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.

lubricant might help things then, seeing as it is your honeymoon I can't see that it would hurt - what does midwife think?

May have to ask her next week, oh dear I am going to look exactly like because I'll be so much.

Have searched archives, did that when I first found them. Lots of info on them and tips on soothing them but nothing on sex...but then they don't make you feel like it do they!

I lowered the tone too much didn't I. You've all run away

Well, I didn't like to say Indith

I'm afraid I'm not much use either. Try asking your midwife. I challenge you with making her embarrassed (highly unlikely if the MWs I know are anything to go by!!).

Thank you for the speech therpay advice. What course is your friend doing at Sheffield Indith? I was looking at doing a Masters but am interested to hear about other stuff. Should probably ring the SALT governing body.

Sorry if I haven't responded to anything crucial (though what can be more than a pg lady's farmers ?), but am off to do reading now with my lovely Year 2s.

I think it is the first one on here as it is 2 years.

Have fun with year 2!

Must get moving, MIL coming early tom and the whole house is a state! May have to hope she takes pity on my poor tired pg self and forgives the mess. Ds is handy witha mop, shall set him on the kitchen

Indith I asked for you to save your .

DS1 has suddenly discovered that letters put together make words. He's become really good at knowing all the letter sounds and it's just clicked that he can work out what words are. It's so amazing to see. "D - O - G, that says 'dog', Mummy!" How did my baby get so clever?

Eli, you made me chuckle with your comment about ds2 being advanced . He's back to waking up in the night and getting up between 5 & 5:30. I reckon that makes him about the same as your average 10 month old . I want him to advance to that point of teenager-dom where he wants to sleep for 18 hours a day!

Castles, I very nearly did speech therapy, instead of teaching but my A levels weren't sciency enough so I wouldn't have got onto the courses. It's a fasciniating area though, I'd still consider doing it - I don't fancy going back into teaching at all.

Ds2 also at 10 month old sleeping stage

Indith and LenniEd not sure whether to thank you for a late evening lol or scold you for giving me fanjo-related nightmares!

Oli, I know, re ex-babies spelling things out...its amazing to witness, isnt' it? I actually remember that eureka moment myself, when my Dad taught me to read c-a-t and m-a-t etc and I twigged. Keys to a kingdom and all that, it felt like a miracle, and now I see dd1 experiencing it

As for 10 month old LOs, dd2 has now recovered from her week-long diarrhoea bug (during which she slept like a log for 12 hours per night) and bounced all evening, refused to go sleep for hours, and went back to screeching every time I left the room Why is it that when they go to sleep soo late, they wake up extra early?!

Oli and Eli - DD1 is the same. Last week she wrote cat, sat, mat and hat on her blackboard. She's bringing the ORT books home and is actually able to read some of the words [proud]

DD2 is gorgeous and a pain in equal measures. There is not much she cant say which is amazing and she knows the names of lots of colours but not which one is which iyswim, but she is 'trouble' and doesnt really listen to you. She ignores any form of discipline. I smakec her the other day as she bit me with glee. Thankfully she hasnt done it since but I felt really mean.

Sounds like Ds2, Anne. His speech is almost as good as dd's now - his ennunciation isn't as clear but I know what he's saying and his sentences are pretty much accurate in terms ofhaving all the right words in the right order. The gap between his spoken language and his emotional development is huge, though. He's very much a 21mo in terms of acting on impulse and wanting to do everything on his terms. I remember feeling the same with ds1 who was an early talker. They seem so much older when their speech is good and I often expect far more of him than he's actually capable of. I have to keep reminding myself that he's still a baby and his brain isn't that developed yet.

He's also into pinching when he's thwarted which is a new bad habit for me. Ds1 was a hair puller (still is, if he's really cross) and dd was a very occasional smacker. I guess pinching is better than biting, though!

Anne - my dd2 is exactly the same re discipline. I've been revisiting my Toddler Taming book and wondering if I'm expecting too much from her.

That's a good point guys. Perhaps I expect too much as she is speaking so well

I'm with the 'expecting too much' school of thought re our LOs. They are just babies. I don't discipline DD2 at all except to ask her not to keep pulling books apart, especially the flap ones. In fact, I don't really discipline any of my children

I am enjoying my 9th (? lost count) weekend in a row as a single mum. I have to say I really am not enjoying it.

Oli, shall we train as speech therapists together? We could be cyber-student-pals

Castles, it's a deal - we'll start as ds2 & dd2 go to school, shall we? That gives us 3 years to find some semblance of a brain......

9 weekends in a row - you poor thing. I would struggle so much with that and trying not to resent dh. Have you been up to Shrewsbury, yet? Spare bed is still here when you want it .

