Dec 2011: The one where they sit on potatoes. And turn TWO!

[ifyourehoppyandyouknowit]

New fred! Roll up roll up, potty adventures and birthdays galore!

There is a good potty training guide somewhere on mn that helped more than any book i read. I found it one of the most stressful parenting things which is saying a lot given what my family has been though over the last few years!

fairie are you fairiebayleaf from one of the first threads? Someone with a very similar nn had a prem baby on one of our threads and I've often wondered how they were getting on. Anyway welcome!

Am feeling incredibly run down after a weeks 'holiday' over half term. Got a hideous cold and we've not slept through the night on weeks although the cc we did with f a couple if weeks ago has worked really well and he is sleeping beautifully. It's the big chap who is not sleeping well at all and is incredibly anxious. Anyone got any experience or advice for very worried children? It's getting really bad recently

Sorry to hear he's anxious hinky, has it just come on (ie might be a reaction to something) or is it part of his personality?

Welcome fairie, can't wait to hear about you and your DS! I also think about fairybayleaf, as her little boy was very very prem (27, 29 weeks or so?).

My friend had her first, a little boy Bit tough though, she's a self-declared 'woo' and had been planning a water birth at home for her first- her friend had even got the local birthing pool the previous week for her own birth! Sadly, although she started off at home she ended up with a 40 hour labour (ouch!) being taken to hospital and the forceps (eek!). I'll have to check she's only feeling sore and not guilty/a failure in some way... Her little boy is lovely, looks just like that one bundled up just at the end of the intro credits for 'One Born...'

Sorry you're not pg Oi, I'm sure dtd a bit more will be fun

Our trip to the park was a bit exciting yesterday, an overexcited Staffie pounced on DS's ball, punctured it then ripped it to shreds in front of us! His owner was embarrassed and did offer to pay, but didn't have any money on her (and probably should have done more than the 'stop that...' flapping). Luckily I'd just that week bought a back up, so we were able to immediately replace it and I got back up no.2 this week...everyone in the Office was asking why I'd bought two blue footballs in a week! 99p thankfully....

This is the thing i was thinking of possibly... www.mumsnet.com/toddlers/potty-training

Think ds1 is just quite a stresser but it's got really bad this week. He worries about the weather constantly after we had a couple of thunderstorms just after we moved. Then we had the storms last week which involved a power cut and he ended up being sick seemingly because he was so worried about things although it could be a low lying bug illness thing. Because of all his issues when he was born, dh and I are hyper aware of anything bad going on with him. Argh this mum thing is so hard!

Offered the potty today he just tried to stand in it, he was then sat in the bath just shouting poo mummy poooooo it's so confusing spoke to cm she says he's nowhere near Just starting to introduce the language.....I'm ok with that will read the mn threads on it though.

Northern I would have been utterly furious at that woman was the dog on a lead?

Sorry to hear oi always next month.

Saw drew Barrymore pg again......very jealous.....dh still debating with himself about it....quietly seething

figgy we used a book called the no cry potty training solution for DD. It's pretty good, and has a useful questionnaire at the start which you can use to help gauge whether they're ready to start yet

"Still debating with himself" - sounds promising. It's still in discussion. Not a closed subject. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome for us both soon. X

Figgy I intend to take my lead from the cm. She was potty training 5 2ish year olds when we first took DS last, it was one of the things that impressed me with her - DS is such a copy cat I'm sure that once the other nearly 2 year old starts (and she is there all week whereas DS is only there 2 days) he'll be keen to join in.

DS was doing the thing with the nappy a few months ago. But now won't let me change him without it being a huge trauma even when I can smell him from a different room. And we still haven't got a potty....

Had loads to day, have lost my post twice on my phone and now can't remember...

Oh, we went to a theatrical thing for bonfire night tonight at Boughton House. It was a theatrical presentation on the gunpowder plot followed by fireworks. There is a local link to the plot (Tresham was a local man) and apparently an ancestor of the Duke of Buccleuch sponsored the Observance act which is why we celebrate bonfire night.

Anyway, there is a section near the end lamenting Lady Tresham and her daughters being penniless and destitute. There was a pause in the music at which point there was a loud "Uh Oh" from the back of the crowd. Yep, that's my boy! (Think he had dropped his glove of something)

Off to bed in a moment, just thought I'd drop this parenting win here:
Today I have accidentally taught DS to say 'For Fucks Sake!' I got a bit cross at someone else's bad driving. He then used it, in context, three times this evening. I have got to start watching my language around this little sponge.

(On a serious note, the plan is to ignore it and absolutely not laugh and hope he just forgets. We've been trying to teach him to say flibberty jibbets as a new novel word often shoves another, less savoury, word out of the way.)

Good work, hop! Ha ha !

Nice one hop! I keep warning dh about that.
I have always had this name. My ds was 8 weeks prem though.
My ds has just hit a being silly phase and often just runs round going blelablela when I try to get him to do something. Its incredibly annoying except when dh tells him off and he just says "buh" at him and offers to hold hands.
Don't know what else to tell you!
Any key info to share?

[GRIN] Hop

Never mind the swearing, I need to stop slagging off family members. Only a matter of time before our private nicknames for certain people become public...

kat they just parrot stuff back you, don't they, is always a worry that little ears might be listening! That bonfire performance sounds amazing.

faerie send me a PM and I can add you to the FB group as well if you like? Much easier for sharing pictures. Where abouts in the country are you? I wasn't on the the antenatal group, think I was in the Jan 2012 one but DS showed up a couple of weeks early.

figgy is your DH still wavering? Any news on the health front?

Oi big boo on not being upduffed. Fingers crossed for next month. Maybe the cheer and copious wine of the festive season will help things along.

