July 2010: It's about time, that we all went back to rhyme!

[Spirael]

Though mutiny is always an option.

Totally agree chul, W has done pretty much everything faster than E did. Except talking, E was talking more at this stage I think.

here goes:

Rough age: 16 months

Plays with ball: yes - he loves balls. Of any size.

Uses three words regularly (not three words in a sentence!) Yes: no, thank you, there [you] go, up, down

Uses six words regularly: He can say lots more than 6 words but doesn't say them all the time iyswim

Speaks clearly: Yes. People always know what he says when he says no, thank you, there [you] go, u

Scribbles with a crayon: Yes. But he still likes to eat them too!

Walks: Yes

Walks backward: Yes

Runs: Yes

Adopts "no" as his favorite word: Yes! Well it's not his favourite word (up is his favourite word, ie pick me up) but he says it a lot

"Helps" around the house: Erm, he tries to mop if I leave the mop and bucket out. He puts washing in and takes it out of the machine. He closes the dishwasher door if I ask him to and is regularly unhelpful by emptying my pans out of the cupboard or runs around using the pan lids as cymbals

Puts his fingers to his mouth and says "shhh": Weirdly, he stared doing this last night before I had read the survey! I was saying shh to E and W started copying

Turns the pages of a book: Yes before I've finished reading

Has temper tantrums when frustrated: Oooooohhhhhhh yes

Becomes attached to a soft toy or other object: He loves 'Bob' - a cuddley rabbit thing

Discovers the joy of climbing: I shall refer you to the fact my son broke his arm at 14 months. Nuff said.

Stacks three blocks: Yes, with the megablocks. He can also balance two pringles containers [too many crips in the house emoticon]

Uses spoon or fork: Yes

Learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g., the telephone): Yes to telephone. Can't think of what other common object he could have mastered He is obsessed with my laptop and I forever find him pressing buttons and changing my screen view the monkey

Takes off one piece of clothing by himself: He always takes his socks off. He will help get undressed but can't take a top or trousers off completely unaided.

Only has one nap (what time and how long?): Yes, at lunchtime for 1.5 to 2 hours

Enjoys pretend games: Erm, don't thnk we really do pretend games. Unless you count when I pretend to bite his ears/fingers/toes - he loves that and laughs his head off

Likes riding toys: Yes and the dogs. We have a fire trucks he rides around and a mamas and papas reindeer rocker that he rocks on

Feeds doll: We don't have any dolls!

Throws a ball underhand: Yes. If I ask him to throw the ball for the dogs he will

Dances to music: He loves dancing. Dances all the time

Sorts toys by color, shape, or size: No

Kicks ball forward: He's been able to kick from a very young age. He started walking at 11 months and was kicking a ball by/before his first birthday. He does really, really love balls though.

Everyone loved their tee shirts this morning at nursery

yy, chul. I didn;t want anyone to think their baby was 'behind' because they might not be doing a lot of this stuff but equally i wanted to show a big range as some might not be doing stuff that's supposedly the norm for 15mo but they're doing some of the 17mo stuff instead! they don't read the bloody charts, these babies.

oh i also meant to come back to you on the dh/housework thing. i suppose it comes back to that hoary old question that we've debated before - whose responsibility housework is. i honestly don't understand how it can be fair that the sahp does all the childcare and all the housework. mind you, i suppose i do think it makes sense that they do the tidying up but you get dispensation being pg fo 'sho.

thanks cake tbh I irritate myself at the constant mess, I have a Big Clean-up every fortnight and it looks great until the DC come out to play. I love it tidy but with the two of them and me not being committed enough to limiting their toys it lasts all of about 2 minutes.
I agree that I should do the tidying but we all stomp around on the carpets, wee in the toilets, eat food so I think everyone should help with housework. I'm 'happy' to do most of the cooking, tidying and childcare but at weekends we should both muck in. DH is very reluctant to take them out without me, he hardly ever does. I would love love love him to offer to take them to a group one day when he's home but he never would.

