March 2013- the one where plonk gets married!

[Gerrythetootallgiraffeswife]

Perilously close to filling the old thread suddenly!

And hooray to ToddleWott's stepping. It's the CUTEST time

I'm here, but sadly devoid of anything of interest or even of note to say. No change there then

Yay for walking Wotta, your life is about to get so much easier. The crawling stage was a nightmare here, as worselet as she was, was so fast I spent half my life diving to catch her before she fell down the stairs or something. My back has not been the same since! Now she's upright I still have to run, but no longer dive. Massive improvement.

Speaking of improvement has anyone else found sleep patterns have returned to some semblance of normal, or even just vaguely acceptable now the temp has dropped? Here bedtime has gone back to between 8 and 9pm, from between 10 and 11pm, which is fan-bloody-tastic, even if it has meant she's cut her day time nap to a mere hour. It seems a fair trade.

Oh yes, the other thing.... the trike. If you haven't as yet got a trike, don't bother. Well don't bother for a while. She's not big enough to pedal it herself yet, which once the novelty value wore off rendered it to about as interesting as the pram i.e. not very. I fear it is now seen as an unacceptable form of constraint designed to stop her from running about, and let's face it she's much rather run about. I'm all for running about myself. Put it this way, a couple of hours of chasing the dogs and she'll sleep for 11 hours straight!

This weekend I have somewhat stupidly invited some people for dinner. it is about 10 years since I cooked a dinner party type dinner. Someone please explain to me why I thought it would be a good idea to dust off my cooking skills the week the cleaner is on holiday so the house is a pigsty, and the toddle is likely to still be up when they are here so our adult conversation will be punctuated by the sound of a small person screaming over the injustice of bed time? I am racking my brains but failing to come up with even one logical explanation other than I am a half wit.

I'm here too. It's just still so hot here and I can barely lift my fingers. I am very lame in the hot hot heat.

Yummy tell us how you celebrate Eid. I'm interested. Has ds been well enough to get involved?

Betty, despite the back did you have a romantic time in the dales? How did you feel about the toddle (honestly please because I am scheduled for a long weekend away without the apple of my eye in February and there's been some covert raised eyebrows). Also, has breast feeding ceased for you now? If so have you noticed any changes in yourself? I'm still feeding twice a day but (where) my cleavage (is supposed to be) is kind of bumpy in a spotty not spots kind of a way. Nice. My face skin isn't brilliant either. Could that be hormonal as a consequence of backing off the feeding do you think? Has your mood altered at all? Sorry if that's all too nosey.

Doli that sounds potentially stressful. So, ideas, pre prepared amuse bouche that are just whipped out of fridge. Some lovely smoked fish on lovely bread and fresh tomatoes to start. A pudding that you've made beforehand....Maybe a crisp lemon tart (these end up looking remarkably like the ones you buy from waitrose so.....) that just requires a bowl of cream to accompany. Cheese board already made up and left under a tea towel. Dh needs to be primed with foodie plan and a willingness to do toddle if that's best. The other marchers will help you with a fuss free main course. Mumsnet gets its knickers in a twist about what is and isn't appropriate to offer people coming for dinner. Such snobbery and nonsense in my opinion. We would like to say thank you to some people in our new village that helped us out. We're going to invite them for midweek supper and we're going to make awesome burgers and lovely salads. Job done. Cleaning wise can dh get away with just doing kitchen, lounge, dining room and nearest toilet? Did you see what I did there?

Something can I come to white post too? That'd be five mums and toddles I think. That's almost some sort of weird non reunion type affair. My family live on the Notts border.

Had a lovely day today, dh went into work late so he dressed, breakfasted and took out Ecotod so I got some morning work done. Ecotod and I then went to join our new library which was fun and I then worked more during her nap (I'm writing a book which sounds much grander than it is, but the corrections have come back and it is so unwieldy it's taking me forever). Dh then came home early and met us for a walk and he then cooked an awesome lasagne whilst Ecotod and I did some gardening. She watered some plants with her own watering can. Very cute! What's less cute is the deliberate dropping on floor of food. I know some of the rest of you struggle with this. She dangles her arm out to the side of the chair long enough for me to notice, she looks me in the eye with a knowing glint and then drops it and looks for a reaction. I am unsure what the reaction should be. What do you guys do? I'm trying, three strikes and it's all over. Is that mean?

