December 2007 "The one where babies walk the walk... and talk the talk"

[Arcadie]

I'm sorry - I couldn't last out. Welcome to the new thread.

clairey - my DD will be really old for her year (October) and yours really young but it does seem wierd that they'll be in the same year. Agree that having DH go is not a good idea for all the reasons you say. Have you told him all that and does he want to go anyway? DH will be taking DD on her first day which I am quite gutted about (I will be away at another conference, sigh) but think she will be less inclined to cry with him so I suppose it is a good thing. Could your DH take her himself and leave you and DS at home or could you not bear to do that? Might make it less of a big deal? Although would probably make the 'isn't my DD clever?' thing even worse!

Have told him all the reasons apart from the last one...we'll see. I've thought about letting just him take her but he's not very good at relaying info so then I wouldn't know what was going on the next day! Might just let him though and rely on dd to tell me what to do

DS has done 3 wees in potty and 2 on toilet today. He also told me he needed a poo and farted on the loo . About 6 wees on carpet too though. He keeps undressing himself so not sure what I can do other than let him get on with it...

Well my dd2 is also starting school ..where does the time go?
dd1 cannot wait to go back to school - how many days now mummy?

me I am dreading it - I don't want to go back to work. dd3 is being enchanting if not assertive..but hey needs must..so I also go back to school in sept

Fifi so sorry to hear your news - take care of yourself.

No idea of what to do about croup or nits - although no doubt will become all too familiar with it at some point.

DD has taken to the toilet seat thing that you sit on a proper toilet but won't have anything to do with a potty other than sit in it. She is regularly asking to go to the toilet but has yet to produce anything while sitting on it. She is also demanding demonstrations from me and lifting up my clothes if her view of proceedings is obscured. Dignity, privacy, anyone remember them?

Some happier news! Remember Kelbel? She is pg again!
Congrats Kelbel!

I am in awe of your potty training babies - Daniel still seems far too young, but I think it is that his vocal skills just aren't very developed. And he won't tell me if he has done a poo - even when I ask him (and I do when I know he has done one) he'll often shake his head and say no!

DH is actually a bit concerned about his vocal skills, I think he is worried about speech delay. I've told him I think it is too early to worry about that as he is only 20months, and I think one of the Home Visitors who run the Sure Start groups would have said something to me if they thought there was cause for concern. But I too am starting to have doubts.

Basically he says "car" and "dodie" and "yes" and "no". But he never says "mummy" or "daddy" though he knows who we are. He understands far more words than he actually says, and my DH does wonder if it is the dummy affecting his speech, but generally we take it off him during the day, and just let him have it at nap time, bedtime, in the car or if he is really upset.
He has said other words, but he had never repeated them, and he still babbles a lot - it sound like he is trying to tell you something but we can't understand what he is saying!!

hi ladies, haven't had time to catch up just a quick flick. So sorry to hear about those having a hard time, congrats to the new pregnancies and yes I'm expecting again...wooooooo! so so so pleased, early days only about 5-6 weeks, first mont of trying so very happy. hope you're all well. will hopefully com on here more now with the aim of chilling out!x

Hey everyone! I had seen Fifi's news .

And also yours Kelbel

BT, I wouldn't worry too much about Daniel's speech yet (but obviously speak to your HV if you are worried), I'm sure that DS1 didn't say a great deal more at that age. I remember he was 2.5 when he strung his first sentence together but when he started playschool at 3 his speech really picked up. Now we can't get him to stop talking - he's a right chatterbox!

My DSs are back to school tomorrow , the holiday seems to have flown by. DS1 (9) is starting middle school (we have a 3-tier school system here although it is changing soon), I can't believe I have a child that old! I remember myself starting that school, how I felt and everything - it is scary! Hopefully mixing with the older children won't change him too much . DD is really going to miss them both too.

Congrats Kelbel!

BT I agree it is early days. My friend's ds is completely incomprehensible to anyone except his mum and the gp is only starting to worry now he is over 3.