Nice one Oli God, I'll be so old in 3 years I'll probably be starting to go senile!

You are lovely, thank you. Haven't even thought about going to Shrewsbury. Maybe next year if things ever calm down ...

I couldn't say goodbye to DH this morning when he left, that's how resentful I feel sometimes. Totally pathetic I know.

Oh bless you Oli

Had MIL and dh here today. Apart from going on about christmas presents and busying herself about my washing not too bad (washing has just been rehung as she brought it all in still on the wet side of damp)

I'm finding discipline pretty tough with ds. Most if it is a phase after all and things will click into place eventually. Sharing, not snatching etc are gradual lessons so while I do stop him if he gets rough and try to explain that "x is littler than you" "it isn't nice to hit" etc I don't know how much is getting through! Especially since he is so un-verbal.

Am both in awe and of the studying wants. There are so many things I would love to do but really can't face the idea of going back to uni again just yet!

Castles for you and for dh too, it is rotten for you.

I don't do discipline either. Never been all that strict, when I taught I managed to keep up this illusion that I was fierce if you crossed me, but truth was I'd only ever raised my voice about half a dozen times in 4 years.

DD still well behind most of your LOs in terms of speech - lots of nouns but not much else and most words aren't clear enough for anyone else to understand. But her understanding is pretty amazing now (to me anyhow!), I can ask her to bring me things and put things away and she always manages it. Last week I explained to her that she couldn't have bottles at night anymore for her milk because she wasn't a baby anymore and she was perfectly happy about it. When she has asked for a bottle and I've said they've all gone she just says 'All gone, baby's' and that's the end of it. Is amazing to suddenly have a little person I can reason with.

She's got a lovely nature with others too and really shares well but she is still painfully shy and so clingy when there are strangers around. She won't walk round the shops for fear of all the people and when we go to groups she won't go further than a few feet away from me. She's a differnt child at home, really bubbly and energetic. Just shows you though that they all develop so differently, whilst I'm worrying about DD being nervous others are having trouble with something else.

Castles, I too wonder how you manage, and hope you get some time with DH soon.

I dont worry to much about snatching etc in terms of discipline as thhey all learn about stuff like that in the end. My concerns are relly with running away from me (into line of traffic) and not stopping when I say so, or doing belly flops in the bath which really hurt her for example. Anyway I know she'll learn in the end. I do feel bad that she gets much less 121 attention than DD1 had but I guess that is balanced out by just having DD1 to play with.

Castles - it is so hard isnt it. DH used to be away a lot. As it is he is worked 4 out of the last 6 nights. He is so tired today and we have been snapping as I am exhausted too

any ideas?

The running away one gets me too Anne - DD ran off in a car park last week cos she is being really silly about getting in the car at the moment. i had gloves on and she just escaped. Absolutely terrified me, and with all my hormonalness I was in tears most of the way home.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend - DH has been away all weekend and I am exhausted. Looking forward to a more relaxing one next weekend. Don't know how some of you manage without a bit of a break over the weekends.

I've had an awful weekend and am off to bed.

No ideas, sorry, AA. Sure they'll just be pleased to see you. Maybe bake a cake or something?

I second the cake.

Aw - I hope your weekends are better next week Castles and Lennied. I don't think dh and I will have a weekend off together for the next 6 weeks. He worked this weekend and I worked last weekend too.

I'm not used to the running off thing yet. dd2 has just stopped clinging to my thigh as soon as we step outside. I've chased her round our car a couple of times when she's caught me unaware.

Have you got the toddler taming book? I like it (although I may have a word with Trading Standards as my children are nowhere near tamed).

to hear of the exhausted/solo weekends, wishing you both better ones next week.

Have had my dm here all weekend, and dh still in poor shape, so not that great either - though could be worse: at least dd2 no longer has the runs!

Anne, yes, cake, thirded.

Bed calls....

Haven't checked the other thread but I always agree with cake

Fabulous ideas on your thread Anne, just shows what you might not think of before having been in that situation.

Sorry for the tough weekends, don't know what I'd have done without dh this weekend, I was a puddle of hormones.

Need to go doudou shopping again I believe it ended up in B&Q but nobody has handed it in Hope he takes to number 4 as well as he did 2 and 3. Can't believe it is number 1 thtt has managed to make it this far! May get one for dc2 while I'm at it and hope that it becomes the toy of choice, they are wonderfully reliable with their doudou range, you can always get the same one!

The cot arrived today Am feeling all excited having had my new Miele (such a sexy lady, sucks like a trouper and is so quiet!), Vax carpet cleaner (still in box, to be trialed when we get back from Munich) and now my cot all in 3 days!