November 2014 - the one where they answer back.

[MrsAukerman]

New thread.
Hop aboard.

thanks both think package holiday at resort would be best and looking at April for warm weather and yes good flight times are a plus for winter sun

All quiet here this week, hope everyone is OK. Last week dd tricked me that turning 2 had made her a happier/easier child. This week she's had a cold and is so grumpy. She cried for about 10 minuteso because I tore her brioche in half. I guess we have more of that to come!

Yes we've had a terrible cold here too. Though it's just an extension of the perma-indignant he's had since joining the crèche. The cough is the worst. Who is it here who is getting investigated for asthma? At one stage I was considering it as it has gone on for 2 weeks. But he's had a snotty nose the whole time so I do suspect it's from a cold. Awful to listen to at night and you can't really do anything.

He has also developed selective hearing and just ignores you when you ask him to do anything. He has discovered that our standard lamp has a foot button and now it's On-Off-On-Off-On-Off....and when you ask him to stop he is completely deaf. Really really annoying, cos then you have to either a) ignore it and he'll get bored, or B) get loud and risk a tantrum. I still really haven't figured out which I should be doing in those situations.

On the flip side.....he's finally learnt how to say Mammy!!! I have been Hattie for the longest time so it's a bit of a thrill for me.

Btw , I treated myself to that Hurrah for Gin book last week and omg everything is hilariously true about this age.

Perma-indignant?? Perma-cold! How do you get from cold to indignant, stupid phone?!

DD has been off nursery this week due to the cold and the worst cough she has ever had. Before that I thought she was turning into a really lovely child, her senseless madness receding and her being that really excited and active child who dances and jumps around every time there is In the Night Garden on, squeals at Iggle piggle and blows kisses to Upsy Daisy.
She has been absolute nightmare since Thursday once her fever went away. Initially I was worried she was in pain crying and wailing so often and for long (so not her up til now), but when I saw it got cut off immediately if there was something exciting around, I stopped worrying about her being unwell.
Yesterday we had a massive fail with advent calendar I had filled with some little figurines, socks etc. She just got very excited and went on checking every door. If there was some bits from playmobile or socks, she would put it back, close the door and say "thank you!". She didn't put back the angel when she realised there was a chocolate inside though. And massive meltdown followed when she wasn't allowed another chocolate character. All in all we had 3 tantrums yesterday, all with throwing herself on the floor and kicking arms and legs.

And she only turns two tomorrow....

We are putting lights and tree up tonight once she goes to bed, that might as well turn into tradition for her birthday

Wow, this cold is hitting everyone hard. We have exactly the same here. Bad cough, snotty nose and horrendous mood swings. Proper melt downs, which we haven't had before. I'm really hoping it's just the bug...
All fine here apart from that. Dh goes back to work tomorrow, so it'll be just the two of us on Monday again, slightly dreading it.

Yep cold here again - Anna last winter they said ds2 had asthma but didn't think he did but again we are struggling this winter and started back on meds gp agreed that a formal diagnosis of asthma at this stage is neither beneficial or needed and treatment can be same without diagnosis last winter different GP who wanted to diagnose but was happy with my assessment of winter cough/viral induced wheeze.

east what meds is he on?

No wheeze here, but his cough is what I can only describe as an old man's smokers cough.

He's very worn out today. Brought to playground, paused at gate, and said "No.... Car" and walked back to the car. Won't even eat sausages!!

Thankfully he'll eat petit filous so we can get calpol in to him.

Ventolin & Becotide, ventolin as needed and be otide titrate up when bad down as better, his is a night time cough starts early eve and becomes worse overnight. Think first time last winter when prescribed inhalers cough had been persistent at night for 3mths

Anna at this age doctors tend not to diagnose astmha. If DC has astmha symptoms even if they are bad enough for repeated hospitalisation, they tend to call it a viral induced wheeze, but the treatment is the same as for astmha and they may or may not be diagnosed when a bit older if they don't grow out of it.

DD2 has got her usual slight cough and cold, but DD1 is too ill for school today for the first time since starting school over 1yr ago. She has a cough, feels sick, isn't eating, is dizzy, pale, lethargic :(
I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday night (the first time I have done 3 night shifts in a row since having DC and I had no sleep before Friday's shift). DH has basically been a single parent to an ill 5yr old and a non-sleeping 2yr old all weekend while I have worked all night then slept for a few hours in the day, getting up to take over from him for a couple of hours in the afternoon. We are all exhausted, and I just realised that it is too late to put DD2 down for a nap so she will be hideous later.
Yesterday she said "no like that" for the first time, then repeated it every time I suggested an item of clothing for her to wear (won't be offering her a choice ever again as she "no like" every top except the last one in the drawer and I did not have the patience for that after my night shift). Last week she tantrummed all the way home from school in the pushchair and then for half a hour once we got home, because she kept taking her hat and gloves off, crying "mummy, hat on" so I put it back on then immediately taking it back off and repeat until I got fed up and refused to put it back on. Once we got home it didn't matter if she wore the hat or not but she still cried. I tend to try to just ignore it although i am typing this while trying to distract from the tantrums of realising these are no reusable stickers and once they are stuck you can't unstick them. Is it nearly bedtime yet?!

