FEB 2010 Two and a half to three...the "contrary age" (no it isn't! yes it is!)

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Come in, sit down, fresh coffee is brewing, Prosecco's in the fridge for later and there's a bumper box of Lindt chocolates for all....

Heh, didn't realise I was doing things differently..!!
Nursery was always on the cards, but I decided to leave it until we got the vouchers. We haven't got much spare money and I wanted DD to be properly resettled in new home/with new sibling - seems she is both!! Sadly, MIL's nursery is over an hour's drive away, so not do-able apart from the occasional VIP visit (!) There is a Montessori nursery closer which I will investigate, but there seem to be quite a few other good ones near us too, so I'll keep an open mind!

Boo to the crappy night for both your DC CP...and you, of course.

Sorry to hear you're tired too, SB.

DS is still being very fidgety/awoken because of the need to evacuate in the night - meaning one (or if I'm unlucky, two) nocturnal nappy changes, tummy massaging and a lot longer for resettling. These last few nights have been a bit wearing in that regard. I'm hoping his digestive system will hurry up and settle down - I think there's a good chance he'll sleep for longer stretches once he's not being disturbed by the need to pass wind etc.....

there's been a few things IC :)

CP I forgot to say - good luck for your application

IC hope the night goes better for you.

Off to bed as we've got an early start tomorrow with swimming. Hopefully the fireworks won't disturb our LO sleep.

Hello, still here! Waved off my mum last night and the house has been strangely quiet. It was wonderful having her here for nearly two weeks and I wish she could have stayed longer (but felt too sorry for my dad on his own missing her). I think dd2 misunderstood slightly and thought 'Oma' had come to stay for good! She's been in a right mood today and not in the slightest interested in claiming her room back because as far as she is concerned it is Oma's room and Oma's bed. We are in no rush to move her from cotbed to single bed, so will take it at her pace and let her play on the bed, read books etc. before suggesting she might like to sleep there... .

BC Ooops... for your friend! I am terrible at estimating ages of people, so I keep my mouth firmly shut unless someone tells me their age and I think they look much much younger, in which case I tell them

CP Go for it!!! Go, go, go! And good luck.

IC Hope you get some sleep tonight! As far as toilet training is concerned, both mine have been quite similar but dd2 is much more fiercely independent. She likes to deal with things all by herself and does not need a nappy for naps (on those occasions when I make her nap!). She's also had dry nappies recently after night sleeps but as she is still in a cot bed I am in no rush to stop night nappies.

RW We are all vegetarian. My two won't touch salad leaves. dd1 likes things like grated carrot and apple as a salad, but dd2 is not so keen. I think it's quite unusual for toddlers to eat salad. Both of mine eat all cooked vegetables (give or take a few - they go through phases eg dd1 is not keen on mushrooms) but are not hugely tempted by raw vegetables. They are fine with all fruit though. If anything, dh is more fussy than the girls!

Awwww, small warm cuddly baby girl (well, 2 year old) on my lap on the sofa in front of the fire. Treasuring the moment. She woke up upset because Oma left!

I am better CP thanks, it was just a virus.

NK awww! I had DD2 sleeping on me last afternoon, nice and warm

mous I thought one mother at dd1's school was the child's grandmother.... Thankfully never said a word! She's not much older than me but hasn't aged well.

DD doesn't really eat vegetables or salad, then again she doesn't really eat dinner.

fellowship would be up to five years so pretty great but has a 4% success rate. I'm still not clear what on exactly my research idea is so I have to spend some time just reading the literature. I am hoping to get it done by christmas with a rough draft by start of December. I think I will need to get DH to take some mornings or afternoons off work just until I get a proper outline.

I try to stay away age and accent questions.

DD does ask us 'what is [this] something for me' when she see's new things We're trying to explain that not everything is for her.

Good luck with the fellowship application CP!!

Aw NK and DD2 (and all of you) missing Oma!

Love the talking, Mous! Good to hear you're better.

We think DD might have a UTI. Potty use suddenly went out the window today - wees on the floor, getting up while still going, needing lots of smallish wees, clutching her groin..... I'm going to get a sample out of her and take her to the doctor tomorrow if this continues this afternoon.

