January 2009- toddlers turning 15mths and all that jazz (really just a new thread so DOG can fit it on her poncey iphone!)

[PatTheHammer]

Good enough for ya dog .

And sorry I do realise some are only turning 14 mths and some are nearly 16mths etc,etc......apologies!

All officially toddlers now though i think (well 120's H and HKZ's J are pulling up/taking steps now I think, think mostly everyone walking of some sort!) Scary thought!

Parties were fantastic thanks Tree. Unfortunately our camera is still dead, so my sister has over 200 pictures across the two photos and she is bringing her camera to download them onto my laptop when she has the boys for the weekend while dh, dd and I go to the Bearded Theory Festival on the 14th May.

Actually .... you've been to a festival with littlies haven't you? I'd be sooo grateful for any words of wisdom or advice you could offer. I am getting a bit stressed about what we need to take, partly because the weather is a big question mark at the moment. We have a framed back carrier and the Moby for carrying dd and have bought her a really cute little red spotty rain cape to wear when she is in the wrap sling, just in case, but that's about it so far.

Tea, I tend to put dd in the highchair when I'm cooking as well. Her absolute favourite thing at the moment is to sit there with a couple of chunky colouring pencils and scribble away. She seriously loves it. She does have the odd nibble on the pencils, but they are non-toxic so I think she'll survive. lol

I have a very small galley style kitchen. I may be able to get high chair in but won't be able to get out of the kitchen easily

Cushi tush looks nice but I suspect as my boy likes to roam free he may just shout after a short while of watching and being passed things

Playpen/ travel cot idea may work, although if his sister is roaming free in front of him he may shout. I've barely used a playpen with him since crawling/ walking as until now he's been ok.

I'll try your ideas and hope that I'm just feeling negative after a difficult afternoon and that one will be ok. IYSWIM?

120 you sound amazing, with my 2 LO's so close together in age and so young, the tv is my resort when needing quiet for a while You're an amazing lady and an inspiration to a mum like me

Could you put a highchair in the other room, where you can watch him, but he is contained, so to speak? Dd likes to sit in her high chair in the living room with cbeebies on occasionally while I mop the kitchen floor (with her beloved pencils and paper of course).

X posted with Moose.

Taking a look at cushi tush on Mothercare, it says up to 18 months and my boy is huge. On 98th centile and walking for ages. I'm thinking he maybe a squeeze in it as he's already out growing his 12-18 month clothes. I'll try high chair tomorrow. Never tried crayons/ pencils with J yet as he eats everything right now. But I'll give it a go tomorrow.

But what do I do about his persistent shenanigans with everything else right now? It's driving me bonkers.

I could do that Moose, I think J would shred and eat the paper, as he usually does right now Your DD sounds like an amazing little munchkin compared to my boisterous boy

tea, not at all amazing I'm afraid, just get a lot of support and do a lot of shouting and reading parenting books. DD now old enough at nearly 3 to sit reading her own books for up to 30mins at a time, which helps enormously. that's when she isn't bashing deflecting H.

My kitchen is tiny; it's a small corridor with a counter on one side and sink at the end! I put cushi tush on the counter whist cooking as couldn't put a highchair in mine either. Very useful for quick breakfasts; DD eats her bircher muesli from a bowl on the bin and H sits in the 'tush and helps me make tea and butter toast whilst I shovel his in.

Wall mount the tv? If it's a little LCD one sling it on a high set of drawers or something.

Probably just a mare of a day, bet tomorrow is a great one and today will fade away.

Trying to think of festival tips, ours was in horizontal rain and verrrrry cold Tips would be to have clothes a plenty. H was in 2 pairs of cashmere trousers and a pair of denim dungarees, and then a sling . Wellies nad 1 million plastic bags. Wheetebix/other old faithful incase sitting about eating on a patch of grass doesn't transpire due to wind/rain/sleet.

Find cheapo light sticks online as they will be ££ at the festival - festoon over sling/kids/other to avoid people bumping into bubba in the sling. Buy lots. Also bike lights worked well.

Buy this We had a sun cover too here and wrapped bin bags around it, put about 100 glow sticks on, threw a blanket in and both kids as well. Fab in horrid weather or late night concerts. Like a mini caravan!

And baby ear defenders here which H looked hysterical in.

Really not trying to push the cushi tush, just trying to help with a solution! My dd still fits in at 3 and she is 98cms tall (not chunky though). maybe try it out if you have a shop that has them?

I know its a cliche, but it is just a phase. I remember being driven to distraction by ds1 constantly pressing all the buttons on the dvd and stereo when he was this age - oh and his obsession with the tv control as well. We gave him an old tv control to play with in the end after first convincing him we were actually using it to change the channels etc.

When we moved we bought a cupboard to put the dvd etc inside and put the tv up on top where he couldn't reach.

Does he have any nice noisy toys with lots of buttons he can press. Oooh, just thought, what about one of those toy car dashboards and steering wheels? You might be able to attach it to his high chair for distraction purposes.

Dd is also very stubborn and almost impossible to distract when she has her mind made up. I find the only thing that words is a good session of tickling and raspberry blowing for long enough that she has forgotten what she was doing - helps if I release her in the opposite direction whilst feigning interest in something else as well.

