January 2014: And then they were two! A new year and new tantrums as we welcome the terrible twos.

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New thread.

We are just doing a birthday party at nursery because I am quite lazy and N doesn't really have friends his own age except at nursery. Am going to take in a yoghurt cake and a fruit platter and that's it. I am not doing presents because we are probably leaving Egypt at the beginning of Feb.

Hope P and M have a great party.

N is supposed to be Santa in the Christmas show, which I don't think will end well. He hates being on the stage!

No Christmas words here yet, but he does walk about saying 'Oh Dear!' all the time. Not sure why. He also cries for biscuits off the Christmas tree and then loudly and deliberately spits them out on the floor.

N sounds very festive altered I love the idea of him being Father Christmas, and will be requiring photos of him in costume please.

Are you going back to France? Will you miss Egypt? It has always sounded like a very difficult place for you to live. All very exciting.

P has developed a hacking cough, just in time for the Christmas concert I'm taking her to tomorrow morning. Typical!

DD is a big fan of advent calendars too, Book. She has one here, one at dad's and one at MIL's! She eats so much junk in Devon.

We're going down tomorrow to stay for Christmas, I'm so excited. Only just got back from staying there whilst DH was skiing, but its so nice to have others to watch L when I'm exhausted!

Hope all the move preparations go well altered. We're moving in march, but only 2 hours away to somerset. Will be good to be closer to family when baby is born in may!

I've got L some small presents, her main birthday present will be a clinging frame but we're not going to buy it until we move (incase they put us in a flat!)

Yes book, we are going back to France. Mostly for the cheese. Not super timing for a (so far) unemployed veiled foreigner to rock up alone with two small children but I think it will work out. I can't wait to have parks nearby again! There are two gardens within 5 minutes of the flat and a playback about 10 minutes away. DD will also have free schooling. We currently have the dubious honour of paying 4500 euros a year for a French state education which will be 9000 euros once N starts in 18 months.

Thanks GunShot. I hope your move to Somerset goes well and you have a lovely garden for the climbing frame. I am a bit rubbish and only hung up the (empty) advent calendar yesterday. DD hasn't realised it is supposed to have things in the pockets yet so she is well behind the curve!

After the last show I got three photos of Nour in various stages of rage and despair. Hopefully the Santa ones will be better!

We could definitely use a clinging frame!
We took H sledging on Sun, not realising he was brewing another chesty cold. Me trudging in the snow carrying a reluctant snow-suited toddler which is like trying to carry 15kg of greased pig was fun for all. We did visit the reindeer though and that perked him up a bit. Advent calender chocs currently being used as a bribe for inhaler
Bought an unnecessary amount of little sweets/chocs to decorate my planned birthday train cake for Tues. I suspect it'll be a load of cake crumbs decorated with sweets but hey ho.

Hello all! I've just caught up with loads of posts.

Altered so nice to see you're moving back. I'm sure your DD will be delighted! It sounds like it will be lovely for you too.

S has her second birthday tomorrow!! I can't believe how fast it's come around. DP is currently building a balance bike in the living room which is her main present. She 100% won't know what to do with it but she liked the bell on the one in the bike shop so it's a start We are going to a place called Tropical World tomorrow, where they have aquariums and meerkats etc so S will love it.

Hope you're all prepared for Christmas and have a wonderful time.

Happy birthday S! We absolutely love Tropical World Felix, it's one of our favourite places. Hope you have a lovely day.

Sounds like we have a few I'll toddlers. A has a cough and covers anything I wear in snot after about 10 mins . Hope everyone is better for Friday! I am a mix of anticipation and dread. Convinced dh that it would be nice for us to go to his mum's this year before staying at home from next year when A is a bit older. She was over the moon but has now invited tonnes of people that A doesn't know, so there's a fair chance he will freak out and be really clingy. Will be interesting!

Happy Birthday S and to puggle's H!

How did the train cake come out puggle? I hope both of them enjoyed their presents. I second the call for clinging frames. N is unreal!

