The 10th Gemini bus - 2nd Christmas stop

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I'm so lucky to continue to have you ladies to chat to Let's all have a merry Christmas and an even happier 2015!

Poor dd 2. Hope temp settles down soon

Oh poor little dear. Hope she starts feeling better quickly!

That's really exciting that you have a new position as a childminder, Frus Brave, brave lady.

Exciting news Lor! You get to be an auntie again soon! Is it making you lean more toward another?

Ha! Pear you actually had me laughing. The weather has finally turned nice here. The trees are starting to bloom and we can practically watch the leaves grow on the trees because it's been so sunny and warm lately. It actually snowed the day that we left for Vegas so we were getting all sorts of texts from people cursing us from escaping it. I think we are expecting a cold front this weekend with rain and a high of 50's next week so our beautiful spring streak will end for a while I'm afraid.

I think I just need to get away more often. DH and I can't get enough of each other.

Who wants to admit to letting Dc play games on the iPad? My 23 month old is addicted to twinkle twinkle little star game We've managed to just give it to him as a treat in the morning when we need to tidy up the kitchen, brush his teeth or when he's really grumpy after a nap. That's OK isn't it? I say no when he asks for it throughout the day He's so good at it. He can do all the puzzles and number games and driving some bus or something. Probably just because he's been repeating the game but he's also found the cheat button. He doesn't sit and watch TV like other children I know so this seems to be his thing and my guilty secret to keeping him quiet for 2 seconds

Oh and I've been saying no at meal times and when we're out for dinner. Just trying to put some ground rules down for this growing habit but wow it's tough as it would be soooo easy to say Yes Yes Yes to peace and quiet

We have the Lonely Beast ABC and 123 Apps. Ds loves them

We don't have tablets. Calf has occasionally been allowed to play games on my phone but it has to be well monitored or I'll find him trying to post on MN!

That's how it all begun...app games on my phone when he went through months of waking at 5 and I just couldn't bring myself to get out of bed. Now I'm trying to move it to the iPad so that it's more of a special treat that can be put away rather then my phone that is always lying about. Now that I'm not bf anymore we take him straight downstairs anyway so really the only times I'm giving it to him is when I'm getting dressed and for times that he doesn't like doing things like drying his hair (although I try to avoid this as it isn't great before bedtime I know). It's tricky because I never wanted to let him have things so early on but hey ho. You do what you've got to do to survive like Frus said the other day I guess it is all about balance and I don't sit him in front of the IPad all day. Today I took him for a walk and later we're going to make wholemeal cookies. Dh is working all day and night so I'm going to try really really hard to have an early night!!

Lor I've not heard of those apps. I only have the free trial ones.

Frus - I like the idea of the counting one. I've downloaded one with lots of words and objects. He quite likes that one.

The Lonely Beast ones are lovely. Quite quirky. They're illustrated by an Irish arist (I actually own two of his paintings) and the app was developed by an ex of mine!

We let M use the iPad too. She knows how to pick out a game but she doesn't know the password and it's only used as a treat when she's losing her mind (or we're losing ours). We have a game called ToDo Math which she really likes the patterns section and ones called "Peak-A-Boo Fridge" and "Peak-A-Boo Farm". She also likes "Forest Flyer" by Sago Mini. Mostly educational. DS#2 on the other hand.... OH my life that kid has an addiction that we've had to go cold turkey on him with. He's not allowed any screen time at all because he's gotten to the point where he'd wake up at 5 and come into our room, take DH's iPad and then be a zombie on the couch with it when we all woke up. Disturbing. So now he's going through an intervention.

So... we are still working on the controlled crying with M and it's still not going very well. She's still waking up 2-3 times per night. Still insisting on having someone with her or she screams her bloody head off. DH and I are just so exhausted that it's not even describable anymore. I think M is successfully ensuring that she shall remain the baby in the family as DH and I have seriously considered that this is it. Once we get through this shitty phase, we don't even want to deal with this ever again. If M is this bad, who knows how bad potential baby #4 could be!

