November 2012 - Walking or not walking, talking or not talking, any other skillz?

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/2000561-November-2012-The-exciting-all-new-all-singing-all-dancing-fred

We have quite a range of ages and they each develop at their own rates... so what can your toddler do?

Hi all, hope everyone had a good night? Found myself with a bit of dare I say it spare time i am ignoring the ironing

pass sometimes I get to be daddy too, but we are not both mummy, ever. Funny, that!

pr i remember the garden snail eating!! E doesn't eat stuff outside but likes toilet roll tubes/paper/loo roll. Lovely!

Hi lisa lovely to hear from you!

bplp hope all is well re: dh and his job

Fatima I think it's worth making a complaint/raising the issue, as it sounds like a crock of shit, to be honest! Not that I know much about cars but after reading what you've put I don't see why you can't say well actually I don't want it now, given that it's not as was described to us.

vq i have always wanted to try sugar mice but never have. Pear cider is lovely :)

Hope the follow on milk works for those trying it. It seems there's alot of wakings going on at the moment. E woke at 3:15 again screaming, eyes still shut. I lie him down, dummy back in, stroke his hair and then he's gone again. To be honest i'm not sure it counts as being awake and from what I can see his daytime sleep doesn't seem to impact night times. I don't know. I guess it's probably wishful thinking to hope this is the extent of our 18month sleep regression, and it's early and will go soon.

Nice to see a few posts from the lovely Det :D Sounds like O is actually doing alot, I think it really helps to write it all down how we have done, to help the wibbles when they arise

sorry you had such a bad night stunt it must be really daunting when your dh is away, and very hard for him working with little sleep. I have everything crossed that you have a better night tonight

Happy monday zamboni, nursery drop off sounds tough but hopefully S is ok now, i'm sure he is

I don't think what you said re tantrums was harsh pr. I am really struggling sometimes but try my best to make sure I am consistent with things and try not to let it wind me up. I sometimes fail at this, obviously!

I have never hear of Oliver James or read any books perhaps I should, it all sounds quite interesting.

fiat e would not sit down either and i don't think i'd see much point in it. If they can't run about like loonies and explore now, then when can they? I think sessions like pps work well, e would go for that. E would also want everyone else's snacks, he does it on a weds and thurs when i have dsis and dniece here

ok, e is awake from his nap, back later all

Dairy free chicken korma recipe saw this and thought of quiche!

I have done half of my translation. That'll do for today. It is very dull, repetitive fashion sales speak and it is making me want to go out and buy clothes!

Is your headache better kyz ?

I've been writing about the impact of Fukushima on Japan's electricity supply and their policy plans for long term energy security. Which actually has been pretty interesting. I have just been distracted by the beautiful sunny day and the chat. And not wanting to have to sit down and work.

I am calling it a day too now as I'm waiting for feedback on three different pieces and I know my freelancing buddy is in France with his wife for her birthday and the weather is lovely (and I could hear the birdsong when we spoke on the phone earlier) so I doubt I'll get a reply. Time to cook tea, hang out the washing, walk the dog and get my bear from nursery.

PR I think by the cuddles, smiles and giggles he gives his keyworker, and by the fact that he is always having a great time when I pick him up (always busy playing, or painting or reading stories) that he is happy there. I just wish he could handle drop offs better by now. He's been going two days a week since November now! He is very cuddly and is a Mummy's boy and the keyworkers said that they usually are the most totes emosh at drop off but I hope he's not still going to be all weepy at primary school!!!

You've got ages til primary school, I wouldn't worry about it. Soon (in a year or so) he will be able to articulate his feelings more clearly and won't need to cry. He sounds fine and perfectly normal. Your nursery workers comment about the cuddlemonsters being more emotional at drop off rings true for my two. DD1 likes cuddles on her terms but LO is much more clingy, and at nursery drop off DD1 walks off without a backwards glance. Always did right from being a baby at the CM (til that went wrong) and then at her interim nursery she didn't even do settling in periods - she just didn't need it. She was, ooh, toys, see ya :o

I was going to switch off but have just been asked to drop this translation for now and move on to a more urgent one. I am just waiting for it to be sent through. It's the French version of the copywriting I tried and failed to do at the weekend so I can hardly say no to translating it which will be far easier than writing it from scratch.. Looks like tomorrow and Wednesday I will be a busy little word factory.

And it's more fashion.

Your project sounds interesting. Any worrying stuff the world should know about?

I remember being a real cry baby on my first few days at primary school. Hated being left at parties and hated saying good bye to my mum before sleepovers too. Didn't affect me in the long run I legged it off to France just after my A Level results and havn't lived at home since!

I wonder if people would be so keen on gendered items if it actually represented genitalia? You know, like tiny vulvas or cock and balls on a Lego person?

That sounds pretty disturbing. I reckon it would put people right off. You could approach the toy designers and ask :o

I do seem to remember Barbies being pretty shapely. Do Ken dolls have little bulges down below or does shapeliness only apply to women in dollies? (Never had a Barbie)

Yes, ken does have a bulge

Just a bulge though. No veiny cock.

And I try to use myself as an example of how the wee person you are through school has little relevance to the adult you become. I wet the bed every night throughout all 7 years of primary and couldn't tie my laces or tell the time until I was 11. I am living proof of milestones being purely for guidance

I promise I can now tell the time, toe my shoe laces (not the proper way actually) and almost never wet the bed!

Do you recommend that book then Sophia? We certainly have a lot of shouting here, especially at DS1 who is going through a particularly trying disobedience phase at the moment - bullying DS2 for example stealing his lunch box, refusal to eat breakfast, won't get out of bed, stealing his iPad back after it's been taken off him for the night.

