Feb 2010 They're all walking and talking....and some are even sleeping. The babies are doing okay too.

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Pull up a comfy chair, grab a cuppa and a piece of cake, switch the monitors on low and let's PARTY.....!!!

sorry you're going through a load of illness/allergies again bethy

how should I wear my hair tomorrow?

ILs have managed to upset DH on his b'day.

Now a chance to respond properly to your posts!

Scones re spoon: like PA's DD, my DD has porridge which is gloopy enough to stick to the spoon (she still loses bits, though - especially as she usually requests another five or more top ups of milk so it gets pretty runny by the end!)

SB very impressed to hear about your DS' eating! We've had a couple of unsuccessful suppers followed by a couple of better ones. Like you, Scones I've started withholding snacks to see if it makes any difference to her keenness to try/eat stuff.
Out of interest, SB if you give a gouter at 16.30ish, when is the evening meal for your DS?

Boo at your DD dropping her nap, BG - is she doing it consistently or just now and again?
Arf at your "senior moments"!

Bc I suggested a record for Radcliffe and Maconie's "The Chain" feature, where listeners link a record with the previous one played by some means or other. They got me on the phone and we talked about complimentary therapies (I mentioned I'd had acupuncture this morning).

Interesting article you linked to! I'm not sure if I agree with her comment that there's a trend for "taming" children as such. And I think there's a difference between having a child that is unquestioningly compliant and one who learns about co-operation. I also think boundaries are important, but so are the ways they are enforced. I thought the quotes from Alfie Kohn were very interesting. I tend to agree with a lot of what he says about raising children, but I think there are also times when techniques like the naughty step etc. can also be very effective, provided they are used wisely.

I'm still having a lot of success with the "Count back from five...." method. DD seems to understand it very well now. I think it works with her (so far!) because it gives her a clear picture of what is going to happen next so usually by the time I get to zero, she's read to co-operate (sometimes earlier). It won't work if she's already in meltdown, but it seems to stop us getting to that point more often than not.

Out of interest, have any of you given pillows to your LOs yet? DD is still in her Grobag lying on her cot mattress and that mostly seems to be fine. But I wonder if she might like a pillow (she quite likes using them in play scenarios for "sleeping") and if so, what might be the best type at this age. Or whether it's better just to wait a bit longer.... thoughts?

PA French plait or French pleat...?

PS Good luck!

oh yes it was that song, but mainly for the fact he's singing about a crazy relationship

For some reason I think the longer without a pillow the better.

DD had her first trip to the dentist today and it was pretty successful. She was still talking about it when she went to bed :)

thanks though

???

PA your ILs sound a nightmare, and that is coming from me with very strange ILs indeed. What have they done? (Pure nosiness, you don't have to answer)

bethy big hugs. Really hope DS2 improves soon. And DS1 in fact. Sending many get well vibes your way and thinking of you.

Go IC! I will iplayer it. Interested to hear what you sound like!

I got halfway through the Guardian article before dinnner, bath, bed, our dinner, nappy wash.... interrupted. Maybe I can finish it tonight. DH is out and I am hoping to get DD2 down soon (currently at her favourite place, the breast).

BG poor you if DD2 decides to drop her nap I am grimly clinging on to DD1's morning nap. She has dropped her afternoon one though (perhaps the wrong way round, but she will start nursery 2 afternoons a week soon so it suits me).

I am keeping DD1 in sleeping bag and no pillow for the time being. I suppose I'll introduce a pillow when the cot turns into a bed, whenever that may be. I haven't really thought about it tbh (other than a desperate desire to keep her in cot for as long as possible so I can chuck her in it when it suits me - so shoot me emoticon).

Our dentist won't take DD1 until she is 2. I should probably make her an appt, she has visible plaque building again How on earth do you keep your LOs' teeth clean? I let her 'brush' them in the morning and we do it at night, but it is a screaming fight most nights.

DD2 took 2oz from a bottle tonight! Yay! Mid-feed and from me, but a start.

more the same really:
they announced they were coming for a weekend in March. We were going to suggest they come for a day when we celebrate her b'day. Upon suggesting this weekend she replied ''I'm not being funny or anything but when we come up to see her we want to see her on her own'' The plan was on the Sunday have both families there for a few hours to do cake and presents.

DH was upset they didn't even mention DS. They changed coming for a weekend in Jan to a day and then announced the March weekend visit so pre-empted us with what we were going to offer.