On topic of food I meant to say that I found a good, wholesome, fast food option for the toddle when moving. When we'd not unpacked the kitchen I needed something very straightforward so I went to supermarket to buy some pouch stuff. It was a small store and had nothing vaguely appetising so I bought 75g portions of white fish from fish counter and one of those pots of ready made swede, carrot and potato mash from the veg aisle. Fish went in milk then in microwave for two minutes and I just zapped the mash too. Flake fish over potato. Job done. And easy to get onto a spoon for them. Any other food things going down well with your toddles at present? I know a few of you are struggling, this isn't meant to annoy you.....I'm sure Ecotod will have a food strike soon. They say it's all phases and that it all evens out in the end don't they.

Wotta great progress with the walking. How's he been today? It's strange how some toddles do a few steps then totally change their mode to walking whilst others walk a little and then go back to crawling for a while. Video on Facebook to give us sops a thrill?

Canapés - or actually I'd bloody well call it starters - cut a block of feta into small cubes. Put in a dish with juice of half lemon and zest of one. Leave for an hour ish. Then stone some medjool dates, push in feta chunks. Add a half walnut and a bit of mint leaf. Perfect for summer and everyone loves them!

Main course - tagine. Benefits fro being cooked day before and left. Can point to actual recipes if required.

Pudding out of a packet. Or Nigel slaters lemon posset is the easiest thing in the world, make ahead and bloody lovely. I serve with homemade brandy snaps but packet ones work too. Or go to Waitrose and add some fresh raspberries and cream as Eco suggests.

Food for DS - well we've found that a quick but well received pudding with extra calories is a fruit purée (homemade or Ella ) with rice pudding stirred in (homemade or ambrosia ). He can feed himself and always eats it all. Otherwise ak's liver casserole, daddy's bolognaise and fish pie of any description are usually winners. Fruit now best served cut into chunks and in a bowl he can hold and take out and put back in repeatedly while eating the occasional piece feed himself.

See Doli, I told you one of us would fix your menu! Well done Wotta and rice pudding! Genius. I am a terrible mother. Ecotod has not yet tried this delicacy. I'm on it!

eco yy to the five mums and five toddles White Post trip!! And any other mums and toddles who fancy a journey to the East Midlands If we go around Christmas, there will be reindeers, and maybe even Santa. And now I'm getting excited for Christmas!! Too soon?

Also, what's the book on? I think it is as grand as it sounds. Very impressive you!

DS is the same with dropping food on floor or on pup. He looks us dead in the eye as he's doing it. I also give him a maximum of three chances to stop before it gets taken away from him as it usually means he's done with eating it and would rather play with it. Like ToddlePlonk, he also tips food off plates and out of bowls onto the table as a sign of finished.

doli I think Wotta and Eco have hit the nail on the head with food ideas so I won't ask DH what he'd do as he's the chef in the house offer up my less-exciting ideas.

Sleeping here seems to be better now the weather's cooler but he seems to be stirring more at night. Apart from last night, the past few nights I've had to go in to cuddle him for a good fifteen minutes. He woke up shouting at about 1:30am this morning but it didn't last long. Hoping it's just a phase because it doesn't half shock you to wake up to a shouty toddler when you're in the midst of a deep slumber.

I'm officially on the low-carb bandwagon and, dare I say, I'm actually enjoying it. Before when making lunch, I'd just knock up a sandwich but now I'm having to think about it, I'm enjoying having lots of veg and grilling meat and covering stuff in oil and salad dressing. Instead of the usual breakfast biscuits at work, I'm munching on berries smothered in greek yoghurt and honey, and as someone who is partial to the odd bowl of Coco Pops, this is a pretty big deal

Thank you for the menu ideas. Wotta tagine is old old staple here, so I'd not dare serve it as I'm fairly sure I did that last time. Stuffed dates would be lovely... if DH and I were normal... which we're not. He can't quite get his head round the similarity between dates and beetles (seriously), and I don't like feta, because I'm odd. I'm sure everyone else would like them though!

