Share your updates :)

[OmarsMum]

How is it going with your children? How is school?

Omar is doing great! We received his school report last week, he is improving socially, he loves school and his teacher.

He is finally sleeping in his own "bed", I moved his bed mattress to our room & I moved him 2 weeks back out of our bed. We have a full week with him sleeping over the night without waking up or ending up in my bed. I'm planning to move him to his room in March during the school holiday.

When he comes back from school he is so active and doesn't seem tired loool, he started swimming classes at school last week and karate this week. He loves both classes.

He rarely shouts or gets angry which is a great thing, earlier he used to get angry for the silliest things.

He started to dress and undress on his own, he doesn't need help to use the toilet anymore, he is finally getting more independent.

He listens and doesn't argue a lot anymore

He is very well behaved in general and so sweet and affectionate

He always have new ideas and he asks to read about new things, he loves learning.

I love this age!

 

[EcoMama]

My son is also 5 and I too think it is a fab age

My boy is so loving and affectionate, i get smothered in kisses everyday

He's loving his school, but doesn't like doing 'school' stuff at home like practise reading & writing. He is very in to fact books at home though and retains so much info it's crazy!.... Currently he's obsessed with the sea and countries.

He still sleeps in my bed with me, oh and our dd, so a bit cramped but we love it!

He is very active and can be a bit boisterous but very normal for his age. He also takes a while to come out of his shell, but once he is he's very sociable, but introverted just like his dad!

We are struggling with trying new foods atm, he's alao no good ar tidying up after himself (my fault) but he can get dressed/wash etc independently.

I also trust him 100% when we're out and about, he's very sensible

 

[aimee-lou]

Earl loves school too (although he's off sick today ) He got a stunningly good report in November and we have another report due after half term. He has been attending maths club after school and does a multi-Ω`sports club one lunch time per week. We currently don't do anything extra-curricular as we are hoping we'll be moving house in 6ish months so I don't really want to sign up for anything then not be able to carry on. He's happy enough at home though.

His interests - he has lots. He's good with computers/games and enjoys puzzles, dot to dots and mazes. He is good at ice skating, and likes riding his bike and scooter. We took his stabilisers off last summer and he's doing great.

We have been having a few teenage strops recently but I think that's more to do with learned behaviour from school combined with a bit of frustration as hubby is working away in the week at the moment until we move so obviously there are times where we can all be out of sorts. Majority of the time though, he's a sweet, good natured and well behaved boy. He's eager to try new things - even food now which is an improvement.

I'm very excited for him. His reading and maths are coming on a treat and his drawing skills are coming along from where they were - he takes after me, I'm not that great lol . He likes reference books, especially about animals or space. We are reading classic kids books at the moment - we've read Fantastic Mr Fox and now are reading The Sheep Pig at bedtime.

He's very considerate to his brothers. They are a handful at times and considering that they all share a room and don't really get a lot of personal space/time due to the size of the house, they get on well lol.

Anyway, I've whittered on enough.

 

[OmarsMum]

EcoMama- you are describing my son looool, he also hates school work, he doesn't like to read school books and I don't blame him, they are boring. He doesn't like to practice writing but he spends a lot if time writing his own stuff, he also loves factual books.

We also struggle with food, he eats 5-6 cooked meals only so I cook those over and over, he will not try anything new, he doesn't eat any raw foods but he likes green smoothies so I add anything and everything to those.

I love co-sleeping but Omar moves a lot while sleeping and our bed is high so I used to spend all night awake moving him back close to me, hubby doesn't sleep with us in the same room, and I'm tired from the lack of sleep, moving him to the mattress on the floor was the bed decision we took loool

 

[OmarsMum]

Aimee-lou- sounds like Earl is doing great! The only toys Omar will play with is his cars. He loves role play and he makes up his own games, he loves to "teach" his stuffed toys.

He also like UNO and junior monopoly.

Omar is also not so good in drawing but he is improving. He's doing well in reading and math and he's assessed separately in class as he's a bit advanced compared to other children in class.

He loves his scooter but he's not ready to ride his bike without stabilisers yet. He loves football those days.

