June 2013; Toddling into our second year!

[BeanCalledPickle]

New thread ladies:-) I think we filled about ten threads when pregnant and this is only our fourth post natally!

Overjoyed. Mum is all 'MAYBE THEY WILL HAVE THE SAME NAME'

The third in line to the throne will not be called Dido or Juno or Luna.

Actually Lily magically used the potty last night without any direction from us. Well 50% of it went in the potty anyway.

And yes she can do poppers, zips, velcro, buckles - you name it she can get out of it. I went for a look online for solutions of nappy taking off and there were some truly horrible parents suggesting you leave them in their filth to teach them a lesson
We're going to try thin strips of duct tape over the nappy closure tonight

Wowsers. We have some sleepsuits that have poppers up the back rather than the front...and no poppers in the legs. They're from France but there must be similar designs in the UK. They're still giant on DS...want to borrow??!

Leaving children in dirty pants etc seems so wrong. Will always remember the HV who tried to persuade us that we shouldn't change ds's dirty nappies so readily incase it gave him a sore bum He was weeks old at the time!

Ha - what do you think about these bad boys? littlekeepersleeper.com/Long-Sleeve-Sleepers

Reckon I could get the sewing machine out and run up a pair of these quite quickly - that will show the ratbag who's boss!
its her, I know its her

Perfect. Now you've got me wondering...could you not just put a sleepsuit on back to front??

She can definitely reach her back - when she tells me all the various bits of her body she is particularly fond of shoulders and back and knees and feet and tummy and nose and ears . This means the ratbag could reach poppers and undo them.

Do they make straight jackets in toddler sizes?

Could you make envelopes at the ends of sleep suit sleeves and tuck her hands in, new baby-stylee?

DD loves washing her hands! Best part of (not) going to the loo.

'They' do say not to potty train while teething and her back molars are coming at the moment which might be why she's not that arsed anymore.

I'm amazed at undressing so much. DD doesn't even try to do it. She is attempting to climb out of her bed though. Really must remove the sides to see if she's bearable like it!

DD is teething too. For for past couple of days she's been saying "teeth hurt". Yesterday she even said "why hurt?". Broke my heart. Maybe she'll actually do something once she's finished teething then.

DD doesn't even try to undress either. She has unzipped tops before so can do it, she just doesn't. Thank goodness.

'They' have a lot to answer for!

'They' do indeed Bean!

So twice in a row now, before his bath ds has sat on his potty for a few minutes and had a wee. Then stood up when done. I'm well chuffed and will gloss over the reality of proper potty training I'm thinking we'll persevere with that for a while until he shows more any recognition about doing stuff in his nappy. But at least the potty as a concept will be introduced!

So as we are all so chatty at the moment; walking. 'They' say that you are meant to let them walk as much as possible at the moment. I frequently have good intentions but it normally pans out as walk ten foot, charge into next doors garden looking for a cat. Veer into road shouting 'car car!'. Disappear into side street. Cling onto legs. Shouting walk but wanting to be carried. Become frustrated. Pin into buggy. Proceed.

Can be in buggy for max 30 mins before starts yelling 'stuck' and walk and the cycle repeats.

I have no patience. She can walk perfectly fine in parks and playgrounds etc. But she's probably not building stamina and certainly not developing the ability to walk in a straight line.

This is only going to get worse as I won't be able to chase after her after a section. I probably should get some reins. I hate the look of them though. Thoughts?

Get some reins. I hate the look of them too (generally) but they'll be essential for after my section and also when I'm recovered but have a baby that I can't abandon in the pram. Although DD has a puppy set which are cute.

DD is capable of walking pretty long distances holding other people's hands. The inlaws comment on how far she can walk and how good she is. And she's good with me for the most-part. However, there has been occasion where I've almost had a public melt-down when she has decided she needs to go and see something in the other direction. She can be stubborn. And strong.

So I am not risking letting her walk without reins after my section.

Luckily for me she is happy in the pushchair when I need to walk long distance and quickly.

Was it a cat? It's always a bloody cat!

DS will generally walk in a straightish line for quite a while. Pointing out every door and stick enroute. If it's a alongside a road then the rule is we hold hands or he gets carried or put in the pram, no negotiations.

If we're off-road then he generally gets to pootle back and forth. There's quite a lot of "no, we don't live there, let's not go and visit" and "that's not our car" but it's not too bad. We're lucky that he still likes being in his pram and seldom protests at all about it. If he's tired of walking then he asks to go in the pram

Ha, so true. Also, sometimes she sees flowers in people's gardens and decides she wants to "pick them". Or she wants to follow other children that she sees.

