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

[PinkDaydreams]

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

DS slept until 8 this morning!! I'm in shock. He didn't wake much during the night either.

However we have royally screwed ourselves over - we had a day of shopping and bought 98% of our Christmas presents (because who knows when the baby will come) and then DS fell asleep in the car on the way home. And didn't wake up when we got him out, so I transferred him to his bed. At 5.30pm. I'm not very optimistic about tonight...but he did only nap for like 20 minutes today so maybe he'll sleep until like 5am...? wish us luck!!

We only buy DS one present because he doesn't know what Christmas is and he gets an insane amount from family members. We haven't decided what to buy him yet, I'm torn between a train set and a mini piano/guitar. We did want to buy him a toy kitchen but we have nowhere to put it

We don't do Christmas Eve boxes yet as DS is too young but we have bought a book Advent Calendar where you have a new book every day, that should be fun! And reusable too. Think we will do a box when he's older, we always got new Christmas pyjamas (which DS does too) so they'll go in with some hot chocolate etc.

Update: DS slept until 9.30pm. It's now 11pm and we're doing the bedtime routine (including bath!) in the hopes it'll get him back to bed...

I hope he went back to bed easily for you @squishymama!

He did! He also didn't really wake up until 5am, and DH kept getting him to drop off again...so now it's 7am and he's still asleep. Mental. I think he's catching up on all the sleep he lost when sick last week!

Oh that's good isn't it @squishymamma? Glad you DS has slept, I was wondering how the night would go.

Today so far we have played shop with the cupboard tins and baked some brownies.

How is everyone feeling today?

The advent book calendar sounds great. I love advent calendars, for me it has to be a traditional scene, no chocolate!

I won't do a Christmas Eve box I don't think. Last year we made reindeer food, oats mixed with glitter and we put that outside, that was quite fun so will probably do that again.

Evening all!

We had a nice day today, it's Father's Day in Norway (no idea why it's different) so DH got to decide the tempo and activities. Some time outside with a new football we bought DS, playing inside and a lovely lasagne for tea

DS has slept an insane amount this weekend, he slept until 8am today and then had an almost 3 hour nap...excited to see how bedtime goes. I now have the cold everyone else had and it's gone a bit down to my chest, so I'm struggling to breathe properly and completely bunged up despite much saline spray and vaporub hoping it doesn't last too long, only got about 4 hours sleep last night!

Hope everyone has had a good day!

Ok I have a new activity I can recommend- sticking plasters on boys fingers. For some reason they are loving it. Bonus points for character plasters.

Disclaimer- ( I may have had two glasses of wine with tea).

Thanks for the tips on quiet time @Camomila and @Chocolatetrifle - good to know we are not alone! Will try the train track for sure.
Hope you feel better @squishymamma - i found it so hard to breathe when pregnant anyway - that sounds tough.
Had a boring but restorative housework day with DS as DH took DD out all day. Of course he let her nap in the car on the way home… no sign of her being at all tired yet . We have DS’s overdue 13 month injections this week and my flu jab, what joy. Determined to do some more educational things with DD as well though - will let you know if I manage any!!

Also @Chocolatetrifle I am jealous as we have no wine in the house. I had forgotten what good value letting them loose with a box of plasters can be. Or a box of tissues though the cleanup is worse!

@Lostthetastefordahlias, similar with toilet roll I think too! DH went out for the wine. He is in the good books , although I did ask his Mum over for tea whilst FIL is in hospital with a kidney infection. DH came in with a chocolate orange for me last night too. Clearly the romance is not over even after 11 years of marriage . Most days to be fair we just snipe at each other due to tiredness and he is still working from home so no break from each other!

We have DS1 flu spray this week and men in and diggers sorting the garden out. Plus I'm determined to get these Pudsey Bear pictures coloured in even if I do them myself!

My son loves a plaster too! He hurt his finger the other day so I asked if he'd like I plaster and he said "yes" and pointed for it to go on his head! 😂 He likes putting plasters on his bear as well.

DS in nursery today, I've got a zoom course this morning for a few hours then will do some house work then pick son up.

Love a chocolate orange! Have you tried the one with popping candy in? It's yum! In fact I'm going to write it on my shopping list to get one!

Morning! DD slept through until 3.30am I woke up all confused!! DS has a slight cough which is just fantastic. He's had about 1.5weeks with no cough since the start of September. It's literally never ending.

I've got so much housework to do but I just can't get motivated. DD has fallen asleep so I'm off to make a coffee and watch some TV for an hour.

