March '13 - packing up our troubles and getting excited about the new babies

[ecofreckle]

It's that time again. This thread is going to explode with squishy babies. Which is nice.

Yum custard
BAKE OFF!! I'm very excited
Hope everyone ok. worse not long til the menopauseI have to say that's amazing Positive thinking on your behalf!
Still not gone for a big bed here. Like something my DH is keen but I don't want to mess with things whilst they're working!!
Wotta good luck for the house...
Right I'm off. Got to go and watch Mel and Sue!!

shattered that's exactly it! If it ain't broke, don't fix it! DS is back in his cot tonight but in the bigger room so he's still taking the next step, just staying in his familiar bed. And we're all much happier about it

After the excitement of Bake Off, I think I need to go to bed to dream about cake!

something i've gone to bed before I start licking the TV.

Possibly I was slightly too euphemistic there (not sure about the grammar of that sentence but it's late and I'm tired). There is absolutely no way I'd end up sleeping in DD's room because she woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep. That's what I mean by "not looking favourably". Basically I am quite harsh with The Rules. Doesn't mean anyone else has to be! And it doubtless has its downsides too. If ToddleSome's happy in his cot I am inclined to agree with Shattered though. There is a lovely sense of security that comes with knowing they're contained.

Am I the only person who has zero interest in televised cake then?

stormy I wish I was a bit more like you although compared to dh I am like that. There is no right way of parenting and you have to work what's best for your family.

I washed ds duvet after work. Ds refused to sleep without his duvet and cried/screamed when I gave him a blanket (he loved this blanket as a baby). Anyway he fell asleep in our bed (minus the blanket). We transferred him into his bed and I covered him with the blanket. He has woken up and screamed when he saw the blanket on him hence my post at stupid o'clock. He is now back in his bed with a partially wet duvet. Is this normal?

Totally normal yummy. If we ever have to wash bunny ds will sit in front of the washing machine watching bunny "go for a swim".

Can't really claim to be a fan of dicking about at bedtime either but ds has a stubborn streak that's rather more, er, stubborn than mine. If he wakes in the middle of the night it really is a choice between sitting on his bedroom floor watching him drift off (no), sleeping on his floor (no, not at 6 months preg), or putting him in with us (hmm) or bringing him downstairs. We no longer have a spare bed, so I'm really looking forward to ds getting the single at the weekend. If that counts as dicking about then label me a mug, but it's a rare event for my child to go through the night without requiring some form of comfort. It now seems pointless to pop a stair case on his bedroom too, what with potty training being around the corner.

Rainbow I found a banana custard recipe. Thanks for the heads up! I think I'll be filling the freezer today.

Stair gate. Not case. I'd like to think my house is grand but I'd be over egging it a bit to suggest I could just pop a staircase in his room.

Needing comfort is like needing a drink or a nappy change. It doesn't count as dicking about. Things that do count as dicking about include getting out of bed repeatedly, jumping on the bed, spinning in circles while laughing like a banshee, and so on. This is what I'm training FP not do do by judicious application of Grandma's Patented Look. And Something and Plonk, I'm very sorry if I've offended either of you. Really wasn't intentional, I just have a habit of putting my foot in my mouth occasionally.

yummy I was up shortly after for no reason at all. Just me wide awake. Sometimes that's worse!

stormy you didn't offend, I was agreeing that I wouldn't look favourably but DS has never woken up to play around. When he wakes up, he's usually crying (either a nightmare or just unhappy) and won't want to settle back down alone, which is why I got in with him.

Stationery shopping today, while DS is with granny, to start making our wedding invitations! I had a dream last night that we'd forgotten all about them and the day came and only a handful of people showed up. And my dress was tucked into my pants!

Thank god for that!

FP tends to get a bit distressed whenever Zebra has to go in the wash. And I normally crack and give him back to her before he's fully dry. So I'd say normal too, yummy.

And in other news, the neurotic cat is at war with the furry interloper (who lives out the back somewhere). Much pudding all around the back yard has been going on for months. Today she decided that the inner front door - which the interloper has never so much as sniffed - needed marking. . Would anyone like a lovely furry scarf for Christmas?

'Pudding'? WTF, autocorrect?! Pissing is a word!

Thank you for the reassurance ladies. I am struggling with ds at the moment and I hardly see him. He is just so defiant. I know it is all part of normal child development. I read up on equilibrium/disequilibrium (sp?) at every half age so I guess it is that ds is going through.

How is everyone? Sorry I want to post to everyone individually but I am missing Monday nights sleep.

Two is a difficult age, yummy. It's the irrationality of it that I find hardest, but the defiance drives me up the wall too. I'm afraid I haven't any advice though, unless you want to try my parenting style: mostly fairly nice and easy-going, but if she pushes too hard she gets a verbal bollocking. And she doesn't enjoy those, so if I use my cross voice she knows she'd better behave or she'll have cross mummy to contend with. And then afterwards we talk about why I was cross and how we can navigate the situation more smoothly in future. Seems to be working so far.

Also, Fartypants drew her first recognisable face yesterday! It had two eyes, spiky hair, and a massive wobbly grin. Apparently it was me. And then she drew a great big line across the eyes for glasses. It was... interesting. I may have to treasure it forever.

plonk am loving the idea of a stair case in DS's bedroom. Vair posh. Might be a bit of a hazard though I guess.
yummy am about to post a pic of DS's cot at nap time just for you. Yummytod will look super normal compared to that... I will admit 2 is not my favourite age either..!!!

