Today I shall be Mainly...

[PanBiker]

What sort of exam Julie and where are you taking it, whatever it is good luck.

[Wendyf]

Lovely to hear from you Julie, how are things in Norfolk? The Tempest Arms looks like a good place to stay..shall we all join you for dinner?

[Marilyn]

You could help her with the exam, by standing outside the window with the answers pressed against the glass...

[Stanley]

Morning Jules....
Tiz, no I'm still using the job lot of Imperial Leather I bought in 2001.
Today I shall have to render the 54 pics the kids took with my camera last night, edit them and mail the best to them.

[Wendyf]

Good idea Maz, I'll go and find the answers now.

[Julie in Norfolk]

Level 4 HACCP - Hazard analysis and critical control points. It's a food safety system invented initially by Pilsbury Foundation for NASA to prevent their astronauts getting food poisoning. Hmmmm! I do pick some exciting things to do.

[PanBiker]

Boil it for an hour Julie, that should do the trick.

[Stanley]

Diabetes Clinic at 09:30 and watching it rain from the safety and comfort of my rocking chair as I read Trevelyan.

[Sue]

Where do 4 year olds and 2 year olds get their energy. We were up 2 hours earlier than usual. By our normal getting up time I'd done an hour on the ipad with educational games and an hours cutting and sticking. Then off to Rochdale to a childrens play area in the art gallery, then 30 minutes shopping. Then it was off out to lunch, this afternoon it was pizza making, then bun making then more cutting and sticking. By this time I was dead on my feet and still the kids kept going and it's only 6.00 pm.

[Gloria]

Sue, once they are in bed, sit down, feet up, large GandT, relax, fall asleep

[PanBiker]

Similar position here Sue we have both our granddaughters here till the end of the week a 4 and a 5 year old. Sally took them Pumpkin hunting at Bolton Abbey today (hopefully they will sleep tonight, it was 1 mile out and 1 back). Having said that they are still both bouncing off the walls!

Tomorrow is Blackpool for the lights, and Thursday is Halloween Party planning at ours. Friday the girls and Sally will be up in the Lakes looking at wedding dresses for our daughter Carla, Isla's mum, (the girls are going to be bridesmaids).

Second time around it makes you realise why we have our own kids when in our twenties and thirties.

Got to go, it's bath time.

[Sue]

Bath time over, one in bed asleep, one having a story and just off, as for me the eyes are drooping. As you say that's why we had kids young!

[Stanley]

It's a bit of a bugger when the most important thing you have to do during the day is provide another (and hopefully slightly more impure) urine sample in at the surgery! hat's retirement and a quiet life for you.....

[Cathy]

Sue and Panbiker, I listened to an item on tele this morning talking about some of today's kids that are up to 3yrs old and can't form phrases or sentences because they are spending most of their time on electronic gadgets (computers, tablets etc). Their world is all about plastic buttons and 2 dimensional scenes/games etc. How sad is that - no interacting with people, nature, textures, not knowing their colours, numbers, shapes, no learning speech or words from reading/being read to?? I pity the teachers that have to fill in the pieces. The kids in your lives have a much better world. Enjoy your rest

[Sue]

Two children, non stop chatter. I know the 2 year old only uses single words and phrases but what a vocabulary. She certainly makes herself understood.

[Tripps]

We all think our grandchildren are of exceptional intelligence - and most of them are these days. Here's a short clip with Tom when he was about three. I sound like a bad impression of Jimmy James! He must be destined for politics - "you might want to ask me...."

Tom's Interview.

[Stanley]

Cathy, I think adults have always complained about what kids get up to. In my time it was 'comics'! From what I have seen of my grandchildren we don't have a lot to worry about.... I reckon they have more smarts than I did at that age.

[Julie in Norfolk]

I think it was a Bill Cosby routine talking about parents and children through the ages, where Mozart's father stood at the bottom of the stairs yelling to the young Mozart playing his clavier:"Turn that cr*p down!"

[Julie in Norfolk]

Sorry back to topic, for a lot of today I shall be traveling north listening to exam notes on the way. Yoo-hoo! Thinking about staying over a 2nd night as I may not be in the frame of mind for Friday commuter traffic. Looking for somewhere comfortable to stay, think there's a farmhouse in Barrowford where dad stays from time to time so will give him a ring.

[Sue]

Ah peeeeaaace!

[Wendyf]

Good luck with the exam Julie.

[Cathy]

So I take it that no-one thinks it's a shame that a lot of today's young children don't interact with the real world...

[Marilyn]

I think it is important Cazza!
I also think it is important that kids learn that having fun does not have to involve the outlay of large amounts of cash...that simple things like a walk on a beach or a picnic...or story-telling at the local library are as enjoyable as the latest high-tech gadget. Kids know when they are being fobbed off. They also know when adults genuinely want to spend time on them. The poorest parent can often be the best parent, especially if that parent is inventive and resourceful. A kiddie with a roomful of expensive toys is not necessarily a happy child.

Halloween. Got your sweets ready?
Just had our first little door-knocker at 7.15pm. Little lass, about three years old and dressed as a fairy. She had the biggest stash of sweets I've ever see...in an upturned witch hat...full to the brim! ( she will have no teeth by the end of the week)

[Gloria]

I do Cathy, they don't play the same either. Sadly none of the climbing trees, making dens, learning "safety" through trial and error, almost everything is manufactured play nowadays.

[Marilyn]

And where are all the imaginary friends?
My son had four when he was small.
And the things I used to find in his pockets! Bits of string and all sorts of treasures...