man thing.
I have 2 boys, the youngest being 15 months. My husband still hasn't figured out how having kids have affected him. I was sick with the flu a few weeks back, left him in charge of the kids while I went to bed. Decided to check on them at one point, they were roaming around unattended in the main part of the house. Husband was in another room farting around. The youngest is extremely destructive and cannot be out of my sight for a second. I was ticked and there will be payback!

[nikkipigtails]

Yeah, the crappiest part is that, before she was born, he said the second he hears her crying, if he's asleep, he'll wake up immediately...YEAH RIGHT!!! He's such a hard sleeper that the roof of our house could be ripped off and he'd never flinch. Which means that I always have to get up with her at night. The only break I get is when I take a shower and I usually get him knocking on the door asking if I'm almost finished.

[BarbMazz]

How are all the RS womens's today? I'm good! It's a beautiful sunny but cold day here. It's so nice to see the sun, though. We don't see much of that here in Cleveland in the winter.

My water storage barrels are to be delivered today, so tonight I will begin making RO/DI water! It's a happy day in my life.

The painter is coming to fix little corners the last puppy surreptitiously chewed over the last year so that will be all back to good-as-new. He'll also oil the mantle over the fireplace that we never got to. It's a piece of fallen redwood from northern Ca that was harvested.. very rustic looking.

I'm also going shopping for some tank maintenance things; large white towels, rags, buckets, sponges (without additives), a tarp... getting ready to have TBS LR delivered! All these things will be for tank only use.

For dinner, maybe I'll make some Italian sausage stuffed peppers with a side of bigoli, and a cuke/garbanzo bean salad.

How and what are all you doing today?

[blue_eyes53813]

My day/week will be very busy. Its spring break for the schools and the daycare will be hopping. We have had a very long winter and the kids are all getting cabin fever bad... Other than that thats all for me.

I have to go see a Dr on Wedn, May need to have knee surgery in my near future.. Im falling apart. lol

[lcstorc]

I know what you mean by falling apart Vicki.
I swear I could think I was still young if the kids didn't have to grow up. I am just a step-mom but I have been around since they were 5,4,2,2 with a husband who is devoted to his kids.I went from no kids to 4. Now the oldest is about to turn 20. EEK!

[nikkipigtails]

I'm exhausted, but what else is new. I think I have a touch of insomnia. It's like I'm so tired I can't sleep. Olivia's doing better, she just went through a growth spurt and she's not as fussy now. Tommy and I dropped her off at his mom's yesterday so we could go shopping and so I could have a break. We got her a bunch of clothes and I finally broke down annd got her some bow clips for her hair...it was almost in her eyes. But Tommy's out of town all week again so it's just us girls. We also got some grassy things (I hate gardening) to plant around the waterfall of our pond so it doesn't look like a big mound of dirt with a plastic tray on top. I have to spray for spiders first because I was weediing the other day and there were so many spiders it was scary. The next step is figuring out a way to hide the power cords for the pumps that are plugged in by our front door.

[quote=BarbMazz
[COLOR=#9932cc]For dinner, maybe I'll make some Italian sausage stuffed peppers with a side of bigoli, and a cuke/garbanzo bean salad.[/color]
QUOTE]

Can I come over for dinner?

[BarbMazz]

Yeah, the falling apart thing is no fun! Hope the knee thing isn't too serious, Vicki.

Lynn, watching kids grow up really makes a person realize how fast time goes! In your head you stay young and your body just won't cooperate with that inner vision. I'm pretty sure you're still 20.. just ignore that snotty kid trying to catch up with you!

Nikki, I hate spiders! And I like yards that are beautiful but it's so much work and it never stays done.. you have to keep at it and it gets hot and yucky. Come on over for dinner, but bring a warm coat because it's only about 20 here! And bring that baby, it's been ages since I held one!