Fab Feb 2009: things that go bump and "mummy, mummy, MUMMY!!!" in the middle of the night

[dinkystinky]

New halloween inspired thread (in honour of this time of year) to talk about our little jekyll & hydes [hgrin]

Is anyone going to be taking their little ones trick or treating this year? We'll be at MIL's for Halloween and she's already told me she has both Danny and DS1 costumes -so it appears that decision has been made for us

Wow MrsY - £22 an hour! That's appalling. We're hiring out the local stay and play centre for Danny's party (at which about 10 littlies and 20 grown ups are coming) and that's £10 an hour. I'd keep the party to a 2 hour period (definitely long enough) - allow 15 mins set up time at the beginning and 30 minutes clear up time at the end.

MrsY I think £22 an hour is a reasonable price.
I also think 2 hours is plenty of time for a 2 year olds party.
I'm just gonna have my 2 best friends over with their kids ( so will be 7 in total)

Ofsted went fine. They didn't come to our department anyway.

MrsY Definitely keep it to a 2 hour party....that's about the threshold for little ones (and their parents!). £22 a hour does seem quite a lot - unless it is a really fab space. Get other parents to bring a couple of toys so that there is plenty to keep them occupied and you don't have to cart your whole house over.

Our local pre-school hires for 7.50 an hour which includes all the childrens size furniture, crockery, tea/ coffee, etc and use of a selection of toys = total bargain.

Have you had a look to see if their are any other village halls in your area? About £10 to £15 an hour is average around here.

Having a slight wobble here - Danny is bright as a button, comprehension is great, but not speaking very much (and when he does he tends to make up his own words for things - so my glasses are lights). He has a vocab of maybe 30 words. DS1 had his private speech therapy yesterday and the therapist was asking our nanny about Danny and if he was putting 2 words together (doubt "oh no" and "no mummy no" count) and expressed concern that he wasnt really. I had noticed he doesnt do that much but as DS1 didnt really talk much until around 2 and a half I was trying to rise above it but now a little concerned. Anybody else have a monosyllabic toddler?

dinky I'm sorry you have these concerns.
I think "no mummy" would count as 2 words put together.

Luke is very chatty. Not always actual proper words, but ounds, made up words, half of words etc etc.

I think if you have concerns, then ask for referrals etc, follow your instinct to it and remember there is a wide range of 'normal'

Thanks SM - my instinct is to leave it (and not bother taking Danny to his 2 year check so the HV cant go on about it) and see how he's doing at 2 and a half. However can easily see us with both boys having to undergo some form of speech therapy. Just wish Danny was more chatty as am sure it would lessen the number of tantrums we have each day...

dinky.... I'd kill for 3 words, much less 30 so take heart, he's not the worst out of our lot

A had his 2 year check yesterday and the nurse was happy enough with his comprehension and said as long as the understanding is there they don't worry too much, it's only if both comprehension and speech were delayed at this age that there would be concerns raised about a problem with development. So I think in Danny's case as his understanding is great and he's attempting speech there's not much to worry about. Although there's no harm doing some of ds1's SALT exercises with him to see if that helps at all.

The sign language SALT also gave a few tips for encouraging communication which are the same whether you're trying to encourage signing or vocal speech:

• create situations in which the child has to ask for something... ie keep food out of reach and don't hand it to them until they've asked, put toys up high so they have to be asked for, etc

• instead of simply going about an activity encourage the child to tell you the next step, ie: when dressing, brushing teeth, getting outdoor clothes on, playing games

• give choices, hold up two items and ask the child to tell you which they want

• forget to provice essential items ie 'forget' to give a spoon with breakfast, toothpast when brushing teeth, coat when going out, etc so the child has to ask for the item. Alternatively give the wrong item, ie: a fork instead of spoon or a hairbrush to brush teeth.

• Skip the child when it's his turn in a game so he has to ask to get his turn.

• Put objects in the wrong places

ds1 is writing a list (all by himself) of words that A would like to sign to give to the SALT. He wrtote 'cat' as the first word without even having to ask how to spell it and he's halfway down a sheet of paper and still interested, normally he gets bored of writing after about three letters

btw, did you know 60% of our communication is nonverbal communication such as body language, sounds, facial expressions, eyes, volume, etc.

Thanks SummerRain I'd say at least 80% of Danny's communication is non-verbal - he signs several words (sorry, milk, more) and the rest of his non-verbal language is mostly in his eyebrows

The list of things to do to encourage speech is helpful. Though knowing Danny he'd just go off and climb up to go get whatever he needed himself rather than ask for it. I caught him yesterday pushing his high chair around to climb up to go get some fruit for a snack.