Oh happy I had a day like that today and ds2 did fall asleep at 3 til 4.30 I was grateful for the peace and yes I have singing 2yr old now who is normally iin bed at 6.30pm.

Oh we have the not like and the amazing tantrums such shock as ds1 was so placid

Those days are so painful!!

Babydolly used to say 'don't like' or 'don't want' quite clearly but she's dropped the 'don't part of every sentence so now we have to guess if 'I want' actually means that she wants it or doesn't want it based on her tone. Fun.

Haha dolly that is such a classic toddler move!!

Feel very lucky that DD so far hasn't been prone to tantrums. She's so easy to distract that things so far just don't escalate to that point (note my repeated use of "so far"!). It's interesting though in that I see that trait in myself - I rarely worry about stuff for long because I always find something new to occupy my mind. On the flip side of this same character trait, I really lack ambition and am very low down in my career considering my qualifications and how I did at school, because I am always finding something new to interest me (usually outside of work) and then lose interest in what I am doing in my job :-( There is a whole room in our house full of things I've bought for new hobbies and then ditched when something else caught my eye. Anyway am certainly glad that this is a positive when you're a toddler, but DH is already dreading having two of us with "butterfly brain" in the house, as he calls it...

Dd is 2 tomorrow.

Ex lives less than a minutes drive from us ( he hasn't moved away yet like he says he is going to) he can't be bothered to come and see her.

I know dd doesn't know it's her birthday but I'm so sad that she won't have both her parents spoiling her.

This single mum thing is a seriously tough gig.

At least she's only 2 this year and will be oblivious. You may be sad, but she won't be.

What have you planned? What are you getting her?

Happy I hope DD1 is feeling better today.
The hat thing is SO familiar. I've found I literally have to take off his coat hat and shoes whilst he's still strapped into the buggy in the hall THE MOMENT we get inside so he's distracted by looking for Daddy. If I make the mistake of letting him out first and running around, then he gets so territorial about his clothes it's horrendous. There have been so many times where I said to DH "Honestly, he can sleep in the bloody hat for all I care!"

We are bringing him to the GP at 4 today for his cough, as now even the crèche is remarking on how bad it sounds. I hope it's not a chest infection. Poor lad hasn't had a good night's sleep in 2 weeks.

His eczema has also flared up and I've realised it's my fault as I moisturised him with Johnson's Baby Lotion, not realising the entire Internet says it's the worst thing ever for eczema. A few hours later he looked like his back was scalded and I felt so guilty. All J&J products now binned! Going to ask the GP for a script for a gentle cream to use daily.

You're right Anna she won't be sad. Took her to choose her birthday cake this morning so that cheered me up!

I've got her some tugboats for the bath, a plastic tea set and some wooden fruit and veg.

My mum has bought her a flipping scooter so it looks like I'm about to take up jogging as a hobby

Ark you're doing brilliantly. Your ex is going to have a pretty crap life ahead of him if he can't be bothered to see his daughter on her birthday or generally make any effort. Hang in there and for DD.

So we've had 2 chest infections here between the two dc in the last couple of weeks. DD2 is still coughing though I've been dosing her at night and it seems to work a bit. DD1 came home from school today looking awful and has a sore throat. ARGH. I hate winter! DD got to the age of 4 without needing any antibiotics but has had 3 courses this year already: 2 chest infections and one SF. I'm dreading she now has tonsillitis and will need more antibiotics.

DD2 definitely ramping up her stroppiness now, has been relatively compliant and gentle for the last while but that could never last! She really remembers things you promise her in a rush e.g. 'you can have your vitamins after breakfast (she loves getting vitamins)' and then if I forget and hustle her off to get dressed she loses her shit. Thankfully DD1 is good at interpreting her wordless rages and reminding me of whatever it is I've forgotten.

Not such a fan of this time of year, it feels gets so dark so early and feels like there's a million things to do at work before I can start to look forward to/prepare for Christmas. The dc are sorted on the present front but we have accidentally bought them far too much, especially dd1. They're going to turn into proper little shits!

Well I came back from the GP with a daunting amount of medications we have to get into him somehow.

Liquid steroids for chest wheeze
Liquid antibiotics 3 times a day for bilateral ear infection
Liquid antihistamine for eczema.

Since he has long since refused even taking calpol in a syringe, I can see a shitload of yogurt in his future!

Re: asthma. She said it was impossible to diagnose asthma this young but eczema and asthma are linked so it's possible he'll end up with it anyway. But at the moment she would only categorise it as a "wheeze". Basically we have to see if his wheezes become episodic. I'm cool with that. Not mad on steroids but one week won't do much damage.