Planned menu is:

Smoked trout (great minds Eco), with a watercress, avocado and pink grapefruit salad, or in other words and assembly job.

Chicken breasts in a mexican-ish sauce (it's kind of a made up thing but is basically tomato and roasted red pepper base, spiced with green chilli, a hint of chocolate and cinnamon, coriander and cumin), with green beans and cornbread. All made in advance, the chicken when the toddle is at nursery on Friday, and the corn bread on Saturday morning, so all I have to do it re-heat it all.

Home made chocolate brownies (in the oven as I type) with mixed berries and cream.... or just mixed berries if like me you don't like puddings, or like one of the guests you are a personal trainer hence do not eat anything unhealthy, ever.

I'm not convinced it would pass the MN dinner party test, as it's bit family meal-ish, but it passes the Doli will not have a breakdown on the night test, and DH can cope if I need to nip upstairs to toddle manage.

As for the cleaning. I do indeed see what you did there Eco and I'm liking it. Getting that one past the man might be harder. Compromise will probably be along the lines of I sweep the worst dirt under the carpet and chuck life's junk in various cupboards, whilst he entertains the smallest person, plus the dogs.

Right, must crack on. It's my morning to get stuff done, and I am procrastinating

Looking at that menu, I'm suddenly seeing where Fartypants gets her fussiness from. The pudding sounds good though!

Re: the White Post Christmas, the earlier we can set a date, the better. I can't imagine MIL will mind us going on a day trip, but if FIL is there... He has this habit of completely ignoring everything I say regarding plans, and is liable to wake up on the day and announce entirely different plans. So would be handy if I could say nope, this has been on the calendar for months.

Also, a rant! About sodding bin men. According to the council they are having "operational difficulties". Which means they haven't collected the food waste for weeks. The bin stinks, it's full of flies, last time I opened it I nearly threw up. I'm quite happy to separate my rubbish, but I'm getting tempted to throw the entire food bin into the main bin and have done with it. How am I supposed to clean the thing with no outside tap? Assuming they ever come to empty it.

Just checking in, will post properly later. We're just arriving at the very imaginatively named Tank Museum

That's the hazard of inviting people to dinner Stormy, we all have different tastes. It's one of the reasons I rarely do so, as I'd be the first to admit that what I like is rarely what others do.

Put it this way I resorted to sneaking home from the BBQ I went to last week to grab a sandwich as there was literally nothing there I would eat. All the salads were dowsed liberally in a very strong garlic dressing, or mayo, thus rendering them completely inedible. The sausages and burgers were all from the local butcher, so very greasy and very strongly flavoured, and I wasn't quick enough to get any of the unmessed about with chicken. I like meat sanitised, from the supermarket, and definitely without garlic. As for desserts, there were many, but all very really sweet, think white chocolate cheesecake sweet. For me, hell on a plate.

I'm working on the basis that everyone likes chicken, and the sauce is just that, a sauce, so easily avoided. The starter can be toned down to a green salad and bread, cornbread is just a savoury muffin, most people like muffins, and if all else fails there is always the cheese board (although I don't like cheese myself )!

I'm sure the toddle would share some of her fish pie though, if anyone gets desperate

Plonky enjoy the tanks. I think. Are you a particular fan of tanks or is this a DH thing? I once spent several wasted hours of my life looking at a pile of rusting metal, which was once something swanky in the car world, for DH related reasons. Time I'll never get back siggghhh

Stormy sympathy re the bins. We once went 8 weeks between collections over xmas as well, due to snow. It was grim, but at least it was cold and maggot free. If you have flies you'll get maggots. Don't look next time. You'll regret it.

If the sauce can be skipped, the main sounds lovely. Can I come too?

Stormy of all the dinner party guests I can think of you'd be one of the most entertaining. Not a dull moment or lull in conversation... and I mean that in a good way. It's such a shame we are all so widely dispersed really, as a mass group meet up would be a riot!

