Silent Sunday

Dear Diary: & the little one said "roll over".......

It's been all shuffle along one on the farm today for the Polish Banthan chicks. With 9 new born chicks hatching out yesterday timing and planning is everything to ensure no one is left homeless!

The chicks have up to 12 hours in the incubator after hatching to dry out and 'find their feet' before what must be a very scary transition from our laundry room to the nursery house in the chicken enclosure. They have some lovely children to watch over them on their intrepid journey bumping along on the tractor and trailer as the surprise start to the morning feed run!

Timing is everything. The new born chicks only have around 15 minutes out in the open before they would die of cold.....yes even in July! Farmer Nick is quick to prize them out of the caring arms of the children and into the "here's one I made earlier" home under a heat lamp within the nursery house.

Here their ordeal ends, well for the next month at least! Plenty of time to get to know one another and establish who is boss! But what about the chicks they are displacing? It's a case of 'and the little one said "roll over, roll over"' as the month olds came 'off heat' a few days ago in preparation for their big change today.

Brought out into the big wide world for the first time, yet remaining in a designer home as an anti bullying precaution from the etablished ducks and chickens. The chicken world can be a savage place!

And on the merry-go-round we go as the teenage chicks move for the last time in with their adult counterparts down near the river. Again they will remain in their house for a week or so getting to know the grownups with safety around them. Both are curious to say "hello"!

To square the circle, Farmer Nick collects the next batch of fertilized eggs from the food store and carefully washes and places them in the now cleaned and empty incubator.

The laundry room is once again multifunctional! The eggs are labelled up with expected hatching dates,in this case 21st August. I for see another distracting day ahead for me as I hop between the office and the laundry listening and watching the chirping eggs!

Most exciting of all, I am hoping to have live "chick cam" operational for next month so you can tune in and watch with me as they hatch live on our web site! It will be another Coombe Mill first bringing you closer to our lovely farm even when you can't be here!

Silent Sunday

Dear Diary - What happened to the play boat?

A quiet day on the farm until drama unfolds, quick call the fire brigade, we have an arson attack in the play area!



something has really fueled those flames!

Hang on a minute......where is Farmer Nick? I have been subtley mentioning for weeks that the play boat needs some sanding down and repainting. A suspicious farmer's wife might suspect a spot of sabotage going on here! 



Who snuck in with those safety fences?

OK so sanding and repainting is no longer an option for this boat. Instead I can see 1 digger, 2 farmers and a very big hole left to fill, but what with? I just knew something was bubbling under when he spontaneously brought the washing in for me!



He is after something!



Digging to Australia?



It turns out he has been back on eBay and bought a very substantial children's outdoor play wobble board. Well I'm sure it had a more professional name when sold by the manufacturer, but play wobble board or bouncy board is the most accurate description I can manage. To his credit it is in excellent condition and looks sturdy enough to last for years.

"Come on boys, hurry up and see if we can finish this job before I collect the kids from school". (I am becoming quietly excited about this now and keen to share in the action!)

Wow with springs like this even Dad's can have a go!

It's taking shape and we're on to the back filling, just 15 minutes before the children come home "put your backs into it then"........ I'm more than occupied of cause enjoying the sunshine, holding the camera and offering morale support!



A bit more filling this side Ted!

And we are ready! A quick test by me before school run.

  



It's clearly going to be a winner all round this summer. Excited children all came to give it a go.......

All in a days work here on the farm. I know there are more plans bubbling so keep watching and following to see which one lands next......Nick have you caught those wallabies yet? 

Mummy Tips for Potty training - Dry in a week

There is so much advise these days on potty training your toddler it is hard to know what to follow. It’s a bit like maths, there are several possible ways to work out a sum and still reach the correct answer, just some methods are quicker than others! The reality is that by one means or another we have all come through potty training and learnt toilet etiquette.

So why am I blogging on the subject? Simply to share my experience with my own 6 children. Every one of them is different in personality, intelligence, confidence and just about every trait you can think of, yet they have all been potty trained the same way and all been dry in a week. If I am honest, my method is not really mine at all, it is that which was thrust upon me by my confident 1st nanny. After around 10 years as a professional nanny and me as a know nothing new Mum returning to work, I figured I was best to just go along with her recommendation, as like most things, she knew what she was doing and it worked. Long after we moved away from Surrey and our family grew, I still stuck by her tried and tested method so here it is (Thanks Anna, your secrets shared!)

Golden rules

·         Be consistent

·         Once you start there is no going back

·         use incentives like chocolate buttons (usually never done by me)

·         Be patient and clear but don’t make the process an issue

·         Pick a week when you are at home with a clear diary for at least the first couple of days

·         Buy a basic alarm timer and some real toddler pants featuring your child’s favourite characters

·         Your child needs to want to move on to potty training and you need to be committed to making it work for them.

When to Start?

 Typically most are ready between 18 months and 3 years, but don’t panic, I do know of exceptions at either end! My children were all ready to be trained at around their 2nd birthday, this is not important, what is important is that you pick up on their cue as to when they are ready and able to learn. Try too early and you will both be disappointed, leave it too late and lazy behaviour sets in.