Glad you had a good night tsc fwiw when L's got a flare-up we drug her to sleep every night otherwise she's up even more often. I try not to use piriton too much though after scaring myself reading about it online...

mlic i couldn't think what it meant by pretend games initially either but i assume it's including stuff like pretending to cook dinner etc - both of which A loves doing when F lets her. the cooker and pans, and tea set and cakes are deffo amongst their most used toys. F proudly cooked me cheese this morning (a wooden slice of swiss cheese served up in maffis wooden crock pot - yummy )

no dolls?! poor deprived wee souls! do you have a 'stance' on them?

chul i don't really limit toys but we only have toys out in one room at once. so we tidy everything up whenever we leave a room/floor. prolly wouldn't in your condition tho! tbh, it's easier to do that here as we tend to be on one floor for part of the day and then won't go back to it (eg we're only in the sitting room and playroom for 'music time' after breakfast), if you're mostly on one level or open plan then it would be a mare to do that. the only room i don't keep tidy is F's room - that just gets tidied up before he goes to bed.

i'm happy to all the tidying plus the laundry (easier if you're the one at home more). i also do 100% of the cooking but DH always loads the dishwasher and wipes down badly afterwards. i think that's fair - i would hate to have to clear up after i've done the cooking. dh also does the bins and makes me cups of tea first and last thing

why is dh reluctant to take them out on his own? do you think he'll be better when they're a bit older?

I do 100% of the cooking (unless it's a takeaway), clear up afterwards, load the dishwasher, do the bins (empty the kitchen on and put the wheelie bins & recyling out, and make him a cup of tea first thing

I have just finished some pwetty pink floral naffery flowery bunting for my friend's dds with her name on. I'm getting well into this 'crafty' shit aren't I

That should read 'for friend's dd2'...

Oh and as for 'official stance' on dolls for boys - it wouldn't be the end of the world if they wanted one at this age but they aren't remotely interested in dolls tbh. I have only ever seen ds1 play with dolls once, when I collected him from nursery and he has two lined up on chairs and told me they were poorly and he had to ring the doctor :) He pushes the nextdoor neighbours prams and buggies around but usually throws the doll out the pram! I've never seen babyface play with a doll, ever.

Quick post because I'm about to go out for my lunch break. Here's the survey, which I've been chipping way at over this morning!

Rough age: 16.25 months

Plays with ball
Yes

Uses three words regularly (not three words in a sentence!)
No, no words yet. Still!

Uses six words regularly
See above.

Speaks clearly
And again.

Scribbles with a crayon
Yes, surprisingly well.

Walks
Yes.

Walks backward
Just.

Runs
No.

Adopts "no" as his favorite word
No, but she is learning to shake and nod her head!

"Helps" around the house
All the time, she's getting pretty good passing me things from the dishwasher or putting clothes in the washing machine. She even tidies up! She picked up my shoes the other day from where I'd dropped them and put them away on the shoe rack. I feel sure she was tutting me...

Puts his fingers to his mouth and says "shhh"
No.

Turns the pages of a book
Yes, and opens flaps and such.

Has temper tantrums when frustrated
Not really, she just gives us the 'Sulky Face'.

Becomes attached to a soft toy or other object
Nah, she doesn't seem to care.

Discovers the joy of climbing
Unfortunately, yes. She's discovered she can reach light switches by pulling things over and climbing them.

Stacks three blocks
She stacks four! [proud]

Uses spoon or fork
Yes, she doesn't need any help with eating now. We're starting to introduce a (blunt) knife, mostly for pushing food onto the fork as she was struggling with just scooping and ends up nudging food off the plate.

Learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g., the telephone)
Yes.

Takes off one piece of clothing by himself
Yes, she removed her arm covering velcro necked bib the other day... It's not going to end well. She can remove her coat too, except for the button. Socks she's been throwing away for months.

Only has one nap (what time and how long?)
Yes, about 11:30am for about an hour and a half.

Enjoys pretend games
Like pretending to hide or escape (in order to be chased)? Yes.

Likes riding toys
Yes, she loves riding on her giant mouse.

Feeds doll
She...doesn't have a doll.

Throws a ball underhand
I don't think she throws underhand, I think it's all overhand.

Dances to music
Waggle dance! ... Yes.

Sorts toys by color, shape, or size
Constantly. (OCD?)

Kicks ball forward
Yes.

