The Sparkly New 2 (or more) Under 3 Thread- Join us!

[FasterPussyCatGrrrl]

Hello!

Post here if you have 2 or more kids under 3yrs.

We were formerly the 2 under 2 thread, but some inconsiderate DCs went and had birthdays.

Commence rambling / ranting / updates etc

Hi! I have ds 2.4, and dd almost 7 weeks. Was told today when I picked ds up from nursery that he has started pushing some of the other children. Hes obv finding it hard to get used to having a baby in the house as he is being more difficult at home. Ive tried explaining that we should try and be nice to others, and gentle with dd but hes having lots of tantrums etc

Its hard as Im breastfeeding dd on demand and so she needs me a lot right now, Im hoping once she doesnt need me constantly (iyswim) then things will become easier wiyh ds as he will have more attention.

After being told that this morning Im feeling incredibly guilty for messing things up for him, and immense worry that Ive caused problems for the future. Any help much appreciated!

back from lunch to my kitchen full of ants and i can't see where they coming from.

on the plus side, my friend is babysitting tomorrow night, and DH and i are going to a friend's college photography exhibition, then the pub- yay!!!!!

if i don't eat for the rest of the day, or tomorrow, do you reckon i could fit into something nice?!

hi dillinger
sure you are not messing your ds up at all, he is just adjusting to new way of life. pretty sure there won't be problems in the future. my ds1 is 2 (tomorrow!) and ds2 is nearly 4 mo. so a smaller gap. i find if i try to include ds1 in lots of ds2's life, help with nappy changing, etc. he is interested. sure you have tried this.

grrl - bad luck re ants, they are hard to get rid of. oooh, pub, can i come?! can't wait til i can drink properly again !

loopy - hope you have a good one-child weekend.

jewels - agree with loopy.
chaotica - good luck avoiding all that!

well, dh home for bedtime tonight, hooray, and off tomorrow for ds1's birthday.
all going to usual playgroup, then dh is hopefully going to cut the grass - ds1's absolute favourite activity

anyway, trying to watch waking the dead (recorded) but it's too complicated for my fried brain...

Grrrl -- Pub? What's that? I'm sure I've heard that word somewhere...

Hi All, and Hi Dillinger I'm sure your not messing your DS up at all -- he'll adjust. My DD (younger, 17m the time) had quite a few more tantrums than usual when DS arrived but she's fine now (loves him to bits in fact). While I was feeding him, we read books, watched Cbeebies, DD ate (and I fed DS at the table with her), had baths (DS was fed with me sitting on the bathroom floor) or sometimes she played with bricks or playdough which we'd set up beforehand. It didn't cure the problem but I managed to demand feed (and I think most of the other people on this thread managed it too). I have let DS co-sleep more than I ever did DD because I'd be exhausted otherwise...

Have a good one-child weekend, Loopy.

Ants. Ugh. Once had an small army of them marching through my bed . I used that carpet flea spray deterrent stuff (ie nasty chemicals) in the last place I lived which had a problem.

Have a great birthday, JKS's DS1!

Just wondering if I can stay sane in the company of a two year old... DD is lovely but she can be a pain. The only way I'm managing is to tire her out as much as possible, no matter what the weather. We went for a walk in the pouring rain today, jumping in puddles and disturbing a bunch of really serious looking birdwatchers (there's usually no-one about) -- DD's priceless comment as we burst into the hide with a flurry of stamping was 'Want to see the cow, mummy. Where's the cow?' (You could feel the disapproval )

Trouble is, I know that if I manage to get through DD's toddlerhood without losing the plot, DS will be just ready for some full scale public tantrums. I guess we all get through it somehow

have fun loopy

chaotica - i think a pub is where dh's go for late evening meetings? not a place for us mums obv

good one to your dd with the birdwatchers, lol

thanks for birthday wishes for ds1, think he had a good day:
playgroup with mummy & daddy
lunch + cake + candles + song
sleep
cutting grass + messing about in garden with daddy
tea + cake + candles + song x 2!
tv
bed

family start arriving tomorrow for more cake, candles, singing, etc....

tired now tho, so to bed soon.

Chaotica your DD sounds adorable. But, then people say the same about mine and i'm like 'yes she is...but....'

