The 10th Gemini bus - 2nd Christmas stop

[peardrop2]

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!

Keep working on your DH Agnu!

Bring I'm glad it's not just my DS that strips. Was less funny on Monday when he didn't actually strip totally so we couldn't see that he'd undone his nappy, under his PJ shorts at the front. Only discovered it at 3am when he woke up crying and had SOAKED the bed and himself. Never properly settled again after that. Needed reassurance every 45 mins or so.
And TTC next year maybe? Exciting.

Glad the school got to see your DD2 and could deal with it frus. At least it's out in the open a bit and they're able to handle the situation.

Hello.

Sorry i've been quiet. I've been laying egg/eggs and literally all my energy has gone into dtd like a mad lady. I really normally wouldn't brag but seriously if I don't get my bfp after 12 attempts this month I will be left speechless!!! A record month for us. So now I am on the 2ww and I'm generally feeling very relaxed because I'm just glad I'm not having to think about it all! The break is a very big welcome!!

Other news...I have a serious problem with Bpear hitting other children He's hitting out in classes if things don't go his way and will hit the poor child standing too close or he's hitting at home if any child gets too close to him (like he's guarding his toys). He's also throwing and hitting at the same time It's been the odd occasion but suddenly in the last 2 weeks it's got a lot worse and he will no longer show any remorse to the victim. He used to kiss them better (because he's not talking) but now he refuses and shakes his head. I am guessing it has something to do with his lack of talking that is causing the frustration. Obviously I always tell him off but today he just kept on going 5 minutes later. I've googled how to tackle it and the best way seems to be the "naughty step". This isn't what I wanted but perhaps it's time I got stricter. Does anyone else use the naughty step? I can imagine it's going to be hard for him to understand this at first but I'm willing to give it a go. I've been using the hallway as our timeout location but I don't think it's direct enough now.

Bring - That's exciting that you're talking about TTC next year Sounds like you had a good time at your dads. How lovely that the grandchildren have somewhere homely to visit!

Agnu - Woop Woop to breaking down DH

Frus - how's your week off going? Done anything fun? The weather has been lovely for you!

I don't have a stripper. Life is complicating enough as it is

Lol lor that does sound funny but as you say not at 3 am!! We are on to duvet and blankets now not a bag anymore have you thought about putting him to sleeping a sleeveless vest with poppers on, they are good at stopping children get their nappies off!
Pear 12 times woo woo we've not even dtd once this month surley 12is a charm?! My believe used to hit out a lot and bite at 2, I definetly think it had a greAt deal to so with frustration as she was/is a poor speaker and bot her bro and tiger very good and I think the frustration of not being able to rationalise or say things were hers caused her to lash out, she's 3 next month and I havnt seen her lash out in along time since her talking has improved
Bring how you get all this work done with 3 is beyond me!!
Our house still ticking along not moved/ not exchanged yet but hopeful it's still going smoothly my cycles are so much shorter now I was synched with you guys last af but today I have it again
Had tigers school visit the other day, got uniforms my babies growing up

Goodness pear 12 times! Impressive. If this month doesn't work (3 times ) we'll have to up our game a bit. Hard to find the time and energy to start but never regret it after !

We use the naughty corner for biting but nothing else really. It's quite a last resort. We try to intervene to stop the behaviour but he goes through bitey phases. He's lashing out a bit more at the moment too which is frustrating because he has great verbal skills. He can totally express himself. We wondered if that last set of molars were on the way. We struggle between being consistent with the 'biting is not acceptable' message and having consequences for it but also with trying to be understanding of causes.

Actually the tough part is that he's primarily biting DH and often for no real reason at all - any mild frustration. With me he'll get angry and tell me he wants something or doesn't want something but he's far less likely to try and bite.

