June 2013: Here come the terrible twos!

[HungryHorace]

New thread. :-)

[cuphat]

Thanks Hungry. Just in time!

Is that the fridge phonics set? If so, it's great. I'm learning alongside DD (I never did phonics)!

A lot of what I've listed is from numerous people too.

[Mrs81]

Thank you Hungry
Yes, the separation woes are sad aren't they. I try not to make a fuss of good-byes also. I think it helps a bit!

[SunnyL]

Boom - I'm in.

Ok I've got a day off tomorrow so I'm going to do some panic buying. Thinking of getting her one of those cash registers with the chip and pin pad. She's easily entertained by the self service machines at the supermarket except she keeps trying to take the stuff before Ive paid for it.

[HungryHorace]

It's not fridge phonics I don't think. I bought it before Christmas so can't quite remember. I'll search my orders list on Amazon!

And I've learned phonics from Alphablocks. As you do!

[HungryHorace]

Here goes: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00804BCO6?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[cuphat]

Oh yes, I've seen that one. I don't think you can go wrong with Leapfrog.

That sounds a good idea, Sunny.

[AlohaMama]

Thanks Hungry. We're going for outdoor toys for DDs birthday. She's very physical in her play so she's getting slide plus cosy coupe, few more puzzles, some dressing up clothes, and aquadoodle (not all from us, from family too). And a new rucksack the same as her brothers so she can stop taking his. Probably won't work but worth a try! Don't think we're anywhere near ready for phonics here - she's been a bit slow on the whole talking thing. Too busy climbing, jumping and causing chaos!

[Mrs81]

A spot of reassurance please! DS is reasonably okay with food (for a toddler anyway). But there are times when he refuses dinner. Usually he'll try it before turning his nose up, though not always.
I'm reluctant to turn it into a Thing with him. If he's eaten a bit then I just move onto yoghurt/fruit. If he's basically ignored his main meal then I usually offer him a weetabix. It only happens 1-2 times a week, max.

What do you do when dc has a hunger strike moment?

[HungryHorace]

Same as you; keep offering food til she eats what I think is enough. We refuse to make food a battleground and won't let her go to bed hungry.

We find she will often eat a toddler ready meal if what we've made fails to impress. They're sometimes a touch mushy, but easy to eat and not terrible nutrition-wise. Anything so she's not hungry really!

[Mrs81]

Okay. Then we'll persevere as we are I think. DS is pretty sniffy about toddler ready meals (pity as they would be jolly handy from time to time) so weetabix will have to do Though he has a soft spot for plain brioche which is handy and can SAY brioche which is sooooo cute

It's a tricky balancing act isn't it? His appetite clearly varies from one day to the next - though it's guesswork as to what it will be. Colds and teeth put him off things and sometimes he just doesn't like something. Doesn't stop me trying again another day though! DS's hungerstrikes push my parenting buttons... it's a hangover from when he was younger and gps and hvs were very twitchy about his weight loss/lack of gain. Ho hum.

[HungryHorace]

DD won't eat Weetabix any more, so I'm glad she does eat toddler meals!

The Plum ones from Boots are quite interesting (curries etc).

[SunnyL]

Lil has been going through a fussy phase for months now. I've been reassured by loads of people that it's just a phase but its very trying. She now decides before she even tries things that she WILL NOT EAT THAT. It generally involves a forceful NO and the plate being shoved across the table.

DH and I tend to ignore her for 5-10 mins before we offer her fruit or a yoghurt. Very very occasionally I offer her toast but thats only if she hasn't eaten much at lunch.

I wish she'd eat a more diverse diet as it's truly dull catering for her.

[BeanCalledPickle]

Ocado and sainsburys both do excellent ready meals. Not that bad at all nutritionally and definitely not soft mush at all; think lasagne or spaghetti and meatballs etc. they are excellent. And at the moment as we exist in s zombie state she is eating a lot of these!

[Raeside]

J is fussy but within a fairly ok group of foods, although vegetables are the nemesis and I fear will be for some time.

He east 2-3 Little Dishes every week and I always like it when he does because it means he's eaten (i) some veg and (ii) a fair amount.

Just got his nursery offer for September - can't believe he'll be going to proper nursery but they do languages and yoga and other fun stuff so think I might just go with him.

[HungryHorace]

DD is mostly fussy when her teeth hurt, so soft foods work best for her then. I'm not arsed if she has mush once every few weeks though! She has quite a dull, samey, diet with an over reliance on baked beans at times. But she'll eat them so there we go!

Do the other kids throw their food about? DD is a bugger once she's finished. Have to catch her before she bungs it all on the floor. :-/

[cuphat]

DD will only eat softer foods when her teeth hurt too. But that's only when she's really suffering as she loves her food.

DD just tends to disappear from her table when she's finished. No throwing food on the floor but she does enjoy trying to feed the cats! Sometimes they're not interested but other times they're very keen!

[Raeside]

Hungry - oh my god yes it drives me to distraction - if Joe feels he's finished, whether there's food left on his plate or not, he seems to find it offensive to have it sitting there so dashes it to the ground. Or will take the last piece of food off the plate and then dash it to the ground.

Dog loves it, and thinks all her birthdays have come at once.

[SunnyL]

Yes to throwing food if finished.

Lily also invented a new game the other day which was to open the dog food cupboard and hand it all out. Needless to say both dog and child thought this was HILARIOUS!

[Mrs81]

DS loves to try and feed the cats. Fortunately the wet food is sealed in pouches so he presents them with a sealed pouch and a clean bowl. It probably confuses the hell out of them!

Food throwing happens here too, though his prefered technique is to lob his spoon across the room. Which is why we're still on plastic cutlery!

[cuphat]

Oh yes, DD tries to feed the cats with sealed pouches too - very confusing for them!

[HungryHorace]

We thankfully don't have any animals...they'd be well fed on scraps if we did though as DS loves to throw food almost as much as DD (though he hasn't got to the 'I'm full, throw it ALL!' stage yet. Thanks god!

We've discovered that DD adores spicy sausage meat, so stuff like chorizo and German salami. If she knows we've got any she'll follow you to the fridge and tap your legs demanding 'ham, ham, ham'. Too funny!

[cuphat]

We can't eat anything without DD demanding some. I've never been good at sharing my food but I've had to get used to it! I have to hide before I can eat anything unhealthy so I don't know how that'll work with baby!

[BeanCalledPickle]

Have they given food random names? Polly calls ice lollys mummy nice which confuses nursery no end when she starts shouting for a mummy nice! And more obvious examples like Pop pop for rice crispies. Bic bic and rai rai for biscuits and raisins. We now refer to these things in those terms which is bad.

But then I genuinely thought the residents of Kuala Lumpur were called umpa lumpas until I was sixteen and the lack of correction never did me any harm. Until we got to passport control

[Raeside]

For some reason yoghurt is 'wah-wah' in our house. And snacks are 'nacks'. Obv same as you, Bean, that's now local lingo at our place. We forget when we are out and about. Got some disapproving looks from father in law.

[cuphat]

DD is too grown up for my liking. Only today she started saying helicopter properly instead of hepcopter. Lala for lorry, air-ba for aeroplane and weebix for weetabix have already been replaced by the correct names. And if you do something to make her laugh she tells you you're "silly" . Though she does laugh first at least. I'm disappointed that she says most things including clock correctly. She didn't even babble as a baby but was obviously taking everything in.