I was thinking of replying in an email (she asked him to come up with other dates) 'as we assumed you'd want to be part of DD's b'day celebration we are busy until the first weekend in April' but not sure I can get DH to send it.

PA arggh!!! I'm starting to want to slap your MIL and I've never even met her. No wonder it drives you mad.
PS You mean you haven't heard of the Good Luck up-do?

Scones teeth-cleaning was a bit of a fight with DD until the last few days when she's been actually cheerfully opening her mouth for me when I say things like "Big wide mouth...how wide can you open your mouth for Mummy? Big, wide mouth like a crocodile...."
She still makes a huge fuss when DH does her teeth, though (not sure if he tries the same technique, actually - I must ask him...)

Thanks all. Good luck PA. I can't do either Feb date I'm afraid-work and hospital appts. We must compare mil notes one day to decide whose really take the biscuit the most-and so I know what to avoid in the future when a mil twice!

Oh, and if you could see my hair, roots and all at the mo, you'd know I'm really not the one to ask PA!

Poor Bethy! I really hope that DS2 won't need an hospital stay, like you don't have enough on your plate right now!

PA my last try of hair dressing was the "MN haircut", definitely not the right person to help! The Good luck up-do IC suggested seems to be your best bet !

BG I have plenty of senior moments but then I am older than you are!

DD2 had outgrown her shoes so is now on size 8 (26)

She also had a bad reaction to calpol, see here and a very nasty cough, also waiting for the end of the chicken pox incubation period hoping she won't have it!

Well, after not sleeping in the day yesterday dd2 was in bed asleep by 6.15 last night (nice!) but then up at 6.30 this morning (not so nice, esp as I went out last night for the first time in a century and feel about 112 this morning...). I am guessing dd2 will probably oblige with the nap today and we may compromise on every other day.

IC dd2 has had a pillow for a few months now and loves it. I have the Ikea one which is small and flat. She also hates a sleeping bag and now has the corresponding Ikea cot bed duvet and does quite well with it. Depending on how cold it is I pop her into her sleeping bag when I go to bed though because she can't really reliably cover herself again in the middle of the night.

Get well wishes to all the poorly dc!!

PA your MIL is being totally unreasonable (but you know that). If I were in your position I'd firmly say that they can come for her bday weekend, with your family too, or not at all. Flipping cheek.

(They will grow to love DS when he is as cute as DD is I'm sure).

Mous at DD2's feet! Wow! DD1 is 5.5, her girl friends are mostly in 6. Get well wishes to her.

Hungover, BG? Have some

Both my girls are asleep!!!! DD2 is freaking me out a bit by how much she sleeps actually. 10pm to 8.30am, feed, up for a while, back down at 10am and still down now 2.5hours later.... Surely she's hungry....? I know never wake a sleeping baby but

PA my BIL took an entire year to fully acknowledge dd2 and it really annoyed me that she got overlooked. I think your IL's will get there. As for their other little 'quirks', I am a bit speechless actually. Put your foot down NOW otherwise it can only get worse. And how terribly rude of your MIL to say she wants to see your dd on her own (why??). For some reason that would get me really suspicious and only allow supervised contact (not sure what I am on about but it's such an odd thing to say)...

dd2 went down for a nap at 1.20pm but I'll have to wake her in a minute to collect dd1 from school.

Do you correct your LOs mistakes? dd2 insists on saying 'up-a-daisy' and sings 'ba ba baxi'... I find it far too cute to put her right...

squash dal currently on the hob

bethy it sounds awful for you and your DS2. Hope he feels better soon and you get some kind of workable long term solution.

PA your ILs sound even madder than mine (who are well intentioned, but sometimes cross the line from GPs to Ps).

IC loved hearing you on the radio. Your voice was exactly as I thought it would be, and you were as articulate in person as you are on here. As for pillows, DD2 has one since she started in her bed and loves it, but is still in her sleeping bag. I'll ditch it when she wants or when it gets warmer, whichever is first.

SB DD2 uses a spoon pretty successfully, managing even cereal such as rice crispies with milk and runny soups. But her determination to self-feed from seven months or so means that she has had an awful lot of practice! And I'm secretly proud that my DD2 may not be the furthest behind with this particular thing, as she was so slow to walk, has hardly any teeth and many many other milestones!

scones I'm always impressed at how well you are coping with a toddler and a tiny (and PA).

mous I'm aghast at your DD2's feet. My DD2 is still in a size 3.

