MSE Parents Club Part 3

weezl74

Hi again,

Just got an email through from mumsnet and thought these ideas for holidays with little ones might be useful for all of us this summer:

wrote:

• Take Playdough. It's great on a plane - and quite easy to contain on an airline table. lapsedrunner
• Do bingo. Prepare a sheet of words (or pictures for the younger ones) that describe things your child will see as you travel. So, church, red bus, cyclist (or runway, air steward, trolley) and get the kids to tick off each one when they see them. First one to find all wins! Gillsa
• Count roadkill. Gruesome fun for the car. The rarer the animal, the higher the score: a muntjac deer gets 10 points; badger 6 points; fox 4 points; pheasant 3 points (as it's seasonal, it scores higher than rabbits); rabbits 2 points; any bird 1 point. helpivegottogivebirth
• Play 'Sausages'. One person is the 'Sausager' and can only say, 'Sausages' in answer to anything. Everyone else has to try to catch them out. JuliaB
• Let them dress up. Makes any waiting around at the airport/port more fun. Plus, if you lose sight of them, you can always ask someone if they have seen Spiderman/a cowboy/a pirate! Grumpalumpa
• Give them a pile of 10p bits. Every time they say, 'Are we there yet?', they have to give one back. Clary
• Play car snooker. First child to spot red car gets a point, then it's yellow, green, brown, blue, pink or black. You'll get stuck on pink for ages, which is always a bonus. Lizzer
• Get out the reusable stickers. The sort you get on a folding picture/scene. Great for arranging on the window of the car/aeroplane/cabin. MotherofOne

Although...

• Whatever you do, don't teach them I Spy in the car. I guarantee within 15 minutes you will be wishing they were whining! bratnav

Fun on the beach
Sprout a sprog (or three) and your lazing-on-a-sunlounger days are well and truly over. But it can actually be rather jolly getting silly in the sand with small people (honest)...

• Build sandcastles. Take some toilet roll tubes along with the bucket and spade to make turrets – also great for diverting water into the moat! Deeceeha
• Play beachball football. Slightly under-inflate your beach ball if you have toddlers. It slows it down on the sand and makes it easier for them to kick it. Ruhu
• Put on the Beach Olympics. Our events typically include Best Sandcastle, Dig The Largest Hole, Find The Prettiest Shell, and so on. Points are awarded based on who looks most likely to cry if they don't win, and the prize is a flake in the top of the last ice cream of the day. Snickersnack
• Get buried. Let the children cover you with sand. This will take them some time - and you get to lie down! VinoEsmeralda
• Have a sea race. Get everyone lined up so they're standing knee-high in the sea (lower for smaller ones, higher for bigger ones). Pick a finishing point and then run for it - hands above your heads. Trickier - and funnier - than it sounds. Porpoise
• Go artistic. Draw a person in the sand (stick man is fine; we're not all Tony Hart) and get the kids collecting shells/seaweed for the hair and clothes. Don't forget to take a photo of your efforts before he/she is washed away! Housemum
• Make like Makka Pakka. Find a pebble beach and spend ages collecting stones and putting them in piles. giveloveachance
• Beachcomb. Give everyone a 'search and find' list: for example, 'find a long thin shell' or 'find some pink seaweed'. JuliaB

Fun in the great outdoors
Of course, not every family holiday comes with a beach attached. Maybe you've opted for a countryside cottage, a farm break, a hillside villa - or even packed up your Primus and pitched the whole brood under canvas. In which case, you can brew up all sorts of al-fresco family fun...

