Not me monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am not constructing my second post for the day just because I have some great material for NMM this week... nope not me.
Oh and i have not taken nearly a week to actually finish and post the previous post either. I am not that busy and over extended that I couldn't complete one blog post even though I really wanted to... nope, not me.

I did not spot a mysterious object in amongst our 'clean' washing as i was opening the machine only to realise my daughter who happens to put everything the undresses from in the washing basket, apparently had added soiled nappies to that list. If i had though, I most certainly would not have just re washed the load a few times until there was no trace of said 'object' and then rewashed 3 times with napisan and hot water... nope i would not show such blatant disregard for the sanctity of my washing machine! or the environmental cost of so many rewashes. No, not me!

I did not ignore the obvious fact my children were playing instead of sleeping after I put them to bed in hopes they may sleep in a little later that 545am... I was not highly impressed that it worked and considering doing it again even thought my nearly four year old couldn't keep her eyes open and 5 in the afternoon the next day... Nope, not me! i would most certainly put my children's well being ahead of my own never ending desire for more sleep...

I also did not leave my daughters 4th birthday party planning, including invitations until the week of her birthday... NOPE! not me, I am always organised and plan elaborate celebrations with hand crafted invites and matching name cards at the table set with each child's personalised party gift along with matching decor and .... oh, alright, we are having a BBQ at the park... i mean Nope, not ME!

I almost forgot... I did not in below mentioned emergency situation dial '911' when he emergency number in austrlia is 000, even though i have dialed 000 5 or more times before, and had the number drilled in since kindergarten... nope, not me. (luckily, you know, if i had done that, the call would play a friendly little message like "you have dialled emergency assistance, the number is 000, putting you through now" thus making said dialer realise their error.
This would not prove that i spend to much time reading american cops and cops wives' blogs :) and watching american TV... NOpe, certainly not me!

first day at school... public v private?

One happy little kindy kid... She has been counting the sleeps until she could go to school


She absolutely loves getting dressed in her 'nuniform'...

Unleashing the poser with in!


One more bonus of havin a shift workin cop daddy is he gets to come for our first day of school!
And pick up too! (In the background is mrs groves who i am trying to teach grace to stop calling Mrs gross, but i think the whole class has got her name wrong as i have heard others doing it too)



I made the decision a long time ago to send y kids to public schol at least for primary school (first seven years). Finances has a little to do with it (about $60 a year vs $4000) but mostly it comes down to the options available. The best performing schools in our state are the private catholic schools, but I cant stand the religious factor. I mean i am a Christian and i love going to church but there are so many rules and regulations and routines in catholicism that i dont feel bring us any closer to God, but anyway that is a whole differet topic. Digressing... for that reason idont want to send my girls to a catholic school.
The Christian schools in our state whos beliefs are most aligned to ours are all strictly christian enrolments only by pastoral reference and i dont feel that segregating my children from the world they will evenually have to interact with will benifit them. I truly belive when our beliefs are challenged we are sharpened and grow, and the opportunity to share Christ and our testimony with friends is paramount in our walk with God.
There are baptist schools who's doctrine is good and enrol all students but the ones in our area don't fare much better academically than the public schools and i just cant justify so much extra money when i feel i can teach Christian values and lead my children in finding a relationship with God at home...

So we have done our research and got grace into a great schol in our area, and i plan to chec out their teachers each year and keep up with the programming so i can make sure we discuss any conflicting things that come up values and beliefs wise and plan to make a decision about highschool a bit further down the track. that said, If being in that environment has a negative impact on the girls we will find the money to send them to a Christian school.

I would love to hear what you all think/what your experiences have been

inspired...

I just read this over at Mamma Val's blog...
10) I believe that children are an important part of the world but not that they should be the center of the universe. I am always pointing out to my son that there are people trying to shop and eat and live around him and to use a restaurant voice, watch where you're going, etc. Nothing bothers me more than parents that let their children run wild and glare at the rest of the world around them.

Its something I think about alot and so when my comment got to about 2 paragraphs i decided it need its own post.

We all know those parents, and probably all are those parents sometimes, nearly run over by someones trolley in the shop, and instead of appologising that our child was running amok in the shop, said parent shoots the evil eye at the most likely innocent trolley driver. Child never does anything wrong, never gets told no( not helped by farcical parenting theories like positive parenting) and knows no boundaries.

