Dec 2008 - Hello 2011 the Year of the Toddler!

[DeidreBarlow]

Totally unispired but hope you all find it...

Hello Spot, lovely choice of name, had DD been a DS it was our top name and we're keeping should we ever have a boy in future, it is just lovely. I'm pleased to hear he's feeding better, and you sound so much more chipper. I am mighty impressed with the pumping, I only ever managed to squeeze out a watery looking dribble , I was pathetic at it

Naps - DD will happily sleep for 2 hours straight after lunch at nursery, but at home it's a lot more hit and miss. We need some wind down time and then only half the time will she drop off in her cot, the rest of the time she fights it. So I often plan a car ride or walk in the buggy at some point in the afternoon and then do early bedtime. Bizarrely, missing a nap seems to impact more in her ability to eat tea than any bedtime affects. Summer you have my deepest sympathy with H, she sounds just like E was - I would spend hours trying to get her to nap at that age and result in just 15 minutes, barely enough time for me to drink a cup of tea. Cue many days me dissolving in teas and begging her to sleep. I have no advice for you, apart from encourage H to crawl or walk, as using lots of energy finally tired E out. I hope you have better luck resolving it

Avo your Dd1 is gorgeous, only having 'best bits', I'm so pleased she loved it

Hello hello to everyone else. I have read, but have been distracted as DH and I have just booked a swanky weekend in London at the end of this month which we've been talking about doing for the best part of a year. Woohoo

Summer - your mum probably did look. I had a wee look at poor DD1 last night and you could see the worms crawling out of her bum. Looked awful. Poor child. Stole a quick glance at DD2 as well but she was clear. We have all been dosed though as apparently v contagious. My school mum friends tell me that they get out the Ovex at the first sign of an itchy bum. It's £10 for the whole family though so I'll be getting a prescription for the next lot.

I was hoping for some weight loss but alas not.

SL, grovag? Interesting.

My mum used to look at our bot bots while we slept, I woke once mid perusal. Our anti worm dosage was 6 tablets that seemed huge but were probably about the size of a round paracetamol tablet. Mum used to cut the tablet in half for me so effectively 12, I used to gag with each tablet. My order brother refused to take them so we had to have them every 6 months to avoid anyone getting them and passing them onto him, Bugger.

Hooray for Baileys and coffee.

SL I think at around 5 months DS2's overnight sleep went a bit crazy and someone told me its them getting hungrier and more aware. I started solids at around 5.5months but it took a while for him to take any substantial solids but the sleeping got better so I think its more the awareness thing. IYSWIM

Sybs are you still going out for your cheeky swims.

ZJ Hooray for your cheeky break, nice, you deserve it.

Jolly, I'm glad your liver people were more realistic, they know you well so would know the best.

Oh ffs. Dd is awake a 5 am roaring (not hungry) for the third night in a row. She bloody doesn't go to sleep til late either. I couldn't sleep til 1am last night either as my body clock is fucked due to odd sleeping times and napping in the day. Ds is at least asleep though he bloody should be as he didn't go to sleep til 830 and has had days of reduced naps despite 5 am wakes

I don't know what a grovag is vag. Maybe you should tell us you are the vag expert after all.

God she's not even crying I should just learn to ignore her. Shes wide awake and clearly thinks life is hilarious. Go to bloody sleep you monster!
Vaggie I agree with you I think it's a development thing. It's been over a month now of bad sleeping one way or another though and I am fed up. Hope i don't have to wait til 6 months for it to improve. Not planning on starting solids til then as frankly I am dreading it.

Yuck Summer, what a crappy start to the day. Are your parents sharing the night shift at all? Or at least giving you chance to nap in day by taking them off your hands?

I've remembered some of the other stuff I wanted to say last night. Firstly, it's great news that Jolly's liver dr is much more sensible than the kidney dr.

