December 2008: because i unwittingly finished the old thread

[waitinggirl]

oops. sorry. didn't realise i was post 1000. hope people find this...

Found you! Absolutely no chance of doing a proper catch up as only have five minutes whilst I wait for my Christmas decorations to finish baking, don't ask!
Sorry for not being around, but hope you are all doing well. Things all fine here, 20 week scan showed everything fine, although baby a bit on the big side (surprise, surprise!) so booked in for a CS at 38 weeks for the moment, but we'll see how things go from here. The diabetes seems to be under control so perhaps this time I will end up with a 'normal' sized baby.
Very little progress on our cottages at the moment due to absolutely no interest in our current house, so we are having to do a bit of a financial rethink. Hoping to get work properly started in the next month or so though.
Timer is ringing so better go, but will try to be back soon. Love to you all x

Modern Hooray well done that is fab news. Had a giggle about the tens machine, had an almost similar situation but labour a bit longer so managed to give it up in the end. Well done and congratulations. Thanks for letting us know.

Hi Kiwi, RIP your laptops. All sorted with new ones now I hope.

No takeaway last night Rubs as we have friends staying from London, pirate family restaurant instead. Laughed at you & trace's DHs. But H&A .

It's a unusually mild day today so we have ridden to a nice park with our friends then have a baby sitter booked tonight so we all go to the pub.

Congrats Mondern! I was wondering how you had got on, I thought your due date was 4th Oct for some reason. That is lovely news. Another 2010 girl for the December ladies - she is the fifth!!

I just watched Gavin Henson on Strictly. Oh. My.Sainted.Aunt. I thought he was fab

Wotcha Kiwi, good to hear from you.

And you Katie! Sorry the house sale is a bit sluggish.

Haven't got time for proper catch up just now but will probably be back properly tomorrow night or Monday. Love to all.

I'm in a pub....that's it just wanted to tell you all. How long I stay here is up to my youngest.

Well DS2 woke up & I had to come home but not until 12.15 our time Woohoo so stayed out long enough to drink 2 pints, one Italian coffee & a Baileys and ice. Was such a brilliant night just felt normal. I know it took a little more planning than the usual quiet night at the pub but it was just nice & well worth it. The friend that is here with his son is one half of the couple that we will be staying with at Christmas at st Katherine docks.

Congrats Modernlove! Would love to hear the name once you decide :).

After all my Halloween grumping we will be carving a pumpkin today. I have lollies for any trick or treaters too.

I can recommend Nigella's halloween recipes from Feast for anyone doing a party - very easy, completely delicious and veggie to boot. Hope everyone with pumpkins has a good day.

Spot, you are clearly flying the flag for the boys! I wonder if anyone else of the preggos will have a boy. Mine is lovley but biting anyone and anything which moves at the moment. ouch!

Spot, am about to send you a private message - can you let me kmnow if it arrives.

Off to Beckenham in a min to buy DD2 some shoes. Wish me luck as I say no to the pink aparkly ones and try to coerce her into something more modest. Gld bless Clarks.

Ooh, my first PM. That has made my day! I must have got all the testosterone this time round. I will PM anyone who want to know with the boys' surname so you can try it on for size with your girls' first names...

Good luck shoe shopping Sybs, I hate hate hate it, T actually goes for the pink sparkly numbers too but at least I'm not tempted to give in to his whims.

He's on the mend, thankfully, but me and DP are proper bed-bound ill and are taking it in turns to look after a very frustrated T. At least DP can get some antibios from the doc for his chest infection, whereas I can't take anything stronger than a paracetamol...

Add to that the fact I had some bleeding the other night and my SIL said it was my body's way of saying slow down as I'e had to lift T so much with his being ill and DP being away. She scared me with talk of premature labour, which apparently is quite a possibility (I was convinced I was having a show) and am only 31 weeks so will try and slow down a bit.

I'd booked this week off nursery as we were meant to be going away, but tomorrow morning I will be pleading and begging with them to take him for the day so DP and I can stay in bed and recover. Luckily a friend has offered to take him to playgroup on Tues morn so that should be good.

Did anyone have any impressive early morning awakenings thanks to the clock change?