He's obsessed with speed and car signs, we have speed limits and road signs on walls all around the house loool.

 

[Abigailly]

Niamh was 5 in November and this is definitely my favourite age so far.

She loves the social side of school but she hates homework. It has been a battle since day 2.
She is so sociable. She has so many friends but thankfully her 2 best friends are the daughter's of the 2 women I've become friends with.

She has a very busy week, she does Swimming on a Monday, Judo on a Wednesday, Rainbows on a Thursday and Rugby on a Saturday. She loves them all. Today she had her friend over after judo and they were teaching me how to throw someone over your shoulder if they come from the front...

She is so chatty, I love that I can sit in the car with her and have proper conversations. She chats about everything. She likes playing the 'What's your favourite..." game Where you ask questions like what's your favourite meal/colour/sport.

She's a rugby fanatic. She's had a calendar up on her wall for 3 weeks counting down the days until the 6 nations. We attend all Edinburgh home games and she's met the majority of the players. They greet her by name. She's met them because she was noticed by the coach one day when we were sitting near the box and she was up on her seat roaring at the Ref "No try, Ref!!! Clearly a forward pass. No try!!"... she was right and the coach asked her to go sit in the box with them. She loved it and for her birthday was sent a card off the players!

She is not a girly girl at all. She hasn't wore a dress in almost a year except for her Christmas party. But she loves a pamper day with me. I take her when I'm getting my nails done and they give her a mani/pedi. She also loves clothes, she can put some brilliant outfits together and definitely has a style.

Although very boisterous she's still quite sensitive. She can et quite upset if she feels she has been done wrong by and hates people seeing her cry. She's still not affectionate though. She doesn't do cuddles really and hates kisses. She will sit on my knee, which is her kind of a hug song as my arms don't surround her.

Her teachers are fairly sure she has ADHD but we'll deal with it if it ever becomes an issue.

 

[Jchihuahua]

What a lovely thread. So nice to catch up !

Daisy turned 5 in December. She enjoys school but was definitely happier at pre-school which worries me a bit. She seems to have become more introverted than she was when she was younger which also concerns me. She tells me very little about her day so I don't know much about what she does or who she plays with at school. She seems to have friends and her teacher says she does but again she keeps it all very much to herself. She used to be extremely sociable and a total chatterbox and I don't know why this has changed. She is now very shy with people she doesn't know and drives me mad when she clams up and refuses to speak as she never used to do that.

She is very able academically, especially with reading and maths. She is reading a book band that they usually read in Year 2 and can read pretty much anything. She could pick up The Times and read it but obviously the comprehension wouldn't be there! Her teacher wanted to send her to Year 1 for her literacy work but I didn't want that as socially she wouldn't enjoy it and she would feel uncomfortable. She is left handed and has an awkward pencil grip and her handwriting is a bit untidy. She doesn't enjoy writing as much as reading and I don't push her.

She has been going to a ballet class for a few years now but I think we're coming to the end of the line with that as she isn't as interested as she used to be. We are going to start swimming classes after Easter.

She had terrible terrible tantrums as a toddler and was incredibly challenging, to the point of me looking into behavioural disorders at one point! It is almost hard to imagine that was the same child to be honest!! Her behaviour is very good now. She is still extremely sensitive and can be emotional and she cries easily but she never tantrums or shouts or gets angry and she is never defiant, cheeky or rude. She is very loving and affectionate and must tell me she loves me about a million times a day! She is very patient and kind with her little brothers and very gentle and caring towards our pets.

She has never been a good eater or sleeper and this still continues! She wakes at least once every night and is always wide awake at 5am but stays in bed and reads books until we get up. She has a small appetite and her 1 year old brother eats more that her!

She is currently undergoing allergy testing at the hospital as she has an insect venom allergy amongst other allergies and will probably be prescribed an epi pen at her next appointment. Physically she is very tall for her age but very skinny so we can never get trousers to fit her! The ones that fit her long legs just fall down around the waist and the ones that fit her around the waist are way too short in the legs!

