Parenting Check-in...a few days late 2/24

[kona]

[kona]

Let's try this again...

Happy Monday...er Wednesday Parents!



How was your week/end? Anything new going on with your LO's?

Parenting Roster
healz413
Manada
kevinandjesse
foodislove
megd893
calsurb
andstilltrying
jazibel
kh826
karlamo
jgy
sherminator
mahler5
wittyandwaiting
kona
strings
mrsnorris
2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)
jennicole
amberreva
shemarie82
officerofthelaw
ionaerebor
firstcomeslove2013
sdfonz619

serpentine85


QOTW: Let's talk about school. When will you/did you start school with your LO? If older how did you decide between public and private? How about college, will you be paying, will the kiddos be paying or is college not important in your family?

[serpentine85]

Hi,

Can we be added to the roster please?

Little S, now 13mo, is teething and the last few days have consisted of being passed from one person to another as we try to soothe our little girl and keep the household running.

Until then, she was outside walking in her new trainers everyday - She certainly prefers them to the pretty shoes we bought for all the social events coming up (and I like her in them so that her shoes look nicer for longer) The cost of shoes is definitely the biggest sticker shock we've encountered so far. They grow out of them in a few months. £30/pair? Really?

QOTW We had hoped to put S into a Steiner school - there's one local that is one of the new state funded hybrids - but the most recent Ofsted inspection sounded dismal. We are currently researching state schools in our area but private is not out of the question for the right match.

[kona]

serpentine85, added, welcome! Yeah shoes are crazy expensive. We have used Robeez so far (O is 18 months). I try to get them on sale or find them cheaper on Amazon or zappos.com. And we got her snow boots as a Christmas present from grandma.

[serpentine85]

Feb 24, 2016 8:17:39 GMT -5 kona said:

... shoes are crazy expensive. We have used Robeez so far (O is 18 months). I try to get them on sale or find them cheaper on Amazon or zappos.com. And we got her snow boots as a Christmas present from grandma.

That sounds like a good idea.

We had her feet measured in Clarks. Not sure if you have it in the States but in the UK, it's the first place most people think of when shoe-shopping comes up. We figured we could get away with just the two pairs (pretty occassion shoes and trainers) each visit until she gets older but as I said - £30 a pair is shocking. We could eat for a week on that kind of money!

[calsurb]

Morning!
Sarah is 8.5 months old. She's still toothless and hasn't started crawling. She does go from sitting to being on her tummy in one smooth motion. So crawling must be just around the bend. She is a happy baby though. So many giggles and tickles and scrunched noses. She's also been eating like a champ-chicken and rice, avocado, grits, toast, butter chicken, naan, bananas....

School wise: We'd love to put her in a Waldorf school down the road, but it's about 10k a year when she gets into 1st grade. It's also 5 miles out of our way on the way to work. We'll probably use the local school system since we put about $4k of our real estate taxes toward the school district. The classrooms typically have 30 students in one class and that seems horrible. I grew up with 16 in my classroom.

Higher ed: I currently work at a college, so if I stick it out for 17(!) more years, Sarah can attend my school or other schools within the network for free. We'll see if I can make it that long!

[2brides]

See the thread last week about shoes. $70-$90 sneakers.

It has been a fine week. I am hoping this is the end of the bad weather for the season. The kids haven't had a full week of school since the holiday break due to snow, holidays, parent/teacher conferences, teacher work days, etc.

Parent/teacher conferences went well. We've been a bit concerned about C and possible ADHD, but the special ed coordinator observed him and he was on task 85% of time (which is more than I can say for myself.) He self elected to move his desk away from the other kids to avoid distraction when he is supposed to be working independently (there is a lot of group work so he isn't isolated), and we restricted him from bringing books to school since he was pulling a book out of his desk to read when he didn't want to do the work assigned. LOL. So, all in all, there were no overt concerns. G's was fine with the exception we need to work on his writing (he has a hard time going from his head to his pencil.) Based on this, I guess they will be heading to 5th grade in the fall.

QOTD: Kids went to a preschool starting at 3y (prior to that, we had a nanny.) It was fine, but not great and so we put them in a private school for PK4. We really liked the school and ended up keeping them there through 2nd grade. They opened a new public charter school in our neighborhood and both kids got in so we switched to public school. So far it has been amazing. It is a brand new school with good teachers, beautiful facilities, and a diverse population. The school goes through 8th grade (we love that they will be there through middle school vs a going to a huge middle school.) We have no idea what HS brings. Our local school isn't regarded positively and there are crazy lotteries for the magnet programs. We may end up moving..but who knows what they next 4y brings!

We haven't been saving for college. sigh. My dad gave us some money when the kids were born for college and it is sitting there. It isn't much..but hopefully will pay for a year by the time they need it. We will pay some and the kids will pay some. My parents financed my undergrad and L's parents didn't pay for any of hers...so it is a compromise.

[kona]

O is 18 months.

She is still talking up a storm. She has been exposed to more kids in the past few weeks. She seems to be a quiet, chill kid in general with other kids around. She isn't crying when we drop her at the childcare center at the Y anymore, we just get a big pouty lip. She still loves to have books read to her and to be sung too. Our nanny got her on video singing 'rock a by baby' and rocking her baby on video. It's really cute. We took her swimming last weekend, we haven't been to lessons in a few months and she still loves the pool. She gets cold really fast though so it only lasts 20-30 minutes.