Kids with no boundaries test to see where it stops, taking whatever ground they can in the process. this might be funny in a toddler, cute in a preschooler and a bit annoying in a small child but as the child becoumes older and more adventurous it can become dangerous, at very least to themselves. This is why i think about this so much. I work with 'at risk' teenagers, in particular those facing homelessness. Without specifically adding up, i would guess-timate about 20% are from genuine abuse situations, 20% due to family breakdown or financial/circumstancial events and the rest are kids who have never been told no or been given enough boundairies until it is too late. They come to us because there parents usually kick them out because their behaviour gets so bad or are constantly in conflict because they finaly hit issues the parent has to say no to- criminal activity, drugs, risky behaviour etc.

Sometimes the parents even continue to make excuses for their child. I will never forget one boy, good heart, just doing whatever he wanted, and as a 16 year old boy with a lack of guidence and boundaies those things involved stealing cars for the fun of it, regular drug and alcohol use, graffiti etc. His parents dropped him off because he had broken a window at thier house when they finally tried to say no to him going out on a saturday night with frinds he had previously been arrested with. He continued to struggle with any boundaries while staying with us and it was clear he had never had any growing up. After not very long he was exited from our service for not followingthe rules, and while we helped him find other emergency accomodation, he apparently got in trouble after leaving and ended up in juvinile detention. Then i got a phone call and copped an earful and then some from his mother who had decided that it was our fault he was locked up, although we had exited him for the same kinds of reasons they had kicked him out.

Kids need boundaries and rules. They build a childs confidence and maximise potential while keeping them safe and saving parents sanity too. I get so frustrated with the whole "let them do whatever they want or you might stiffle thier creativity"philosophy that seems to be pushed by all the modern parenting resources, well at least most of those i was provided by government hospital and community health care system. I see the results every day of the lack of discipline in our society... If a small child is allowed all the freedom in the world, exactly what age do you try to restrict them... i know from experience trying to take back premature freedoms is much harder than not allowing them in the first place. I think alot of parents wait until it is far too late (like early teens).

I know i am far from the best parent in the world but i have seen the many benifits of boundaries in my childrens lives from better sleep to the many more freedoms they have because they have learnt boundaries young. For example I can let my 2 year old walk along side me in the shop because she knows she will stay along side me, and my children can use textas and paint because i can trust they will only put it on paper, We can go out because i know my children can behave in public and can sit when need be, quietly and play within given boundaries if allowed etc.

The aim of parenting is not to raise a child, but to raise a well adjusted, considerate and independant adult. Unfortunately the child centred parenting philosophy seems to contribute to self centeredness and limits healthy mature independance.


Now that i feel like i have subjected you all to something that reads alot like one of my university essays (although it has been a couple of years snce i did one of those) i will get off my high horse and pray i dont offend anyone, as that is really not my aim, just to forewarn. I feel having seen the results first hand it would be irresponsible not to share the information. Please, tell me what you think, or if you are interested ask me what i think about anyhting to do with this topic. I am very aware that no one set of rules or guidlines works for everychild or parent, and would love to hear some things that have or have not worked for you.

Walking a while in my shoes...

not quite a mile, if i disappeared somewhere and there was noone else to cook and clean then maybe he might have to walk a mile but for now i will settle for a little while... I will explain.

These last 3 weeks D has been doing weapons training at the academy and as all the police a required to retrain once a year, the training facility is booked up during day hours when fewer officers are working so the recruits train in the evening. So for three weeks D has been hanging out at home during the day until 3 with us and then off to work until 11, much the same as I do on my non overnighter week at work. I think he kind of gets it now. You see who ever is on the afternoon "shift" at home has 3 hours with the kids until they go to bed then 4 hours down time. being at home with the family until 3 (when said family is made up of preschooler and toddler) is pretty full on, and then with no break off to work.

Now i am the one who gets the 4 hours down time to chill with no one else requiring attention or entertaining, and I get why he asks what i did all day. that is soooo much time to have nothing occupying your time. I dont think he will ever ask again "what have you done today", with a look that says why is there still dishes on the bench.

disclaimer- i do have to say as much as he is still male, i have to be honest and say i really dont have a leg to stand on when complaining about my husband. He has praobably changed nearly as many nappies as me, often is the first to get up for the kids, feeds, baths and dresses them after he gets home from work and will help around the house if I ask.(He does have that inate male quality of not knowing what needs to be done even when the washing pile is a metre high and there are no dishes left in the drawers or cupboards) He opens any door for me and is very willing provider of back rubs, foot rubs, gifts,encouragement and compliments, cute messages, prayer and Godly direction and even cups of tea recently. So even if he 'forgets' to take out the rubbish or conveniently 'cant' remember how to use the washing machine or dishwasher (even though he can operate machinery, power tools and model aircraft), I guess I have to admit i am absolutely blessed beyond measure in the husband department.

