March 2013 - by the time we finish this one we'll be shopping for elf outfits. Eek!

[ecofreckle]

Here we go again then ladies. Plenty more shiny new space to fill up with ramblings :-) Link to last thread

I'm getting grumpier on your behalf, Plonk. He's obviously not happy with DS's current sleep in some way - just how much input into how things are done in the night has DH had? If plenty, then he needs to continue trying new ways to help DS sleep. If he's had bugger all input and has left it all to you to sort out, and is now pissed off, then what he's effectively done is absolved himself of sleep responsibility then shouted at you for doing it wrong. Much grrr on your behalf.

Thanks for the toddler containment tips everyone. I guess her bedroom is about the only place that could be child proofed so to speak, provided we take the chest of drawers out (a stupid impractical antique job with drawers she can pull out onto her head), and put stair gates in. My main worry is I think she could climb a stair gate. She very strong, and provided she can grab hold of the top bar can pull herself up and hoist her legs over the top. From there it's just a tip and a topple and she's over. How tall are stair gates? Could she reach the top?

Eco we had one of those playpens but gave it to SIL, as the toddle hated it, and can now climb it. I might regret giving it away though, once number 2 is also mobile!

Plonky is that kind of ar5ehole behaviour normal for DH, or has he just cracked under the stress a bit lately? If the former, serious talking time, if the later, provided he has apologised, I'd move on myself. I've cracked and shouted at dd before. Not proud of it, but I have. I've also cracked and shouted at DH when he really hasn't done anything to warrant it. You guys have been under a huge amount of emotional stress lately, and blokes sometimes bottle things up because 'real men don't cry' (which is total crap by the way. They do, and they should). It's not an excuse, but it might be an explanation. After all you've been through just as much, and you aren't yelling at all and sundry.

Ah, time to go. We need to buy a new bed for her as the cot is frankly dangerous now. DH has taken to putting her in with him at about 6am when she wakes for a drink of water, and I decamp to the spare room. It's not something I want to become a habit, but we can't risk her falling out of the cot.

plonky as some others have said already things at night time seem so much worse veryyyy quickly. I am sure your dh has apologised by now he doesn't sound like a complete monster. Maybe after the teething spell work with dh to get ds settled into his cot/bed again if that is what you both want.

I confess I have shouted at ds before and dh has argued with me about it. I felt so so so bad.

worse I think stair gates are toddler height and can reach the top bar . If you are worried about her climbing over the stair gate how about putting some cushions on the other side just in case she tries to escape. (away from the gate a bit so she don't use that as climbing tool). Other than that I have no other ideas, sorry.

Stairgates tend to be about the same height as metal barred playpens and room dividers. Might be possible to find taller ones. Or fit two, one immediately above the other, and try not to worry about how daft it looks. Failing that, google portcullises.

I'm reminded of when some of the bairns were mobile and others weren't, and the general consensus that later mobility is better because they have slightly more understanding and so slightly less inclination to kill themselves. Escapology is just the next phase. And I'm thanking my lucky stars Fartypants hasn't yet figured it out!

And because I've only just remembered it, eco, you madwoman, you can't fit that many people in a two up two down! Where on earth did you put any? I suppose if the little ones slept on shelves in the cupboard under the stairs... But even then it's a squeeze.

Second day in a row of no nap. Praying to Morpheus not to let this nap drop yet... I'm not ready for whole days with no lunchtime sit down and cuppa!

We're home now waiting for the sainsburys man. I'm not sure how I managed to drive from the Wirral to here without nodding off, but so pleased to be home.

Yummy it's a travel cot issue rather than a home cot issue. But you're bang on about needing to work together to solve problems.

Stormy you're somewhere near the money. So are you too, Worse. He's under a lot of work stress - a takeover situation with no idea what his job will be come six months. Add our desire to buy a house and recent occurrences and that's kind of where we are. Stormy he's not been proactive in the past so he's levelling criticism without support. He apologised a lot this morning and very obviously wanted me to say 'that's ok, don't worry about it'. Instead I asked him what he remembers doing. Not very much, it seems. So I informed him. He did seem horrified, so I explained why he's in the wrong, and he we need to work together to be the parents were both happy being.

