July 2005 babies learn about autumn

[merryberry]

OK, that cheered me up! Back to mopping brows and bottoms now.

my dd actually suits darker colours with her blond hair/brown eyes. She had a gorgeous velvet navy dress as a toddler but its hard to get things other than pink. At 3 pink is still her favourite colour

July 2006! Gosh I was thinking the other day that it was nearly a year ago that I got pregnant and wondering if I should have put it off a year and just be starting it all now but when I think back to how awful I felt last Christmas I rapidly changed my mind.

Mrs D - back later about food got to get ds to school!

I put dd1 in loads of red clothes as I thought that suited her. Now, age 3, she will only wear pink or purple. She will consider something if it has a Disney character on it. dd1 likes to chose dd2s clothes, so she is dressed almost entirely in pink and purple.

As to eating, have you read the Charlie and Lola book I will never not eat a tomato? That's quite a good way at getting fussy eaters to laugh at themselves. Well, it worked with me, possibly because dd1 is called Lola.

I'm off to a 'weaning party' today with dd2 organised by our local Surestart. Not sure what that involves. I think its going to be heavy pressure to wait until the 6 month mark before introducing solids. dd2 is so hungry all the time.... She does an awful lot of feeding.

After the 'party' I've got to take the cat to the wet. She's lost all of the fur of her chest and neck. And she smells. I'm a bit worried about her . Poor puss hasn't had as much attention as she used to get in my childless days. I'm feeling very guilty now.

Food - ds1 stopped eating all fruit and veg in June while he was losing 2 baby teeth. As you know he has autism and is quite rigid about food but fortunately eats a limited but healthy diet. I was horrified as all he would have was fruit juice but nothing worked. he has probs with cause and effect so for eg "if you eat your greens you can have your pudding" just won't work. In the end I gave up but suddenly in September he asked for an apple and has gradually built up to almost back to where he was before. So what I am saying is that it could just be a phase and if someone as rigid about life in general as my ds can go back to eating fruit and veg then anyone can. Best not to make too much of an issue out of it in a negative way. My dh said give him nothing else unless he eats his dinner, tried that one evening and he just woke me up in the middle of the night hungry....

Other strategies are to try presenting things in a different way eg carrot sticks with a nice dip or let him prepare food himself, within reason of course - I let my ds grate his carrot. However not sure of the age of your ds if this is possible.

Different bowls can help too or even different places. For some reason my ds used to only eat bananas in the car.

HTH

Thanks Eulalia. He is 4 and has just started reception. He has always been quite fussy and when I was having a hard time last year I rather let things slide so just let him get away with it - then carried on when I was pregnant . So he's been eating a very restricted diet for about 1.5 - 2 years, and is getting worse. The thing is that his "list" isn't actually that bad: for breakfast he'll have porridge, rice krispies, toast (any or all 3). He's not good with sandwiches - either jam (which I now refuse to give him) or peanut butter. For supper he'll eat pasta & pesto or fish fingers, chips and peas. He has the odd apple or banana too.

So it's not as though he will starve, but I'm not willing to prepare separate meals for him and I'm sick of him screaming when I haven't cooked something he likes. For a while I let him leave the table if he wasn't eating but now I'm thinking of making him stay at the table and eating just 1 forkful so he has tried other things - in case he finds that he likes them. It's pretty exhausting though, especially at that time of day

DH decided on holiday that we were going to get tough with him, so poor DS2 ate just breakfast most of the time. But he'd sneak downstairs in the early hours of the morning and help himself to bread! Then he'd laugh at us when we came downstairs.

Coincidentally, we have just been reading Charlie & Lola about not wanting to start school, and DS2 has now decided that he doesn't want to wear his uniform, as Lola said that in the book!! He is such a wind-up merchant, I'm sure he's laughing behind my back!

Belo- hope your puss is ok! Ours has lost a bit of weight since we had dd, not such a bad thing because she was a bit lardy- but I think she was our baby substitute and we used to feed her those sheba tins.... now it's whiskas pouches if she's lucky!!! and then she has to open them herself....
I am having a hard time with dd at the moment- she has forgotten that she likes to suck her fingers and is very upset about it. She won't take a dummy, just my little finger so I seem to be glued to her at naptimes at the moment. This is very strange behaviour for such a child prodigy, don't you think?
Plus dh brought me home a lovely present this week- a fistful of germs- so I am feeling a bit rubbish and in need of chocolate/new shoes/sparkly things. hope you're all well x

Oh, by the way, has anyone had to get a baby passport yet? and if so, how long did it take to arrive? we want to go on a booze/cheese/choc run to Calais at some point before Christmas and have just thought that we won't be able to go without a passport for dd!

