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!)

Northern - Sky won't give a spontaneous kiss...saying that rarely does she give one if you ask!

Re the housework...I need to clean all the whitework down, need to polish all the upstairs rooms. Bathroom could do with a once over and I have some ironing to do. Also it's this weekend all bed sheets need to be changed.

My DS isn't particularly affectionate Northern, only time he does spontaneous cuddles is if someone hides from him then he gives massive cuddles when he finds them. Will only sit on laps if he's being read to. He often kisses himself in the mirror though

So at what age will it start to be considered helicopter parenting if I keep following DS round the park? He can climb everything but then will walk straight off the end/throw himself headfirst down the slide no matter how high, so I'm always in grabbing distance. Started to notice not everyone with similar sized kids is doing this though.

at elQuinto, a late 'hello' & welcome! We have a seesaw hating DS too.

Oi, hurrah for being a 'ammy'! and congrats on being an Auntie again! Although the thought of 9lb 90z makes my bits hurt..
Sorry to hear about your mc, hope everything is back to normal (physically) & you're 'ok'.

Northen, I get the occasional pat on the back or spontaneous Glasgow Kiss from DS but most of the time he doesn't like people touching/holding/looking at him unless you beg ask him for 'kisskiss' or hugs, so you're not alone...he does like to snuggle up under an arm to watch tv, and woe betide me if I attempt to look my phone/pc whilst he's around. Needy little thing (on his terms)
Octopus seems to be doing ok, although it sounds like all her DC are being rather testing this week (if you're lurking Octo for you).

No real words here (we have a few almost words for things like bunny, tv, cat etc) but he's doing alright aside from that...all teeth through, starting to properly enjoy playing & copies any/everything we do (coughing, trying to whistle etc).
Still brewing DC2, had a day of reduced movements last week but everything normal since then, breech but them I'm 32wks on Saturday so time to turn.

Queenie, glad to hear all is going well with Darcie, hope you're right as rain soon...scary sounding trip last week!

Good luck with cake/zoo Seven, and happy birthday to your DS for tomorrow.

For Fathers Day, DS & I decorated a (shop bought!) card, got him a few little gifts. I'm not 'in to' Fathers/Mothers/Valentines/Birthday etc but it really means something to sentimental old DH so I had DS do his first proper scribble & we'll give that to him. Mucho Brownie Points for me

Aethel, I love 50s B Movies (and crappy Hammer horrors!), hope you enjoyed Earth Vs Flying Saucers...watching the original The Thing a few weeks back, awesome.

Enjoy your two internet-less weeks mopsy!

at everyone else!

Gosh sorry el Quinto I don't think I said hello and welcome. Bad me.

Northern, Minimopsy is pretty stingy with kisses and cuddles. She pats my back occasionally which is v cute but only gave me my first kiss and cuddle spontaneously last week. She had been in cot bawling and I laid her on the bed beside me and she just looked right St me smiling and then started kissing and hugging me. Sooooo lovely! Before she's only kissed/hugged as a response to being hugged if you see what I mean!

Queen feel better soon.

Right over and out. See you in two weeks!

DD1 said Beatrice today, very cute! She seems to be gaining new words every day at the moment. Others include shoes, juice, door, baby, daddy, mama, bottle, bear and chicken. She says oof for a dog but all other animals roar. She hardly ever gives kisses except to DD2 who gets around 50 a day (I'm not joking), but loves cuddles, by which I mean shrieking in front of me with her arms up then going rigid so I can't put her down again, mostly when I'm in the kitchen .

GBT can't believe you're 32 weeks already!

Aww seven so cute that dd1 has learnt her baby sisters name already

DS is playing with his farm this morning and seems to be trying to sing old MacDonald, I keep hearing e i e i o with the odd moo thrown in, it sounds so funny. Sitting giggling to myself while I drink tea!

Wow I feel crap today tooth pain has now developed into jaw pain as well as something sinusey or cold in my face, shallow breathing and nausea and tightness in my chest but as dh currently crippled with gout in his knee looks like I'm on boy duty anyway not sure swimming happening today though.

DS still not talking much here he does all his animal noises with enthusiasm though

Glad to hear that DS isn't unusual in his stingy approach to the kisses then! My Mum thinks it's so odd, given I'm the most tactile person going. I suppose he's very, um, interactive, just not affectionate, and I just didn't know at what age they really started to to this!

BJR, I don't think you're helicoptering at all. DP and I hover simultaneously, as our beloved witless midget will always clamber and hurl. It makes a trip to the park a real test of the nerves

Mind you, as we signed the accident book for the third time this week- nosebleed following an altercation with a piggy bank, sigh- I cursed us by saying I was amazed we'd not been to A&E yet....

That's sounds really grim btw figgy, trip to the emergency dentists I'd say- can anyone look after DS given the state your DH is in?

I am shattered after this week, am having the traditional vod'n'coke for Friday. DS has been great, getting up at half six all week bar today, when it was 5... and guess who'd not left work til 7 and it was their turn to get up?

