Fab Feb 2009 bar: toddle on in, grab a pew: mummy's in need of a drink or two...

[dinkystinky]

New thread for us to natter on about our toddling terrors... complete with some virtual booze. Mine's a french martini....

Hiya Mentalpup - lovely to see you on. Feel free to pop by whenever. Hope you and your little one are well.

SM - its fine that you've been eating them, the boys wont care. As long as you and they are happy, that's all that matters.

this is the first year dd seems to really know exactly which eggs are hers and what stage they're at so no nibbling for me without being caught out. ds though doesn't seem that interested in chocolate and i do hate to see waste so i see it as my duty to help him out

hello all, been avoiding MN while i tr and plough on with course work... like MOS i find i get alot more done without the distraction of MN

littlesez... still BF here too, A doesn't take any cups of bottles so h's still feeding and snacking lots [drained emoticon] I'll be letting him self wean like ds1 and judging by current behaviour i think that might be a very long tie off

dinky... must be a 3 year old boy thing, ds1's favourite place in the world is the toy shop too... luckily he asks for everything but happily settles for a 'no' for everything too so at least no tantrums but i still find it irritating that every time i have to pop in for a birthday present for someones child we have to spend an hour investigating every single toy in the shop!

We're buying 5 litres of goats milk and at least 6 of cow's milk a week here, not bad with 3 kids and a dp addicted to milky tea

Morning all - well done on focusing on your assignments Tulips. I agree MN is rather a distraction isnt it! That's a lot of milk you get through in your house too.

The sun is shining in London today (our nanny is taking the kids to the zoo again today as she's never been - bet its going to be mobbed. DS1 has kindly agreed to show her where all the animals are and take her through the meerkat tunnels in the animal adventure zone )

Hello all! Have been without internet for a few days but am in the office today and stealing time on theirs! Just a quick one to stop by and say hello.

SM - we've had a couple of nights of difficult bedtimes due to removal of the dummy, but a bit of pick up/put down seems to have done the trick. However, not sure how easy if the boys share rooms....

KBN - Painshill is a lovely "restored" park - feels a bit unreal in places, sort of theme park like, but is on a good scale for the kids and has a nice cafe (although a good year since I've been). If you are in the area, I'd recommend Claremont LAndscape Gardens in Esher which is smallish and has a great playground (suited to you DD's age I reckon). I think we might go there this weekend!

Got to dash out now to get a new battery for our smoke alarm. My Mum's looking after Orlena and Sam today, as the nursery is closed, so need a big bunch of flowers for her too!

Will catch up properly soon. xx

STW - was wondering how the dummy removal was going, I'm on day 2 with DD. She has been ok during the day as long as all dummies have been out of sight. DS helpfully found one under the sofa and handed it to her, but apart from that she has been fine. Last night was a different story though - nearly an hour of howling before she finally gave in and fell asleep and then intermittent howls throughout the night due to lack of dummy. I will persevere though as I think she'll forget about it in a day or two.....fingers crossed!

Such a lovely day here. DH has taken the day off, and the kids off my hands - hurrah. So, off to tackle the weedfest that was once a garden....

Hi all.
We had a lovely day today. Our children's centre organised a trip to Bockett's farm. Was a fab day, lovely weather and jacob is still being so good! If anyone does ever have slight behaviour issues, I really do recommend Carolyn Webster-Stratton's the Incredible Years. It's really changed my thought processs, and therefore how i deal with stressful/annoying situations.

Jacob really enjoyed the farm. He was feeding the animals and stroking them. Was very cute.
The first set of animals we saw were some goats. Jacob ran up to the fence and yelled "Hi Gobo" How cute and funny is that? (for those of you who watch Big Barn Farm)

Dp's training course is now for 3 weeks

Hope everyone else has enjoyed the lovely weather today.

I imagine you are all off enjoying this lovely weather today.
We've just got back from Bushey Park. Was nice, we had a little picnic lunch, then kicked a ball around and then went into the park. The boys are obsessed with slides.

Luke cut his forehead on the edge of the bedroom door this morning, so that was a trip to the hospital at 8:30am. Gosh, what lengths they go to to stop me enjoying a lay-in
Dp off to wales tomorrow, so just about to give him a kick up the arse to pack his stuff. He thinks it's ok to leave it to tomorrow, his fault if he forgets anything through lack of planning though, hey.

Sunshine!

I barely remembered what it felt like to be warm! spent an afternoon making some inroads into the garden and potting up a few seeds, hopefully it'll hold til tomorrow and dp can sort the moss grass. A has a new pair of wellies (a size and a half too big as it was the smallest pair i could find) and he's obsessed with them, keeps bringing them to us to put on him, so he was delighted to spend a few hours pottering about outside in them.

