November 2014 - The one where they outrun us!

[MrsAukerman]

New thread ladies.

Yep, know what you mean porsmork and anna...sometimes dd is absolutely fine pottering around on her own; other times you'd have thought the world is ending if I don't pick her up immediately . We're definitely trying NOT to always react to those mini-meltdowns as we want her to realise that she can't always have her own way (and tbh, after 2 mins of full on wailing, she tends to have forgotten what she was crying about in the 1st place and wanders off to find something)...

Another one with zero interest in talking, but she does understand loads - can point to her hair, ears, mouth, nose and hands when asked - Anna, you must have been SO chuffed at the waving! It's the small things, right?! Yesterday when I picked her up from nursery she managed to make her way to me from right across the other side of the room without falling over - that's a first!

Lol havent, I do love that manic way they charge across the room to you at pick up time, whether it's crawl or stagger or whatever!

posmorck don't beat yourself up at feeling fed up. The days are long especially at this age when it's full on and they don't have great attention spans. Dd is back to freaking out during nappy changes which is a real pain. Also refused her dinner the last two nights which is very unlike her. Pottering in the garden is great anna, it's good that you should be able to dump him out there a bit more as your pregnancy progresses. I used to dump dd1 out the back on summer afternoons and just sort of hide with a cup of tea. You have to pick a spot you can see them from but if they see you getting too comfy it's game over!

On talking, it's the receptive language that's the important thing right now. No rush. It always amazes me how much they understand. Do any of you have that Julia Donaldson book Paper Dolls? There's a refrain in it that goes 'oh no no no!' And dd waves her finger about and says 'ah ah ah' which I find really cute. She also does a big dirty laugh during parts of it.
So her receptive language is incredible but she's not really chatting much herself yet. All in good time.

halfstar that's cute about your DD joining in with the book. I read that book in the library and really liked it but couldn't persuade DD1 to bring it home. My DD tells the cats off. Whenever they stand on the table or start clawing the furniture (which is most of the time) she points at them, shakes her head and goes no no. Well, she can't quite say no properly but that is definitely what the almost-no sound means.

This week the non-sleeping wonderchild has tried a variety of tricks. On Wednesday she woke up at 4.30am, so I was up for 2hrs before leaving to run a ward for 13hrs. She apparently had about 40mins nap. On Thursday she woke up at 5am and napped for about 30mins. Last night she woke up at 12.30 for 2hrs. Well, she did go to sleep in those 2hrs and even went back in the cot but woke again before I fell back to sleep. I thought she would sleep in this morning but she was awake when I got up at 7 to get DD1 ready for school. I don't know how she is still alive, as I nearly dropped dead from exhaustion, but she is still standing and still walking and even has suddenly gone from having to hold both hands to walk to only needing to hold one of my fingers. Today she fell asleep in the pushchair on the way to school and I actually almost cried because I was so tired and couldn't even sit down while she slept. The only-slightly-bright bright side is that she is sleeping for a few hours at a time rather than waking every hour or 2 and is mostly sleeping in her cot rather than on me. However, she is so tired we are having epic rages where she just cries and screams inconsolably while hitting herself and anyone else with no apparent trigger. She wants to be picked up but then she doesn't, she doesn't want me or her dad or anyone near her but she doesn't want to be on her own either. There is nothing to be done. I eventually give up and feed her to sleep while wondering what on earth the terrible twos will be like if this is her now, and DH puts in the cot to cry herself to sleep.

Well we ordered baby glasses take a week to come I really don't loike them. Also had first hair cut and cut his huge mop of curls off and he no longer looks like a baby :(

Noooooo! That's such a shame. Are you stuck with them?

DS hasn't that much hair at all so it's clearly not something we're going to have to deal with for a long time - I dread it!

Oh no eastmids! Do you think you will be able to get used to them? Glasses + haircut is a radical change at first.

Thanks everyone for your kind words, that and a day out in London with an old school friend has cheered me up. She encouraged me to think about what else I can do apart from being a mum. So I've registered my interest in a couple of volunteering jobs. Hopefully I will be able to take ds along to them!
Ds is currently into reading the runaway train by Benedict blathwayt. Lovely illustrations, but morally questionable. In summary; driver wakes up late, drives train to station, forgets to put on brake so train runs away full of passengers, he eventually gets onto the train by jumping off a helicopter, then spends his afternoon at the beach eating ice cream before driving the train home. In rl, there would be national outrage, in baby world, they all live happily ever after! Wonder what other questionable storylines will emerge along the way...?

We pick glasses up next sat choice for babies is rubbish really and I supposed I don't like he has to have them.

Hi everyone. I've not had time to type any more than a quick sentence or two for ages.
Ds continues to wake one to three times a night and I work full time so have been pretty pooped. DH is at work right now and instead of abandoning ds while he naps I'm staying put and chilling out rather than doing dishes or cooking. We currently have a canine cutting through, a chesty cough and perhaps the start of conjunctivitis! Woo! Lots of walking, climbing, running, putting brand new books in the bin and general mischief here. He spent about Sunday 30 mins this morning climbing on the coffee table, doing a jig then doing a 'trustfall' into DH's arms. V cute.
Welcome back annatha and welcome posmark.
You people making more babies already are clearly insane but welcome anyway.
Not many words here, no, uh-oh and daaaa mainly but we think he's started with yeah recently too.
Shame about the glasses east but could be temporary at this age.

Anyone else raising a kamakaze child? I already had to get her down from the top of the clothes dryer after she climbed up the racks yesterday and now she's running from one end of the bath to other then launching herself to grab the edge and then slide back into the water. It's utterly terrifying. She thinks it's hilarious.

