Hi all
Sue - Your decorating sounds lovely

OMG to the car. Glad the shop are going to pay for it!
Amanda - Awww, first bed time

Sounds lovely. And if you're going to do it, well, you've gotta do it properly and get the matching furniture too

Funnily enough, I was only thinking about when to move Ben to a bed this morning. Don't think he's ready though yet as he hasn't even attempted to climb out of his cot and seems perfectly happy in there. I didn't move Jack until he was almost 3, but that had a lot to do with me being pg with Ben, having an extension being built for Jack to move into and not really wanting to change the nursery around too much as Ben would shortly be moving into it. So probably wouldn't have left it so late if I hadn't been pg. I have a feeling Ben will be around 2 and a half though before he moves into a bed. Will be strange re-decorating the nursery as that room's been that way for so long now, but it has been 5 years almost, so it does need redecorating now anyway, so what better excuse. Will be strange to see it looking all boy like though as opposed to winnie the pooh, lemon/natural baby type colours.
Mel(FC) - Did you make a decision on potty training Tarnnia afterwards?
I didn't start properly with Jack until he was 2 yrs 7 months, but he had been doing a wee on the toilet before a bath for a couple of months before that and was definitely ready. He was sorted within about 2-3 weeks then and we only had the accidents from the first few days of training to clean up. Did night time training then at 3 and he was more than ready, and we never had a single accident (was so panicked the first night, but he stayed dry). I'm dreading training Ben. It's just the one thing I am not excited about as a developmental stage. So, am planning on leaving it as long as possible again and aiming for around 2 and a half as the main training stage, but introducing the toilet and little toilet seat for him to sit on as soon as he starts showing a curiosity about what I'm doing when I use it. I tend to completely skip actual potties, don't see the point in them when they then have to get used to a toilet anyhow, so I just go straight to the toilet.
The thing is, you know Tarnnia and if you feel she's showing signs then there's no harm in trying her, you may be surprised and have an early trained child - it does happen - but if it doesn't work out, don't stress, just leave it for a little while longer and try again. I think the best approach to toilet training is a relaxed one. I think the first signs are definitely when they recgonise that they're going, and they tell you, but they also need to be mature enough to be able to recognise before they need to go and to hang on for a bit until they can actually get to a toilet, pull their pants down, etc. If the ability isn't yet there to pull down pants and hang on a bit etc. then you may get more accidents/it may take longer to actually get them dry.
When I started Jack I initially decided that he was out of nappies and that was it, but it got way too stressful with the accidents all day, so changed my mind rapidly and decided to put him in pants (didn't use pull ups as they're too much like nappies and confusing in my eyes) in the morning when we were all not tired and unstressed and sat him on a care mat to play with toys, and just took him to the toilet every 20 mins or so. Tried not to go on and on at him about needing a wee. He had a couple of accidents on the care mat, but this just drew his attention to the fact he didn't have a nappy on. Then in the afternoons I'd put his nappy on him and take him out and about and get on with what we needed to. After around a week he was just going to the toilet in the mornings himself without being told, so I progressed to no nappies in the house, and this worked great. After about a week of that, we chanced going out with no nappy on - very scary! but again, it was fine and he just asked for the toilet when he needed it. I just made sure we were always close to a toilet initially, and just took a pack of disinfectant wipes with me to clean the public toilet before he sat on it.
No major news this end. Went on Jack's nursery school trip the other day to Noah's Ark in Bristol which was good fun. Only allowed Jack and one adult on the coach, so dh took the day off and went on the coach with Jack and I followed on in the car with Ben. Seemed a shame for Ben to miss out on going to such a place, and it was nice to have another family day out.
Boys are in the paddling pool at the moment, with dh supervising. I came in to watch Big Brothers Little Brother, but ended up on here instead
Bought the last bits of Jack's school uniform the other day. Decided to get it all early as the shops are stocking it now and I bet most mums with children starting in September will be feeling all excited and buying up the aged 4-5 stock. Although, saying that, I've bought Jack aged 5-6 as he'll be 5 in October and is tall for his age anyway, so that should suit him fine. The stuff with the logo on that I've had to buy from the school definitely has plenty of growing room in them - with jumper sleeves and length almost down to his knees

All kids look baggy, with turned up cuffs, etc. on their first day though don't they? Gotta have growing room

Especially when it's costing £9.00 each for school logo polo shirts and jumpers, and they need 5 of each. At least I was able to buy his trousers from Asda at £4 a pair and sports shorts cheaply too

Just need to get him shoes now, but obviously will wait until just before he starts to get those. Also will have to fork out for sports tops, but have to wait until he starts school to buy them as they get separated into 'houses' and will have a polo shirt embroidred with his particular 'house' colour.
Still feel very emotional about him starting school. Just going to make the most of the summer with him, because after that, afternoons out with both my boys are limited only to weekends

(when of course everywhere is twice as busy as during the weekdays), and it's going to be soooo odd going out and about with Ben each day to places like the wacky warehouse, the park to feed the ducks, walks on the beach, etc. with no Jack in tow

Such an end of an era, but on the positive, the begining of a new one - particularly for Jack, and I'm sure he's going to love every second of it
Jayne x