Oh, booze, cheese and choc sounds nice Harriett - no idea about the passport but we need to get one too as we are planning a hol at some point soonish.

Mrsd, your ds sounds just like my ds1. I don't bother with his fussiness any more. We try to have a family sit down meal once a week which I think helps. When we have sunday dinner my older two always seem to eat stuff that they would rather not touch the rest of the week. It is gradual though, at first they would not eat anything but now they do! ds1 has discovered that he likes all sorts of things and begs to be cooked a roast dinner . It is frustrating at times though I know.

Keep meaning to ask - has anyone else found their hair falling out like mad? Mine is unbelievable at the moment, literally handfuls of hair a day!

ds2 is very pleased with himself today - he has managed to get both of his socks off and has also rolled over from his back to his front .

my hair is also disappearing at an alarming rate bagpuss, i reckon i could stuff a few cushions . i have an awful lot to lose though, so it's not that obvious yet...

although ds isn't a fussy eater (& i do know how lucky we are!), i can massively increase his vegetable intake by getting him to help me cook. i provide a suitable knife, he cuts up & scoffs peppers, tomatoes, cucumber etc. cutting carrots with a blunt knife failed though.

oh dear, dd's tired, the babygym isn't working it's normal magic. time for joggling i think. or maybe she'd like to watch me clear up the kitchen. we've had a thoroughly exhausting trip to a faraway park today, involving bus journeys, friends & scooters. all collapesed on the sofa now.

DD is fast asleep sucking her thumb . She stays in bed with me after her 3am feed, and does a rolling/head lifting combo which enables her to nestle into my shoulder for a cuddle. It's very sweet.

I took her to a meeting today at school, and she was very good apart from some loud and smelly farting, very slurpy feeding and a massive burp! This was a meeting with about 4 other people plus the headmaster

Thanks to Harriett, I have finally ordered drinks for her christening party. So long as I keep everyone supplied with drink, all will be well!

hair-falling-out - I went to a trichologist (?sp) when I had DS1 as my hair was falling out, and they recommended some of their fabulous products which cost a fortune so I decided hair-loss was preferable to poverty . Philip Kingsley, I think, somewhere in the West End. I seem to have more hair loss during pregnancy than afterwards, which I know isn't the usual way of things but there we are.

Mrs D - know that list doesn't sound too bad. I guess he won't take anything else with the pasta so the mixing veg into tomato sauce trick won't work? My ds has to have plain pasta with maybe a bit of parmesan and he has everything in separate bowls, meat and veg which is a faff but just glad he eats it. dd is much easier - she eats a lot of things - even spinach!

Harriet - we got a passport for our holiday last month - I think it took about 3 weeks but you may be busier in England so would consider getting one ASAP.

Had a big clothing clear out yesterday but have kept 3 bags - one for each child with little outfits like their first outfit, cute things etc... dd's bag is getting awfully big though with all the lovely dresses she's had. I thought it would be nice to give it to them when they are older.

Getting ds weighed today more out of curiosity than anything as he looks fine.

Yep, my hair is falling out too. Comforting to know that I'm not on my own. Boots do post preganancy shampoos. I saw them whilst pregnant. I'm going to try and find some.

It took us about a week to get dd2's passport. Even though it was in August.

As to eating, my parents recently bought dd1 a barbie bowl. Now we tell her if she finishes all her food she can see barbie! That worked for a couple of times. Also, she always eats better if she eats with other kids. Preferably older. Problems with fussy older kids was discussed at the Surestart weaning party I went to yesterday. There seems to be a lot of it about.

Harriett - could dd be teething? If you say she's only happy when she's got your little finger in her mouth. We've had to resort to teething gel for dd2. She's constantly dribbling and sticking her hand in her mouth and being misserable. After a dose of gel she seems to cheer up. If I remember correctly from dd1 it could still be months before any teeth make an appearance.

As to puss, she's got a bacterial infection. A friend's boyfriend helped me get her to the vets. I've now got to bathe her poorly skin with an antiseptic soothing lotion. I will need help to do it. I asked dh if he would help me tonight when he gets home and he said "I would rather have the cat put down then bathe it" Aargh! He's unfortunatly not a cat lover. But, I've had puss longer than I've had him!

ds2 is 12lbs 9 oz @ 14 weeks - we have taken to calling him our 'dainty boy'

belo - hope your puss gets better soon.