The Christmas show went quite well. N was a bit ill but didn't cry and sat being Father Christmas in his sleigh. The trouble started when the 'real' Santa came to hand out presents and when N's name was called he screamed "No! No! No!". He refused to take the present or look at Santa which made the other kids a bit suspicious too.

Christmas is going a bit wrong here. Both kids are ill and missed the last day of school. Antibiotic injections all round until Christmas Eve! Dd is worst off but seems a bit better today. Meanwhile everything DD wants from Santa is out of stock. Argh.

Happy Christmas everyone and hope you all have an enjoyable and stress free time on Christmas Day.

Happy birthday S!

We're having a hectic christmas, early morning at MIL's, then to dad's to open some presents before church, then lunch with dad. Going back to MIL's for tea and then on to an auntie's for games and some supper! Going to be very tired and fat

Hope everyone has a great week!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hi all. Dropped off the postnatal thread a very very long time ago.
After returning to work full time in January and then moving jobs in Feb (hoped to get a bit better balance working longer hrs mon-thurs but having Fri pm off - this didn't work and has just meant I am shattered and dd is still in nursery until later pm so she naps plus I don't finish earlier enough to not go into the pm session) life has been tough.
Aurelia just turned 2 on Xmas eve and is mostly a delight. Some tantrums but she is such a giggling chatterbox that it makes life worthwhile.
Dh started a new teaching job in Sept after being at an awful school which was failing before he started and he walked into a mess (that's 4 jobs in 4 years now) and then he got sacked at his new job due to horrific, inaccurate references from the job he left. I thought teaching was a stable career..... Turns out it's not.
Still working with the union to see what they can do as last school is unable to provide evidence but it's ruined his life at the moment.
About to start Jan with A in nursery while dh searches for work with only 1 salary coming in.
Really want a better year to the last as marriage almost fell apart in summer after dh got too close to a colleague (emotional affair ish) and job loss means no second child for the foreseeable future like we hoped.
Hate my job and looking for something new (obviously wasn't planning on being there long and having a 2nd child but now all change)
Hope others have been doing well.

That all sounds very hard frizz, fingers crossed that 2016 is a better year for you both.

How did Christmas go for everyone? Ours was nice and quiet. P got a toy kitchen and a doll in a pram (way to battle those gender stereotypes eh!) She spent xmas day trying to potty train her doll, but it isn't the sort that wees so she didn't have much luck. Not much else to report here. I've just realised that her birthday and party are next weekend and I will need to make a cake. Luckily Toby is doing everything else for the party, which will enable me to massively overthink and ruin the cake in style

P has finally started to talk a bit more, which is great. I'd thought it might help make her a bit less stroppy, but if anything I'd say we've gone quite the other way. She is obsessed with eggs, and basically just demands Kinder all the time. She can't even eat the chocolate! She just like unwrapping them I think, and watching other people unwrap them on You Tube. She is still banging on the fridge until I let her cuddle the real eggs as well. Little freak.

Hi frizz It's good to hear from you, and sorry you have been having such a hard time. DH has been struggling at work here too and it really messes up the whole family. Here's to a better year ahead!

Christmas was all right here, but DD was still a bit ill so cabin fever took hold in a major way this past week. N celebrated his birthday at nursery, which was nice, and they made him a crown and a big poster. He is moving class to start in the French section on Sunday. I hope he won't be too sad or unsettled.

If you could send P over to potty train N book, that would be much appreciated. He definitely does pee and poo, but not on the toilet. That seems to be for singing on. I have given up for the moment. He also shares her affinity for kinder eggs, but he is only interested in the chocolate. I am eagerly awaiting Easter on P's behalf. Can you hard boil a few eggs and keep them in the fridge for cuddling purposes?

Okay altered, I'll get P to unwrap the Kinder eggs and send them over to N, then he can send the toys back. My house is full of tiny bits of plastic tat now. Easter will be tricky if she isn't on the dairy by then. Last year we had to leave a playgroup early because they had made a lovely egg hunt, but all the eggs were chocolate and all the children got a big Easter egg at the end. I did catch her eating a bit of Kinder egg the other day. When I took it away she just wandered about rubbing her tummy and saying "mmmmmmmm" for ages. No terrible reaction either, just some spots and a bit of constipation, so maybe by March she'll be a fully fledged chocolate eater. She's quite good with the real eggs - no major accidents yet! She even only cooks pretend eggs in her play kitchen. If only she'd eat the buggers it would all be worth it...

