October 2011 - my, oh my, how the first years flew by!! It's birthday season!!

[MummyDuckAndDuckling]

So excited that the first birthdays are upon us! Will try get a copy of the stats..

Pen you're not alone. I joke that Seb is going to have a temperament to match his hair (redhead). His arms go floppy when I pick him up if he doesn't want to go so he slides out of my arms! He also erupts if I take him away from something he wants :)

I've persuaded dh to take us to Ikea on Saturday to get a proper shelving/storage unit for all Seb's toys, like this. www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S29884439/ His toys are growing out of his toy box - again. When he's bigger we can move it to his room. And we can have meatballs!

I find distraction works best with baby puberty "ooh look at the cat", blowning raspberries/funny noises etc.

P goes all floppy too Mummy . She was particularly angry and floppy when I had to run from our bedroom to the potty yesterday at bedtime with her - she dropped a poo on the bedroom carpet!

all these floppy babies!

Sickness is back with a vengeance. In the last 40 mins, she has had 2 showers, 3 changes of pjs, threw up all over her cot, typically when the waterproof cover wasn't on mattress as it was in wash already and threw up all over my bed so is now laying on a towel in a vest and leggins as I've now clean/dry pjs left!!!

My mum also went through 16 nappies in 3 hours with her today! Praying this is over soon as I've had enough

A fell off our bed today ! Am a little shaken up as he fell hard and tipped backwards and landed on his head, and it was 100% my fault. Eeek! Won't be making that mistake again.

mummy poor S! I hope she gets better soon.

Thanks for all your stories of floppy and stroppy tots! [Smile]

Aww, poor a. Hope you are both ok? You must have got such a fright. Nothing worse than hearing that 'bump'. I taught S how to get off things by going backwards. It's been helpful as she likes climbing on the couch and chairs, but I know she can get back down. Same as if she is on my bed, she goes onto her tummy and shimmys over to the edge then slides down. It's funny to watch

we're trying to teach the backward crawl off things with limited success (obviously!) I need to work on it some more I think ...

Backwards crawl? How do you teach that?

So far by not letting him get off things or down stairs apart from backwards to teach him that that is the best way to get off - it's worked for stairs etc and the bed before ... until yesterday!

Tbh, I'm not even sure how it happened. I think it started when we were at my mums and she was crawling around the patio bit outside. There is a small step that she managed to get up and into the house and would then try crawl back out. We just kept saying 'turn round' and switched her round then moved her legs back down the step. After a few attempts she managed it herself. More recently when she's got up onto the couch, I've just kept saying 'sit on your bottom and turn round' and somehow she has figured what to do. It's funny though when she sitting on my bed if I'm getting dressed etc and she decides she wants down, she crawls down to the bottom then shuffles round and lays down flat on her tummy then uses her arms to slide herself down the bed . I'll try video her doing it, it's quite a funny sight!

Have you got a few steps somewhere? This was how my mum taught us. She would stand with us on the bottom few steps then 'show us' how to go down backwards and we copied. Obv I would never leave her unattended around stairs but I know if she manages up the first few at my parents, she can safely get herself back down then (but I know anything could happen) so she is never left on her own

first random one I found on YouTube, but this idea

I didn't consciously teach DS, I just automatically when taking him off sofa's/beds would flip him onto his stomach and slide him down. He's been doing itself now for a few months

Thanks all, I'll try that. Seb likes to go head first! (he also likes to be flung upside down and swung around - maybe he'll be an adrenalin junkie!) Our bed's quite high so I wouldn't want him trying to get off that on his own anyway. But will try with stairs and sofa.

Mummy would love to see a vid of that

M goes backwards too. We have one small step from our lounge to our kitchen and when he started crawling we would tell hime 'other way round' and turn him of he didn't, then he started doing it himself. DH coached him a bit on the sofa I think and now he does it automatically.

M hasn't attacked the Christmas tree yet

He was so tired yesterday he refused to go for a nap. I managed to get him down for an hour at 15.30, but he woke up at 16.30 in a foul mood.

Snowed for most of the day yesterday - taking M out into back garden for some cute pictures later.