Training cue’s

 Have a potty in the bathroom before you start, from around 16 months and encourage them to try for a wee before their bath, no pressure, don’t force the idea or make it a big deal, just encourage the motion, praise them for sitting there when they do.  If 30% or more of the time they can produce the wee then they are probably ready to learn. Other interest in the toilet habits, wanting to see you go or trying to pull off their nappy all the time are other good indicators. I'm sure there are more, you will know your own child best.



Theo is dry big bro here & the triplets nearing potty training as
they play together in our toddler play area



Ready to go, clear the diary and follow my step by step guide:

Day 1

1.       Explain the whole process to your child so they know what to expect

2.       Big boy/girl pants go on in the morning and nappies are out!

3.       Set the timer every 5 minutes. When it rings stop what you are doing and sit them on the potty. Try for just a short wee, no need to wait more than say 15 seconds, if they think there is nothing there that's fine. Repeat for the first hour, any successes reward with a chocolate button or other motivating treat.....they soon get the hang of this game! Keep their fluids up so they can achieve their goal.

4.       Increase the intervals during the first day to around every half hour max - toddlers after a drink will often struggle to go longer. Keep them occupied during the day but not so engrossed they don't want to stop what they are doing for the potty!

Day 2

Continue as for day 1, carry the potty with you if you move around the house or to the garden so it is at hand when the alarm goes.

Day 3 and 4

 Take away the alarm and start the perpetual "do you need a wee?" comment. Keep the reward bit up if you need to but most will be so proud of their achievements and big girl / boy dry pants they won't need the reward, just constant reminding and praise.

Day 5 /6

Go out, visit  LOCAL friend or the park, just remember to keep asking and ensure it is somewhere where you can whip out the potty. If a toddler replies "yes" to the "do you need a wee?" question it means now not in 5 minutes when I find the toilet! 



Our Guy at the beach!



So what about night time?

Give them their last drink around an hour before bed time from the first day of training. In my case it was 6pm milk, 7pm bed. Ask them to do a ‘last wee’ before bed, then invest in trainer pants for bed time, we called them night night pants. They had no other use as we never used them in the day. Allowing an hour for the drink to go through before bed helps night time success. The brain is learning day time control and it will automatically work at night time too.  I found 1 pair of night pants would often last a few days before an accident so you should be well on your way to dry nights all at the same time. Dry nights does take longer, since once the brain can control the night it then has to learn to wake the child when he/she can’t last the whole period and this tends to be the harder bit, much easier when you are already awake! However they will soon be encouraged by some dry nights and I found within a couple of months I could do away with the night pants.



A good nights sleep from 2 caring, sharing brothers!



I am not saying my system is perfect, or that you won't have any accidents, but if you are dedicated to following through with the timer and asking endlessly if they need a wee you will minimise accidents and boost your child’s confidence till they remember to go for themselves.

It really is just a week of intensive training then just gentle reminders as often as you feel necessary. The important thing is to decide to do it and just go for it and not turn back to nappies. If you do feel you are trying before they are ready and it’s just not working, then go back to nappies, take the pressure off you both and try again in a couple of months time or when you think there are some willingness signs from your child. I did have this with my triplets, after ambitiously trying to do them all together I had to concede defeat let one wait a few more months before he was ready.

Good luck and I hope to have been of some help. I would love to welcome you and your toddlers on holiday with us at Coombe Mill Farm pre, post or during potty training. We specialise in holidays for young children, have potties and trainer seats to borrow and real cloth nappies free to try too. All our properties have stair gates built in and are designed with little ones in mind. They will adore our daily tractor rides to help feed the animals, potties welcome aboard!

 I hope to meet  you soon! 

Fiona

note: A big thanks to Mummy Central who allowed me to guest blog this on their site first:
 http://www.mummycentral.com/2011/06/24/potty-training-dry-in-a-week/

On the Farm - Wallabies free to good home?

My husband does have some 'off the wall' ideas about our farm, or is it now a zoo? We have just separated the deer from the alpaca, well we had to really since the poor new born fawn was attempting to feed from the nosey male alpaca who had scared away mum!



Just born and looking for mum


Anyway, with mission accomplished here, a friend then planted the idea of wallabies in Farmer Nick's head! This led to him contacting our friendly neighbour who has a few (doesn't every neighbour keep wallabies?) and was offered them for free, or that was the line I was spun!




A cute addition to Coombe Mill?


.............. surely there is a catch or two!

Turns out the 'catch' is in the catching! We may only be trying to move them by a couple of fields, but these lovely animals can't half jump and are not exactly tame! Nick is busy scheming of the men, the equipment and the time to catch and move these wallabies while I am worrying about the cost of said operation. Watch out if you are coming to stay on any future wallaby catching day, I think it will be all volunteers accepted!

Supposing for a minute these wallabies can be caught and brought to Coombe Mill, where will they go? I think the deer have had enough with the alpacas so who is to share with the wallabies? Farmer Nick has a plan! Apparently the answer to my question is in with the ducks and chickens. However they need 6ft secure fencing and farmer Nick and Ted's DIY electrified chicken fencing is someway short of the mark! An afternoon surfing the web for wallaby fencing suppliers (funnily enough not found in abundance!) finally resulted in an estimated cost of £2000 for the pukka thing....not quite such free wallabies after all but Nick is still sure they will be popular with our guests and I tend to agree!




Watch out chickens and ducks, you may have company soon!

 What do you think? Would you like to see Wallabies added to the farm here at Coombe Mill? Do please post your thoughts and comments for us before we commit to this latest plan.