January 2008 Shiny New Year Toddlers - Happy 2nd birthday to us!!

[LilySwalLoosHerTurkeyBaster]

Where did 2 years go ????

MN moan!

Does anyone get really annoyed with the thread 'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' when it pops up in Active Convos? It seems to be very active thread and I hate that they've adopted the motto of a website which supports anorexics in being anorexic. I read the first few posts to see if there was any sense of irony there, but it seems not. It annoys me every time I se it.

LaT - then you have the other side which atm is a thread in chat titled "nightmare incident with neighbours parcel - please sympathise & advise"

I have not laughed so much in ages

Oh that is fantastic. You all have to check it out.

I must say our food issue is gettign a lot easier. Now I have a plan I can stick to I get a lot less wound up. We have something more unfamiliar at lunchtime and something I know she lieks at dinner so I don't worry about her going to bed hungry(and then waking me up!). If she doesn't eat her luch, she doesn't get anything until dinner and she really knows this is true now. I do offer her the refused food because what I'm worried about is her being picky rather than the amount she eats, and once she has then eaten it. It means I can cook more variety and more adult friendly food, which makes me happier. Even, today I made bolognese sauce for lunch, which she refused many times before. I did blend it really smoothly but she ate a whole almost adult sized plate, singing 'Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmm' all the way through, so I was a happy mummy. At last, something with meat in that she will eat!

bookmark and hope to chat soon

Hi ladies.
Been having nightmare bed times here just lately whereas George and Edward have been up and playing, shouting, turning the big light on and off, looking out the window etc till about 9pm. Fortunately David goes to bed and goes to sleep So I tried a new strategy last night and tonight. I read them all a story at 6.45 in the living room. Put Edward to bed first at 6.55. Luckily tonight he went straight to sleep. Then 7.05 George to bed then I give David a cuddle and another read of the book then he goes to bed. Last night they played till about 8pm Tonight they were all asleep by 7.45 fingers crossed its a break through.

I hope your solution lasts Gingeme!

Nice to see you MrsMc.

Sabela stood in the cot and shouted for a cuddle for an hour and a half last night between 11.30 and 1am. I did lots of visiting and explaining etc but then I got really cross with her. I felt terrible but I was so tired. And then she went to sleep straightaway.

She has discovered no for sure and just walks around saying 'nonononnononononono' about nothing in particular. I know she doesn't mean it but it does get wearing. Do you ever have those days where you think you're doing really well: DC's are well dressed, well fed, well entertained, but they just yell and yell at you if you try and do the washing up or have a quiet 5 minutes. I had one of those days. I did everything 'right' but Sabela wanted 100%. She is absolutely delightful when I'm giving her the attention she wants but sometimes dinner just needs to be cooked! I had to shut the door between the living room and kitchen twice today (resulting in floods of tears from her even though she can see me) just to get basic jobs done.

I can;t quite imagine having that and a newborn and am now feeling a little scared at what I have let myself in for. Thanks heaven for nursery!

I've had strict words with her about waking me up, but we'll see....

Well done on the strategic thinking Gingeme - I'm lucky with Nathan, he doesn't nap and keeps going until after dinner, brief second wind but asleep minutes after head hits pillow

LaT am very impressed with the conversations you have with Sabela and the amount of explaining you do. She sounds like a very clever girl and you are a totally devoted and (somewhat overly ?) perfectionist mum doing a great job. But she IS only two and sometimes i think (but that's just me) that you just need to be boss. So if she keeps asking for attention when in bed I'd be tempted to ignore rather than explain.

LaT - I feel your pain!!

M is very similar and her new thing is to shout "don't want it" randomly at nothing in particular and gets louder and louder when ignored.

We had a dreadful battle with tea last night and she refused to eat and was screaming in highchair so got her out and said she could go back in it for more when she stopped screaming.

So instead she lay on the floor and screamed and kicked legs demanding "pudding" for 45mins

Needless to say she did not get it

So hard lesson for M to learn,tea must be eaten first (not all just some) before pudding

Has anyone heard from Ange lately??

Forgot to ask is anyone else having a battle in the mornings getting dressed???

M has very strong ideas about what she will/ won't wear...

