Feb 2010 - turning two and turning heads

[BigBadBear]

PA you are a scientist. The confidence will come back in time. And yes, shoes are a must unless you think the panel will dig the bare footed look :o

Your soy story made me wonder if I can pick anyone's brains on IBS. I'm starting to think that I may have it and am wondering if a food diary is the best approach?

SB meant to say earlier that your baking sounds amazing! Are you on Twitter? I have a food related Twitter feed if so.

Well, on dd2?s request I have put the side of her cotbed back this morning. The poor little thing was getting quite exhausted with trying to keep her bottom, her cuddly bear, pillow and duvet from falling out in the night. That is a lot to think of when you are asleep! No harm in letting her be a baby again for night time even though she is very clear on no longer being a baby in the daytime .

She managed to walk all the way to dd1?s school (and back) carrying her sister?s book bag (and ever so slightly dragging it across the pavement ). It tired her out so much that when I asked her to tidy up the puzzles she?d strewn across dd1?s room, she came back about thirty seconds later saying she?d tidied ?all day long? and was a little tired

PA Good luck with the interview!

BBB Glad things are a little better with your dh. When you said to him he?s pretty redundant in the family, did you really mean you?d rather be on your own with the girls? When you posted I?d just had a nightmare one night of losing dh in an accident and it made me wake up gasping. As much as he gets on my nerves sometimes, I have no idea how I would continue without him?
How is your dd2's hypermobility? Saw a thread yesterday on exercises to try to build core strength - this was for school age children having problems with writing. If I see it again I'll put in a link.

mous Glad you?ve had some reassurance on you dd2. She looks like a smart cookie on the pictures and I am sure she?s just biding her time with the talking. Did you say your dh spoke late? Sorry to hear you?re still no further regarding plans for the immediate future especially for your dd1 having some continuity in her schooling.

IC Keeping fx all goes through with the new house! ? I?m going to adopt your strategy in turning questions around at dd2 and asking her what she thinks it is/they do etc. Brilliant idea.

SB Loving ?daddy is at the pub?

scones Sending you sleepy vibes!

BC Things will get better, promise!! and My dh found the transition from one child to two children really really hard and it took a while for everything to fall into place. As far as night feeds were concerned, I have always gone against the grain. dh only ever did one 3am feed and made such a hash of resettling dd1 that I had to get up anyway to do it. After that I did night feeds because there seemed little point for both of us to be desperately tired and on edge. Tiredness also affects him twice as badly as me, so I figured it was better to have at least one sane adult in the house? When dd2 came along this also meant that dh did pretty much everything with and for her and made a big fuss of her (because he had the energy).

survival Glad your climbing frame got the all clear!
?You silly oik?

Waving to everyone, hope you'll have a nice weekend!

Oof, long post. Sorry

BG

Well I've made a mocha sponge tonight which will go into the freezer with the other 2 cakes already there.

How are the lurkers doing? rainbow, Abs, fc, bee

One of the mums at nursery who has twin boys (2yo) is expecting again! She's already big and I can't stop wondering if there're 2 in there again!

Argh, meant to say dh did lots with dd1 when her sister came along...

SB don't freeze that cake, give it to me! Pretty please?

BG I can email you the recipe because I'm not sure it'll survive been posted

BG I've posted it on the FB group.

Hiya!

Yum at the baking, SB...!! I've made the mistake of joining Pinterest and love posting things on my online scrapbook/pin-board - the food and drink one has the most, so far, although Home Decor, Kids and Baby things are getting more populated too....

BG good to hear from you! Fair play on DD2 preferring the cot set-up for the time being - I'm sure she'll let you know soon enough when she wants a bed!!

BBB tooth number 8, hoorah!

PA congrats on getting the interview! Not surprised you feel a bit daunted, but I reckon you'll do great.

DD's twisted her ankle today, so we're having to carry her around or leave her sitting in places, as it's hurting her to put any weight on it. I'm confident it's nothing worse than a bit of a wrench as there's no swelling and she doesn't find it painful if I touch it.

We're going to a street party this afternoon with live music, I'm quite excited! Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the park for a three year-old's birthday party - DD loved it and couldn't believe the number of biscuits and muffins she was allowed...!