Am impressed at DS1's list

I laughed at a few of them as well as A has developed ways of getting what he wants without speaking but as with any list there's a few bits that we could apply to our household so I thought it was worth sharing with you guys

ds1's list so far includes (in writing even I can barely decipher): cat, ball, slide, out, yogurt, bread, daddy. He's gotten bored now so it's up on the fridge in case he want to finish it later. I'm impressed too, he rarely has much concentration span for stuff like this much less when he's sick (he's been off school all week.

Ah, SR bless your son, that's lovely. The list of ideas from the SALT is really useful too.

M has quite a wide vocab, but what's more relevant is her understanding, which is pretty much everything we say. I wouldn't worry, Dinky you know him better than anyone and if you weren't worried, than I'm sure it's fine. Both you and DH are well spoken professionals and IIRC you don't baby talk with the boys, so he'll start chattering away in his own time. Besides, if he's clever enough to work out how to get what he wants, you don't need to worry just yet!!

Glad the Ofsted went well, SM.

Dinky I'm sorry you've got concerns about Danny's speech but at least you have experience of this with DS1 and know what help, if any, you'll need to sort it. Mr T is very chatty, just like DS1 was. Today we had "Oh look Mummy, there's a weather vane" (I kid you not!) but his friend who is 1 month older can only say a few words and at this age there is a huge range of "normal".

Have got my own worries with Mr T who has had a enlarged neck gand for probably about a year. GP sent us for an ultrasound which showed more inside his neck and she's concerned enough to refer us to a paed. Am trying not to Google...

Thanks MrsY and THOM - I've got a sneaking suspicion Danny may need help with speaking in the future but am going to leave it for now and just see how it goes. His vocab appears to be expanding though its still one word sentences (Look! Dog! There! is a classic example).

THOM - sorry to hear you're worried about T and his glands. Some kids just have enlarged glands (DS1's behind his ears are enlarged most of the time) so hopefully the paed will confirm its nothing to worry about. Will keep my fingers crossed for you all.

Dinky as long as Danny's progressing like that then surely the are no major worries?

That's what I keep telling myself THOM - will keep monitoring him though. I love that your boys are so chatty - and love that T knows what a weather vane is at not even 2 yet!

they are all very very different. I see that especially with twins who are brought up together in exactly the same way.

Hope you mind is put at rest soon.

Why do builders take so long to get back to you with quotes?

Bob's law Oooggs - I figure the longer they take to come back with quotes, the longer the job will overrun too.

What are you hoping to have done?

We're currently halfway through a total tear out and refurb of our house - have now got to the stage where I cant wait for it to be finished...

hello just marking thread and got to crack on with some knitting, popped on to say the babies are nearly 2 !!

dinky just reading back on the speech stuff - lots of boys don't say much until they are about 3 (can think of a couple of neighbours' kids who were very late talkers).

Stanley's favourite expression is "Tory scum" (we took him on a demo before Xmas).

He will shout it in the most inappropriate situations. .

My concern with him is his growth. He is really quite small. But then so am I and I rather fear he is a chip off the old block. His older brother has always been very tall for his age, but Stan is a right tiddler.

Thanks MsLucy - and everyone else. You've calmed me down and stopped me wibbling Loving Stan's political chant. How's the pregnancy going?

And re Stan's size - sounds like Summerrain's A and his big brother (she said they could be twins, except his big brother is tall and solid and A is small and compact).

dinky - we have just had the front block paved and the builder rendered the walls he built, Monday the new garage door ios being fitted but I need someone to rendered the rest of the house to match the newly rendered new walls.

I know what inside building work is like!!!!! Our loft conversion was finished 2 weeks after Luke was born - looks great, is great but went through living hell to get to the end result!!!!

MsLucy... A is averageish for weight but practically falling off the bottom of the chart height wise. As dinky said, his big brother has always been tall and well built and dd is long and lanky like me so he seems even smaller in comparison! It's not too surprising though as dp's family are all shortarses petite so I was lucky to get two with my genetics

Have to admit we moved out to avoid the inside building work Oooggs - good job too as there has been no gas in the house for the past 2 months

Sounds like you've got pretty much everything, save the rendering, done now. Lucky you

hello.

just want you back on my threads I'm on.

Hope everyone is ok, and all worries have been reassured.

I went to a spiritualist church today for an 'open circle' meeting.

Was quite interesting but I still haven't decided what I think of it all

HI am still drowning under a ball of wool making a skirtie for izzy. aww can hear her snoring over monitor, will be joining her soon at my mums so sharing a room (whihc will mean bed too no doubt )

This morning i woke up to find her inbetween us no idea how long she was there. This morning she was shouting chair chair and as you do i shouted "oh yeh" but didnt look as she always climbs on the chairs. Oh no she has scaled a kitchen bar stool swivel thing and climbed inside her highchair legs through and fastened herself in!

toddler antics, very fun

I hope everyone is ok, just skimmed but hope your reassured dinky good advice from SR xxx