Had a lovely day today, went to Pilates, DDs were very good. Bought DD1 a little gardening kit and we spent lots of time outside watering the 'trees' and moving soil around.

Jo Jingles tomorrow and I know it's only once a week but some saturday mornings I just can't be arsed - is that so bad?

We go holiday in just a few weeks time so looking forward to that.

Loopy you were right that we should perservere with DDs in her bed rather than cot. She has had no more episodes and now really looks forward to bed. I checked in her last night and she had 'Anger' (Angus the aberdeen angus cow) 'Brian' (giraffe) and 'puppy' (a bear) on top of her head. Maybe she was cuddling them and fell to sleep? Who knows. Was very cute though. But yes, she is great now and that's good because on holiday we don't need to lug around 2 travel cots.

My tan has calmed a little now you'll be glad to hear but now - without it - I am feeling really rather pale ~thinks about applying St Tropez before bed~

Anyway, good night all and wishing you all fab weekends.

xx

well done jewels

re new strategy:

IT WORKED!!!!

i turned off the monitor when i went to bed (kept it on downstairs in case i didn't hear over the tv).
and i didn't hear a thing until ds1 woke at 5.30 !
ds2 woke about 6.30.
so either he coincidentally didn't wake up at all the first night i turned off the monitor? or i just slept through any wake ups and he resettled himself...
either way, hooray!!!!

really hope he's got the message!

Hi all.

Gaaad, help me girls. Why did I put DD into a bed??? I moved her in 4 nights ago and she has so far slept great at night. HOWEVER she will not nap in the day there, she just gets straight up after downing a bottle and pushes the door open. The first time it was because she'd done a poo, we heard her shouting at the top of the stairs 'Stella poo'! But since then hasnt napped. Its now spreading tho, she wouldnt nap at my mums today where she normally sleeps no problem, just stood in hte travel cot and cried.

Ive moved her into a bed so that her cot is now freed up for DS to go into in her room, so I could always put her back into the cot, or put her down for naps in it but I dont really want to go back a step with this. THe aim is when we go on holiday in a few weeks we are all sharing a room so when we get back they will go straight in together. Optimistic and foolish perhaps?!?

I shall report back!

Have ran a bath for myself that Im about to jump into, hi again to all I am reading everyones posts.

hey just found you and will probably not post much as we're on hols at the moment but just had to say hi! and OMG this is the hardest job ever...

DS 26mo, DD 12mo. Yes, a 14mo gap

right. back to my wine

cazwa - my brain is fried atm but i remember going through something v similar with ds1. made me think i shd just have bought another cot for ds2!
but it all worked out fine.
think the main things were;
gate on his bedroom door
sticking with it, sometimes he cried/shouted/complained for up to an hour before giving in and sleeping
(tears from me too some days )
not caring where he ended up sleeping, often on the floor with no blanket/pillow/etc.

how old is your dd? it could be....that she is giving up her nap... i dread the day myself!

good luck for all sharing on hols, don't expect to come back feeling refreshed!

hi to lilQK where are you on holiday? and with the dcs i assume.

all ok here, ds2 up at 4.45 but did go back to sleep. ds1 up about 5.15 tho and didn't

a friend went into labour today but no progress so was admitted (hoping for home birth). we had her dd here for the afternoon.
so am knackered here. have family here too - shd help make things easier but...

hey
on hol w DCs, yes, hence the wine
visiting family in the States. just arrived yesterday afternoon, and DH just left today for the week - business to do here - so the rest of the kids' adjustment is up to me and my sister j

i had a problem with DS when he went into a bed too, had some luck with one of those foldable cot sides and stickers (i posted on another thread about this will try find it)

sleep help

DS2 appears to have separation anxiety, along with a growth spurt. AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Will catch up properly later- getting hallway measured for new carpet, then taking the demons to the park.

Hi All and welcome lilQK

Cazwa I feel for you (I hope it's not the end of the nap!). We did most things JKS did, especially gate on bedroom door and we left toys and books for DD to play with if she doesn't want to nap (but nothing too exciting). Now if she doesn't nap she has a sort of 'quiet time' instead (and occasionally runs around crazily for an hour and then says 'had nice sleep!' ). I don't really care where, when, or if she sleeps at nap time (with the result that she seems to quite often with no fuss) but maybe we've just been lucky.

