Sept 08 - Our LO's are nearly 2, and they're hiding to do a poo (is it time for potty training, not until it stops this raining)

[ninja]

I started it!! (I'm going away to London with just DD1 tomorrow so I want to know where you all are when we get back.

3 toddler free days!!

Gosh bec crazy week for you, glad you're feeling good about the job situation though.

I'm sure DD was dressing herself by this age...but DS is not interested at all! Can't believe he'll be 2 on saturday, starting to get a bit emotional about it!

I'm completely convinced my SIL is pg, we're seeing them mid-Oct for my dad's birthday and expect an announcement. You heard it here first!

Love the pics kagey

Oh man, The wax situation was a BAD situation! I had to go to covent garden because my local waxing place didn't want to irritate the situation. When I got to the other place the lady who was fixing it couldn't keep on a straight face. I think she enjoyed seeing me in that kind of pain.

I had Ns birthday party at a soft play place and was walking around like a man who had crapped in his pants. blah! It was some kind of sugary wax but it was hard too.

As far as sister: they will be staying with me till they are done with Uni, but it's ok. they provide excellent baby care and tidy all the time. The idea was my younger sisters because she wanted to go to Uni and have clean roomates she could trust.

Bec how are you doing?

Hello all. We had a fab weekend for C's birthday. Took her to the zoo on Friday afternoon and let her out without reins for the first time. Spent most of the time running after her but it was her birthday.

Saturday started in style with a cooked breakfast at Wetherspoons and then a party at midday. We hired the soft play at the local baths - for £5 a head you get exclusive use and party food too. We had C and 9 other toddlers and my neices (5 and 3), so it was great. My nephews (7 and 10) went swimming with their dads and popped up afterwards for food.

Am a bit at my sister as I asked her not to let her DS (7 yr old) onto the soft play as he is a really rough PITA energetic boy and she gives him little discipline - it's the reason we chose the soft play location at the baths so that the older ones could go swimming and have fun too - but he went in anyway 15 mins before the end and knocked one of the toddlers flying. DP was furious when he found out (he was cutting cake at the time) and all my sister could say was we were being over-cautious. Sorry but our party, our conditions.

C is quite good over clothes - she'll wear most things. I get her clothes ready the night before to make mornings easier. She hates having her hair brushed though and we bribe her with peppa pig.
She can't get tops off yet but does take her bottoms and nappy off every morning. She tries to get her pj bottoms on herself but always puts both legs in the same hole! She can get her shoes on by herself and is having a go at buckles but not cracked it yet.

D&S did you say DD went upstairs to get changed? Does that mean you let her go up and down stairs on her own now? Not sure what we're supposed to do. C can go upstairs on her own no problem (although we have stair gates so we always go up with her) and just lately she has mastered walking downstairs holding on to the bannister but with me always one step in front going backwards. If we could remove the stairgates in the daytime, she could go upstairs to find toys or books in her room - what does everyone do? We have piles of books and toys upstairs and downstairs, it's a pain to be honest.

I think I need good storage advice as I'm useless. My house looks like a branch of toys r us!!

We let DS go up and down stairs on his own. He knows his own limits and will walk down the first three stairs onto the half landing, then turn round and go down the main flight of stairs backwards.
We love the trofast storage from Ikea, but Great Little Trading Company also have some excellent (and attractive) storage solutions.

Ohh MrsRA i just got 2 birkelund from ikea and a few pax for the house to put all of Ns things in and two expedits.

any of those appeal to you?

We've got trofast in the boys bedrooms and expedit in the dining room with the plastic boxes. The expedit boxes are really big although can be heavy when full.

We've been letting ds2 go up and down stairs for a long time. He still mostly goes down on his front but occasionally walks. Haven't had stair gates at all with ds2 although might have to put one up once ds2 goes into a bed in case he gets up in the night.

£5 for soft play and food! Wow! Everywhere here charges about £9 or £10 for play & food and that's not exclusive use.

I really wish I had a hemnes storage bench. it would look soo nice under a window.

if I only had the space.

MrsArch yes we do let her go up and downstairs by herself. She's so independent and really very good at it. We haven't had the stairgates on for months.

We're lucky in that we have a playroom downstairs for most of their toys but we do have s amll box of toys and their books upstairs. I try to keep them downstairs as much as possible as that tends to confine the mess but they do go up sometimes to read books. DS has a teepee in his bedroom and they like sitting in there to hide and read.