We have one room (two opened into each other but neither are very big) where the toys are and we try and tidy up every evening but some days just cba.
DH will wash up 30-40% of the time. We don't have a dishwasher and he won't get one, I don't mind except I do hate doing all the breakfast/lunch/tea prep and cooking and the washing up too. DH will cook once in a blue moon.
We both do the bins and laundry, the only thing he does that I never do is grass cutting.
He does get really stressed with them, I'm hoping he'll be better when they're older. I think the thought of taking them to a cafe on his own just fills him with dread. I don't think it's clicked that I do everything with them both in tow, doctor's appts, dentist, weekly shop, estate agent visits etc, I've just learnt how to keep them entertained whereas he relies on me to sort them out instead of thinking of something to keep them quiet. When they 'act up' in cafes he gets all pissed off rather than making paper boats out of napkins or paper ball obstacle courses and giving them something to do.

mlisc that bunting is lovely, did you use pinking shears or hem them?

Your dh sounds a lot like mine in that respect - the thought of taking them anwhere would totally fill him with dread.

Thanks Do you mean for the lettering? I used pinking shears to cut them out, then stitched them with silver string to make them stand out a bit. The hardest part was stitching the triangles to the bias binding so I started off glueing them in but only did that for two as I got the hang of it quickly enough. Not bad for a first attempt I think!

I might add I only glued them to hold them in place before sewing them with the machine, just in case you thought I might have just glued them and left them, haha!

Seems like in the only one who has a child who will regularly sleep less than hour in the day.
It was 45 mins today, 50 mins yesterday.

I think tsc 's F sleeps less in day than most doesn't he? could be wrong though.

I think he used to when his nights were all to pot but I think he sleeps better through the day now his nights are sorted.

I think...

Ahh ok well D isn't too bad at night atm, well he still wakes but goes back to sleep quickly.

Tsc- I think it might be the same as an iPhone. Hold down on what you want to copy and you can drag the box to make it cover as much text as you need to copy. Then when you want to paste on here for example tap on the empty message box and it will come up with paste. Hope that makes sense.

Have just spent my free hour catching up with you lot! Don't have time to do the survey now but will hopefully do it later. All the LO's sound so lovely in their own little ways!
I've been busy (thank god) and starting to understand what having my own business entails. Some of it is so bloody frustrating!
E has been keeping good if a little off colour the last 2 days. She seemed very pale yesterday and the childminder said she clung to her leg when she had her yesterday afternoon. It's working out pretty well actually with childcare. She only really goes to childminder one or 2 days a weeks. My dad is here on a tuesday so he minds her at my house and then my friend is off on a monday and wednseday so she has her then if i'm busy.
Can't remember what everyone has wrote! I'll try and be better at keeping up once i get into the swing of things!
Be back later!

Cake that blood type stuff look faaaaaaar too far away from my diet and therefore too drastic for me!

'The success of the O type diet depends on the use of lean, chemical free meats, poulty and fish' Well that's me buggared from the off!

Chulita - just get a dishwasher! I always said we didn't need one (as did DH) but FiL insisted on buying me one anyway for Christmas last year (despite me saying we didn't have space for it in the kitchen).

Long story short, tumble dryer is now in the hallway. I will NEVER EVER give up my dishwasher again

Turns out its the best thing that ever happened to me. It's given me so much free time. They come up on freecycle all the time too

Oh, and here is the survey:

Rough age: 16 months

Plays with ball
Does eating a ball count?

Uses three words regularly (not three words in a sentence!)
No, no words yet here either.

Uses six words regularly
Nope

Speaks clearly
No

Scribbles with a crayon
Yes, loves colouring.

Walks
No

Walks backward
No

Runs
No

Adopts "no" as his favorite word
No, but she also shakes and nods her head.

"Helps" around the house
Yes, very good at putting laundry in machine from basket and vice versa. Also loves to pull all the books/DVDs out and put them back.

Puts his fingers to his mouth and says "shhh"
No

Turns the pages of a book
Yes, but not necessarily in order.

Has temper tantrums when frustrated
Yes. Violent fits of rage that usually end in a head injury of some sort.

Becomes attached to a soft toy or other object
Any small toy animal. She came back from Ikea with six toy rats this week because my mum said 'look she really likes them', probably should have bought all of them on that logic...

