December 2006 - The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray, tshghho now let's keep these bugs at bay

[LenniEd]

I got all brave and made us a new bug free thread...

Oh and are his noises the same for the same objects? Even if they don't actually sound right if he does the same noise that shows he is relating the object to a sound. DD still doesn't speak very clearly and a lot of her old words are just her own language rather than the right ones but I can have conversations with her now since I understand what she is saying and her newer vocab is pretty clear - its a bit of a pain when I have to constantly translate for others though.

AQ, you're right in the sense that I just don't want to face potty training again. I have been talking with ds2 about it but I'm not pushing the issue.

I have read that some children are more comfortable using the Baby Signs, etc for a bit longer and then suddenly race on with language. Maybe your ds2 is like that?

Potty training halted here as dd2 freaked every time she had an accident so back in pull ups.

AQ - DD1 didnt speak at all until 2.4 and then it was just one words. Everyone commented on it. By the time she was 3 she had caught up with her peers. If he can make himself understood ie, he wants a drink, or a certain programme on tv then try not to worry. Suggest you get you HV to check (if you havent already). Songs are easier to learn than words imo.

Well I'm not surprised you feel overwhelmed with 4 such young DCs at once AQ but stand in front of the mirror (if you can find one big enough ) with them all and see how big you are compared to them (in a totally un-insulting way btw ) and you will see how much you are the boss. They are tiny. Just round them up and ship 'em out. Once you have done it once, even just to the swings round the corner or whatever, it will become easier. Tiny steps as they say. I have just stopped using the buggy with DD2 after postponing it for as long as possible and it really isn't that bad.

Eli, sorry about the whole house fiasco. Is it improving? And how is DH?

dd2 is being a nightmare about walking anywhere. she cries and says 'carry, carry' over and over until you give in or put her in the buggy

CP round two just begun. Catch up later. MT - DD had a phase of that. I ditched the buggy and didn't offer to carry her and that was the end of it. [cruel mother emoticon] Used to drive me crazy with all the getting in and out all the time. Not sure if it would work now though as they are a bit more determined and a lot louder than when I did it.

Lennied - poor you

I'd love to ditch the buggy but I just wouldnt get anywhere. She refuses point blank to walk and then sobs until you pick her up

Ds2 doesn't really like the stroller anymore but I force him into it occasionally when I don't want to carry him or wait for him to keep up

Still waiting on potty training. He is now telling me regularly just after he does a poo in his diaper so we're heading in the right direction I suppose

I'm refusing to get rid of my buggy atm. Can't face the thought of the school run without it. I find it hard enough to get there on time without having ds2 walking as well .

AQ, is there anywhere close-ish you could get to (soft play or park or similar) where they'll all be occupied and contained? I'm sure once you've done it a couple of times it will get easier. No advice on ds2, have you spoken to the HV? Is he starting preschool in Sept, they may be in a position to reassure you or point you in the right direction for any necessary help.

Eli, any house news?

LenniEd, just when you thought you were in the clear too. You poor thing. I'd send the chocs back if I hadn't scoffed the lot opened them .

Indith, ds2's favourite song at the moment is 'Old MacDonald had a pooo, eieio, and a tiny willy'. Oh the joys of having a 2yo with a toilet humour obsessed big brother .

Ds2 has also decided that as he is a 'big boy' he is going to wee standing up. My toilets now honk and I'm sick of cleaning the floors after every wee. Thank goodness they're all tiled though. The thought of carpets.....

Well ds has performed Am keeping him on the lactulose until he is regular as I think part of the problem was that when he got constipated at my parents' he screamed when he finally went as it hurt so he wasn't particularly willing to go again. He has decided that he will only wear big boy pants now so for the past 2 days we have had a gazillion accidents and one wee on the potty. He is getting to be an expert at saying "mummy potty" while the wee is dribbling down his leg

I am clinging on to my buggy for dear life . Part of it is living up such a bloody big hill as ds will merrily walk around town or to his friend's house etc. He too though is prone to the "carry carry carry carry carry carry carry carry" and it is too bloody hot to take an extra sling and end up with 2 of them on me. Mostly though dd goes in the front of the P&T and then ds gets in the back if he is tired.

AQ a friend has a similar aged dd with speach issues, she has started seeing a speech therapist and it is really making a difference. Definitely worth pushing and getting a referal rather than worrying yourself about whether he has other problems etc.

Lennied you poor thing. At least they will both be done and dusted.

Well after Firday night disaster we used the dummy for naps on Saturday and started again with a bit of an amalgamation of pupd, cc and general soothing her in the cot, giving her a finger to suck for a little bit to calm her etc. Saturday was freakishly good then she had 2 2 hour naps on Sunday, Sun night not as good but we got through it, good naps yesterday and last night she did 6.30 til 9.30, fed and straight back down, woke at 12.15 and fed and went right back off then woke again at 4! I could harldy believe it, especially since she then fed and went back down again no problem and slept nicely instead of her usual early hours tossing around. ruined it slightly by starting the day at 5.40 but I shall count my blessings

Indith - DD did the wee down leg thing for 3 days solid and then it started getting better. It was all over in a week. I put her in the thickest trousers I could find and no top to balance the heat and at least the trousers contained the wee

Yep - done and dusted sounds nice. DD going for a world record in moaning. Poor mite is a bit beside herself today. Can't imagine what it must be like being that itchy in this sticky heat. But we're on day 2 so only 5 more to go.