DS still wants his dummy all blimmin day, I don't let him talk through it or run around with it but otherwise I give in just for a bit of quiet . Am aiming to work on that once dd is at pre school, I give in to him far too much just to avoid crying/tantrums (and if one starts the other joins in so am hoping it will be easier if dd isn't there!)

wow congrats kelbel fab news

BT speaking as someone who does research into children's language development, I definitely don't think there is anything to worry about. Late talkers are defined as having fewer than 50 words at age 2 so he has 4 months to go before then. Even then most catch up by age 3. I know it is a bit worrying but I am sure your HV or GP would just say wait and see. The fact that he understands a lot is a really good sign too - his language is obviously developing, he just doesn't have that many words yet. If the rest of his development seems fine, I would wait until he's 2 and reassess then.

beckle - can't believe your DS1 is 9!!! I bet it seems like yesterday that he was a tiny newborn in your arms. I'm sure he will do great at school

cazzy you have to go back to school too! Must make September doubley hard

Poor DS has a tummy bug. Is in a lovely happy mood but then suddenly falls asleep randomly on his train set or somewhere! Don't you find you love them even more when they're poorly? Just want to cuddle him all day

Wonder how clara is getting on in St Lucia

Hi - as if by magic here I am! I am struggling to find the opportunity to write much these days, although I usually read everyone's news.
We're doing ok. The dd's started preschool/toddlers this week. Dd2 was a bit of a nightmare until I decided to go cold turkey yesterday and just leave her. She cried for a while and then was apparently ok. Today she cried for about 5 minutes and that was it. I am very relieved! dd1 has been very difficult and cries and clings to me, which is much harder. However, I think once she is there she is ok. It has been a huge culture shock to her. There are other expats but no other Brits in her class, mostly St Lucians and a couple of others like a French girl (who she insists is a boy because she wears boy's shoes!). She also has to wear a uniform - a pinafore dress over a shirt, which is a bit much at her age so another thing to get used to! They insist she wear shorts under her dress in case she exposes herself! How bizarre is that?
Anyway I think she will settle fairly soon and seems to have started making friends.
I have also met a few mums, which is a bit of a relief. Unfortunately most of them seem to work or be going to go back to work, so not sure what I am going to do with my days. Dd1 goes to school every day 8-1 and dd2 8-11. So at the moment a lot of driving about picking them up and dropping them off!
We have had a few days on the beach and the girls are loving the sea and pool. It is the rainy season though so it does piss it down quite a lot. It is also horrendously humid.
Dd2 seems to have changed so much since we came here. She has dropped the last bottle (of milk) she was having in the evening and has also more or less dropped her daytime nap. She usually sleeps the 20 minutes or so it takes to drive home and then goes through until about 6.30/7pm. Although she is a bit grumpy on that and in the heat!

Hey Claraq! Glad you are settling okay! Humidity sounds a bit grim though!

Thanks for your reassurances... I am glad I was right in telling DH not to worry about DS's vocal skills.

He has been so cute today, giving me lots of hugs and kisses, and kissing one of his teddies! He is such a little dote

A total nightmare at bedtime all week, I feed him then DH sits with him to go to sleep, but DH late tonight, had to lie down with him. At one point I thought he was asleep and as soon as I tried to get up off the bed,he sat up and pointed at the bed next to me as if to say "get back here!", so I did and then he did go to sleep and I was able to go downstairs and do some work! Am working as I type, I am listening to one of my call agents, call volumes are really slow so just waiting for her to pick up the next call!

Congrats kelbel!

Claraq it must be a wee bit tough to aadjust for your wee ones, but it sounds like theyare settling in.

Anyone having serious tantrums? About 4 times in johnlewis yesterday: I turned my back on her at one point and let her scream it out. Then she was happy as larry. Go figure.

Off on hols tomorrow: on my way home from a leaving do: drank too much. Early start. Oops.

Really want to get pg but am increasingly convinced it won't happen. Oh well, no PND: that has to be worth avoiding.

