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.

Goodness Arcadie I would have been furious (sadly I'm not know for being the most tolerant mum in the world...). Especially after he'd been repeatly warned not to touch. Your poor niece. I seem to remember something similar happening to one of my friend's hamsters when I was a kid - they seem to be particularly sensitive animals, quite easily killed...

LOL at the camel comparison clara!!

I thought some of the posters were a bit harsh arcadie, blaming you. AFAIK you did your best to keep him away!!

Still no pic Wizz, maybe you need to be on my mates list too? Will try that in a bit.

Welcome back fifi, glad it's all going well, make the most of having a non walker!

Welcome spiralqueen, I am jealous of your mornings, ds is up at 4/4.30 and stays up either crying or climbing all over me. he's also not at all interested in books

Nope, still not!

and arcadie - what a nightmare! I wouldn't be too harsh on him - he didn;t mean to hurt it. Hope your SIL and niece are OK about it

insy - you clean as muc or possible a bit more than me (I don't really do dusting...) and I donl;t think you're even close to slovenly! Glad Toby is feeling better and how scary for you - I dind't know that about calpol/nurofen so thank you

at what your DH said about having another clairey. I thought he just didn't want another for now. Is having just two something you think you can live with? Do you think there's any chance of him changing his mind?

hey fifi - welcome back! DS has not been walking long either. And as you say enjoy it while it lasts - doesn;t sound like he's far off! How are the wedding plans going?

at your camel DD clara! My DD is also a camel and gets REALLY irritated if you try to make her go for a wee when she doesn't need one (as they do in her nursery about three times a day) She was also completely potty trained by 22 months so I know DS is going to be a nightmare because that would be only fair!

Arcadie, poor DS and poor hamster I thought some of the comments on your thread were very harsh though .

Clara how is DD2 now? My DCs also get rapid shallow breathing sometimes when they have a high temperature - its horrible, really scary.

Insy, no need to do a test, started spotting again on Tuesday night and it is heavier today, still not proper AF so have not started my pills back up, might go to the doctors once DCs are back at school just to check all is normal. As for cleaning, I am certainly no supercleaner! I just try and do a bit each day so it never needs a good going over .

Wizz, can't see your pic either!

Hi Spiralqueen, your DD sounds a fabulous little character! I love the way she presents you with a book to read!

Skid - I remember you and I thinking about potty training our dd's at the same time, you obviously succeeded and I didn't (well at least not until dd2 was about three months if I remember correctly)...

All this talk about being slovenly (or not) has mde me smile. The implication is that rather than doing the housework, we are sitting around on the sofa with our feet up, reading a trashy mag and filing our nails.

Ha ha.

Actually, if I could do the housework in child-free peace I think I would actually quite enjoy it now. Hats off to you who manage to do so much with your dc's around but I find it pretty well impossible to do more than the very basics with dd1 trying to "help" and dd2 getting under my feet.

It's like people who think being on maternity leave would be a nice relaxing time to write that novel you've always dreamed about....

spiralqueen welcome! I see from your profile that you are actually older than me! Hurrah, I have felt like the old lady up until now! You say your dd was a suprise - did you think you couldn't have children? How wonderful that your dd came along. She sounds very grown up already though. Mind you, I think dd1 was pretty interested in books at this age. Dd2 doesn't seem to have the same concentration for them, but perhaps that's because I don't have the time to sit down with her and read endless stories like I did the first time round!

But Clara, that is how I spend my days .

DD has recently turned into a camel too, she was doing hundreds of wees all day (and wetting herself for most of them) but suddenly she is able to hold onto her wee for aaaages-far longer than I can!

Skid I have hope that he will change his mind but tbh we do need to work on our relationship a bit first, at the moment it feels like we are co-parents and not a lot else, I think that is one of the things that is putting him off. I hadn't realised how hard it would be to become affectionate with someone again when you have got out of the habit of doing so (and I suppose in a lot of ways I fill my affectionate needs with the dc so for a while I felt like he was just an extra demand when I wanted time without being touched.) Love has never been an issue but we have been going for weeks without showing each other any affection or having a proper conversation . It's getting easier now ds is sleeping better though.

Arcadie have you heard back from hamster owners? I think I'd have flipped if I were you!