What are the Fathers' Day plans?

Gary - 32 weeks already - how time flies!

Seven - how sweet DD1 can say Beatrice.

We helicopter sort of, ESP as Sky seems to think she is a dare devil, standing on rocking everything seeing if she can keep her balance.

Figgy hope you feel better really soon.

Northern enjoy your Vodka n coke!

I only hoovered and polished everywhere and cleaned all surfaces in kitchen. Nipped to supermarket and change DH jeans he brought as too big round waist and then picked up replacement glade air freshners (the stick ones) and replaced them indoors, put some washing on. Done nursery run at 1pm and school run at 3pm and tbh am shattered now.

Sky in bed thanks to daddy and Darcie staying at Nanny's. so bath, chill and take tabs then sleep.

Have got sinusitis so am overdosing on the decongestants strangely tooth is better. Managed to drive car into a fence today really shouldnt have driven today!!

Oh dear Figgy....poor fence lol

Hello all, I am here lurking, I hope you are all well and hugs especially to Oi, really sorry to hear about the MC.

It's been madness over here, our nanny has gone off on mat leave and we are all bereft. In the last few weeks I have been asking people for their money (LOTS of money) which is alarming at first but fun. No one has actually given us any money yet but they will, I have no doubt about it In Paris for the day last week and it was 34c in the shade(!), Madrid next week, Zurich and Geneva the week after, Dubai sometime in July if I can still fly by then otherwise I'll have to participate by conference call.

Also I swear either my dates are wrong or DC2 is a monster baby. I'm only 24 weeks and I am huge. I am sitting here watching my bump contort and heave with tiny feet dancing a fandango on my bladder and fists in my ribs, the way DS did when he was more like 34 weeks. And yet the pregnancy calculator says the baby should be about the size of a mango?! Maybe a radioactive mutant mega-mango...

And Father's Day, when was that announced, I missed the memo...I think I will get a card for DS to scribble tomorrow and artistically decorate the front with stickers. I know DH will want a lie-in more than any present, so I will keep DS quiet till mid-morning and then send him in with the card to bounce on DH's head.

Oh and we have now become THOSE parents - we went to the school's annual under-6 tea party hosted by the headmaster's wife on Weds. 2 hours before the party DH and I looked more closely at the invite and realised it was fancy dress - insect theme. We had no craft materials on hand except silver duct tape, so we dressed him all in black, covered his wellies and a hat in tin foil and taped a tangle of computer wires to his back with under a big rectangular computer chip made of tape, then wrote "Y2K" on his back in sharpie - he was the millennium bug. I had to explain it about a million times as he played with other kids dressd as adorable ladybugs, butterflies, bees and spiders...and then the other parents would back away slowly...

OMG figgy x posted with you! Hope you and the car came off better than the fence??

Xiao - love your last minute bug dress up. I would never if thought of that.

Didn't sleep well last night :( my lungs feel really heavy this morning...must of done to much yesterday...sodding lungs. Got a wedding reception tonight too.

Hope everyone has a good day.. The sun is out so fx it stays that way.

Queenie - put your effing feet up and DO NOTHING today until its time for a pre-party soak in the tub. Then get dar dar to run it for you.
Xiao - y2k- brilliant. You're the kinda parents I'd make friends with! All these ready made fancy dresses spoil it for everyone!
And mega mango baby is -16weeks already?! Wow!
Gbt- 32 weeks! Has this pg flown by for you too? (From here, it's been really fast!)
Northern - BOi is very affectionate. He kisses everything. His football was the main recipient last night. But I get kisses every day. From a v young age, me n BOi have had our own "Eskimo kisses" too, where we have lots of fun rubbing noses.
Bjr- I do not consider myself a helicopter parent ( unlike DH!) but I do stick with him at playgrounds. He isn't big enough yet to master big steps in slides (for example) without having a hand to catch him or guide him. I do try and let him figure out as much as poss by himself. He's fearless, and I don't want to influence /change that.
And BOi sings too. He just starts up spontaneously and sings away. It is the most gorgeous thing. But he always stops when the video cam comes out. Sneaky little urchin!
Got a full on wkend ahead, f's day, newborn visit, 1st bday party, northern home show (must visit!), and lots of shoppi to do, and I still gavent got DH a present for his birthday last week. Am bad.
He'll be left wanting for f day too. I have a card, and a bought present, bit nothing personal. BOi made some stuff at nursery though. Not seen it yet. Must go and see...

Oi you'll have to be a little more sneaky about capturing BOi singing

Can't really relax today as Dar Dar got swimming and singing!

Telling myself my lungs hurt because they are getting better optimistic

For FD the girls have got daddy a photo frame with a photo of themselves in. Some marvel shower gel. Home made cards. Darcie brought him a worlds best daddy medal and bar of chocolate and we are going out for dinner tomorrow afternoon as our local hungry horse has a Father's Day special - dads eat for free after 3pm.

