June 2013: Here come the terrible twos!

[HungryHorace]

New thread. :-)

Humph. Went to work on my day off and ended up staying til 9pm.

Meant to say Lil had her 27 month check up at the HV last week. Bloody hell what a lot of homework we had to do in advance. 2 massive workbooks full of questions about her. Anyway turns out she's fine and hitting all her development goals. Thankfully I don't think we have to do another one for ages.

My baby girl had her first afternoon at nursery yesterday! She loved it, she possibly loved the chickens they have too much....
Three afternoons starting next week. I was dragging my feet about it all, and then on Thursday had her check up with the hv, so decided to pop into the nursery and see what was what. Wasn't expecting the 'bring her back tomorrow and she can start'. Stayed with her yesterday, mum has to take her in Monday as I'll be at work, and have said its up to her if she stays or goes. Thursday afternoon I'll be child free!!

Her check up went well as well, although apparently she is just below on her fine motor skills because she wouldn't copy the lines drawn - I almost just laughed at it. But didn't, hv asked if it worried me - not in the slightest. Decided not to say that not doing what's expected is kinda normal. She can hold the pencil and is happy doing lots of shapes and lines. And tons of other things so worried us one thing I'm not.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Holidays with two are hard work. I think our first mistake was flying to the canaries instead of Majorca or similar. Trying to keep Polly entertained for four hours was hard work. She wasn't very well either and got really overheated.

On the plus side there is bugger all to do here. I wouldn't like to be sat here looking at lots of must see stuff and not being able to see any of it. By the time everyone is through their naps it's three pm and we have a couple of hours before we have to start thinking of tea. I spend 80pc of my day rubbing sun cream in and changing nappies. Nappies are bloody everywhere! Will she be toilet trained by this time next year?! Bloody hope so!

The best thing is when they are both asleep and I get sunbed time. This makes me happy.

All in all I'd say it's 60/40 fun/stress.

60/40 seems pretty good really! (Or are my standards too low?) We're not long back from a wk on a very remote island. It was a success on the whole. Keeping DS warm in the wind was hard (and he takes hrs to warm up again!) but otherwise it was good. I've had a chest infection for 2 wks which has made life more tiring than I'd like but hey ho :)

I'm impressed by all the checks that have already happened. We have yet to be invited to ours. But DH took DS to be weighed this week as we have finally weaned off ALL reflux medication He's dropped to the 2nd centile now but is still basically in proportion so I'm not worried. and as Sunny & Sunbeam will vouch, I'm no giant myself

Oh, and thanks again for the bedguard Sunny. It was invaluable - the single beds were far too high (big cast iron jobs) so we put a mattress on the floor and used the guard to stop him rolling under the bed.

Bean you should go on holiday with your inlaws. Basically didn't see Lil for the week we were away and had afternoon naps every day!

We had our first proper wee in a potty today. High 5's all round after that one.

Oh and I've just removed from her bed: the entire contents of her bottom drawer including 3 baby blankets, 2 sleeping bags, a jigsaw, a rucksack and a book. The stone she brought back from holidays she deposited in my bed

Oh yeah I am all about holidaying with the grandparents. Have already booked in to go to France with my folks next summer once we have three. Extra bonus is that my dad will do the research then send me a spreadsheet of options so I just have to choose. Win win

I actually wouldn't want anybody to take my children away from me on holiday...working full time (and barely seeing the kids during the week) makes family holidays important family time. Though the chances of going away with either set of parents is probably quite slim!

We had DD's check up at almost exactly 2 years' old as DS was due his 10-12 month check so they did them together. We had no concerns and none were raised, but at this stage every child has its own 'thing', whether it's physical ability, letters, numbers or speech etc, but they all - in the main - even out by the time they go to school. It's a bit early to be concerned!

We didn't bother with the two year check thing. Figure she has constant assessment at nursery and they would raise any concerns.

Holidays with grandparents would not be for me! The idea of spending more than four hours with my mother is frankly horrifying. DH parents both turn seventy next year and there is a suggestion of a big family holiday. With all sisters and children that makes about twenty five people. I shudder at the thought.

Oh god. I'd detest that too...I'd rather poke my eyes out (either side of the family)!

It depends on the grandparents and whether they have the confidence to be with toddlers. My mum joined us for part of the holiday. She didn't spend 1:1 time with DS at all, it would never occur to her to send DH & I off for a couple of hrs, nor would it occur to her to share in the cooking etc. So whilst it was good that she came and she got to spend some prolonged time with DS, it was by no means a break for us. disclaimer: dm has her own complicated set of problems that make this more okay than it might seem at face value!

Yes so far I've only holidayed with my ILs. They're very nice people and because they're not my relatives somehow it forces me to be more conciliatory.

In Oct we're going away with my parents and my sister's family - 10 of us in total. That could be a whole different ballgame. My sister and mum couldn't understand why I suggested the cottage without the open plan living area would be preferable because my sister and her family are VERY LOUD and sometimes i need peace and quiet

Yeah I think I'm pretty lucky. It's a nice balance with my parents, they are keen walkers so often want to go for walks by themselves so we often do our own thing in the day. But equally if DH is working (yes he brings his work on holiday ) they will come and spend the day with me and the kids. We've holidayed with the IL too but then DSIL and family have joined in too and for me that is just too many people.

We go to Italy every June with my in-laws and although they've not yet to date offered to have J so we can have a day in Venice (we holiday on Lido, where Father-in-Law is from) or similar I think that might happen next year as they have just started to have J stay over - twice now - and he's been such an angel that they are under some kind of magic illusion that he's a golden child. Little bugger just behaves really well for them....and not for me! Anyway here's hoping.