Incidentally, the pharmacist advised against giving antihistamine at night cos it makes kids hyper! You learn something new every day!

Ouch Anna that sucks, but good it got caught out. During the last virus DD refused to drink or eat anything during the day, only the bedtime bottle. So we ended up pinning her down and forcing the calpol down. I was the main baddie to pour it in the mouse, so she refused to have anything with me for few days...

Tantrums have been reaching new heights here. On Monday morning we were all in rush to get ready and go, I saw DD standing in the door of the lounge, but didn't really register her fully. Next time I was in hall DD was on the floor across the corridor, giving me stinky stares, all ready to kick off whenever the audience has arrived. Couldn't help myself not to start laughing at the view. Obviously, she had decided it was time to go and play with the new toys she got for birthday, but none of us acknowledge her.

I'm actually finding the tantrums hilarious. We went out with a friend and her ds who is 4 months older than our lot. He asked her for the bird on the grass in front of us as he wanted to hold it, she said she couldn't, bird flew away and her ds walked over to the path and lay down really carefully before having his tantrum hahaha

Arkk our DD tonight decided to have a tantrum by squatting and hitting her forehead against the stone floor. I happened to show up in the door at the very moment and shouted in full volume to stop that. She stood up, looked at me perplexed and then said "Oh dear! No noise!" Had to turn my back swiftly not to give away the giggles.
I have to agree with others about how much they take after us though. The other day in the nursery DD was described by the same words my teachers happened to describe me to my parents. And lots of her ways remind me of situations from my childhood. It's scary... I wish some of the stuff she actually didn't take after me...

Interesting about the asthma, Anna. I think ds will get it as dh had it for a bit, and of course, he has eczema. Good to keep an eye out for it. What do you do if they have an attack? I'm clueless.

We've had a couple of nice calm days just the two of us, which I think has really helped calm him down. No major melt downs (not that they are bad anyway, the longest we've had has been about two minutes). We even tried out pants for the day. One accident each day, but he chose to wear 'no wee-wee pants' and at one point yesterday stopped what he was doing, and said 'ummm ummm ummm' and did the hand wavey sign we have for wee, so I whisked him off to the loo. I think the concept is sinking in. He's in nappies at nursery again today, but we'll see if he tried staying dry.

Ark, I think you are doing so, so well. Your ex is missing out on an awful lot of joy, but that's his decision.

Ds2 is still obvilious to whole Xmas stuff the advent calendar iis a novelty more because of being df we have only just got as far as giving choc recently.

Surprising that only having had rank df cheese at nursery I have v v slowly introduced cheese at home the child is a cheese monster loves those teeny kraft cubes and rank blue cheeses.

Ark how did birthday go?

Bloody hell, getting those meds into DS is an absolute mare. We're averaging about 50% of it actually being swallowed. Hope it's enough! His cough has definitely improved anyway. And his sleep thank God.

Now however DD has it but hopefully hers will pass without fuss.

DS has suddenly entered a mimic phase. He never did it before much (which means we've been able to get away with discreet swearing thus far) but now he's like a parrot. To me: "Hi Honey!" To DH: "Hi Dude!"
I wasn't even aware I said Honey that much!

So we really have to start minding our language, ugh!

2 weeks until Christmas - shit!! Disorganised panic is setting in here. In about October I bought DDs some presents in the Early Learning Centre sale and was so impressed with myself. Since then I have not achieved anything. I don't even know what we are giving them each now and have run out of child-free shopping days. Each year we give my parents and in-laws a photo book each of photos of the DD during the year and they love that. I have until Wednesday to make them but have no free evenings left because I am working nights and they always take fucking ages to do.
DH has had to take DD1 to the opticians because they fucked up and made her the wrong prescription last time, going into the city centre on a weekend so close to Christmas was definitely not part of the plan. We also have to create a Christmas Hat with her for school on Tuesday somehow at some point in time and we have run out of time.
DD1 decided to write a letter to Santa this morning. That was terrifying, waiting to see what she has decided she wants that we haven't bought or planned to buy. The highlights of her list include a diplodocus and 11 glue sticks!
On the up side, the tree is still standing after nearly 24hrs. DD2 saw it when she came downstairs this morning and said "ooh tree, pretty, I did it!"
On Friday night DH and I went to see Frank Turner and left her with my parents. I was very wary, especially as she didn't let go of my hand for the first hour we were there, but then I told her we were going out and a bit later she pointed at the door and said "go out now." Apparently, she went to sleep after only a few minutes of crying though she refused any milk, and slept until 8am. I heard her crying a few times in the night but not for long enough for me to get up and go in.
The other bad news is that we think DD1 at least has threadworms from the nightly crying about how much her bottom itches. The joys of small children!! I got the medicine, and you have to treat the whole family at once but I can't have any because of breastfeeding, and it is recommended that you repeat it after 2 weeks in case more worms hatch so that will be nice on Christmas Day {fhmm]