December 2006 - Terrible Two's here we come!

[Olihan]

Here we go. I thought the title was apt as ds2 has morhed into a stroppy little horror overnight. His favourite expression at the moment is 'I cwoss with you, I sceam at you AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH' .

Happy Birthday ToddlerJabber and ToddlerEli .

DD is poorly again. I swear every bug in the vicinity has some kind of magnetic attraction to her . She has a bit of a temp, headache and earache today. I need to buy shares in Calpol and Medised I think.

Aoa, hotel is a very good idea - go for a posh one so you can have a vvvv hot, deep bath!

[castlesintheair]

... although DD2 has been "terrible" since she was one ...

[Elibean]

Or 'Terrible Twos here we ARE'

Thanks for b'day wishes, and happy birthday Lucy's ds too! Castles, is dd next? Must look at that list...

dd2 had a wonderful, hugely happy day, blissed out on attention, presents, 'coco CAKE' and 'ballOOOOns'. She had a mini party, consisting of three other toddlers and two of their big sisters (to keep dd1 company), lots of ballOOOOns and coco cake, and far too many presents. She's knackered.

dd1 behaved very well, given all the attention dd2 got, until her pals arrived at which point the three of them trashed her room. I was very calm, very cross, and they spent an hour tidying up and bonding over it - think they enjoyed it

Its so odd, re the 'not babies anymore', no, they're not of course, but I remember two seeming so big when it was dd1, but now it seems so little!

AofA, do do go to a nice hotel - what a great idea. Turn a disaster into a treat, way to go.

[Olihan]

See, Eli, that's why you're going to be the writer and I'm not - I spent ages trying work out how to phrase it I have an English degree and 2 A levels in English, what's happened?

Here's the list:

jabberwocky 22/11 DS
Lucy5 24/11 DS
Calmriver 24/11 DD
Elibean 24/11 DD
Magnolia1 30/11 DS
castlesintheair 30/11 DD
accessorizequeen 6/12 DS
AnneofAvonlea 9/12 DD
Margosbeenplaying 12/12 DD
bebespain 18/12 DS
babypowder 20/12 DD
SachaF 25/12 DS
Olihan 28/12 DS
LenniEd 28/12 DD
Gloria42 29/12 DS
Devongirl 30/12 DS
spina 1/1 DS
Weirdbird 3/1 DD
Indith 11/1 DS

We forgot Calm's Dd too. Happy Birthday ToddlerCalm

I remember us all tapping away impatiently this time 2 years ago, wondering if Eli had had dd2 because she suddenly disappeared . Yet I can't remember where I put the Xmas present my mum sent for ds1. Why is that?

castles, ds2 has been stroppy for a while but he's something else at the minute. Everything is a battle, he's really trying to assert his independence and his speech is now good enough for him to tell me exactly what it is he wants. Which is lovely but if I then have to say the dreaded 'N' word - ye gods, the volume!

He spent the whole of our 40 minute dash round Tesco this morning screaming 'I want to get OUUUUUUUUUT' at the top of his lungs and trying to climb out of the trolley.

But then he snuggles his head under my chin when he's having a cuddle and says 'I love you, Mummy' and I instantly melt and forgive it all!

[Olihan]

Happy Birthday Lucy's Ds too . How did I still manage to miss him out?



Night!

[jabberwocky]

Oh yes, ds2 can totally wrap me around his finger get his way with me. He looks at me and says "I loooove you mommy" and bats those baby blues and I just melt.

[jabberwocky]

I'm numb right now. Two of our friends were killed in a plane crash this afternoon. They were a lovely couple. He was a good friend of dh's and she gave me invaluable advice for ds1, his diagnosis and the ins and outs of looking at schools last year. The world is poorer for their passing I have memories of them at our wedding, chatting at their house and seeing them about town. They had 3 daughters, one of whom was severely autistic. I keep hoping it is some horrible mistake, but I know it is not.

[LenniEd]

Jabber, I'm so sorry to hear that. Are the children grown up or are they still young? The poor things, what a terrible loss.

DD's speech isn't coming on half as fast as all the others. She is getting there slowly but still mainly nouns and possesives. No colours or linking words at all and she doesn't describe emotions. In fact we've only just got a yes out of her!! That said, physically she is way ahead of many of the children we know her age so am sure she'll catch up with talking while they are catching up on other things.

Indith, I wanted to ask you - is it more natural for people to speak the french way and put describing words after noun's? DD always tells us the noun first followed by the few adjectives she knows. Even if I say it back to her the right way round she changes it back again.

AoA - hope you are booking that hotel as I type.

And thank you for the new thread Oli

[LenniEd]

nouns even...

[Indith]

Oh Jabber I'm so sorry. Thinking of you.

Lennied iirc that is perfectly normal, as in "dog black". It isn't totally gramatically incorrect, it is just missing the articles . They'll come later. Sounds like she is saying more than ds though! He is still coming out with a new word pretty much every day but all nouns with the exception of "hot"

[accessorizequeen]

What a tragedy, jabber, I'm so sorry. The poor children, losing both parents

DS2 just the same, Indith & Lennied compared to Oli's ds. Was just worrying about it before actually but will wait for my dad's opinion when he comes next week before panicking any more! Only really because ds1 has a speech issue & is seeing a therapist in Jan again. I notice all the girls at nursery ds2's age talk sooooo much better than he does & more clearly - at the moment it's still wower (shower), augher (water) etc. Don't think I've noticed any verbs, come to think of it!