Alternatively, what about a second hand babydan gate off ebay. You can add and take away panels and use it to sort of fence off an area. We had one to fence the dogs off from ds1 in our through lounge at the other house. this is the one we had it comes in black as well.

Tea - do you have a table or worktop one of these would clip onto? here I was given one [by HKZ?] and will pass it on if it would help? Just needs a surface to latch too, worktop, breakfast bar or table.

Anyone else listening to/watching this debate?

See, Tree. How have we coped without you!

I would never have thought of the glowsticks. Fortunately we have approximately 150 of them left over from dh's uv birthday party a couple of years ago.

I would love, love, love a radio flyer truck, but alas, we are skint - as usual.

I had thought of and then instantly forgotten about ear defenders. Fortunately we have two pairs already as the boys used to wear them for bonfire night when they were little.

What did dd2 sleep in at night? We were thinking of having her in the cab bunk in a longsleeved body suit, fleece sleepsuit and 2.5 tog sleeping bag with extra blankets available if she needs them.

Fortunately, we will have no problem with hot food. Am going to take a veggie stew with us on the first day, plus a frozen one which should be defrosted for day 2. I also find risotto is a nice easy one to do in the camper as is a nice veggie fry up in the morning.

Unfortunately one of our best mates has snapped his achilles tendon, so may need to sleep in the van to get comfy, in which case we will be in the awning with dd in the travel cot. Harumph!

Dd slept on my right boob in the clothes she wore all day. I don't think we ever got down to her base layer, just changed the top layer if needed! We slept On the double bed folded out downstairs. Dh and dd1 slept upstairs in the first half of the push up roof [over the front seats I guess] - the 2 hammock beds were a no go. DH too big and dd would have fallen out!

Am hungry for your stew.....

150 glow sticks sounds about right! Although it will be lghter for you won't it, ours was 1st week in september and it got dark at about 9 really. Not ideal really. Stll fabby tme though. Making me want to go agan thinking about it!

I am dreading having weather like you had though. I'm isjc a lightweigh nowadays and have told dh in no uncertain terms that if the site becomes a mudbath we are leaving, no messing! Fortunately he agrees, he says we are too old for that kind of nonsense these days! but

Gah! 'I'm SUCH a lightweight'

Actually, the festival (which is tiny) became famous last year when a mini tornado hit it and took down the main stage! Really hope there's not a rerun of that. here

Thing is though, with camper van anything is possible. We sat in ours eating pringles and drnking hot choc and feeling completely smug as rain lashed windscreen. Didn't even need a tractor to get out of the mud either

Know what you mean though, whilst in the festival field in the rain and cold I did think of a nice spa break rather fondly!

But then J flew by with a bright pink dress on over a tutu and a pair of jogging pants, with knotted hair flying and face paint dripping and it was all worth it, to see them break off the shakles of school and routine and conformity. And I had White company cashmere socks on Sometimes feel I present a confused image of liberal hippy meets consumer high street

You and me both Tree. I used to be far more up for roughing it way back when, but these days I love my home comforts a bit too much. I don't own any cashmere though so you are one up on me.

Lend you a pair .

Perhaps spend what you would have cheerfully spent on glow sticks and ear defenders on yourself and get some!

G'wan G'wan G'wan!!

Ooo you're such a bad influence.

I will however be taking my lovely all-in-one stripey pj suit complete with hood. Its fantastically warm, in fact its too warm to wear at home even in the depths of winter. AND I don't care how daft I look in it. (Just hope I don't need the loo in the middle of the night.)

Ooooo that remnds me. Potty with a plastic bag liner. Bees knees for children who need night time wees. Then stashed under camper will morning.

Won't need that one Tree. (Well depending on how much beer the fellas consume that is.) The boys are staying at home with my sister and their all time favourite cousin who is having a 3 night sleepover at our house. They are ridiculously excited about it and can't wait to get rid of us.

The idea was that we had a child free weekend in honour of my - ahem - 40th Birthday, but I wasn't happy to leave dd for that long and am still bf her morning and night at the moment.

Been watching debate and commenting on MN.

Tree - that portable chair looks fab! My work top is very high up though. Long way to fall for the boy

120 - if your DD at age 3 can still fit into cushi tush maybe I should consider one, but pennies are tight right now.

My TV is not slim line, it's old school, huge monster so no wall hanging for me. I think a cupboard to put everything in and tv above would be ace. Hmmmmmm....

We have a gigantic monster of an old CRT TV as well Tea. It also takes two hours for the picture to stop flickering on and off and even then you have to fiddle with the wires at the back. It was driving me to distraction but its actually been good for me as I now watch far less tv as a result.

That said, I am currently watching Outnumbered, which always makes me feel better, because their dcs are worse than ours.

We stalked ebay for a couple of weeks and got a lovely solid wood cuboard for about twenty quid I think.

Remember when tv's were made of wood??

Tea - these chair thingies are truly safe. My DH made a lengthy explanation how the mechanics of why they just can't fall off...bored me silly. You wannit? I'll post it to you

Ahhh Moose. I see. Oh you'll have such a lovely time!