 

[EcoMama]

Jch.... I also don't get much info out of ds regarding school: what he did, who he played with etc! I think that's normal. Do you have mamy play dates after school? I was worried ds wasn't interacting with classmates but after christmas we invited his 1st classmate over and it was great!... It gave me an insight to how he is in school
My son is also a lefty, he is having extra help for this in school as he weites some letter the wrong way round, I'm a lefty too but I can't help him as he refuses to do any at home :/

 

[RachA]

Esther was 5 in October.

She's settled into school well and her learning has exceeded our expectations. She's actually able to recognise the numbers 1-9 and she knows about 8 or so of her letters. She even knows a couple of words like is and it to read. The only letter she's able to write at present is an E but she does try to write others!

We are fortunate because we have a book that comes home each day that tells us any info that we might need to know. It doesn't go into great depth so we don't know who she's played with but it gives us enough to ask her questions.

She doesn't appear to have any set friends as yet. She's been invited to a couple of parties but not been invited to anyone's house to play. But then we haven't invited anyone to ours because we're still in the midst of an extension and do there isn't anywhere for them to play.

She just has swimming lessons after school. I keep thinking about Rainbows for her but can't make up my mind.

Can't think of anything else really at the moment.

 

[Neko]

Anyone want to hear me update about my teenager?

 

[Kiwiberry]

Riya is doing wonderful!
I think she smiled at me for the first time today.

 

[Natsku]

Maria just turned four a few days ago. She's been having a lot of trouble lately with her behaviour - she is very defiant, gets into incredible rages and can be very violent with me although thankfully she's not violent with other children. She's seeing a child psychologist about this, and we have a family support worker starting in two weeks time to come round once a week and help.

She's also a bit behind socially so she's just started going full time to daycare to try and improve her social skills and a bit behind with her Finnish language skills (although that's to be expected with the bilingualism - she also makes a fair amount of grammatical errors in English too but I don't know what's normal for her age in that really)

Despite her anger problems she is really very loving, she cuddles and kisses a lot and is overjoyed at even the smallest thing (she went crazy happy yesterday when I told her I made some sausage soup for her ) and she's a budding comedian, always trying to make people laugh.

We've just started taking her ice skating and she has great balance and no fear - doesn't quite get the idea of actually gliding the skates along the ice but runs around like a lunatic. Also started skiing - going to see tomorrow how she can handle going downhill.

She loves sledging and sliding down hills on her bum, belly, back - whatever. Even sledgeboarding (standing up on the sledge) which she is a natural at - I'm thinking I ought to get her a snowboard next!

No academics yet so she doesn't know how to read or anything but her drawings are starting to look more like things now rather than scribbles and she is especially good at painting with watercolours.

She lives in her imagination a lot and loves acting out things with her teddies or even just her hands and comes up with very amusing stories like going ice skating, getting hurt and needing to go to the pharmacy to get a plaster but then she realises she has no money so she has to go to work to earn some money

Not sure if I'm liking this age yet or not, I like that she can communicate much better but sometimes I'd like a break from the constant talking and asking questions!

 

[hattiehippo]

Tom turned 5 at Christmas. We had his second parents evening last night. So far his teachers have a pretty good measure of him - bossy and likes to be in charge!

He's doing pretty well at school overall. He is much more confident now and goes happily into assemblies and lunchtime. He also copes with doing lots of different things at school. Maths and numbers are his real strong point - he's achieved all the reception maths targets and is working on yr 1 targets now. Reading and writing are coming but more slowly - he can now sound out 4-5 letter words which I'm really pleased with considering he couldn't even put c-a-t together in September. He has lots of friends and generally plays and shares well but does like to be in charge!

At home Tom still has very difficult moments and he still gets angry very easily. The awful tantrums that he used to have are rare now but he still doesn't compromise or back down easily and we often have to diffuse situations as he has totally dug his heels in and won't budge. He can be rude and cheeky like most 5 yr olds but generally is a very kind, caring and lovely little boy

 

[Lauraxamy]

My LO is five in April and hasn't long started school . I love this age too - I feel like I have a mini best friend!