Pleased feeding/sleeping going a bit better for you Indith, although still sounds tough.

So I almost gave up breastfeeding last night just like that. I'd had enough. Anyway the nice people on MN (including Oli - thanks Oli) rescued me. And today I got my period - feel slightly that DS almost got weaned most likely on account of PMS. But hey

Just had a look at your thread Lennied you poor thing. Not that I would ever admit it to my parents (of the "the nice thing with bottles is you can really stuff them so they are nice and full" and "when she starts eating you can fill her up before bed") but I think solids etc did help. I think she was on a massive mother of all growth spurts when I went to France and she was waking a million times a night. After I got home she was a bit more settled but still waking in the evenings and taking massive feeds just an hour or so after the last massive feed. Then she helped herself to a slice of melon around 24/25 weeks. Then she kept stuffing herself full of food. Then she slept from bedtime til 11pm (unfortunately with dummy and went back to her usual tricks after 11 hence the dummy cold turkey we are on now).

Sympathies on the period front. No sign here yet which is rather nice even if I keep getting paranoid that I must be pg because it was back by now with ds. Even did a test the other day as I had a spare from the 2 pack when I tested for dd

Indith - would have to have been a virtually immaculate conception here!

I think he might be on a big growth/development spurt lately. It has gone on with the loads of waking for a couple of weeks. He'd been waking once or twice before that - mostly twice but not as much as this. DD sat at 4.5mo, crawled at 6mo and walked at 9mo - DS is nowhere near that in terms of development and is only just starting to sit but all those milestones coming up sometime surely must have an impact on his need for fuel? Hopefully it will pass soon, but I do think I might start him on solids next week sometime.

We had dummy issues with DD and ditched them at night, probably around this age. We also kept them for naps to save mucking about trying to get her off to sleep. They were also handy for comfort when we were out esp if somewhere unfamiliar.

Lennied it would have had to have been here too But then Ds was an almost immaculate conception so I can't help being paranoid at times, phantom kicking etc getting me thinking back to when we did the deed and contemplating if it would be possible to be feeling kicks yet etc. I really much get a grip I want more, I'm just petrified of more coming along before I've had some sleep

milestones are well known for buggering up sleep. This too shall pass yadda yadda yadda.

Been awake since about 4.30 having tossed and turned the whole night. While doing the sleep thing we've moved out into the spare room and the sofa bed is getting to my back! It is also horrible and stuffy in there. Am very, very tempted to pile all the junk up, stick the blackout fabric over the windo and wedge madam in there. She woke 3 times last night, once before I went to bed and twice after so she is doing well.

So far today one wee in nappy while out (not brave enough to leave house nappy free yet), one wee on carpet and one poo on potty asked for well in advance!

My poor DD. Sports day - she was doing brilliantly in the fast race and then her shoe fell off so she stopped to put it on. Cue sobs....

I did the mothers race (knew i would come last - which I did) just so she would know it didnt matter.

Sigh.....

Both DDs now asleep on the sofa...

Ooh, sports day, ds's is Friday, I hope to god he doesn't lose a shoe. Poor dd . DS planning to teach all the students (90 of them?) some new sports. Oh, god.

Lennied, hope to god you've got your essay done and can relax a little bit on that side now? Just read your thread in BF and absolutely sympathise, it is so hard to keep on going sometimes. Just possibly putting ds in his cot might make him sleep better, it certainly did with ds1 and various other children I know of. Or kick dh into spare room/mattress/whatever and co-sleep with ds just to get some sleep for a while. Is dh giving you a break on weekends & taking both out whilst you catch up on sleep? Or MIL, anyone? Didn't realise quite how early dd did things, gosh, although I am finding dd doesn't feel like such a baby doing things earlier than the boys did (ds1 didn't crawl until 10.5 months). She just seems like a small person instead and I miss the baby bit, so maybe that's a bonus of ds not hitting milestones as early as she did. I find it hard not to compare ds3 & dd although he is only 3-4 weeks behind her mobility-wise and babbles a darn sight more.

Indith, arrggggghhhhh, yeah stick madam in the spare room. It's so frustrating (we're doing some of this with dd right now, screaming until 8.45 last night from being put down at 7). Hope tonight even better, but it does take time, doesn't it. Sleep counsellor person rang me yesterday and just said I needed to be 100% consistent until she got the message and so did dp. So then I snuck up and fed her last night and didn't tell anyone (until now). I just wanted to watch Life in peace!

yay on lo's weeing & pooing where they should largely.

boo on no buggy - I'm just about to buy another for ds2 (admittedly I can use when only one dt with me)! He's got ickle legs...