This is where I read back and realise I'm having a diner party. Ugh. How very middle class. I once invited neighbours round for what was basically a pot luck not even remotely dinnerish dinner party, and in an attempt to make it obvious they weren't to expect naice food called it 'supper'. Apparently supper is even posher than dinner . Who knew other than everyone except for me that is. Supper when I was growing up was a hunk of bread and cheese my dad used to eat before bed, because he is one of those whippet people who needs to eat 10,000kcal a day in order to remain at a static 10 stone. Supper now, is apparently something titled people with too many dogs eat round their Aga, with champagne and caviar on the side. Of course. You live and learn.

Bread for supper? Not when I was growing up. My dad always had toast and marmite (yuck). And I still feel like dinner parties should be held at dinner time, ie noon. If you have people round for an evening meal that would be a, er, tea party. Call it a tea party and no one will expect anything posh, they'll just be thankful not to be served imaginary cake on a plastic plate.

Right! Hullo you stinky lot, I feel like I've an awful lot to catch up on.

Wotta how's life with a cleaner? Will you be changing your name any time soon? We saw a road sign for Puddletown earlier and I thought of you.

Doli your menu sounds perfect. I detest stuffy food and even stuffier atmospheres. Dinner party does not equal fine dining in my book, but then I have been known to serve up sausage casserole and sweet potato chips on more than one occasion. The chicken sounds amaaaaaazing, can I come too?

Eco pleased you've managed to carve out some work time and that dh is being his lovely self again. Does life feel better these days? Is your book on education or are you a secret Mills & Boone type?

Something so pleased to hear you're on the low carb bandwagon. I need to jump right back on it, starting with dinner tonight (burgers with avocado and bacon, sweet potato chips and a big salad!) because I've been quite indulgent. May I suggest swapping the honey in your yoghurt for a splash of double cream?

We're having a rather lovely time. Yesterday we went to hang out with a few apes (dh and ds notwithstanding) and then dh took me to Loch Fyne for a bottle of Reisling and fillet of hake. Delicious. Today has been rather tank based but I was actually quite impressed by the museum. Very entertaining for such a dry subject matter, and even the toddlesaurus seemed to have fun. Monkey World was a bit trying - ds is definitely wonder weeking, or perhaps a very busy week is finally taking it's toll. We had back in the pram refusal and lots of toddler carrying, followed by the mother of all tantrums and a dinner consisting of jam, calpol and yeo valley yoghurt.
DSis has gone home now, which I'm quite grateful for . She means well, but, same as Doli's ILs, has no idea how much her presence winds ds up. He's not napped properly when she's been around, and has been getting me up at 4.30 am. Not entirely her fault, clearly, but very hard to deal with a food snob asking why my tired, grumpy toddler won't eat his greens. Apparently she plans on feeding her still-not-born PFB spelt hahahahaha just try it duck

White Post is a go! My calendar post October is empty so plan away Stormy!

Best go, ds is experiencing some kind of emotional trauma on a scale with Diana dying.

Oh dear - I had a pantry moment today

DD was being lovely, running round the garden, being all cute. Then I needed to change her nappy. It was like I was trying to kill her. Wriggling, screaming, grabbing fistfuls of hair and proper yanking. It took ten minutes. It broke me. I told her to get out of my sight and went and cried in the bathroom. Then she came and laughed at me. It was my lowest moment. I thought my toddler hated me. I'm off to read some books

Oh Any what is it with these toddlers at the moment? I had similar. Had to pin her down with one hand and pray the neighbours didn't report the screaming to social services.

Anytod doesn't hate you. She's just being a toddler. When you are a toddler lying down on the floor, screaming and kicking your heels is just logical. It's what you do. Largely because you can, and you can't use many other avenues of communication because you are too small. Frustrating times.

Sometimes a naked cuddle in the middle of the exercise breaks it up and the element of surprise can buy valuable seconds of calm when you pin them down again put the new nappy on

Something and Doli you have made my mouth water with your food chat. Sounds great plan Doli, how did the brownie turn out? I'm distracted now and wondering if we have enough choc to make a tray full.......

