June 2013 - the terrible twos aren't so terrible

[Biscuitswithtea]

Here goes with a new thread!

Oh I wish I could make clothes!

Hope you and baby are doing well, Sunny.

On the clothes thing I just end up buying the same stuff over and over in bigger sizes. Reduces the drama. Nursery clothes are absolutely destroyed so a uniform of blue leggings and assorted t shirts does the job, mixed in with party dresses which she likes wearing. If I have to get two small people out the house in the morning I can't be doing with a debate about what is being worn!

Cup and HH; have you tried the nappy fairy? I'm not sure if someone suggested it on here but that's what we did. Explained that the nappy fairy would come and take the wake up nappies away but would leave her night night ones. She was absolutely fine with this as a concept and understood once the fairy had been she had to use the loo. Just an idea.

No ideas what to do about the bed and sleeping bag thing. In time I guess she will be too big for a cot and a sleeping bag which will force the issue. Have you tried the princess Polly books on big girl bed and toilet training? May have been more effective with Polly for obvious reasons! If you go away and there is no cot that might also help by forcing the issue? Also maybe try removing her nap as if she's shattered she will sleep anywhere! We had far more problems with running around when she was in a cot bed. An actual full size big girl bed made her feel so very grown up and she always stays in it. Well eventually. After a quick lap at the very least.

I hadn't heard of the nappy fairy idea - I like it. However I have just mentioned the nappy fairy's existence to DD and explained what she does and her response was "That's not good. That makes me sad". I get the feeling she'll be telling everyone about it, I'd better mention it to DH!

Thanks for the advice and ideas. She has the Polly book (and another) on toilet training but they haven't helped (she knew what we were hinting at with them and wasn't having any of it). She loved the big sister Polly book. Will consider the big bed version but as she doesn't want to be a big girl it'll probably be as successful as the potty one!

She didn't nap yesterday due to the bed and so was exhausted at bedtime but still wouldn't sleep in it. I think she would have gone on for a few more hours! She's a terror when tired - she really needs her nap!

DS was funny about cot sides for ages. We took them off in the early summer and he howled, sounding terrified by the 'freedom', as soon as they went back up he was more relaxed. A couple of months later we tried again and he was fine. We haven't perfected the art of leaving him in his room before he goes to sleep but he tends to nod off during stories anyway. His two bedtime quirks are: falling asleep on the floor by choice (I blame all the nursery naps that are done on the floor) and the duvet is BAD. So he wears a long sleeved popping vest, pjs and slipper socks to bed. which is normally fine but boiler still goosed so house is brrrrrrrr

Good to know that he was fine when you tried again (and that we don't have the only child who likes being imprisoned!). DD is so easy in her cotbed (with sides on!) and goes straight to sleep when we leave her so I really hope that continues once she's happy with the idea of not having sides on! I'm not sure how the duvet will work either as she sleeps in strange positions but we will give that a go first now. She naps with, just her clothes on (no sleeping bag etc) so I don't care what she has as long as she goes to sleep!

DD isn't that bothered about fairies, so I'm not sure if that trick would work with her. We've tried sticker rewards and bribery with no result and the Polly book didn't help either!

Cup, DD also doesn't want to grow up. If we try to tell her that she's a big girl now, she cries and says 'No, me small.'

With the clothes she has looked at them and told us she likes them. I even got a 'Well done, mummy!' for getting nice stuff. But as soon as you try to put it on her she's a nightmare with 'Me not like it!'

I think we've just bred a bloody stubborn one!

At least she just stayed in her single bed without issue. Always a bonus to have one thing go smoothly!

I think for future reference naming your child Polly may be helpful if you want those books to have appeal:)

What about being a big girl is appealing? What swung it for Polly was watching Matilda a few months ago. She really really wants to go to school now, always pointing out 'her' school and getting excited about all the things she would learn. We told her she had to wear pants and be a big girl to go to school and that swung it. Literally from then onwards she used the loo no issue.

DD has no interest in fairies either and I don't think that'll change after hearing about the nappy one :D We've tried stickers too; she'll go on the loo every now and again to get a sticker but not regularly.

I'm glad it's not just DD, hungry! They are still young.

I've told her the same thing re having to wear knickers and go to the toilet to be able to go to school (we walk past the local one regularly) but it hasn't made a difference. She also loves her older cousins but knowing that they use the toilet isn't enough either (though she mentions it enough!).

DD even says that it's 'my potty.' But ask her if she wants to sit on it and you get s vehement 'No!!' Stubborn, I tell you!

Hello hello! Think I'm caught up!

Toilet training went amazingly smoothly back in October - I just brought a load of cheap knickers and had a week of a lot of washing and some throwing away! Thankfully dd wants to be a 'big girl' and is constantly saying she is a 'big girl, not a baby' so perhaps that swung it. She is equally happy in the toilet or the potty. I still have the potty out downstairs and she'll happily go use it and then waddle out with her trousers round her legs to tell me she's done a wee!

She is in a single bed too. Sleeps far better in it than she did her cot. I do still have a baby gate on her door - I don't use it, but if she is in a in&out mood I tell her I'll shut the gate which she hates and will then stay put. She will come in beside me some nights, but resettles and sleeps - that's fine by me!

I've just handed my notice in for the job I've been doing for 9 years - new job ready to go and should be much better all ways round for me, but still a bit nerve wracking.