• Cloud-guess. Lie on your backs, looking up at the clouds and describe to each other the pictures you find. EccentricaGallumbits
• Bring on the traditional games. Kids' croquet, Frisbee, football and hula-hooping. KnickKnack
• Count the daisies. Then make a daisy chain. FabBakerGirlIsBack
• Roll down a hill. MrsWeasley
• Fly kites. Jump on each other's shadows. And play games of Chase where you can never quite catch them. SuperBunny
• Golf. Put a small ball on a pile of grass clippings and whack it with a child's baseball bat/golf club. SuperBunny
• Forage in hedgerows. And when you're tired, send them to find a four-leaf clover: they'll be ages while you sit back and relax! Wanderingsheep
• Set up Swingball. We have family tournaments! GooseyLoosey
• Give it some stick. As in stick-collecting, stick-piling, stick-building, stick-poking, stick-eating, stick-breaking and, of course, the obligatory stick-wielding round heads. LupusinaLlamasuit
• Race like animals. Draw start and finish lines (or use something to mark the line like a jumper). Children all have to be the same animal (crab, horse, dog, slug etc) and have to move like that animal to the finish line. We have staggered starts for the younger ones. AttilaTheHan
• Teach them the water-bottle game. You need two empty plastic bottles, two kids and a football. Fill the bottles with water (no lid) and position them a few metres apart. Each kid stands by one bottle. Kid 1 rolls football towards Kid 2's bottle. If it hits the bottle, then Kid 2 has to get the ball before he can right his bottle and stop the water flowing out. The winner is the person who keeps the fullest bottle. Squidward
• Build fairy villages. Under the trees - and then go behind the trees to 'watch' the fairies move in. spudmasher
• Acquire several supersoakers and water pistols. And stand well back. cremolafoam

Fun in the rain
Yes, it is possible! Even when it's tipping down, you can turn the merriment up - indoors or out...

• Puddle-jump. In raincoats and wellies. tortoise
• Start a scrapbook. Stick in it photos and drawings of all the places you have been to so far this summer. The ITgirl
• Thrill them with a 'muddy walk'. Put on old clothes and waterproofs, jump in all the mud and get as dirty as possible. Hose down afterwards if necessary. JackieNo
• Go to the nearest leisure centre. With rackets and a soft ball, and play some form of tennis on a squash court. Scarletibis
• Play cards. Snap for the littlies, UNO for the middlies - and everything from Rummy to Beat Your Neighbour for older ones. Our favourite is a family game of Cheat: the kids love the idea of having to cheat - and catching Mum and Dad red-handed. Gnashertastic
• Just go for a ride on a local train. Or take a bus trip. Smaller kids love it. tortoiseshell
• Have a carpet picnic (cover the carpet well first). Or a non-birthday birthday party. Or a very early Hallowe'en party - with lots of scary dressing up. Psychomum5
• Find the local (indoor) pool. It knackers them like nowt else, thus, on return, you can leave them to gawp at the TV, while you lounge about/sip wine/peruse papers with a clear conscience. Also doubles as a good wash. moondog
• Raid the dressing-up box. And help them put on a play. If they are older, they can write the play themselves; little ones can act to you reading out a favourite book. cremolafoam
• Let them scribble. Stick some blank paper on a wall somewhere and turn it into a 'graffiti wall'. McDreamy

Becles

Another one to add to the list:

Portable DVD player or netbook. Husband got a netbook and filled it with CBeebies stuff. It kept Charlotte amused on the plane, and was also useful in the hotel room. I used to shower her on an evening, and she'd sit on her bed and watch stuff while we showered and got dressed for dinner.

Hi Mookie. That's a gorgeous little girl you have there - congrats xx

I've entered Charlotte in a competition. If anyone has a minute to spare, we'd appreciate a vote:
http://www.enjoytheride.co.uk/2009/07/07/my-lovely-smile-2/

If anyone else enters the competition, let me know and I'll return the vote.

elle_gee

Hi all..

weezl, carpet man is coming on Monday

Rhys is now 5lb 1oz Found out today that we'd been using the wrong scoop for his milk fortifer and he'd been getting more than double what he should have been - that accounts for why his levels came back to normal so quickly then! I think it's the one which came with the tub and whoever opened it never switched it for the smaller one - the prescription just says "one scoop" :rolleyes: Anyway, no harm actually done - lord knows they've done enough tests on him that it would have been picked up if something was wrong! Blood tests are going down to once a week

Discharge meeting went well and we're still on course for Tuesday A bit of faff about registering Rhys with a GP but should all be sorted tomorrow - still got to break the news to them about just how many and how expensive his meds are :cool:

Rhys has one of the top nurses tonight but I think that's cos they're thinking he won't be any problem cos he's in with me and I'm in charge (PANIC!) so they don't need to do anything other than watch me when drawing up his medication so she'll be free to do other things

Hmmm.. sure I had something else to say.. it'll come back to me... *ponders*

emlou2009

SusanC wrote: »

Tuna-cheese melts are nice...not so sure about cold though.

mmmmm now i want a cheese and tuna toastie!

mookiandco wrote: »

:hello:

Hi fellow mummys

Well I have made it over here at long last although it has taken 3 weeks to find the time!

