Trapped toddler parents of the fabled Winter 2020/2021. Puddle suits at the ready..hello Christmas!

[footprintsintheslow]

New thread as the other one is running out.

A place to find find and share ideas of how to get through these crazy times with lockdowns and babies and toddlers.

New members welcome.

Thought I would be fancy and try a new recipe today. DS tried a bit and said he was done then went off to play... I could hear him muttering to himself that he only likes tasty things. Think thats a fail then

@motherofmonsters Oh no! He sounds very sweet though, especially as he said it quietly so as to not hurt your feelings!
This week I made carrot and peanut butter protein balls and he licked it and then threw it across the room :/

Fingers crossed @meow1989

@Motherofmonsters DS pushed his plate away at the table the other night and said ‘no thank you mummy, it’s disgusting’

Yes, I get a lot of "eww, don't like that!" Latest was to broccoli macaroni cheese, which I thought was quite inoffensive .

Not just me who gets the turned up nose then! I gave him a bit of toast and a banana for a snack and he ate it all

I made some absolutely amazing chicken satay dippers tonight, me and DH couldn't get enough of them. Did DD want to even touch it? Nope. Instead all she would eat was the plain boiled rice...

Honestly don't understand kids

We're having salmon, new potatoes and broccoli tonight... Proving much more popular than the mac n' cheese. I don't understand!

@meow1989 we are a 6pm bedtime here and it does sound early but she's asleep in seconds. The reason I put it to six bedtime was I read how much sleep she was supposed to be getting and as she was waking at 4:30am I thought I should bring bedtime earlier as that is the the bit I can control.
Between that and the grow clock we now have 6pm bedtime, 7am get up. We had to set the grow clock at 4:30 the first day and we changed it by 5 minutes each day. Obviously this heavenly set up could change at any time.

@MonkeyPuddle love the toilet roll idea. My mil has her birthday on Valentine's Day so we are doing that.

We did random junk modelling yesterday and went for a freezing walk and collected leaves and sticks. Today we'll make nature wands so thanks for the lolly wands idea from here. I thought she could cut and stick leaves too.

Morning all!

Currently trapped in bed, desperate for a wee bit I have only just managed to get DD back to sleep after a 2 hour on/off/on/off breastfeeding session, I swear she doesn’t understand cluster feeding is supposed to be done during the evening so mummy can drink wine and binge watch Netflix. Get the memo DD! But I don’t want to risk going to the loo as the bed creaks and I’m loathe to wake her. I’ve got a bit of bladder damage from the section so I’m trying to have good bladder habits so I’m going to have to go, don’t want to end up pissing myself again.

Today’s plans are dinosaur frozen tuff tray, making fat bombs for birds (I am determined to make these bloody things, DP used up the bastard bird seed, so now I’ve bought a 3kg bag of the stuff) and making valentines cards. DS has specifically asked to make one for his friend at nursery who’s name I don’t know how to spell, there’s about 5 different options and I’m sure to choose the wrong one. Might ring nursery and ask, is that too much?!

Also does anyone know how I get a birth debrief? I’m not sure that’s even what I need but I need someone with access to my medical notes. I’m at the GP with DD this afty so will ask her but in case she doesn’t have access to the info I need.
I lost a lot of blood during the section with DD (1.7L) and I don’t know why, never thought to ask really afterwards, was more concerned with feeding and healing
But I want to know if it’s something that would make another pregnancy risky before we TTC.

@MonkeyPuddle can’t help with the wine, but have you got an iPad and Bluetooth headphones? I binged Luther at 3-6am with DS1!

Birth debrief - I’d suggest either ringing PALS or the community midwives team. Or if you have a Maternity Voices they could tell you. I’ll send you a PM too.

DS has been happily smashing the shit out of dinosaurs trapped in ice for an hour. A whole blissful hour! And DD is napping in her basket! What is this witch craft!
Admittedly I’ve got no idea how I’m going to clear this up as the tray doesn’t fit through the doors flat 😂
I’ll do another one tonight though, but I think I’ll pop more animals in

So pleased it worked well @MonkeyPuddle! Looks like lots of fun . You must be exhausted from the early start, though! To get rid of the water, angle the tray out the back door onto a corner and then pour onto the back step (we had a similar dilemma ). Just make sure the water doesn't pool on the back step and freeze into ice so the step is all slippery.