Not-not me monday

I dont much feel like a funny Not Me Monday post. There really have been a lot of things i have not done which i probably should have (or definitely) so in the spirit of not me Monday, i did not...

not take out the rubbish all week resulting in a bin unable to be seen under the rubbish pile covering it...

not turn off the kids dvd after it finished resulting in it playing over again and them watching it over again...

not cook dinner on at least 3 nights this week...

not give sick hubby any sympathy, seeing as he has been sick for the last 6 weeks on and off and if not sick, tired and sore from the acadamy physical training, either way he cant take out the rubbish for me

not plan games for youth until the last minute or tell hubby it was his turn to preach this week until say... that afternoon,

not leave the spilled weetbix on the kids table and conceed that it is in fact cement with brown food colouring therefore I should not waste my time cleaning it now that it is dry...

and not write a blog post for like 2 weeks!

I AM tired, emotional, a little overstretched and i think my eye has a permanant twitch at the moment like one of those cartoon women about to snap...*cue extreme eye closeup and scary music*.

i assure all though I (probably) wont go off the deep end just yet. I am greatful for my family who are with me to cause stress, thankful for the provision of my (time consuming) job, prayerful my husband will be on the mend for real this time, hopeful for our future and excited about the growth of our ministry. Most of the time...

a little time out in the country might be very necessary by the end of this year though!

Not (my child) Monday

Before i start, i will say, i must be a little ahead of the pack because I have done a couple of these, but just as not me monday from the point of view of Jaeda, my youngest. This post I will write about what my children have (not)done.
Daddys Bible-

Need i say more than this was not my youngest child... certainly not

It was not my oldest child who thought it appropriate and warrented to wake up the whole house before the sun came up on the only sleep in day we get each fortnight, by yelling and crying because she couldnt find the little plastic dinosaur she got in a party bag at daycare that day! Nope she is much more reasonable and considerate and not that attatched to ridiculously unimportant and inanimate objects.

The childrens church have been learning a a song for the fruit of the spirit. Grace is the youngest in the 'big kids church' but loves it. They have been learning the song that goes...the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience and kindness and goodness...etc. It was most certainly not my child singing the whole week " the fruit of the spitit is love-your-peas, patience and kind-of goodness". Nope she is the child of leaders in the church and would most certaily know these things properly by now!

After dinner out at a silver service resturant, it was not my child who, while waiting for her dinner, properly declared "i need a towel" while looking haughtily down to her lap where the napkin had been placed for her by the waiter at the resturant. Nope not my child. She certaily knows the difference between wait staff and her mother... RIGHT?

Miss confidence, Grace also did not suffer from stage fright at the beggining of her ballet routine either! not my child! i wish i kept videoing, because if that had been my child she might have kept that up for about a minute and a half and it would have been funniest home videos worthy!

One proud mama (and papa n granny n grandpa!)

WARNING- pointless boasting about my own child ahead...


Grace has been doing ballet lessons for one term. She is the newest and youngest in her class but miss proper has to get it right so formal lessons suit her- she loves it and she is doing really well. i didnt realise how much they are learning.. i was so absorbed in watching her perform that i forgot to video when she did her solo (i dont know the french terms) where she did a skip along on toes, a turn and reach out with one arm and one leg pointed back. She did it perfectly (without bias parent opinion) Lord only knows what she wll be capable of when she is 10, or evn 4 for that matter.

...well I did warn you.






They all got a trophy for passing thier first exam. Grace wanted to sleep next to it last night!



one unfortunate thing about ballet is the whole fairy magic theme is like impossible to avoid, but it has become a bit of a teaching point. Grace now understand we dont need to do magic, God can do miracles and we must pray not try and do things in our own strength or with the help of any magic etc. I didn't really want to expose her to magic type stuff, especially becasue it is hard to teach about one thing that is real that you can't see and say another thing you cant see is pretend. Cant shelter them forever i guess. But the dancing is cute!...