She absolutely LOVES school, she's very enthusiastic about it and about learning. Every night she brings home a new book and we have to read it - she insists! Also can't believe how much her writing/recognising words etc has come on now. We're hopefully putting her in for some school clubs soon but I'm just letting her settle in for a bit first. We have her first parents evening in March so I'm looking forward to that.
She also has a little best friend who she never stops talking about which is lovely - they're like little old women together
We've been looking at joining some dance lessons and swimming lessons which start after Easter time so she's very excited about that!

Behaviour wise, she can be a diva and throw some good strops but I mostly just ignore her because I find she gets over it quicker.

I'm so proud of her lately. It's lovely seeing her grow and become her own little person now.

 

[dani_tinks]

Aww, i'm loving all these updates. Especially as I remember many of you from the Trimester boards.

Jacob turns 5 on Sunday. He's very excited and believes he is very grown up now!
He's loving school, although he does find it very tiring. He's getting better at eating school dinner, and he's made some firm friendships already. I gather he's a bit of a daydreamer though, but he's recently gone up a stage in reading and he's getting there with his writing.

He's recently started to swim independently. We've been with Waterbabies since he was about 9 months old. Been through lots of water wobbles and tantrums, but all of a sudden it's just clicked. His favourite place to be is in the water/underwater .

Behaviour wise, he's a smarty pants and quite bossy, but also very affectionate and sensitive. He has a fantastic vocabulary and is wiser than his years. He is possibly the most stubborn person I know though!

 

[EcoMama]

Natsku are you in finland?.... I love how they don't start school until later and there's more emphasis on being outdoors and socialising and sport in the early years. My ds would definately benefit

 

[pandacub]

Natsku are you in finland?.... I love how they don't start school until later and there's more emphasis on being outdoors and socialising and sport in the early years. My ds would definately benefit

I am very jealous of the system they have over there!

 

[Natsku]

Yeah I am. It is great, the system here, Maria spends hours outside every day at daycare playing freely, and no worries about having to learn to read or write yet (although quite a lot learn to read before starting school by just naturally picking it up - my OH's little sister is 6 and started preschool this year and she could already read to a certain degree before starting and she definitely does not get taught by her parents)

I live just round the corner from a school - every hour the kids are outside playing for 15 mins, its lovely to see.

 

[alibaba24]

My daughter Rosalie just turned 5 a few weeks ago and has just been given a place in a language unit nursery class 4 months before she finishes in her mainstream nursery lol. she has a significant language delay/disorder and her receptive language is not good although shes doing so much better than i ever expected asking and answering questions. chatting etc. she has been independantly toileted trained for a long time but we still have issues with buttons need to work on it before starting school. She already knows more than whats required for p1 academically but needs some work on her writing skills. and I think she is going to still struggle socially until she is more confident with her language, she is a very social little girl just that language barrier gets in the way. thankfully she has outgrown most of her sensory issues too not even sure wht caused them yet she's being assesed and has a review in march

she is a very sweet and cuddly girl we still have the occasional strop but shes starting to realise how silly she is being sometimes she will start crying and moaning and i just look at her certain way and she bursts out laughing

phew! x

 

[CaptainMummy]

Paige was 4 last month. She is a fantastic big sister to her two little sisters. She is very affectionate towards them, but not overly so.
She is really enjoying nursery, and has totally come out of her shell since she started in March. We were at a childs birthday party today and it was lovely to see her smiling and playig with so many children. When she started nursery, she wouldnt have done that.
She is able to recognise and write numbers up to 10, and is learning to recognise more and more letters all of the time. She is amazing at art, and her nursery teachers cannot believe some of the stuff she draws.
She enjoys playing with her barbies, and little figures,and is forever making them speak to each other (in an american accent, of course!)
Her attitude stinks, sometimeS. She answers back, doesnt listen, has an excuse for everything... Typical 4 year old stuff

She is obsessed with dresses, and i dont remember the last time she didnt wear a dress or skirt. She insists on wearing a pinafore to nursery and even on gym hall day,she wears a skirt as well as her leggings!