Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

silvercar

ETA: Another vomiting bug question, these things seem to go round every year or two and are always non-virus - does this mean that for some reason having had it once does not bring any immunity?

I suspect its a bit like catching a cold, there are enough types that you can't be immune from every one.

Doozergirl

Poor Isaac, I hope he is okay soon. Might be worth investing in some Dioralyte.

The only silver lining to having poorly children is the amount of cuddling you get to do.

neverdespairgirl

Doozergirl wrote: »

Poor Isaac, I hope he is okay soon. Might be worth investing in some Dioralyte.

The only silver lining to having poorly children is the amount of cuddling you get to do.

We didn't have any, but we mixed our own, the proportions of salt and sugar are look-up-able, so we did. He doesn't like it much, but we added blackcurrent, and then he drank it OK.

I agree about hte cuddling, it's great.

silvercar

chewy wrote:

One of the most important things to try to sort out is that at the moment she expects to be able to take the kids to australia to see her family twice a year for two weeks at a time. So basically our whole life would be going to work, saving money and accruing holiday in order to fly to Australia twice a year.

Two solutions:

a) save airmiles
b) let her go to Oz with kid(s) without you - she'll only do it once.

Seriously, all the RL peeps I know with family that far away only go themselves once every 2-3 years. For some their relatives come here in between, but then the relative comes without the family.

What with Skype and webcams you can keep in touch more easily.

silvercar

NDG wrote:

"looking after a child is hard work if he's ill, isn't it?"

Hope he is better soon. To the diorilyte mix I would add no milk products until he has been clear of any D&V signs for 24hrs.

When the kids were little we would have the debate on whether it was easier to look after an ill child when you are well or look after a well child when you are ill.

zagubov

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

We didn't have any, but we mixed our own, the proportions of salt and sugar are look-up-able, so we did. He doesn't like it much, but we added blackcurrent, and then he drank it OK.

I agree about hte cuddling, it's great.

Absolutely right, the isotonic (salt-replacement) drinks can be simulated for pennies.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Isaac said something curious for a 6 year old during his third strip-and-shower - he said, "looking after a child is hard work if he's ill, isn't it?" We reassured him that we were happy to look after him.

He was OK today, not bouncy, but OK. Then about 6pm, the other end went, and the poor lad started down below.

He's now asleep, looking very pale and woeful.

It's probably best to accept that young kids are like virus hotels; one checks out, another checks in.

Sometimes the most dramatic symptoms are from the most routine infections. From our experience watch out for appendix pain, especially if your parents had it as it often skips generations!

LydiaJ

vivatifosi wrote: »

We have satnav, I just prefer to use overseas as a pedestrian where they are very handy for getting around in cities you don't know. London I know pretty well, fortunately and everywhere else is, for the most part, easy to get around. I use the AA site quite a lot. Unless of course the place I'm going to has a ring road. Then I would hoist up the white flag, admit defeat and use one.

I don't know London at all. I'm the only member of my family who's never lived there. We used to go on the coach sometimes when I lived in Oxford, but until recently I'd never driven there at all. In the last three years I've been a few times - since one of my best friends moved to Rotherhithe. But it'll be a while before I can get from the end of the M4 across to where she lives without a satnav or person-with-map-navigating.

SingleSue wrote: »

Youngest also does lego animations but has the same problem in finding something that looks ultra professional, what he does now is do hundreds of shots with his digital camera, uploads them to some kind of movie maker thing, edits and hey presto, a half decent animation.

Takes him weeks though to do even a 5 minute segment.....

Thanks. Would you mind asking him a few questions for me?
1) What kind of movie maker software does he use?
2) Does he ever edit the photos - eg to add effects for an explosion - and if so what software does he use for that?
3) Does he have any general advice for DS?
Thanks loads to both of you.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

My darling OH's birthday was today - Boxing Day. It started well, with him being vomited all over. Poor sod!

Oh poor little Isaac. Poor OH. Poor you. Hope Isaac is better soon and neither of you catch it.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Isaac said something curious for a 6 year old during his third strip-and-shower - he said, "looking after a child is hard work if he's ill, isn't it?" We reassured him that we were happy to look after him.