[AnneOfAvonlea]

Jabber. How tragic

[jabberwocky]

They are 14, 11 and 7 - all girls. The oldest one has severe non-verbal autism.

Dh appears to be almost in denial. I haven't seen him start to grieve yet. He was actually much closer to them than I was and I'm a wreck. Ann was just a year younger than me...

[LenniEd]

AQ and Indith - DD's speech is still not very clear - know exactly what you mean about other children speaking more clearly, all the children I know DD's age pronounce words more clearly than she does. She also tends to only say the first syllable of a lot of words, but repeats it twice so she calls her toy donkey "do-do" for instance.

Actually when I start running through in my head she has quite a lot of words but most of them would be completely indecipherable (should never have attempted spelling that word!) to anyone else. Even DH has a hard time understanding her. I am trying to correct her now as much as I can and it seems to work on some words but not on others - have almost got her saying rabbit instead of ra-ra but can't for the life of me get her to say thank you (comes out as thu-oo). But then she refers to herself as 'me' which is supposed to be more advanced speech and she understands everything you say to her. Think I will ask for HVs advice on it when she has her 2yo review.

[LenniEd]

Sorry Jabber - xposts, took ages to type.

Those poor little girls - are they being looked after? So dreadful for them - we lost my Dad when we were around those ages and it was hard. My youngest brother was about 9 or so and has no memories at all of his Dad , not that I have a great deal. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose both parents.

Dreadful too for you both - I find it really hard when my peers are ill or die, not that it has happened very often but it makes me so insecure about my own existence for a while as well as the grief. Your DH might just need some time - it can take time for it to seem real that someone has gone. When we lost my Dad I don't think I cried for about a year other than at the funeral - it took that long for me to just comprehend what had happened. Look after yourselves.

[jabberwocky]

Thanks, LenniEd - and everyone - I think that is part of it for me. It is such a vivid jolt of one's own mortality. Nick's brother got married last weekend. I imagine that they will be looking after the girl's in the short run. I remember Ann telling me last summer about some good friends of there's and I believe she said they were the girls' godparents. But they don't live here anymore so I wonder how that would work, losing your parents and then being uprooted? I'm sure they had provisions made in some way. The whole thing is just so awful. Eyewitnesses said the plane was spinning as it came down. I can't imagine what it must have been like. That's one of the things I can't get out of my head

[jabberwocky]

"girls"

[Elibean]

god, Jabber, I'm so sorry, how awful. I totally understand the not getting spinning plane out of your head (though someone once told me people tend to pass out quite fast if a plane falls, if that helps) and the jolt to mortality. Horrendous tragedy, especially for the girls...both parents at once is unimaginable.

[Elibean]

Happy Birthday Calm-toddler

And Magnolia-toddler next...

dd2 mixes up all sorts of interesting sentences/words these days, French and English mixed, but none of it worries me. Apart from the 'N' word, and 'aime pas'/'don't like dat' which she has in two languages but only one (loud) volume

[Elibean]

ps Oli, what happened was three kids and not enough sleep, of course

[Elibean]

Though you're still amazingly capable of starting a new thread with a perfectly suitable title

[castlesintheair]

So sorry Jabber, that is awful news. The poor children. I hope there is someone to care for them, especially the autistic one

I have panic moments when I realise I have nothing official in place if both me & DH die. It's especially hard when my own family have nothing to do with me. DH's family are so scattered. God, what a nightmare.

Please, don't worry about speech! I am one of the (unofficial) world's leading experts on this subject . Nearly 2 is still so young. DD2 is way behind most of you though we "converse" very nicely and I'm not worried at all. Lennied, you can email/FB me if you want to .

[Elibean]

I am so tired today that I want to cry. Toddler party hangover?? Unusual, maybe am starting a(nother) cold....

[castlesintheair]

I felt like that 2 days ago Elibean and I've now got a cold. Plus the monthly loss of my own body weight in blood. So much for effing accupuncture

[LenniEd]

No, we have nothing official either Castles. I read a thread about it a while ago this one and DH and I had a good talk about it all and vowed to sort it out, but of course never got round to it. We plan on naming my sister and his Mum as guardians and stating they should make an appropriate decision between them on what would happen, but he hardly has any family, none his age or younger anyway and mine... well you know about mine.. his parents although fantastic are in their sixties... think it would come down to his parents short-term and my sister long-term really but she is hardly local...

And thanks for the reassurance on DD's speech - will lay off worrying for a while. And would of course rather have your advice than HV's if needed since I think they should all be rounded up put to work as road sweepers (polite version) are hopeless. (Sweeping generalisation I know)

Eli - the one thing that makes me feel old is not being able to keep up with DD - a toddler party would wipe me out for weeks hope you are ok, no more colds in your household, I forbid it.

Right, please kick me off here now, I'm going to lose my tesco slot again and will have no way to explain to DH when he arrives home with DD (they've gone xmas shopping - I did a small cheer when they left, terrible mother) that I still haven't done the food shop!

[AnneOfAvonlea]

DD1 didnt really say anything until 2.3. She had about 10 words. DD2 is completely different and is more advanced at speaking now than DD1 was at 2.5 but they do all develop differently. As long as they can understand you and make themselves understood then try not to worry to much at this stage.