April 2004 Toddlers Part 2!

[Yorkiegirl]

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I would wait til they are climbing out (as yorkiegirl's dd2 is) before moving them. if you are lucky they stay put in their cot til about 2.5 or older (dd1 did). and honestly it is a lot easier. dd2 started climbing out at just 2 and so went in a bed at that age, and was always getting out and not wanting to go to bed. lots of hassle. unless you want to spend your evenings plonking them back in bed umpteen times.

of course, some children might not be as reluctant to go to bed as others. dd2 was particularly lively. but by about 2.5 or so they just MIGHT be more susceptible to reason about bedtime.

Thanks for that Mandrake, advice gratefully received!!

dd3 has recently started yelling her head off when put to bed. in the last few weeks. She has always been a very good sleeper (she still is once she's gone to sleep, stays asleep 12 hours). but I think now she just doesn't want to go to bed. i can't really think of any better solution than just leaving her to yell. or going in sometimes to pat her back down on her back (controlled crying style). is anyone else's doing this?

also she has started hitting her sisters! she's always been quite jealous if they are sitting on me but now she'll hit them if they are in her way. am having to encourage her sisters not to hit back.

oh well, ho hum, toddler years....

I've had this when we first got back from NZ. Dd wasn't having any of it. We put it down to disruption at the time, but now I think she was just testing us. She is always testing us over something these days, she has become so much more assertive.
I'm afraid it ended up being a stand-off between us, I can be just as stubborn as her. Dh will usually give in first but I won't, no way.
Anyway, it lasted a couple of days, then she gave up bothering. I just kept telling her she had to stay where she was.

Mandrake - is she tired when she goes to bed - or does she need to have a longer bed time routine/later bedtime?
ds starts his bath at 6.45 but doesn't actually get into his cot till nearer 7.30 - but then will go straight to sleep. Whereas when dh does routine it's bath at 6.45 - cot for 7.10 and then you can hear him chatting and singing till gone 7.30.

TracyK, yes she's tired. she has quite a short daytime nap and is ready for bed by 7. but she is, i suspect, increasingly airing her opinions about things. especially if she can hear exciting things going on in the rest of the house.

however, she is very sweet about enjoying books at the moment - Everyone hide from Wibbly Pig is popular this week. luckily I like Wibbly pig myself. and dd3 tries to say "big pig".

Ooops!!
Have just discovered why poor little dd has been so miserable and grumpy this week. She has been waking alot at night. Anyway, I took her out of the car when she got home yesterday and discovered an ear abcess had burst!
Not surprisingly we had a new, happy little toddler last evening.
Bad, bad mummy!!!

Oh - you bad mummy!

Mrs D

you've hit on the fatal flaw with the "let them yell til they give up" approach to bedtime protests. you have to be so sure they aren't teething, ill, room too hot, etc to be so firm.

friday is my "quality day at home" with dd3. have read "Everyone hide from wibbly pig" another 40 times. i never knew it was possible to read just one book so many times in life.

dd3 very sweetly wiped the table and all my mats for me. (did she learn domestic duties at nursery cos she can't have learnt it round here?). perhaps toddlers are quite cute after all despite my grumbles about tyrannical despotic behaviour.

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I think you've misunderstood me Mandrake. I haven't left her to cry this week because she has been ill with a cold and congested. I'm upset that I missed the ear infection really, not that I'd have done anything different to be honest. I wouldn't have given her antibiotics and I was already dosing her up with Medised.
My previous post was with reference to a couple of weeks ago when we first got back from NZ, and she was testing. Yes, I did leave her to cry although I hung around upstairs until she settled and frequently went into her. I just wouldn't take her out of her cot.

Gosh! Don't think I'm soo harsh

Poor dd MrsD - hope she gets better soon

hello
sorry have not been around of late , bit of a mare had a quick nose ,
YG - laso had similar sore bottom /bath situ ,
we bought a tub of leetrs what stick to the side of the bath when wet and bath paints and let him stand - gradualy we got him back in again.

you know I must b doing somthing waayyy of , I am having cartwheels if ds is in bed by 9 , but if he does go any earlier he is up @ 5 !
eeek re ear abses you C I just don't know about any of these things and proberbly putting my son through some kind of torture due to bizar parenting tehnic !

sorry mrs d didn't mean to imply you were bad mother. it's just the sort of thing i sometimes do.

yorkiegirl what about making the water really cool would that help? or try a shower if she's wanting to stand in the bath instead of sit?

ds prefers a shower now - specially in the colder nights - saves them sitting in a warm bath with cold shoulders.

Hello all, hope all the poorly ones are feeling better. Dot - well done ds1 on the potty training front!

My ds (6) got his first wobbly tooth yesterday. He is very proud - was telling everyone on the way to school this morning!