And tantrums - DD had a hilarious one in the bath last week, probably because a duck looked at her funnily or something. She lay down in the water to tantrum and then was completely torn between trying to make her point loudly and screaming and not actually drown herself. She chose to live, but then was very miffed she' d had to make that choice. I, of course, stood back & laughed was a sympathetic and supportive mummy

Yep zj my parents are taking them from 6 if they hear them. And I am napping in the day so I am being grumpy really. Just want some decent non broken sleep now!

Ds is good at not having epic tantrums. Dh and mil would disagree and think he is awful as he occasionally whinges when a toy is taken off him or similar. I suspect tantrums will get worse and dh will spend weeks months or years stressing about it nsigh.

SL: DD sounds a lot like DS1, he would only nap in a moving buggy. Will she sleep in a sling when you're out and about?

Tantrums: we've had a fair number, but I'm with Zoe in having to laugh at the wobbly lips and screaming at ridiculous things. Here it's 'I do it!' with everything, any attempt to help at all with anything prompts a meltdown. We are having battles with meals top. He refuses to eat anything and then battles to get away, but when he realises a better alternative isn't forthcoming he eats with a martyred expression. Life is so hard for a 2 yo...

Oh poor you, Summer. I started DD2 on solids at 5 months and she's a pretty good sleeper now. Plus 2nd time round I've found I'm not as anal about it as I was first time and even give her lots of food out of pots - shock horror! Frankly I don't have the time to make pureed food the whole time and even when I do have the spare time, I just want to put my feet up for an hour or so if they manage to sleep at the same time!!! That's if I don't have to hoover or clean the bathrooms etc!

Does anyone live near Hemel Hempstead? That's where we're thinking of moving to. Any tips on it?

Oh poor you SL. Gin? You not the children well maybe the DC if it make them sleep.

Beans I know a fair but about that area. When we moved down from Scotchland we lived in Harpenden about 20 mins from HH. Ask away.

In the car on our way to Yorkshire it's my niece first bday. But there and back in a day. Plus boys have just done 2hrs if rugby. I fear we will fall out today. Oh actually just have as DH isvinsisting on driving so close to the car in front I can see what the driver had for breakfast.

SL DH was a bit like that with DS2, just kept seeing the whining and he'd say things like, DS1 was so good, DS2 is so different, or if we'd had DS2 first we wouldn't have had more children. But now he sees more positives than negatives (DS2 has been particularly cute lately). So thats my defence of your DH, your mil on the other hand should know better, and I can't help thinking she is trying to undermine you somehow by being mean about DS. Very sad, and the only person she will hurt is DS.

I'm glad your parents are letting you have a sleep in but I know what you mean about broken sleep, i often find if I get a sleep in, after a bad night I don't sleep deeply and have bad dreams and sometimes have a headache when I wake.

Jam you make me laugh, we have arguments in the car because DH can't listen to football on the radio and drive at the same time. So if the radio is on he ends up driving in a kind of weird foot down on the pedal then slows down as he loses concentration, the. Speeds up again, so I get car sick from the motion of the car.

We just had a lovely brunch at a local cafe and DS2 is asleep and DH & DS1 have left for swimming lessons. The house is nice and quiet and I'm tempted to find a dodge midday movie and drink coffee but I need to take this opportunity to clean the playroom and throw out some toys. These boys have way too many toys they don't play with anymore.

Oh and if we are recommending alcoholic beverages for SL I'm going for a liquor coffee, you've got alcohol, caffeine and cream, everything her body needs right now.

just running on to say a big Thank you to my secret santa for the lovely bath things. i shall spoil myself
Have read and have lots to say but no time to post now...
xxx

dd being impatient for mummy but I just wanted to share with you a rather lovely moment we had today (in amongst all the flinging herself on the ground shouting Noooooo!!! when i try to do things like put her socks on, or give her lunch...)

