Learning to walk before I run

Karmacat

edinburgher said:

@South_coast - dramatically upped our cats intake 

Oh!  I get that, actually, because they love drinking from running taps, don't they!  How ingenious  

edinburgher

A slightly frustrating morning.

I did well at my exercise class (2.2km run + hill sprints). Unfortunately I think I pulled my calf muscle slightly during one of the last few hill sprints - uncomfortable but not excruciating. Hopefully it doesn't stop me running next week.

Then to DD's cycling lesson, which was an unmitigated disaster. She isn't "getting" balance and peddling on a bike without stabilisers and has made no progress in 3 lessons, despite having a patient teacher and a lot of help, reassurance and persausion from mum and dad. It's fear of physical harm plain and simple and I have no idea how to help her get over that. It has been preying on her mind a little to the extent that we think it's actually affected her mood of late, so we're "taking a break" and have told her that she can go back whenever she likes, just to give us a shout when she feels ready. Even daddie's wobbly demonstration on a loaner bike didn't convince her   

On the finance front, I've decided to start adding small CC payments into my weekly routine as paying off debt is neutral in terms of net worth, but slowly improves cash flow. £20 paid off my smaller CC, as well as an OP of £4 and an ISA payment of the same amount. Those are tomorrow's payments, not expecting any further payments unless I get savings interest or similar this week. Now that I think about it, H@lifax might pay out tomorrow...

Looking forward to my post fast day dinner of duck breast, fancy premade potato something or others with cheese from Lidl with some veg on the side and a slice of Dime bar cheesecake

teapot2

Can't remember how old DD is, did she try a balance bike at any point?  Theres some suggestion that they help with confidence when coming to confidence with pedalling and balancing.

Alchemilla

Another vote for a balance bike.

Are you or Mrs E in any local online groups? They might provide recommendations for tradespeople.

It is so frustrating when they CBA to even come and quote.

Suffolk_lass

Sorry to hear about the builder but I think you know you dodged a bullet by doing the due diligence. Well done for digging further. If you are not in a position to ask people you know I would be inclined to ether knock on the door of a house with a refurb you like the look of, or drop a note through their door explaining your position briefly and asking if they would be willing to recommend their builder, and if so, please would they share (and add your tel and email). Alternatively, look at build sites and talk to the trades there.

edinburgher

DD is 6, she's done the balance bike. Physically or in terms of understanding there's nothing stopping her, just fear!

@Alchemilla - have made enquiries of 15+ recommended contractors - 1 indicative quote and one finger in the air so far 

Watty1

Maybe work on building DD confidence in other areas?  For example gymnastics would teach falling maybe?    I used to worry about falling off a horse until I learnt to do just that with a stunt rider (he pushed me off the wooden horse a couple of times until i could do it and then we worked on what to do). Not suggesting you push DD of her bike of course but just maybe a lateral thought about trampolining or something?

Re the builder the best recommendations I have had have come via friends on Faceb00k and the worst ever from sites like checkatrade

Tartan_Mum

Ah @edinburgher that is rubbish about the builder. So if I’m reading it right you have recs but can’t get anyone to price? That’s consistent with what I’m heading. I’m sure we are probably relatively close to you location wise. 

On the bike does she have peers or cousins who are confident cyclists? When my kids were wary of anything peer support worked better than just us saying it was ok. Guess that’s the circle of life (parents know nothing etc) 

edinburgher

@Watty1 - she is getting very confident with her swimming - hopefully it will transition into improved all round confidence. I don't want to push her too much at the moment, she already has four classes and I think that's more than enough (probably too much if not for her ridiculous energy levels)!

@Tartan_Mum - we have been gently mentioning the peers line - i.e. "you might like to go out on your bike with your friends x, y and z" She is often of the parents know nothing mode, but in fairness to her I think she trusted me more than the cycling trainer.

Spent about £70 on groceries. More than usual, but I was close to getting the £10 off voucher from L1dl and got a massive pack of chicken breast, several packs of washing machine cleaner on offer etc. (can't abide a foosty WM) We'll be able to stick to our £500 budget this month, which is massive compared to some people, but an improvement for us. I'm working on shrinking it (for example, I'm avoiding Sainsbob's, am buying as much fruit and veg as I can from L1dl (cheaper, but occasionally goes bad quicker) and am trying hard not to buy crap from the "luxury" ranges for lunch etc.

Karmacat

edinburgher said:

@Watty1 - she is getting very confident with her swimming - hopefully it will transition into improved all round confidence. I don't want to push her too much at the moment, she already has four classes and I think that's more than enough (probably too much if not for her ridiculous energy levels)!

This paragraph makes me sure you're on the track with DD, Ed.  Stay with it