Not me (im not in denial) monday

No, No, No i most definately could not
have TWO children sleeping in beds (no cribs or cots). Not me.












History did not just repeat it self when my 21 month
old climbed over the railing of her crib and therefor was
relegated to a mattress sleeping on the floor until we could get her a 'big girl bed'...









Nope! We have not seen this scene before...
at just the same age!

Come to think of it there is no way this little baby of the family can tell me "no, dora mummy", with perfect dictation when she wants to watch Dora instead of playschool. Nor could she tell me with perfectly clear words a number of animals, body parts, foods, names and various other items. Nope she is the baby of the family. (ha! dont you love that picture, i am sure J wont in times to come but it really shows how HUGE she was and her little drop lip is hilarious! and so her! This picture is the from hour she was born, i know she looks like a 6 month old, thats coz she was the size of one...ok slight exageration...only slight though !)

No WAY did I enrol this baby at school for next year...

Not a chance, there is no way she is old enough to be going
to school next year. For that matter, there is NO WAY I am old enough to have a school attending child. Nope not me, oh and i am definately not in denial. Nope, not me!





As you can see i definately have not given in to letting my children A. go to sleep both in Graces bed, B. continue sucking their favoured extremities. Grace only does it in her sleep now and if i try pull it out she wakes up.might have to get some of that bad tasting finger paint...one day.


Not me monday was started by Mckmama. Check out what she and others have not been doing.

The end of an era... for now

Me- on night shift stating at 10pm, foolishly stating i was going to just chill out tonight until i had to go to work, made plans to run a bath, watch NCIS and each chocolate.
6pm, kids feed, bathed and J in bed, complete with recently purchased bonds easy suit that 'should' dare i say it prevent any more hands in the nappy debarcles, but thats a post and a picture for another day.

610 banging noise. J has reached out of cot to the shelf to get a picture frame and is banging on the wall...odd that frame was quite far away from her. take frame, lights out, reading with grace.

620 *thud* long silence, inhaling scream and crying. J on the floor between cot and clothes drawers.

625 j settled, put in cot to see if it was a fluke
626 catch j on the downfall.

627 remove cot, set up mattress on the floor...

proceed to spend the next 2 hours willing a 20 month old to stay in the bed. yeah right!

She stays while i am in the room, as soon as we leave she gets toys, does streaker type runs through the house, climbs in her sisters bed, well you catch my drift. Grace did the same thing at virtually the same age, accept then we just moved the cot to the babys room and were glad we didnt have to take it from her. now there is no baby, so i dont know what to do with the cot. Nor do i know how to avoid nightly bed battles, other than resorting to closing the safety gate and letting her fall asleep behind the door like her sister did... i guess Grace survived it.

A catch up post

I have been meaning to post for about 2 weeks and there has been so many athings to post about but just not enough time, so now i am going to play catch up and post a little from/about each thing.

Life has been very blessed in the Conradt household lately. Dont get me wrong, not all roses or anything, Gods grace has just been all over everything, you know?

Grace has been loving her ballet lessons, and even though she wont show us what she is learning i have caught glimpses of her walking with toes pointed forward, and practicing controlled breathing. Oh and i find it highly amusing trying to put her whole like 8 strands of hair in a little bun :)

We have been SOOOOOO blessed by the course we are doing- Growing Kids Gods Way. It is the same as the books babywise/childwise that I read and doing the course and the group support has been so positive in reinforcing my commitment to doing the best I can for our kids. I am so loving the boundaries and the respect and honour that it instills in the kids.The structure in our dayand limits to her social freedoms have all but cured J's little (more like chronic) biting habit, just have a peak at how well te girls are getting along now...

Don't be fooled though, they still try and push it. Jaeda's new battleground is holding out on saying 'ta'. She has missed out on dinner once, and now it only takes me reaching to take which ever non-appreciated item it is from her and she will say 'TA' or sign 'please' like crazy. I wonder how long before she quits trying it...Ah the joys of discovering we have a will.



We have just started a star chart which Grace gets for leaving 'blanky' on her bed. Once blanky is making absolutly no day time appearences we will start with night times. It is time for the blanky and by default the thumb sucking to go. I feel a bit sad for my big girl though, she really loves that thing. I mean she hugs it and says bye when she leaves the house and hugs it when she gets home... I know! my kid is a little cuckoo but what 3 year old isn't in some way? I would let her keep it until she was 40 accept it triggers the thumb sucking and i said 3 was where i would draw the line on that... I have even gone past that because i feel so sad taking her lovey away but she is going to ruin her teeth! Good thing Jaeda's fingers are getting too big to be comfortable to suck so i am hoping her little habit will resolve itself.

