AUG 08 - Be who you are and say what you feel...

[TwilightSurfer]

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." --Dr. Suess

See I am still here, I am hardcore

OK I give up too. Night night you part timers lovely girls

Here we go...

morning ladies...

dd1 decided to wake at 6am swiftly followed by dd2 yawn.. always the same at the weekend.. they seem to wake up extra early!!

have bil + sil and crew coming for sunday dinner.. bit of a nightmare as they are always late and usually grumpy.. but its good for dd1 to see her cousins sigh.. so not in the mood..

re the girl with the dragon tattoo.. not sure who said it but it is quite difficult to get into.. my dad said get thru the first 100 pages and you are hooked.. also don't get too hung up on the names as so many people are mentioned and not all of them play a big part..

god i'm being boring again. ..

good luck with hockey today cece..

know nothing about cameras i'm afraid hots..

good luck today atarix..

oops gorgeous name xxx

Morning

Eveeryone here slept except me! Iwas up wondering about the carnage that is our upstairs at 3am, making sure DH had unplugged powertools/moved ladders and closed windows before coming to bed then comtemplated telly but went back to bed after checking DD was still breathing and read with my head torch for a while. DD came in at 6 and slept until 7.40 before asking for downstairs and a banana.

Ataraxis - good luck today - did I see you have 30 children coming today Will have the wine waiting for you later!

loti - i have heard the same re the first 100-150 pages and the names thing. glad you said that, as it is on my pile to read and people's coments keep making me waver but I WILL read!

oops what a beautiful name. 2 beautiful names actually. and i do think they go well together.

ataraxis happy birthday to ds2.

cc enjoy hockey.

re books - i am re-reading anne frank atm. for my book group. (meeting on tues . we also read the queen and i which was a good, light, amusing read. not sure i will get through all of anne frank in time cos it is not one you can just gallop thorugh. has anyone got any suggestions for our choices enxt time? I have 2 ideas :similar theme to anne frank though and this one but am not sure.......

albs keep forgetting to tell you... morning i had your DS here, your DH called me by accident and the voicemail was of him telling J all about anne frank, about nasty nazis and why they didn't like jews!

hi, remember me?! i've been buried in fabric and house cleaning stuff, with the occasional cuddle from my gorgeous DS!

oops agree with others, gorgeous name!

cc, you crazy 2 gamer!

have no memory of what else i was going to say! sorry!

lol miamla yup sounds about right.

Ataraxis Do it! Me and DH went round saying that for months after seeing Wedding Crashers.

Oops Elysia brilliant name! Champs Elysees, Beethoven (tochter aus Elysium), v classy.

Tried to make salmon mousse yesterday with creme fraiche and no gelatine - is really salmon dip. And because I put some smoked salmon in it the big kids made v melodramatic reactions inc spitting on the kitchen floor. Squirter on the other hand ate it quite happily from a teaspoon. Have frozen half of it to put in vols au vents or something - now I just need to host a party!

No need to host a party just to have vol au vents, Glads. Invite your DH to an intimate cocktail party a deux and show him your skill with nibbles

ataraxis hope you survived, you nutter

albs if you want something with a WW2 streak but more entertaining/less grim, try Restless by William Boyd. If you want more hardcore grimmo action, how about some classic Primo Levi?

I am reading Oryx and Crake at the moment. It is stunningly, depressingly good.

DS seems much better today, think it must just be his teeth - there are bulges all along his gums at the back. We all survived a trip to Ikea and the inevitable post-shop flatpack rage, and thoroughly enjoyed the first proper Springy day of the year

Ooh that Lily Aphrodite one looks my cup of tea.

On the subject of books, there is time to order one of my mum's for Mothers Day. Victorian murders with a sense of humour and some hidden literary jokes http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=nicola+slade here and 'Scuba Dancing' chicklit romcom for the more mature lady (or just the lady who prefers a heroine with a brain) can be ordered through me cheaper than Amazon. Can do you a signed copy for a mere £5 inc p&p. Drop me a line. Or ask your library to order the more expensive ones, as every little helps the inheritance fund .

DD's anxiety is getting worse I think. Now seems to be developing phobia of the cat (is convinced he will attack her hair) and sharing bath water. She just seems to live in a permanent cloud of adrenalin, can't control it and can't see out of it. The food fussiness is an illustration - she hypes herself into these physical feelings that generate a Pavlov's dog effect of panic at the sight of anything unknown.

Try again

Do you think it might be worth getting her referred to CAMHS GB? If you haven't already, I mean. Not sure if CBT for kids exists but it sounds like she could use some practical help training herself out of anxious thought-habits. Not that I know anything at all about the subject, other than having been an anxious child myself.

So how does everyone else handle the 'I don't want to go to bed yet' tantrums? DS has started having these the last few days He just wants to stay up and chat, even when he's knackered, so as soon as you put him in the cot he stands up and starts chatting away. If you leave the room he goes bonkers crying; rationally I know there's nothing wrong, you can even hear there's nothing wrong because it's just that type of pissed-off cry, but there's still part of me that feels bad leaving him to it because he's only small and doesn't have a good handle on his emotions. But he needs to go to bed...aaarrggghh.

