Trapped toddler parents: Inspiration and support needed through the summer hols!!

[PinkDaydreams]

Following on from the previous trapped toddler thread!
Sorry for rubbish title!

@PinkDaydreams, yes he is still fenced off, it's a bit of shame really I think.

Sounds like you've had a lovely day. Hmmm, yes, it's not support to be great the rest of the week. DH is supposed to be taking DS1 to the Liverpool World Museum tomorrow. I think it's a bit much for DS2 so I think I'll take him to Asda, which he absolutely loves! .

DS2 is having really bad nightmares at the moment :( the other night he dreamt that a spider came out of his mouth and went down the steps of his bed. Then last night there was a monster that went down the slide and hid in the cupboard. DH had to check the cupboard. Then he said at nursery that he had a dream that his leg was gone! And there was one about pressing the button to cross the road but then the button went into the road and nobody could get it back because there wasn't a button on the crossing any more. He says he doesn't like dreams because they're scary :(

DD has had a cough for nearly 3 weeks now. She's coughing really badly this evening and is really struggling to sleep. She's coughing while breastfeeding to. I've given her Calpol, vapour rub and have the plug in on. Is there anything else I could do. Doctors aren't interested as she has no fever and is okay in herself.

Sounds like a lovely day @pinkdaydreams. Your craft sounds more productive then mine, sequins and glue everywhere.

That sounds awful @bertiebots, is he anxious about anything? DS has started having night terrors but doesn't seem to remember anything.

@Chocolatetrifle gruffalo trail sounds good, although shame he's fenced off. I need to find a localish one to take the DC to, DS2 loves the gruffalo.

@BertiBotts oh no, poor DS2. DS1 went through a phase of night terrors after we moved house when he was 2.5. Luckily he couldn't remember anything in the morning.

Aah poor DD @Motherofmonsters. My DM swears by hot water lemon and honey for throat/chest stuff. Might be a bit tricky persuading a toddler/preschooler to drink it though. I tend to give the boys lots of toast and honey when they are unwell (honey is meant to be a natural antiseptic).
The other thing that might help is sleeping with the window open just a bit. DS1 always coughs a bit in the morning if it was stuffy overnight.

We are all having a nice time in Italy thank you DS2 got baptised yesterday, so we got to see everyone all together. Met my cousins teeny 8 day old (she was the godmother) and my gran got to see all three sons in the same room for the first time in a years which was lovely for her (they live in 3 different countries) The boys had a great time, especially afterwards when we went down to my (local) uncle's allotment to roast chestnuts and admire/stroke the local goats.

Today or tomorrow we are attempting to climb DS1s first Alp - just need to find someone to borrow a rucksack carrier off for DS2.

(Gosh, sorry that was an essay! Feel free to ignore everyone is still asleep so I can't turn the light on and get up and do stuff)

Sounds like your having a lovely time in in Italy @camomila. It must have been a bit emotional to have everyone all together after being in different countries. Very ambitious to do some mountain climbing.

I've got some honey so will give honey and toast a go. My throat is feeling funny so I may have to have some to.

We're off to a friend's house for lunch today and then will probably pop in my mum's on the way home. It's meant to be pouring with rain all day so won't be going outside anywhere.

@Camomila, what a lovely photo. It sounds like you are having a fabulous time there. Good luck for your trek.

@Motherofmonsters, it's really frustrating when the doctor just says it is viral and can last up to 6 weeks or if they say the chest is clear when they are coughing continuously. It sounds like you are doing all you can. Is it definitely not on her chest? if it doesn't go off perhaps take her again to see if it is settling on her chest because things can change. Hope she feels better soon.

@BertieBotts, sorry to hear about the nightmares. My DS1 is sort of having a few at the moment too. He was frightened about a Halloween Shaun the Sheep episode the other day.

Hope everyone has a good day. DS1 is going to the museum with DH so DS2 and I are going to potter about and go to Asda.

She's not to bad in the day it's just at night, they've said it's probably nasal drip. I'll see how she gets on and try again if it doesn't improve.

Hope they enjoy the museum and you have a nice time pottering about with DS2.

@Motherofmonsters . Have you tried raising the end of the cot with some books or something similar? I find that can help too.

I haven't but I'll give it a go tonight.

Pretty sure this is bad parenting but they are putting stickers on each other while I drink coffee

@Motherofmonsters

I haven't but I'll give it a go tonight.

Pretty sure this is bad parenting but they are putting stickers on each other while I drink coffee

That to me sounds like multi tasking, not bad parenting!

Just catching up on all the messages.

Sorry to hear DS2 is struggling with nightmares @BertieBotts, DS has some nightmares but he's still a bit young to tell us about them and I don't know if he remembers them.

@Motherofmonsters agree with the raising the bed, if it is nasal drip it helps to be a bit more upright I think. That's what we usually do with DS, he's very similar when he has a cold - doesn't cough a lot during the day but coughs loads at night. Hope DD gets better soon!

@Camomila sounds like a lovely time! I read your post first a bit fast and thought the 8 day old was the godmother good luck with the climbing!

DS has been waking super early (5am) recently and just won't go back to sleep even though its obvious that he's really tired...he just lies there on the couch/walks around after me complaining. Any ideas what it could be? Though maybe he's just not a morning person...he sleeps for like 10/11 hours at night and another 2/3 in nursery. And nursery say he's happy and active. These little people are so confusing!!