At the funeral there was a Dear Arlo letter written by DSis and dbil. Unit they said they have made a triangle that will never break. I told dh that I don't always feel like that's true for us, and I certainly don't want to one day be serving him divorce papers stating breakdown of marriage because we forgot how to talk to each other. It seemed to get through.

Worse I love stormys idea of two stair gates and a portcullis. I think you should listen to our wise northern bird.

Plonky I may just have to do that, as the toddle would appear to have monkey genes. She can climb a stair gate . She likes her new bed though, and has already filled it with toys... ditto the toy pram. You can tell when DH has been shopping with us. She gets very spoiled. Me I'm boring mummy. I bought waterproof tunic bibs with sleeves

Ikea? We have those!

plonky was sad to hear of your DH's outburst but does sound like there is a lot of stress going around - not that that's an excuse. Hope he sees the bigger picture and you guys move forwards a family unit.

worse impressed by your DD's climbing skills! My DD is quite behind developmentally from a physical perspective. She walks and runs proficiently but absolutely no climbing - she has never even attempted to climb our bed or our sofa, although she does love stairs. Sounds like a challenge though! We have a babyproof bedroom for DD. We could shut the door (which she cannot open) and have a video monitor which is what we use when she goes to bed in the evening.

Doors that toddlers can't open? These sound like something I need! Thankfully the external doors have quite high handles, but Fartypants can handle all the internal doors. She's stumped at my dad's though - house built in 1930 and still has the original internal doors, and back then they put the handles high quite deliberately so small children couldn't go roaming the house alone.

Also, if anyone wants an excellent remedy for constipation, I can highly recommend eating a whole punnet of strawberries, a whole punnet of raspberries, and half a punnet of grapes. Sit back and wait a few hours for the stomach cramps to kick in and then - bliss! A lovely soft perfect poo that won't make you cry as it exits. Apologies for the oversharing!

Glad you're feeling ... Er ... Relief Stormy .

Plonk good on you for ensuring dh take stock of things. We're none of us at our best when woken in the middle of the night but even so, he needs to have a think about how he responds to DS at a very deep level which should override that. Hopefully he can see this as a turning point.

My head is spinning. There is so much going on. Not sure if I can keep all the plates going this week, but wish me luck! Will update properly when I have more time (and more idea what the situation actually is?)

Teeth! We have three molars at present giving DS hell and it's horrid. I just want to make it better and I can't .

Noted for future reference Stormy! Funnily enough all the doors in iur house are the same, but ds only routinely opens the door to the kitchen, and our bathroom. Thing is, I have to be on the other side of the door for him to want to get through it. It's just occurred to me that, given he now has the side off his cot, he could roam the house of a night if he were so inclined. Thankfully he's quite lazy.

Wotta you are very good at keeping so many plates spinning, I do hope you manage to get some rest between going hither and thither. Molars are a pain aren't they? Have any broken the gum yet? That seems to provide enough relief that the rest pass through unnoticed.

worse how was the first night in a big kid bed?

I had nearly ten hours sleep. And I'm still yawning oh and I've lost my mooncup. No idea where but I feel very sorry for whoever finds it. Maybe they'd think it's a dinky shot glass.

worse would taking her in the shower with you be an option? Or is the peace in a shower something that you want to cling on to? I often get a follower when I get in and he stays in there playing while I get dressed.

wotta you're such a busy lady. Sounds exciting though, I look forward to the update.

DS has a very chesty cough and was up most of the night with it. He came into bed with me at 6am for a cuddle where I fully anticipated getting up and starting the day once DP had left for work. All of a sudden, it was 7:30 and my slumber was disturbed by little toddler snores down my ear. I managed to escape and he's still there now but I can't leave him too long because I'm waiting for the arrival of Plonk and the Toddlesaurus, and at this rate they'll rock up to find me in my pjs!

