***The All New 2 or More Under 3 Thread!*** Join the Madness Here!

[TattooedGrrrl]

Here we go again- join here if you have 2 or more kids under the age of 3. Feel free to update / whinge / look for advice / gloat about how sleep you've had

For any newbies, I have 2 boys, aged 2yrs and almost 9mths.

aarrrgggghghhhhhhhh it gets worse. I've been awake since 3am, ended up all 4 of us in our bed in a desperate bid for sleep. What a disaster. After screaming and wrestling for 10 mins Dyl is up with me, DH still in bed but i can hear George ransacking our room

Where do i get a reward chart? Or do i make one? I'm going to have to be a sleep nazi now- this is silly and the kids are starting to take over. Dyl keeps asking me for a banana, at 5am! Taking after his brother

It comes to something when before you've even got out of bed, you're wishing the day was over and you could go back to sleep!

Grrl poor you.
I have been there so can sympathise.
Ok maybe not quite as bad but have felt as awful.

I just drew a grid on a plain piece of paper in desperation one day.
I have a red pen and a green en - just happened to be what i could find.
the red face draws a 'sad' face (often rather angry looking tbh!) and the green pen draws a smiley face.
i started a bit softer but have got stricter.

talked to ds1 about it first, then if he got up before 6 he was put back in bed until 6 (or until he was shouting the house down at the beginning). I would say you need another 10mins (regardless of actual time), if you stay in bed for 10mins, you can still get a smiley face.
if he kept getting up, then a sad face.
it sort of worked to start with, then got MIL on side with 'special sweeties' (milky bar buttons in a big tube) and she rang every day on skype to see chart and talk about it.
that really helped.
then she went on hols (how dare she?!) and it lapsed a bit.
have restarted with a vengeance, and had 2 days of 6.18 & 6.01
today 5.45
and he lost his smiley face cos he kept getting up.
he's 2.5 btw and well able to understand bribery!!

good luck. you have to do something before (if not too late) you all go mad.

i went for first night of CC with ds2 last night - was ok actually he cried/shouted/screamed in outrage when i left the room/lay there quietly for half an hour, then we must have both fallen asleep. he's still sleeping now so can't be STARVING, lol.

must stick with it. By Christmas i want decent sleep!

thanks justkeep...have told DH that we have to be consistent and strict from now on. Reduced nap, later bedtime and refusing to let him out of his room. Going to def do reward chart, because his behaviour is getting a bit challenging anyway, so even if it doesn't work for getting up time, i'm sure it will work for tidying / not shouting / hitting etc.

I caught myself shouting 'Stop shouting!' at him yesterday...and yes, i did feel stupid

Grrrl - sorry you had such an awful night

Think some pound shops sell reward charts.

Think I am going to have to dust off our reward chart too as DS keeps weeing himself Its always after he comes back from pre school so think excitement, tiredness a big factor. All he won't use loo at pre school so holds it in too long I think.

Well good feedback from hosp and DD is definately intolerant to dairy She has had a couple of soya milk bottles now and no dairy at all for nearly 24hrs and we have just had our first "normal" poo in nearly 4mths!!!

Now just need to think of things to put on toast instead of butter/margarine....

JKS - Glad H was ok with CC last night!! Hopefully tonight will be better

There's a brand of margarine called 'Pure' which is dairy free, and Vitalite is dairy free too.

Having a good day- amazingly! I think it's because i'm so determined instead of feeling hopeless and annoyed. Have bought a nightlight and a Mr Tumble reward chart for him, just have to wait for them to arrive. I also only let him sleep for 45mins earlier- it was hell waking him, he was very annoyed and upset, but i stayed calm and kept him awake. Been for a nice walk, where George touched every tree we passed and collected stones and sticks, and we went to a cafe for a sandwich.

George is coming on loads- he's putting 2 / 3 words together and he can count to 5 and recognise the numbers written down too.

Can't wait for bed later- but not looking forward to the morning. To start i'm going to have a 5.30am 'curfew' and then 6am when that's cracked.

grrrl Loads of luck with the reward chart.

My advice is be strict and strong and make sure DH is on side and does exactly what you do too.

Some would say I am too strict with my DDs, but they are good sleepers and good girls generally. They also get a LOT of love and affection but they know Mummy means business.