For those who dont know me from pregnancy club, I gave birth to baby Leila Miriam on 16th June 2009. She is our first baby and definately not the last I hope!

congrats, she is gorgeous! she looks quite old for 3 weeks.

mookiandco wrote: »

She has really long arms and legs - its the first thing people seem to notice! I dont know how long she was at birth as they didnt bother to measure her.

they didnt do seth either, the HV did at the first visit once i'd got transfered to them from the MW though.

feelinggood_2

AM -was just thinking about you today, how you doing?

OH is being nice this evening. Think work stress got to him a bit. He is feeling better now he has handed his notice in! Going to try working from home for a while, shall see how that goes. Thanks for the nice replies to my whiney post earlier. Got Pyschiatrist next week, so fingers crossed we can get an action plan in place.

Elle - you aren't alone tonight, we are all there with you in spirit! It'll go great!

Mrs Moc - welcome! Sorry to hear about your nervousness. Have you got a yellow and naked baby? I've got loads of photos of a bright yellow Toby with no clothes on, lying in front of the window!

Welcome Mooki and beautiful baby! Toby was measured and supposedly was 39cm, which is off the chart it is so small. Mistake I think! Don't feel bad about the formula. I had to give a couple of formula feeds while I was exclusively expressing and I felt awful about it.

emlou2009

we have named the kitten scruffy

he is currently attacking seth's baby gym cos dangly toys are fun :rotfl: theres a mirror bit that he keeps catching himself in and looking really shocked! he's really come out of his shell tonight. eeeeeeeeeeeeeek i LOVE him lol!

My_Fathers_Daughter

weezl74 wrote: »

Well, today Fergie and I went to rhyme time at the newly refurbished cardiff central library, then cuppa with a new mum friend, then costco and asda with OH (afternoon off hoorah!) and made 4 loaves of bread now baking in oven. Also had home grown salad with my salmon for tea, so am feeling all 1950's housewifey and happy


eta part 2, MFD what's with the cheese and tuna? Is big boobie still AWOL?

OMG weezl - will you STOP putting the rest of us to shame :mad:



Big Boobie was there today but she didn't make the sandwiches like she normally does. Unfortunately her number 2 (Small Boobie ) is on sick leave at the moment having just found out she has cervical cancer so BB was a bit busy looking after us ladies.


I got some bargains today in Boots one of these car seat covers for £9.99:



It has a net, a shade and a raincover bit all neatly concealed in a pocket at the back so I am very pleased with it

AND I bought this Avent Via Storage System for £4.99:


Muchos bargainos!!

money_maker_3

Can i ask, at what age did you all start putting your little ones to bed at a set time? I mean Dylan is fed every 4 hours so gets a feed at 10.30 then me and him go to bed and OH then gets up to do the 2.30am feed, then me and Dylan get up at 6.30am for the morning feed, but was wondering what everyone else does? Do you have a routine, or are you all fairly flexable about it ??

Mrs_Moc

feelinggood wrote: »

Mrs Moc - welcome! Sorry to hear about your nervousness. Have you got a yellow and naked baby? I've got loads of photos of a bright yellow Toby with no clothes on, lying in front of the window!

Yes she has gone yellow/orange. I have her at a window when I can, but didnt now she was supposed to be naked makes sense I guess.

MM

Cliodhna takes her last feed between 12 and 1, then we go to bed. she gets up at around 5 and back down for 6, then sleeps till 10.

I know I should be happy the night feeds are so easy at the minute but the MW says its because she is jaundiced, so I feel guilty about the fact she sleeps so much at night.

money_maker_3

Well Mrs M I wouldnt say she sleeps too much, cuz other than the times, thats the same as Dylan really !!