Skid - The wedding plans...well im just about sorted i think.
Im a bit annoyed with the shop i got my bridesmaid dresses from as the girls went for a fitting in feb, and the dresses have been altered already and ive just had to pay for them in full and they are now hanging in my room. Now 2 of the girls have been the same weight forever but one of the girls has just lost 4 stone which is great but its not to say that will stay off or what if she loses loads more??

My dress is on order and will be in the shop by july, cake picked,flowers picked, photographer boooked, just the flowergirls dresses and ds's suits to get but they will be one of the last things i get...i get so nervous when i talk about it

Beckle reading is a very big thing with DD. She likes "reading" to the others at nursery and pointing out the things in the pictures. A teacher in the making? It can be a pain in the mornings though when you're trying to get out. She was engrossed in a book the other week and when I told her to come over and get dressed she just got another book, handed it to me and went back to reading her own book. sigh perhaps just a little madam in the making?

Clara - neither DH or I thought we could. We'd been together a couple of years and I thought my age ruled it out and he'd mangled his bits in a cycling accident as a teenager and been told it wouldn't happen. He gave up smoking and 2 months later we had the biggest shock of our lives . Been told today that it's highly unlikely that I'll be able to conceive again which is a huge disappointment.

fifi my dd didn't crawl until she was 10mths, then started trying to stand up in the middle of the room unsupported, skipped the cruising bit and was walking at 11.5 mths. Very strange but I'd echo the posts about making the most of having a non-walker - although I'm getting my fitness back up to pre-pregnancy level chasing round after her. Good luck with the wedding plans - seems like your on top of it though.

Trying to catch up with the hamster saga and really must get some work done

Hello all! spiralqueen my dd is a bookworm now, always chasing me with a book in hand and i feel so bad that I don't always have time, but we do sit down a lot and read through them. She goes into her wee room and shuts the door behind her, and when I keek in she is looking through her books!

Unfortunately she does not resemble your dd in the later rising! Clairey I think we are up the same time as you most mornings -although today was a lovely long lie in until 6.15am! I have never once been up before her in her life!

fifi you sound organised! I'd love to get married again, there were so many nice dresses etc and you only get to pick one! (I'd pick dh again btw!)

Keep meaning to ask - can we talk TV? In terms of - how much do your LOs watch? I'm getting a bit worried we have it on too much - and I know I am definitely guilty of using it to occupy/calm her, eg the mornings I am working I put it on while I change her nappy and dress her, just to save time as she tunes into it and doesn't fight me!

Caz must be something in the air, we had a 'lie in' until 5.55 this morning.

TV mine watch milkshake on c5 in the mornings, usually from 8ish so it's on for an hour or so and then a bit more in the afternoon slump (dd does, ds usually naps or pesters me at this time). I did think this morning that it's probably too much when ds started singing "oreee dadada CAR" (Roary the racing car). He also snorts if you say peppa pig to him

Clairey - not as bad as my dd1 who started saying "Cilit Bang - bang and the dirt is gone" over and over in the supermarket the other day - I DEFINITELY think she is watching too much tv. Probably 1-2 hours in the morning, 1-2 hours after lunch and an hour in the evening before lunch. Although we have other days when we're doing things when she watches far less - I think it's been particularly bad over the Easter holidays. It's just so easy to put it on for them!

Oh and definitely something in the air - neither of my two woke up before us this morning, dd1 up about 6.30 and then dd2 about 5/10 minutes later. Bliss!

Clara I wouldn't get anything done without it though! In the mornings I find if I put it on and leave them watching it they'll drift off and start playing with stuff but if I try to make them play straight off then ds won't let me leave him

Caz - had to go back to work (keeping roof over heads etc as I'm the main breadwinner) and it is hard juggling everything but on balance it's the right thing for me. There were days on ML and since when things are a struggle with DD and at least I know there is something I'm good competent at and I feel more like me if you see what I mean. Don't get me wrong I love being a mum but I think we can easily end up becoming thought of as dd's mum/dh's wife rather than as an individual in our own right.

DD watches CBeebies whilst I'm doing our breakfast/trying to getting a wash in the machine/checking bags before work and the bedtime hour before she goes to bed. Weekends vary but it is very easy to park dd in front of it so you can get some housework done/go to the loo/cook but still feel guilty that I'm not doing something more worthy.

Maternal guilt is a wonderful thing

I think our telly watching is similar to you Spiralqueen, Ds will watch it for a while, but generally starts playing and just looks up occasionally - this is the point I usually turn it off.
Incidently, Spiralqueen, I'm having a steady weight loss atm and I think it is all the running around I am doing after my ds (he started to walk shortly after his 1st birthday) as he can never keep still! He loves it when I chase him around the house, problem is he tends to collapse into fits of laughter!

