I've almost always posted with worries/complaints, so here, nearly a year in, is a proud mummy list of what makes ds so wonderful. Add yours! it's good to remind ourselves...

[nolongerchunkybutstillapudding]

Have really struggled the past year. Em cs, shocked that 'bonding' was not as instant or joyous as expected, teetered on the edge of pnd for months, mum had cancer, ds bad sleeper etc etc.

He's a year old in a week and after all my stresshead posts of the past year i wanted to celebrate some of the good stuff. Sorry if that's terribly self-indulgent.

Things ds does that make me feel all squishy:

the way he looks up and says 'mumm-eee' and goes 'ahhh' when we cuddle.

his lion and monkey impressions.

the fact he says 'paaarp' and giggles if you burp or fart, and 'achoo' if you sneeze.

that he shares his cup of milk with bear, and gets his toys to cuddle each other.

that he managed to melt his daddy's heart even though daddy was really unsure about the whole thing at first.

that he can't say 'granny' so is currently calling my mum 'ninny'!

that he shouts 'UP' the whole way as he crawls up the stairs as if he is conquering Everest.

that he starts bouncing around whenever he hears reggae or a good baseline.

that he has started saying 'ello' and 'bubye' to random strangers in shops and yelling ' 'AT' whenever he sees someone with a hat on.

the fact that i now occasionally actually get a few hours sleep in a row!

and even that he says 'no no' as he sets out to do something naughty!

If I sound like an idiot I'm sorry but there are probably a few mners especially those who responded to my posts as chunkypudding who know how far I've come to be feeling like this.

I love 'im I do, and that makes the slog worth it (most days...)

ramble over

Aww this is nice! There are many things that make my ds wonderful

the way he kisses and cuddles books if he sees a character that he likes

he shouts "Let's gooooo!" very loudly whenever we get in the car

he keeps saying "oh dear" if he spills something and then stands with his hands clasped behind his back looking very puzzled

he snores when he's concentrating

he tells stories to his teddies in the morning before I get up

he's just generally cute!

What a lovely idea

I'm glad you've come out of the other side of PND....I've got it too but feeling tons better than I was.

My DS is 3. Things that melt my heart about him-

when I say, "Can I have a kiss?", he says "No" and then pauses and says "....but you can have a love (hug)!"

The way he says "Memmy" in a really posh voice ( I'm as northern as they come!)

The way he sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating

His beauty spot on his bum cheek

My DD is 11 months. The things I love about her are-

The way she grins up at me from her cot when she wakes up

The way she smells

The way she pulls her ear when she's tired

The fact that she's a content, happy, smiley little soul even though she gets much less attention than DS!

the fact that both Ds and DD will, on occasion, come up to me and give me a hug and say i love you.

doesn't matter how naughty they've been, it makes it alll worthwhile

Awww - that's lovely

DD is 20 months and has hit her terrible twos early. I seem to spend most of the day saying "no" and ignoring tantrums but she does really cute things that more than make up for it

She waves and says '"bye bye house" when we pull off the driveway

She comes and sits on my lap when ever I have the laptop and says "Babamory, puter" to tell me she wants to go on the cbeebies website

She throws her doll out of her pram and puts crayons in and pushes them round instead

She loves bananas and custard and always asks for them "nanas, cutad" and then grins very proudly as she shovels it in herself

She talks and sings to her little comforter in her cot (who she calls wa wa for some reason ?)

And she's utterly gorgeous [biased mum emoticon]

Not silly at all I love threads like these and have been known to start them on occasion when DD is being especially cute. Its great to be able to feel the reward of hard times isn't it?

