March 2005 part 6 - Toddling towards summer!

[leogaela]

And her it is!

Pidge, lots of yelling goes on in our house in the mornings as well. I don't know what happens. At 8am, we're all in the kitchen, breakfast is eaten, bags are packed for the day, dishwasher has been unstacked and stacked again and all we have to do is get dressed, brush our teeth and we're ready. And yet, at 8.35 EVERY DAY, I'm yelling 'come on, come on, we're going to be late' Where does all that time vanish to - I think we have dodgy clocks in our house that whizz forward by half an hour every single day except the weekends

Hi All.
Still having some sleep problems here. Lauren just seems unsettled and is waking up nearly every night and moaning away. Try not to go in to her unless she doesn't settle again as that seems to make it worse and she ups the moaning level considerably. So unusual for her but hoping it's just a phase. Can they start being scared of the dark at this stage? She's always slept in a totally dark room with the door closed and never seemed to mind.
Had a screaming child today as she was in the driveway with me and my mum and crawled under our car. Once she was under she tried to stand up and go stuck! Screaming her head off with me and my mum on our stomachs at each end of the car trying to persuade her to come to us. Finally had to get under myself and literally drag her out. Luckily our car is quite high off the ground or she really would have got stuck. Can't leave them for a second now.
Walking is coming on, but she seems happier crawling at the moment and will only walk on her own terms. As soon as you try and get her to walk to you she drops down and crawls. No rush I suppose.
Lauren has been at one sleep for a month now. Goes down anytime between 11 and 12 and sleeps for between 1 and a half to 3 hours some days. Seems to manage through the afternoon ok although if we are out in the car she will usually nod off on the way home. Bedtime at 6-6:30. Anybody else have a little one that hates being in the car seat? Any journey longer than 20 minutes and Lauren is moaning and if it's longer than an hour she really starts screaming. Puts you off going anywhere further afield.

Hi everyone - seem to have got behind again with this thread! Not hard with you chatterboxes . I do tend to check the thread every day but don't always have a chance to post, and then it gets so long...

This is the problem I have Alex - I read everyone's posts, but then find I don't have time to respond to everyone as I would like to. You must find it hard not having your dh with you at the moment. Hopefully everything will get sorted out for you soon - how often do you see him? So sweet about Ksenia chatting to the cat. Grace loves cats - we see quite a few on the walk to and from school and we always have to stop to say hello (and wave goodbye) to them .

Grace used to be really good at going to sleep - just like Harrison, I could put her in her cot, turn her music box on, walk out of the room and she would go off. For the last couple of weeks though she has been getting harder and harder to settle. Took me an hour today to get her to sleep - tried cuddling her, rocking her, leaving her to cry (only for 10mins and then couldn't stand it any longer so gave in). She was desperately tired but every time I sat down with her she kept pointing to all her books and toys and wouldn't settle down. Is usually ok at night, although I still give her a breastfeed last thing so that makes her sleepy and relaxed. In fact, she had a brilliant night last night - went into her cot awake at 7.30pm and didn't wake until 6.05am - then went back to sleep in bed with us after having a feed and woke at 7.45am. It's probably a one-off!

She only has one nap most days - usually goes down about 3hrs after she wakes in the morning and sleeps for about an hour and is then usually fine until bedtime.

Glad Niklas is feeling better Leo.

at Lauren getting stuck under the car jambot . Sounds exactly like the sort of thing Grace would do though - she loves crawling underneath things. With regard to sleep, Grace went througha similar stage a few weeks back, very restless at night, lots of moaning. It stopped as suddenly as it started and not sure what was causing it but think it may have been teething. You did say that Lauren has got some molars coming through?

Jambot, sorry to hear Lauren is still unsettled at night - that's so unusual for her isn't it. Sometimes Harrison wakes absolutely screaming (usually within an hour or so of going to bed) but he isn't really awake, IYSWIM. My HV said it might be nightmares. She also asked if he'd recently started 'doing something new' (walking, talking etc) as apparently learning a new skill can unsettle them. Maybe that's what it is with Lauren?

Made me laugh to think of you crawling under your car to drag Lauren out - only because she wasn't hurt though.