I have to say the behavior has actually been very good when you consider the copious amounts of chocolate that have been in abundance in our house lately, mostly thanks to easter but also thanks to Carly... you so didn't have to share, but thanks a heap anyway, saved me eating my kids easter chocolate :)

One thing i was going to post on was Good Friday. A lovely lady from our church (known to my kids as Mrs Kho, as titles are one of the respect for elders principles we have been talking about in growing kids but more on that later) invited some children from church to her house for a morning tea. With help from her eldest daughter, the kids participated in a 'surprise' easter story where they each choose a couloured egg from the carton which contained a symbol such as bread, a rock, coins, a cross etc which represented elements of the easter story, they talked about it all, then went on a clue hunt to find bits to make a craft which turned out to be an easter memory verse on a 'scroll' and then did a egg hunt. t was such a beatiful morning and all the kids ages 3- 13 were involved and had a great time. I wish i had taken photos but i was so absorbed in watching the kids learning and have so much fun i forgot.
Grace didnt forget she had stashed an egg from the hunt in her bag and silently got into on the car trip home, at the end of which i found her like this...



And lastly, a little testimony of God at work in little ways...
On Tueday last week I was lying awake considering(as i often do) all the things God has spoken to me about- through prayer, prophetic words from people and his word. One thing, at least at one point, i was sure was one of the things i was called to was preaching the word. When i first moved to my husbands church just before getting married I was asked to speak a few times and did the main message once, and then nothing- like from god or church. When i would get asked to speak previously usually God had been stirring up a word in me for a few days so i often new it was coming... but nothing for a while, until tuesday, i was thinking, Lord is that something that was for then (as then myself and my husband were running our youth group virtually single (couple?) handledly so i had to preach at least every second week. So Wednesday, I get the call, can you speak on communion on Sunday... sure- the bible says to be prepared in season and out of season so I will never say no. Lord i will take it that it is not something you want me to let go of entirely just yet. So anyway i pray and get this scripture and work my whole message from the scripture. Sunday comes i give the message and totally forget to give the scripture- reading or reference, don't even realise. i sit down and Ps pete starts his message which ties in beautifully with the worship songs and the communion message and roughly halfway though, ps pete quotes this scripture his word just reminded him of but cant remember the reference- so i read it from the top of my communion message notes. The exact "forgotten" scripture, Col 1:15. GOD is Good, not that it was super important that the scripture was shared because the heart of it was already, but God in all His greatness and wonder, cared enough to show me that He was still going to use me to share His message by confirming to me that i was hearing from Him.

Night shift ramblings

So here I am, on my red eye shifts again, with a little more than a bit of time on my hands, so i am free to write a little about my week. Let me tell you (if anyone is actually reading this), denial and avoidance have served me well over the past few days.
Our hopes of buying our own house were all but quashed in the same week that Grandpa passed away. Did i mention the funeral happened to land on what would have been my brothers 20th birthday, our first without him. oh and it was held at the same memorial park his was. Needless to say i couldn't go. Should i have... yes, did i want to say a final goodbye to Grandpa, yes. Would i have curled up in a fetal position before leaving the car to go inside and stayed there for hours, possibly weeks if i tried to go back - who knows how function at times like these, but i couldn't risk it.

My mum and Dad got tattoos to mark his birthday, i probably would have too accept our pastors aren't too keen on tattoos and i am all for respecting the authority God has placed over us.
My dad got Joe(he is really not a complicated man) and my mum along with a picture she designed with various elements that are representative to her, got the words. 'i love you son, see you tomorrow'. Before you suggest i send out the suicide watch, she said that at his funeral too, i think like me, it is easier to pretend he is just being a little more anti social than usual and we are bound to see him soon than face reality.

So in this week of low points there were a few highlights too, Duncan finally got his confirmation letter for the start of his police academy training in July.

Youth group and Church are off the Richter - we have without exageration doubled in one term (youth that is) and it is all people that have never been in church before, not just collecting extra floaters from other churches,commenly referred to by my old youth pastor as 'sheep stealing' :).