I'm sitting in Mamas and Papas car park listening to not-Jeremy Vine so ds can have a nap. He seems to only nap at nursery or in the car these days. Totally lacking the energy to fight him on that one!

No harm done Stormy. Thought for a brief moment you were describing our coping strategy as dicking about. Might be slightly hormonal at present. Soz!

Ds is a real handful right now and on a far longer leash than he would be if I wasn't upduffed. Bonus is that he doesn't cry when he gets told off but does if I make him apologise. Apparently I was the same and very easy to discipline. Until I grew boobs and looked old enough to buy fags at 14 years old. Hmm.

Tooth 24 is taking its time and causing some very irritating side effects. Biting, for one. Aversion to food two. And ds will no longer drink bedtime milk. Big boy bed part two happens this weekend, which means ds gets a new room with a proper single bed. So its all go in his world . When did they get so big?!

Yummy what's this about equilibrium?

Will post properly later once this child's in bed, but... Tooth number 24?! Is that a pregnant-brain-fail, or is ToddlePlonk getting his wisdoms through seriously early?

Wait, how many do they have?

I can't even get ds to open his mouth to count how many teeth he has now.

plonky it follows off from the wonder weeks our baby bible from back in the day. Basically the theory is at every half age ie, 2.5, 3.5yrs kids experience a disequilibrium. They become unsettled. That's all I remember from my midnight googling. They say not all children experience this at exactly half age but it's thereabouts.

stormy weekday evenings that is how I parent. Weekends I follow through with things a bit more and use more child friendly parenting techniques.

3 cheers for the weekend. Have a good one everyone.

shattered thank you for the photo. It really cheered me up. Cot gymnastics are so cute.

Evening all!

Yummy DD is a right little madam here too. Everything that doesn't go completely her own way is met with complete meltdown. It's trying and endlessly frustrating but since I found the baby days so unbelievably hideous and madam is hilarious it's still probably my favourite stage so far.

Life is otherwise a bit sucky at the moment. Work has been alternating between hideous, busy and wearing. DH is revising and is therefore vile and driving me up the wall. Marriage currently has very few redeeming features and I'm in need of a holiday and perhaps a good shag hot steamy affair with someone with plenty of brawn and little in the way of brains.

In the absence of anything else I'm turning to wine and gin which are terribly therapeutic.

Love to all too much wine imbibed already

Twenty teeth: from the middle out it's two incisors, one canine, two molars per mouth-quadrant. I even checked the red book to make sure. Basic adult set is twenty eight - extra molar and a pre-molar per quadrant. Full set is thirty two, including wisdoms, which not everyone gets.

Not having witnessed your strategies, Plonk, I couldn't call them dicking about. But even if I had, and even if I then disapproved in some way, do you really think I'd be mean enough to say so?

On the subject of them getting so big, facebook is awesome at making you think "holy hell, where did my baby go and where did this giant person come from?" It's forever saying "look at this picture from two years ago, wouldn't you love to share it all over again?" (to which I always think no, once was enough, what a waste of data potential). Today's picture was of this teeny tiny baby with practically no hair and hardly any teeth and no words and no comedy fart timing and no tantrums and no sleep. Where did she go?

I think we've been wonder weeking recently here. Hard to put into precise words, but the calibre of sentence she's coming out with suggests mental sophistication has been turned up another notch. I have a strong suspicion the interminable whys are just around the corner...

Ok then, tooth 20 is causing a bit of bother. Hopefully ds will take after me and never have to contend with wisdom teeth.

Betty toddlers are better than babies. Yes they are more work but by golly, thevrewards are greater too. Especially when they sleep! How long until you get your husband back from the woes of exam stress?

I can't wait to move ds into his new room. He's currently in the front of the house and I've discovered a potential reason for his early waking: fucking neighbours! Two of them firing up bikes and vans at 5.30, 6 days a week. Add in our cat's morning poo scrabble in the litter tray and suddenly I'm kicking myself for not putting him at the back of the house months ago.

Make sure you do us a picture of ToddlePlonk's new room!

We had a totally unexpected lie in today. FP woke at 6.30, had a drink then called me through to help find her dummy. I did so, and told her to go back to sleep. And she did! First time we've stayed in bed till 9am in a year and a half.

stormy very jealous of your lie in. We was up at 4am with ds. He had a nap at 10.30am though which meant I had a nap too. We are off to a kids birthday party this afternoon. Should be fun.

What theme are you going for plonky?

yummy we've spent the morning at a 2 year old birthday party. It's been messy play themed, and DS is far too clean to enjoy messy play. He stepped over all the paint and steered clear of icing biscuits, opting for plain biscuits instead. That's my boy! Enjoy your party too!

I've surprised myself with how well I've avoided the party food today. I've nibbled on tomatoes, cucumber, grapes and strawberries. I'm dying for a cocktail sausage and millionaire's shortbread

DS's new bedroom will be pirate themed-ish. He has a pirate lightshade and we're going to do one wall in pirate wallpaper. His favourite game is pretending to be a pirate!