@Motherofmonsters, good for you. It's good to let them just be.

My DS2 has been cleaning the patio window with a spray and cloth. Luckily he's now having a nap. Whilst everyone else is out I'll now get a bit of peace!

@squishymamma could be the dreaded sleep regression.

I'm not looking forward to our clocks going back on Sunday morning. No doubt we'll be back to being up at 5 too.

Not sure if he's anxious. Obviously we've just had a baby and he was worried about me going to hospital at that time. He isn't very happy about the idea of toilet training either - maybe just lots of changes going on all coming together with a developing imagination.

Apparently early waking can be too much sleep over the 24h so he might be ready to drop/shorten a nap or need a later bedtime?

Lovely picture - Italy is so beautiful.

I just want to say that I'm very much looking forward to bedtime tonight. Boys are lovely (and hard work) etc but yes, I will be glad when it's bedtime.

@Chocolatetrifle I completely understand that, I often have those days - I enjoy being with DS, but it saps so much energy that the peace I get when he goes to sleep is just heavenly!

So what time do all your DC go to bed then? DS is now 20 months, and it actually didn't occur to me that I might need to push his bedtime a bit later. He currently goes to bed at 7pm, so gets a good 10 hours at night...with 1 or 2 wakings that are literally put-dummy-in-and-gently-lie-him-back-down 2 minute jobs. He's just so knackered in the evening, I'm not sure we'd manage to get him to stay awake longer!

@squishymamma DS2 is 22 months, he goes to bed about 8 to 8.15, he will sleep until about 6 with about 3 or 4 wakes at the moment where I give him a drink of water or sometimes milk, still in a bottle . He will nap for up to an hour and a half in the day.

Bedtime now hurrah! .

Enjoyed catching up on this thread - some great craft ideas which I am planning to steal especially Chocolatetrifle leaf wreath!
That library trip sounds horrible PinkDaydreams - am I the only one secretly looking forward to when half term is over next week and we have the parks etc back to ourselves!!
Hope nightmares and coughs improve soon.
@squishymamma both my 3yr old & my 15month old go to bed between 7 and 7:30, depending on how tired they are (they have to share a room else I would put the 16month old down earlier). I think as they come up to 2 their bedtime depends a lot how much/ when they have their daytime sleep.

Just to say also I wake them up from any naps at 2:30pm to get the earlier bedtime as I am on my knees by the evening . I know some people prefer longer daytime naps and later bedtimes.

Welcome back @lostthetastefordahlias.

I actually got motivated and cut out some paper pumpkins for them to decorate. Gave them glue, sequins, stick on gems and foam shapes to put on them. DS then had his therapy and DD went to home bargains with MIL and SIL apparently she was laughing at all the Halloween decorations but then got scared of the warehouse doors!

DD usually goes to bed 6.30ish and DS goes in his room 7.30ish but he will play by himself until he falls asleep. It's usually anytime between 8 and 10

Good to hear all your bedtimes, so we're in the right ball park. I've been shifting the bedtime routine later by 15 minutes every night the past few nights in anticipation of the clocks going back, used to really look forward to it when child free but now I'm dreading it

We had our first day of no TV for months here today!! DS was in nursery, but no TV before or afterwards. I even managed to sit and play with him for a little while! I'm not against TV by any means but we've been heavily relying on it recently so it was nice to get a break.

@Motherofmonsters paper pumpkins sound great! Hope DS' therapy went well.

Nice to see you again @Lostthetastefordahlias

Tomorrow we have a playdate with one of DS' nursery friends. Anyone have any nice weekend plans?

@Lostthetastefordahlias, hi again and hope you are doing ok? How are your DC?

@Motherofmonsters, that sounds like a lovely craft activity. Hope the therapy went well today.

@squishymamma, sounds like you've had a really good day with your DS. How many weeks are you now?

We've had a decent day. DH has been off so we went to town and boys went on some little rides. However, we went into Gregg's to get some lunch to take home and as DH was being served I went up to stand next to him with the boys and this man gave me a right earful for queue jumping! So I gave him a piece of my mind, told him not to speak to me like that and actually I'm with my husband so not jumping ahead. He went a bit quiet then.
Unbelievable!

We went to a garden centre this afternoon with my mum. They had the Christmas things out. Question of the day from DS1, 'how old is Santa?' . Hmmm.

That sounds like a good day @squishymamma well done on the no tv. I always end up putting the tv on when I need the DC to stay still so I can get stuff done. About bedtimes, DS2 is nearly 22m and usually falls asleep around 8.30pm.

I'm very impressed with you standing up for yourself in Greggs @motherofmonsters - I would have stood there awkwardly then probably had a little cry at home later! The garden centre sounds good, they always have such nice Christmas displays.

We managed our climb. 3h up and 1.5h down, I was a proud mamma as DS1 walked the whole way with little complaining I on the other hand, embarrassingly had a little panic attack on the last scramble to get to the top along the lines of "my babies might fall of a mountain" and had to be given a glucose tablet (a very safe mountain I also managed around the same age so I was just being silly really). Went out for pizza in the eve and it tasted amazing after all that walking!

Send help, kids have been up since 4 bouncing around the house, fighting, chucking stuff around. Ive basically been pinging between being calm and turning into a banshee. I'm now getting into the shower for a reset, DD is playing in her cot and DS is downstairs