SM, sounds like a lovely day out, glad you had fun.

calico... hope tonight goes better. I have to admit i'm just leaving the dummy be, he doesn't wake up looking for it at night, he only wakes if he's thirsty and he goes down easily enough whenever he gets tired.

Glorious weather out there isnt it! Glad everyone is having a nice time in the sun. Sorry to hear about your definitely not fun trip to A&E though SM - not a great start to the weekend. Both my boys are obsessed with slides too, bless.
Had a nice day today with the boys - trip to little park this morning, puppet show, lunch at nandos (to help DH get over his killer hangover - Danny loved the kids peri peri chicken, DS1 found it too hot and stuck to the garlic bread...) then trip to a different playground in the afternoon (which was a bigger one and rammed - felt quite worried for Danny's safety at times and I'm not that precious about him). Thinking about maybe tootling over to Coram's fields tomorrow if the nice weather holds.

Danny is drooling like no-ones business and sleep is disturbed, as is his bottom - found out today a lower molar is cutting its way through so at least there is something to show for all his misery. Bless him.

Am setting out plans for DS1's birthday party in 2 weeks' time - today was the deadline for replies and 3 of his nursery friends havent replied yet. Should I just assume they're not coming? Or have food/gift bags ready for them just in case they turn up on the day? Dont know their parents so cant chase until nursery starts again which is only 4 days before the party. Looking forward to it though - is going to be pirate themed so we're going to have Musical stepping stones, a pirate treasure hunt, pin the parrot on the pirate and pass the parrot (instead of the parcel). Oh and we're having Teddy's pants as a game - just because kids find it so hilarious. Cant wait!

tulips I can't find wellies for Luke either. Well, there was a pair of Peppa Pig ones in Mothercare, but I'm not paying £10 for them!
dinky The party sounds like so much fun! The kids will love it.
personally, I'd always keep a couple of bags spare anyway, just incase.
What's the teddy's pants game?

You take a teddy - the biggest one possible - and have 4 different coloured pairs of pants. Adults with a colour card (1 for each pair of pants) go to stand in each corner of the room and one goes out with teddy then sticks their head round the door and says What colour pants is teddy wearing and the kids have to run to the one that they think it is. Then teddy with his pants come in and the winners get a huge cheer and sticker. Repeat ad infinitum...

Oh, I see. That does sound like fun. Will have to remember that one........

Sm, what size is he? they have nice dark blue ones with yellow soles in Dunnes here for 5euros. The size 4 is big on A who's a 2.5 but he can manage to walk in them easily enough. I could post them to you if you wanted?

dinky... i always assumes non replies are coming and that assumption worked for dd's party

Tulips luke is a 4 and half.
Your offer to send me some is very kind, but tbh, I was only looking ofr some for the farm trip we went on yesterday.
Hopefully this lovely weather will stick around for a bit and there won't be any need [fingers crossed emoticon]

no bother, offer still stands if you need them though.

where we live wellies are an essential wardrobe item can't get out into the garden without them 90% of the year!

Thanks tulips We don't have a garden

SM - we DO have a garden (tiny though)- but its a pain in the arse as am not green fingered inclined at all and to be honest my kids would much rather go out to the park to see other kids and play with them. So you're not missing out at all...

Tulips - A sounds so cute with his wellies! We went to a wedding in a country hotel when DS1 was nearly 2 and they had a load of wellies that guest (including kids) could borrow - DS1 fell in love with a pair that were about 2 sizes too small for him and literally could not be pried away from them the whole time we were there...

I think I am a little bit sunburnt - can that even be possible in April?? What a lovely day it was here - we all went for a walk in the woods (DS loves it and pretends he is going on a bear hunt).

Dinky - I'd assume all the kids are coming to the party - same thing happened to me recently and luckily I had made up enough party bags as all turned up even though I'd only had replies from half of the party goers!

Gave in with the dummy last night - Lilian's willpower is obviously greater than mine. I wasn't too bothered about the dummy but recently she has been getting a nasty rash on her chin and the constant contact of the dummy has been making it worse, so thought I would at least try to wean her off it. It also makes her dribble a lot more as she has her mouth open all the time with the dummy - she's known as 'two bib Lil' at nursery!

DH offered to make dinner tonight - all fine, except he made blue rice....he steamed the red cabbage over the pan of rice and it turned a very unappetising shade of sky blue. Still mustn't grumble.....

