July 2010: Warning, this thread contains offensive language; 1 wedding, --d--jogging and some Creme Eggs (although we don't know why). Oh and some babies who are nearly 1 year old.

[CakeandRoses]

See? Panicking works!

i'd love that receipe please cake!

tsc

Evening all,

Thanks all for asking after mon petite ange (see what I did tsc) she has been better as the day has went on. The temperature hasn't been rising as quick so I think the medicine has kicked in.

dh you must have felt so strange smoking again. Are you letting d go to your mums on your wedding night? My friend was totally shattered after her wedding so much so her poor dh didn't get his wicked way.

vik when you going away? I do remember dh's dad, can't believe we've all been together so long.

tsc 100 minutes of shh pat, you are patient. Whens dp home? Did you decide on your buffet for tinys baptism?

cakes still sounds like an enjoyable day. Don't know how we lasted so long without you either, especially with the surveys.

Anyone any plans this week?

Took me ages to type that out bugger!

How's the girls wss?

Who's babies are walking? R can stand alone but hasn't tried to walk yet, so just curious.

cakes are you doing a development survey?

It's the big one:

Baby's age? (closest to 10.5m, 11m or 11.5m)

Can he/she:

Understand simple instructions?

Understand 'No'?

Crawl?

Coast/cruise?

Walk with walker/walker-like object/holding your hand/s

Stand unaided (clue: this means not holding on to anything )?

Stoop from a standing position?

Bends over and picks up an object?

Take steps/walk?

Says Mama/Dada?

Say Mama/Dada to correct parent?

Says other words (aside from Mama/Dada)?

Wave goodbye/hello?

Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo

Use pincer grip?

Indicate what he/she wants with gestures ??

Imitate others' activities?

Put objects into a container?

Scribble with a crayon?

Any other talents?

ask and thou shalt receive, dear stac

at tsc

Baby's age? (closest to 10.5m, 11m or 11.5m)
10.5m

Can he/she:

Understand simple instructions?
Yes, she'll do 'high 5s', kiss and cuddle if you ask her

Understand 'No'?
Hears it: yes. Understands it: possibly. Obeys it: like fuck she does

Crawl?
Fast as anything, often doing a one foot, one knee combo

Coast/cruise?
Yes, ideally using something precarious/sharp/moveable

Walk with walker/walker-like object/holding your hand/s
Walker: yes but not very well (or for very long before F confiscates it). She can only walk holding 2 hands

Stand unaided (clue: this means not holding on to anything )?
She has a few times but it;s not a standard thing yet

Stoop from a standing position?
Nope (don;t think it counts if they're holding onto something)

Bends over and picks up an object?
Ditto above

Take steps/walk?
Nope

Says Mama/Dada?
Says Dada (all day long) and finally Mmmmmm when she's desperate - probably trying to say milk not Mama actually

Say Mama/Dada to correct parent?
Dada - yes. She does only say Mmmmm to me but then again I;m the only who gives her milk...

Says other words (aside from Mama/Dada)?
We like to think she's also said: hello, hi, high five (spot a theme here?). She also says Nananana and Rararara which appear to have various meanings/no meaning at all.

Wave goodbye/hello?
Sometimes

Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo
No to patty-cake (but claps like a nutter to music etc); yes to peekaboo

Use pincer grip?
Yep, she loves those peas

Indicate what he/she wants with gestures?
Other than trying to grab food, i can't think of anything

Imitate others' activities?
Yes, she tries to copy F playing and his singing etc, she tries to do the actions to twinkle twinkle and row your boat

Put objects into a container?
Yes, i think so

Scribble with a crayon?
Haven;t given her a crayon

Any other talents
Aforementioned high 5s and amazingly long, tight cuddles

kk this is really quick and easy, no weighing and no fancy ingredients but it alway turns out sooo yummy, everyone goes mad for it. i make it once a fortnight or so.

CHOC CHIP BANANA BREAD

3 Bananas, mashed
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar (I often just use one type of sugar depending what I have in)
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Bicarb
1 Cup Plain Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
100g Dark Chocolate Chips (I use ones www.atb-bargains.co.uk/silver-spoon-dark-chocolate-chips-brand-silver-spoon-100g-3373-p.asp

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177c
Mash the bananas well and combine them with the oil and the sugars
Add the choc chips, salt, baking powder and baking soda to combine.
Stir in each of the flours, mixing until just moistened.
Bake in a slightly greased and flour dusted loaf pan for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Let rest for a few minutes before removing from the pan to cool on a wire rack.

EAT, especially whilst choc is still melty and with a

Baby's age? (closest to 10.5m, 11m or 11.5m)
10.5m

Can he/she:

Understand simple instructions?
If it's one she already knows, iyswim

Understand 'No'?
it makes her laugh hysterically, but I think she's starting to grasp it.

Crawl?
Like lightning

Coast/cruise?
Yes

Walk with walker/walker-like object/holding your hand/s
Yes

Stand unaided (clue: this means not holding on to anything )?
Yes

Stoop from a standing position?
Yes, she also does a mean grand plie.

