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 at tea spiller - please don't stop with yor suggestions - I like the input!

Would you still go for an unusual name after your DD? I can't bear the thought of having to go through all that spelling/explaining/repeating with this one - at least now my DD is old enough to do it herself!

DS has started snogging me - as in proper open mouthed 3 second snogs - don't know what to do as the more I pull away the more he wants to do it but it definitely feels wrong! And he will not entertain the offer of a cheek instead of lips - hope he is not developing some kind of Oedipus complex...

DrSkid, DD started trying to do that form of kissing but I wasn't having a bar of it and just kept repeating "close mouth" and now she's pretty good! (and very cute )

Yes I'm polishing my halo as we speak!! You're right, he is a complete arse and I'm proud of the fact that over the years I've maintained my integrity in the face of some pretty awful behaviour. The worst of it is that every time he does something like this it makes me dreadfully sad all over again that we are not still together - not because I want to be with HIM IYSWIM but because if we were together he wouldn't be moving to the other side of the world or at least if he was it'd be because we'd decided to go together.

I'm interested in people's views on when to talk to DD about it? She's coming up 8 next April so I feel I should be respectful of her right to be involved in discussions. But on the other hand she will be so sad and it will just drag out the parting process so that we have an awful few months vs weeks? Any child pschologists out there?!

Buzzy - it's hard for me to comment as i know next to nothing about 8-year-olds but I decided to tell my dd1 sooner rather than later about our moves so that it became a normal part of our lives rather than something we just sprung on her. I wanted her to get used to the idea and ask any questions she had about it and not suddenly feel like we were changing her life and she hadn't been told about it.

Totally different I know as we were moving with her and she was three,not eight. But when I was a child and sent to boarding school (aged just turned 13), I always knew it was coming and would have hated for it just to suddenly happen.

Sorry this probably doesn't make sense, got a small screamy thing pulling me away from the laptop....

buzzy no advice, i'm afraid. except it is not going to be good news, whatever way you put it. I would go for the drip drip approach in your position: but make sure your xh is in agreement.

Skid dd is exactly the same! but only with me: other folk she will either'open mouth' their cheek or keep lips closed. weird

Hi all!

DrSkid, yay for a boy , DS will still have special status as middle child, when I was having DD I told DS2 he was extra special because he was the only child in the house to be both a big brother and a little brother . Noah is a fab name, it was high on my list for DD if she'd been a boy, I also love Leo and quite like Kian if you're looking for something Irish (DH vetoed that one though).

Clairey, I love your DC's names, especially DS's! DH loves it too and IF we ever have another DS that may well be the name he would get.

Buzzy at your exH, what an arse! I definitely think you should tell DD sooner rather than later, it gives her lots of time to get used to it and she will never feel she was kept in the dark.

Clara at your horse ride, it sounds fab! I haven't been on a horse for years and years.

SpiralQueen, I don't think Waybuloo has brainwashed me yet, I'm sure it didn't take ITNG this long, mind you, I'm beginning to like the music...

Cazzy, so glad that DH is home, hope he is not stressing you out too much, your FB statuses are making me and want to hug you all at the same time.

I am just debating at the moment whether to put DD into her bed or not, she loves to snuggle up in DS2's bed with him but if I ask her if she wants to sleep in her bed she always says "no. tot." (and points at the cot). She stood up in her cot the other day though and its scary how low the sides of it seem against her. I have bought a bed rail ready in case she tries to climb out of the cot but so far she's showing no signs. Should I try and move her into the bed or leave her where she is while she's content?

Beckle - I am dreading the move to a bed and putting it off as long as possible. I don't think there is any way she can get out of the cot yet so I am not too worried, but it will be a lot easier once she is in a bed for when we go away etc (although maybe not; I remember dd1 falling out of bed on a number of occasions when we took her away because she was used to the sides on her toddler bed preventing her from going over the edge!).

You will all be happy to hear it is pouring with rain here and has been all day. So the sun doesn't always shine in paradise

Hi all

Buzzy cr*p situation for you and I guess it would be better not to spring it on DD but awful situation to be in.

Beckle we're in the depths of a Wallace & Grommit phase at the moment. DH now can recite the entirety of Curse of the Were Rabbit. Had to buy another W&G DVD today as I couldn't face anymore COTW.

We took side off DD's cot last week and replaced it with one of those little screens to stop her rolling out in the night. No attempts to get out until today. This morning I came out of the bathroom to find DD at the stairgate in her doorway attempting to open it. Tonight she got out of bed twice but we put her back in bed both times and then she went off to sleep. So going ok so far [touches everything wooden she can find]

Skid no more in the way of names from me but enjoying seeing the suggestions and just wish I was in the position of having to think of names. [goes off telling herself to be grateful for having DD]

SQ

I think waybaloo has got me, ds often goes to sleep watching that or ITNG so it's wind down time for me too and I do find it quite soothing. (actually yep, ds' head is just nodding now!)