BG I think we're in the same situation with naps as DD2 often doesn't nap for me but does at nursery and for MIL. But I don't mind as DD1 had completely dropped them by now (I think around 18-20 months).

DD2 has slept through for three nights in a row now. But DD1 was up last night with earache and the doctor says she has a pretty nasty infection so is now on antibiotics.

BG I don't correct but say correctly in some context. So she says 'foffee' for water, I'll say 'DD wants some water' or 'yes, that's your water'. They still can't say certain consonant's (J is one of the last) and blended letters are normally beyond them so they say just one of them Please turns into pease

No pillow here as DS moves a lot during his sleep, he's still in a sleeping bag (which is good as I think it restains him from climbing out of bed). The day he goes in a real bed, I think I may use one of those

mous I'm amazed by your DD2 shoes size. DS is still a 5.

BBB great news on the sleeping

bethy big hugs. I hope they all get better

PA how was your appointment?

Had my optician appintment and my eyes are back to normal so now I'll reintroduce the contact lenses by wearing a few hours at the time. I think I'll get a new pair of glasses next month (with new frame, thin lenses, reactolite...) to be able to wear them more.

DS can say 'd' or 'b' therefore a doggy is a goggy. I don't correct him but if he speaks English to me I aknowledge and repeat the word in French.

Forgot to ask IC how are you?

Today went well. Have the feeling if it was down to the head of research guy I'll be in. He admitted they want someone ASAP but also they want to take on 2-3 people by end of year so August was a real possibility. He'll be in touch after the application deadline when they decide about formal interviews. I was there for two hours and feel I asked lots of good questions about the science even if it took a little while to remember proper words for things.

SB great news on the eyes.

BG I do as PA does and just say i in context correctly. hat is how we moved DS1 from "Bapa" for 'Grandpa' - mainly because I taught a child aged 8 who still called his grandpa that and he used to get laughed at by his peers.

BBB Hope DD1's ear is better soon. Earache can be horrid, can't it?

Can't recall who asked, but DS2 has a pillow when he's not likely to puke on it and usually manages to sleep well away from it! He also still has a sleeping bag under his duvet as a)he gets cold and b),like SB, I hope it stops him climbing out!!

DS2 eats with a teaspoon and child's fork with virtually no mess and at top speed. This is because he is so well motivated by always being starving hungry!! DS1, on the other hand, would still rather eat with his fingers, if allowed, and couldn't care less about eating at all.

Mous Even my monster is only a size 6! DS1 is only an 8.5 and he'll be four at the end of March!! However, we have found that DS1's growth has really slowed while being unwell for so long (no surprise I guess) so we wait to see if DS2 will follow suit. Talking of whom, DS2 has not been sick today. He has eaten a whole two pieces of toast, in 32 tiny bits, and a little pot of jelly too. I managed to get a urine sample (by placing a pot inside the potty and then doing puzzles with him until he managed to squeeze out a few drops of wee!) and his body is ketotic - in starvation mode. Hopefully, we are on the up. If he is sick again we'll be admitted but, hopefully, the reflux meds and tiny morsels of food every twenty minutes will help us avoid it.

In case you didn't see it on facebook, I put him into the cot last night, after what was a very stressful day, and he said, "I love you Mummy," for the first time. I pretty much dissolved . They do have great timing sometimes don't they? He has amazed us again today in a good moment by completing DS1's 16 piece interlocking jigsaws unaided. Think he may be taking after DH as an engineer!!

Anyway, just noticed Scones's DD2's sleeping patterns and wishing she could send me a bit of sleepy dust for DS2! I do think getting plenty of sleep means you can have a go at dealing with pretty much anyhing. Long may it last for you.

PA Any news from the viewing? What hair etc..?! How did it go, obviously?!!

Hope you all have a good weekend.

p.s. Further to the problems with inlaws above, my MIL rang DH this week (never rings me when she knows there's going to be an issue) to say she'd love it if the DS were wearing tartan trousers to the wedding and will pay for them. In the middle of my crazy, stressful week.. I suggested to DH that we could tell her their sizes as, quite frankly, I've got/had enough going on lately. Apparently, he did say to her that he'd just be pleased to get them both in a shirt and trousers (as they have neither suitable for a wedding at the moment-another cost). Of course, he still passed the message on though, so am now about to see what I can find. Why do I do this?!!