I think he's just going through a bit of a mental development phase. He was quite disturbed last night - DH had to go in a few times during the early part of the night - but at 3am he woke up screaming about wanting to use the potty (which we're gently encouraging when he asks for it during the day but not potty training as such). He was totally hysterical. Took him ages to get back to a bad sleep after that. He was then utterly hysterical when I was leaving him at nursery. I was in bits. He's not usually like that so I'm not used to it. I rang them a while back but they said he was outside playing happily and was fine after a short while.

frus hadn't thought about the vests with poppers. Didn't think they did them for kids this big!

Lor it was me with the vests lol but they do 2/3 in next with poppers sleavless as I had them for tiger but then went majority unworn as she was toilet trained at 2 but we used them for hot nights as pjs
Frus I think your experience with dd sees a different perspective, for me personally I do use a time out for kitten on a step or something when she smacks as it's quite often done out of anger not that she can't communicate as she very good at talking now she smacked me the other day for saying she couldn't have any chocolate so nothing to pre empt and for my part I want her to know that it's not acceptable to smack. it is different I think when it's part of a communication issue though as for sure my niece was the worst I know and it's defo got better with age and speech those idea to remove if you see him getting frustrated sound really wise

Oh sorry kitty I put your and frus posts into one in my head! I'll check out Next. Worth a try for him.

Very interested reading all your thoughts on the "naughty step"! Bpear hit me with both hands today because he wanted to stay playing in DH's car but I told him it was time to come inside and brought him in. I won't accept this behaviour (he never normally hits me hard like this) so we put him on the naughty step for 2 minutes. He responded well and kissed me straight away afterwards so he knew what was going on.

I find it works well for mine kitten is always happy to come in for a cuddle and say sorry when she's been naughtly, she has a real temper when she doesn't get her own way but you know what, that's life if I say no I mean no lol

Apparently it's better to call it "time out" so that they don't feel labelled "naughty" and they (according to this so called expert) can only actually handle 1 minute. Someone I know has suggested that I stay with him in this one minute but I don't think he would benefit from me staying with him as he will just cling onto my legs and cry.

It's tricky to navigate alright. It's funny actually because Cillian uses word 'naughty' to describe people or behaviour quite a bit but it's not a word we use at home (I'm Irish so my instinct would be to say 'bold' anyway, not naughty but English people don't use the word 'bold' in that way) and they don't use terms like that at nursery. One of the other kids must use it though.

We do call it time-out and often it's just a way of removing him from a situation where he's frustrated and can calm down, rather than punishment but as I said we rarely use it for anything other than biting and he does apologise, calm down and kiss us better afterwards.

Looks like AF is on its way. Light spotting this morning which is day 23 of cycle (had 23 day cycle last month). Based on that I know when my fertile days should've been (while we were in Ireland) but I'm actually fairly sure I was ovulating later than that if my cm, sore breasts and general level of horniness are anything to go by! In that case, I have pretty short Luteal phase - about 8 days. However, that's the same as last time around and it didn't stop us conceiving DS!

Lor - sorry about AF approaching. Wow that's amazing that you conceived your ds with a 8dpo LP! I never hear stories like that on Mn. I'm of your short cycles! Mine are so irregular. I'm on cd29 and 4dpo. Along way to go before finding out the result of this month. I can't really remember what symptoms I had on my 2ww with ds. I don't think I had anything except waking up with severe constipation on 11dpo which led me to take a test (I knew before even taking the test that I was) and then led me to an overnight stay at hospital because they thought the pains were linked with an ectopic pregnancy when I went to the doctors a couple of days later. That was a fun start! At least if it happened again I would know what it is all about. I couldn't sleep for 3 nights in a row it was that bad.

Sounds awful pear

To be clear I have no idea what my LP is really. I never charted or used opks or anything last time. It was just a gut feeling on when I was ovulating but I do remember thinking that it felt like that last month was going to be a longer cycle but then I got pregnant. Also having come off the pill it might be that it took a few months for my cycle to sort itself out so that might be what's going on now - a few really short cylcles that then stretch out a bit.