Jewels -- I think you're right that our DDs are just at the age where they're adorable...but...

Been trying to find a temporary replacement childminder for when our lovely one goes away on holiday (since I can't get all the time off work) -- I'm really nervous about leaving the DCs with someone else, although I think I might have found someone [fingers crossed emoticon] who I met when I first looked for childcare for DD. I hope it works out...
I'll be on here a lot while CM is away as it'll be almost like not having any childcare ...

Hi, can I join? DD is 20mo, DS is 5 wks.

The hardest thing I've found so far is taking them both to Tescos! The trolleys are quite a way from the parent and child spaces, so I either have to leave them in the car out of sight while I get one, or put DS over one shoulder and cling on to DD with the other hand and try to stop her running off. What do people do?!

Am also finding DD is much more tired than usual because she's woken up by DS when he cries in the night. Do they just learn to take no notice after a while?

Hi Fleecy and welcome

I'm with you on the supermarket problem -- I haven't solved it myself and try hard to avoid them (supermarkets, not the DCs). And why is it that there are so few baby and toddler trolleys in existence? Has shopping with two young kids only just been invented??

Must go to bed now... Night all.

hey fleecy - definitely go for the online delivery for as much as possible. saves a lot of trouble imho! as for sleep, i did find that my older DC grew accustomed to the little one's cries really quickly. they share a room (have done since younger one was about 4 months) and it's amazing how much they will sleep through. hardest part is letting them learn to settle with each other in the room at first but they should learn how if you give them a chance.

we usually shop online too, if we go shopping DH and i both go.

my night out was nice, and DS2 hadn't been too bad for my friend.

having a hard time atm, DS2 is so clingy and feeding for an hour a time really frequently. sometimes i think he's using me as a dummy. he's also dragging his teeth on my nipples when he's feeding, and not emptying them properly, so i was in agony last night / this morning. time to quit day time breastfeeds i think- can't take much more, and poor DS1 isn't getting enough of my attention.

slept v badly last night, so exhausted and minging today.

I'm not really any good when it comes to shopping advice either -- usually DP goes on his own, or I go with DS (who is still young enough to enjoy being rushed around in the trolley). If it were left to me alone, I do most of it online.

Is your DS2 feeding/sleeping better yet, Grrrl? DS has just begun to serious separation anxiety and bursts into tears when I leave him at the CM's (and when I return ) -- it's heartbreaking leaving him even though I'm assured he's fine in a few minutes.

Thanks for the advice everyone. She managed an afternoon nap for her Daddy yesterday, typical. He put her in her old cot. I left them on their own with him all day as I had a work away day Id agreed to go to even though Im on maternity leave. They were pretty well behaved apparently. I think he got lucky with both nappign together and is yet to experience the full horror of them all day loooooong.

Well the sleeping in her bed is going okaay, she came trotting in our room at 4am and woke DS up but at least did go back to sleep straight away when DH took her back. We are getting a lock for her door tomorrow!
Two weeks till they go in together though, uhoh.

Girls you will not believe this, tell me if Im being unreasonable. Me and DH have arranged to go on holiday for 3 nights in september to Nice. MIL rang last night and told DH they are coming too! They are going to a wedding in Paris so thought they would come down and see us beforehand. WTF??? Didnt even ask us if it was ok. Just assumed we'd be delighted to spend our holiday with her and her obnoxious racist husband.
DH tried to backtrack tonight and say its like a 2nd honeymoon, we'd love to see you one night but the rest of the time we are chilling out on our own etc. Didnt seem to pick up the hint and are arriving on our 2nd night. They are apparently going to try and stay in a friends apartment the next resort but I bet they end up at our hotel.

Im another one who shops online, love it. Hate going round supermarkets, always spend too much and never come out with any actual meals.

Oww for your nips Grrll.

Managed Tescos fine today - DD was at MILs for the day so I used my 'free' time in a very exciting fashion - cooked, cleaned and took DS to Tescos. Oh the glamour!

DS has been very windy the last few days. Two nights ago he was crying every few minutes on and off from 2.30 til morning But last night he slept from 10.45-5 . I'm fairly sure he won't do that two nights in a row! DD never slept that long until she was 5mo!