Second night of follow on milk tonight and I'm contemplating leaving the baby monitor off when I go to bed so I'll only hear J if he's properly crying. I may moan about DH but he does resettle J at nights so I don't have to do it every time.

eliza am not judgey of girls having barbies but am judgey of them being used at nursery. Especially as the boys do other stuff when the girls are barbie-ing.

stunt turning the monitor off at bedtime made a massive difference to all of us. I was spending all night getting up to every shuffle and meep. I did it gradually though and moved on to sound off but lights on. This helped me tell if I was actually hearing p or had dreamt it. Now it stays downstairs. She is so close I can definitely hear a sound my requires my attention but the minute wakings and shuffles get left alone.

DD2 has a very realistic anatomically correct baby doll of the boy variety. We have been talking about willies, and this is especially funny as her name rhymes with willie. She has just stood up on the sofa and dropped her drawers to show everyone her willie. So of course we all say no you haven't got a willie (insert DD2s name)

I never used a sound monitor with O. The advantage of living in an apartment.

O has pink duplo and pink balls and purple tent. I fucking hate pink. I think it's just a disgrace that toys are genderised. I can rant but that won't change a thing.

We've always turned the monitor off at night when we come to bed. Our bed is quite a distance from J's cot but I always hear him cry. A few times I've nipped to the loo in the night and and heard him grumping as he turns over but those noises wouldn't wake me. I think it's helped him self settle as we don't go in for anything other than full on tears simply because we don't hear it. Good luck with the milk. DH shares the wake ups here too - it makes a difference it really does. How long is he in China?

I often wonder whether I need the monitor on at night. I only ever get up for full on crying as I'm lazy but it would save some pennies on electricity and stop me being woken by his snufflings. Lily - you've been in my flat - do you reckon I would hear him from my room?

Hmm. It would appear my sink has been fly-ladied. Thank you MIL! They have also bought us dinner but I cannot find it anywhere in the fridge. Where would a par of septogenarian grandparents hide a M&S ready meal?

Never used a monitor here the walls are so thin I can hear people breathe in the next room. No discreet farting in this house, you can hear everything.

But even in my old house I turned it off at night, just using it when we were downstairs, in the garden or nextdoor . They are great but do tend to pick up every murmur.

In the microwave or oven pass

Found it! Hidden in the fridge under a gigantic pie

No monitor here either. Small flat. We also shared a room/bed until 13 months. Finally couldn't share any more, had to creep into bed and not rustle my feather duvet or he would peep. Torture! Moved baby into his own room 2 months ago. I hear him cry but not the peeps and little cries as he turns over and maybe has a little sore tummy for a moment or something. I'm much more relaxed because of it.

I really do recommend that book. I think it takes proper read first then a dip in, and I am going to write some key points up and just stick them on the fridge. One thing that has really helped me is "never ask twice" I get DS1 to look at me and then I ask him to do some thing and I just stand there next to him and wait..........

I need a monitor as I cannot hear fuck all over DHs snoring.

Monitor still broken here, so not in use.

We have had 2 night wakenings in the last 2 months thank fuck both have been 3am and 4am shitty nappies. BOTH on my fucking watch too ffs (I do any wake ups that fall when I am not up early for work the next day).

I have been awake many times though and heard his mumblings. And I am so proud when he puts himself back to sleep, just at the sheer cuteness of him trying! He mumbles, gets himself comfy, turns the sheep on, and grabs the cloth. We would get screaming if the cloth was lost. Luckily the light of the sheep seems to guide him to it ;)

Even in the mornings, if he wakes and thinks it is too early, he will try and put himself back to sleep.

I can't describe how much it tickles me to hear that sheep turned on by him!

So yeah, I don't wake unless he screams. Which he does in the morning too when he is ready for getting up .

Fiat O can't handle the sitting down groups. The moment he could move, he just wouldn't stay still. The one I go to now is a sit down for the first few minutes, with a book, then it's up in a circle standing, while we all dance and sing. He isn't much interested in that either, preferring to try every exit for a weak point, turn all the plug switches on and off just incase something magic happens and generally kick the shit out of the fire extinguishers . I was a little exasperated last week, as he was really testing me running over the other kids, mums, and generally making as much nuisance of himself as possible. I kept on with the same consistent routine of 'no O, we don't do xyz' and removing him, or apologising for whatever. The woman who runs it, who has known him from 8 weeks old said to me 'now, we don't say no in this group, just let him run round and get on with it' . I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! A) If I don't say no, what do I say?! And B) I simply can't let him keep doing things he shouldn't be because they are dangerous! ARGHHHHH!

Oh and C) he was the only one being a little tearaway. His comrades have not yet started at the toddler group. I could see all the other mums watching me. I don't like to be watched .

I've been waiting for something like tumble tots to come up. I think this would be ideal for him, given he likes to be physical. But our nearest one is quite a trek away, and is a Friday morning. DP works friday morning, so if I am not off, he can't go. I'd prefer one that he could go with either me or DP. The next nearest are ridiculously far to go for a fucking toddler group for one fecking hour. Fuck that!

Soft play is good, but he can escape all the baby bits, and is too little for the big bit. So I get a bit fed up chasing him around. He always gets in to the til area, or the foyer as people are coming in and out. In other words, he likes to do all the stuff that he shouldn't be.

Re: gendered toys. It is far worse for girls, all that pink! We honestly don't own one 'gendered' toy. It seems you get 'toys' and 'girls toys' at this age anyway . All his stuff is brightly coloured, or wooden. Or brightly coloured and wooden . I like pink, I like blue. I like every colour except poo brown but I hate the idea that pink is only for little girls. I just don't get it! I see the pink toys, but the 'boy version' isn't actually blue usually. It's just 'normal' colours.

Sure I have more to say.... BRB!!