Dec 2011: Running around after our Cybermidgets...

[Aethelfleda]

Roll up, roll up, it's the Dec 11 new thread.
Prepare to be upgraded (if you can catch them!)

Thanks for the warm welcome
I'm an hour south of Barcelona, weather's been rubbish but we can still get outside a lot.
DS just had his 18month check up, all's well. They asked if he can walk backwards, say some words, identify different animals and parts of the body.... erm, yes to the first two, he says 'woof woof' if it's a dog/cat/horse/snail/ant; we panicked about parts of the body so spent all afternoon an hour going through some, which he picked up easily. Panic over!
He's a livewire, doesn't understand 'no', won't sit still for five minutes,constantly being chased which is great fun!
He likes knots and bananas, hates seesaws and food that's green or red!
We just went on our first holiday, just four days in Valencia by car, he loved it and has started sleeping through the night- bonus!

I'm sure I'll get to know you all and your los in no time

ugh I feel your pain Oi. Since we got here, Minimopsy has objected vociferously to going down at night and woken at 5-5.15 every morning. . Weather was fab every day until today and our plane is at 2. I timed it perfectly it seems! Looking forward to getting back and seeing Mr. Mopsy now. Minim has lots of new words since she saw him: cat, dog, woof woof, ball, Ga (for granny), papa (for her grandad) and she has said 'open the door'! And she also says 'now' copying me which is very amusing, cos I say for example 'now, let's get your shoes on' or 'now, let's put you in your high chair' and she's started mimicking me. She's also saying no very firmly, shaking her head and wagging her finger.

Queen, hope you're feeling better.

Northern hope you get an offer from the open house. We are currently sans kitchen. Well oven, fridge, sink etc there, just no cupboards! New one going in in early July.

Hope everyone else doing well. Will catch up properly when I'm back.

Oi glad you're having a good time in Scotland, you have lucked out on the weather! Sorry about the MC, it's shite and unfair. Happy birthday MyOi.

Boo to babies (are they still babies?) not going down for the night!

Hope you feel better soon Queen.

Hi elQinto, welcome to the thread

Not long to go now kat. I am boggling at all these people having second babies already. I think my head would explode if I had to deal with a toddler and a newborn.

We've had a very odd week. I was at my mum's last weekend and early last week while my dad and DH fitted our new kitchen into the old Kitchen From Hell. Came back mid week and it's just been so exhausting trying to keep DS entertained while the living room and conservatory were full of kitchen and the garden was half filled with lethal drills and saws etc. It was finally 'finished' yesterday and my dad has gone home and my house is almost back to normal. Except we still need to put the kick boards in, put up the new light fitting, touch up the paintwork and scrub the new floor. Oh, and put the contents of the kitchen back in. And where is DH now? Away with work until Friday.

I'm having a bit of an issue that I need advice on; DS has always been a bit of a biter. It doesn't seem aggressive, but we've tried to be consistent and put him down/move him away and say 'no biting' when he does it. Recently it just doesn't work and he just laughs at us when we tell him no, and he now deliberately hits and pinches and sometimes kicks me/DH and again thinks it's funny when he gets told no and moved away. I have no idea what else to try, don't want to smack him as this seems totally illogical and it's not something I would like to do, but when he has bitten, scratched, hit and pinched me a dozen times I seriously have to sit on my hands it makes me so cross! I have noticed it seems to mostly be just before bed, and I think he has a half hour where he gets a bit giddy because he's tired. But he goes to bed at half six so we can't really move bedtime an early. That combined with the tantrums over the tiniest little thing are pulling on my last over-tired nerve this week. He threw a tantrum because I wouldn't let him rip up a CD case yesterday and I found myself just saying out loud 'oh stop it C, no one wants to play with a dramallama' which is just not a nice thing to say really, is it? Urgh. Toddlers are HARD.

Hopalong you sound like you're coping pretty well with it; toddlers react best to attention (wheter it's positive or negative) so I'd suggest making biting the most booooring thing ever. dD1 ha a phase where she liked being told "no!" loudly, so she'd do something she knew was wrong and then giggle. We realised that just stopping talking, looking blank and wordlessly turning away for a few seconds was far more effective. I do similar now when DS shrieks loudly: he's not getting "rewarded" for busting my eardrums, and a good set of mummy fireworks counts as a reward of sorts!!
Yep, toddlers are a challenge all right... seven, the babies are communicating again, DS is super clingy as 3 molars all coming through together here too!

