March 2013 - we're gonna need a bigger wine rack

[Plonkysaurus]

Ta da!

Boom boom boom, let me hear you say Gerry. GERRY!!

That ditty was for you gerry (4 hope you guessed that) because you're having hard times and because you've lost a shit load of weight which must have taken immense willpower. Go you! And DoliOwl speaks wise stuff. No major life decisions like relocating to bloody Bedfordshire for the first two years of a baby's life.

My app is working for me now. Thank feck. Agree with Stormy that mobile site is awful. Plonky have you converted now?

Something what did grandma make for dinner?

Wotta we have had a snot week too. It's a disaster here.No thumb sucking to sleep. Imagine!

Plonky use the suit regardless of walking. Take some wet wipes and let him crawl through wet grass. He'll have a total sensory hoot. Eight weeks before most crafty stuff had yet to be started and we had no bridesmaid dresses and menu wasn't decided. You'll pull it together. You are RoboPlonk. Splashy splashy and the thought of izzard made me smile. But not lol. Izzard would think that very vulgar.

More stamping through the woods today, but in sunshine finally. Mil ironed everything that came in off of the washing line, washed all pots and stayed home during nap so I could go to sainsbury. And aldi. I could be very controversial about the clientele in aldi but I won't go against the mn masses. Needless to say I always tackle my visit there as if it's some sort of interview practical challenge. But, be that as it may, what I wanted to say is mil has been very helpful and dh is now back so feel tiny bit more like a person person rather that a slave
person.

Christening gift got. I'm pleased. You can call me a weird hippy. I got a British made woolen rug made from recycled wool and a copy of the book 50 things to do before you're eleven. My hope is that the blanket will see her through many outdoor adventures both as child and adult. It's my take on guiding her through life appropriately. What percentage knob am I?

And I meant to ask, Doli, can you take your toddle swimming at home at any point or is it too cold? When do we stop caring about pool temperature for swimming babies? Do you know DoliOwl?

Thank you everyone, feeling a bit better today after an impromptu beer and pizza evening with our best friends last night. Crashing starts today! That amount of weight is totally doable but completely unsustainable, which is fine right now.

I'm currently being a very good person and letting a tired looking DH have a lie in. I know that lots of you do the shift thing, and most of my friends alternate lie ins at the weeken, but we've never really done it, probably because DD's a fairly good sleeper. Maybe now's the time we start as I'll be expecting a lie in tomorrow!

Eco/Doli, our swimming instructor suggested these and claimed baby can go in any temperature water in them. Within reason I guess. Think we're going to get one and try it out in the North Sea in august...

Plonky forgot to say I know how you feel about the change of key worker. It's looking like, if I go full time in September, we'll have to move dd from the childminder that I LOVE as she won't be able to do the extra days. Already feeling sad about it even though it's only theoretical at the moment.

Proud mummy moment this morning- I actually taught dd a word! She pointed at my mug. I said 'tea'. We repeated this twice, she then pointed at it and said tea very clearly. Clearest word so far (apart from cat, which is used for every single animal). We now have recognisable approximations of: cat, yes, no, again, one two three, tea, daddy (used for every man). We also have huge leaps in understanding. 'Shall we have breakfast/lunch/dinner' sends her running for the dining room. 'Bathtime' towards the stairs. 'Cbeebies' and she grabs the remote not very pleased about this one, daddy's fault I think 'let's go out' and she grabs her shoes. All incredibly cute, although I just can't get my head around how quickly she's growing up. I need another baby soon I think...

God, yes, the understanding is incredible, isn't it? I just wish DD could work out what "if you don't stop kicking me mummy will get very cross" means!

Glad you're feeling a bit better, Gerry. And I'm going to be so jealous when you hit target, even if you do yoyo back up a bit. I honestly can't remember when I last saw a 13 on the scales. Came bloody close, I hit 14st dead on before pregnancy weight gain kicked in. Right now I'll just be happy to get below 15st 7lbs. I've got to 15 7 a few times of late but never below it.

Is this the wedding that's shockingly close to my house Something? Cos ya know, I'm allll aloooone tonight

Eco I may well pop the splashsuit on and let him go native in his grandad's boggy field. Superb idea.

