Sept 08 - Insert witty title 'here'

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Sorry about the crap title ladies, I was lacking inspiration and we were up to our limit on posts!

also, can anyone tell me at what age little ones start saying 'i do it' on average?

eandz Toby has been saying it for a while....it varies wildly IME.

Toby has also started performing star jumps, walking backwards and generally acting the buffoon and saying loudly "Everyone look at me!!"

Which - of course -we all do

Blimey...birthdays??? Have got so much going on havent even thought of Tobys birthday...will get him some Thomas take and play stuff...he loves it.
Then a family birthday tea.

So, supposed to be moving house on 29th, going on hols on saturday and have done NOTHING.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day!

fanny bear in mind my dad bought the bikes for the DCs and chose quite nice ones so don't be scared by the price...
Our balance bike is a wooden like-a-bike which has been brilliant and DS is now doing really well on it. Its adjustable and saw a tall DD right through til she was riding a pedal bike (which admittedly was only at 3y 3m!)
The other great make, and what DD's first pedal bike is, is islabike. They've got smaller components so they're lighter weight, and you can tell they're great quality. They do hold their value as well and come up on ebay and I believe you can trade them back in with islabike when you get the next size up, although obviously with 2 DCs you'll prob want to hang on to them for a while.

My only advice would be not to go for a really cheapy one. A friend got one from I think Halfords (or possibly even Tesco) for about £30 but its quite poor quality, the handle bars spin all the way round, the mudguards flap about, and its not particularly easy to ride, and he grew out of it well well before being ready for a pedal bike so it was a false economy.

Lots of friends have this bike and it seems reasonable quality.

If you don't go for like-a-bike or islabike then I'd recommend at least looking at the dimensions of their bikes and finding something similar. HTH! I need to persuade my dad to get DD the next size up now...birthday next April is too long to wait!

DH's cousin had a baby last night, thankfully didn't use a name I loved although it was one we had discussed. Another friend is having a c-section today, I'm willing the phone to ring with news!!

Plan to get A a scooter for his birthday - we're going to embark on potty training again next week. He's mastered pulling trousers and pullups down and up which he couldn't do last time we tried, so with luck peer pressure from the other nursery kids will do the trick (we said he could have a scooter when he started using the potty). Will also mean he can ride it to nursery and I won't need to push a pushchair.

Was feeling very sorry for myself earlier - got horrendous diarrhoea bug over the weekend, and abdominal spasms pulled my pelvis out of whack triggering SPD like I had in late pregnancy. MrNC tried talking to NHSDirect and out-of-hours GP and after cursing various idiot call centre staff and the first doctor, we ended up with a doc visiting me. Who was lovely and basically said I don't have an ectopic pregnancy and I should feel better soon. And indeed the SPD has faded to merely twinging but my dodgy shoulder has pinched the nerve again - so with that and feeling sick I left work at lunchtime today. Bit better now.

Seem to have 3 appointments with hospital - one MW, one scan, and one probable admin cockup! Will try to sort stuff out in the morning.

nc that sounds like an awful weekend, hope you're fully fit again soon. And I don't think I said congratulations, so congratulations

I was still saying ds2 was 2 1/2 until dh pointed out the other day it's his birthday soon. Then that depressed me as it means the end of the summer holidays is soon and we haven't even started them yet!
But with summer busy I suppose we should think about it soon. Mind you we are on holiday on his birthday so we should get away without having a party! And we want to do the Fort William to Mallaig steam train (as seen on Harry Potter) which is expensive so that can be his birthday treat.
I had a really good idea a while ago for a present but of course have no idea what it was . He's got a micro scooter and will get ds1's bike next summer.

Where have you all gone?

Robyn has had another asthma episode and spent 2 days lazing around. She went back to nursery today and is a lot better so that is good. She is also doing well on the potty front, still won't use the toilet though.

Am going to see Harry Potter on Friday with dd1. She is on work experience but hasn't got a placement so we are going to the first showing so DP can watch Robyn and Lucy. Now I just have to watch the first part before Friday

Hi Debs I am here - often just reading posts on my phone cos getting access to the computer is tricky. I'm either working (like now - really shouldn't be on here!) or DP is hogging it.

I'm v envious of you going to see Harry Potter. DP and I will have to arrange a babysitter for one evening for that!

Becaroo hope the house move goes OK.