I find it interesting that all of you so far who let their LOs use the stairs unaided have more than one child. I am still a bit pfb about C and I worry (too much i know) that she'll fall and crack her head as she has little attention span and gets easily distracted.

Has anyone who has just the one child done away with stairgates yet?

And those who have, what do you do at night? C is in her own bed so could get up to wander. Also if they want to go upstairs, how do they bring stuff down with them? Atm, c stands behind the stairgate and chucks her soft toys down!!

Ooh, in my defence I should add that C didn't crawl until 11m, only walked at 16m and is small for her age (still in some 12m clothes), so she seems so little to me - my neice is/was big and robust and so much more sturdy, IYKWIM!

MrsA I am more like you. We have stairgates top and bottom, and now also one on the patio door following the 'tumble down the stone steps and land on head' incident.

MrP says I worry too much, and I'm afraid I'm acting like a helicopter parent (been reading that thread ). I am trying to be more relaxed but when I don't watch her, things happen! Just this morning the stairgate was open as we were getting ready to go, and as a joke she ran off giggling up the first couple of stairs. When she saw me coming she pretended to hide and fell backwards down the stairs! Luckily it was only a couple and I caught her. She's quite fearless and I worry she doesn't understand danger, e.g traffic.

I am really struggling with confidence at the moment, as during my pregnancy MrP did nearly everything, so I now feel totally out of my depth with DD plus a new baby. I am off the scale on the worry-ometer!

However, I can quite imagine that by the time DS is DD's age I'll have figured it out a lot better and be more chilled. I am already that way with him over things like baby snuffles. And I'm sure the second one must grow up faster and more confident because they can copy the older child instead of waiting for pfb parents like me to let them try new experiences.

So basically, I'm terrified, but hopeful it will get better.

I'm meeting carrie tomorrow so I'm hoping some of her competence will rub off on me.

eandz I am ok honey Relieved your - ahem - bikini situation is better Feel a bit strange about the job thing though...it has really boosted my confidence being offered both jobs I applied for but I am not sure it wwould have worked in reality. My mum is not very reliable (to say the freaking least!) and I would be lying if I said I wasnt relieved I wont be relying on her for childcare tbh (god, that must sound so ungrateful to those of you with no family near to help, but it is the way I feel)

For example, on Friday I asked her to put off her trip to london to see my aunt by 1 hour (so instead of leaving the house at 2pm she would have left at 3pm) so I didnt have to leave the dc with a CM they dont really know and have never been to before so I could go to a much loved uncles funeral...she refused. It made a really upsetting day more upsetting and I was anxious the whole time I was at the funeral. (dc were fine with CM btw!!)

I know I must sound really awful, but I didnt think it was a big ask....It really made me think about how inflexible she is and how I would be worried the whole time I was at work and she had the dc.

So, generally, I am quite happy about still being a SAHM could have used the money though!!!!

kagey Lovely pics!

Been out to meet some other HE kids at a local park today so am shattered now and got to take ds1 to his karate graduation...he is now a white and orange belt!!!! Dont argue with ds1!!! I am starting too in a couple of weeks....I fully expect to be a black belt ninja by xmas

We only have a stairgate at the top of the stairs so when toby wanders in the night he cant get confused and fall. He is pretty good going up and down during the daytime. BUT toby is big for his age (always has been) and has always been very physically advanced (compared to ds1 that is) with ds1 we had 2 on for ages because he was smaller and less physically able.

All depends on the child tbh.

Right, off to get ready for karate. Toby wants to come too...sigh....was hoping for half an hours break!! oh well......

Once DS goes into a big bed we'll put the stair gate back at the top until we're sure that he's not a night wanderer! It does depend on the child, definitely, so don't worry if you're doing something different to someone else. DS isn't physical in the slightest which worries me sometimes, but he has got great language. If it was the other way round, we'd have stairgates on!

Looking forward to baby snuggles with FP's DS tomorrow . We're getting soft play and lunch for £5, that's the going term-time rate. I'm impressed at that as a party rate though!

Glad to hear it's not just me that's a bit of a helicopter!
I agree they are all different - C is not very physical but also does not have great speech either, although she understands every single thing. She is bright on deeper levels though, in a way i can't explain. She has just something about her.
For example, DP and I have had a couple of shouty rows in front of her recently . Not proud of it but we did make up in front of her too. She now insists that we give each other a hig and a kiss before we give her a good night kiss!