(yes, I DID drink and dial post)

Suey - I seem to spend my life convinced i am never going to get pregnant when all around seem as they are, but then suddenly it happens...I am sure it will for you...

I think dh is trying to ignore the whole when to try again thing and i am crap at the whole talking about thing...I guess i should just bring it up, but somehow when the time is right I can't...I need assertive lessons

my last day of freedom today....school starts on mon...am very sad at leaving dd3..

Clairey, DS2 loved his dummy too and would have had it in all day if I'd let him! Was quite worried that DD would do that with her thumb but so far she has been quite good and only really sucks it when snuggling her comforters (touch wood).

DrSkid, it does feel like only yesterday I first held him! He seemed to enjoy his first day anyway and has made 2 new friends (all his old ones were playing football which he apparently now hates...) Scary thing is that give it a couple of years he'll be taller than me I'm sure, there's already less than a foot between us! Poor DS , how is his tummy now? They are definitely extra loveable when they are a little poorly, nice to have the cuddles without them running off every 5 seconds. DD has been snuggly for a couple of days, I think she's trying to fight off a cold though as she has been very a little unsettled at night and she smells like she has one - no snot yet though (touch wood).

BT, bless DS telling you to get back in bed with him! They are crafty little things really - DH and I were just discussing this evening how clever they are and how they manage to get their own way with you ("she has us wrapped round her little fingers" were his exact words I think)

Hi Clara, lovely to hear from you! It sounds like you are all starting to settle in a bit although I'm sure it will take some time to get used to it all. I would imagine DD1 is taking longer to settle in because she is older and used to her world being a certain way, DD2 won't remember much (Evie got used to a funny routine very quickly when we were on holiday but the older ones didn't at all), she'll get there though . Children seem to make friends and adapt to new situations much quicker than we do as adults. The humidity doesn't sound fab though.

Suey, each time I have been TTC I have been totally convinced it will never happen to me, I have a terrible cycle caused by hormone imbalances but its always when I least expect it (usually when due an appt to look at having treatment for imbalances) that I fall pg. It'll happen . As for tantrums, DD doesn't usually have many but she has had 2 this week (eek!), one because she woke up after not enough nap time and one yesterday because she didn't need new shoes... Hope you have a fab hols BTW, where are you off to?

Cazzy, its so hard to decide when to try again, DH really didn't want to after our first loss as he said he hated seeing me go through it and didn't know if he could bear to see me hurt again, me, I just needed to try again as soon as we could. Men often ignore something they don't know how to face. Also it is all very recent and probably feels quite fresh in his mind, if you are wanting an Autumn baby then you have a couple of months to figure it out, perhaps you could sort of mention that ie "Shall we go out for the evening/get bottle of wine in - best make the most of it before we TTC again" or something to do with looking forward to being able to have a drink over Christmas because next year you hopefully won't be able to have much due to BFing??? Good luck with going back to work Monday, can't say I envy you but DD3 will be fine and ever so pleased to see you afterwards!

Hi BT. My DD is not very advanced in her words either. But understands loads. My theory for what its worth is that she wants to be able to say whole sentences and is not satisfied with individual words! Hence the babble with very little comprehensible Her only regular words are up, more, all gone, undo, way (as in that way pointing where she wants to go), and [out]side (again to go outside). Strangely she has very few nouns, just a few names like mummy (which she pronounces mummy-a, a reflection of her fixation with Mamma Mia!).
If I compare her to DD1 who had repeated ear infections and grommets put at almost exactly DD2's age, DD1 probably had a few more nouns but no more words in total and didn't understand nearly as much which was more worrying (after the grommets she improved in leaps and bounds).

Clara, lovely to hear you're (sort of) settling in. I don't envy you the humidity either. We're off to Queensland's Gold Coast tomorrow (near to Surfers Paradise) where is should be low 20s, hooray!

Cazzy that must be really tough. I really feel for you: it must have been and be dreadful. I really admire you for feeling ready to even think about it. Can you get pissed with dh one night?