Question: if you wake up every morning for over 2 weeks with terrible nausea to the point of not being able to eat until your evening meal and it's definitely NOT pregnancy...what is it?

You mean into the shower cubicle with you? I think she'd scream the place down to be honest, she's not a big fan of water on her head at the best of times. I couldn't leave her in the bathroom either, as the first thing she does in there is put everything, including herself into the toilet. I now completely understand why when DH was a kid his friends' mums banned him from their houses. Like father like daughter....

Something the nausea thing sounds like a gp job to me. Could be acid reflux or an ulcer I guess, or any number of bugs. Are you sure you're not pregnant? It's just that with the toddler I had 'periods' for the first three months.... so..... ??? Have you POAS?

Plonky the big kid bed was a success, she seemed to like the extra room, and the solid head and foot boards. Much cosier. We put the side on though, and did the usual sit with her until she was asleep, and get her out the second she woke though, as I can't risk her escaping from her room, and the gate is no barrier. I have no idea how to get round this problem unless we take Stormy's recommendation literally.

Speaking of Stormy glad you're are sorted so to speak. That much fruit? Wow. How's the indigestion?

Wotta intriguing. Hope you haven't dropped any of the plates you are juggling.

Stormy we have some of those doors, only the people who lived here before us who were v odd rehung them upside down, so instead of child proof handles we have specially designed doors for midgets. Undoing all the weird and irritating things they did to this house is a long and tedious task.

Rainbow nothing behind about your dd, she's probably just a tad more civilised. A friend was telling me his daughter never bothered climbing anything, just waited for an adult to sort the situation out. His son however was a nightmare. I'm hoping my son (to be) will be the conservative one. The toddle however seems to have her dad's ADHD (don't tell him I said that), and my dad's mountaineering skills. Glad you're about actually, as I was wanting to ask you (and every one else) for views on co-sleeper cots. With two I'm keen not to spend the entire night resettling small people , and they seem like a good solution for keeping babax calm.

Ah we have a pooper it would seem. I had better go deal. Lucky me.

worse really recommend co-sleeper cots - I loved being able to see and touch DD while she slept in the early days and feed her in bed. We actually fashioned one out of an ikea cot (one that can also be a toddler bed so is stable with just three sides on) and used a lot of plastic ties to tether it to our bed and a bit of foam to wedge the mattress against ours. The height happened to be perfect for our bed (about half an inch lower than my mattress which I like in the early days because it was demarcation of space) but it would have been easy to drill some holes to get an exact match on the height. My SIL hired a bednest from NCT as a cosleeper crib and has been really happy with that too - but obviously not suitable after 5-6 months while our cot was used until DD was about 11 months (when we realised we would all get much more sleep with her between us so came into our bed fulltime!).

Thanks Rainbow, really helpful. We were looking at the bednest, and the chicco next2me in BabysRus yesterday, and both seemed ideal, so I'll head back there a bit nearer the time.

That's where I got the bibs from Plonky, not ikea. Nearest ikea to us is miles away, and useful baby shops are few and far between. This amazes me, given the demographic of the people round here.

Speaking of BabysRus, they have a 50% off sale on a lot of stuff, including cot beds. If anyone else is thinking of trading up from a cot, have a look.

something maybe you have a bug caused by change of weather. Or it could be the weird feeling me and eco have experienced whilst on the coil. Have fun with the saurus family.

wotta you do sound very glamorous with all your plates in the air. How is the house hunting?

Ds thought it would be fun to be awake from 3-5am this morning. He put him in to our bed but he got out and went to the living room saying beebies. He believed me when I said beebies is asleep.

I am annual leave this week and have 3 days to myself while ds is at nursery. I went to Lakeside for some shopping this morning not sure what to do for the rest of the week.

yummy drink copious amounts of tea while watching crap telly with your feet up? It's what I like to do with toddler free days.