This will make you all smile. At the clinic today there was a lady (neurotic I might add if conversations I overheard were anything to go by) walking her 7 month old baby girl around - you know, holding her hands and helping her to walk but lots and lots of 'help'. She asked the HV over and over again wasn't it really early for her baby to be walking at such a young age !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost burst out laughing at the look on the HV's face - it was definately a 'give me strength' look and maybe even a few swear words

Can you tell DH is away and I've got nothing to do this evening except post on MN

Lol at the 7mth "walker". My dh is away tomorrow night busy, so I expect I will be on here most of the evening! He's in the bath at the moment, so I will vanish as soon as he comes back downstairs .

What, you're not in the bath with him

Off to pour myself a glass of red wine now and get ready to watch Lost. Night everyone

I'm never going to catch up - this thread has gone mad over the last few days.
BW - Have banned myself from watching Lost tonight as will end up staying up until midnight and then be in a right grouch tomorrow. Have recorded it and will watch it later in the week.

Hope everyone had a lovely bank holiday weekend - seems like you all did from your posts. I had a lovely day at a health spa on Saturday with the girlfriend that I ran the marathon with, our husbads bought us the day as a congratulation present - very lovely of them. Looked at new carpet on Sunday (yawn!) - and then took the kids swimming yesterday which was great fun.

Freya has only had one nap a day for a long time, usually for about 2 hours. She completely refuses to sleep anywhere except her cot so if we are out for the day then she gets in a right grouch. I try and avoid this, but if we want to do something with DS1 then it can be difficult - for example DH took them to the zoo on Saturday so Freya just had to put up with it. She made up for it by sleeping until 9am on Sunday morning though - bliss!

I can hear her coughing away at the moment so I am expecting a broken night's sleep, perhaps she is coming down with a cold.

Weather beautiful here today, and should be nice all week which will be lovely. Leo - I know you get loads of snow in the winter, but from your posts it seems to be really warm there now. Does spring / summer come quite early. Certainly doesn't seem to have been quite so warm here yet.

UMum - Freya chases our cat whenever she gets a chance. I don't like this though cos the cat is an old lady, and I never like it when children do not respect their pets so I tend to shut the cat in the utility room with her bed and food. This makes Freya very cross and she often throws herself on the floor.

Freya has started going to the cupboard and getting her cup out when she wants a drink now. I am notoriously bad for offering drinks (my mum often just makes her own tea when she comes round ) and it seems that Freya has already worked out that I need a gentle reminder - bad mummy!

You are all too organised with the MMR - I have been meaning to book it for a while and keep on forgetting. Must do it tomorrow.

Finally before I go - loads of wlaking now and less and less crwaling. She is so happy with herself and loves to toddle off on her own - it really makes me laugh.

HI!

Is the second season of lost is on in the UK?I watched the first one last year sometime before christmas and since then no Lost here>Please you gotta keep me updated!!!!!And is there any Desperate Housewives are on?

Ksenia is asleep now.She had a little rush these days went to see a doctor and she said that Ksernia is eating way too much of cottage cheese,but its the only thing she eats nowdays and sausage.Stange tastes she has!:)

I havent seen my dear dasr husband for a year now and he cannot come come to Ukraine for at least next 6 years So we all hope that this summer we be all together!

Wishing you all good health this week and hope to catch up later!

Cottage cheese and sausages - yeuch! .

No TV knowledge here I'm afraid - we only turn it on about once a week! I am always hopelessly out of touch unless I happen to have read the TV review section in the paper!

After months of hearing Iris shout "dadden, dadden" every time dp hoves into view, we finally have a "mama" from her. Though it does seem there's still a bit of confusiong between "mama" (yours truly) and "nana" (fave foodstuff!).

I had the grand total of 5 hours sleep last night - dd1 appeared in our bedroom late at night and then threw up everywhere, and Iris was up with the proverbial lark at 5.15am. The really scary thing is that I actually feel ok. Pre-motherhood I would have ceased to function on so little sleep.

Anyway, dd1 seemed ok this morning, so have sent her off to the childminder's and come in to work. Hope she's ok.

There is sometimes a Lost thread on mumsnet so you can catch up.
I haven't watched last night's episode yet, so please BW do not spill the beans!

Our favourite here is Prison Break. Don't know it it's showing in the UK. The lead actor is absolutely yummy so worth watching even just so see him.
Back at Mums and Tots this morning after a month long holiday. All the little ones are tottering around now - so sweet. Lauren had a total ball with play dough (eaten not rolled!) and sago pudding that the lady dies all sorts of colours and they squish it around in their hands. Very messy but great fun. Having a long sleep now so must be worn out from all that playing.
Have had to buy a new baby monitor as my last one was so unreliable. It was either crackling all the time or not making any noise when Lauren was crying. Lauren's room is quite far from our living area so I have to have something reliable. Got a digital one with lots of channels, temperature gauge, night light etc. Probably never use half the features but at least I know for sure that it's working.