Stormy it's a crap time of year for bin antics. Food worst is the worst one too. Maybe until they collect and empty it you should shove food stuff in your landfill bin. When they've emptied it take a bucket of water out and swill it out then give a liberal dousing of fragrant disinfectant and top up with water and leave it for a day or so. That'd be my approach. Zoflora is good.

Gosh, I seem to have turned into a boring Bastard for those last few words of wisdom. I'll back off domestic advice for the rest of my post.

Wotta I like your nappy angst solution. I'll give it a go. Any don't feel bad, all of our toddles do this and we all get upset by it. It sucks. And it hurts. Vicious beasts!

My book is quite, err, niche! It's for a geographical association series aimed at primary teachers. It's title is 'beside the sea' and is about how to teach 7 to 11 year olds about the coast. I doubt any of you guys will ever be my readers! The editing process and design process are very involved. I submitted a long word doc and I've been
sent back loads of crazy looking files so it no longer seems like my work and I'm struggling to remember it. It was written pre baby! It was fun to write though. I love teaching children outdoors and it's nice to encourage that in schools.

Gosh, boring again!

Ecotod and I visited my ex from university today. Not the wanker one. He has moved to a lovely new house and is recently engaged so we went to get the wedding Goss. It was very civilised. They do not have children. Yet. It made me remember what life was life beforehand! Lie ins! Friday dinners out! Gigs! Cinema! Immaculate houses! Arty stuff at ground level! Plenty of disposable income!

The last box has been unpacked this evening and the removal firm are collecting the cartons tomorrow. I will reclaim space soon!

Ecotod had 7 minutes of afternoon nap today. That never happens. The scarey thing? She was largely bright and cheerful despite this. Argh! I need naps to continue

Thirsty Thursday anyone? And a for Doli.

Wotta The naked cuddle is normally initiated by her anyway as I lean over her to try and stop her moving - she puts her arms round my neck, pats my back a little, I think 'aaaah' and drop my guard and BAM she's grabbing my ponytail. It reminds me of wrestling with my DSis as a child. I need to research more tactics...

Any this one's for you to make you laugh.... Dolitoddle has upped the stakes. DH took her water off her as she was throwing it round the room.... so she bit him... through his shirt... right on the nipple... and drew blood!!! I have never heard a man scream like that before

Oh how I laughed

Wow! See, there's always someone worse off

I've had an idea that maybe she's lashing out because the changing thing is so last year, dahling. Perhaps the potty training should begin?

Best advice I've heard re potty training is: wait until they make it clear they're ready. Any signs of readiness beyond hatred of bum-changes? Because I suspect hatred of bum-changes may just be standard toddler behaviour, unfortunately.

Also giggling yet wincing at poor Mr Doli's nipple.

You're probably right Stormy - I might just go down the route of sitting her on a potty (a la Rainbow) to see if she minds it/prefers it. Haven't even shown her one yet so could be an interesting experiment!

I'm dashing in quickly as it's been a long day at work and a very long journey home detoured through half of North Yorkshire!

Eco I have completely stopped BFing and have a very spotty chest and slightly disappointing looking boobs and more spots than usual but I think they're on the way out now. It's only now you've mentioned it that I can link it to stopping though! As for going away it was absolutely fine. I did have to check in a few times but to be honest I know she's fine with my DM/DF so was happy and we had a lovely time if a bit lacking on the romance front

Any/Doli we have the most epic tantrums here too whenever madam is told no. We haven't had a bite yet but lots of lashing out and throwing things. Plus the screams are unbelievable. I just leave her on the floor to get over it which eventually works! Bad Mummy!

Hi everyone else. I'm too tired to check back again but will tomorrow. Night.

I've just had a lovely lovely morning as when I dropped the toddle off at nursery, instead of screaming in protest she did her happy squeak more normally reserved for the dogs or the ipad, and actually looked quite pleased to see everyone. It might have been the prospect of breakfast... who knows, but it cheered me up