December 2006- where they've grown so much we spend more time talking about our lives than our children

[Indith]

Well that and our pregnancies and other non-dec '06 children

Tis a good thing I feel.

Oh, how I love new threads. Its like having a spring clean, with relatively little effort.

Not that I don't appreciate your efforts Indith - there I go over-pregnancy-thinking things again. A friend who is also pregnant was round for a cuppa the other day and spent about 10mins analysing a text message she had received from a mutual friends saying she was away on holiday. The worrying part was I was with her the whole way, until DH pointed out that it was just a text message and perhaps we needed to take the odd thing at face value . I end up posting things on here and then re-reading them about 20 times wondering if they can possibly be misinterpreted.... as you say Indith....

Tis very hard to convey tone though isn't it. Oh and I hate coming up with thread titles, but looking back over the last thread the December babies seem to have a very small roll.

Will talk about ds for a minute though....£26 he cost me in Clarks today! £26! Am researching chinese foot binding

role

Blame the parasite

And no I won't tell you how close I came to saying "thing that lives off other living organisms" because I couldn't think of the right word!

Foot binding sounds a good option- have seen small slippers in our local museum. I may have to break in and steal a pair for you Indith

Ds2 is currently wearing ds1's old shoes - they don't leave marks so I guess they're okay!

Had a lovely few days in Scotland, weather held off and we even spent a day on the beach, paddling in the sea and looking across at Bute and Islay. Idyllic.

Dd's birthday tomorrow so I'm hurriedly making birthday cakes and wrapping presents......will see you all friday when the madness eases .

yes to tone and parasites - have been asking people for weeks what you call the thing that lives in the host on alien - keep getting the response "alien" and a strange look like so am so pleased you managed to thin of parasite. I will sleep better as a result of having a more scientific name for the squatter.

Oli - can't wait to see the cake! Glad holiday was good, 'tis a lovely part of the world. Must go there next year, not braving overseas with 2 in tow. Have a fantastic day tomorrow - must say though, it is very out of season for birthdays isn't it I thought everyone was born in December, January, March and April....

Hmm, shoes. Don't get me started. DD was measured in a Clarks franchise (little shop in the back of a big shoe shop - not sure if franchise is the right word) and by chance she lost a shoe about 2 days later - I never lose anything - drove me crazy for days looking for it until realised she couldn't go round in socks much longer, luckily they were in the sale and only cost £15 ... so took her somewhere else (couldn't face the shame of going back to the same place) and they measured her as a 6G instead of a 5F. They showed me on the measure how much the other place would have had to squash her toes to get her in a 5 and revealed that they knew the other shop measured small to make more money! Aaarrghhhh!

think night all!

Argggh, shoes. Pleased to hear I am not the only one putting ds2 in his brother's shoes! We have soooo many pairs as mum specialised in buying ones at the charity shop for a fiver. Considering whether I should get ds2 fitted again and pay for ds1 to have 'proper' school shoes (boys' ones are sooo ugly and always black though). School doesn't say anything about them, he has some black trainers that mum picked up from TK Maxx last week (source of cheap, cute shoes!). Go through stages of being paranoid I am harming children's feet and ones of 'I cannot afford £50 when they both have shoes already'.

Holiday sounds wonderful Oli (how did meeting with Expat go?) and Castles still there I think isn't she?

Off to Ikea tomorrow. Makes me very happy even if I have to get pushed in a wheelchair by my mum as she is threatening...I love the meatballs with the fattening cream gravy!

This is probably not a good time to admit that I worked for Clarks as a saturday girl (although I never worked in the childrens section) many, many moons ago.

WE forgive you Margo. A friend of mine used to work as a sho e fi tter , she is vry useful for telling me what to look for and how to avoid the cons.

ps don't you lovew typing with a child on your lap? Only came on to find cheese straw recipe

Aha! Found you! I can't believe how entire days slip by.

I'm not sure I'm completely up to speed, but pleased for your DD Eli Glad it turned out well in the end.

AQ, you go and enjoy Ikea. I keep begging DH to go (our nearest one is nearly 3 hours away, though )

Indith and LenniEd you do make me laugh with the paranoia. I am the world's most paranoid person - one of my mentors, an external negotiator, tells me repeatedly to be offensive to others, as my interpretation of offensive is most others' mildly critical. I just hate the thought of upsetting anyone or being misinterpreted. And I'm not even pregnant!

DD2 is also in DD1s shoes. I see no point in constantly shelling money out to Clarks. DD1 is currently wearing a pair of M&S school shoes as the ones Clarks sold us are too big. At least she'll grow into them!

Have I mentioned that DD1 is back at school Marevellous. There's nothing like school to exhaust the little blighters.

DD2 is trying so earnestly to communicate with us at the moment, and will repeat the same nonsensical sentence until she receives an appropriate response. She is saying quite a few words but is obviously frustrated by her inability to string them together into anything meaningful.

Marvellous Obviously.

I've clearly taken the advise given and have been so damned offensive that you've all gone off and hidden in another thread.

Bugger.

Here you all are!

Had the meeting at ds1's school today and it went beautifully. The occupational therapist is lovely and everyone was totally on board about getting him approved for therapy at school.

Ds2 currently running fever from measles vax and new dr's staff really mean about ordering a separate rubella for him Can't imagine how sick he would be from MMR. Poor little guy seemed pretty miserable tonight.