Bring I really feel for you on that one! There is just nothing worse then dealing with CIO or bad sleepers, especially at this age when it really really feels like they should be doing it all by themselves now. I constantly have to remind myself that they're still little and need us so much still I can't even compare what you're going through at the moment. Hang in there!! And don't worry... nature has her way of making you want another as soon as this bad patch fades so I've still got hope for no 4 (not that you're worried) ! I found myself looking at newborn clothes for friends babies yesterday and the desire to have another was so strong...this feeling was happening whilst bpear was playing up after 4 minutes of shopping. The boy really doesn't do shopping

Oooh bring. The addiction seems to be hitting our house early. He must ask me about 3/4 a day to play if he sees me on my phone. Maybe it's a boy thing?! I made a point of reading books instead of letting him play when I was drying his hair last night. I think I just need to watch bad habits forming and make sure that DH is on the same page.

DS does love the phone and ipads. Once he starts looking at them it's hard to tear him away. He loves looking at photos on my phone - his dad, his grandparents, videos of his cousins. Loves it!

I've not let Calf play games on my phone for ages because he was asking for it all the time & having tantrums if I said no. I've found it's just easier to not let him have it at all than to argue all the time!

I'm feeling sad. Calf dared to stand near 2 of his friends today as close as he ever gets to "playing" with them & one of them shouted at him to go away. Usually these 2 children are best friends but tolerate Calf tagging along behind them. He just wandered off when he was shouted at but I was hyper-aware of all the times they ignored him for the rest of the morning. I tried to find out if he was upset about it by asking him what he'd done/who he'd played with & he said he loves X but X used a "not-nice" voice so he went away. Then he looked at me with his big eyes & said "Why did X didn't want to play with me?" I nearly cried! It's just so hard seeing him left out like that! He doesn't play with other children but he likes to play next to them & feel like he's a part of their game. I've got a horrible feeling that I'm going to have to explain to him numerous times in the future why people didn't want to play with him.

He's at that awkward stage where I think he would associate better with younger children but he likes to have a chat & children of a similar play-stage tend not to have great conversational skills! Most of his "friends" children he sees regularly are about 6 months younger than him. There is one child in particular who's at a similar linguistical stage who he lets boss him around enjoys spending time with but he's away at the moment, hence the awkward dynamic today. There was another younger one without the language skills who idolised him & was the reason we changed his nursery days - he kept asking where Calf was at toddlers. He's recently moved away but we've got his birthday party coming up so Calf will hopefully enjoy watching other children play that! Not many slightly older children in our social sphere - the next stage up are about 6+ & don't seem overly interested in adopting a little one!

Do you have mindees every day Frus? I did childminder training but I was too busy starting a family found out I was pregnant with Calf when I passed out at the first session to start a business too. Not sure I'd cope well with lots of children coming & going tbh! How did DS cope with his new playmates?

Agnu - I'm sorry to hear that story . I guess we've all got many similar situations to come where we will feel sad for our Dc but not be able to do much about it as we can't force friendships as its all part of learning, doesn't make it easier to watch though Frus's advice about mixing your DS with similar like minded children is good advice. Hopefully you will be able to work something out to help build his confidence up again. How's ds doing in nursery?

Frus - you're one brave lady taking on other peoples children! The responsibility well done you! That's wonderful that your DS is showing independence...how helpful for you! For once he's got the timing right

Thanks for sharing all your stories about iPhone/iPad games! It's made me feel a bit better about the whole thing and not alone! People in RL don't really want to share what really goes on at home which I understand to an extent. Everyone is so worried about being judged nowadays!

Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather

The neighbours are having their driveway pulled up and it is chaos here. I have no idea how Bpear is sleeping through it all but he is TG! I'm sure his nap will be cut short which is a good thing as I really struggled to put him down at 7 last night (mainly because I stupidly let him eat a cookie for dessert which we had baked in the afternoon...won't be making that mistake again PFB!!)

Take it for granted that he's not independant?

Sorry bpear pressed send too quickly earlier. What I meant to add is...are you saying you forget he can't do so much on his own yet Frus?