Good lot of updates to read here! Glad to hear that there are some other non toilet trained kiddos in our group. We haven't tried very hard with this yet due to lack of interest from DS but need to get on with it.
We tried to take the cot sides off about 6 mths ago and it was disastrous but are planning to give it another go as from next week. Bedtime can still take hours and he's often not asleep till almost 10pm so who knows how that will go. How on earth does anyone get their kid to just lie down and go to sleep?! The holy grail.
We have no clothing disputes though - DS just accepts whatever is put on him. Boys ! We haven't ever bought big batches of new stuff for him - bits and pieces only, supplemented by hand-me-downs from his cousin and gifts. Think we've been lucky in that way.

Sorry, think I killed the thread!

Ha ha you didn't. Just didn't think you'd all want to hear my ramblings about newborns! I'm running out of things to read on the Internet whilst being trapped under a boob monster baby

I want to hear your ramblings! How is it going? Does Lily love her baby sister ?

Well until this morning I thought I had the mythical beast that is an angel baby that would settle well and sleep between feeds. Until last night that is when the monster awoke and declared she couldn't possibly sleep without mummy's boob in her mouth. Oh the joy!

Just popped on here to catch up. Congratulations sunny. Glad you had a good labour, and welcome to the world Beatrice.

So after my last moan about my difficult daughter, things are so much better now. I don't think we are doing much different parenting wise other than carrying on with what we were doing before , I just think she's getting older and leaving some difficult behaviours behind. She's by no means easy, but not having daily battles over getting in the car seat, cleaning teeth, etc etc life just seems so much easier.

As for clothes, I let her choose clothes in shops now and what to wear. MIL has bougth her nice dresses before and they have not been worn even once. Even if I manage to persuade physically force her to wear something, she will just take it off so there is no point.

Our biggest difficulty of late is bedtime as she can now open her bedroom door. This means lots of faffing around, opening the door etc at bed time. Part of the problem is she's tired and when she's tired she gets hyper, but she goes to bed 6-6.30 as it is, and I can't see us managing to make that any earlier. We've had a few major tantrums recently due to tiredness, but I really don't see how we can avoid it. She doesn't nap, and I can't enforce a rest. She's on the go all the time and the only way to get her to sit down is to watch TV, but that doesn't always work. Anyway I'm hoping the tend will continue and she'll leave her terrible twos firmly behind her.

Baby is fine, pretty chilled, thank goodness. Only room for one demanding child in this house. Hope you're coping with your new additon Sunny. Was there someone else pregnant or did I get that wrong? I lost track of the subsequent babies,..

Glad things have settled down a bit Aloha :) l think I'm the only pregnant one at the mo??

I'm impressed by all these clothes choosing toddlers. DS is only interested in choosing socks. The rest is irrelevant to him. We let him choose pjs in John Lewis recently and that frankly wasn't really worth the fuss!

We're starting to think about what we might need for sprog #2. Last time we borrowed a moses basket. Which looked cute but DS didn't really like and wasn't convincingly comfy. We saw in a shop today a Snuzpod. It looks LOVELY. But jolly expensive. Has anyone used anything like it? Was it worth it?

We used the Chicco Next to Me this time around and absolutely loved it. We went for that particular one as it seemed quite a bit larger than the alternatives; whereas with the others you are apparently lucky to get to 6 months it lasted us till 9 months with an above average length baby. Was a great travel crib too.

Forgot to say that we used a Sleepyhead inside it to make it extra cosy.

Yup we've just invested in the Chicco Next to Me when it looked like we had another moses basket refuser. I highly recommend it Biscuits. It takes up as much room as the moses basket but should tide us over for longer.

We had a baby bay. Amounts to much the same thing. I loved it. Co sleeping without the risk. As this is a second baby you will rapidly realise they need very little and that we went totally overboard with the first babies:)

That's really helpful. Thanks. We need v little. Mostly because babies don't need much and also we kept everything from DS. However, I'm keen (within reason) to explore a couple of options that could make our lives significantly easier. A baby who sleeps not on us would be a start! We need to move our bedroom around before baby arrives so will see what would fit between my side and the wall. We can easily fit the cot at the end of the bed later on but I'm not keen on that for early weeks/months. A friend recommended a Sleepyhead also Cup, we may consider that also.

At the end of the day a co-sleeper is prob pretty similar to the next one and personal preferences means that one trumps the other...

I had a look at eBay and reckoned if we didn't get on with it we could sell it easily for a decent amount so it would only be a small investment if it went wrong. I think NCT also have a rental scheme if you don't want to buy.

Aloha - we've swapped with you. Lily is pressing buttons quite successfully right now. She's had 3 time outs just today. Before baby she averaged 1 a week!

Yeah, I did that too Sunny. It's hard to justify that much money on something that only might help...but if we know that co sleepers re-sell fairly well then it reduces the gamble factor!

Is Lily adjusting to her new role of big sis maybe? (And a bit bamboozled as a result...)

I bought a snuzpod for this first and last baby. I love it! Great for the extra space compared to a Moses basket so it buys us more time before we have to turf DD out of her cot. Plus as others have said they have good resale value. As you say, the bedside cots are probably all very similar. I think the only thing worth checking is how easy they are to attach to the bed and how easy to put the sides up and down once attached. I love how easy it is to put the baby up and down as well (but then I always had Moses basket on the floor for the others).