I know I've told my kids that single parenting is hard work but worth it many times over to have them because I love them. I did feel very guilty, though, when DD (probably about 6 at the time) said she didn't want to have kids when she grew up because they were such hard work.

fc123

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

While some parents do utterly change their lifestyles, you don't have to change everything.

Of course some things do alter. But it's not essential for everything to be different, honest.

I was 27, and OH 26, when the Snow Frog showed up. Slightly earlier than we wholly intended. Well, entirely unintended.

Small children can be very adaptable. Isaac's sat and coloured pictures in a wide variety of restaurants and pub gardens, and we've dragged him all over the place. He'll happily sleep anywhere, so long as he knows we're within earshot.

We still live in central London, have friends dropping by, etc. You don't have to move to the suburbs and buy a volvo.

I'm with NDG on the above too....not everything has to change and kids just adapt to their environment.

........but if mum has to carry on working for financial reasons, it can be hard emotionally sometimes.
I have known so many mums (through the kids) and every one is different. I knew one who had full time day care from 6 months old and didn't work...she just didn't 'gel' with being a F/T mum and could afford the nursery fees. She was also under pressure to have a seconds once the 1st got to 2 and refused to have another

........I have known others who had every intention of back to work F/T (and had to for the income) and then just couldn't do it once their maternity leave finished so they adapted their lifestyles to accomodate then being home F/T instead. They promptly had another 2 quite quickly

That would be the hardest bit of the decision as you don't know how it feels to be a parent until they arrive.

misskool wrote: »

Hope he recovers, sounds like Norovirus, especially since your dad was sent away being suspected with it.

Lasts about 3-4 days, quarantine is the only thing for it.

awww..poor Isaac. Hope he wipes it out in a day or 2.

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

Hope he is better soon. To the diorilyte mix I would add no milk products until he has been clear of any D&V signs for 24hrs.

When the kids were little we would have the debate on whether it was easier to look after an ill child when you are well or look after a well child when you are ill.

Ill child when you're well (assuming normal illness not anything really serious) is definitely easier than well child when you're ill (assuming you're the only adult present). Ill child when you're well can be distressing if the child is in pain, though - especially earache.

The only thing that's easier about being ill is that you qualify for time off work, whereas when it's the child that's ill you've got all the hassle of trying to find someone who will look after them (not when they're actually vomiting, of course, but if full of cold or with a bit of a temp or whatever). That's how it is for me, anyway, but perhaps that's specific to my situation in not having family nearby who can help, and having a job where the holidays are fixed, and the contract says that an ill child qualifies you for "sufficient time off to make arrangements for them to be looked after" and no more.

Whenever one of us was ill as a child, my mum would summon her mum to come and look after the ill one, while she kept the show on the road for the rest of the family. (I'm one of four kids.) I have very special memories of being read to by Granny when ill.

SingleSue

Well autistic teenager is def worse when you are ill....mind you, they are pretty challenging when you are well too! They have tried to do their best this last week and they do understand I am under the weather but Christmas and youngest do not go together at all.

Lydia, I will ask him in the morning and see if he will give up his secrets.

Re lifestyle changes when a baby is born, mine changed completely but not by my choosing. My employer at the time decided they wanted me to take up a higher role and part of that, was working extra hours (over the extra overtime I already did) but for no extra pay...it worked out that after doing all these extra unpaid hours, I would actually be working just to pay the childminder and travel to work.

We did explore the idea of now ex hubby being a stop at home dad but he poo poohed that idea straight away, even though it made financial sense as my earnings were 3 times his. In the end, I had to give up my well paid job and take on two part time ones to fit in with his hours (early morning cleaning and late night care assistant!) when James was 6 weeks old (maternity leave and pay was a lot more draconian back then)

Unfortunately, the stress on my already very weakened body (I had been told not to return to work for 3 months as the delivery had gone so badly wrong), led to my kidneys going into failure and getting severe pneumonia by the time James was 6 months old.

I did return to work once I had recovered, afternoons only in an office but a different area of shipping and James went to a lovely (but not very cheap) day nursery from the age of 1 until he was 4 and he started at the nursery connected to the primary school...weird thing is that the hours I was doing then were classed as part time, they would be classed as full time now on the tax credits and benefit rules!