Oh I think he said "Bye bye!" at nursery today!

Oh and Bad Mother alert - I brought him into the house after picking him up from nursery, had to go out to put car in the garage but he got really upset and didn't want me to leave! So I brought him out with me. At first he was angry because I wouldn't let him run into the garage after I opened it and protested when I picked him up but that soon changed when I got in the car and plonked him on my lap to drive the car into the garage. He was utterly thrilled to be "driving" the car! Very naughty I know but we were going very slowly and I had a tight hold of him!

Actually have just remembered, my dad let me drive his car when I was about 4, and actually steer it!

Dont't feel bad BT. I left DD in the house last week alone when I took the rubbish out, came back to find the door had somehow locked itself and the keys were inside!! It was at that point I discovered how easy my house is to break into - using a stake from the garden and the cat-door Needless to say I will be taking keys with me from now on (sadly I can't say I won't be leaving her in the house alone ever as I have no choice really...)

I think she now has all 16 starter teeth now, only the next set of molars to go. TG I say!! Her poor bottom still hasn't quite recovered from the last round, 3 coming through at once

I'm pretty sure DD2 "watches" more TV than DD1 did - precisely because DD1 is here. And she watches more "older" things - no Wiggles or Maisy, lots of Garfield the Movie, Harry Potter and Mamma Mia.

BT, DH has driven with both the DSs on his lap when they were smaller, only parking the car, but they loved it! He even let them change the gears I think. Anyway, you'll definitely hear no cries of 'bad mother' from me, far better to have him where you can see him than upset on his own where you can't see him, babies his age don't need long to find mischief! Bless him for saying 'bye bye' at nursery!

I often leave DD in the house alone too Buzzy while I go and hang the washing out, there is no way I could have her in the garden with me while I did it, she is too keen to throw the washing everywhere help for that, plus our garden is only baby friendly if she is supervised! Usually she will go into the conservatory and watch me, waving, laughing and blowing faces on the glass!

Caz, DD doesn't watch any television but that is because she isn't interested! The DSs often have it on but she ignores it, I've even tried watching Cbeebies with her (I love ITNG) to no avail. DS2 was like that too (unlike DS1 who has always been a telly-bug) and I always put it down to his poor eyesight but DDs eyes have been tested and they are fine so perhaps it is just that she is a very 'busy' child (much like DS2 actually) and hasn't the time to sit still. Music, however, is another matter - she loves it and just can't help herself from dancing and 'singing' along if it is on.

I don't feel so bad about the TV now! I wish dd would drift away from it, but she is hooked whenever it is on! She has loads of words now though (mostly animal noises!) and shouts them when she sees them on TV, says bye at the end of programmes etc so I am trying to kid myself its vaguely educational for her!

I don't think TV is quite as evil as some of the people here like to make out. It's not as though we leave our dcs sat in front of them for hours on end!
Beckle - our garden's the same! I normally pop DS into his highchair by the back door so he can watch me when I need to hang the washing out. But I have also left him alone in the lounge when putting the car in the garage or getting it out again.

Hello... I am back. Had a lovely holiday in the lake district with dh while my mum had all the girls. IT was fab fab fab...but I am so tired and don't want to go back to work tomorrow .

Caz - I think TV has a place. We don't have one (but do have some DVDS which I can shove on when I need some p and q)...

Oh BT I shove my dd(1) in front of the tv for hours on end sometime - well, perhaps a couple of hours! But she is an articulate, intelligent, bright child with a love of books, learning her letters, drawing and writing, and of playing outside, with her bikes, running around with other children and climbing trees.

Get Squiggling has helped teach her to draw. She has learned about neurons from Nina and the Neurons, numbers from Numberjack, the importance of family and friends from Peppa Pig, letters and words from Super Why, and the difference between a concrete mixer and a crane from Bob the Builder.

I DO feel guilty when she watches too much (hence this morning we tried baking biscuits instead but ended up pushing my blood pressure through the roof as I tried to look after dd2 at the same time) - but please point me in the direction of whoever it is who thinks tv is evil and I'll happily challenge them!!!

Can you tell I feel strongly about the subject!

Welcome back Cazzy - v. of a childfree holiday!!!!