I am in montalcino in Tuscany. 4 nights here then 4 in Assisi. Beautiful temperature and nice and cool in the evenings.

Re speech: dd was significantly older than her peers to start (maybe 3 months?) but the rate at which she is progressing is far outstripping them now. She can learn peoples names the first time of meeting them and now speaks 3 word sentences. So those who are worried, I read somewhere they level out at 3? ( given the right stimulating environment, of course.) skid has far wiser words than me, though.

well i have done 1st day back...twas OK...don't think any of the monkies missed me...they had my parents looking after them. One more day and then the kids come back on Weds...

Suey - I would like to say I hate you

hi girls (this is awen who is creeping back on after flouncing last week). Re the speech, little one not saying much. Is developing his own words for things, Bubu - butterfly, Mieow - cat, Budder - brother, Maaa - milk, (the sound) clip clip - horse, Bi - Bird, Bee, Dog, Dow - Down, Door - means lots of things that are lids or doors.

I'm not too concerned as only 20 months and he'll get there. Hes had a dodgy tummy and cold but seems ok. Still bfeeding and still ttc..

How are you all?

Did you flounce? I didn't notice, sorry!!

But welcome back anyway - lovely to hear from you

You should come and join us on the freaky extended breastfeeding thread :D

Suey2 - wow your dd sounds very precocious!!
Funnily enough, I met up with a couple of friend's both with a ds. One of them is 3 weeks older than Daniel and the other one is 4 days younger. They too mostly babbled though the youngest does say "mummy" , they are about the same level as Daniel. The mum of the older boy told me she met up with some other friends.who all have dds, and she was saying she was amazed at how advanced they were in terms of speech compared to her ds. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule (Claireybee's Douggie ) but it does seem that girls do seem to be more advance in their verbal skills! I certainly think my niece, who is a year older than Daniel, had more words when she was his age.

aye, bt she's pretty good now. The only problem is that people seem to think she is much older, and expect her to behave.....
My mates baby, same age, is far more advanced. When they were in a shop the other day, she said 'molly want mummy buy!' the irony is, my mates seriously dyslexic and was similarly advanced in speech early on. So my mate is worried that it may mean her kid will also be dyslexic. Always something to worry about....

Cazzy best of luck with DH... you are a total inspiration with how strong you've been over the last few weeks. I really hope it all works out and soon.

I am still breast feeding too...gd the minute I get in from work Evie say "milk" and leads me to the sofa...

Evie had a good day at her new nursery today - well she cried, but no worse than if she had been at her old nursery

After all that.......
I might be pg. A faint line on 3 tests: I am in Italy and don't know how reliable the test are, though.
I'll get one of the digital ones when I get back: no maybes with them!

Ooh ooh ooh how exciting! Fingers crossed for you Suey.

Awen sorry I didnt see your flounce either. Welcome back though

Cazzy glad first day back was ok, must be hard.

Clara how is the settling in going? Hope dd1 adjusts to her new school soon and that you meet some more people too. It's hard to be somewhere where you don't know anyone...

Have had an awful sick bug. DD was sick for one night last week then was absolutely fine. Tuesday (a week later) I started being sick, blacked out twice, couldn't stand up and am still feeling a bit shakey and ill today. DH was sick once on weds night and is manfluing it up nicely while I carry on looking after kids house etc(can you tell I am annoyed??). DC haven't come down with it yet, hopefully they don't.

Clairey that sounds rough - hope you're feeling much better and that the DCs are ok.

Suey fingers crossed. Hope you get the news you want.

We've been trying to wean DD off the milk she drinks during the night. We've been slowly increasing the ratio of water to formula but it seems to be backfiring a bit as she is waking up more often. Not demanding a different drink but taking what we give her (normally about 6oz), drinking the lot, going back to sleep and then waking up a couple of hours later and going through the same thing again. Before she was waking just once or twice for a drink instead of 4 or 5 times. All suggestions gratefully received

DD does seem to be going through a growth and development spurt at the moment so I guess there could be a link there.

Hope everyone has a good weekend