I don't really know when I'm ovulating for sure so don't be too jealous of my short cycles. Yes it's great that you don't have to wait long but I may have a problematically short LP!

Ah yes Lor...I did think after my post that if you're not temping you wouldn't know the exact pinpoint day of OV! The month when I was temping my chart showed me that I OVd two days before I got a peak on my CB smiley stick so you just don't know unless you're temping. I'm not temping this month and it's been far more relaxed!

Anyway...

How's everyone doing? Enjoying the lovely summer weather? I'm busy trying to sort my garden out a little at nap times (apart from today). I realised the other day that we've been in this house for 3 years and still we hardly have much to show for it in the garden. My DH is like "yeah yeah whatever" but I know that if I don't get going it could be another 2 years before I plant anything!! I know gardening with 1 newborn was soooo hard so gardening with a toddler and newborn must be really really hard!! I still dream that Bpear will dig away with me soon We're planning a beach trip tomorrow which I'm looking forward to. Just trying to jam pack my week with lots of distraction. 6dpo now and omg it's dragging

Oh forgot to say that since my cut out of cake I've lost 3lbs in total. It's been really hard turning down cake at people's houses but also a real awakening of just how much cake I've been eating! I didn't really like cake before I was a mummy!

Yay, congrats on the progress Pear! DH and I have discovered just how fatigued and flappy we've been getting over the past month or so and so it's back to the gym and trying to cut out all the really yummy things in life and stick to a healthy plan again. Sucks that I'm not 16 and can eat whatever I want anymore...

We are in the same boat here as well and it's tempting to get the garden into beautiful shape, but it's so hard with the kids around and trying to keep M from running into the road whilst keeping the garden beautiful. It feels like an uphill battle on the best of days!

We do use the time out step when after talking it through isn't working and the behavior continues. Each child is so different and we've seen that just with our 3. Eldest is the one who continues to push, and test limits, and ends up grounded in his room for a while because of the complete lack of listening and cessation of his behavior. Middle guy is super easy going, it's a very rare day where he actually gets "into trouble" because getting down to his level and talking with his nips it in the bud. M.... well, she's hell on wheels so she's already a challenge and I'm thinking she may follow in #1's footsteps.

I think I've got some sort of toy addiction I've now brought a second hand Little Tikes house for £15. What was I thinking?!?! Why am I constantly trying to entertain bpear with plastic Is there some sort help group for parents like me?

LOL! Pear, that's hilarious! Maybe just trying to make up for all the plastic you didn't have when you were little?

The little tents they have at Ikea for kids are great value, btw, if you're looking for "houses" for kids. We bought ours over the winter and if the kids aren't in it daily, the cats are! I love hiding in it and looking at Instagram when the kids are all shouting "MUM WHERE ARE YOU?!!?"

Bring, I wish I could get one of those tents. He's not into it at all. It's the windows he likes on the LT house. Opening and shutting like a zillion times. I saw a LT house on pin-interest sprayed in lovely colours...I forget it actually takes time and effort to refurb these things!

Did I say that the water table and massive sandpit is not a hit? They've been put away now to see what happens next year He gets bored so easily. I just want to find one thing that will keep him entertained in the garden that is not a hose!!

I'm melting!!!! So hot here. The monitor in C's room said it was 32 degrees last night going to bed. We bought a fan to try and cool the room a bit. Got it down to 30. Hope he'll be okay at nursery today as he's not great in the heat (just like DH). He also wasn't keen to go in this morning. He's usually okay when DH drops him off and can be clingy with me (or total full-on, crying meltdown like last Thursday which was just awful and a first for us).

I'd love to have the space for a little tent to play in. We do have a pop-up one for balls etc. but have to keep it popped-down most of the time as we haven't room. Might take it to the park at the weekend.

bring your three sound like a riot. Brilliant fun but you've got your hands full! Love the idea of hiding in the tent and catching up on social media.

pear surprised water tray and sand are not a hit. Maybe they're just too small and too high. When DS plays with water/sand he likes to get right in the middle of it. A tray wouldn't work for him as he can't plonk himself down in it.

pear try your local forest school for some plastic-detox time! I wouldn't just abandon the sand/water trays - my boys couldn't care less some days but other days they'll spend a good half hour at least shovelling sand around.

I didn't send Calf to nursery today. I used the heat as an excuse. He asked at breakfast time if we were going anywhere today & I did tell him that normally it would be a nursery day but that I thought he'd like to stay home. He chatted happily about how the other children would be having packed lunches later & playing outside but there wasn't a hint of disappointment that he wasn't going. If he had been upset I wouldn't entertain the idea of not sending him back next term but he cries when I tell him he's going & seems perfectly happy when I keep him home. Seems daft to send him somewhere that upsets him, costs the government money & is just a hassle to fit in now that his other friends are starting nursery on different days. If I don't send him then at least we'll have more freedom for doing playdates when it's convenient for other people. He interacts with other children so much better when there's only one or 2 so I think it would be better for his social development if we didn't send him. Seems bizarrely counter-intuitive but I think it might work for him!

We went round to a friend's house yesterday with a total of 9 under 4s. Calf tried to hide in the lounge initially but did eventually come out to play. There were 4 similar aged boys there who paired up & Calf did his own thing until 4 children left. That just left him & 2 older boys, Calf & a baby. The 3 older ones, including Calf, spent ages jumping on the trampoline together, lying down, jumping over each other... Calf was actually playing with other children. I've never seen him playing like that for more than about 30 seconds before! I was ridiculously proud!

I got the paddling pool out for them in the afternoon. I spent ages pumping it up & filling it so that there'd be an hour for it to warm up a bit before they got in... within a minute of being in the pool Runt did a poo. Once I'd filled it up again they had a whale of a time splashing around. Took Calf about 20 minutes to sit down in it though - I made them wear t-shirts & he was freaking out about getting it wet. Eventually he slipped over & had no choice about sitting down. After that he was fine! While I was getting dinner ready I can see them from the kitchen I got Calf watering the plants & Runt sat happily in the pool watching him... Except the shade came over the pool & the wind picked up & he got really cold. I thought it was odd that he wasn't joining in with Calf so went & checked on him - he was shivering! 28 degrees & his lips were slightly blue-tinged from cold! I asked him if he wanted to get out & he whimpered "yeah, bees" & shuffled over to me. I had to cuddle the cold, soggy boy until he stopped shaking enough for me to go grab the towel but he still refused to let me take his soggy t-shirt off! I pinned him down & pulled it off in the end but he still wouldn't relinquish the towel until I put his food on the table. He was just dragging it around after him. Seems to be a developing theme with him - he's got an infatuation with my PJs & whatever I take off in the morning will get dragged around the house by him!

bring wish I could hide from my DC like that - they always find me in less than a minute! I just have a stair gate across the lounge & have taken to shutting myself in when I need a moment to breathe! They know exactly where I am but can't get to me! Mwahaha...

Game over. AF has arrived I feel like I'm being punished for bf so long. All my friends around me are pregnant with no2 or have no2. None of them bf until 22 months though

Agnu - I'm glad you're comfortable with your decision to pull your ds out of nursery and that its working for you. My ds will be starting pre school just before he turns 3 to get him ready for school. I think as a parent you've just got to do what you think is right for you and your child.

Sorry to hear about AF pear Thought this was going to be your month. Hope you're not feeling too rotten or too down.

Agnu Sounds like you're all having fun at home! Wish I had a paddling pool. We did take C swimming on Sat morning. He was a bit hesitant at first but got into it after a short while. He did look at me and say 'finished mummy' and when I looked his little lips were blue too! Swift warm shower sorted him out. Must go more often!