I've been finding it really hard to persuade her to nap recently, she just won't go down for me any more - DH does about half an hour of stories after which she says "DD bed..." but never for me - so today I said I would lie next to her big girl bed while she went to sleep. Instead she came and lay next to me with our heads resting on her massive cuddly dog, I shut my eyes and she stroked my hair for ages saying "mummy sleep" then stuck her hand on my cheek and went quiet. After about 5 mins I snuck an eye open and she'd just shut her eyes and gone to sleep :) Awwww [soppy] this will of course never happen again hence my wanting to share it while it's still fresh rather than a distant dream of "that day she went to sleep [sort-of] on her own"...!

Effie yes she will nap in sling. She really doesnt get that grumpy on her tiny naps though so I don't really need her to sleep longer for that reason I just think it might fix her nighttimes if she has longer day naps. But she has gone down to sleep ok today so is getting better. And has also had a couple of 45 min naps in the day too.

Beans I am scared of feeding from jars after ds had a phase where he would eat nothing but organix pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella which drove me BONKERS! But I suspect I will use them from time to time anyway. How is your dd1s eating? My ds is still a pest with food. Currently he only eats "Thomas sandwiches" (houmous) and pasta pesto reliably. Plus fruit and anything sweet and cheese. Don't care any more but wish he would eat some meat or pulses or something.

Sorry i don't really drink spirits much just beer and wine. And I don't do boozy coffee as I like my coffee plain and strong and black.

trying unsuccessfully to wind a sicky baby and type withone hand.

now i know why i felt so chipper yesterday - t was at nursery! dp is here so we only have one child to deal with apiece but blimey it's tricky! i'm sure will ge the hang of the logistics soon but at the moment they seem huge!

didn't help that i only got 2 hours sleep last night cos of constant feeding and projectile vomming from the smallest one. the feeds take so long they all run into each other then he just gets sick and windy. ho hum. i think the problem is that i like to be in control and i'm now confronted by chaos!

JJ that is so sweet about your DD. how is the big girl bed thing going? i am in awe of all those who have made the transition...

SL you sound like you're having nightmare time of it on the sleep front. i hope you get a better one tonight. how old is dd now?

sorry bout the worms sybs sounds grim. as pubie aid, something to look forward to!

Oh yes rubes was it you who was mentioning the comfort formula? did it make much difference to the wind?

spot Thats a lovely name. Sorry to hear that he is all windy at night. I think it was pubes DD that was windy...did she used to have gaviscon in her feeds?? Hopefully pubes can advise.

JJ That is just gorgeous of your DD! I sneak into DS's room while he's asleep and feel a little sad he is now in his big bed.

Summer How was last nights sleep? Hope it improved.

Sybs Yikes...worms! I was quite crappy with the headlice, not sure if I could cope with worms. Aren't small school children just delightful

Went to a 40th party last night and am a little worse for wear now. Still I am hoping to go for a run in a bit and see if that doesn't perk me up. I feel bad as I really over-indulged so have to run in attempt to ease my guilt!

Hi ladies, hope your weekends have been ok. We've had an easy relaxing one. It's quite sunny here so had a nice leisurely ride to the beach. Beachfront was freezing so went unto the sealife center we have yearly passes so its free. DS2 is mad for it and gets quite excited in there. I was quite excited because the little cafe attached to the SLC has loads of liquor coffees including a black Russian coffee! In amongst all the excitement of the day DS2 only slept for about 20 mins. But despite the lack of nap he's been in a great mood and ate all his dinner.

SL don't stress too much about DDs weaning onto solids, as you know my DS1 was a nightmare to wean, still has a sensitive palate (see what I did there trying to be negative and called him a bloody annoying picky eater!), but DS2 is as opposite to a picky eater as is humanly possible, the child will eat anything. I keep thinking he will go off food like most 2 year olds but no hes still at it. I know as you had the same experience as me with you DS you have dreamt of a child that simply puts food in its mouth, chews then swallows it, well that is my DS2. And its as amazing as you imagine it will be. Those on the thread with choosey eaters will completely understand.