Lol BP, has been very quiet.....you don't think people are doing things in RL do you?

Jabber fab for ds1, really pleased the school is looking s good. Poor little ds2

Had a terrible night from ds, thankfully he crashed a little over an hour ago and seems to be very deeply asleep, I've had another hour but then breakfast called. Suppose a shower might be a good idea.

Hi everyone. Phone and broadband has been out so have been off for a couple of days.

DD2 wont really fit into DD1s shoes as her feet are shorter and wider. So, I have a bag full of clarks shoes which are now no use. Think I'll sell them on ebay.

DD1 cost me £60 for school shoes and trainers the other day. She was so desperate for the yotoy silly gimmick clarks shoes I let her have them. She is caring for her doll every day.

DD2 is pinching me a lot at the moment. Not sure how to deal with it. DD1 never did and it always responded to the naughty step when naughty. DD2 just laughs at me and does it again. I pinched her back the other day so she could see that it hurt but it has made no difference

EV, DS is the same re pinching. He thinks it's the funniest thing ever, but for one so small it really hurts . Also this week, he's started hitting me when I say no to something (like don't put that in the toilet for example!), might have to start some kind of naughty corner....

Ho hum, the boy has been asleep since 1. To wake or not to wake, that is the question. Leaning towards no since he is clearly getting over something/brewing something but part of me wants him to be tired by bedtime too! Mind you, I've left it this late so I've probably already stuffed bedtime

Can you believe they will be 2 in Nov/Dec...?

Sorry Im a proper blast from the past!

I am so glad it's not just me who has a problem with getting your 2nd child to understand a stern "no".

Hey calm

EV, ds2 is hitting a lot and we're not getting anywhere with the naughty step (sigh) - he sat on it and laughed his head off at dp I'm just saying no very firmly, moving out of his range and doing something else. DS1 bit a lot, I hope that doesn't happen again.

Indith, is it not normal to sleep 1-4.15?? DS2 does it when he's at home (yes, I know how lucky I am!), I wake him up by 4.30 at the latest and he's normally alright for 7/7.30 bedtime.

Jabber, glad that work and ds1's schooling things going well but hope ds2 feels better soon! How are things dare I ask with dh? I'm getting quite anxious about the poo-thing with ds1, it's a week or so until school starts and he has virtual diahorrea from the medication, we're down to 1 sachet a day! He had 5 accidents yesterday & mum helpfully said you'd better get it under control or he'll be bullied and you'll have to move him to a new school. Like I wasn't worried enough about that AND the speech issue. Plus he's now throwing tantrums quite regularly, which I thought had ended argggh now that he's nearly 5 fgs.

Eli, what made you take dd2 about her hips as I'm a little concerned about ds2's progress esp given the A&E visit a couple of weeks back. He seems so unsteady, unable to climb the sofa or our bed and has quite a rolling gait. He started walking 3 months ago, I just thought it might have been better by now?

unfortunatly not AQ, the spectacular naps were only during growth spurt time! It is usually 12.30 til 2.30 or so, and if I don't have him up by 3 then he won't go to bed.

He slept til gone 5 yesterday and was so much happier for it! Something had obviously knocked him for 6. Went to bed pretty late but slept all night.

Hello Calm! I'm having serious trouble believing that they will be 2 quite soon. Seems crazy!

Hello Calm

AQ, dd's right foot turns outwards and rolls inwards (sorry, hard to describe) and she sort of dragged it when she walked, slight limp? Its actually getting better by the week, though. She's been walking three months too - I think its very normal for toddlers to have a rolling gait. If he has a sway back - arched, with hips thrown forwards? - then worth checking, or pain on walking, or one leg longer than the other, or very uneven creases (though dd has this, and hips are ok). Apparently, its actually pretty unusual for a hip to be dislocated - not rare, but unusual. Its more common in girls, too, and breech babies. HTH

Naps....dd2 has lasted longer in the mornings and isn't tired till around 2pm, which is great for lunches out and about, but then she won't sleep till 8.30pm at the earliest! What to do? Shorten her nap and have a very grumpy dd all afternoon??

BP, I couldn't help at your 'must be offensive' post. My ex-boss used to quote that famous 'its like being savaged by a dead sheep' about me when I was angry with anyone at work. Very annoying, but probably true

Hello Calm!

Funny how all the things I think about posting with the dcs are always topic of the moment when I come on.

AQ, Ds1 is also currently throwing the mother of all tantrums at anything and everything. The slightest thing sets him off and he screams, yells, hits, stamps, etc. I'm hoping he will improve when he starts school as he'll be getting a lot more stimulation. [clinging to vain hope]

Ds2 is also going through an aggressive phase. He generally shoves or whacks on the head but he started biting earlier in the week . The other 2 weren't biters - ds1 was a hair puller and dd was a headbutter (although only if she was properly provoked). I really hope it's a very shortlived habit because poor dd has 2 full mouth imprints on her back.

Dd's birthday was on Thursday, we went to see Dave Benson Phillips' Get Up and Go Show on Friday as her treat then had her party today. Tomorrow's going to be a huge let down! I was up until 1.30am finshing her cake - I was a bit over ambitious with it but it turned out okay in the end. Dd knew it was Dora which was the main thing .