Hop it is so hard isnt it DH keeps getting annoyed at DS as he is so whiney at the moment not being allowed something he wants immediately results in whining, high pitched shrieking or "mummeeee" mummeeeeeeeeee being yelled incontrolably.

I might try just ignoring it and moving away when he does it. He does it when I don't give him attention as quickly as he wants too, so I'll have to figure that one out. Maybe just a bored sounding 'no biting/hitting' and walking away or moving away might work?

cross post figgy DH is the same, gets fed up of the whining/hitting/strops and then gets really angry or shouty and I'm just like mustnotbackseatparentmustnotbackseatparent over and over in my head while wanting to say 'well, your shouting is really helping right now, clearly!' The absolute worst bit is that daddy is the best person in the whole wide world. While we were away DS was walking from room to room, opening all the doors and going "daddy? DADA? 'ehes dada?" When I go to get him up in the morning he cries and flails around all hysterical, when DH goes in? Happy as a clam.

oi she's sleeping much better now thanks, only had one feed last night and done it in 30 minutes.

janey does if break down all the lactose or just some? And how long does it last? I saw it in the chemist but its £12. I can get the lacto-free formula on prescription but its a pain I can't get ready made cartons for when we're out.

TMI but I'm after opinions on bleeding. I stopped post-birth bleeding over 3 weeks ago, but had very light bleeding for the last two days. Nowhere near heavy enough for a period, any ideas?

hop hope you find something that works soon. I never understand the logic of smacking, how does that teach them its not acceptable to hit others exactly?

Seven you can get colief on prescription, monkey had it when he was temp lactose intolerant (he's on a prescription formula for milk allergy but it has lactose in it). It breaks down the lactose by using the enzyme our stomachs use to do it and turns it into the next stage of sugar so they can process it. It's obviously more of a pain (you need to preprepare it) but if she's constipated on the new formula worth trying maybe?

Hop I walk away/ignore whining and tantrums. Luckily he's only hit me a few times but he gets told no and I put him down/walk away. He gets quiet time if he's being naughty, will introduce time out if I need to but at the moment he's just whingy and tantruming all over the place. IMO both parents need to be on the same page with discipline or it doesn't work.

Right, last night I just ignored the hitting and biting except to say 'no biting/hitting' in a bored way and just move on to doing something else. Seemed to work better than focussing on it! So thanks for the advice everyone! Will chat to DH about it when he's home and get him onboard. He did throw an epic tantrum as soon as we walked in the door but I don't think he even knew why he was screaming and throwing himself around, so probably just over tired. Managed to snap him out of it my taking off his shoes and sniffing his toes and saying they were pongy. He laughed and that was the tantrum over. Rest of the night was great, he was funny and cute and went to bed like a gem. Woke up at five for a quick cuddle then back to sleep till gone six.

Got an email yesterday to remind me that I signed up for a Roller Derby course that starts next Sunday. If I post that I've broken both my arms on Monday, you'll know why.

Sorry you're having milk issues Seven hope it gets sorted soon.

Hop what is it with boys and their feet? We do the whole "poo your feet smell" game and he thinks it's hilarious!!

We don't have the smelly feet thing, but we do also have occasional biting and throwing.
The throwing of the spoon I persisted with him, passing it back until he gave it to me not stubborn at all me, nooo, where can DS get it and this morning was rewarded by him actually giving it to me!!

However I did get a small train lobbed in my face when doing the nappy change, sigh...

It's a pain isn't it hop, and definitely just an over tired thing. Most of the stuff we've ignored and it's gone away, the shrieking, the tantrums when our cereal was finished, etc, I was just damn certain I was going to win the Battle of the Spoon!

I'm jealous of your weather mopsy, it's been so grey and miserable here in the SE, the heating keeps kicking on and I'm not having to worry about watering the garden. In sodding June

He he! We do pongy feet here too.
We're back home after a lovely little holiday.
The house survived, our veggies are getting huge! Unfortunately, the little wild rabbit we often see was lying dead in the garden. Not nice. Poor baby.
Oh and I'm an auntie again. To a bouncing 9lb 9ozer! Freddie. (A miracle, considering mum weighed only 10 stone at the end of the pg, and was still smoking!) can't wait to meet him, and will have to visit mnp's for lovely gifts.

Congrats on baby Freddie, 9lb 9oz? Bruiser baby!

