Dec 2007 - Little People, Large Strops

[strandedatseasonsgreetings]

Will this do everyone?

Evie party today - ahhh I hate birthday parties! IT is at the local soft play centre. Dh had made the cake ... dd1 is ill - sigh it will be over in a few hours

cazzy - martha's birthday party today as well. Cupcakes (pink) in the oven; dh out with the dd's to pick up all the crap food for the party (including the Princess cake)...With less than a week until we leave this house, this is the last thing I need. But hey ho it'll make her happy and that's what really matters!

Happy birthday parties all round :)

We're going to just do a little family party for DS - just me, DH, DS and DSS.

BT - enjoy it while you can. There was no way dd2 didn't want a party after dd1 had her 5th party 3 months ago. However, this one is certainly going to be more laid back.

Well DH has agreed that we are going to have a proper birthday party in January for DS's birthday - going to have it end of January I think.

Hope there were good birthdays all round . And for Milo tomorrow.

Pic of cake on profile skid (and more on fb)

Cake looks great FO - did you make it?

Very cute clairey! Happy birthday all three-yr-olds.

I am in panic mode as we have 5 days left (and only three days left in the house) but the power has gone again this morning so it's too hot to do anything in the house. Luckily I managed to do quite a bit of organising before the heat got too much. I have retired to an air conditioned cafe.

Looked at the weather forecast. It is going to be 37 degrees colder in Cheltenham than it is here on the morning we get home. Agh.

But the good news is I have a playgroup place for Martha three times a week. What a relief!

37 degrees?!! My goodness hope you've got some thermals waiting for you... brilliant you have a playgroup place

Cake is amazing clairey - and definitely sparkley - hope he appreciated it - he looked like he did (he is so handsome btw - hope you are ready to see a trail of broken hearts wherever he goes...)

DS's bday yesterday. He loved his presents (esp his fire engine from us ) but don;t think he really enjoyed being a birthday boy with all attention on him - clearly not used to it as a neglected middle child - he thought only one of the presents was for him and the rest were for his sister!

How was Martha's party btw clara? Did the cupcakes AND princess cake (lucky girl!) go down well?

I did indeed make it BT, and a bloody mission it was too! First my mixer broke so I had to do it with a wooden spoon, then I could only fit one tin at a time in oven, then the first layer took 3 times longer than it should have done to cook and we had to go out so layer 2 sat there for 6 hours before I was home again to cook it (hence why it didn't rise much and looks very flat!). Got there in the end though.

Hooray for playgroup place Clara, must be a huge relief!

Skid ds was the same, opened one present and thought that was it. Glad I didn't do him a party because 2 of my friends came round with one of their boys who is approx the same age as ds, then wc popped in with a pressie for him and then my parents turned up and ds couldn't cope with only a few people focusing on him! He'd probably have run off and hid if I'd done a party.

Have applied for a job, only one day a week but it's a start. Panicking about childcare if I do get it...

oooh exciting clairey - what's the job?

And what is the WC doing popping round? How are things between you now?

DS is having a mini party of two guests on Saturday so I hope he'll cope. I don't think we'd bother if it wasn't for DD - don't want her to think only she gets a party IYKWIM - she already lords it over DS1 any chance she gets...

Our party problem solved by ridiculous horde of cousins in town for christmas - 7 aged between 3 and 11 - so lots of entertainment, noise and chaos. Good job dd seems to adapt to the sudden invasions of the cousins fairly well. Quite surprising given that she's so shy usually.

She is the child who ran away screaming when Father Christmas came to her nursery's party.

BTW, had ECG today and it was more or less NORMAL (normal with slight arrhythmia but nothing to worry about - tell that to the unhelpful community midwives) so have a jolly print off saying how NORMAL it was to staple to the front of my maternity notes...

celebrating with hulahoops and gummy bears from fabby sweet shop in town. I know how to enjoy myself!

great news dundee - and what better way to celebrate than with hula hoops (not so keen on gummy bears)!

Good news dundee

Dummies.

Who still has one?

DS does...is addicted to it. Would have it all the time if I let him. But he seems to have remembered dd giving hers to the reindeer last year and has just said he is going to. Will go with it if he wants but am terrified it will mean no sleep and constant whingeing DD was easy, one night of asking for it and that was it.

dd has one for sleep. i still feel guilty that we swaddled her until she was 5 or 6 months (she used to smack herself in the face when dropping off; funny for us, not for her!) so never found her thumb/fingers to suck.

i only stopped sucking my fingers when i was about 22 . she won't want to take her dummy on the french exchange, i think, so not that bothered about it. would rather she sleeps!

Good news on the (lack of) heart murmer Dundee.