If I ever do holiday with my Ma and her husband am sure she'll want to have J to herself, but that's tricky as they don't live in the UK, nor anywhere near, so won't happen for a few years I shouldn't think though she did have J for us for 3 days in March so M and I could hop to Bali, childfree. BLISS.

We are taking J to Stockholm in December for a few days but think I might've already banged on about that, in which case, sorry!

Just got the class list for J's fancy pants classmates at nursery. There's a Bill, so I think Joe will have to be friends with him. Other kids are, amongst others, Cordelia, Wilfred, Matteo, Saskia, Suki, Alexandre (not a spelling error), Ferdinand, Olive, Xander, Massimo, Rafferty, Celeste, Edgar, Christabel, Edgar and Cosmia. Poor, plain Joe!

He starts nursery tomorrow and I am mostly planning how to convince his keyworker he doesn't need a week of 90 min sessions to 'settle in'. He'll be fine with 3hrs from the get-go....

Goodness me rae I know you shouldn't judge a baby by its name but that is a lot of very posh individual names in that list.

So,good news today. I am currently sitting on the sofa having a few minutes down time because my nap refuser is asleep! Second time this week. On both occasions, I have left her in her room, ignored her protestations (she usually just trashes her room plays) and both times she has fallen asleep on the floor behind the door. Maybe we could get into a new routin here! Sadly, I will have to wake her up in 5 min to get her brother from school.

Phew had my scan today and all went well. Measurements also put me forward by another week. Such a relief.

Oh and Aloha we went through a phase of her sleeping behind the door. Daft girl soon realised the bed was more comfy.

I however looked at that list and thought perfectly standard for London. Polly is in with Millicent, Fox, Raven, Tuesday, Gryff, Aubrey, Elody and Jasmine:)

Yay - congrats Sunny!!

There's another kid in the class with the same babe as our dog which, when they call for him in the classroom, gets me mightily confused when a fat tow-headed kid responds instead of a sulky-looking blue whippet!

Congrats sunny, great news. How many weeks does that make you now? I'm 23 weeks now.

Names down here in Hampshire are obviously a bit tamer, although DS has a classmate called Spike! which just makes me think of buffy the vampire slayer

I may have spoken too soon about nap success. Had to wake her for school run and she was horrible till bed time. Put her to bed really early but she messed around for over an hour before sleeping. Of course, all this while DH is away with work, and I can't even drown my sorrows with a glass of wine!

Right, I know it's early but bearing in mind I'll be having a baby just after hopefully not on Christmas, anyone got ideas for Christmas presents for our little darlings?

I have to say we're struggling with baby names but that list really hasn't inspired me. We'd get laughed out the country with some of those.

We've actually had a little think about christmas already. We're trying to avoid big toys as we're running out if space - was actually thinking of getting her a dolly with nappies and bottles to ease her into it

I think we are getting a watch for DD as she's obsessed with numbers / watching the numbers change on a digital clock.

DS is getting a workbench with tools etc.

And a slide between the two of them. To fight over!

Sunny tell the nursery as soon as. They were excellent at doing lots of supported role play with babies etc.

I do worry that if Juno moves out of London she will need to be renamed. Julie? June?

Great news, Sunny.

I've been surprised at how naturally maternal DD is. So unlike me! She comforts DS if he cries and tells me what to do. "Pick him up, Mummy, cuddle him". We were in a waiting room the other day and a baby cried. "The baby needs milk, Mummy", out loud! She puts on a special voice when talking to DS too, like adults tend to do!

We have DD's main present because I bought it for her birthday then decided she had too much with all the garden stuff. A wooden dolls house. It's for me, really. She'd love a watch too as she also likes numbers and is always stealing DH's.

She's also getting another Duplo set. She already has lots but her very favourite is the ice cream set. She spends ages making ice creams and ice lollies for us. There's a similar cake set that I know she'd love, so she's getting that.

I have no idea what DS is getting.

What are your two year olds enjoying on TV at the moment?

We need a wider variety on DVD.

We were walking to tots group and DD said: "are we nearly there yet?". And repeated it most of the way there. When I asked where she'd got that from the reply was "Peppa Pig".

She mainly watches Peppa, Mr Tumble and Alphablocks.

Joe loves Chuggingtons but he can't get enough trains in his life so they're a given. I must admit I kind of like it, it's nice and short but well done and he watches one episode before bed.

He's not really got much other opportunities to watch tv but I am guessing now we are heading into the SHITE SHITE GAH I HATE IT weather that the mid-late afternoon hours will become punctuated with some tv-provided entertainment. He saw Peppa Pig at a friend's house and now if you sing 'Peeeeeppa Pig!' at him he snorts and I'm afraid it cracks me up. Apparently he asked DH last night (I'm working up in Bristol so not home) 'please snort snort' and took DH a while to figure out what he meant.

We did have a Waybuloo period but he seems past that now.

Peppa amuses me. We get a lot of 'deeelicious' and 'disgusting'. She seems to really enjoy it along with Ben and Holly which she thinks is Ben and Polly of course. Frozen still popular. Gruffalo download also a fave.

Back from holiday now. My verdict is that decent holidays won't happen until naps no longer feature. You can't really go anywhere with loads to do. Luckily we were somewhere with little to do and it would have been stressful if not. Not really sure why we bothered as Both children so delighted to be home . Literally jumping up and down with joy. Though saying that she did seem to enjoy the swimming pool and beach a lot. She missed her nap with no world ending consequences which I was pleased to note. Obviously the small one can't possibly miss her nap so we are still tied down but it's nice to see that the big one can be flexible:) even if her parents can't!

Christmas; I think a kitchen would go down well. Can't see the point in buying Juno anything. Can I just wrap up Pollys old toys?!?