Oh Alexandra, that is so sad for you Ksenia and your dh that you haven't seen each other for a year :(! But is it that he can't leave the UK or can't go back into the Ukraine? Can you meet somewhere else. It must be heartbreaking for him to be missing so much of Ksenia's first year :(!

Niklas was really back to his happy, crazy little self again this morning :o!!!! I just can't wait to see him this evening now.

Really busy at work at the moment - things here have really improved :)!

I don't watch any telly at all - unless CBeebies counts!

Sylvia fell out of bed last night again. She has a bruise on her face. I think we'll get a bedguard or even move her into her cot. Not too sure about that because she can climb out of it.

My Dad went back home on Monday and Sylvia's been looking for him all over the flat, going "Ju-ju, Ju-ju" (for Gigi) and then signing for "all gone". Very sweet. She's so sweet and lovely but also daring and funny. She initiates hide and seek games with us or teases us into running after her. She gets on really well with Dominic.

Sorry i've not been around for a while - i get caught up in other threads on here and use up my self-imposed time limit on the computer.

I have a job interview tomorrow, we'll see how it goes. It's only a temporary position, maternity cover, so almost not sure it's really worth bothering for, but I'll give it my best tomowwo at the interview.

Goodluck with the job interview Cristina :)!

UMum, we had three episodes of the new Lost series last night, although I've only watched one so far. I'm going to catch up this evening, so if you want to know, e-mail me at [email protected] and I'll update you without upsetting Jo I'm also a Desperate Housewives fan - how do you lot manage with no TV - so can update on that too.

Cristina, hope Sylvia is OK and hope the job interview goes well.

Pidge, stick with two naps !!!!!!!! Harrison had one nap yesterday from 11am until 1.15pm. Was in bed at 6.15pm and wide awake this morning at 4.55 I'm assuming he went back to sleep at some stage but not certain as I switched the monitor off at 5.45 and closed the bedroom door so I couldn't hear him Still had me up at 6.30am. Today we went shopping for new school uniform for Hannah and we went straight from school so he had a short nap in the car. We've just got back and he's snoozing away in his cot so hopefully two naps today will have him sleeping better tonight [hopeful emoticon]

Leo, sorry meant to add that I'm glad Niklas is better today and that work is going well - it makes all the difference in leaving them I think, when you enjoy what you do.

Leo - glad the job has improved. Nothing worse than being separated from your baby and being bored.

Busy - will heed your advice about not changing naps for a while at least. Though this morning Iris was up at 5.15am, so it can hardly get much worse for us! I just can't see how I could get her to stay awake beyond about 10 in the morning anyway.

Actually I forgot CBeebies - when I said we don't turn the tv on! Still, in the evenings it doesn't get much action. Too darn busy. Plus I have to be in bed by about 9.30pm to cope with early-bird Iris.

The sun is shining beautifully here today and Harrison and I have had a fabulous morning.

Slept in until just after 7am, dropped Hannah at school then went for a walk to the duck pond. Harrison got terribly excited, despite seeing these ducks on a fairly regular basis and pointed madly at them shouting 'ugh, ugh'. Completely wore himself out after half an hour and fell asleep in his buggy, so I bought a cake and a newspaper and sat by the pond for about 45 minutes having the most relaxing morning. When he woke up, we played on the grass which didn't bother him so much today and then came home for lunch, which we had in the garden. Played some more, saw a robin so cue more mad pointing and 'ugh, ugh' and now he's snoozing away in his cot.

Heavenly

Cristina, how did the interview go?

Busy - your day sounds really lovely. All that time to yourself and also playing with Harrison.

This evening I had some time to myself too. I put Sylvia to bed early (7 pm) and went on my own to the polling station. It was such a strange feeling to be walking on my own in the evening and quite disorienting, I had to think what exactly I was doing, where was I going and why weren't DS and DD with me.