Beckle if ds hadn't suddenly refused to go in his cot he'd still be sleeping in it I think...I wanted to leave him in it as long as possible.

Glad my get-your-toddler-to-name-your-baby method was successful enough that other people like the name too . Hmm have you considered employing it Skid?? Am sure Milo could come up with a few suggestions

Well I have followed a friend's suggestion and put her to sleep for her nap in the bed to see which she prefers(had to lay down in it with her though as she was adamant she wanted the cot, even with the new bedrail fitted. Like you Clairey I am quite keen on keeping her a baby in the cot as long as possible (and in her cute sleeping bags) although it does concern me how tall she is, she could easily climb out of the cot if she put her mind to it and I'm worried she'll hurt herself (due to the sleeping bag mainly).

SQ You can be grateful for what you have but still feel sad for what you don't, don't tell yourself off too much. Your DD has obviously just discovered she can get in and out as she likes, she will soon realise there is no fun to be had getting out in the night and sleep fine in it Love the vision of her reciting COTWR , my DS1 used to be like that with films he loved when he was small, I haven't watched any with DD yet though, she's only just become interested in the TV.

Clara, perhaps you have our rain today, it's been pouring for the last couple of days but lovely and bright today!

It's ok, you can all stop worrying about me, the sun is out again, the sky and sea are blue, the birds are singing and there is even a little bit of a breeze.

SQ - I have a very good friend whose son co-incidentally was born on the same day as my dd1. She won't be having any more either, he was born after several attempts at IVF and she is now well into her 40's. I could really tell how much she wanted another, particularly a girl, when I had dd2. But she is reconciled to him being an only child and just makes sure he gets lots of contact with his cousins etc. I know it must be hard not having a choice, but there are lots of advantages of only having one child. Travelling and going away places is a lot easier, and you won't always be split between two children when you want to do things. I find even going to the playground hard work because each of them want me to play with them. And bedtimes will always be easier when you only have one to do.

I thought long and hard about having a 2nd child and would have been happy if we had only had one. Plus, it is of course a lot more environmentally friendly to have fewer children so you are helping the rest of us as well!

Lost this thread for a while there, it dropped out of threads I'm on and was so far down the postnatal clubs list that I couldn't find it.

same clairey!

Thanks all we are trying to be positive about it but it's early days of getting used to the idea.

Away at the ILs for the weekend seeing the latest addition to the family (cousin's DD) who was born the same weight as DD - it's so hard to remember our DD being that size. Put DD into the travel cot Saturday night, went downstairs and then a few minutes later she strolls into the lounge, announces "I'm up" and gets back on the sofa . She'd managed to get out of the travel cot, down the stairs and back to us all in the dark and without any sign of being in the slightest bit afraid.

Took her back upstairs and put her in the single bed in the room that her cot is in. Told her she was a big girl but she had to stay in the big girl's bed and not get up. MIL belatedly found travel stair gate and we put pillows on the one side of the bed she could fall out of (DD not MIL). Remarkably she not only stayed in bed until the morning but also only woke once in the night.

We didn't sleep at all well as we were both listening out for a thump or other sign of activity but she had a great night's sleep.

So much for us thinking the travel cot would last a bit longer. How was everyone else's weekend?

hello everyone. been lurking for a few days, catching up with everybody's news.

am well impressed by your DD spiralqueen! made me wonder whether we're being optimistic about being able to use the travel cot at christmas. eeek. i suppose one good thing about having a teeny tiny dd is that she is likely to still fit into it; at least if she's well wedged into it she won't be able to climb out too easily!

SQ it must be really hard, I know I find it hard to accept that I might not have any more, so for it to be a certainty must be far far worse.

Beckle I have a bone to pick with you . I looked at your pictures on fb and was so at all of Evie's lovely outfits that I was forced to go and buy dd a couple of pretty pinafore dresses. So could you please dress her in sacks from now on. TIA

SQ - must be so hard and makes me appreciate how fortunate we have been. There are lots of advantages to having one child though as clara says.

clairey - i'd certainly have more faith in my DC's choice of names than my DH's! His latest suggestion is Roni - what you mean Ronnie? No, R-o-n-i - it's a completely different name - right well I'm sure people would immediately realise the spelling when they ask you what his name is really, what is that man on??! DD and I are currently campaigning for Noah s we'll see how it goes...

DS is glued to me atm - is anyone else experiencing this? Not sure if it's an age thing or that he's teething but he wails like a banshee if he's not on my knee and won't go to anyone else at all - it is utterly exhausting. I find myself getting really annoyed with the poor little thing as he clings to my leg as I walk round the house - don't know what to do about it - any advice wise mothers?

Hey everyone, just got back from sunny Spain. Been visiting my DF and DSM. DS had a lovely time running around their huge garden, and playing with their dog! We also visited the beach a couple of times to and went swimming in the sea - sadly after 3 weeks of rain, the pool was too cold!
DS was filled with junk food and icecream and was thoroughly spoiled!

BT - welcome back, glad you had a good time, seen your facebook message - please tell us about the flight! By the way, I am lost on MN acronymns, what is a DF and DSM?!

Skid - actually I quite like Roni for a name (don't tell your dh though!). You could say it was a shortening of some cool Brazilian name or something. Sorry I have no advice for clingy child, dd2 has always been quite independent. All I can suggest is give your leg a little shake every so often and maybe he'll get the message and get off I would suspect teething though, mine definitely has her final molars coming through as we have had all the symptoms off and on for the last few weeks and she has been waking in the night which is fairly unusual for her.

I have been out buying Creole costumes for the dd's today. It is some Creole festival next week and we are expected to dress our children in the local costumes. Thanks school, of course this isn't something you can just pop out to your local shop and buy - I had to track down a little shop in Castries that made them! Still, it is all part of the adventure of living here I guess. This is on top of the Marguerite parade they have to take part in tomorrow morning, for which I have had to had a "Queen"'s dress especially made for dd1....

Clara: Dear Father and Dear Step mum

What does a creole costume look like?

Happy holiday to meeeeeeeeee!

Not looking forward to the getting up at 3am part bit but am otherwise quite excited

BT glad you enjoyed yours, was very jealous of all your fb updates.

DS has started singing the alphabet song but instead of W he sings Douggie-woo! So cute!

Anyone have a clarks outlet shop near them? Went in today and got dd a pair of boots and ds a pair of winter shoes for the grand total of............£12

Skid I was meaning to say about clingy ds, I often find that if I pick him up when he first asks and carry him around for a bit then he is more likely to just leave me alone of his own accord. Doesn't always work though. Erm and sometimes cbeebies catches his attention and distracts him for a bit

Happy birthday clairey!!! - it's my DD's birthday on Sunday so you're almost twins (give or take a decade or two...) - do you have anything nice planned?

welcome home BT and glad you had such a lovely time

clara - Roni - really??? I think your DDs' school sounds brilliant - although I am also less keen about the finding appropriate costume thing. They had to dress up as their favourite character from a book at DD's school last week so she dressed up as Lola (as in Charlie &) - well it was only once we arrived that i realised she actually dresses like Lola every day and no-one even realised she had dressed up - very inadequate mothering!

Thanks clairey - that sounds like a really good idea to pick DS up immediately - now I think about it, that has been known to do the trick. Although difficult atm with my ILs here and FIL going on and on and on about how spoiled and indulged he is and how he can't believe I let him walk on the way to DD's school and therefore have to leave earlier -aaaagggghhh they only arrived yesterday and I already fit to burst!

oops clairey - just realised you said happy holiday and not happy birthday - where are you off to? Hope you have a lovely time.

It was tricky managing DS on the flight. Fortunately both ways I managed to get a row of seats to myself so he could sit next to me, but he HATED being strapped to me for take off and landing! I had to chase around the airport to get him to go where I wanted and I nearly lost him twice at the security check!

DrSkid - oh dear,PILs sound like a bit of a 'mare, how long until they go?

Oh forgotten to mention DS also does sloppy, full mouth open snogs. Cute but icky lol!

He has a new phrase, "go, go go!". My dad's dog loves to go lizard hunting, and she has to be taken all around the back of the house, where there are various cupboards and open each one so she look for lizards, and Daniel loved playing this game too Every we went around, Daniel would shout "go, go, go!". Very cute and funny!

I read it as happy birthday too and I wrote the darn thing!

DS walks dd to school too if we're ready on time. Yesterday he took off his coat, put a few random name tags up on the board and sat down with the other children-he was gutted when he couldn't stay.

BT I remember that from last year, I really struggled to hold him during take off, especially as they taxied around for about 40 mins beforehand. It wasn't helped by the smug mother with an angelic child sat across the aisle who kept giving me funny looks!

hello, I'm back now I'm getting little more sleep I feel able to be posting although probably not coherently!

ds3 (now 16wks) still not sleeping much, some days I think I'm coping, other days I know I'm not

What did I miss??