Congrats, Modernlove .

Spot, please rest! Can you draft in anyone to look after T?

PM? I don't understand your first paragraph Spot sorry to be thick.

I'm glad your taking your SILs advice. Did DP hear it too? You can over do it to the point of causing early labour its rare, but I will admit now that I was really worried of Lady doing it. I have to say it freaked me out that her CS date was so late for that reason. You won't def go into labour if you work too hard but at the very least you'll be exhausted when it comes time to have him and shattered after.

It was PM - private message - Sybs sent me my first one and made me feel all special.

Can I ask for your advice on a v. simple behavioural issue? Do you think our DC's current age is too small for 'consequences'. For e.g. my bugbear at the moment is T throwing food. The moment he decides there's something he doesn't like (or now even if he does), he throws it on the floor with a devilish glint in his eye. If I say no and put him on the floor, essentially dinner is over and he's not bothered as he couldn't care less (despite my wanting him to eat more, so I feel like I'm kind of working against myself by doing that). He also has started hitting me, turning the oven on, unplugging the TV - generally being naughty.

Until now distraction has worked well and I've dismissed things as being a toddler but I feel like he's really testing our limits now and it makes a difference how we react. Do you have a naughty corner type thing, or do you try and reason with them or ignore altogether? DP and I have this conversation every night as to how to deal with his behaviour and we both want to be consistent but fair and only give age appropriate sanctions. I am fed up with reading books (all of which frankly contradict each other and leave me confused) and could do with some real life strategies that work!

I am trying to see the silver lining in the current cloud as that hopefully I won't be ill again around the time of the birth. I was really poorly when T was born (the midwife said I basically coughed him out) and would rather not repeat the experience.

Katie, forgot to say what a bummer about the houses, I hope you get some luck. Did you find out the sex at the 20 week scan?

Veg, how's the hangover?

Spot, I do use the "calm step" / time out technique (a la supernanny) but only for really heinous behaviour. Usually biting in this house. If M bites me, I either put him in the buggy or in his cot if we are upstairs. I think he is probably too young to understand a long lecture on why he should not do things but if he associates evil behaviour with sitting on his own away from the fun, that can only be a good thing as he should be able to make the connection eventually. I hope.

Spot we have been using consequences for a few months now so I think you can start now. We maybe started earlier because some of the stuff he does wrong he does against his brother & we feel we need to show to DS1 that DS2 is being punished. For food I just take his dinner away, but this easy with DS2 as he eats well. I couldn't have done this with DS1. Also removing something he likes, like take a toy away or stop him watching Tele. Just saying "no Tele" to DS2 puts the fear of god into him. You don't have to just go for the punishment side though. Praising good behavior is also quite effective, however simple it may seem. You dont need to go over the top, if he sit at the table nicely just before he starts his dinner say 'T you are sitting so nicely there' or if he is playing quietly tell him. Give him.a little kiss on the head and let him know. I definitely think it helps their behaviour but also gives me a break from what seems like constant telling off & being shouty, it feels nice to say good things to them and doll our praise. It also lifts me to watch them beam with pride from the praise. Even already DS2 likes being told he has done well. I do forget to often but I'm trying.

Oh and spot surprisingly no hangover! I think its having the Italian coffee that helps.

just sent our friend and his son to the ferry, DS1 & 2cried their eyes out when they left. So often at times like this I wonder if we ever should have left London.

Hello Sybs.

SPot we too do the time out thing with both of the boys. If they do something that we dont like they get a warning, then if they carry on they sit in an area of the hallway where they can still see all that is going on but we close the door (glass door) so they are not involved at all in whatever we are doing. DS1 gets 3 mins DS2 gets as long as it takes him to stand up wander over say orry mama kiss. With DS1 we also do I am going to count to 5 and if your behaviour doesnt improve its time out or removal of a favourite toy. I never do no TV as I need it too much so I can have time out to mumsnet dust & hoover.

Modernlove. Lovely news COngratulations.

Thanks - I suspect we may need to start the same regime, though as I am unable to lift T much at the moment the whole removing him from the scene of the crime might get quite tricky. How do you get them to stay in the same place?
That is sweet about your D2, Jam. If i ask T to say sorry he just says "yeah" like Kevin the teenager. I suspect I must be way too soft.