Meanwhile, DS had a two-hour nap this morning and is now asleep again - bless him!! I remember the effort it took to get DD to take a 40min nap - long naps were virtually unheard of until we started walking her for miles in the buggy....

DD had that IC, gets lots of fluid into her and it should clear up soon. We had to put her back into nappies for the day. I know from lots of experience how much fluid intake can make a big difference.

ps hope she feels better soon

oh dear IC hope DD's ok

glad to hear others improving

RW ours both eat sticks of salady things (cucumber, carrot, peppers) but not leaf. Like NK's two ours have periods of eating everything and nothing..really frustrating at times? the only dead cert ever with both of them is olives? DD won't eat onion? refuses point-blank and can spot onion in something at 100 paces? I think it must be a texture thing, rather than a taste thing as for years now I've been grating onion for anything I'd usually use onion in? DD found out about this a couple of months ago when she helped me make macaroni cheese and I told her all about my secret ingredient! Could have gone either way, but fortunately she liked that she'd been eating onion all this time without knowing it!

CP good luck with the application! Both the DC's are much improved ta - DD just about back to normal? DS not fully discharged from the hospital yet - his immune system absolutely shot :( he's had slapped cheek for a few weeks, just seemed to be getting over that and he's got gammy eyes today? assume that might turn into full blown conjunctivitis in the next few days, but hope not!

i'm going to tootle off now and look for kids pro-biotics on t'internet, desperate to try and rebuild his immune system, so any bright ideas on that front welcome!

(am on countdown btw - 5 days at work and then i've got a week off and we've got 4 nights at centreparcs :) :) :) :) ) (yes, the one 20 minutes from home!!! :)) can't wait?

have to say, it's rather nice to be back with you all :)

btw ditched the attempt to get DS out of nappies this weekend - he's deffo under the weather, nose streaming, temperature etc etc? probs leave it til christmas now which is when i've next got more than two days off work (aside from cparcs, but I don't think hols is the best time to start!)

Stoof I have had a lot of thing for DD1 because her immune system was completely shot after chicken pox (still is a bit after 4 years). I need to check the ages on them and I will be back to you.
Hope he will settle soon.

DS does eat most veg either cooked or raw but he will not eat salad leaves.

stoof glad to have you back and fx your DS will get better

IC how is your DD today?

Over last week, DS woke up 3 times with a dry nappy in the morning so the chocolate bribe promesse is back in action. He doesn't wear a nappy at nap time since July (when he became PT).

I'm home today with the leftover of a migraine which stricked me yesterday afternoon. DH did the nursery run this morning with a screamin/upset DS who didn't understand that maman was staying home.

I think DS cutest phrase at the moment is 'cuddle' he normally runs to us with his arms opened to give us a cuddle

Thanks for the good wishes! DD seemed a bit better today, although still clutching her groin a lot and very reluctant to use the potty. Took her to the GP and she doesn't have symptoms of anything serious (thought not!), but I'm taking a sample to be checked. I have a feeling it might be more psychological than physical - for some reason, DD's gone off using the potty again rather than because of discomfort. I managed to persuade her to use the potty (hence the sample now procured!) at lunchtime, so we shall see...

stoof your poor DC.... Lots of live yoghurt? Onion is itself a probiotic, isn't it? And any members of the alium (sp?) family. Omega 3? (Coconut products are a good source if oily fish isn't an option!).

SB hope you're feeling better today.

stoof I agree with IC onion, garlic, yogurts (yokult or actimel type too), add rose-hip, propolis, honey, echinea (add zinc but not sure about giving oysters to toddlers ), lots of berries, sharon fruits, physalis, goji berries, both DDs are a bit sensitive to citrus and kiwi fruits but those are good too if no problems

We had bio-strath drops for DD1 (which helped with allergies and recurrent viruses) can be use from 3 months but our source is in danemark not sure you can get it in the UK.
When having Antibio we have had some bags of probiotics from the pharmacy. (dicoflor or similar...)
DD1 is on orthomol junior now but I don't think it is suitable for younger children (it has to be followed by a medic and BTH it is not very efficient and very expensive

IC DD2 had that too but it was just a change of situation, it is drier down there without a nappy. Also if you are using pink (or orange?) toilet paper or wet wipe it can be very irritating. FX it is just that and not a infection.