She is also very very independent, which is why we use reins for her own safety, though again she sussed that I wanted her to hold my hand when crossing roads because of cars and so now if we cross and there is no car, she tries to pull her hand away and says 'no car'.

FP I'm with you - lost my confidence recently but keep repeatng 'it's a phase'!

Softplay and Lunch for £5.00?! Thats amazing for a party.

so you guys, N doesn't have many words. I keep reading 50 words by two, N has maybe 30 and those aren't even used on a regular basis. Should I be worried? (my gut instinct is that I should be worried--but my gut is wrong A LOT).

I know I spoke to foxy about this months and months ago-- does she get on here anymore?

Hi eandz

Ds1 didnt talk properly til he was 2.5. I thoought Tolby would be differnt (much more advanced than ds1 in every other thing!) but hes not.

He has maybe 20 words (some of which only I understand) but he is trying to say more, they just dont come out wuite right IYSWIM?

At this age it is far more important that you feel your child can;
hear you
understand you
act on directions given by you i.e. dont touch that its hot!
is alert and happy and
can interact well with you and others

If N can do all this then its very unlikely that there is a problem HOWEVER, if you are concerned and have a good HV why not go and see her or chat to her on the phone? Peronsally, dont have a lot of time for HVs but I hear some are OK!!

Off on a museum visit with ds1 today then Beavers tonight - am knackered!

Morning!

Just popping on for an epic catch up as DP has DS. He is off work because he has been suspended . Someone at work (not his immediate boss, more like the HR person within the company) has real issues with him and has started a disciplinary that, as far as we can work out, has absolutely no basis in reality whatsoever. If it wasn't so worrying, the situation would be comical.

T only has about 30 words, and most of them can only be understood by me. However, he's been about 6-12 months late in all development, so i'm not remotely surprised.

He also won't come down the stairs by himself - just waits at the top for someone to carry him. He used to go down backwards, but slipped down 1 step (literally one step, and about 6 months ago) and now won't go down them at all. Very occasionally now he'll do a couple of steps forward before insisting on being carried.

Still haven't had a scan, hoping everything's ok (12+4 weeks today). Going to phone MW this afternoon if no scan appointment arrives in the post today.

In other news, I read Carries' "Looking forward to baby snuggles with FP's DS tomorrow" as FP's DP

DD has a lot of words and speaks in full sentences now. I've been told at nursery that she is very bright and I think that too. She's also fiercely independent and we have big fights about holding hands to cross the road. She's pretty road aware though - a lot of which comes from her brother I think.

Mrs Arch she carries toys down with her when she wants them. TBH I'm not at all worried about her - she's very sturdy. I was gobsmacked to realise she can properly jump as DS couldn't at this age.

She's still in a cot though. She sleeps so well I'm loathe to do anything that might stop that. We're thinking we'll possibly get her a big bed at Christmas.

She's gone to nursery today as a pirate queen. I am running out of ideas for pirate variations for her to wear though!

Hopefully poor dh, hope it gets sorted soon. Did you say ages ago that he might be up for redundancy too? All sounds a bit stressful.
Hows your dad?

DS2 is still in a cot too, he hasn't shown any signs of climbing out and sleeps well so won't move him just yet. We were thinking of getting ds1's full size single bed at Christmas then he can get duvet sets for Christmas (or is that mean?). I did realise the other day though that we've only got 2 (maybe 3 if I can find the other one) cotbed sized duvets so if ds2 gets cold with just a blanket we don't really have enough duvets so might just get ds1s bed ordered. No idea what to get him though.

A whole week of pirate theme is a bit much surely?!

DH finds out today whether he still has a job, I'm waiting for an email from him once he's out of his meeting. Out of 20 people in his group 2 are being made redundant now and another 3 probably in 6 months.

Oh poo. Just had email. He's in a group of 6 of which 3 will probably go in March depending on what work comes in. And from what they've said it sounds like his whole group is probably at risk long term. Most of his work is contracted from MOD so with them cutting budgets it's not surprising.
Time for him to look for another job I think.

Debi so sorry to hear about your DH (or is it DP?). Times are mighty tough and hope things work out.

