January 2008 Shiny New Year Toddlers - Oh for a minutes peace!!

[Lilyloo]

Simpson - I think you can buy them on ebay.

We have the Thomas Aquadraw and they fight over the roller bit, lol!!!
H thinks it's some kind of shaker and marches about shaking it

hope the mortgage is covered, stressful time for you...

is it asking the obvious - or would a belt with the too loose trousers work? might last a while as you could always put more holes in it as he grows?

so yuk about cats in the sand it's true - but i am sorely tempted by the Bob one....

am bidding on a Little Tike Peak Mountain thing - just told DH it could do for H for Christmas! his face was v 27th JUNE he said!!!
hey - only following Simps's way and storing stuff in the loft

Looks like I may have to put up with the fighting for a bit longer

Tomy website being updated and they seem like golddust on e bay.

Can't get into bidding war if I may lose internet iyswim.

Tomy back up early July so will buy them when back from hols.

You and JKS should swap roller and pen

Simps - honestly, i will dig out all the many pens we've got and post you one!
i've actually bought 2 aquadraws over time; a normal one and a thoms one, so got lots of pens! they perform a magical disappearing act in the playroom but i will find one - send me your add and i will get in the post asap
(email, FB, cat, whatever)

oh and i'm looking for a double bed frame (have a spare mattress) and need it for about 3 weeks time. am watching some on ebay, checked freecycle previous posts but no luck.
where's good for cheep cheep beds?

Ikea - fab. My friend has one that someone left behind in our student house and it's now her marital bed. She loves it

Argos are really NOT good.

But they are metric measurements aren't they? and the mattress i'm 90& sure is imperial.

cheapest i've found nearby is £99.

I think that's pretty good.

Have got so much stuff in attic I am undecided what to give J for his birthday in Aug and yes I have Xmas covered for both Dcs too

JKS - will FB you thanks

On the belt front don't think trousers have a belt bit iyswim.

Also not convinced J could manage belt, imagine how embarrassed he would be if trousers fell down at school

I love aquadraws think they are fab, drawing/painting with no mess

My kind of activity!!

I would offer to do a swap but I know that once the roller has gone they will then want it. Grrr.

They are fab. But expensive. We just have the travel mats.

It was fun today with the pens. I stripped S to her nappy and let her go wild. She painted her tummy and then sat pointing at it in amazement.

you know me and bargains

Boots had aquadraw for £10 as they were discontinuing them.

Was J's pressie for being brave when he had his preschool injections.

LaT - which pens did you get again?

I want to start doing stuff like this when J is at school so I have more one on one time with her iyswim.

Crayola superwashable minimarkers. £1.99 for 5 in Morrisons. They really did come off her skin with water, nt even soap. I've yet to risk her clothes though and I don't know how long they will last.

Am very of your £10 aquadraw.

I have great intentions of quality time but H just sleeps and if T has his way we just watch tv. one day i will get tougher....
well that's not entirely accurate, he's out all day monday (no tv at nursery most of the time anyway), out tues, wed & thurs morning (no tv at all at pre-sch) and often out at playgroup fri mornings. so it's only afternoons and weekends. and i try and get dh to take him out most weekends for activities.

one-on-one with H doesn't really happen though.

Not sure he will 'grow out' of needing sleep Lily - it's all related to his abnormal brain activity every time his brain does something weird, it tires him out so he sleeps more. if his brain was behaving 100% normally he would just sleep as any other child his age (well he's used to sleeping lots now so i imagine it would take a while to drop sleeps entirely).
have suggested to the docs that we reintroduce the Epilim as he was at his most awake in months when on both. that's my preferred next step (a bit of both drugs). after that i've a feeling it may be surgery. the more i read the more likely a candidate he seems.
his dysplasia (abnormal bit) is quite large compared to many that i've read about in studies online (some are microscopic, his is approx a round 50p piece, maybe bigger) so maybe 'easier' to take out.

sorry off on one there!

Simps - you def don't want J getting into awkward situation with belt! i often forget how young they still are when they start school as it seems a way off for us yet.

my aquadraws both off ebay - surprise surprise!

i like the sound of the washable markers!
we have some good felt tips from asda that are nice and chunky and wash off in the bath (T insisted on colouring in his hands the other day...).