SB hope you got rest today

IC good luck with the application

FYI don't play "I spot with my little eye" with DD1 (7). She had her siste,r who was not there, as an A, logical answer "but I can see her clearly in my head" ...

Ha ha to the "I Spy..." twist Mous!!

Just plain white loo roll here, but that's worth bearing in mind.
Two more potty wees from DD this afternoon - the first was done entirely off her own bat just after we got back from a trip out. She just took off her knickers and got straight down to business, I only knew what she'd done when she came and announced to me that she'd done a wee in her potty (I was getting DS out of the buggy). The second required more cajoling.

I have a feeling it's the poo issue that's causing the problem. DD needs a poo and is nervous about sitting down for wees because of her fear of doing a poo.

ooh mous and IC thanks? have wondered about getting some pro-biotics for kids but they're massively expensive? will have another look and get some more unusal fruits into him too!

IC I have a vague recollection that with DD we put her a nappy on to help her poo when she was showing signs of needing one, but got her to sit on the potty (or at least near it to start with) whilst she did her poo? after a while we put the nappy in the potty, then got rid of it altogether?

for a while (after she was PT but before being out of nappies overnight) she would regularly have a poo an hour or so after dropping off to sleep - I guess as soon as her body started to relax...

Stoof Someone I know swears by manuka honey (15+) to ward off and treat almost anything. I was so convinced I bought some! It's quite expensive (I found it at Tesco for about 14 pounds a jar) but a little goes a long way!
Hope your ds gets better soon, poor little thing.

Small rant alert... I am increasingly disillusioned with dd2's nursery which has been under new management for the past few months. Among other things, a few nice staff members have quietly disappeared, the toys are thinning out, there are suddenly few books... dd2 puts on her serious face to go in, and comes out serious looking - I don't think she is hugely unhappy or is treated badly, but the feel of the whole place has changed a lot from lovely homely to odd. The latest 'incident' was a note to say the children should come to nursery in fancy dress for Halloween. dd2 was very excited about what I assumed was a Halloween party (my fault to think that...). Only to find the staff were not dressed up when I dropped dd2 off, there were no decorations of any sort, and when I picked her up she told me in a matter of fact way 'Mama, there was no Halloween party today.' Her key worker looked quite uncomfortable and said they hadn't started the party yet (unlikely, it was past 4 and most children had gone home - so why lie to me?). I felt so awful for dd2 who waited all day for maybe a decorated cupcake and a silly song (that's a party as far as she is concerned, so not exactly high expectations).

On the plus side, dd2 has a place to join dd1's school nursery class the day after she turns 3, so I will have to grin and bear it until then. I've already decided to reduce her days until then to two days and somehow work around it, and give her a long Christmas break.

SB You can't train children out of night nappies, you can put your chocolate buttons back in the cupboard. Medic get concerned after 7 yo.
It is a complex mix of hormone's production, bladder's size and central nervous system's maturity.
You need at least a week of completely dry nappies in the morning (be careful with pampers and the like, they look dry when they aren't), and be ready for accidents to happen for a few years.

NK pants!

our vegusto order has just arrived, vegan protein stuff that is also soy free.

Oh dear, big regression with the PT. DD seems to have developed a phobia about doing wees in the potty as well as poos (which she is phobic about doing full-stop - including in her nappies, stoof). She won't sit on it without enormous persuasion - today I got her to do one wee after a lot of encouragement. Second time I could see she was desperate, but nothing would get her on the potty and she wet herself. Which may have made the situation worse, because she hates being wet, so she's not keen on Big Girl Knickers now either.

I'm seriously thinking of returning to nappies for the time being and trying again when DD indicates she wants to. No infection, her sample was clear. It's just a psychological block.

Such a shame as for a couple of days or so, she really seemed to have got it.

IC what about putting her in pullups? It may help the transition between nappies and big girls pants? 'They' say that there is a step back after a few good days so it maybe just that...

mous I know he's probably not ready but he is so pleased when he's dry in the morning that it is worth a try

DH is off to Amsterdam for a 3 days 'business'-trip tomorrow. As a result he got DS to promise to be a good boy with me. fx it works. Thanksfully it's during the week so I won't be single-handed (apologies to all who spend days with their LOs by themsleves) for full days.