Usually has to have Peppa pig on it somewhere

I don't know why I let myself stray from here, whenever I come back and read I feel so much better it is good to hear that the behaviour I am experiencing is just normal and part of being 2 as sometimes it is so hard to cope without getting furious - Xavier does a fair bit of hitting, refusing to eat and sleep and saying NO! all the time, the joys!

WST - you'll be surprised to know that I'm the hardball in my house! I didn't handle the sleep situation particularly well at the time, but what is true is usually if I tell her I'm not coming back in she will just go back to sleep. Not that night! Maybe because Papa was away. I too am sometimes amazed by what she will understand. This morning I got her toast, milk, helped her do the butter, knife etc before doing mine as I have oil and tomato on toast in the morning Spanish style. Sabela likes to have tomato seperately but I had forgotten to bring it to the table. When she protested and pushed her toast away asking for tomato, I said, 'Sabela I have done x, y, z for you and now I want to eat in peace.' And she nodded, pulled her plate back towards her and got stuck into her toast. You could have knocked me down with a feather!

I like the idea of me being a perfectionist. I usually think I'm a total slacker!

How are the interviews?

Simpson - the amount of times Ihave to look at ther and think, 'She's not rational!' I am very strict about getting dressed as it would drive me up the wass to have a battle every time (I'm sure it will come). We went through a phase when I literally pinned her to the floor and dressed her. I wasn't nasty to her but certainly made myself plain. It settled the issue for the moment. I did buy a very pretty dress for her recently, which she says 'no' to every time she sees it. Fortunately, it's a summer one, so that's a battle delayed!

We had words about sleeping again before bed last night and I didn't hear from her until 7.30, when she was sitting chatting in her cot (usually she just bawls for me). I told she'd done really good sleeping and she beamed and gave me a big cuddle.

Fortunately, the 'no' bug seems to have gone away for now

MrsMc - just dive in again!

I am here... finding working 4 days a week a struggle TBH. Last Friday I was so busy zooming around trying to get things done, I crashed out on the sofa by 8pm, so trying to take it a bit easier today. Although today is payday so I am off to Morpeth to take A to the nice park there and treat us to something, to remind me why i'm doing it.

Ange - it's always tough balancing work & family.

Having a lazy day here, T still off pre-sch as a couple of spots on his hand haven't popped, wondering if they ever will now. And i'm a bit annoyed as apparently the pre-sch has been doing all the parent-teacher meeting this week but never phoned me about them. grr.

H not got spots yet, still waiting. Also waiting to hear if friends DC who were here last week have got anything yet.

Trying to sort out more photos to upload & order prints of, always leave it for months and promise myself i won't leave it so long next time
These include the hosp ones of H so that's taking me back a bit, been 3 months now

Hey all sorry not being around , am spenidng lot's of time with sis.
Am currently waiting to hear from her as Rubi was rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties at 6.30
V worried fo her and my sis , she is at breaking point already

LILY - Really hope R & your sis are ok xxx

REally sorry to hear that Lily . Any news?

how is your niece this morning Lily?

Lily - hope Rubi is ok???

Thanks all , seems she has viral infection. They have stabilised her breathing so hoping she on the mend fingers crossed.
Has been a tough tough month it really has!!

Lily that is so terrifying when they are so small you all seem to get one thing after another. Hope she's on hte mend real soon (that's the other side, they can pick up so quickly)

Oh Lily, hope she recovers asap, very worrying. Really feeling sorry for your poor sis too

Glad to hear that she is on the mend Lily, how scary!

JKS - so glad to hear things went well for H, was thinking about you all even though I wasn't posting.

Morning ladies
Simpson what has H been up to now?
Welcome back MRSMCJNR
When will you hear about the interviews ?
Lillyloo keep us posted on your nieces progress? Have they given her anti biotics?
Ive been very busy this weekend with my big boys being here. ds2 is moving back to Scotland with his Dad at Easter. They have a house up there which they were renting out. The people who were renting it trashed the place and have dissapeared so they are going to do the place up and live there. This gives ds2 and advantage on his school work because he will be able to do his options again and start the school year afresh. Plus when ds1 finnishes his last exams at the end of June in Bedford he will move up there and do his 6th form year. So I have been spoiling them bu going to Nandos for lunch (thanks JKS ) and buying them new clothes . They have gone home now to help with the packing.
Bed times seem to be going well with the new staggered strategy they all seem to be alot happier with proper sleep now.
Everything else is good here.