The interview started well but I lost heart about half-way through it and kind of petered out my answers and didn't really give it my best. The offices are brand new, shiny, smart, modern, very "corporate", people were dressed seriously in suits etc, not at all the laid-back academic environment I've been used to and I don't think i'd enjoy it there. The job would also mean finishing someone else's work (who goes on maternity cover) and if truth be told I'm not a great finisher at all (I didn't tell them that - I wasn't quite so stupid) and there wouldn't be any publications out of it, only reports, no journal articles. The money would have been good and it's on High Holborn, easy to get to from Waterloo. IF they offer me a part-time job then yes, i'd take it as it's only for 1 year for the maternity cover, but I don't want it full-time. Also I have the feeling it's not the kind of job I can just take time off whenever I need or work from home if I decide to do so in the morning etc. Basically, I want a job like I had till now but somewhere else as I've been there for 6 years which is more than enough. Enough of my ramblings. I'll let you know at the end of next week.

Sylvia can now climb up on the sofa. Now i definitely can't turn my back on her at all. I notice she can clib down safely too but i'll still have to hover around to catch her if she falls.

I've re-discovered lots of baby dresses in a bag i had received from my sister and which i thought wouldn't fit her due to size, season etc. It turns out they all do, so lots of lovely clothes to go through. Now there's definitely no excuse for buying her even more!

Good evening to all of you!

Check MN in the morning and tried to post but Ksenia didnt let me do it.Hope she is far away in the Morphius Land:)

Busy-what a lovely morning you had y'day.Was the rest of the day and today so wonderful?It should be after such a good start.Ksenia stopped sleeping in the buggy since she was 7 months old but to be completely honest i prefer her to sleep at home.It guves me precious time to clean up and cook for her and if i really lucky to surf the net.

Leo-so great news about Nicklas being back to his "normal" happy and crazy state of mind and body.That is so good when kids are getting better so they can do their special task-is to bring joy and happiness around.

JoPG - I will try not to bring any TV themes on this thread anymore but living FAR AWAY from all hollywood production and Knowing that all of you are much closer to it I just cant hold it inside!!!!!:)

Ksrnia was a star of playground today.Lots of kids from 2 to 4 wanted to play witj her.They barely tore her apart.one girl wanted to walk hand in hand her sister wanted to go in opposite direction, a boy was trying to teach her how to play with sand.At the and they climbed to the little oh gosh how do you call a thing which you climbe on and then slade down?So they all climbed to the top and each and every body sladed down with Ksenia and she was sooooooooooo happy!she even didnt cry when was falling down.And at the very end she huged and tried to bite evry child that played with her.It how she shows love.but also Ksenia learnt a new thing.If she is not happy or she wants to do something that she cannot she just dropping herself on the floor and start to cry.I read somewhere that such behavior called The 1st year Crisis.Do you all agree that such thing exist and if yes shall i wait till all the "crisis" will go by itself or shall i do somethoing to stopped.Coz i am really scared that if Just let it go then it will be too late and my baby will be uncontrolled.

Wow is my post all the time so long.Anyway,i will surf through next.co.uk now. My dh will go shopping for me and Ksenia on Sunday need to choose what I want.And i will check later on maybe someone is here.

till later

Umum - I think you're describing a mini-tantrum. That's a tough one, whether to ignore the behaviour or "talk" them through it. Lots of child psychiatrists making lots of money on books telling us whether to do one thing or another. I wouldn't worry about the child becoming uncontrollable. She's obviously trying to tell you something - as you in fact have guessed, that she wanted to play with one things or another.

UMum, the rest of the day was great as Harrison slept for almost two hours in his cot after lunch so I got to read loads of my new book, sitting in the sunshine in the garden. The next day, we had friends round with their babies and we spent the morning in the garden again, watching them all play. It was really lovely. DH came home in the afternoon (he's been away all week) so we all picked Hannah up from school and went for a walk to the duck pond again and had tea in the back garden when we got home. Lovely, lovely, lovely

Harrison sometimes throws himself on the floor when he's not happy with something or he flings his arm over his eyes as if to say 'woe is me'. I just ignore him as at this age, I really don't think they understand what they're doing. A friend recently said to me that it must be very difficult for our babies to understand what 'no' means as it's always different. When you say 'bathtime', 'come to mummy' 'let's read a story' it always means the same but 'no' can mean a thousand things. Don't touch, you'll hurt yourself, it's dangerous - no wonder it's so hard for them.

Cristina, sorry the job wasn't what you'd hoped for - sounds like the company I work for

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend