May 2004 babies - new thread

[helsy]

Well, d'you think anyone will bother?
I feel like I'm having a party and waiting for people to turn up. Dorito, anyone?

Bozza,

From the boys perspective the current favourites are:
Playdough (he plays "milking machines" with it?!)
Drawing
cooking in his kitchen (still)
A little doctor's kit (when we are made to only refer to him as Doctor Jake)
Happyland farm and airport. He plays for ages with his plane and mutters about Auntie Mable and Pippin from come outside going to various places and back

We had a sucessful weekend in London with the boys. It was hard work lugging them around several different un - child friendly places in London but they were little stars, both of them. DS1 played very nicely with a 4 year old there. It was lovely to see and we were able to have a good time at the wedding.

bozza- our dd doesnt really play with much[toy wise] she is a dvd addict[dh's fault] she likes drawing, playing with playdoh or 'roll it' as she calls it, dancing to cds, dressing up and playing out the garden on her bike or slide. up mil she has a till from elc which she plays with and a dolls buggy which she collects things to put in it and wheels about.

i spoke too soon about ds. as you may remember i had an auwful time with dd when she was a baby as she would not be put down and had to be carried everywhere. well ds is now the same apart from its worse as i have dd to keep amused while carrying a screaming baby, such fun!

I am interested in the boys toys as well. It is just that I had one previously and can generally remember what he liked. DD just seems to spend a lot of time playing with DS's stuff which are not really developmentally appropriate IYSWIM. As in he has little lego and she is better off with the duplo etc. She has got a thing about my little pony which I would never have dreamed of. MIL bought her one for her birthday, then she chose a secondhand one at the school fair and then in France she chose to spend the money from her grandparents on a backpack pony and picnic set thing. 22 Euros! She also has a thing about Dora, although she doesn't watch it or have any toys. She recognises the character and we had to go back into a toyshop in Cherbourg to "say goodbye to Dora" and she refused to wear any nightwear other than her Dora pjs all holiday. Sometimes DS will play Happyland or kitchens with her. And I sat with her yesterday while she made a duplo creation. She is also quite into dolls and associated paraphenalia. But still she doesn't play that much.

Glad to hear the London trip went off well. Always a bit daunting things like that. And kbaby, bad luck on DS being a carried around baby.

DD mostly plays with her team of soft toys, the 'pals'. They get pushed around on the toy buggy or romped on in the cot. A pot scrubber is a 'pal scrubber' and she asked dh yesterday for the 'blue pal fleece'.

also anything involving mixing - water, soap, juice, cereal, etc. Sometimes overlapping with the play kitchen.

I haven't really thought about watching her at play recently; will have to. We are always on about recording her on Dad's dictaphone.

dd likes to play with the brio trainset bits (well the tesco version), her kitchen, little people play house, baby dolls, watches tv loads!, loves playdough, colouring, painting (grr) - quite a lot really. but some days she hardly gets anything out and just watches tv. we do go out most days mind.

kbaby, oh dear. cant help much i'm afraid. i guess carry him if thats the easiest option for now, he's still so young.

glad all your hols and weekends away went ok. we are off to singapore in oct/nov. me for 12 nights, dh for longer. dd staying with mil and my mum, for 6 nights each. panic panic panic.

oh and she starts pre-school tomorrow, panic panic panic!

had dating scan today, i am 12 weeks on saturday and relieved to know there's just the one in there!

Gosh it is all happening for you isn't it Egypt? Glad the scan went well. DD does play with the Brio a bit, but it is one of those scenarios where it is DS's toy and she tends to knock down bridges/crash trains/get shouted at. I was working today but tonight they played out and played football (DD is now learning a goal celebration) and then played sword fights. Also played at blowing whistles. But all was instigated by DS.

Are you thinking about Christmas already, Bozza?

Oh dear, Kbaby. I hope it doesn't last. Sounds like you are having a tough time.

Glad to hear all is O.K, Egypt.

We've had one of those days today. It started with a spectacular poo up the back incident with DS2 and then followed on 10 minutes later with DS1 attempting to put his cornflakes and milk on his high chair as usual only this time he managed to pour half of it directly over his head and half all over the floor. The only course of action after that was a good dunking in the bath at 9 this morning.

That's it now. No going back. He's booked into nursery for 2 visits on the 11th and 13th followed by his first day on the 15th. I must not cry in front of him.... I must not cry...... I must not cry...... I must not cry........I must not cry.........