I hope N's move goes okay. I am still dithering about sending P to the nursery at the end of the road for 2 sessions a week. I think I'll need it if she's going to be a proper tantrumming toddler now though!

Book S also watches those surprise egg videos on YouTube! We can't even work out how she managed to find them in the first place but she loves it. Bizarre children.

Hi Frizz. Hope this year is a bit better for you! Sounds like it's been tough recently.

We have had a nice birthday/Christmas/new year. DP has been off over all three so it's been good to spend some time together.

Hey Book and Frizz and Felix and Altered. I never knew watching people open Kinder eggs was a thing. I used to love them but usher H past at a pace to minimise tears regarding the dairy.
Hope you have better 2016 Frizz
Book - how is Toby? Say hi from us (and apologies if she is still on the thread, just haven't seen her for ages)

This year I am going to -
try and get on the bloody milk ladder
Keep the bedtime routine
Potty training......in the summer. H screams if I bring the potty near him but will wee quite happily on the floor.

Arse. About 15 little spots have appeared, 1 or 2 look blistery. I think we have the pox!

Hello Swanny! That sucks about the spots. How is he today and is it the dreaded pox?

I wish I had a bedtime routine. It keeps going to pot because DD demands so much attention and keeps waking N up and getting him excited when I am trying to put him down. I am also failing miserably on the weaning front, and he seems permanently glued to my lap. I have never seen such a clingy child! Unless he is on my lap trying to gain access, he is glued to the floor with DM sad face on in protest at my perceived tyranny. It's like turning two flipped a switch in his brain which is now stuck on tantrum.

Nursery is seriously out of favour now that he has changed class and they keep speaking to him in French. He is not impressed apparently, and just sits there giving them "the look". It's worse than when he started full time in September.

On a positive note, it doesn't seem like he is allergic to bananas any more and has been chomping on them happily. Only eggs to go now.

book I would do it. DD was a bit similar to P personality wise and benefitted a lot from a few mornings a week at the Halte Garderie at this age. She cried the first couple of sessions but it was good for her and she started talking a lot more and being more sociable with strangers once she did.

DH is is Paris this week and Monoprix have 70% off every second box of kinder eggs. We have not told DD, as her life's dream is to live in a country with kinder eggs. We get the kinder chocolate bars here but not the eggs because they just melt. We have kinder joy eggs instead, which is wafer with nutella and two little chocolates inside.

Our move to France is delayed until the summer. It is just too hard to leave PIL alone and it seems unneccesary to disrupt DD mid year. We may change plans and come to the UK instead, as we have a few offers of accommodation and DD has declared a deep hatred of French which she has kept up for a few months. She isn't even using it that much at school as she has taught her friends enough English so she doesn't need to speak in French. N doesn't seem keen either and I think it might be easier for me to live in my home country again. It would complicate things a little for DH but he seems enthusiastic too, as he likes being close to my family. I would quite like to stay with my brother in Scotland, but depends on jobs and DCs getting on with their cousins. I have romantic notions of going hillwalking every weekend and teaching DD to ride a bike.

Hey altered if you saw my bedtime routine you would laugh. It is essentially - try and wrangle child into jammies in front of kids Tv. Get bored of kids Tv, switch channels and announce its story time. Get bored of story time, announce - one more then bed. Feed to sleep after big drama over teeth. I only have one to wrangle with too
I'm assuming that this is some crazy phase with feeding toddlers - mine is boob obsessed at the minute - even wanting to have both out so he can bob between them
Superspotty here now, and super itchy. Met friends on Sun so have had an accidental pox party.
Sounds difficult altered - and must be frustrating to think you're moving and then to not move too. Come to Scotland - yay!