Dh is just getting a card here feel a bit miserable about that now but too late to do anything else.

Visiting PIL lunchtime after DS gets his haircut hopefully will go better than last time when he wailed the whole time, cake with neighbours this afternoon then another early night I expect .......rock and roll!!

Ali had his hair cut yesterday. Screamed the whole time.

Yeah, DS also needs his hair cut - by a professional this time (we are still scarred by the memory of the Cadfael hatchet job we did on him). But I am keeping very quiet till the summer holidays when DH can take him, since I know he will scream like a banshee just like Ali and Figgyboy.

Ok question. DH says he will start potty training DS in July. I think he is absolutely categorically barking to try now. The problem is that when you look at the list on the Mumsnet potty training site, DS does appear to meet all the criteria of being "ready"...but that can't be right, he'll just be 19 months!!

It won't do DS any harm to try and fail too early, right - just a lot of washing, cleaning and frustration for DH?

I obviously have no experience of this, but it potentially could have a negative effect, I guess, if he gets upset about it - and then has negative associations... Perhaps? I dunno...

In other news, I didn't get to the home show today. Instead we spent 2hrs looking at TVs... And then I bought one. For a ridiculous amount of money. But the picture quality is outstanding. And it's very fancy.
But we don't watch much tv.
And then we visited the new nephew.
Then went to ikea to buy a table to put the new tv on. (The current one sits on a basket...)

Xiao we are looking to potty train Sky soon. Darcie was potty trained by night and day by age of 2 and only took a week to get dry. So hoping it will be same with Sky. She seems ready and so has a Minnie Mouse musical potty and will be getting some pull ups tomorrow too. Not doing it seriously but she knows to sit on potty if she thinks she needs to go so only a matter of time.

Went to a friends wedding last night - just me & Darcie as DH stayed at home with Sky as she teething badly. Darcie rocked with all get dancing must sleep now. Nite y'all

wow potty training! Well I guess if DS seems ready and your DH wants to give it a go ... I think I'm aiming for next summer. But DS doesn't do sitting still yet so we would be mad to try. We have a potty so he gets used to seeing it in the bathroom, he thinks its a hat

Struggling a bit with DSS at the moment, he gets annoyed if he isn't allowed to do the same as DS. So if DS is up at half 5 then he wants to, I get DS to help pack toys away but in reality its mostly me doing it, whereas I expect DSS to be able to pick his own toys up etc etc.

This morning DS managed to cover himself and cot in poo at 6am, trying to clean everything up and DSS gets up wants to watch, giggle and comment on how disgusting it is, resulting in DS screaming as he wants to go play with him. Asked DSS to go play in his room for half an hour so I can get things cleared up, apparently this was a terribly unfair request. Surely at 10 he's old enough to understand there is a difference between him and a one year old?

OK rant over off to drink tea!

sympathy, maybe DSS is just feeling a bit attention deprived (it's natural for all kids to do this) it's not that you are Actually depriving him at all, but at ten he is too underdeveloped emotionally to be logical, most kids are still acting reflexively rather than considering other's emotions.

Hope the wedding thingy went well queenie, take care.

Potties? Well, we have obtained one, but I have no intention of it being anything other than a plaything for now. It lives near the change station and I plonk DS on it with a bare bum during changes sometimes . If he looks like he's miming a pee/poo on there, applause. If not then fine. May train him when he shows more affinity for the loo than chucking toys in it. xiao it's nt really bad for kids to have several goes, the important thing is knowing when to give up!.... So give it a try if DH wants to and if it's apparent at day five that nowt is happening, give up and wait three-four months then try again.

Thanks aethel, I have had tea now and feeling more reasonable You're right about feeling a bit attention deprived though, DP has had to work on the weekends last couple of weeks I've had both boys so have been making an effort to do things one to one with him while DS naps but its not really me he wants attention from. Must poke DP to take him out for the day as they haven't had time just the two of them in a while.

Gosh ds doesnt stay still at all and we still doing nappy changes stood up as he refuses to co-operate so no potty training here for a long time!! We have. Potty its in the loft must get it out for him to see it.

Haircut went ok the key was a bag of mini gingerbread men biscuits between sad looks, he looks less gollom like at least my friend has a little boy who turned 1 yesterday and he has crazy hair some of it is straight some curly and some of it is matted she thinks its adorable but he looks a state cant bare to tell her though.

What are you all doing about milk these days? Ds has 120ml/4oz morning and night STILL in his bottle tried in a cup again this morning he took one sip then wailed at me until i put in a bottle. Was thinking of dropping AM bottle all together but when he wakes before 6.30he often goes back down with a bottle (bad for his teeth i know) so think it might confuse him. This morning he woke up at 8.30 longest straight thru sleep ever which was good as dh had me up half the night due to leg pain. Suppose had better get his card written before he gets up and look out the emergency chocolate orange i got him might take ds softplay in a bit they've redone our local 1s toddler area with a new level built up and dont think dh will be going far today.