Gerry we don't do weekend shifts here either. Once in a blue moon dp gets up with him, usually if we've had a very bad night and I can count my hours of sleep on two or three fingers. I'm particularly grumpy today because I got up at 6 (not bad in itself) after dp did the noisiest coming to bed ever at 2 am, woke me and ds up and I ended up having to co sleep to settle ds. There was a lot of humphing.
Well done on the weight loss, that's fantastic. It's it an absolute jump if

...Did Plonky just proposition something?

Well she is nice...

Hi all. I have missed a lot and doubt I will be able to catch up with all the posts I have missed. Ds is now on the mend and his usual cheeky self throwing objects out of the window.

Im waiting for ds to wake up from a mega nap to go out for a stroll and sandal shopping. I bought ds sandals from kiddiecare but his wide feet don't fit them so clarks it is for us.

Gerry well done on your weightloss. You can so do the last stone. Go for it. We are not overly strict on shifts which is our downfall and end up arguing about. It is hard to share lie ins when dh works 6 days a week.

For me I have tea at breakfast. Coffee mid morning and another coffee mid afternoon as a pick me up.

Ds is understanding and copying what we do a lot more. Ds is getting good at doing housework with me. Loading/unloading the machine and hanging out the clothes and the odd bit of dusting. I am a bit worried about his speech though. He will say the odd word clearly then never say it again. Hope I am not confusing him with talking in two languages.

yummy didn't realise you were bilingual. DS may speak a little later but will be fluent in both languages- that's amazing. Supposed to be very good for their brains too. .

I'm a tea person. Don't like coffee . Equally though I don't like herbal or mint tea- grim.

We don't have loads of words but he definitely understands no!!
Off to the zoo later I love the zoo!

Oh and ps gerry that is awesome weight loss. Are you actually not allowed to do the jump if you don't get to 13st7?

I don't think there is room for manoeuvre on the weight limit, so I've got to get there. Would totally do mudderella if it wasn't so expensive and far away plonk- expensive would be ok nearby, far away would be ok if cheap. Going to do a 10k run in November though and maybe a half marathon in February is that mental?

Yummy it's a well known fact that bilingual children speak later, but keep going with the two languages because what an awesome skill is that to grow up with?

Seconding the advice not to worry about DS's speech yet, yummy. Kids brought up bilingual tend to speak later, because they have two languages to assimilate. I have two cousins who have always lived in Germany, their mother is English and their father is Lebanese. They were both very late talkers by the usual standards, but when they did finally talk they were comfortable in English, German and Arabic.

Oh, and the only thing DD has mastered with the washing machine is trapping her fingers in it, so yummytoddle is definitely ahead there!

Excuse the multiple posts, but I just thought. Are you yourself using both languages interchangeably? It might be easier for DS if you're consistent - say, you always speak one language and DH always speaks the other. But even if you are using both yourself, he'll still sort them both out in his head in the end, so really no need to worry.

Thanks Gerry I think a pink wetsuit is just what we need! The temperature the pool is at right now would probably half kill her from hypothermia it nearly does me.

So Toddleyum will be bilingual. What a brilliant start in life! My niece should be, but isn't really. I think it takes conversation in both languages at home for it to sink in, and Dsis tends to speak English 99% of the time. No words here yet either, and no excuses. Dolitoddle likes to do things her way slowly

Kind of a sad day today as it was the last PT session with nice Mr Personal Trainer man. I owe him a lot I guess as he was the one the picked me up and put me back together when DH was a bstrd, kept me fit and kept me eating when I was going through the whole mess, which probably stopped me from losing the toddle before I even realised she existed, and at the end of the day persuaded me not to go through with the divorce. Lovely guy, who is as he puts it 'practically a hair dresser'. He certainly knows more secrets than anyone else in the district, and if he changed a few names could write a best seller. Sadly PT is a luxury of the single professional or those with childcare, and not something I can really justify any more.

Oh I think nap time has just ended. I can hear conversational squeaks.

yummy I'm from a bilingual family and it does seem to delay speech but when it happens, it happens fast. I have decided to speak to DD in English only at the moment because she emerged as a very early speaker and gets very frustrated with her verbal limitations so trying to facilitate it, along with using sign language which is working well to bridge the gap between languages in her brain. She has plenty of family members to speak in the other language for now anyway.

plonky I didn't take my husbands name on marriage - easy solution! We actually both ended up changing our surnames by deed poll after DD1 was born and died because at the point it seemed important that our name was the same as the one on her headstone. But it was a joint decision and we both changed our names at the same time. Makes my inner feminist very happy!

gerry well done on the weightless and good luck on the last bit!