Discovers the joy of climbing
Yes, loves climbing.

Stacks three blocks
No, not even two.

Uses spoon or fork
To wave around and bang on a plate? Yes. To eat with? No.

Learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g., the telephone)
Yes, but not consistently. The phone can be held to the ear, or sucked. it's 50/50...

Takes off one piece of clothing by himself
Yes, but only socks.

Only has one nap (what time and how long?)
Yes, at some point between 9.30am and 4pm for at least 30 mins and up to 3.5 hours (it's a little random).

Enjoys pretend games
No.

Likes riding toys
Yes, especially cars/trikes/motorcycles at toddler groups

Feeds doll
She...doesn't have a doll.

Throws a ball underhand
I'm not sure she can throw on purpose. She drops, and sometimes when she's waving something around it flies out of her hand, I'm pretty sure that isn't intentional though...

Dances to music
Yes. She bounces, nods her head, sways, flaps arms, waggles bum... She loves to dance!

Sorts toys by color, shape, or size
Nope

Kicks ball forward
No

Gracie you read my mind - I just saw a comet advert (or something) and thought 'I must tell chulita she needs a dishwasher'

I would get rid of my tumble dryer without much of a second thought, I would NEVER be without a dishwasher though. Now that I have two LOs it goes on daily, occassionally every other day. The only things that don't go in are the pans but when that's the only thing to wash it takes seconds.

Tell your dh that you either need to get one, or from now on he does all the washing up. DH didn't understand the need to get one (I made him buy one when I moved in) but then he lived on frozen pizzas and weetabix before he met me so didn't do much washing up! I used it a lot before I had kids, then every few days with one baby and it's my life-saver now I have two LOs!

can i third the dishwasher thing? i was going to say exactly the same thing.

they're somewhere to hide dirty stuff as much as anything i reckon!

mlic while we're putting the world to rights. two things:

1. how the hell does your dh justify moaning about all the lovely food you serve when he existed on frozen fucking pizza and wanking weetabix before?!

1. i literally don't know how you do it all AND make him his morning tea and then not resent him. i would be sticking pins in a dh-shaped bit of play-dough if i was in your shoes.

just come back from pizza express. very nice til the end was A went into a teething-induced frenzy she's really suffering with them at the mo but i'm not even sure which ones they are - tis either the canines or the ones next to that as she has all the others aside from the last molars. i'll have aged ten years in two the way she's going.

aside from that they've both been total delights today - had one of those days when i felt very happy with my lot.

Gracie so glad to hear there's another non-walker on the thread! I know several babies IRL who aren't yet walking at this age but all the rest of this rabble's babies have been walking for months and months! Ours will get there eventually...

We redid our kitchen about three years ago and considered getting a dishwasher, but decided against it due to lack of space. I am really really regretting that now. The amount of washing up there was when there were two of us having one meal a day at home compared to now is just ridiculous. Sometimes I feel like I do nothing but wash up... I have never lived in a house with a dishwasher! seems crazy really, everyone else has one.

I agree with the dishwasher thing. Our broke for a while and I was amazed how much time it took to keep up with the washing up. I seemed to be constantly soaking/washing/leaving to drain/drying/putting away dishes. Our dishwasher goes on once a day, last thing at night, emptied first thing in the morning, so much easier. We don't have a tumble dryer and are fine without one but dishwasher is essential with small kids imo.

chul I am so with you on dh not realising what it's like doing everything with kids in tow. Sometimes when he gets home I say I'm going out to grab some milk - he offers to do it but I just really enjoy getting into the car without putting 2 kids in, getting out of the car without getting 2 kids out and putting one in the pram, walking round the shop without pushing a pram and watching my other child is not grabbing things off the shelves.

Things are a bit bleurgh with dh at the mo, I'm not really sure why. Just both a bit fed up.

Busy Saturday today though. Dh is with A at gymnastics at the mo, then I'm taking both dds to the zoo for A's twin friends' 4th birthday party, then we're all going about 45 mins drive to friends' engagement party/bbq at 4pm, then dh is droppping me off in town on the way back to go see a band with my friend (who is the mum of the birthday party twins today). I'd better get my shit together and go make a picnic for the zoo.