March 2010 - Babies: "Climbing like an evil genius". Mummies: "Avoiding the Shred DVD"

[Arcadie]

Welcome to those with a March 2010.
Happy Easter from me....
Unwrap it quick!..

Oh, it's a new thread. I was hoping for chocolate.

Hi ladies

Got back from the States yesterday afternoon and back in the office today (jet lag tastic so am checking MN instead!).

Haven't had a chance to fully catch up with everyone, but am absolutely thrilled for Manda - such great news!

Sarah well done you too! Sounds like a great job for you.

shroomer sorry you didn't get the original job but plan b sounds pretty good too.

Fliss hope you're not feeling too ropey with the MS.

Big waves to everyone else. Will try to catch up properly soon.

We had our NHS scan today and all looking good with this bubs, thank god. I'm 12 weeks today so will be going public with work soon.

For those who remember, I decided not to go on the Uganda trip in the end. The travel clinic doctor was quite clear in that I should only travel if essential but that the decision was mine to make. Since DH felt quite strongly I shouldn't risk it I thought I'd turn it down. Though have now made DH promise we'll do a proper Uganda/Rwanda holiday someday!

xxx

So glad to hear the scan went well Flip, and hope you had a good times in the States.

I am in the midst of nanny-hunting.
I have had The Chat with my beloved CM yesterday. It went better than I thought it would: neither of us cried .
I have a short-list of 8 canditates - is that too many?
DH and I will be interviewing 2 people/day starting from tomorrow.
Wish me luck.

(idohopeyouareallwellandeverythingisgoinghunkydoryforeverybody)

Flip great news about the scan. How are you feeling?

When is you scan Fliss?

PD 8 candidates :) that's good, isn't it? At least it means in theory) you'll have a lot of options.. I hope you find the right one.

Shroomer sorry about the job. But your original plans seems very good, working from home, no commuting.... in the end that is priceless. By the way, I saw my external examiner on Friday and she's very young and in her presentation she kept saying: "according to the literature"... we'll see how the viva goes.

Sariska when are you starting?

Sarah congratulation on the new job! Sounds exciting :)

MissP did you survive the day looking after two children?

I hope everyone is well and that Fliss and Manda are not having a bad morning sickness.
x

i am going to murder my husband! this is all!

Hi all,

Hope you're all well and toddlers behaving!

FLIP yay for scan!
MANDA wow! Many congrats!!

PD- good luck nanny hunting!

PD- could I pick your brains please? DS does not talk. He was born feb 28 so 18mth old. I am NOT concerned but other people tell me I should be worried. He has a huge understanding.... CAn get anything I ask him to etc.
Babbled away and shouts and screams very noisily. He only says mam, there, up there and dad. Am I ok to continue to wait or should I be worried? He is far too busy climbing and running I think to talk! And he communicates so well without the need to ACTUALLY talk iyswim!

Sarah take a breath! 1 2 3 ... hope you are ok

flip thank goodness for good scans. I hope you can relax a little bit now.

PD I reckon the more options you have, the better chance you have of finding The One. How's it going?

evitas James doesn't talk, either. I mean, he understands absolutely everything but doesn't say very many words at ALL. Case in point, the other day he said 'out' a few times so I got it on camera... for him to promptly stop saying it the following day (and not since). You'll also hear on the video how he makes the noise and intonnation of 'there's the mouse' but not so that anyone would understand. His dad had grommets for glue ear so I'm beginning to wonder... although how can he understand so much if he can't hear?!

sarah Think of the children! You'd be in Holloway and then what?! Seriously, breath. ANything you wanna share, or you just fancied screaming?

Went to baths today with DS. Mr Independent emerged, again. He decided that he didn't want, or need, to be held in the water. Didn't want those pesky arm bands on either.

scooby I wouldn't worry. Mine doesn't say much either. But he will...

Manda Love the video. He know's where that mouse is!

Aaaaargh, MN 'compatibility view', whatever that is, has yet again, lost a big long post of mine. I do not have the moral fibre to do it all again, sorry.

scooby, Joe does not talk either, nada. He screeches. A lot. And points. And opens the fridge door to help himself . I have no concerns re his comprehension which is the more important landmark. FWIW, DS1 was an early talker, DS2 not so much, but still average, and DS3 was v late in talking. To the point, where we just recently had him assessed by SALT who said 'age appropriate, no further treatment necessary' and every since then he has been chatting away more and more .

Manda, v cute.

sarah, sympathies re DH and congrats re job.

shroomer, hope Plan B will turn out perfect for you.

Flip, yeah re scan. And too bad about Uganda, but totally see where you are coming from.

Manda, J is v cute.