MrsA I feel your pain, we were back to hourly wake ups a couple of weeks ago but now twice nightly which I can cope with. but winder if the elusive 'through the night' will ever happen

DD is now able to climb onto the sofa. Bugger. She sits looking pleased with herself then stands up and bounces thanks to in laws and my dad showing her how and almost walked backwards off it yesterday.

Oh yep climbing everything despite not walking independently we have ?little child table and chairs in kitchen in climbs onto chairs so worried he will fall omn hard tiled floor we are sure an a&e trip is inevitable

We have a coffee table in fromt of the TV. 3 times yesterday I found him crawling on it. FFS!

This morning DH is here and I am officially having the morning off. Meeting a friend for coffee at 11 and dont have to come home till 1 when I'll take over till bedtime. Shame about the morning sickness but you cant have it all!

Lots of standing up at the end of the sofa and free falling here as well. That one time we miss to catch her, she will be bang on the floor. And she likes to stand up in the bath, but doesnt slide back to water ladydolly, not yet anyway.
Our crap nights have stopped, couple of quick feeds but otherwise pretty perfect nights. Yeah, I wonder if the infamous 'sleep through' is ever going to happen here...

We are off to visit DH family on the weekend, so there is a 'going out' without DD on cards. Also we both have taken a day off following week to have a day in London, just two of us while DD will be in nursery. I think i will have couple more days like that squerreled away, so that I can have a day where I go to museums, galleries, shops, nice lunch without having DD in toll. I've always used holidays to travel, but now this sounds really exciting. :)

Well I have to update that "Operation Nap Nazi" sadly has turned out to make zero difference.

The cycle remains: a few nights sleeping through, we get our hopes up, then we have a bad few nights of everyone being awake for several hours in the early hours. I'm marking them on the calendar and in February we had about 10 bad nights in total. So no improvement.

However our attitude towards it has changed. We've realised that nothing we do or dont do makes any difference so we're less fraught about it. We've just accepted it as part of life. I would like it to have stopped by the time the next one comes but I know that may not have happened. Oh well.

It's not fair! I had barely any sleep on Saturday night. DD was in our bed, coughing and moaning, and DH slept on the settee. Last night I worked a crazy busy shift, literally didn't sit down and had no time to eat anything, but DD went to sleep for DH without screaming and crying, slept until 3am, complained briefly, then slept in our bed until it was time to get up. It has been many days since she slept so well when I was at home. I was back to just about crying I was so tired yesterday, and even when she was asleep I was awake worrying about what the dentist will do about the part of one of my teeth that fell off on Friday :(
The upside of night shifts is that it is now my bedtime and the house is empty, only cats are here to potentially wake me up for the next few hours.

happy did you get some sleep?

I'm away with work, out for dinner last night, lots of wine, 6 straight hours sleep and a swim this morning. Feels like a holiday! Weird that only 2 years ago this was normal everyday life I think DP struggled to get her to bed last night, I'm waiting for the final update. I've not brought the breast pump with me, feels a little full this morning, wonder what a few days 'off' will do... I'd really love to give up night bf but not sure she'll accept only daytime, I might just have to give it up all together.

strawberry read your post before travelling through london and felt inspired, I think I might do the same thing!

Fuck off you bastarding coughs! Seriously I've had enough of them by now. DD awake for 2.5 hours last night. Teeth might have been an issue too as fingers were shoved in mouth.

Lady that sounds tres civilised. I've never stayed in a hotel on my own since having children but I'm pretty sure I would LOVE IT. Hope your boobs aren't too sore whatever happens. Strawberry - I'm 100% with you. Days off to do grown-up stuff on your own are just the best.

lady I'm jealous. I wish my job let me go to hotels and sleep and go out for dinner instead of making me work 12hrs through the night without chance to sit down, eat or have a drink! There is a thread in Chat about someone who has the early Mothers Day present of 2 nights in her own in a hotel to sleep and read and be by herself. It sounded like an amazing present, but I would feel guilty as I spend so many bedtimes away from DDs because of work that I probably wouldn't enjoy it.

happy I do have those days aswell but not as often as you. We do appreciate you!!

I read the chat post as well. When dd was in her sleep regression I used to daydream about 24 hours in a hotel on my own. Today I can't wait to get back to her.

Anyone else have crap disorganised days where the kids get fed ready brek for dinner? I have mashed some avocado in to make myself feel better.

I often used to think I may as well be back night nannying I would get more sleep. Now we get occasionally wake up between bed and 2am and then most nights woken at 4.30/5 n he goes back down dh does first wake up I do the early morning one if its too near 5.30 its a struggle to get him back down

Halfstar I suspect DS is half fish finger at this stage. Bunging a few in the microwave is my emergency default when the nice proper dinner has been flung away with a huge tantrum.

The other day he had a full blown hysterical crying fit over mashed potato and gravy! WTF?? In the end he took it after I dipped his dummy in it several times and he twigged it wasn't ACTUAL POISON.

Then last night he shocked us all by gobbling down a huge portion of chicken tikka masala! It makes no sense!

Dd eats beans on toast for dinner way more regularly than she should.

At 'actual poison'! I can never under stand why I have to constantly stop dd from eating stones and bits of paper but she screamed when I tried to get her to try a profiterole.

We tend on Saturday get in a car and go somewhere, usually up to 60 miles from home. Ocassionally, we end up in uninspiring places, so instead of getting lunch we would grap a coffee from costa or similar. DD would get a biscuit or crisp for snack. we would eventually end up home about 4pm realising that DD has been eating biscuits all day.
No wonder she eats everything put in front of her in the nursery
We are much better with food on week days, we do batch cooking a lot, so there is always cooked from scratch food for dinner.