Wow, that's a nice chunky weight especially considering Mum's healthy habits!
Indulge your shopping-lust, but it's by proxy (sort of) so doesn't count

Evening girls...

Just to say that sprinkle-decorated choc crispy cakes are the best home baking fun ever. Yum.

And congrats to your SIL/DSis, oi that sounds eye watering, I thought 8lb 11 was enormous remember to POAS just to be sure (((hug)))

(oops, sorry oi, that came out wrong but am on phone so it posted instead of previewed. Darned contraptions).

Have found a quality freebie-film-channel on our internet-enabled Blu-ray player: we're watching a 1956 B-movie called "Earth vs the Flying Saucers". It's priceless...

all four molars are through!

I'm so tired I think I might vomit. DH isn't back until tomorrow night. I'm not getting out of bed on Saturday.

DS has been adorable, though he threw a giant fir yesterday when I didn't want him to sit on my knee while I was on the loo. When he had finished the hystronics and was undressed ready for the bath he collapsed against me like an over emotional drunk. 'LOVE ME! EVERYTHING IS HORRIBLE!' Can now say 'shower', 'up', 'broke' and his new favourite 'sssshhhhtuck!' which normally means he can't get to something he wants or he's shoved something through the catflap and can't get it back.

What is everyone doing for Father's day? DS has made a card in nursery, but I don't know whether to get him a gift or just bake a cake maybe?

Oi congratulations on birth of Freddie.

Aethel...brilliant news on the molars...Sky has cut 5-6 teeth in last 2 weeks bless her.

Hop - I get nauseous badly when I'm exhausted so sympathies.

I'm signed off till Monday, still feel shattered and my lungs are heavy but not as bad as before. So tidied up and went round with the anti-bac and Hoover. Put some washing on and had in slow cooker since 8:30 a bacon joint in just brown sugar and smells lush...looking forward to eating it later :) however, because I've done all that am really tired and lungs feel really heavy and puffed out!

Just getting ready for school run.

Hi all sorry manic couple of days and away with no internet for next two weeks so don't worry if I disappear for a while! I'll find the thread again when I get back. Hope you all have a great two weeks and hope I come back rested and relaxed!

Hope you're off somewhere nice mopsy.

aethel I'm very of all the molars being through. We don't have any but they're causing a lot of grumpiness.

queen stop doing housework and rest! Hope you feel better soon.

Can't believe DS will be 5 tomorrow, we're off to the zoo. I have to decorate a Big Ben/London themed cake tonight, wish me luck.

Good luck with Big Ben!
Hop- well done on the words! As of yesterday I am now "ammy". Whilst I delight at finally having a name (gam-Ma and gampa have had theirs for a while) I know that I will never have peace again. Now he stands at my feet, arms stretched up or dragging at my clothes, saying ammy over and over and over and over...

Seven good luck with Big Ben.
I'm resting now the girls are in bed and feel well and truly puffed out :(

Been asked by DH & his work colleagues to make some of my famous Cupcakes & other cakes for him to Take to work on Wednesday as they are holding a charity day for a good cause and they all asked if I could make cakes as they would earn a good few pennies so that's made my day that people love my baking.

Darcie's behaviour has been brilliant this week so all the stuff we have put in place over last week or so have been working so fx it keeps improving and working.

Oi aww bless you have a name from BOi now.

It happened a few weeks ago for us...picked Sky up from nursery and she came running in from the garden shouting mummyyyy not keen on hearing mummyyyy at night tho! Although not that it happens very often now tho. Sky has been sleeping thru the night for the last 4 weeks so touch wood it carries on. She calls Daddy, Nanny, 'randad too. Most popular is Dar Dar for Darcie

Our bacon joint was yummy tonight too.

Off to take my meds and have an early night.

Sounds like we're going to have to stage some sort of intervention and tie Queenie to the sofa for some enforced rest Glad you've got your feet up now, but you're forbidden from doing any housework!
It's lovely to hear with the cakes; I've been doing the same with homemade brownies at work, I think it may have helped in the popularity stakes.

How lovely you have a name Oi! But you're right, it's like when they start moving, there'll be no peace now...

Was the film enjoyably god-awful aethel?

How is Octopus, not seen her for a bit and not on FB?

Out of interest, can I ask how 'affectionate' your DCs are? DS will give a kiss on demand, ie 'kiss for Daddy!', and will occasionally sit by you if there's food generally or fall asleep on me on the sofa, but doesn't come spontaneously for hugs or kisses or cuddles.
Is this odd?