Me, I'm 21 weeks now and amazingly, despite feeling tired, am feeling good. No swollen ankles, no raised bp and no indigestion....famous last words perhaps..... Got to work till 38 weeks though, which is going to be a tad tiring i suspect.

C makes me laugh. We were at a teddy bears picnic at a national trust property at the weekend and we were walking by a lake. i told her not to go near the water without an adult. She asked why and I said she might fall in and drown (too much info perhaps..?). She said 'then I'll be a frog mummy!!
Although a serious subject I guess.

Well, I am close to posting on developmental behaviour, so maybe ask you lot first.

DP and C are clashing atm. I STILL think he is expecting her to behave like a 5 or 6 year old (ie 'she has to learn to behave' err no darling, she's a child. In all likelihood she'll be disobedient at most stages of her life, we just need to keep setting good examples and stick to consequences.)
But recently she has started to scratch him badly for no reason at all. She seems to delight in it. She runs up and says 'scratch' and laughs and runs away. She has drawn blood.
He then gets very cross and storms off and tells me to deal with her. He completely lost it on Saturday as she wouldn't leave him alone and he called her a little bitch and stormed upstairs to watch the grandprix. :(
To be fair to him, she wouldn't stop scratching him and I guess (language aside) he did the right thing by leaving the room but he storms off in a huge 'drama queen-like' way.

She rarely scratches me (and never scratches anyone else) and if she does I completely ignire it, don't even react. It seems to work but then I think am I being too soft. The naughty step doesn;t work, we end up having to physically restrain her to keep her on it, which I don't like.
We use consequences as a punishment (and stick to them, don't give in when there are tears), but if we say xyz will go away if you don't stop, she goes and gets said favourite toy and hands it over! I give up.

Sorry for long post but please tell me it's a phase and it will pass or do we need to be worried? Should we be tougher on her? It just seems all we do is discipline her and never have fun anymore.

Oh and Eandz I think you asked about 'me do it'. C's been asking to do that since about 18m old...and screaming if she can't, even for things that are just impossible for her. Sigh.....

mrsA that's so hard, she sounds similar to my DD where punishments were like water off a duck's back to her. Tbh I would have a zero tolerance policy on things like scratching though and would persist with the step - even if you have to return her to it 30 or 40 times til she stays for her 2 mins (we went through this with DD but boy did she learn in the end that we weren't going to give up!).
DS has suddenly started throwing toys when he's frustrated or fed up, I warned him he'd go on the step and yesterday he threw his helicopter and I took him straight to the step. It took half an hour of going back every 2mins til he said sorry, stubborn little man!
I've been prescribed iron tablets after my blood test yesterday, tbh I'm relieved as I've been feeling progressively worse over the last week or so and getting more vague and ditzy. Hope the tablets help.

mrsa I feel for you but am at your dp calling C a "btich". I have really strong views on that and IMO its unacceptable. He is the adult. She is the toddler.

You are doing everything right IMO, but she's nearly 3 and, frankly, if they can get a rise out of you THEY WILL. Sadly for your dp, its scratching (with Toby it was biting...luckily only family members, but it was very painful!! He drew blood from me on a couple of occasions)

If he didnt react (I know thats hard when blood is dripping down your arm!) she would get no sensory unput from dong it. Am I making sense??? It makes sense in my head but when I write it down it looks loopy

The scratching wont last forever I'm sure. Could it be something she has picked up at nursery? Did it start very suddenly??

Well, storage unit full (or very nearly) we are hoping to exchange on the monday as we get back from hols and move in on the friday....phew its busy here atm

"sensory input" Arrghh

I agree with Bec Kids love to see you get mad and to get a response of you, even if it is a bad one.
The only advice I have for him is to stay calm and explain to her that scratching is naughty and then remove her from the situation to a naughty step.
Robyn likes to attack us as well and that often results in a scratch and I know when it is painful you forget how to deal with it. You can't forget though that you are an adult and it is your job to raise your child. Calling her a bitch was a bit extreme.

mrsA Both my DC's are stubborn little mites. Time out has never worked either unless I have restrained themm which is impossible when you have 2 and you're on your own. However I have always been consistent with my firm telling off's and explaining why we don't pinch, hit, deliberately make a mess, so at least they get the message. Mind you sometimes it's better to ignore completely. I remember once DS had a meltdown when I was changing DD's nappy with my back to him. He launched into a full scale kicking and hitting attack (which he'd been doing on the odd occasion but been told off for) on my back which hurt. I ignored it and he eventually slunk off to his room and sat there feeling very sorry for himself and later apologised. He had a massive telling off. He never did it again.