I did a facebook test and apparently I am a 'firm but fair' mummy .

Do let us know how it goes.

I'm off to my parents til Monday now, so won't be on for a bit (they have no internet).

Good luck tonight Grrrl

Cheers for tip on marg, will get some tomorrow.

Gooddays - have a great few days away!!

Good luck grrrl with the reward chart and you do have to be firm - Agree with gooddays that they have to know you mean business, and that the only option available to them is doing that you want. My mum thinks I am a bit mean with the girls and I am! [also be prepared for it all to go well and then have some regression - this is totally normal and you will experience this from time to time - perservere!!]

gooddays glad your doctor is taking the appropriate proactive approach with you and that chest infection sounds like hell! It must be sapping so much of your energy too, no wonder things get a bit much sometimes!

All quiet here - Izzy still sleeping fine and we [me] are all getting excitied about putting up the christmas decorations. I have bought loads of LED outside lights too, to put in the front garden and on the trees etc so cannot wait

I am having a with my mum though. When Freya falls over I cuddle her, but if it is like she falls on her hands on the carpet really softly then I do not over-dramatise and generally ask if she's ok before administering hugs etc. But my mum is the other way around and picks her up and cuddles her for the slightest thing. The result is an increasingly whingy cry baby Freya. Also (not I am on a rant sorry girls) if I am having a conversation with someone - usually DH or mum - Freya hates it. And I expect this to a point, but have been making a point of telling her that mummy is talking, and that she can talk when I have finished. But my mum again! When Freya interupts (she starts shouting "no talking!") and my mum straight away tells her she can join in the conversation and explains what we are talking about, and to me, this is just endorsing that if she interupts she gets to take over the conversation! Grrrrrr!
rant over

Sorry girls, big wave to everyone else

well George woke at about 5.15am, i told him to go back to bed and he did (although not sleeping) then at 5.45am he starting calling DH to say he'd pooed, so got up. I told him what a brilliant boy he was for going back this morning, and he looked really proud of himself. Dyl was a bit of a mare though, woke up wet at something past 3, took ages to finally settle in our bed. I was determined to not get up with him, but i did give him some milk after 4am and he finally settled until 6.30am.

Getting my hair chopped uber-short today so that the plum colour is all gone and i can go blonde

Jewels i can relate- everytime i take the kids to my Gran's and i tell them to be careful with something / not to rub food on their clothes etc etc she always pipes up with 'oh leave him alone he's alright' and i bite my tongue.

grrl - that sounds better - and you sound more positive. keep going with it, we had ds1 up at 6.30 this morning he got an extra smiley face & 2 grandma sweeties

and didn't feed ds2 again, just 15mins of crying on and off, i went in twice, dh went in once.
so feeling hopeful about that too.
hooray!

jewels and grrrl I totally agree with you on the 'discipline' front with in laws and parents....it drives me insane. I also try and play down minor falls and injuries jewels, I know it sounds funny, but I work as a physio and I have treated many teenagers with chronic pain syndrome (we're talking 13 yr olds who are in wheelchairs cos of 'back pain' ) and thru my studies I have learnt that how we deal with injuries etc right from a young age can influence their behaviour with illness later on in life. (sorry, bit of a ramble!)

I was brought up pretty strict catholic and was taught old fashioned values and good manners, and I am feel it did me the world of good.

And when DD1 doesn't finish her dinner at MIL's so I say "OK, but no buttons cos you didn't eat your dinner" and MIL says "ahhhh, poor DD1, not allowed any buttons, isn't mummy mean?" !!!

Grrrl sound like you had a positive start. Keep up the good work.
Good luck with the haircut.....post a photo on your profile when it's done!!!

Right, I really am going now..........

LM xx

Hi Ladies

Don't get me started on grandparents and discipline (fortunately or not really fortunately because it is a bit sad we don't see the GPs very often as mine and DP's parents live too far away). But my mum does both - making out the DCs are hard done by if we tell them off, and then being so tough on them herself that I am and relieved that my dad was around to make sure we weren't stuck in a cot all day with the door shut. I exaggerate a bit, but my mum is of the "don't feed your 2 week old baby or you'll spoil her" school, another gem was telling us just to put the DCs in a room and shut the door when they were crying as babies... Not surprisingly, I ignore her when it comes to childcare, and my older nephew doesn't want to visit his granny any more because all she does is boss him about.