The GKGW course is doing wonders with the kids, we are currently teaching grace the interupt courtesy and respect for elders. Jaeda is all but a new child since adding more structure and boundaries to her day, oh and did i mention my only just 3 year old used the word Incredible in a sentence, in context this week. Last week it was 'enourmous'.

We have the morning tea tomorrow at the Barnardos Mother of the year Awards. I nominated Carly back in January and she has made top 3 in the state. We find out tomorow if we fly to Sydney for the nationals.

Check out this online mag if you havn't already. It has heaps of sweet christian content, blog directory and they support heaps of charities and ministries with free add space. It had over 1 million hits on its last issue, if you weren't one of 'em you must check it out. if you were i know will be keen to check out the new issue. Oh and one of my photo's of esperance is in there :)

Making the Most of it...

There are some advantages to Dad having the odd day off work....







He also got to witness this new development...




now we are off to see the mega outdoor art display at Cottesloe beach, that will be if these girls go to sleep, they have been playing in their beds for a while now... time to divide and conquere.

Jaeda- lye down
Grace- out of shared room, sleep in spare room
Mum- out comes the babywise/toddlerwise/preschool wise books! now sleep section... where is that

not me monday- with a twist

hi i AM J, and i AM 1.

Today i did not get my leg stuck in my cot bars while playing instead of napping, then stick it back in after being rescued to avoid napping some more...

nope i am the an angel...


I did not stuff so much food in my mouth i had to push the last bit in and hold it in


Nope i am the angel



I did not start out perfect in my room time only to pull a huge toy off a shelf and spend the following 25 minutes having a sook instead of developing my independent play skills



Nope i am an angel


I did not hit my sister about 12 times through out the day and get her in trouble for dobbing..
nope and i most definately did not bite my mummy while she was giving me a cuddle and draw blood.
Or refuse to eat any of my dinner,


but then raid all my sisters dinner



I really am an angel


and to top it off i did not make Goo Goo eyes and get all daddies attention when he got home...

Nope i am the angel baby

"not me monday" started in blog land with te original not me post by Mckmama

Ups and Downs

Daddy is at home with us today. The work situation is not lookin good. Praise God he is starting with the police in July but i think it may be a rocky road until then... throws a bit of a spanner in the works of our routine too but thats cool, coz the girls love thier Daddy time. The room time went really well with both girls today, grace went from crying the whole half hour nearly to really enjoying her time to herself today setting up a little doll shop and clothes without being raided by the toddler tornado she calls her sister.
Jaeda was a little unimpressed at first but enjoyed her blocks and stacking cups while G painted in peace. Surprisingly they got along so much better when they played together after.
Tomorrow i will try catch so pics of them and work out how to post them.

We all went for dinner last night for my Cousins 20th. It was a good night and all you can eat went down sooo well with the kids! She was born the same year as my brother and i wonder how long her events will be crowded with the thoughts of Joe would be .... too. For my parents the look on their face is less of a realisation of that, more like every time is something else being stolen from them. Last night they were reminded that they will grieve the loss of a son's 20th celebration, as well as the loss of a son this year. Still it was good to see family and eat rediculous amounts of soft serve ice cream covered in chocolate chips.

Carly, so how far away do you think we can get in September. A million miles away sounds good to me... maybe further.

power struggles

so, lately i have noticed my 3 year old daughter has taken over, i mean under the radar so to speak but whatever i say, she says no, i will do this way/have that one/ do it soon... and my 1 year old(jaeda), well there is nothing subtle about how she rules the house. She is in full tanty mode whenever i require something of her and it's a battle to dress/change/feed/anything her. So i am about to open up a can of baby/childwise on them. I used it when they were babies admittedly not as thouroughly with my second, but with great results. Their sleep is still good as a legacy to that, but now miss 3(grace) needs to understand who is in charge and miss 1 CLEARLY needs more boundaries, seeing as she falls apart the minute her freedom is restricted.

I think if i write this it will help me stick to it, i sooo neeed to stick to it... so here is how it goes.

The gate is back on the bedroom door and each wll have half an hour of room time each day (playing on thier own with clear boundaries and a few selected toys), which will allow me to do an age approriate activity with the other. This will make a pleasent change from miss 1 (Jaeda) grabs paint brush and runs with paint flying on walls/clothes, me/her, or ask J show mummy where is the doggy in the book, only to have miss 3 (G) reach over and point, stealing little ones thunder.

Also, less tv, more structured activities and no more answering back-even subtly.

so today (and todays post) is mostly about them, and not me.