DS will be at school in Sept and while we still have the odd meltdown he is turning into a lovely little boy. But he knows right from wrong, he's just stubborn and bright and doesn't want to be bossed around. He's fine at nursery too.

DD, well, shall we skip over her for now . I'm sure she'll be ok in a year or so. I tell her not to do something, she does it again twice as hard, I tell her off, she does it again....... etc. But she has the stairgate on her door these days so I put her in there to calm down when she's a real pest.

Thanks for all the messagesd and yes, you are all right in that the name calling was unacceptable. I made it clear to him that it was, made him apologise to C and got him to promise to never do it again.
Thing is, he is a great dad but she gets her impatience from me and him as we are so alike and he has less self-control. I have to really control myself some days and think as her mum I find it easier to do so (she has taught me great zen-like patience!). His bark is worse than his bite though - he's all shouty but luckily is all bluff and bluster with him, then sheepish apologies.
I turly believe he is finding this stage really hard and a huge shock. I find the newborn stage hard, he finds it quite easy. He certainly did more than his fair share of nighttime stuff when C was a baby. DstpD was apparently an easy toddler, whereas C is not - I think she'll be one of those kids who has the potential to be disruptive in class if they are not challenged enough. Nursery say she is generally a delightful child.

We had a talk last night and have both agreed to mainly ignore but make sure we make it clear it is not nice behaviour. We are also going to start a star sticker reward chart and see if that works. If that doesn;t, we'll progress to naughty step but sometimes, especially in the morning, we just don't have the time to return to the step over and over again.
I'm trying to find ways to cope for Nov when baby is here and I suspect my default mode will be ignore with firm words.

I have spent the entire day on MN . I might have to rise from my sick bed and have a shower in a bit. It's been fun spotting the trolls and wind-up-merchants though.

mrsA . DS seems to be growing up a lot and fingers crossed should be fine at school. I think some kids just save their nightmare behaviour for their parents. Nursery were shocked when I told them DS would sometimes hit me. At nursery he is Mr Helpful always getting stickers for tidying away and he helps the younger children, even, shock horror, his little sister! Your DD has got a long time before she starts school, and she'll be one of the older ones so a lot can change in that time.

Still fannying about on here, still ill! I've done an awful lot of little things from my sick bed, e-mails have been replied to, photos uploaded to get printed out and done some budgeting . Without the children under my feet I can actually think about things and not get interrupted.

i'm sick too.. i was supposed to go see harry potter tonight, but i just can't bring myself to sit up without wanting to collapse and die. i'm coughing soo bad, i'm wondering if i've got the black lung or something.

N was sick yesterday so couldn't make it to nursery.

Was it the first night of Harry Potter today? . I haven't even read the books yet tbh, my sister has them all so she's going to give them to me so I can read them to DS in a year or so. That should sort out bedtime stories for a few years!

The weather is going to be pants this weekend. I'm going to dig out the stashed away toys that kids don't know about to keep them amused while I rest.

No it's not allowed to rain. I've got a triathlon on Sunday in Chichester. Go away rain.

Harry Potter was brilliant. We watched it in 3D which made the fight and death scenes really good although the dementors flying about made DD1 jump a fair bit.
I can't believe you haven't read the books yet Meglet DP says they are for kids but they are universal, even my mum loves them.

agree. the hp books were fantastic.

Bookmarking

Another dull rainy day[hsad]
And it's a boring day for us, nowhere to go until we have to go to yet another meeting about DS.

Oh and only 4 more days before they are all off for the summer. Then we hae 7 weeks of torture fun before they move to their new schoold in September

but it's autumn again!

According to facebook, hopefully has got married! If you're reading this the CONGRATULATIONS!....and get of MN and back to your honeymoon!
Went to wacky warehouse this morning to get out of the rain, realised its the last toddler time DD will go to there. She only has 4 pre-school sessions left this week then its summer hols and school!
Due date is 1 month today, I don't feel ready, I feel scared! My mum's on her way up to visit us so I'm looking forward to a nice week of hanging out with her :)