RE potty training. I think it's one of those things you have to wait with, until they are properly ready. Going back and forth to pull ups etc is meant to be quite confusing. DS has started telling me he's had a poo, or is doing one right this second (in the last few days especially) but he doesn't have the communication skills to let me know that he needs to go.

Oh yeah, last night we were getting him ready for his bath and he was wandering in and out of the bathroom. He shut the bathroom door to go sit on his potty and I jokingly said 'DS!! CUDDLE!!' in a very nasal whiney voice (which is what he does whenever I have the audacity to try and pee in peace) and he shouts back through the door 'IN A MINUTE! WAIT!' Ahem. I should give lessons on how not to do it

DS has mastered the 'tut' and 'sigh' whenever something annoying happens. And 'oh deary me, silly mummy' is a much heard phrase. Cheeky bugger. He's full of cold and a cough today, but was perfectly chipper this morning and slept fine so I've bundled him off to nursery (heartless cow that I am). His key worker said not to worry as all the babies have got snot of some kind going on at the minute. It is pish miserable here, so fireworks are not looking like a fun option tonight; even if it stops raining the park will be a mud pit by the time we get there. What else... oh, we went to gymnastics again yesterday. It's really good fun and DS likes to jump (understatement of the year) and run around, and is learning to do forward rolls (terrified he's going to break his neck). There was another little boy there who's name is only one letter different to DS's and it was funny to here me and his mum shouting bellowing across the room for them to stop trying to escape out the fire door

I need to get him some toy dinosaurs because he is obsessed with the ones they have there, and does a hilarious George Pig 'Dinosaur! Roar!' impression.

Welcome Faerie

Hop I'm happy that it's not happened to me yet!

Potty Training yesterday only 2 accidents. Not doing it today as she is being a terrible 2 today. She started the morning at 5:45am and proceeded between 6:30 & 7:15am to open all the board games stored away in her room and mix them all up looking very pleased with herself! I was having a shower and thought it was quiet!

She has gone down or a nap now within the last 5 mins.

We are off to the fireworks on the common tonight. Must wrap up warm.

How do you manage a shower when she is awake?! DS just comes in and messes with the shower curtain/sticks him arms in the water/whines to be picked up/points at me and asks 'wasss thaaat?' on repeat.

Hop She has a stairgate on her bedroom door. DVD on in background and all her toys everywhere. Gives me time to have a quick shower, get dressed etc and sort breakfasts out. This morning she woke up with a naughty streak in her!

Hop and Oi we had another discussion at the weekend he doesnt want to be someone who stops me from having a 2nd child if that is what i want i dont want to make him have a baby he doesnt want but he says he knows i would be more unhappy not having one than he would be having one as he would love it regardless. DH on steroids, anti inflamms and now preventatives so feeling pretty good, consultant thinks she can get him down to 1 tablet a day with a review in January and all his issues are manageable, he has a job interview (and a few other irons in the fire) next week so issue of regular salary and where to put 2nd DC may be solved. Ideally he would stay doing what he is as it makes life with DS much easier, if i was on mat leave again both of us would benefit from avoiding the isolation people can suffer from, much more help with DC's but he is just not earning enough as is.....have to bide my time, the new year is on the horizon . I guess if i could talk him round next year DS would be 3 by time i went back to work 15hrs free childcare will help.....silver lining.

working from home today no fireworks for us tonight nowhere local doing them as they were all at the weekend.

I am still amazed by the speech of some DC's DS is defintiely starting to repeat more so it is coming albeit slowly. He has a new chum at CM so there are now 3 boys around 2 CM sent me a pic of them in her triple stroller this morning ......she is a crazy woman!!

I've eaten half a packet of Jaffa cakes........working from home is dangerous.

That's great news, Figgy.
(About dc2, not about consuming your own weight in Jaffa cakes.)
Off to Germany shortly. No fireworks for me, and the flight is too early to get any views from above.

Mmm, Jaffa cakes

I am going to get back on the exercise and healthy eating bandwagon as still have elusive last stone-and-a-half to lose (irritatingly starting back at work has not made the pounds drop off!). Started with a mere 15 mins Nell McAndrew and have stocked up with loadsa Anyone who'd like to join in please post motivating statements!

When I come up with a motivating statement I'll let you know.......need to lose 10lbs especially before Xmas and it becomes a stone.

Another interview booked for dh for next week hooray!!

Oi, fatty, put the cake down!

I need to start running again. It's just so cold and miserable out.

Welcome faerie!!

I'll join in Aethel! Still have 6lbs from DS2 to lose, want to do it before January Sales.
I like 'What's Your Excuse' as a motivational exercise/weight loss statement, because (disability aside obv.) there is no excuse good enough to not be doing something about it if you're unhappy.

Re. Potty Training and communication; DS1 has the vocal skillz of a slug, I only 'know' when he's going to pee because I can tell (he has a look), poo I can tell because he has one or two a day like clockwork (7am and a post-smoothie/fruit 1130 poo).

to MrFiggy, hope next year brings lots of good news in Chez Fig.

No advice hinky, but hope everything sorts out for you soon, and you feel better!

Northen, sorry about your ball, and inconsiderate dog owner.

Hope everyone enjoys Bonfire Night! We'll be mostly ignoring it here (hopefully next year DS1 will be old enough for a supervised sparkler).

Bobs how old is ds2? A month? Seriously don't worry about your weight

On my own with both DC at bedtime for the first time ever. DH has gone to a lecture about Richard III.

I have a spoon, a pot of nutella and the tv remote. really should be doing some chores but am just going to slob Am watching a terrible film with Sandra Bullcok and Ben Affleck.