My MIL has just told us she has breast cancer and is going to have a mastectomy so DH and I (especially DH) are pretty low this week. DH had a good cry in front of DS1 yesterday but I think he was O.K. He just said, "Daddy's sad" and they had a cuddle. I say "pretty low" because it was caught in the very early stages so it shouldn't be life threatening. It's still a shock though. It's been a week for medical things. DS2 had a minor operation yesterday and now no longer has tongue tie. He is fine. It was just a teeny tiny operation involving a local anesthetic and a pair of sterile scissors.

I've been meaning to say for a while. I hope you can all excuse my spelling and punctuation. I know it's bad. I just don't have the time to run every post through a spell checker first.

Oh Ponka I wasn't going to post again tonight after waffling on so much but couldn't leave your post unresponded to. Poor MIL and DH and you . Hope MIL gets all the support she needs because even if it is not a life threatening cancer, getting over it is a long and difficult process. Glad DS2's tongue tie was sorted out without any difficulty or the need for a general (been there with DS).

And no I am not thinking about Christmas yet (well only slightly), was more wondering about what to encourage DD with now that DS is back at school.

Thanks, Bozza. We are O.K. Fwiw, yours and everyone's "ramblings" have been cheering me up this evening whilst DH is out. I've actually known over a week now (but only about the mastectomy yesterday) but I was hesitating at posting it because it's not really about the little ones but here is where I feel most comfortable so I thought why not?

Yes ponka no need to keep things back. I think others have posted about non-child-related worries. I was flitting between mn and ordering my shopping last night because DH was away so nobody to talk to.

bozza i wish i had a ds to keep dd entertained all i get all day is ' come play with me mummy' and unfortunetly i find it all a bit boring.

i think dd has an imaginary friend. she keeps talking about 3 girls from nursery emma, daisy and kelly. she talks to kelly on the phone and puts her on the naughty step and tells you her and kelly were on the slide in nursery. i asked the nursery today who these girls were and theres no kelly not even anyone with a name vaguely like it.

ponka, dont worry about the spelling, im always typing one handed so cant do capitals or anything requiring 2 hands, hope all goes ok for your mil.
i think this thread should be a coffee morning thread where we can all talk about anything not just child related, weve all known each other now for over 2 years.

ponka, so sorry to hear your news. fwiw, our neighbour had breast cancer, a part mastectomy, a year of chemo and some radiotherapy as it had spread to her lymph glands and she is totally recovered - its 2 years later now. she is fine. i'm sure your mil will be as its caught so early.

dd was fine at pre-school. she wouldnt get changed for bed as she wanted to go back to school, so she's got her school top on in bed. i'm still worried about monday as her friend was there today and she took care of her all day. she wont be there on mon. it was lovely to have the morning at home alone though!

ponka, so sorry to hear your news. fwiw, our neighbour had breast cancer, a part mastectomy, a year of chemo and some radiotherapy as it had spread to her lymph glands and she is totally recovered - its 2 years later now. she is fine. i'm sure your mil will be as its caught so early.

dd was fine at pre-school. she wouldnt get changed for bed as she wanted to go back to school, so she's got her school top on in bed. i'm still worried about monday as her friend was there today and she took care of her all day. she wont be there on mon. it was lovely to have the morning at home alone though!

Glad pre-school went so well egypt. at the preschool top in bed. DD insisted on wearing her Dora pjs right through our 2 week holiday - when I got a clean nightie out she threw it on the floor and stamped. Kbaby I thought I was already doing a coffee morning thread - rambling about all sorts and Judd was doing a bit more of a girls night in with a few bottles of wine.

DD came out of night time nappies on Monday (her idea). Then despite being dry both nights insisted on going back in them last night because her pjs had gone in the wash and she was in a nightie. Obviously she was not keen on the bare bottom feeling so I got her some pants to wear but by that point she was firmly fixed on a nappy and because I was going out and a bit short of time I let her. So need to work her back into the idea of no nappy before the packet runs out.

how are you doing bedtime bozza? dd will never ever be dry at night if we keep on doing bedtime like we do, but i cant see any way out of it. she has bath, milk with story (about 7oz!) then wants more milk to take to bed, about 5oz! you can imagine her nappy is absolutely bursting in the morning.

today, she has discovered felt tips.....bloody 'ell...
....stain devils

We have tea at about 6 ish with juice (whichever she wants - apple, orange, cranberry). And then bath at 7, teeth, story and into bed. She hasn't had bedtime milk for over a year - dropped it of her own accord. And seems to have stopped morning milk now although she still has it with her toast when she goes to nursery. So totally different. She has lots of dry nappies and did when we were on holiday even after drinking a full bottle of juice in a restaurant. The only time she wet was if we didn't ensure she used the toilet before bed.