They had bath crayons in Morrisons too but I went for the pens and some finger paints. Am I mad? We will know by this time tomorrow!

JKS - what does the surgery involve? Have read that the younger surgery happens the easier it is for other parts of brain to take over and learn if that makes sense.

Is H worse on this new medication?

Does T ask questions or just accept it.

LaT - yes bargain and it gets played with at least once a day.

Would love to get pens for M but feel she may draw on something ie furniture, carpet etc.

But at that price will deffo buy them

I have a big Lazy town etch a sketch in loft (where else!) got from woolies that I know she would love. Was hoping to hold that out till Xmas but it may come down earlier.

Not convinced by bath crayons - worry they would take the idea of drawing on the walls to other parts of the house!

simps - it's not that he's worse as such. he has had no 'big' seizures (tonics) on the Keppra so in that sense it's a wonder drug.
he still has absences (which are a form of seizure, just milder) and they were reducing but have stopped reducing recently.
we are looking for a total stop to all kinds of seizure to say the drugs are working. since seizures are exhausting and tire him out, his sleep is indicative of ongoing seizures, if that makes sense?
one we see fewer absences and he wakes up more then we can start thinking that the drugs are working.

i think one more week of just keppra as we are then i will be on the phone to GOSH to see if we can experiment with a bit of Epilim too.

now that i've read the most dysplasias are way smaller than his i think that if i keep ringing and raising concerns they will send us that way shortly.

i don't truly know what's involved - haven't read enough to judge. but obv the main difficulty is getting to the dodgy bit, getting it out, then getting back out. all of that can cause further damage

sometimes i talk rationally about it, then i realised what the hell i'm saying and think OMG how is this happening!?!
i'm almost casual about my son's abnormal brain acitivity.....

Oh and T doesn't really have a clue tbh.

he mostly accepts that we don't go anywhere he's so used to it now.
he knows that daddy will take him out at the weekend. but it's almost like he's so used to being at home that he prefers it that way now.

he does fancy going upstairs whenever H is napping but i counter that with some activity then when H does wake up we all go for a play upstairs.

Sorry to go back to crayons after that JKS but I already clean the bath before she has a bath. I really don't want to be cleaning it after too. And I'd be surprised if the baby got out looking really clean either.

The markers are going to be kept in a HIGH place!

LOL LaT! (of course i don't mind) - you really clean it before she gets in? (not sure if i'm now super lazy or you're super-energised!)

ok a Q i have that i've often thought starting a thread on:

do you have a rotary line dryer thingie? do spiders live in it? so every time (after a few days obv) you go to use it, there are webs everywhere? i'm not a spider-fan so i find this v freaky and often end up with scary spiders in the clean laundry pile what do you do???

BTW - i'm off to bed now so not ignoring anyone, night all, catch up tomorrow (not too early as my lie-in day! DH had until 10am )

bath pens were a God send for us as j went through a phase of hating bath and they were the only things that worked.

Both Dcs play with them every time in bath but know they are locked away afterwards.

Although M has hissy fit on floor shouting "pen" very crossly

On the cleaning bath front I make J do it, is the agreement for him having the pens out and M "helps"

JKS - my grandmother has epilepsy and she has the absence type seizures like she is staring at a space on wall but not iyswim. But they are very rare now.

Think you are dealing with it all incredibly well.

JKS he just knows his routine and that makes him happy.

You are so knowledgable of this now The surgery must be a scary prospect for you all.
Not 'casual' at all just accepting and dealing with it. It seems almost wrong to carry on but you have no choice iyswim.
I can remember having trivial conversations with my mum about bills etc when she had terminal cancer. It isn't 'casual' but part of your life that you 'have' to work with.

What are the hopes of doing both drugs ? Or is that million dollar ques ? Guess every one is unique ?

morning all

JKS - Hope you got a good lie in

Have got a BBQ at my mum's today which should be nice.

It also means i have a day off from cooking which I seem to spend all my time doing. I still haven't braved it and started cooking with neocate