MrsD - I've just read your contribution to the pirate noises thread . Has dh forgiven you yet???!!!

Hi all,
We're going through an ill/fed up stage here in dot + juno land. ds1's got the cough from hell, I've got an ear infection and ds2's just being miserable and howly - unlike himself. Mandrake/Fennel - re: letting them howl - I had to 'laugh' yesterday when I took both ds's to the supermarket on my own (what was I thinking?!) and ds2 cryed and screamed ALL the way round... I'd switched off from it about half way round and kept wondering why people were staring - then realised ds2 was howling and they were probably thinking I was the worst mother in the world... But what can you do? I was just thinking the quicker I get on with it, the quicker we'll be in the car and back home to dp who can sort us all out!!

Chicken pox hasn't materialised so I think ds2 escaped (although now I've said that...).

Meanwhile (and honestly I'm not being smug mother here!) I'm wondering about whether to see if ds2 can go up a group at nursery. He's miles ahead in terms of his speech - putting sentences together now - and the workers have said he's more like the next lot up and they're not sure what to do with him. He's a big lad, so would fit in OK size wise, but I don't know whether to push it or not. He's not due to go up until he's 2, which is a long time when he's chatting away, singing whole songs and wanting to read books and they haven't got much stuff in the baby room. I don't know. You'll probably all think I'm being really daft and pushy. It's not about me wanting him to do better - he's just doing his own thing at his own pace - but I suppose I'd rather he was with kids who might chat back, play more interactively etc?

Right, I'll shut up now - and please feel free to tell me how up my own arse I'm being, 'cos I feel a bit like that anyway..!

Doesn't sound like you're being too pushy dot - your ds does sound quite advanced! If it were my ds, though, I might worry that he wasn't emotionally ready for going up a stage at nursery. But you're the best person to judge!

I've been feeling really silly since my last posting! I think I'm being daft - but it's good to type out stuff and get it out of my system! Ds is fine in his group at nursery, and definitely enjoys himself, so I shouldn't be so silly..!

I think my nursery can move the babies up a stage at Sept/Xmas/Mar. So ds was 'too young' at Sept and a lot of his little playmates moved up. So I'm hoping for him to move at Xmas as I think he prefers to play with 'older' children and may get a bit bored in the babyroom. The only thing I'm glad about the baby room is that he gets to see 'babies' and may make him more baby friendly in the future. I know he strokes their tummies and goes sssshhh when they are lying down for a sleep.

Hey all, checking in from Albania. What an amazing trip we have had so far. Croatia was awesome until the last couple of days where it was torential rain and that happened to be the day we were planning on getting to the next stop which meant we got absolutely drenched on our way got there to find our hotel shut and no further accomodation in the town and then had to jump on a minibus through the mountains to the border of Albania to find when we got there there was no through buses, so got a taxi to the border (still wet and raining) and then walked across the border and the border guards helped us get a taxi into Albania where we stayed in a town called Shkodra. Incredibly stressful day but it sure is third world here but so friendly and helpful it is amazing.
Have had a brief skim read sorry if I miss anything out it takes so long to read everything when you haven't been able to get on for a while.
dot I would mention moving ds up, even for part days or something that was what I liked about dd's old nursery was there was 4 rooms from baby to 2.5 so they moved up with ability not age quite so much.
MrsD I feel we are going to have a bedtime standoff to a certain extent when we get back dd has slept with us for the last couple of weeks, when we get back we won't even be in our own place and want to try to get her into a 'big girls bed' before the baby comes so we only have to buy 1 cot instead of 2. So expect to have the in out in out in out saga to happen at some point.
dd also enjoys a shower but she still loves a bath. YG I think distraction is probably your best weapon at the moment something new in the bath, those soap pens, water puzzles anything that makes her forget she is in the water.
Well better sign out sorry if I forgot any news, can't believe it is so soon until we get back now and we have been on the go for so long.
Take care everybody - chat soon

dot - ds had his 1st full session with the toddlers last week he is only comming up with words as opposed to whole sentences ! he loved it - also a biggy and played t/lights also ate all of his tea- something he would not do in the baby room they are v flexible though its a v small nursary and if he is having a grumpy day they put him back in the baby room so he can chill out and be papmpered !- if only

does it cost more in the toddlers room as opposed to the baby room?

not where ds goes - its about £20 for an afternoon am thinking of upping his hours
he had a great time again today and 4 the 2nd week his has eaten all his tea !! will he eat his tea at home , will he f### we have tantrums - scream - fight etc maybe i should try and feed him the same food ?? any imput greatly received - he eat b.fast no probs @ all and if I feed him b/fast for his tea he eats that , but do not want to get into the habit of just feeding him what he wants to eat iyswim???