Good news in that the sister of one of our Spanish friends has taken us up on our offer of a one-month stay in the UK with free accommodation, meals and daily English lessons in return for help with DD, including on-site childcare if we have to go in to give birth to Jesus Fosbury Foetus before the beginning of Sept (when the in-laws will be back). So that's a weight off my mind! I'm about to go into T3....eek!

Us and the other couple with the house we're interested in have agreed a price, so next thing is full steam ahead on that. We're hoping to be in by the middle of July, if not earlier, all being well..

Hope your dd is feeling ok ic. How was the street party?

Talking of baking, I have joined Clandestine Cakes. Not sure my efforts will be up to much but sounds right up sb's street.

Not much to report here. Toilet training going quite well though I chickened out of taking dd2 out for lunch with us in knickers. Good job as it turned out, as when she asked for the toilet and I took her (despite her being in a pull up), she freaked out at the fact that the department store toilet didn't have a special seat . But I need to bite the bullet soon as she's pretty much always in knickers at home now, isn't having any accidents and is going quite awhile in between toilet visits.

Very relieved that she is unknowingly copying her sister in eschewing the potty in favour of the toilet .

Dh in a brilliant mood thanks to Chelsea winning the champions league. He's even done done DIY and is offering to cook dinner .

BBB I am impressed by your dd using the toilet!

IC Keeping fx all goes well with the house. Sounds like you are very much on top of things right now . What a fab idea to get some Spanish input/help/babysitting etc.
Hope your dd's ankle is okay though!!

I had to pop to the dentist because one of my back teeth has been a bit achy. dd2 was very good and watched with interest. In the waiting room she was really cute and kept going back and forth to the fish tank to count them and reported that there were 8 fishes, then she checked and came back saying it was 9 fishes (correct!), some were red (correct) and there were mama and baby fishes. Then she spoilt her bright talk somewhat by observing that they were all under water!! There was one other woman waiting and she found it hard to keep a straight face!

BG I forgot to reply to your question from before, sorry. All too often recently it has felt like being on my own with the DDs would be easier, as at least I wouldn't have any expectation of help or support from DH (which has not been very forthcoming and what little there has been has been outweighed by the thoughtlessness and arguing). I know I was a b!tch to say it, but it was genuinely how I felt at the time. But things are definitely better - he is more engaged with me and the DDs, is gentler and more caring with all of us, and is just generally making more of an effort. It's not perfect, but it is an improvement and a more sustained one that I have ever encountered before.

BBB Glad your dh has pulled his socks up a bit! I think some of our dhs (mine included!) just don't know how lucky they are!

Popping back to say that dd2 appears to be toilet trained

BBB

BBB well done to your DD2 and glad to hear that your DH has put his acts together

BG at your DD2 conversation skills

DS personnality is really coming out now with a great determination. Despites telling nursery about the pullups he still come home with nappies that aren't ours He does some wees on the potty but no way will I leave him in pants yet (tried it on Sunday and he ended up in a puddle freaking out because he was wet )

Oh, I'm fully expecting this to be a flash in the pan as it has been too quick and too easy so no need to be ! Three weeks ago it was unthinkable, but today she refused to wear a nappy to nursery and when I went to collect her (full of trepidation), they told me very proudly that she'd had no accidents at all, had worn a pull up for her nap but taken it off as soon as she woke up and asked for knickers again (and the nappy was completely dry), and hadn't even been a nightmare in asking to go all the time so seems to have good control.

I think it was helped by the fact that she did a poo as soon as she got up this morning (in her night pull up) so it could still all go wrong, but the fact that she has done a whole day at nursery is amazing and I definitely don't think we can go back now :)

BBB it does sound like she's got it! dd1 was like that and just decided one morning to take her nappy off and that was it . Just hoping dd2 follows the same pattern, she copies pretty much everything else her sister does.

Hello everyone - very tired - thank you for all your kind words. I am just off to bed after skimming to catch up.

Good luck with the baking challenge, SB. I feel sometimes like baking is my only creative outlet these days...

PA I hope the interview goes well - a month is a long time to prepare and you are a very competent scientist (look at your track record) so be confident.