(I warned you not to get me started )

Good luck with the reward chart, Grrrl. We have the opposite at the moment - Freya won't go to sleep at night any more.

Must go to playgroup now!

bah there's still some plum in my hair! I am tempted to dye it anyway, but the hairdresser said the plum ends might go pink (lush!) or orange (icky!) Do i dare? Any bottle blondes here??!!

I am a bottle blonde grrrl and shame you still have some plum left - in my experience hair takes on any chance to turn orange rather than a fab pink. Do a strand test and see what happens first?

Grrrl - Wise words from Jewels - do a strand test. I used to deliberately put highlights in in black then bleach blonde so I had hair 3 colours - I quite liked the orange that resulted. (But I was young then .) Doesn't look so good if you want to go properly blonde.

it'll be more a stump than a strand! Think Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby! Chaotica- i can remember not minding what colour my hair went aswell.

well i've been up since well before 5am, but nothing to do with the kids. I drank too much wine last night, so i woke up with a mouth like arse, and the smoke alarm battery is running out so is beebing quite annoyingly. The kids slept until 5.15am, i wasn't going to make an issue out of them getting up because of the alarm beebing right outside their door, so Dyl is down here with me, and i put George in bed with DH (and all is quiet!) George's been going to bed at 7.30pm too, rather than shortly after 6pm, so feeling positive-ish.

Going to buy loads of decorations for work and home today- yay! Get to skive out of work for a bit to do it too, which is nice

hello all.
Glad it's not just me having some fun and games at bedtime. DD1 is putting on quite a performance at the mo at bedtime, wailing her head off but chatting quite normally when I go in to her. Seems to be abating now- only lasted about 5 mins last night instead of the record 1.5 hours last weekShe has bee waking up pretty early, too.

I have the flu. The baby is snuffly too and DD1 has it too, so things not great here. DH has taken the day off to look after us, bless him.

Grrl- hairdo sounds exciting! I can't waitto get the christmas decorations out, too. Mum has got the children a fab advent calendar with little toys to hang on it and I can't wait to start it![big kid emoticon]

Hello all! Been v busy this week with a work trip to London (incorporating a boozy night with old friends ), a night out seeing the Mighty Boosh, and putting the house on the market ! Possibly the worst timing ever. We've seen a house we love round the corner that is a wreck but affordable. So, we have one more estate agent coming tomorrow then we put it on the market on monday. Just in time for no-one to look at it over xmas! Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Sleep vibes to everyone, been catching up with posts and my god, I dont know how some of you cope.

Evening, All

LOL at the stump test, Grrrl.

Cazwa - you're putting your house on the market? Are you mad? Actually, our neighbours are, but then it turned out that they've done some sort of part exchange for a new one (I guess the builders are desperate).

Sorry you and the LOs have got flu, Pinky.

Had a fine day here doing nothing in particular. Took the car to the car wash which was a hit with the DCs (for 1.70), went to the market to buy fruit (and flowers at Freya's request), made a cake without getting too much flour around the kitchen. And just about avoided tantrums until DP came home (although I had to threaten to leave DD in town a couple of times).

Can we have a nice new tinselly thread festive thread soon? (Can we? Can we? ) I'd start one myself but it's against my principles to get festively inclined until december.

Thanks Chaotica- it actually turned out to be quite a good day- I had a lovely rest and felt a lot better. DD1 is doing ok, and DD2 is feeding well and sleeping, despite her snuffles, bless her, so I think she'll be fine.

The baking sounds fun. I can't wait to get back into baking and generally doing fun stuff with the dcs.

I have persuaded DH to help me sort out the playroom, which is looking a bit tired, so I've been thinking up some decorating ideas today.

cazwa your weekend sounds fun, not sure about the house selling. Not that many going here, and it's a bit of a property bubble area.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/657067-Tinsel-and-Tantrums-The-NEW-and-festive-2-or-more?rnd=12279519 26720

Hope that link works- it's the new thread!!!!

PS, sleep going better, George up at 5.30, stayed there until 5.45am. See you in the new thread!!!

Bye bye old thread (think this is our longest yet