MSE Parents Club Part 3

BrunoM

Ah, well actually I do all the shopping (online delivery one time in two though), and probably the majority of the cooking. OH grew up in a small US town and is scared of driving in inner London on the wrong side of the road, and I'm generally a better cook than she is (or at least I can cook more different things) so I like to pick what I'm cooking (and also sometimes buy some beer!).

Also today I had planned to go to the Argos in the same shopping centre, with a list of smallish things the new flat needs (CD rack, small bookshelf, ironing board etc) - but the security shutter at Argos had broken and they couldn't get it open! So had to give up.

r.mac_2

BrunoM wrote: »

I was in the supermarket this morning, and a couple with a toddler and a tiny baby boy under 2 months were taking a route which intersected with mine again and again; the dad had the newborn snuggled into his shoulder and he was watching the world with this immensely satisfied fish-faced expression, through little beady eyes... I actually laughed out loud at one of our meetings and then had to scurry off terribly embarassed. He was cute, I was laughing with him not at him!

OH banished down the hill to the cafe to write and have a break for a couple of hours, Elijah due to wake from his nap any time soon, I wonder if he would be any help mowing the lawn?

Bruno that's so sweet Annabel helped me clean the carpets last week - she was fascinated by the noise the machine made and happily sat in her walker and watched me:T

Sami_Bee wrote: »

Bruno, are you going for Husband of the year? What were you doing in a supermarket? My DH only enters such a place because I don't buy him beer (I don't drink so it's never on my radar, plus I just think its unnecessary )

I've just sent mine to get his BIL a birthday present as they are coming over in half an hour and I've just remembered it's his 30th this week:eek: DH took LO in the car with him, had been gone 10 mins then appeared back at the door - he couldn't fit the baby seat on the isofix base as apparently i'd left on the bugaboo adaptors and he could figure out how to take them off:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

Js_Other_Half wrote: »

Savvy_Sue you are a star!

Why thank you. I try to tell my boys what an excellent mother they have, but they don't believe me. :rotfl:

Js_Other_Half wrote: »

Whatever we do is wrong - accept this now and you will be happier parents. We cope as best we can, and our children will hate us as teenagers - this is a GOOD thing and means we have made them independent human beings. Eventually they will speak to us again...

If it helps, my experience is that DS1 was always an awkward child for whom the usual instructions did not apply, he was very difficult in Junior School - a friend suggested he was getting his teenage rebellion over early. As it happened we got on better when he started secondary school, and I guess he saw less of me / was more independent / was informally diagnosed as having Asperger Syndrome. Then we had another rough patch during his GCSEs, until DH persuaded me that it was pointless trying to get him to go to bed at what I considered a reasonable hour. Sixth form was a breeze, once you learned to live with the thud of juggling balls being dropped until the early hours. He's just back home from Uni, seeing if he can make some money from finishing off some games. But he's come home to do it, rather than seeing if he can stay with his Uni friends, so I must have done something right. If he runs out of money he can always busk as a juggler. When I fuss, he gives me The Look.

DS2 is always smiling in photos as a small child, although I remember little more than the dull fog of PND and Getting Through the Day. He was always bright and happy at school until about year 12, when the school started worrying that he wasn't socialising like he used to and was he depressed? No, he just wasn't socialising like he used to. We had fewer rows about going to bed at a sensible time because he was quieter about staying up and never had a problem getting up. He too gives me The Look when I 'fuss', but I think he's forgiven us for not failing to get the right date for picking him up at the end of his first year at Uni. :eek: Which was at least half his fault, and half his brother's fault.

DS3 is one of life's happy accidents. We wanted another one, we just hadn't decided when, and then suddenly we didn't need to. As a young child, he was harder work in many ways, but made up for it by being extremely affectionate for far longer than a mum has a right to expect. As a teenager, he is the first one who could be described as 'typical' in any way: plays loud music and guitars, cares about what he wears, is economical with the truth, has unsuitable friends and even once drank himself insensible! :eek: (He's only 17 now, so you can imagine how scary THAT was!) Now he's given up all the boring stuff at school he seems to be working, but I'm not convinced by his talk of taking a gap year and getting a job to earn some money: he's always declined a paper round on the grounds that it's too much like hard work, and he spends any money he has before it hits his pocket!

r.mac wrote: »

you should write a book - you are my parenting guru

Still think I should write a book? :rotfl: Mine are all weird, but then you only have to look at their parents to see why ...