Hope everyone has a good weekend

It didn't even cross my mind to teach P to climb off things backwards ! Doh!

Best get on to it this weekend.

Am now waiting for her to wake up (after stuffing her face with gingerbread) so she can hang some fairy lights - no tree here this year I can't be bothered with constantly dragging her away from it!

Oh and P met Father Christmas today in his grotto

cute pics did not turn out so cute as M was screaming bloody murder beore we even got outside (he really doesn't like the all in one rain suit I put over his clothes). he then writhed about a bit in the snow, sobbing for me to pick him up.

Took N to get measured for his first proper pair of shoes now he's toddling about a bit, and his feet are too small! I was devastated when the shop assistant put his foot in the gauge and said "oh his foot doesn't even come close to the first size on here" :(

I'm all :( now, I wanted N to be able to plodge about in the snow and puddles (hopefully with better results engels!! Hopefully he'll like it better next time). I'm off to the prem babies section to see if any MNers on there found any tiny proper shoes anywhere

ips those soft leather soled things will be fine for that. That's what DD was in until 19 months and we moved back to the UK. It's not like he will be put on the ground for long at this age and if there is snow it will be soft. (when DD was first walked she was still wearing those 0-3 month pram slippers)

something like www.notonthehighstreet.com/doodlestitch/product/little-monster-baby-shoes?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=Baby%20&%20Child&utm_campaign=118536

provided you are not on sharp sticky/stony ground it will be fine and if he has only just started walking then he won't be any good on that kind of ground anyway (falling over on it would hurt their hands so you would automatically rule it out). Honestly DD was in similar shoes, although at the time we were in a place that basically didn't rain and really good wide clean paths.

What about these ips they are socks that have a full rubber sole so will at least keep the bottoms of his feet dry outside
www.totsocks.co.uk/

duck is S better now?

W also does a tummy slide off of the sofa - learnt it himself I wouldn't have thought of it!

We still put A in soft soled shoes, although bought a hard soled pair that he doesn't fit yet.

I tried to give him a haircut yesterday and it was terrible! At first it looked like a mullet, and then like I had used a bowl. I've booked him in to get it done properly now (at a kids' hairdresser here) to clean up the mess and because am worried about xmas photos Do any of you with DS's have any tips?

Am just glad the bowl cut looks better than the original mullet.

pen

have just cought M a pair of wellies - they are so cute!

I'm finding wellies great for in the garden! She loves 'splashing' in puddles now so the wellies are keeping her other shoes dry

They have asked at nursery if the kids can either have slipper socks (with the pads on the bottom) or if they can have wellies or similar for playing outside since if the kids run round in socks they tend to fall over, or if they've been outside they tramp mud everywhere with their shoes on.

I am hoping they'll be a hit (he was certainly running away from me in the shop - I lost him for a moment as I couldn't see him through all the racks of clothes ...luckily the shops were dead!).

And as a bonus, they only cost 6 euros a tenth of the price of his proper shoes

Have just been out to do some of my stocking Christmas shopping and managed to spend 50 euros in etos (bit like superdrug). I know it's sad but am buying my own stocking presents as well because DH is just useless but at least it means I get stuff I want

He's not doing to well at the moment, he seems really down and he never wants to do anything, or get out of the house. I had to ask him to put M to bed on Friday. This is not normal - and certainly not the balanced relationship we've always had before depression came rearing it's head again. I know it's completely down to how he's feeling but sometimes I really just want to smack him round the head and tell him to pull himself together (not recommended by psychologists though )

Am waiting for M to wake up so I can head over to see a colleague with a 10mo for a coffee

Sorry for little rant

We are clearing out the freezer in preparation for Christmas so we're having steak tonight

I may have used too many smileys in this post

It must be so stuff and draining to have a DH with depression. Have you any support or are there support threads on here?

DS is poorly and waiting to see how he is when he wakes as he had 30 mins of shivering and blue lips despite having a fever. If he still has it then I will call NHS direct/GP. He is also refusing medicine again, so drugging him has become a battle.

Believe it or not, I had him at the doctors this morning and this happened about an hour after we left (we have new creams for his eczema)

tough not stuff