Arcadie,

We've seen 2 nanny candidates today: one v experienced, the other ex-police: just what we need . 2 down, 6 to go.

Night, night x.

Hi all, just had a catch-up on all the recent posts, glad to see that everyone is grand.

Basically just marking my place again

Oh yes, just remembered about the toddler-speaking/ toddler-not-speaking comments. I was a bit worried about that too. DS was born 27/2/10 and I have a friend who's LO is 3 months older. Friend's LO knows different colours, can count and can speak in full sentences. I visited their house last week and almost cried comparing my DS to hers :( :(

My DS can say about 20 words, although only people who know him well could guess what they all are, can do some animal sounds, but has a huge understanding of what we're saying to him and what he sees around him.

I suppose they all just develop at their own stages, but I suppose it's normal to worry a bit or compare them....I do anyway!

TLC I think three months at this age is a long time, developmentally, iyswim. And these things seem to happen in spurts rather than gradually and consistently. Couple that with 'every child is different' and I'm sure you have nothing to worry about.

Izzy can say quite a few words but only pronounces about six properly. She'll sound out the first syllable of most words (and has recently mastered 'oo' and 'ee' sounds rather than just 'ah' and 'uh'). So books are now boos rather than bahs. Lunch is 'nuh'. Cheese is 'tee'. Her current favourite word is 'na' for snack But like others have mentioned about their LOs, she understands everything. And she can point out colours and count to three :)

IL's have just left, flying home early tomorrow. SIL and her BF and only staying one night now as they're staying at a friend's flat while he's on holiday. Is it really sad that I'm pleased as this means I'll have more chances to exercise in the mornings before my sister's wedding? It is, isn't it?

sarah hope everything's ok.

Morning ladies

Manda thinking of you today xx. The video of J is so cute!

PD good luck with the nanny search!

It's great to hear that other LOs aren't talking loads either - DS is a great communicator, but the only word he says clearly is "No". Usually accompanied by fierce head-shaking accompanied by "no no no". He has other "words", that are mainly babble and not hugely identifiable, but he understands directions, sings the tune of a number of songs and definitely gets his point across! Having watched my nieces and nephews grow up, I can really see that babies start to speak at different rates. Same as walking and all the rest.

Anyway, was supposed to be just popping on to say hi so best get back to work
xxx

evitas My scan isn't until 26 October, when I will be 14 weeks. I had one booked earlier but it would be a nightmare with having to arrange places for the other children and DD to go to (that's the problem with being the childcare for others I suppose!) DD's scan was at 14 weeks so we're not bothered about it being later, and we wouldn't have had the nuchal scan anyway.

Flip Glad all was well with your scan

PD Hope the search goes well, perhaps you could have candidates 1&2 working as a team?!

Manda Thinking of you today, much love x

Manda the video is very cute :)

words... maybe two words here. In fact, I called my father last week to say that I had submitted my thesis and he said: "good. Now see if you can spend more time with V. because he's speech is very far behind! He needs to learn how to speak" or should I be :(

I'm not worried. As others said, he understands almost everything (in both languages)

Waves to everyone else
x

hey all - sorry bout my last post! all is fine dh just being an arse and needed to vent- he is still in the land of the living atm! i have just taken a delivery of Rosies xmas gifts! she is done! whoop check me out and its only just sept ! :) sorry ! hahahahhaahahhaha

Evening all,

Thanks for the talking feedback... As I explained I am NOT concerned. DS has a huge comprehension and points and gets what he wants ... He is just a typical lazy boy!! But I do appreciate hearing he is not alone...! I shall ignore calls from others to have him 'seen' as I am convinced he will wake one day and talk in sentences--- he is just biding his time!! ( between running and chasing and climbing!!)

Thanks ladies xx

scooby apprently my DH (according to MIL) went straight from not talking to speaking in sentences when he turned two. Probably a slight exaggeration but proof that it does happen :)

Manda you've been in my thoughts today, I hope you're being looked after x

My mum took my DB to a SALT when he was about two and a half as he didn't speak. After a short session with the three of us (I must have been nearly ready to start school) the SALT said to my mum that 'if you and DD stop talking, you might find that DS can and will speak'

She was right as well

Flisspaps that made me laugh. And thanks Miss Penteuth for the link.

Too many threads to catch up and comment on!

Manda congrats and I hope you coped okay yesterday. Gorgeous video.

I thought DD doing okay with the whole talking thing, but then had a friend tell me that she had been very worried about her DD at this age as she hadn't yet said the "required 8 words" whatever that means?! I had no idea that there was a required number of words they should speak. Mum told me that I was far "better with language" and was speaking in sentences at 17 months, so am now a little worried . Was also worried about the ear thing as DD has had a number of ear infections (from 12 months onwards).