Morning ,. I've taken DS1 to preschool and DS2 to a toddler group. DS2 has just settled for a nap so have an hour until I get DS1. I either sit down for a bit or clean our living room window which I've noticed has black on the edges .

This afternoon I'm not sure what to do yet,. It's dry here so perhaps a playground visit, see what mood DS1 is in after school. DS1 likes doing art he said this morning so maybe some painting. It just gets so messy though.

Not seen the popping candy chocolate orange! I will have a look in Asda tomorrow!

dS2 has just headbutted me so hard I thought some of my teeth would fall out! Why do they headbutt at all? Do any of you have headbutters?

Going to local farm and playground place this afternoon.

@Chocolatetrifle

dS2 has just headbutted me so hard I thought some of my teeth would fall out! Why do they headbutt at all? Do any of you have headbutters?

Going to local farm and playground place this afternoon.

I have a scar on my head from DS jumping off the sofa and headbutting me. Enjoy the playground!

@Chocolatetrifle I used to love plasters too when I was little, DM would always get ones with Mr Bump on and tell me there was an army of Mr Bumps marching into my cut to heal it your DH sounds like a keeper, love a chocolate orange! No headbutting here yet but totally something DS would do I think.

@Motherofmonsters so glad DD slept well! Hope your DS gets better soon, the coughs are really annoying - DS here is better but still coughing a little and obviously it's always at night and wakes him up no matter what tricks we try...

@Lostthetastefordahlias hope DD managed to sleep for you, and that all the vaccines go well...so annoying when they throw you a bit out of whack!

I'm still full of a cold so had to cancel my midwife appt today, she said if I feel better tomorrow I can go in the evening. Not ideal as I prefer having evenings off DS slept really well again tonight and didn't wake up until 7.45am - I know I should be enjoying it but I'm worried about why he's sleeping so well and how long it'll last typical eh? He's been at nursery today so we've pretty much finished Christmas shopping today so everything can get wrapped up and sent off before DS2 gets here...mental.

Hope you sat down and had a rest @Chocolatetrifle!! & that the farm and playground were good.
We stuck dot stickers onto some letter shapes today, 3yr old DD spent a while quietly working on the letters of her name so I am judging it a success. It got her to engage with some letters in a really low key way & it was super easy to do. But we both much prefer nature/ art/ craft stuff really!

Look what I've spotted in Asda for us chocolate orange lovers!

@Chocolatetrifle

Look what I've spotted in Asda for us chocolate orange lovers!

Oh my goodness!! I'm going to Asda later on so I'm pretty sure a box will make its way into my basket! Thank you for this!!!!!

@Lostthetastefordahlias, the stickers on the letter looks good. That definitely sound like a success. Anything they can do by themselves for a bit is brilliant. We did some magic painting last night, was lovely, but then the water always ends up all over the floor!

@PinkDaydreams, hope thru have some in your Asda. They are on the Christmas aisle.

dS2 just settled for a nap then have to collect Ds1 at 12 and take him straight for his flu spray. I've got him some Christmas tree chocolate decorations as a little treat for afterwards.

I've picked up a box of Children in Need cookies to make from Asda too.

How is everyone today?

I need to find an Asda - my sainsburies order was 90% random substitutions. I do have some mini baileys now so I guess it’s not all bad DS has finally been well enough to get his 13 month injections (he is 15 months) so we are having a super quiet afternoon with him. Have given in to Paw Patrol. The music is doing my head in

Hope your DS is ok after his jabs @Lostthetastefordahlias. Glad you've got some Bailey's in. Question is will you open it before Christmas? I have no will power with keeping anything for anything.

We've been in all afternoon too. We've made an awful lot of mess being creative. The box cookies went wrong so just ended up as biscuit lumps.

We have altered our autumn wreath and made this Christmas one.

Thats so pretty @Chocolatetrifle!

Beautiful wreath @Chocolatetrifle! Always impressed at your creativity.

Hope your DS copes well with the injections @Lostthetastefordahlias. Enduring Paw Patrol is an impressive sacrifice (said in all seriousness)

I still feel rubbish, took the day off work today. DS has been at nursery all day. He's now almost 21 months and has started trying to evade bed, last night he woke up fifty million times between 11pm and 2am for no apparent reason. Tonight he insisted on cuddles with me, I was not allowed to put him down in his crib, and I was not allowed to sit down myself as then it was playtime. He's quiet as of now but I know he'll complain eventually, and DH is out tonight at a meeting so I am having to deal alone. While bunged up and tired. sorry for the moan!!

On the upside, just one week left until maternity leave I cannot wait!!!