I wander how lady is getting on with her mil.

Spot I sympathise with you DS2 was a spewey baby and as result of that and a dodge latch seemed to feed for England. Saw boobs and loads of clothing changes and washing was my life for the first several weeks. Things that helped were a cranial osteopath over 5 sessions and the fact that I was doing that BF course so had weekly access to a highly skilled BF counsellor, which was lucky because my local one who was at a clinic 2 mins walk from my house never called or helped out at all even though I went to the clinic and asked for her to call me. My MW was brilliant but by her own admission was not much of a help with the BF feeding hassles. Your doing the best you can and every feed is good for him so go easy on yourself. How long have you got DP around for? If your expressing anyway could he do some night feeds it take him off you in the morning?

Jam - what's it like round there??! I know nothing about it, but it's a good commute apparently. Hmmm.

Sybs - worms - minging!! But apparently something like 80% of the population have them without knowing. how grim!!!

Spot - it'll get better and better, promise. The chaos becomes easier to cope with and less chaotic. Although probably not less, it's just you get used to it!

Had big row with DH yesterday as I haven't sent my phone off to get the £40 for it to envirofone. He says it's annoying him and I must send it off. I said it was none of his business and I'll deal with it when I'm ready! He went mental and said I didn't understand the money situation and he has to do everything. Hmmm. I'm thinking maybe he resents my resigning from work to be a SAHM!!!

My DD1 is still being a picky little bear, but I now give her far far smaller portions and she seems to eat them. No snacks at all and she has even asked for lunch and supper for the last couple of days. She has one fish finger or sausage and one smiley face or some fried up mash. And she loves frozen peas. That is frozen. Not cooked at all, just frozen ones to snack on. And she likes eggy bread. The other day, she pushed away her spag bol and shouted "NO LIKE IT", so I unclipped her from her booster seat and calmly said "ok, no lunch then" and she said "NO" and I offered her spag bol again and she ate it all, then some Ambrosia custard (hot fave) and a yoghurt. Felt v pleased with myself after that!

Unfortunately, today we've discovered that DH's Mum's cancer may have returned. She has a mass in her gut, which they are finding out about on Tuesday. We're due to go and stay with them this weekend and I am keeping everything crossed that it's benign or a polyp or something. Horrible to contemplate otherwise. She only just survived cancer 7 years ago and any more chemo will wreak terrible havoc on her body. Keep fingers crossed please all.

xx

Beans Hemel hempstead has some crazy roundabouts! That's all I know but st Albans and harpenden aren't far and seem to be super popular with young families. Weren't you meant to be moving to Bristol and how is streatham? Your dd sounds like quite a good eater...one fishfinger alone with nothing else would be good going. They re totally rejected at the mo. As is spag bog. No lunch/tea doesn't work - he just has no lunch or tea!

Ffs my mum is driving me up the wall reading the local paper and commenting on every tiny thing. The latest being the mileage of a second hand car and how low it is. She's not even looking for a new car.

Sleep better last night! Ds slept til 7!! And dd til 615 and only 1 easy night wake. Excellent. Hopefully on the u

So

Oops posted by mistake. Hopefully on the up re sleep!

Spot dd is 5 months which is a tricky phase for lots of them I think. It will get easier and not just cos you get used to it!! I remember having to stop to feed dd at all sorts of weird times, frequently in the car after dropping ds off at nursery even though the journey is only 15 mins! Now it's so much less frequent and more predictable.

Beans I meant to say also that I will have my fingers very crossed for your MIL.

Lovely Beans, so sorry to hear about MIL. Will keep fingers crossed for good news. Lots of love XXXX

We have just found out that MIL's cat has died. He was about 17 so a great innings but am dreading telling Lucy and, even worse, having to read "goodbye Mog" again. I can't get through it without crying and all the children end up patting me and saying not to worry. Very sad indeed.