Good luck on narrowing down the nanny search PD. It sounds a nightmare, which I may soon have to deal with myself. I'm thinking of using a nanny agency however to bypass all the legal gaff (and I'm a lawyer, so how lazy is that?!)

Sariska, very interesting re the legal profession, although I'm not entirely surprised. Being a lawyer is an incredibly difficult career and being a mother and a lawyer is I find, at times, near to impossible. Almost as bad and impossible as politics I'd guess?! I will have to look into those courses. There HAS to be something else out there.

And in other news, I am definitely not pregnant this cycle. Bring on the end of the year.

manda at 'don't run with your eyes closed!' Great vid. I hope yesterday was a good day, if it can be in any way, and not too painful. And I haven't yet said congrats - happy news indeed, fingers firmly crossed here xx

flip glad to hear of a good scan

shroomer sounds like your backup plan is a good one anyway - I hope it all works out.

I did not get the job I'd been holding on for - I eventually phoned last Wednesday after almost three weeks of waiting, just to find out when they would inform candidates and they actually told me over the phone, which was a good job because the official letter still didn't arrive til Saturday . I was disappointed, a bit because I thought I wanted the job but mainly because this is the third rejection in a row for a half-decent position, not to mention all the other rejections for not-so-decent positions! I'm beginning to get the feeling I'm supposed to be freelancing, working from home a bit longer. I've had a few days to get my head round it now and am feeling a bit more positive. MIL has also agreed to take DD2 for a day a week in addition to her couple of days with the CM so I feel like I have a realistic amount of hours to be able to work from home, and I hope to use some of them to establish myself as a freelance writer, hopefully for magazines and the like. Well, I think that's the plan - I'm afraid I'm still not a hundred percent sure WHAT I want to be when I grow up?!?

DD2 continues to be the cutest thing on two legs (along with all of your LOs, natch ) although her naughty streak is developing along with everything else! She's got loads of words, I'm not at all worried about that - she seems to be going the same way as DD1 whose speech was quite quick in developing. And she has certainly learned how to sit herself on the sofa, hand you the remote controls and say 'Peppa pig' quite decisively!

Right better go and collect DD2 from school - day 2 of full time and packed lunches - so far so good

Heckle - oh yes. My DS also climbs onto the settee at about 6pm with the remote and stares the tv expectantly. I always put it on because I like the Charlie and Lola music (bah ba ba bah, bah ba ba ba ba baaa...). He then loses interest during 64 Zoo Lane.

What sort of jobs are you going for Heckle? With so many people looking for work I'm beginning to feel very bad about whingeing about my job! A free-lance writing job sounds like it would be amazing though.

Re the speech development thing: today, for the first time (as far as I know?!) DD said ears (pointing to my ears), eyes (pointing to her eyes), boiss (pointing to the birds on the lawn) and "colour colour colour" when using a crayon.... and "ello" when using a yellow crayon?! I'm constantly amazed at how she seems to develop in "leaps" .... didn't walk for ages to the point I was really worrying and then was running almost overnight. I guess they really do things in their own time, don't they.... complete unawareness or lack of social/peer pressure.

heckle commiserations re job. Hope you are ok. Working from home/freelance sounds good though and you get to say 'Well, I am a Writer' (and to all of you writing creatively, grrr!)

Manda, hugs. Hope you are not feeling too down. Or worried...

Right, TMI alert: I went and had my routine smear done today. All good and dandy. However, the practice nurse (who I used to work with, but that's another story) also did my blood pressure - ok, asked me whether I smoked - I don't and bloody well went and weighed me: aaaaaaargh ! Now, I knew I had been a greedy pig not very disciplined during the summer and I had just started going on one of my Cut-Out-The-Crap 'diets' (which works v well for me, strangely enough, if I don't eat chocolate/crisps/biscuits/chocolate/chocolate bars I lose weight, radical concept, I know, but it works for me ) which was beginning to show signs of waistband losening, when she made me go on the scales: 87 kg !! So, I must have been more 3 weeks ago
So, that's me, 10kg to lose before Christmas. Is that feasible?? MissP, you are knowledgable in these things (and slim ). I am off to dust off the cross-trainer in the garage...

Thank you all for your thoughts. Monday was easier AND harder than I expected. Have a beautiful peace lily now that surprises me by how much peace it actually brings - it's almost as if now I have something physical here in our everyday lives that is a memorial to him that it proves something, that he's here even though he isn't. Difficult to explain/describe.

And, I'm full on mentalling; still testing every day. I only have two more tests plus a cb digi (already got a 2-3 weeks result on one so looking for a 3+ on the next!). I SWEAR I will not buy any more after these are gone.

Nevermind the weight, PD how goes the nanny hunting?!