Just realied the time go tot pick up ds from school now....

dd was 16lbs last week (4 months exactly) - she's just below the 75th centile.

Started back this week teaching my evening exercise classes. It was fine although I am very conscious of having about 2 and 1/2 stone to lose and I did make a bit of a fuss about this before going out but it was fine.

More importantly and most amazingly we have managed to move dd's bedtime from 12.30 am ish to 6.45 pm - and the girl loves to sleep . Since I started watching how much she sleeps during the day - and actually waking her if necessary - something I would never have contemplated with ds - she has slept 12 hours on the trot for 3 nights. This went a bit wrong 2 days ago when I let her sleep 4 hours in the middle of the day as I was trying to get everything ready for the classes and that night she was up from 11.00 - 2.00 am! Anyway it is such a relief as I was worried she'd be crying for milk and not sleeping in my absence but she's fallen asleep minutes after me leaving. I did express a bit and we did a practice run but didn't get round to getting her to take a bottle and I'm hoping if she carries on the emergency supplies in the fridge won't need to be replaced - hooray!

Loved the photos H2D - it made me get the camera out again as they are changing so much. I am another one with a Bumbo - got it at an NCT sale was nearly talked out of getting it by my Mum who had to stand in the middle of the hall surrounded by a mountain of toys and clothes as I dashed round (I have learnt to move fast at those sales - we help so as to get first pickings!!) anyway dd likes it but can only fit in the thing if she's in a disposable otherwise there's just too much bulk - this makes her sound big which I don't think she is.

DS moaning in his cot havng just woken so must go.

Hope you all have a happy weekend.

Just noticed the lack of full stops in last post and expressed milk is in the freezer not the fridge!

Thanks for the compliments on the photos. We're all being very quiet, aren't we, LOL.

Anyone rather knackered ?

I'm recovering from DD's christening party on Sunday, and today is DH's birthday!

DD and I are having underwater photos taken in a month's time. I'm so excited!

mrsd - are the piccies organised through a local pool or a 'baby in water' photo company ? Did they suggest when might be a suitable age to do the shots ? Sounds like great fun, and I am sure the photos will be amazing !

I've seen some mum + babe too... that might be worth trying if you fancy it... you can practice the 'mermaid' look, LOL.

Yup knackered over here!

Hub - it's organised by Water Babies and is at one of the pools where they do their swimming programme. It's for babies who have completed a Water Babies course - so aged up to one, but IME (and theirs!) the younger the better.

Knackered here too! Torrential rain here and I got soaked 3 times. It's DH's birthday and tbh after Sunday Im all partied out.

It's funny, even though dd is sleeping v. v. well, we still feel knacked ! I can imagine if your babies are still feeding in the night, or waking up regularly etc. you / dp must be feeling v. v tired indeed. Hope eveyone is OK.

dd is currently discovering her hands are her hands IYSWIM, that they can be sucked (loudly, badly) and is generally lovely. I think we're going to slowly cut back on offering the dummy as she learns to self-soothe by munching on her mitts (this will be great as she might be able to keep herself calm in the early morning instead of daddy doing dummy duty, LOL). She's very much more interested in people / the room etc. and gradually showing an interest in the toys etc. presented to her. A few hand thwacks and feet kicks on the baby gym etc. too, which is fun to see.

Good luck with the swim course and photo session, mrsd. Sounds fab !

Hiya cackle. Your dad doing OK ?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . We're also knackered here too.

Glad you survived the christening mrsd.

ds2 had last lot of vaccinations yesterday and also we picked up the Imprints from JL, which are very nice. I was somewhat dismayed to find though that his prints are bigger than dds were (she was older than him when she had hers done) - was hoping for teeny tiny baby ones.

Torrential rain here too yesterday and got very soaked picking up ds1 from school. I have rsi from buggy pushing one handed too.

Hmm yes tired I suppose and streeeetching myself between 3 kids. I now have to do something separately with the two older ones on a Tue and Thur afternoons. It's great as we get one-one time (well almost, baby is around of course!) and I always take them out so its out of the house. ds1 is back to doing homework (it fell by the wayside last term) so that is more work. dh is supposed to do it with him but sometimes he falls asleep on the sofa ....

Have started looking for Christmas stuff on eBay of course! Already found lots of gorgeous dresses for dd

Must get on piles of laundry - ds1 wet the bed last night.

BTW - ds still showing no signs of a routine.

Tiredness killed by first 5 hour jag in the night for mum for a few weeks. PLus a three hour follow up. Hurrah.

Baby's first word? Vin is experimenting with 'Aiiii' just like ALi G today. It's very funny:-)