Fartypants thinks everyone on TV goes to sleep at the end of the programme. Her fake snores are very cute. Full on death-by-cuteness is reserved for whenever she loses Zebra. That high pitched inquisitive tone as she realises: "Zebber...? Where Zebber?!" Too adorable for words (although possibly only to me). And today she napped! After refusing to all weekend. Just gone eleven this morning she turned to the man and said, "Upadairs, Zebber, magom," (upstairs, zebra, milk) and headed for the stairs.

Worse I had a brainwave...you can get stair gates that are well over 1m high. For dogs or something (odious short folk?) I think.

Yummy enjoy your annual leave! Shame that the weather will dictate to a certain extent, not much fun to be had in a garden/park without a toddler to stomp around in puddles with. I'd take advantage of any good weather we might get and go for a nice walk, potter around the house, and sleep.

Something you officially wore us both out. DS napped for two hours when we got home, and I napped for a bit too!

Stormy that does sounds very cute. We have "tacta!" for every vehicle now.

Well I made a spectacular own goal this afternoon. After taking the bins out, hoovering and steam mopping I put a wash on. Immediately uponst the final spin it was transferred into the drier. What I didn't know was that it accidentally contained a pair of DS's shoes. I mean the only pair of his shoes that aren't wellies. We hightailed it to the nearest toddler shoe emporium to be victims of a bit of daylight robbery. This has been an expensive and somewhat frantic afternoon. Take heed, Marchers : thou shalt not wash thine toddle's only shoes and mislay them in the heated spinny cupboard, lest thy fancies poverty for the remainder of thine week.

I got the worst mummy award of the day. I used ds book to kill a massive spider. It was crawling on my lap. Now I am waiting for dh to come to lift up the book and clean the remains. I am standing guard to make sure ds don't pick up his book. Sorry spider loving marchers.

Oh dear, Plonk. If you've a Next nearby they're about a third of the price of Clark's. Worth remembering in case you do it again.

Meanwhile, our day has taken a turn for the vomitous. After an odd weekend of no naps and being uncharacteristically subdued, today she napped fine, barely touched her lunch, got grumpier as the afternoon progressed, refused all tea, then chucked up all over the carpet. She's just had a bath, and is now wondering where Zebra is. He's in the tumble dryer. Handwashing him was NOT fun.

Yummy don't you know that spider probably had a mother?

Sorry that was a me me me post but I am still shaking from the shock. Will post properly later when I have calmed down.

Oh dear Stormy, little sips of water, lots of sleep and cuddles. Hope Zebra doesn't come out the wash three sizes smaller.

We're usually in full support of Next shoes, but I couldn't face town. Now that's a first world problem!

Well that was a bizarre bedtime. We skipped the milk for obvious reasons, so it was a very speedy bedtime routine. Five minutes of crying, then it all went quiet. Could she really have gone to sleep without milk? Meanwhile the man is feeling queasy, and I'm starting to suspect my runny bum may not be entirely attributable to soft fruit.

yummy that poor spider! Are you not able to do the pint glass thing? I had to get one in DD's room with a tub of fish food a few months back, and by the time I went back to clean it up there was nothing left except a couple of spindly legs. The little cat does have her uses!

Plonky you genius. I love you! I've googled and the safetot website has got everything from extra tall to extra wide. This house may be toddle-proofed yet

As for the shoes. Ouch. Even DH flinches when we go to Clarks. The prices are insane. You could make a toddler shoe out of the scraps left over after cutting an adult one. This bugs me.

Stormy I really hope you haven't got a vomiting bug. They're nasty. Crossing my fingers for you. The nursery had a sign up last week saying there was an outbreak so chances are we may be joining you if you have. Urgh.

Yummy I have no problem with spiders, but if I caught a massive one crawling across my lap I'd be likely to whack it with something as well. Don't feel bad. Natural instinct. It's the same with mice. They don't scare me, but the time I picked up a bag of rabbit food and one ran out and up my arm, I screamed! V loudly. I may also have legged it out of the shed. Possibly.

2 hour nap today, after nap refusal yesterday, and nap resistance nearly all other days last week. Suggests to me she is almost ready to drop the afternoon nap, but the effort catches up with her after a few days. What age do naps usually stop? Are we reaching that terrifying milestone?