Note to self - it is never as bad as you think it is going to be! I survived husband going back to work last Thursday - even made it out to the nursery school to get the three children photographed (thought that might make a nice Christmas present for some relatives). Have just done my first week flying solo. Went to the chiropractor and was told that although my pelvis looked well out of alignment to begin with, it quickly went back, and was in good shape. Have just been to view the school that we're going to apply for for Elizabeth, when she starts next September. All good really, although not really how I remember it! The headteacher talked very honestly about the lack of money, large class sizes etc, but the ethos of the school and general level of discipline etc together with the really good results suggest that the choice of school is a very easy one to make. Also took Edward and Sarah to toddler's at 'slippery road group' on Thursday and managed an Edward melt-down (he wanted to stay and play with the bus). Elizabeth did her first week using her full allocation of pre-school funding (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning). Update on the children:
Elizabeth
Her behaviour is uncontrollable at times. Much of the time she seems really advanced, amazing really. She is very interested in looking after the baby, and wants to hold her, help with her bath, change her nappies etc. She loves to ask Sarah her 'best bits' of the day and has been racing husband to get ready in the morning to see if Sarah was right or not guessing who was going to win. Flash-points are anything where she has to be told to do something. Invariably we come to blows over getting ready in the morning, and she is often very difficult getting ready for bed at night. I'm at a loss as to how to discipline her. I've been putting her in time out at the bottom of the stairs but she won't sit, and thrashes her legs around, and I think she's in serious danger of putting her legs through the glass of the front door. She point-blank refuses to do things that I say, which results in me screaming hysterically at her. She grabs, snatches, pulls Edward around, and the other day she kicked me so that I almost fell over while holding Sarah, because I got to her level and asked her calmly not to do something. When she's like that, she really is horrible, and that feels like a very mean thing to say, but it takes so much out of me trying to deal with her. I spend more time trying to get her out of the house in the morning than with Edward and Sarah combined. On the plus side she shows kindness and consideration when I'm in tears, and can play quite nicely with Edward. The other day we'd been listening to Radio 5, Radio 2, Radio 1 and Radio 3 while Sarah was napping, and I asked which she thought Sarah preferred. "I don't think it matters!" was her reply.
Edward
Ok so we're coming into tantrum territory. He's having one or two meltdowns per day, which are difficult to deal with when we're out and about with a newborn. His language is really coming on. He is stringing together sentences now - yesterday we got into the car and he said "No cat this morning!" which amazed me! He can pretty much copy every word we say now, and understands more than we realise. Has started to say "give it to me", "come here", and that type of thing. Loves making jokes, like at lunch-time he'll ask if tea is ready, or at tea-time will ask for 'fruit-bat' (i.e. his fruit course from lunch-time).
Sarah
She is three weeks now, and tends to wake every three hours at night time, but pretty much goes straight to sleep after a feed. She is more all over the place in the day, but does have one long nap in the day. Her little face has been covered in red spots for a few days now, and she seems to struggle a lot with wind after a feed. She's generally easy going, and sleeps a lot. She has a bath immediately after tea, and has been settling (yes, I said settling!) at around 7.30pm/8pm, then wakes around 11pm to midnight for her feed. She's settled in well, I can't really believe the time has flown by since she was born, and feel quite sad that we're probably not going to do the whole newborn thing again. Keep thinking about the birth, being in hospital, seeing the midwife etc, and miss it already (but remember, I hate being pregnant!!!)
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