If T messes with the TV, I switch it off, if he plays up with dinner I tend to take it away, but he doesn't seem bothered by the removal of anything! Maybe he has too many other toys. Also, if I make it obvious he's been naughty and remove something, he just goes and trashes something else. I suspect if I keep removing things though it might get this place tidied up!

Veg, does your DH like the seaside? If so, maybe you and my DP should go to London and we'll stay in Brighton...

Hi guys
congratulations to modern Such lovely news. Well done - hope you find a name soon!
And ood to hear from katie too. So glad the scan shows all is well.
spot we use a naughty corner if P repeatedly does something after we've told her not too (throwing food, pulling L's hair...). She sits there and doesn't move, which always baffles me because there's nothing stopping her! After 1 minute I tell her why she had to sit there , then ask her to say sorry, then have a kiss and cuddle, then it's forgotten. You have to keep a very short account, but I tihnk it's worth doing.
Anyway can't stop long - very tired as we stayed over at my sister's last night which meant we all shared a room, so when P woke at 4.50 that was it - all awake! And prior to that I'd been awake enough to see every hour go past. yawn. Then today we went to my parents and I let p go upstairs without watching her. She fell down about 4 (carpeted) stairs but was really grizzly all afternoon and kept holding her arm and crying when we touched it. So we decided to call in at A+E on our way home and it's broken So she has a little plaster cast on and I have a the award for most neglectful mother of the thread. She actually seems ok with it and has gone off to sleep ok, so we'll se what tomorrow brings. Bad Traceface

Oh poor little P, how awful for her and for you! These things do happen and you must not blame yourself. If we are talking bad mother stakes, I see your broken arm and raise you pjeumonia - I let L walk round with it for nearly a week, forcing her off to pre school and telling her she would be OK before it got to crunch point. Matthew has a scar on his eyelid where his father let him climb on the buggy, which them tipped over on top of him. We all do it darling. She will be fine. Have a stiff cup of tea. Tomorrow will be brighter. Take care.

thank you sybil. Feeling rather tired and teary so think I'll go to bed.
Night Night x

Trace: accidents happen and you got her checked out when she was obviously in pain. Please don't beat yourself up about it. I would have waited a bit too - it's hard to tell from the initial wail how serious it is. DH managed to dislocate DS1's arm arm pulling him back from the road and didn't get him to A&E without a couple of hours wait and a bit of Internet research. He was fine, as will P be I'm sure.

trace Accidents happen, it wasn't your fault! DD broke her arm earlier this year. I sent her to bed with a bit of calpol and told her she shouldn't have been so mean to DS(she was chasing him about). My mum ended up taking her to A&E the day after. P will be fine, children heal so quickly.

sybs we have a biter too. Drives me mad. I have to follow him round at toddler groups in case he turns native!

Feel ill today, I think I am getting a cold...more later.

Oh trace love don't beat yourself up. It is a mothers duty to tell their children all is ok. Am sure P will love s cast. Did she get to choose a colour?

Oh Trace you poor thing. I'm a little horrified as I think I probably wouldn't have taken her to A&E until at least the next day if I'm truthful. DS1 fell down 13 stairs at our Derby place twice and I checked for HI symptoms but if he'd complained of limb pain I probably wouldn't have thought much of it. At the end of the day Trace you observed her made the call to take her in and she is sorted now, the fall itself is one of those things that is part & parcel of growing up and learning (trust me she'll be very careful on stairs from now on)

Funny you should say Spot I actually had a look for montessori schools in Brighton last night, if we came back to UK I would need to be near the sea I think....

Veg my friend's DS goes to the Montessori school here (5 mins from my house) and loves it. Come over!!!!

Trace, I suspect I wouldn't have done anything until way after you did, I think you did exactly the right thing. Poor little P though, how did she sleep?

Hooray, nursery are taking T today despite our booked holiday so can hopefully get some sleep in. DP is off to the docs for some antibiotics for himself this morning, hopefully by the end of the week we'll all be on fighting form to start work again . Has saved us some cash I spose...