Bends over and picks up an object?
Yes

Take steps/walk?
Yes

Says Mama/Dada?
Dada yes, all the time. Mama occasionally

Say Mama/Dada to correct parent?
Dada yes, she knows "dada" is H. Mama she rarely says, and then I think she just likes making the noise

Says other words (aside from Mama/Dada)?
Dog, Stay, Duck, hello

Wave goodbye/hello?
Yes

Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo
Peek a boo sort of, patty-cake not really.

Use pincer grip?
Yes

Indicate what he/she wants with gestures ??
If reaching out and grabbing counts as a gesture?! She does kind of waveer her arms at things she wants

Imitate others' activities?
Incessantly

Put objects into a container?
Yes, but not often

Scribble with a crayon?
No, she's far too interested in chewing them

Any other talents?
Twinkle twinkle actions (she recognises the words or the tune)
Clapping and dancing to music. Especially Radio 4 comedy show theme tunes. Hancock's Half Hour is this weeks favourite.
"All done" = dusting her hands together, iyswim
Covers her ears when she hears a siren (after 10m of me covering them for her when a poice car goes past)
"bubble bubble" wobbling her lips with her fingers.
Kisses and cuddles.

Too tired to update today, will tty tomorrow xxx

It's the big one:

Baby's age? (closest to 10.5m, 11m or 11.5m) 11months

Can he/she:

Understand simple instructions? Yes, comes to us when called (if she feels like it), knows stop it and come to mum/dad

Understand 'No'? Yes understands it, likes to ignore it or laughs.

Crawl? Yip speeds up when she spies something interesting, usually turns into a rocket when she's trying to get into J's bedroom. A sign of things to come I think.

Coast/cruise? Yes very good at it now.

Walk with walker/walker-like object/holding your hand/s? Yeah likes to walk holding hands is also able to walk holding one hand. Can walk pushing walkie but prefers to play with it.

Stand unaided (clue: this means not holding on to anything )? Yes and getting better/more confident.

Stoop from a standing position? Yes but generally when holding onto something.

Bends over and picks up an object? Yes but again while holding something.

Take steps/walk? Has had a couple but seems scared.

Says Mama/Dada? Says both but prefers dada

Say Mama/Dada to correct parent? Yes but generally only says mum when she wants food but its always at me.

Says other words (aside from Mama/Dada)?
She says Jack, hiya, granda, yeah, bye, yip, yay

Wave goodbye/hello? When it suits her.

Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo? Plays peek-a-boo by hiding on your chest or at the side of the settee. Doesn't play pat-a-cake but has started to high 5 (brothers)

Use pincer grip? Yip I am forever retreiving things from her mouth

Indicate what he/she wants with gestures ?? Shakes her head for no, has started nodding but I think she's dancing and points.

Imitate others' activities? Yes she does copy various things

Put objects into a container? Prefers to take things out but can do it

Scribble with a crayon? I helped her scribble in her dads fathers day card but she's not had crayons yet

Any other talents?
Plays clap a handies
Pretends she's shy
Likes dancing
Can get off the settee by sliding down your legscan make noise by patting her mouth and returns the favour on us
Gives kisses and hugs

Think that's all I can think of. Thanks cakes

That's a long survey cake.

Girls are getting much better thanks stac. G almost back to normal. A still has conjunctivitis but starting to get better (getting the frigging eyedrops in her is a mission though). Glad R is starting to get better too.

tsc. Je voudrais bien le savoir un score sur dix. But I won't go on about it anymore - that's my last attempt.

Oh and I meant to say, just looked at dh's hen night pics on fb. Dh , I mean this in the nicest possible way, you look about 12! So young!

mlic i could KISS you (as Angie's taken) for recommending the groclock. have no idea how it works but twice dh has set it to the nap wakeup by mistake and F's overslept! He finally woke up at 8.15am this morning - after I went in and set it to the sun

wss, I reckon tsc is far to classy to openly give scores but i reckon she'll do it in code when the time's right

A def can wave and say hello - she did it when I came back upstairs with some tea this morning. tis funny how we always realise things after we've written the survey.

oh and wss its a long survey cos they can do more shizzle now

Yes I was rather drunk! wss omg do I?! haha thats so funny, Im def 21

stac D is coming home with us, even if DP has to get him to sleep. I wont be able to feed him as Ill be a little drunk lol.

Baby's age? 11m

Can he/she:

Understand simple instructions? No idea, if he does he ignores me. He does know what Im saying though.

Understand 'No'? yes.

Crawl? yes.

Coast/cruise? he doesnt much.

Walk with walker/walker-like object/holding your hand/s: yes.

Stand unaided (clue: this means not holding on to anything )? yes, longest was about 30 secs.

Stoop from a standing position? yes.

Bends over and picks up an object? yes.

Take steps/walk? not on his own.

Says Mama/Dada? yes both.

Say Mama/Dada to correct parent? yes.

Says other words (aside from Mama/Dada)? he nearly says 'duck'

Wave goodbye/hello? hes just started doing this.

Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo: ermm no not really.

Use pincer grip? yes.

Indicate what he/she wants with gestures ?? no just moans.