QOTW: We have discussed pre school but probably not till at least 3, maybe 4. She has a summer birthday so that might play into things. We looked at Montessori schools locally but they might be out of our budget. We will go with public schools for K-12 if we stay in this area, they are all pretty good and both M and I went to public schools in this area. College is pretty non-negotiable with us. We have an ESA and a 529 opened for O. We contribute what we can for now. My dad puts money in the 529 at her bday and Christmas. I figure we can always bump up the savings once we get closer and are hopefully a bit more settled financially.(Read M is working full time again). My parents completely paid for my college education but M's did not. She graduated with $110,000 in loans (which were a PITA to pay off). We want to avoid doing that to our kids at all costs.

[healz413]

Ellis is now 27 weeks and two days (6 months and a week). She had her 6 month appointment on Tuesday and weighted 15lb 10oz and was 27.5in. Our tall skinny baby is now a tall, average weight baby. I know there was nothing wrong with her when she was skinny but since I struggled so much with my milk supply, it makes me feel good that she has started gaining more weight. I know she's getting what she needs.

We've been introducing solids bit by bit. We are doing fruits and vegetables. We have given her purees and also sticks of things. She likes the idea of self feeding but does not like it when she gets a piece of the food to break off in her mouth. Silly kid. So right now she's not doing much actual eating.

She's developing so many movement oriented skills. Just last night she had her first forward movement. She actually was able to get onto hands and knees (with no pants on so she had better traction) and move one knee then the other. Then she collapsed. It was awesome! She's also loving jumping in our laps while we hold her or in her jumperoo.
She impresses me every day with the things she can do and learn!

Sleep training was such the right decision for our family. She is doing so well sleeping in her crib and we are all getting much better night time sleep. And the fact that she naps in her crib and doesn't breastfeed to sleep makes a huge difference in my ability to not be tied to her at every moment. Since I go back to work March 9, this is really important.

[kh826]

William is 20 months.
Lucie will be 1 month tomorrow! Already!

William has been doing sooooo much better with Lucie (and overall behaviorally). Things were rough for a couple of weeks, but we have found a rhythm, and William seems to genuinely love Lu, and no longer seems angry that she is here. Win!
He tries to share his toys (and his milk LOL) with her.
When she cries he goes over to her and pats her head or her arm and says "It's OK LuLu" -- he has gotten really good about being gentle.
That being said, he is still SUCH a toddler.
Sometimes he has a little attitude that comes out of nowhere.
He still will occasionally pull my or J's hair. Ugh!
Sometimes he listens really well, and other times... NOT AT ALL.
I say about a million times a day "Please use your words. Tell me what you need."
All things considered, William is a super awesome kid, and he just totally amazes me every day. He frustrates me, he challenges me, but the love I have for that kid is so overwhelming and all encompassing. I don't even have words to express it adequately. I am unapologetically in love with my son, and my maternity leave has given me SUCH an awesome opportunity to spend more time with him and be a part of his every day in ways that I haven't been able to be before.

Lucie is such a sweet little girl.
She is a very easy baby.
William was an easy baby, but Lu is even easier.
We are beyond lucky.
She really rarely cries.
She has this funny little grunt/heavy breathing that she does to get our attention (it seems instead of crying). She doesn't even cry when she wakes up at night to eat. I hear her grunting and breathing heavily, and she will rarely cry out before we get her out of her lounger. Which is great, because we haven't had any issues so far with Lucie waking William up at night... she really doesn't make much noise.
She spits up more than William did. We have her on sensitive formula, and that seems to help.
She will skip 1-2 days without pooping, and then she will have 2 or 3 crazy blow out poops. We have already had to throw out a onesie that was not salvageable.
Poor thing has some baby acne that just won't quit.
She is so alert when she is awake.
She started giving us social smiles here and there and has cooed a couple of times the last 2 days.

I feel like I am forgetting so many things I want to mention about both kids... milestones, questions for the wise parents who have been there done that... but I can't remember! I need to keep a notebook where I write things down so that I can remember when I am ready to post. Yea, that's never going to happen HAHA...

QOTW: We will be public school people. There is no way we can afford private school for all of our kids (we want at least 3 in total). We are hoping to move at some point this year, and we have been doing a lot of research on school districts. We have narrowed it down to our top 3 choices, but we will see where we end up.

In terms of when we start school, we haven't decided yet if we will do 1 or 2 years of preschool (start at 3 or 4 yrs old). It will depend on the preschool program we decide on and the cost. Once we have moved and we know where we are located in terms of school district, then we will have to pick a preschool and decide on that. We still have a little time to figure it out...

For college, I think we will pay for a portion and our kids will likely have to pay for a portion (loans, scholarships, etc.). We have a 529 account for William, and we will open one for Lucie as well. We will save as much as we can for our kids' college education, but if we have 3+ kids, odds are we will not be paying for 100% of college for all of them (especially if they go to private 4 yr colleges). But we will see what happens. I don't want our kids to have anywhere near as much student loan debt as I have, but I do want them to have to work for their education in some way. I think we will find a happy medium and do what we can when the time comes.

[Deleted]

School. J started in a local Montessori preschool at 2 1/2. 1/2 days 4 days a week. Last year He started 3/4 days, still 4 days per week, and this year he does full days, 5 days a week. Its about 10k a year, plus the summer program. Its not international or certified Montessori, and ends at age 6. Hes also in the pre K program they have for older kids, which is a more oriented toward traditional school. (A small portion of the day they go to a separate room) So public school next year is a big deal for us. Hes already 5 but a late 5, so he will be nearly 6 when he enters kindergarten.... Long term, he has some $ set aside, but no, not real college plan is set up yet.