Fab Feb 2009: when they're good they are very very good, when they're bad they're todzillas...

[dinkystinky]

New thread for us to chat about our little jekyll & hydes...

Danny is currently stood next to me rearranging my DVD collection - I will be doing a work out to charlie & lola tonight apparently, while DS1 will be watching Billy Blanks Taebo with his pre-bedtime cup of milk and DH's history docu is hiding out with Diego in the city of lost toys...

Have managed to sprain my right shoulder - no wonder it bloody well hurts. Ugh. Dr wont strap it as apparently mobility is the best thing for it but not meant to lift heavy weights (like Danny or DS1, or the heavy packing boxes ). At least have some killer pain killers now to help deal with the pain. Ugh.

Have seen Herbgarden on a utility thread so have pointed her in our direction - hopefully she'll make a guest appearance.

hello..i made a brief appearance at the beginning of this thread when the todzillas were all bumps..fast forward a lifetime later, two moves, one house purchase, a passed driving test,a career change and im back again.. have had a wee read and am glad to realise that my ds is absolutely normal in the throwing-hissy-fits department..
so can i join back in..xx

I remember you Clarabumps - welcome back! Sounds like you've been very busy over the past 18 months!

Welcome back Clarabumps Good to see you, sounds like you have been very busy
(I used to be littleboyblue btw)

My portable naughty step and reward tokens came today. yay.
I am a bit of a muppet though, there's me spending £20 on a mat and a few plastic tockens so I can have consistancy, I could just as easily bought a small bathroom mat and chucked that in my handbag!

Ladies, ideas wanted here please.

TIA

oh i ordered a naughty step for ds2, it arrived this afternoon along with my new organised mum calender and diary insert.
I kid myself on that its going to make me more organised but the truth is i was hopelessly disorganised for the last calender duration and i used it all the time.
So i now have a naughty chair and a naughty pad with flashing lights.this should be fun trying to find two areas in my very small house with no distractions. im just going to end up running up and down the hall putting them back in their respective corners..argh!
off to iron nursery uniform for tomorrow..x

Helllooooooo

Sorry have been missing again, bloody wireless connection keeps buggering up. Sorry to hear about poorly people, hope you're all feeling better. How's the shoulder now Dinky?

F has gone from sleeping 11hrs a night at least to waking up, crying, shouting 'MAMA' and only settling with a bottle half way through the night. It's been over a week of this now and I can't understand the change. The other problem is he has milk before bed, then milk halfway through the night and then wakes up in the morning soaking because he has wee'd through nappy and clothes (and normally soaked his sheets).

Why? I ask you WHY?

Dinky your poor shoulder! I was told not to lift anything heavier than a handbag when I first damaged ny back - though they didn't know quite how big and heavy my handbag was! Impossible not to lift a toddler at least 50 times a day in my experience.

MS Lilian goes from being angelic to demonic in regard to sleeping from one week to the next. No idea what the difference is. Soooooo frustrating isn't it?

Clara / SM I have a naughty step which DS used to be put on if he was being particularly difficult and tantrumy but now he disregards it completely and immediately runs off as soon as I put him there. Do I have to hold him on the step?

DH is still being ridiculously stroppy. I have decided to ignore him and he'll soon get bored if I stop asking him if everything is ok.

Calico I'd say he is testing you. Supernanny says you shouldn't hold them down, but stay consistent and when he runs off, put him straight back until he learns. I've seen episodes of the program where the mum is battling for 2 hours(!) to keep her dc on the naughty spot
Having said that, I used to hold ds1 in our naughty corner. I'd sit him down, then pin his arms at his side and hold him there with my face turned.
After a while, he learnt, but I felt awful.
Now, he has a choice, I tell him to get in the naughty spot, he yells no, I tell him I'm gonna count to 5 and if he is not in the naughty spot, then he can go to his room. It rarely gets to that, but if he goes to his room, I shut the door and leave him there for 5 minutes, then ask him if he remembers why I sent him there. Then tell him it's time to come out.
How old is your ds?

Morning all. Thanks for asking about shoulder Markstretch and Calico - is still absolute fricking agony - oh well, what doesnt kill me will make me stronger and all that.

MS - Danny going through something similar to F at the moment - a week of middle of night wakings. Putting it down to a combination of (i) virus, (ii) teething (those infernal fricking anines) and (iii) developmental leaps making him v insecure. Remember - its a phase and will pass. Have you tried offering water in bottle through the night? If he's waking in the night and only settling with a bottle then could you change his nappy (in the semi dark) pre bottle so that he doesnt get soaked through? Remember the mummy mantra.