AQ - DD was a terrible baby (sorry DD!) because of being so quick to do things. I often tell people I felt like I missed out on the baby stage with her. She wailed and wailed from 20-26 weeks with trying to crawl. She would lie on her stomach screaming whilst trying to lift herself clear of the ground. And if you tried to comfort her or pick her up she'd just scream louder. It wasn't all that pleasant. And the minute she could crawl she wanted to walk and would spend hours pulling herself up on the furniture and trying to move. She is a very determined little girl. She's not been all that bad with toddlerness because she is quite kind - she'll give things back to other children if they drop them and always wants to comfort people. But she is so shy and is very grown up really - I do wonder how she'll do socially at school, but she's going to a very small school (only 35 kids in the school) so she'll hopefully be fine. Plus she'll get 5 terms of pre-school so she'll get broken in gently.

Indith - I'd stick her in the spare room too - nothing worse than sleeping in an uncomfortable bed.

Glad you've both had slightly better nights, Indith and LenniEd.

I'm also glad the other night's wobble was mainly PMT, LenniEd. I've been on the brink of making some seriously daft decisions while under the influence of rampaging horones then realised the following day just what the problem was!

Maggie, poor DD1 . I'm dreading that sort of thing happening to any of my dcs. I think I'd cry along with them.

Had dd's end of preschool meeting today and apparently she is very bright, very sociabe and very ready for school. So that's good and kind of makes up for the fact that the 3 of them are driving me doolally atm. I started a thread about it earlier today so I won;t bore you all by whinging about it again .

I felt as if I missed out on babyhood with ds1 b/c of the same thing. It was all a new experience with ds2.

Will remember to have the talk of continuing to run shoeless on sports day...

I haven't seen your thread oli or LenniEd's but I remember bfing drama well and my two drive me crazy on a regular basis. Don't know how I would stay sane with three

Lordy, I feel so out of touch

Have had a good read, though, and am glad to see sleep improving for Indith and LenniEd, and also glad I'm not the only buggy-clinger here - I even let dd1 hop up on the back bar thingy when she starts getting too tired/whiney on long walks! Its also the only way to get dd2 to have the occasional much needed nap, apart from driving...

AQ, I too find my measly 2 overwhelming some days, and can't imagine adding twin babies to the pack - I don't think anyone in their right minds would judge you for finding it hard going. Love Castles' idea of standing in mirror - I do sometimes notice how small dd1 is, when I pick her up from school and see her from a distance, and it helps! I wish (not for the first time, though usually for selfish reasons) I lived closer, because signing is one thing I can still just about do and would love to hang out and show you some in exchange for twin-cuddles and a playdate: hope the friend was helpful

House...well, seems to be going ahead ok again, though very slowly. I had a horrible week dealing with the neighbour last week (find him very difficult) and still feel unnaccountably low from it. But our buyer seems to be hanging in. No idea if we'll be in a sudden rush to find a rental pre or post holidays, or if the whole thing will fall through - suppose its the uncertainty thats getting to me

Other than that, all is well - lots of flu around here, but am not so worried about it as dh is ok again atm, and the HV told me so far asthmatics haven't suffered particularly badly with this one. So hope she's right!

Am stoutly ignoring all the PT talk, though did note (at back of mind) L's excellent thick trouser tip. dd may be ready, but I am not...soon, though, soon....

Maggie, have a strong suspicion our dd2s are one and the same toddler, who somehow astral travels

Sports day...aren't you a nice Mum

That's good news about the house Eli. Totally understand the stress. My friend has just completely given up moving to Somerset this summer after a hellish house-selling on-off year, finally being gazumped by a mum at our school

DD2 had a nasty fall on a sponsored walk (of all crazy things) yesterday and had a big egg on her head She keeps pulling her fringe up and looking in the mirror at it exclaiming "Look mummy, blood". It hurts so much when they get hurt doesn't it.

My B(mum)F's mum died on Friday and I feel quite emotionally wrung out. It's just not fair especially as she was a great mum unlike some I could mention. 2.5 years now since my Dad or brother spoke to me. And, I've run out of my miracle natural remedy though it should arrive in the post any day ...

castles, poor dd2 I remember when ds1 got the biggest goose egg I've ever seen. He was just about the age ds2 is now. It was so big it kind of pulsated at first iykwim

AQ, there was a new little girl in ds2's gymnastics class yesterday. I was chatting with her mother and she mentioned that the child had been very slow to start talking until she started daycare. Perhaps a day or two at a nursery would kickstart your ds2?

Just a thought.

eli, I can so sympathize with the house drama. Ironically, it was a basement issue that almost killed our sale back in March but ultimately was fine. Sending positive "sell" vibes your way.

Oli - I believe you are famous your thread appeared on my Twitter feed this morning!

P.S. catch up later