Hello !
I've been rubbish at coming on here -we've had a lot going on - our house renovation has started so we moved house 3 weeks ago into a rental for as long as our works take -most probably 7- 8 months. The builder has said he can't see why we won't be in for christmas !..hurray. It was all a bit of a nightmare spending our spare time pricing up the job and making sure we had enough money to go ahead, finding a rental and then packing all our stuff sorting into store/keep/chuck !....that on top of working and an exhausting nearly toddler almost finished me off

But, we're now in our little rental house not far from where we live usually and it all works and is absolutely fine (and a million times better than being near the builders day in and day out)

DD is now nearly 15 months - she turned one on 23 Jan. She's not far off walking and was doing ok but we've had in the last 5 weeks, a week of D&V and then last two weeks, hand foot and mouth followed by an awful bout of cold/bad chest and conjunctivitis. To top it her top molars and upper eye teeth are coming through. She's got all four upper and lower teeth and lower eye and then 3 lower molars so quite a mouthful. We've not managed her MMR yet as every time we think we're ready she's ill again !

So, that's me ! - we're also waiting to hear about whether DS gets into the catchment school - we hear next Friday and if he doesn't get in the no 2 option they're likely to offer him is a dreadful school- we'll wait and see !

I've had a quick flick through the posts and glad to see that you're all diligently posting ! I feel like an intruder....

DD has gone on food strike the last 5 days and I'm now at a loss to know what to do with her. DS has always been fairly ok so I'm not really sure what to do...I think her general health has not helped matters.

I'll have better read through in the next few days.. but me thinks it's time for bed - DD has been whingeing through the night the last 4/5 nights so we're all a bit knackered - DH seems unable though to tear himself away from the Masters...

Morning all.
Hope we're all well. I'm good. Had a full nights sleep, although apparently I ate my way through a big chocolate bar and a packet of biscuits by the crumbs on my pillow, the chocolate on my arm and the wrappers on the night stand Do not remember that

herb Good to see you. Glad the temp house is going well.
I'm lbb by the way, name changed at new year.

Dp's going off to wales today. It's going to be a long week. But at least I can catch up with Desperate Housewives and the Good Wife

Morning all. Danny and DS1 let us have a lie in till nearly 7 this morning - was blissful.

Calico, Tulips - cheers, will assume they are coming and send chasers with our nanny to the parents on the first day of nursery to doublecheck.

SM - that's it, move the easter eggs out of the bedroom - not good if you cant remember having eaten them!

Herbgarden - nice to see you on and glad all is sort of ok with you and the kids. Good luck with your build - we'll be moving out hopefully some time in the summer to commence building hell... Danny had that conjunctivitis virus - tis not nice (though doing the eye drops was even worse). Hope you get to stay with us and keep posting. Oh and FWIW lots of us have had little ones not sleeping briliantly of late - think is probably a mixture of illness, teething and developmental leaps as they totter and talk more. Remember, is a phase, this too will pass...

We're watching Diego with DS1 and Danny keeps doing a lovely little circular dance with his hands in the air whenever the music comes on - it is so cute. Love this age despite the sleep deprivation that comes with it. Off to Corams fields today - hope you all have a good day.

herbie... lovely to see you back. sounds like rl is running you ragged atm. Don't worry, A still hasn't had his 13 month jabs or his mmr as there always seems to be something happening that puts me off the idea of having a baby poorly from jabs in the house I wait til 15/16 month with the mmr with all mine anyway though so it's only the 113 month ones he's actually late on.

Calico... you must have th same skin as ds1, he's a bit burnt on his face
blush]

[sigh]... how bout i just rewrite that seeing as it's barely legible?

herbie... lovely to see you back. Sounds like rl is running you ragged atm. Don't worry, A still hasn't had his 13 month jabs or his MMR as there always seems to be something happening that puts me off the idea of having a baby poorly from jabs in the house. I wait til 15/16 month with the MMR with all mine anyway though so it's only the 13 month ones he's actually late on.

Calico... you must have the same skin as ds1, he's a bit burnt on his face

Tulips - yep, fair skinned Irish genes here but luckily the DCs seem to have inherited sunburn resistant skin from DH. Your poor DS1 - that must have given you a fright! Easily done, especially when it doesn't feel that warm.

Hi Herb! Hope your DD has had the last of the bugs for now - they do seem to come all at once don't they. Good luck with the house renovations. My DD also late with her MMR - will get around to it some time......

SM - sounds like a good night to me!! I know what you mean, I love it when my DH is away for a few days - I get to watch all the things I want to watch on TV, and if I want to eat a packet of Jaffa cakes for dinner, then that is my business...