TBH I am surprised because DS was 3.5 before he was out of nappies at night and even then we lifted him (I know you are not supposed to) but part of that was because I couldn't be bothered when I was pg/DD was tiny.

crikey I need to get DD potty trained. Your putting me all to shame. She wants her nappy changed once she does a wee and she takes it off after a poo to show you! she has also started saying she wants the toilet for a wee but sits on it doesnt do anything and mainly just wants to flush and wash her hands.

Our bed routine is; bath at 7, bed at 7.30ish with 5ozs milk and a story(twice)
Thats the only time she drinks milk. She has to have tea in the mornings

I think she sounds ready ish tbh - it's whether you can be bothered with the hassle right now. DD has insisted on a nappy again tonight. I think I am going to get rid of them. Monday she refused one. It is just another issue at bedtime. So will hide all nappies and put her in pjs (think she will feel more comfortable).

Gosh, Kbaby, you don't want to take that on yet do you? Your little one is so tiny. I did it when DS2 was 3/4 months and I kind of wished I had waited a bit longer. There's no rush.

Bozza, I'm impressed. I'm not attempting night dryness for a long time yet. DS still wakes up a lot with a really wet nappy.

Egypt, I am curious about pre - school. Especially because you are so near to our area. How did you find out about it? Did you have her name on a list for ages? Don't they normally start at 2 1/2 to 3? I wouldn't know about where to start looking into it here. It's great she is enjoying it.

ponka, our neighbours children go to the local pre-school so i kind of just followed suit. it takes them from 2 but tbh they all say that its too young. if you look on your council authority website you should find a link to schools/pre-schools in your area. there are about 4 dd could have gone to but i liked this one as its the one linked to our catchment school so she would have got to know the children she moved up to school with (if we werent half way round the world!) and its very small. about 10 children a session and 3-4 adults. whats his local school? is there one there or one that links into there?

with the bedtime nappy, i think i'll just go with the flow. at the moment dd will not go to sleep without milk milk and more milk in bed so i'd rather she went to bed ok than was dry at night. hopefully it wont last forever and i guess at least she is only 2. our neighbours little boy is 6 and he is still wet at night! then again my friend's daughter was dry at night at about 22 months i guess they're all different

dh as just jetted off to china for 10 days.. mum is coming up.

oh and 12 weeks today HOORAY! and i do actually feel better! a bit i hope

Weeell I have taken the big step and given all the nappies to my Dad to pass on to my nephew. So I hope that I haven't been hasty. Bought DD her coveted trainers today so that will have put off the need to buy winter shoes.

My friend has bought her DD some gorgeous boots from Mothercare for £12 but I can't quite bring myself not to buy properly measured shoes. Although I will admit that DD's trainers are Umbro not Clarks and a bargain at £6.89 but I had to brave Sports World on my own with two children on a Saturday afternoon which makes me think I deserve a medal rather than a pair of cheap trainers.

your dd must be so proud of herself!

our ebay doodles for 99p and £4 have done us well. bought as exact width size may i hastily add, but what a bargain. as good as new. and you just chuck them in the wash. winter shoes soon i guess, which means back to clarks to get shoes just like everyone else that we know!

I know that's the frustrating bit isn't it. DD has 2 pairs of doodles - one for indoor shoes at nursery and the other why I thought she didn't need any trainers - both from the outlet shop - they were £8 each.

phew, shattered. after all my talk about dd not being able to climb out of her bed, she managed it with her sleeping bag on. this was during a fight to get her into bed. good job i was there, she just hurled herself over the bars. good job my mum is here, i've spent from 8 til 930 taking the blinkin bed apart and turning it into a cot bed. she, meanwhile fell asleep on the beanbag in the lounge. so we could have just dumped her in her cot anyway and taken it apart tomorrow. but i was worried she was going to break her neck. anyway, she woke when tried to carry her to bed - wouldnt lie down, back in the lounge... fell asleep on my mum, woke again, i carried her to bed and said, 'who's going to sleep in this big girl's bed?' and she replied 'me' so put her in and she fell straight off after ordering me to 'sit down'. ! so, i'm a bit worried we're in for a night of it. doesnt help that she has a cold either. and its sposed to be pre-school tomorrow, but i think i'm going to forget it if it means waking her up.