Imitate others' activities? no.

Put objects into a container? yes all the time.

Scribble with a crayon? he eats the crayon.

Any other talents? He can open drawers and take all the contents out. Dont know if this is a talent, he does it all the time though.

OK, any ideas for cool/useful/luxury kitchen gadgets/equipment/stuff? Going to get dh lots and lots of little stuff for his birthday and we actually don't have that much kitchen stuff despite him enjoying cooking so much. Not going to just get kitchen stuff but am starting with that. Any ideas? His birthday in 13 days and I still haven't got anything!

Morning all. Thanks for the survey, Cake! :) Here are my answers...

Baby's age? (closest to 10.5m, 11m or 11.5m) 11.25m

Can he/she:

Understand simple instructions?
Some. She seems to understand "Give Mummy/Daddy the X." quite well, which is helpful when stopping her from eating carpet fluff she's rooted out! I reckon we're also making headway with "Use the spoon, not your hands!".

Understand 'No'?
Possibly, intermittently!

Crawl?
Yes! Finally, she's figured it out in the last week.

Coast/cruise?
She's only just mastered crawling!

Walk with walker/walker-like object/holding your hand/s
No.

Stand unaided (clue: this means not holding on to anything )?
No.

Stoop from a standing position?
No.

Bends over and picks up an object?
No.

Take steps/walk?
No.

Says Mama/Dada?
No.

Say Mama/Dada to correct parent?
No.

Says other words (aside from Mama/Dada)?
No... But I'm starting to suspect that "Rah!" might be "Cat!". (Consequentially, "Rararararara!" might be "Lots of Cats!"?)

Wave goodbye/hello?
No.

Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo
Patty-cake, no. Peek-a-boo, yes.

Use pincer grip?
Yes, for months. As she proved yesterday, she's dexterous enough to pull a single cat hair from deep within the freshly hoovered carpet and try to eat it.

Indicate what he/she wants with gestures ??
Very much so. She points at what she wants, then does a happy little giggle-dance when you actually hand it to her.

Imitate others' activities?
Yes, all those months of sitting and silently watching everyone and everything intently seem to be paying off.

Put objects into a container?
Not only that, but yesterday she was pushing shapes through the correct holes into the storage bucket!
Also, she has two shape buckets - one plastic and one wooden. She knows which shapes go in which and gets very indignant if she finds a shape in the wrong one. She then switches it over.

Scribble with a crayon?
Yes, though she does prefer to try and eat the crayons...

Any other talents?
She's getting good at using a spoon/fork for eating now and can pickup and drink from a sippy cup. (She probably could from a normal cup, but then she'd deliberately tip it upside-down over her head when done!)
She knows where things live, and likes putting them there. Yesterday I watched her crawl around the room and gather up all the coasters from the coffee tables. She then played with them in the middle of the room for a bit, before crawling around again to put them all back!!
She's a master tooth brusher. Hand her the toothbrush and she gives her tooth a good scrub before handing the brush back.
She also seems to be reasonably good at identifying colours, she was making piles of different coloured blocks yesterday.

wss just thought of something for your dh's birthday: how about making him his own recipe book? I would LOVE this! You could do a pro version using something like photoshop or a home-made rustic version. Include all his fave, go-to recipes along with photos of said dishes, family meal, little notes about how much you like them and stories about the meal/recipe.

If you don't know all his faves/dont have the recipes then you could lie and tell him we're sharing fave recipes on here and ask him to give him yours :)

Wish dh would do this for me!

Sorry meant photobox not photoshop. Typing quickly on my blackberry during breakfast so let me know if I haven't explained the idea well.

Mmm it's a lovely idea cake but he doesn't use recipes. He just makes it all up as he goes along. I could never do that.

M seems to have focused on a few specific skills and just abandoned gross motor skills and verbal communication along the way, MLIC! Hopefully she'll stop at some point and catch up all the bits she's been ignoring.

WSS, my latest nice addition to the kitchen was a good quality sharp kitchen knife, and a sharpener to keep it that way! It makes an unbelievable amount of difference, using a knife that's actually sharp.

However you might get a look if you start giving your DH weapons.

Other things I find very useful when cooking/baking are my food processor (I'd looooove a Kitchenaid, but can't afford it!), hand blender, 4-1 rice cooker/porridge maker/steamer/slow-cooker, crepe pan, griddle pan, plastic vented microwave veg pots, silicone coated rolling pin, silicone ended spatulars, Wilton cake-release, any NordicWare cake tins, stacking/folding cooling wire stands... Or pretty much anything they sell at Lakeland, to be honest.

Bah! Not even stuff like pizza or cakes, or doesn't he bake?

Of all those things you listed, the only one we have is a hand blender

I actually was thinking good cutting knives as most of ours are crap. And a sharpener would be good. Also thinking of a good herb and spice rack all stocked with full jars as all ours live in a cupboard and we are always running out of something and he puts herbs/spices in everything

NO he hardly ever bakes, he does 99% savoury stuff, cake. I do the sweet stuff. He does make a very nice Delia chocolate torte thingy, that's the only time I've seen him use a recipe.