BrunoM wrote: »

OH banished down the hill to the cafe to write and have a break for a couple of hours,

If you ever need a second income, you could rent yourself out Bruno, although that would of course make you less helpful to your OH.

BrunoM wrote: »

Elijah due to wake from his nap any time soon, I wonder if he would be any help mowing the lawn?

:rotfl: This will go one of two ways, either he'll love the noise (you'll have him in a sling, right?) or he'll hate it.

But mine were cutting the grass from about the age of 10, under close supervision, until they got hayfever too badly. DS3 can still do it, what am I going to do when he goes to Uni?

ladybirdintheuk

Afternoon all - no time to catch up AGAIN!!!... Ikea was good this morning - got lots of bits for the kitchen, plus stacking cups and a crocodile bigger than Izzy, which she loves (she has currently pulled it over her tummy... and is eating one of her shoes). And we got hotdogs on the way out too Looked at living room/bathroom/Izzy's room bits too, but will worry about them once the kitchen is done. Hopefuly within a month, then we can start on the LR

Off to a bbq this afternoon (in the rain by the looks of it) so must get on with making salad etc to take with us. Meant to be leaving in 10 mins, good thing we don't have to get there on time!!! Talk to you all later I'm sure.

Becles

r.mac wrote: »

Annabel helped me clean the carpets last week - she was fascinated by the noise the machine made and happily sat in her walker and watched me:T

Charlotte loves helping with the cleaning. She gets her mini mop out and helps me wash the floors, and I give her a duster when I'm dusting or a cloth when I'm cleaning the kitchen and bathroom and she wipes things. Hope her enthusiasm for cleaning continues

elle_gee

Eek, I'm going out in the car later, just me and Rhys.. It'll be like being on my driving test again!

Just going to my parents' to see sis and sis-in-law. It's my sister's birthday today so got to stop at the cash machine on the way - it's what she wants, not me just being lazy, honest!

My_Fathers_Daughter

elle_gee wrote: »

Eek, I'm going out in the car later, just me and Rhys.. It'll be like being on my driving test again!

Just going to my parents' to see sis and sis-in-law. It's my sister's birthday today so got to stop at the cash machine on the way - it's what she wants, not me just being lazy, honest!

LOL - your first ever 'leave baby in the car or take him 5 steps to the cash machine dilemma'


FWIW I always take Benjamin out of the car with me...just in case.

money_maker_3

My_Fathers_Daughter wrote: »

LOL - your first ever 'leave baby in the car or take him 5 steps to the cash machine dilemma'


FWIW I always take Benjamin out of the car with me...just in case.

I did when Jas was a a baby, but when she hit about 1, if I got close enough to the cash machine I left her in the locked car !!
This time Jas will look after Dylan, so I shouldnt have a dilema :rolleyes:

elle_gee

I was talking to Mum yesterday about filling the car up and saying I would take advantage of whenever I was in the car without Rhys and make sure it's topped up, and she went on to say about how she left us (25yrs ago) in the car without a second thought!

Gonna have to master pay-at-pump! Only time I've used it before was at Tesco and obviously something went wrong cos I was never charged for the £25 I put in!

My_Fathers_Daughter

elle_gee wrote: »

I was talking to Mum yesterday about filling the car up and saying I would take advantage of whenever I was in the car without Rhys and make sure it's topped up, and she went on to say about how she left us (25yrs ago) in the car without a second thought!

Gonna have to master pay-at-pump! Only time I've used it before was at Tesco and obviously something went wrong cos I was never charged for the £25 I put in!

Sounds like you have mastered it LOL

I never thought about Pay At Pump :rolleyes: I tend to pop out when hubby gets home simply for fuel.