Calico - I'd say that if the naughty step isnt working with DS, its time to think of another way of disciplining him. We use naughty step with DS1 (who is a sensitive soul - all I have to do is say that I'm going to have to raise my voice at him - he hates my loud voice - and he sits back on the step) and Danny (who is not a sensitive soul and who I have to put back on the step several times - step is now restricted to use for major transgressions only though) and I can tell that when Danny gets older I'm going to have to find a different disciplining technique.
Have you tried using the taking away toys technique (so if he's naughty he gets one of his favourite toys taken away for 24 hours into a box - if he's good he gets to pick a toy out of the box to play with)?

Clarabumps - bet the boys end up fighting over who gets to go on the cool naughty step with flashing lights! When both boys are in the dog house I end up using the ultimate punishment - no charlie & lola at milk time before bedtime. They're good as gold the next day

dinky sorry the shoulder is bad
Need some more advise.....
Jacob did really well collecting his tokens yesterday. he managed to collect 5 by dinner time which earnt him a cake.
He even did well last night, I told him if he wwent to bed nicely without the whingy voice, and he stayed in his own bed all night, then he'd get a 10 token in the morning and he could trade it in for a biscuit before breakfast.
he woke at 3am, screaming, I yelled "10 token" and he stopped so this morning, I gave him token, he asked for biscuit. Fine.
Now I've told him, 3 tokens and he can have a ride in the areoplane at tesco, he said yeah. An hour later, I tried to give him a token for eating his breakfast nicely and trying to use his spoon and he threw it back at me.
I tried again a while later telling him he'd earnt a token for being nice to Luke all morning and he doesn't want it, he had a near melt-down over it.
Going to leave it now until this afternoon and try again, any suggestions?

Sounds like he's suffering from token overload.

Instead of giving him the tokens, you could do a token jar where every time he earns a token could you say "well done J - I'm going to put a token in your jar for .... and if you want to count your tokens for a treat just let me know"? Then maybe just count the tokens once a day - or more if he asks - and then give him his treat accordingly?

Good idea dinky thanks

MS... A gets very unsettled at night whenever his teeth are at him (canines here too.... 4 months since they started poking through and we still only have two points and two bumps We try and just roll with it and he invariably settles back to sleeping through once he's feeling better.

Dinky, how did it go at the doctors?

Heavy duty painkillers but not strapped up - apparently mobility is the best thing for it

they said that when i sprained my foot too.... great fun hobbling around on a sprain with a 2 yo and a 6 mo with no crutches or strapping

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh

We are having the worst day we have had in ages! Jacob is having the biggest melt-down and I'm about to have a full-blown break down!

i feel your pain.. i think they honestly wake up some mornings and think "mummy, im going to bust your chops from now till i go to bed, just because i feel like it"
hows jacob now?just think its only a few hours till bedtime then you can have wine!vodka?meths?anything with alcohol that will dull the memory of this horrendous day..

i had a day like that on monday and could have actually cried or just walked out the door. its early days with the token thing so expect some rebellions. he's just testing to see how strong this new idea is and if he can bend the rules. stick to your guns..it'll be worth it in the end..

OMG. The agency just called me and asked if I can go back to that school tomorrow and that they asked for me specifically!

Silverymoon - sounds like that's brightened your day!

hi guys im having computer issues urgh so not online much atm, sorry guys. Hope your all ok :D

Im doing the BF peer support course really excited

Izzy still feeds quite a lot but is finally sleeping through 7-7 she demands milk so much in the day though.

Re words, she is starting to pick a few more up now but still pretty quiet. Her new ones are up down (upside down) as in lift me upside down now mum! and see saw awwwwww she is well cute

dinky hows the shoulder tonight?

MrsY glad the debrief went ok [hugs]

Morning littlesez - sorry to hear about computer issues. Have fun doing the BF peer support course - its a brilliant thing to be able to help other mums and I still think the peer supporter who helped me with establishing feeding DS1 was an absolute angel. Glad Izzy is sleeping through - all that milk during the day is clearly helping fil her up Shoulder still fricked but can move it a bit more than I could before so hopefully is on the mend. I've not been packing stuff for the past 2 evenings so that's probably helped but need to attack the packing with a vengeance tonight unfortunately. Ho hum.

Silverymoon - meant to ask, how did the review at DP's work go? What did they tell him on Friday?

Dinky I keep meaning to ask - what is it you are having done to your house that necessitates you packing everything up?

Erm, basically having the entire house remodelled, extended and redone THOM - remodelling dowstairs and kitchen area, knocking walls around on next floor up, putting in loft extension and second floor extension at the top of the house. No way in hell I would be able to let DS1 and Danny live in the property through the work unfortunately.