Yes Martha still has a dummy (sigh). She decided she was going to give them to a baby we were going to visit the other day. We got as far as the car and she dissolved in tears, suddenly panicking...she only has it at night and sometimes in the late afternoon when she is very tired. I am quite glad she still has it though as it will make the flight easier on Sunday night.

Good luck with the job application Clairey! I know how you feel though - if I'm ever lucky enough to find a part-time job worth applying for I will be bricking myself!

Martha's birthday went fine thanks Skid. It wasn't very exciting - nine children aged 1-6 playing, lots of unhealthy food (including yes cake AND cupcakes), party bags. Martha got to wear her new Belle dress though so she was happy.

Had a little "farewell" with some of my mum friends this morning, they gave me a lovely coffee table book of photos of St Lucia. I am going to be sad to leave, however much I am looking forward to getting home. It's always difficult to leave good friends.

Should be packing/organising but it so darm hot again today!

DS still has a dodie - the dodie fairy is coming at Christmas to take it away and leave an extra special present. So basically we are going cold turkey

Dundee - good news on the heart scan :)

FO - sounds like you went above and beyond for that cake!

gosh dummy talk is interesting as DS2 (i.e. 9 months) has one and is utterly addicted to it - so I guess this means he will still be addicted age 3 - eek! But as some of you have said, better a dummy than crying and whinging!

Good luck with going cold turkey BT (and clairey). A friend of mine cut the top of all her dummies so when her DS sucked then it wasn;t the same and he just stopped wanting them - he was about 4 though...

clairey you are still missing him but it is good you are not seeing him much as otherwise it will be so hard to get over him. Whenever you feel down about it, give yourself a hearty pat on the back for being so dignified/strongwilled/moral!

clara - good luck with the flight back how many hours?

DS is being nightmarish atm - I keep wondering if there is something really wrong with him because his mood is so bad so often. He had three tantrums this morning before i even left to take DD to school. I was thinking it could be his eyes making his vision blurred and giving him headaches... or maybe he is just being a normal grumpy toddler!

Skid - I think this is a very, very difficult stage. Dd1 was awful at three, much worse than two. And dd1 is constantly testing me. Being willfully naughty, fighting constantly with her sister, waking every night.

It's harder for me to judge as we were moving Pakistan - UK when dd1 was this age and now we're moving St Lucia - UK so I put a lot of it down to being unsettled. However, I know from friends with similar aged children that this is just a hard age.

Flight is eight hours. But all at night so I am hoping (please!) that we'll all just sleep most of the way.

I am so ridiculously horrifically tired at the moment. The dd's waking us every night, then dd1 waking at 5am. I was up two nights ago with cystitis (now on antibiotics) then last night was out with dh's work colleagues for a farewell meal, Which was lovely but of course I was the only one watching the time constantly thinking "there's another hour gone that I could have been sleeping..."

It was a lovely meal though. Me and 7 men!

7 men Clara?? That's a bit greedy

Skid lots of tantrums here too. I remember dd becoming very resistant and stubborn just after turning 3 and it looks like ds is the same. But in a louder and tantrumier way! This is why I am scared of dummy removal...might just see if he mentions it again.

Dundee I also sucked my thumb til I was in my 20's. And did take my bit of cloth to uni with me Until boys regularly started taking it's place in my bed

well you must have been pretty hot for any boy to consider sharing his bed with a scraggy old bit of cloth!

Agree 7 is greedy - spread the love! (and I would also be watching the clock and wishing I was asleep...)

Dreamt I cheated on my DH last night with this really attractive young man but couldn't remember who it was when I woke up. Then I had a 10am meeting with one of my project students (i.e. 19 years old) and as he walked through the door, I realised it had been HIM

Glad to hear your 3 yr olds are also a nightmare!! It just seem so hard to comprehend that he was a little ray of sunshine, smiles, easy going etc etc and now he seems so unhappy and angry when will my proper little Milo come back to me?

Ha ha all 7 men married unfortunately Clairey or I would have pointed them in your direction!!

Skid - I have raunchy dreams about random men occasionally (although these days am too tired to even dream about sex!)....makes it hard to ever look at them in the same light, I find

And as for when you will get your real Milo back - hmmm. Dd1 did get better before she was 4 so here's hoping ot doesn't last too much longer...

LOL @ DrSkid's dream!

I am so glad you are all saying 3 is a difficult age - ds is sooooo wilful!!

He is also regressing a bit - he keeps saying "I not a little boy, I a tiny baby"! It's because he knows we want him to give up his dodie, to which is he is very addicted. If I had rationed it more when he was a baby may be it wouldn't have been so much of a problem, so DrSkid I would try and cut your DS's usage down (probably easier said than done though)
I have pointed out that tiny babies only have milk from their mummies, and don't eat chocolate, crisps, sausages or pasta. He was more worried about the pasta