I had 2 weeks of out and out war with J bout holding my hand if we are walking. Two weeks of it but it worked and now he knows he HAS to hold my hands if we are near cars and does so easily. Obv the minute we turn into the park or the shops he drops me like I have a communicable disease. We do a lot of walking and sometimes there has to be a bit of bluff called when he thinks he's the boss but he usually ends up coming along even though sometimes I get quite far away.

Having said all that, if I had to hold him and push a new baby in a pram and had just had a section? Id have the dog lead on his belt loops, no fear. Reins. Whichever, whatever it takes. Walking is good for them, and it tires them out.

Speaking of tired, I've a 5-6 week contract starting next week. In glamorous Dunstable. A lovely (not lovely) commute up the M1. J will ths be farmed out to the childminder four days a week and my lovely 4 x morning swims during the week will end. Oh no! Poor me. Not a single coffee shop in all of Dunstable either, unless you count the Costa Express machine at the Esso garage. Pffft.

The largest town without a railway station don't you know.

I can only assume you are bring punished for something.

Oh god walking. Lil insists on walking more and more but its so fecking painful. Its even worse thar we've got a dog so have to walk every day.

On Sunday it took us a fricking hour amd ten minutes to go to the war memorial and back (20 mins max normally). On top of that I'd forgotten my gloves, had a chest infection and was coughing so hard I kept weeing a little. Walked the last 1/2km carrying her, carrying her toy buggy, her dolly, the dog lead, the chucker and tennis ball. I earned that cup of tea at the end of that walk!!

We don't use the buggy anymore. There is total buggy refusal; writhing, screaming, 'no no no'! We just walk everywhere and he holds my hand most of the time happily. We do use the car a fair bit though, and we are in a village so there isn't urban traffic in our immediate environment.

Right so I need to buck my ideas up a bit. I do feel bad that I never allow sufficient time to walk. Nursery is a seven minute walk at a brisk pace so I leave at 740 to drop off at 747 which gives me ten mins before the train which is a further five minute walk. I don't want to get up any earlier. I don't want a working day to start with a thirty minute nursery trip,

Different now as on Mat leave but at the moment DH is still taking her. I have an optimistic buggy board attached.

Walking is so very important to us. We met in a walking group! We used to knock through thirty miles of a weekend! She's going to get more from now on. Oh yes.

Will get over my hatred of reins. Actually to be fair I think a large child tied into a pram - especially with a dummy shoved in- looks way worse.

Last day of relative freedom today. No immediate plans to leave the sofa. So bloody delighted that after tomorrow I never ever have to be pregnant again!!

I wouldn't worry too much. I know quite a few car drivers who walk for a maximum of a couple of minutes at a time so I'm sure she's getting more than that!

I don't drive so even if DD didn't like the pushchair she'd have to live with it. For example, it takes two hours of travelling just for my regular hospital appointments and that involves a fair bit of walking. It would take all day if DD wasn't in the pushchair (and eat into her nap time which wouldn't be fun)! Plus I'm physically not able to watch her while I'm being examined (lying down in a massive open plan room) so she has to be sat in her pushchair then.

I love walking and I'm not stopping because I have children. We walk to the parks, walk around the park (country park with walks as well as those with slides etc) and walk back - she couldn't manage all of that (plus it wouldn't be great exercise for me either). Nothing beats an early morning walk.

I guess they'd still have to be in reins on a buggy board?

Ha. No buggy in use here (we have one, just in case) as it's total refusal. She can walk a fair distance though. On reins if it's near a road / cars and long ish distance, holding hands otherwise. Non-negotiable here too.

At the beach / woods etc she's free range though (not allowed nesr water alone though, obviously).

I'm not so worried about her exercise. She spends the entire day on her feet running around. Nursery has a massive garden and we have a reasonable one and she merrily legs it up and down the house loads. It's more the skill of walking in a straight line that is limited.

Because our definition of a decent walk is at least 12-15 miles we have pretty much abandoned our own walking now. We occasionally take a day off when she's in nursery and do a decent walk in the chilterns and we each had a weekend in the mountains with friends. I cannot wait until we can start proper family walks.

I do think I will make more of the baby months this time and hit the hills with the baby in a sling. Didn't do that nearly enough last time and didn't appreciate that they aren't portable for long!

Does Polly like going intothose big backpack child-holders? Keir quite likes being in that as a pram alternative for a long walk? I know you obv couldn't handle that pregnant (!) or in aftermath of section but your partner could take her in that while you have the teeny one in sling? Good luck tmrw; will be thinking of you