I love:about my 2.5 year old DD:
The way she says 'cuddle, mummy' and grabs my head and puts in to her chest'
The way she laughs so hard she struggles to breathe almost when I blow rasberries on her belly and tickle under her arms.
That she shouts 'MOTHER' to granny, when she wants her attention, copying her daddy and her uncle!
That for some reason whenever she says 'paul' (she knows several) she knocks her fists together like some kind of sign language, never figured out that means! But it is very cute!
The dimples above her bottom
That she calls her dolly 'baby sister' and her bear 'my bwuva george'
The way she holds her hands in 'prayer' when she sleeps.
Her constant nattering
Her constant laughter.
Her gentleness

I wont go on any more!!

aww lovely, i started my own mushy thread when my (very grumpy, high needs) ds turned 1 after months of colmplaining and wanting someone, anyone to take my by the hand and say 'it will get better!'. it did, slowly!

17 months on, i love:

the way he gentley pats my back when we cuddle.

when he gives me sloppy kisses.

the way he smiles cutley when i ask him to smile for a photo.

the way he goes out the living room and closes the door whilst waving manically and saying 'byyyyyyyye!' then immediately opens it and expects us to be suprised at his reapperance.

the way he hides in the curtains and waits for us to ask 'where's joseph?' even though we can clearly see him and hear him giggling.

when i ask him if he's ready for bed at night he whispers 'yeah yeah', then kisses me.

ahhh he is delicious.

my nearly one year old slept for two hours yesterday! after a year of 40 minute naps, hence you might have noticed more posting on mn.
His chunky chunky rolly legs i want to eat them!

his laugh is unbelievable its like the heartiest laugh and you have never heard laughter before until you hear it.

the way his teeth and feet (unfortunately) are exactly the same as his dads and his hair and eyes are exactly the same as mine.

the way he has actually started to lie still with me on the couch for a cuddle rather than manically crawling around the whole time.

how he is so adaptable no matter what we throw at him, he never ceases to amaze me how he does it. (long trips to see grandparents etc, nursery etc.)

God he is wonderful! I also teetered on the edge of pnd and can put my hand on my heart and say I have come through it.

I was terrified I would be A Bad Parent and be Unable to Handle It. But Dd has made it to nearly 3 now, cor blimey!

I love:
Her adaptability (holidays, long journeys, new places etc)

Her cleverness and gorgousness, her ability to be very smart and Use Big Words, but she's so cute and sweet that it isn't vomit-worthy (in my opinion)

Her kind, loving and gentle nature

Her obvious adoration of me (heh heh!) Dh and her big sis (aww)

Her general all round good girl-ness. I don't expect it to last for ever but she does very well for a little 'un, and when I see her sharing, being kind to others, polite and sensitive, it makes me feel that we must have done something right somewhere along the line!

We need a biased mum emoticon!

DD was a year old yesterday and I was thinking about this. I had a horrible time in hospital, failed bf and PND. It was bloody hard for a while...

Today I realised that 'bup' is milk
She jumps off my lap to dance to the Night Garden music
She walks round the house holding my shampoo bottle and rubs her head
She will only sleep nestled into my armpit, won't have daddy
She stands with her head on the floor and looks through her legs
She runs round like a loony until she gets dizzy and falls over

And she is the funniest, cleverest, cutest, most charming 1 year old I've ever met. And this has been the best year of my life.

Aww what a nice warm, fuzzy thread!

Things I love about ds (20 months) include:

The way he calls the phone "phomef" and shouts it whenever it rings.

The way he comes up and offers his forehead to be kissed.

How much he loves being naked and clean after a bath and runs round his room shouting "ready steady gooooo" (before the fight to get nappy and pjs on of course).

The way he greets me, DP and his cousin (who he adores) by shouting their name at the top of his voice.

The way he deliberately knocks over his toy spacemen, then lies himself down on the floor and says "uh-oh".

The way he cuddles up for stories and joins in reading them out loud.

The way he sings and dances, and how he tells us which song he wants ("ork" is grand old duke of york, "bee bush" mulbery bush, "ro-ro" etc).

The way he says "cheeeeese" for photos.

His gorgeous smile and laugh.

And a million other things of course, hard not to run on for pages!