Same for you Hopefully, you don't need any more stress at this stage - you should be resting whenever you can. Is your step-dad OK btw? Hope your DP gets work sorted.

We only put C in her own bed as we were going on holiday and didn't want to take a travel cot, so we moved her in July and have had no problems at all. Sleeping is about the only thing I don't worry about as she takes after DP and will sleep anywhere (those of you with good memories will remember we never really experienced sleepless nights with her). The only slight negative is that she now comes charging into our bedroom as soon as she wakes, weighed down by 1 x peppa, 1 x George, 1 x Cordy cat and 1 x ROAR (her pet crocodile), plus her water cup - tis very funny. Mostly it's around 7am but sometimes (mostly weekends) it can be 6am.

I agree that a whole week of pirates is a bit much! Our nursery does themed days mostly.

Thanks for the comments re stairs - I think if she was tall and solid I'd be less worried but she does still slip over a bit and has contant skinned knees!
She finally seems to be becoming safety aware though - she points to the oven and says 'hot'. Only problem is, to test out her awareness means putting her at risk. How do you know when it's OK to ditch the reins, OK to let her walk beside you on the pavement, know that if she runs off she won't head straight for the road?

She's definately heading for knickers not nappies though - booking a friday off work in October to give her a long weekend go of it. She now puts nappies onto all her toys and announces to everyone when she, myself and her father have had poos!!

And EandZ - £5 a head - it's at the swimming baths (floor above not actually in the pool ) run by the council so charges low fees, plus of course, it's one of the advantages of living 'oop North'

Debi sorry to hear about your DH.

We also got DS duvet sets as part of his Christmas presents last year. He got Superman and Spiderman and he loves them.

Agree a week of pirates is a bit much. They do normally just do days but I noticed in the nursery newsletter that they are doing a pajama week in October too (although this is going to be much easier to manage).

Potty training not happening here as I seem to have frightened her! On holiday when she was wandering round naked all the time I asked her to tell me when she needed the toilet. She started telling me but only when the poo had started to come out, so I'd pick her up and rush her to the loo. Now she'll start crying when she needs a poo and tell me she needs to go. So I take her but then she stops it coming out so only a small bit goes into the toilet. We then repeat this every 15 mins or so until the whole poo has finally come out. Not sure how to fix it!

Just had a great morning with FP at the soft play. Her DCs are gorgeous and I thoroughly enjoyed the baby snuggles When we left DS kept asking what colour your car is, and was cross that I couldn't answer, so we decided it was probably orange

hopefully and debi I'm so sorry about your DH/P's respective job situations :(

DS has started saying he needs the toilet too when DD goes but I will not fall into the trap of trying to train him too early as I did with DD as it was a nightmare, in fact she weed in her pants this morning at the soft play!

I was also thinking of big bed/tractor duvet as a christmas present for DS too, must be a good idea since several us are having the same thought! My hope is that we're pg so the DCs present will be that they get to share a room, and DS would be in a big bed and they'll both get new duvet covers. Got a few months more trying til then, trying to stay hopefull

mrsA in my limited experience, you kinda just know when you can trust you DC with something walking along the pavement and launching themselves into the road. When she's 2 1/2 you'll prob look back and realise you haven't used the reins for ages and not really noticed it happening.

Dastardly that sounds like a tedious thing -I have traumatised T with hot food, so now all meals have to be more or less stone cold. Clearly we are going to alarm them one way or another . I can't even think about potty training yet, although he may actually be ready in the not too distant future - he always tells us when he's done a poo, and sometimes a wee.

MrsA we have the opposite problem with T - he is soooo cautious! He's only once dashed off anywhere even slightly near a road, and he doesn't really like going down off pavements, so he didn't even get anywhere near the road (which is a v slow one). He hates wearing his reins (rucksack thing), so it's a relief not to have to bother with them most of the time.

Debi how stressful, hope your DH is able to find a new better job in the meantime.

My step father is sloooowly improving, but he's still on enormous doses of painkillers and really miserable. I don't think he's left the house yet. Poor chap. He's so active and they're now worrying about having to sell the house (big garden, lots of maintenance required) if it turns into a lingering problem (very real possibility)

Hopefully DD is the same with telling us after the event too. Bless her she was wandering round on Saturday naked (she took all her clothes off) and she came looking for me to ask for a cloth so she could clean up her own wee!