Cyteen - Oh the ever lovely 'noooo, not bed' performance DD started this after her being ill (see my whinging of last 2 nights) Today she went to the beach with the ILs and did not nap all day bed time came and as we did sleepy sonds she started with the 'mummy's bed please' and I just kissed her and put her down - she went straight to sleep. MAybe we need to cut the nap out (aarrrgggghhh) But on the nights she was protesting and I knew she was tired I put her down and went in every now and then to check (especially when she yelled 'ow, owww') but it got her more het up so I just listened for 'real' crying and left her to it whilst I sat outside her door - she went to sleep and slept like a log.

We are about to have our roasty pig as I fell asleep whilst DD and the Ils were out and only woke when I heard DH speaking to them as they came in the door House is a jumble and we are sleeping in the spare room with 2 bedrooms worth of furniture in it, smelling of paint and things piled hire. DD has loved the 2 empty rooms running around them and 'dancing loudly' on the floor (her words not mine!)

Ataraxis - hope you are now sitting in a corner rocking having a glass of wine.

GB - will have a look at your mums book and FB you as the murder one sounds like my mums cuppa.

I had wondered about the nap-dropping too [please not yet emoticon] He's been sleeping late in the afternoon at nursery, sometimes till 3.30pm, so I thought that might be it...but then today he only snatched a couple of quick kips in the car and is still the same.

At least your DD can tell you (some of) what is going on. With DS we have to do a lot of guessing and wondering; like now, DP is up there with him and I can hear DS grunting over the monitor like he does when his mouth hurts, so maybe it hurts more than I'm giving him credit for and that's why he can't drop off. In which case I feel like a heel for being cross. But there was definitely deliberate sleep avoidance going on too.

Have you tried a little neurofen? When DD was restless the other week at bedtime I gave her 2.5ml of neurofen to see if it was pain or just whinging - it stopped 15mins after the meds so it was teeth and I was at being so crap at listening to her signs.

Cyteen ditto ditto on bedtime and I am far too soft to do anything but read the books/sing the songs requested (I do have rules, pyjamas on, lights down, only certain books etc) until she gives in. I find she has to have at least six more like seven hours between end of nap and bedtime - if it gets any longer I don't quite know how it will work! But I guess you don't have much choice about when J naps at nursery? And I also always forget the possibility of teeth until we've had several nights of struggle...

oops medicine is certainly helpful - like you say, it's just knowing when to give it (DS has quite the fondness for painkillers, it's a bit to see him jig up and down with anticipation when we get the bottle out).

pert I think I will have to ask nursery not to let him sleep past a certain time. He's only been doing it this week so perhaps it does signal a change in his habits that needs action. He's certainly not waking any later than usual in the mornings!

All quiet now, Calpol must have taken effect.

We won! I scored! We're in the final!

cyteen I feel your naptime/sleeptime pain. With ds1 I used to get cross at myself for getting cross! With ds2 I'm far harsher than I was with ds1 about making him go to sleep at bedtime. We didn't drop ds1's naptime until at least 3 yo - even at nursery at 4.5 they had a 'rest time' after lunch where they lay down quietly with blankets on them, even if they didn't go to sleep

O has been trying to say 'sit down' today, sounded something like 'it ow'

Wishing you a peaceful night ladies - I'm off to drool over watch Jack

Go cece enjoy Jack!

Cyteen both mine do the calpol dance when they see the familiar purple bottle in fact DD will feign symptoms in order to score a hit

We have had a really lovely afternoon at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (thanks steaky for reminding me it was there) playing in the sunshine and admiring the instillations. Both DC were entranced by some of the sculptures and apart from one bit when DS wandered off down a woodland path and disappeared a great time was had by all

Ooh I loved Oryx & Crake, infact I have liked all Margaret Atwood's stories that I've read. I am now re-reading Northern Lights

actually, it all went very well - thank you for your good luck wishes . However, never again (poor dd is going to be limited to 5 children max)!

I can highly recommend the purchase of a decent bouncy castle for those of you soon to embark on the joys of 3-6 year old parties. DH bought one from Woolies for �£30 (down from around �£200) just as it was shutting down. I thought he was nuts... now I think he was genius , it has made countless birthday parties, weddings, days in the garden far, far easier.

cyteen, I really struggled with Oryx and Crake, couldn't make it past the first couple of pages, but I know others who absolutely loved it.

The bedtime thing might just be ds recognising that things go on after he is in bed. DS2 (sitting on the sofa ) still doesn't like the idea, he dropped naps at 16 months... DD being number 3 I am pretty tough on it with her - basically bedtime is bed and that's that.

buckets for your dd, that must be tough for both of you.

clearly some symbols don't work as expected...

I loved Oryx and Crake too, possibly the classiest scifi ever imo. Haven't read any of her other stuff but seen Handmaid's tale movie.

Cyteen Yeah I've been thinking about seeing the GP to talk about her. We had half an hour of lovely outdoor fun at an arboretum today but then it all turned to whingeing which turned into hysterics and arguing about pointless things that couldn't be changed. Tried to get her to do some deep breaths but she wouldn't even stop arguing about that so I said we couldn't go to the cafe unless she at least stopped talking for 2mins. That seemed to work. Maybe I just need to keep a constant supply of sugar lumps in my bag like my mum always did LOL.