Oh no Swanny! That is no good. I think they don't advise putting anything on the spots now, right? I hope there is something that can help with the itching though. Poor H. DCs here have been immunised but I still worry they might catch it anyway.

I'm relieved that it isn't just N who is boob crazy. I can't believe it, as he was so take it or leave it when he was a baby and now that he is a toddler he has totally changed. I suppose I'll be weaning him when he starts p1.

The decision to wait was mostly mine. N has become much more difficult to manage all of a sudden so I lost my nerve! If we go in the summer we will be together so hopefully much easier. It's the fifth anniversary of the revolution coming up, and things are a bit tense, so I may well change my mind depending on events! So far just a lot of shutting down of journalists and students and the usual threats delivered with a smile so I don't suppose it will come to much, but it is clear that the authorities are worried.

Happy Orthodox Christmas!

I hope you will all bear with me while I have a bit of a rant. I don't really want to start a separate thread about this but it really pissed me off.

The day before yesterday the cleaner came and she usually spends about 6 to 7 hours cleaning and tidying the house. This week I told her to come a bit later because I would be out doing the nursery run at her usual start time of 8:30am.

As luck would have it, FIL turned up out of the blue at 11am to install a new toilet. The cleaner had brought her 7 yo son because he had had a test at school and they had sent them home at 10am. The driver who normally picks him up had had a breakdown and couldn't do it, so she picked him up from school and brought him with her.

She tried to hide her DS from FIL because PIL don't like her bringing her kids. She very very rarely does this, in fact this was the first time I had met her 7yo. DD was playing in her room, so she shut the door as the two were playing together happily. DD is 5.

FIL had a bit of a grumble about her DS being there and then left with DD as we had no usable toilet for the rest of the day with no notice.

Yesterday evening when I went over to PIL MIL had a real go at me saying that FIL was very angry and how could I do something like that, and that if I am not capable of keeping the cleaner in her place then she would have to deal with her directly. The cleaner is really reliable and honest, is always ready to do extra tasks as I need and is generally nice. I don't have a problem with her bringing her sons as one off occurrences when she has a problem. They are polite and clean and don't break anything, DD also likes playing with them.

MIL said that this was completely intolerable as they are from a different social environment (i.e. not the same social class) and that they were raised in the street so can't be trusted to be clean and that he could have done anything to DD when they were in the room alone. Also that as he is 7 he can look after himself and should have walked home alone and played in the street until the cleaner finished around 5. They are 5 and 7 so I think this is patently ridiculous. I really wanted to point out that she and FIL are from farily low socioeconomic backgrounds and by her logic DH and his brothers would never have been allowed to play with the neighbours but realised that this would be a step too far.

I know that class is treated differently here, but I dont see the harm in treating other people as humans. The cleaner has never changed her behaviour according to how I treat her and has not become unreliable when rewarded as sometimes happens. I just felt so angry and hopeless that 1. At the age of 33 I will never be trusted to manage my own affairs. This is an especially bitter pill for me because I was living without my family abroad at the age of 17. and 2. That we seem blind to each others' humanity.

Aargh. How can people be like this? PIL know the cleaner very well and like her a lot. They have known her for at least 3 years.

That's horrible altered I would have no problem at all with what you've done and can see why you're so frustrated with oil both for your cleaner's sake and for the fact you've been told off like a child by them too.

Thanks Swanny. Sorry for the last post, it was very long and ranty! It really gets my goat though, especially when the cleaner is so nice. MIL now thinks all the toys need to be disinfected.

How is H today? I hope the itchiness is wearing off a bit and he is more comfortable.

N is safely in front of Peppa Pig and I am drinking a much needed coffee and giving instructions to DH about how many kinder eggs to buy.

I fell off the thread again!

frizz, i hope this year's better for you!

altered your poor cleaner, for you for having to deal with your MIL about it. Good luck with planning the move, we go in 6 weeks and is so stressful. And we're only going 100 miles!

L is 2 on Wednesday, I can't believe how fast it's gone! I hope everyone else has/has had good birthdays.

Happy Birthday to L for tomorrow GunShot.

Move is going to be the summer now I think so still safely in denial!