DS still refusing to tell me until after he's pooed. We were doing so well until DD came along. Today was ok but it's a struggle when I have to look after them both all day by myself. DH had her for an hour while I took DS to the park this afternoon which was nice.

Went to One O'clock club this morning with both of them. She slept in wrap sling the whole time (2 and a half hours) so he had a lot of mummy to himself today which was nice for him I hope.

DH going away to Berlin for the weekend for work and my mum away so his mum coming down to stay and help.

I need to go to bed - can't really construct thoughts or sentences. Love to you all. x

hope the week goes OK. For me getting past 6 months proved to be a big step forward even though DS still wakes every 2-3 hours. Being able to go longer without food and sleep so I didn't have to do those at playgroups was the key bit I think. I can't put him down for long but now he can sit up and is weaning that buys me time to do a few things. I can't remember how old she is but after 2 months we had a routine and we went out each day to various groups. hardest part was at 5 months which wasn't to do with ds but me accepting DS (mainly wrt sleep and velco tendancies) and mouring the more contented baby i though I might get.

i still don't do much housework in the day, aim for nappy stuffing and washing loaded or folded but if DD/DS need to go outside in the afternoon before i've done it then so be it.

Aww, BC it is tough to start with when you have two - I admire all of you who have had number 2 when number 1 is still so little. It will get easier, I promise (for me, this is always when the nights improve as I don't function well without a decent amount of sleep). You are doing a sterling job, so just hang in there.

PA I know what you mean about the gaps between food and sleep as otherwise it is a relentless drudge of doing something functional all the time, which is exhausting. Glad you reached a turning point at six months. Sounds like you are being very pragmatic about prioritising what needs to be done and you also sound to be doing really well.

Right, half term is only two weeks away, so which day are doing this meet-up? Wednesday or Thursday? And do we have a venue?

Awesome potty/toilet training BBB!! I'd love it if things were that easy with DD!
I still don't think she's anywhere near ready. I chatted to a lady at the health centre today and she agreed that it would probably be over-ambitious to get PT done before the arrival of DC2 - especially with a new house also on the cards (two prime reasons for regression!). She reckons I'd be best to wait until DD's settled down after those events and shows more signs of readiness. I tend to agree.

I was at the health centre for a baby first aid course - St John Ambulance-run and totally free. Very useful, I now feel happier that I will be better equipped in an emergency situation (which hopefully won't arise!) to deal with and unconscious or choking baby or toddler. I was a bit trepidatious about how it would work out because the course took place at 1300-14.15 - in other words, bang on DD's nap time. I took her down in her buggy and hoped for the best. Bless her, she was out before we arrived at the centre and despite the noisiness of the environment, snoozed for the best part of an hour and woke in a good mood. I'm thanking my stars for radio noise and habitual buggy napping now!!

We just had a picnic in our local park as the weather is so fab. DD needed a poo (Day 3 of nothing) so was typically cranky and clingy until finally she could hold out no longer. One al fresco nappy change later and she was a different child - she ran all the way home, singing away with ne'er a care in the world.

Bc I'm watching how you get on very carefully - and taking notes from all the mothers-of-two on here too. Ulp.
Hope you get a bit of a rest x

PS thanks for the concern for DD's ankle! It had all cleared up by the following morning, so my instinct that she'd done nothing worse than twisted it a bit was probably right. She's been fine ever since.

BG love DD2's chat at the dentist!!

DS woke up this morning with 2 spots on his cheeck and I was convinced they were chicken pox! But no it wasn't so I can breath a bit better tonight (I still wish he'll get it sooner than later tho...). It is back at nursery so fx, he'll get it this year (especially as my mum is on call for childcare )

I've noticed that DS is now happy to play by himself (while keeping an eye on where I am) creating stories (crashes) with his cars/tractors or building towers with duplos. You can see that his imagination is working!

We've nearly finished emptying the study (which will become DS room), so I now need to think on which colour to paint his room...

Very me post tonight. I hope you're all doing okay. xx

ic glad DD's ankle is better. I was all set to come on to tell you that DD's sprains took 10 days to go

i made baba ghanoush and falafel for the first time today. Served with cous cous in pitta bread with melon for pudding (we?re out of salad to serve it with)