I'm thinking I might freeze our Paw Patrol pups into the tray next to add urgency to the rescue!

I don't think I'm going to survive the day. DS woke up at 5 and is having one of his crazy feral days and I've had a broken 3hour sleep last night. DH is working late so I've got a double bedtime as well.

Dh got up and gave ds a prod at 4 then he slept until 6 15! Thank goodness. He came home asleep last night so introducing the clock tonight plus probably a few Korean days of a 4am prod.

Ds is at nursery today whilst I work, though before we left he helpfully mixed up the clean washing with the pile waiting to go in the machine in a big heap because he was "making a Christmas tree". Cheers kid.

Nighmare day so far, the plastic footrest on the pram has snapped whilst we were out which cause ASD son to have a full on meltdown. Resulted in me having a cry too! I've contacted the manufacturer but they want £60 to replace it, I only paid £40 for the pram second hand

I hope everyone else is having a better day :)

@MessAllOver I’ve gotta get the tray from the front room, through the kitchen to the back door, was easy when frozen 😂 I’ll Chuck a towel in it. DS is currently playing swamps in it.

We made fat balls for the birds. DS ran off before I could get his lard and bird seed encrusted hands washed so I will be finding bird seed through the house for all eternity.

Booze for us all.

1 hour and 15mins to go until I can start bedtime! It's like the day that never ends. I've been a horrible mum today and I just can't wait to start again tomorrow.

@Motherofmonsters big hugs lovely. Minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day sometimes. Roll on bedtime eh. Do you have Netflix? Mindful have an introduction to meditation on there, it’s only about 20 mins but a bit of time just breathing once they’re asleep might make you feel better, it does for me.

I’ve had the baby back at the doctors, she’s started losing weight now with the reflux so she’s getting referred into paeds, which is probably a good thing.

@MonkeyPuddle. That sounds a bit of a struggle...ours lives next to the back door . Hope you and @Motherofmonsters get the rest you need tonight...Lack of sleep in the early days can make everything so, so grim.

@Messalover can 15months still count as early days! I thought DS was a bad sleeper but DD has overtaken him.

I'll take a look @monkeypuddle, a bit of mindfulness is just what I need.
Must be a bit scary for little one to be losing but they'll be able to help

DS2 has slept in his cot every night since he was four weeks old (now six months). Except this week he’s decided he doesn’t. He cries the second his head touches the sheets. Last night he deigned to sleep for an hour curled up with me, head on my arm, for the rest of the night he screamed in any position other than me holding him to my shoulder while sat bolt upright. I’m getting broken by it, don’t know what to do. DS1 was a terrible sleeper, it broke me for the first 18 months. I’m not sure what I can do if this one suddenly heads down the same road! I’ve got his cotbed set up and am praying that he’ll be able to roll on to his tummy and then might sleep. Or that this is developmental, or teething, or tummy ache as he gets used to solid food, or anything that means it’s a phase.

And he drools so much that I have to change my top three times a day.

Aaargh! Babies, aren’t they fun...

@wesearchedthere - DD would not go in her cot when teething at that age. She would automatically cry if she felt herself being lowered. It would last a while then she would go back in, hopefully it's the same for you.

Today is a much better day, DD did a nice 3hour stretch before waking at 4. 45am. That's enough for me to feel like I've had a good sleep. The PILs are having them this afternoon, I know the bubble is meant to be for work/appointments but we all need a bit of space from each other

This has been a big hit think it was fb lockdown page I saw it on. Freeze playmobil or similar figures in muffin tray to make ice rink tuff tray

Can anyone recommend a good bubble blower please? Currently have one similar to the one attached but its rubbish, bubbles pop before they're even released into the air! Also have to refill the pot after a couple of minutes which is very tedious.