Rainbow may I ask what name you both went for? Yours, his, double barrelled, something completely different, another option that hasn't occurred to me?

We usually speak to ds mostly in our home language but sometimes unconsciously I do use some words in english with a Turkish accent.

Growing up he will probably end up speaking mostly English because of school but I am determined to speaking our home language at home so he doesn't forget. I have cousins who don't know their language and I don't want to put ds in that position.

Feminists will hate me but I took on dh's surname. I didn't think too much about it but changing your name is a pita. Lots of phoning around and form filling. Theres also the inbetween bit of you having to use both names before everything is changed. I was really annoyed at school as I was always at the end of the register so I was probably glad to change.

Oh and thanks for the reassurance about the possible speech delay. I think health visitors usually worry about speech after 2yrs.

Feminists won't hate you for changing your name, yummy! If you changed it willingly they (we?) say fair play, your choice. If DH had forced you to change it, they might have some choice words to say about it, mind.

Glad to hear ds is on the mend Yummy. Did you ever manage to catch a wee sample? Also, out of interest nosy beggar that I am did you grow up here or in Turkey? How did you find becoming bilingual- if you were at all aware of the process? I think absolutely get him speaking both languages, it could prove a vital skill later on in life, as well as being a great link to your wider family.

Names is a tricky one. I don't know if I'm being awkward, or just having trouble envisioning signing my name as Mrs G-Saurus. Ideally I think I'd like something double barrelled but not sure it works, and I'd still have a different name to ds and dp. It's not like I have a professional title to preserve so I'm probably just being awkward. And my new name sounds like a Jane Austen character

Do you actually want to change your name, Plonk?

We did eventually catch a wee sample. It was hard. I left ds without a nappy and followed him wherever he went with sample bottle. We did miss a bit at the begining but caught the rest. I now have an idea how potty training will be with ds running around naked and weeing everywhere.

I grew up here but dad and mums extended family grew up in Cyprus (I am Turkish Cypriot but dh is from Turkey). Parents spoke mostly in Turkish at home and that is how I grew up to learn the language. It came naturally to me although during the teenage years I was rebellious and hated anything from my culture.

plonkyare you more worried about having a different surname to ds?

Just out of interest those of you who are not married (yet) is your dc's name your surname or double barrelled? If it was just your surname how did dp feel about that?

We're not married, never will be (because the man is anti-marriage), Fartypants has my surname. We did discuss it quite a lot, so we each understood the other's viewpoint, but it was academic really, because I wasn't prepared to compromise on surname, and ultimately it was my call because I could have registered her alone with any name I liked, and he couldn't.

His view was tradition, mainly. It hadn't occurred to him that in the unlikely event of him having a child it might not have his surname. He'd just assumed it would.

My reasoning was manifold:
In the event of a split DD would stay with me; having different surnames didn't appeal, and nor did one or both of us having the name of someone who wasn't part of our family unit appeal;
I don't like double barrelling (and neither does he), it makes for somewhat cumbersome names;
If he wanted the same name as her he was welcome to change his by deed poll;
Even if we got married I'd keep my own name, so us all having the same name wasn't an option unless he changed his;
There's a school of thought that says a man's name is his own, but a woman's is her father's. Not only do I object to this because it's rooted in the idea of women as chattel, but also his name is his father's just as much as mine is my father's, and his father's a douchecanoe, whereas mine's a decent bloke;
Probably more but I can't remember offhand.

There was compromise though. His surname can be a unisex first name (think 'orrible thick creamy liqueur), so she got that as a middle name. We compiled a shortlist of first names and took it in turns to cross one off, and eventually whittled it down to two. One that I love, that he'd thought of a horrible nickname for and so was dead against, but he hadn't crossed it off during his turn because he knew I loved it. The other, wasn't his first choice but had come from his shortlist not mine. I didn't mind it but wasn't overly enthusiastic about it either. So I crossed my preferred choice off the list.

In short, he picked her first and middle name, I got her surname.