May 2016 Babies Club

Lucuma

Oh God Wuffly that sounds very serious. I really hope you get your sight back. I used to have glasses/contacts, got the laser surgery done in 2008. You're an advertisement for prescription swimming goggles 8-) Yeah babies are obsessed with glasses alright so I can imagine the novelty! Sight is one of these things like walking everybody takes it for granted.
I still miss the pregnancy pillow, it's not affecting my sleep though just feels lonely in the bed without it when I'm falling asleep! If I was single I would just sleep with one always! But my husband was getting jealous of it :P I should have nipped the addiction in the bud earlier instead of keeping it for a full year after giving birth!
We are doing a lot of shouting here, she shouts pretty much constantly all day. She shouts when she's happy, when she's sad, when she wants something, when you give her waht she wants, when she's hungry and when she's full. I can't make head nor tail of it! I am thinking it's frustration at not being able to walk or else frustration at not being able to talk, or both. Especially as she sees her peer (her sister) doing both. And the talking situation won't improve for the forseeable, I'm expecting a language delay like her older sis due to being brought up bilingual (childcare is in the local language). Older sis is grand now and has a great english vocab, just took longer for the words to start.
But yeah the shouting does grate on the nerves after a few hours!
I went to the doc coz I had a weird pain in my hip, especially when getting up after sitting or climbing up stairs. She diagnosed me with Hip Bursitis https://www.arthritis-health.com/types/bursitis/hip-trochanteric-bursitis which I had never heard of. Apparently you can get it in knees, shoulders + elbows as well. It said the hip one usually has an underlying cause though which worries me. I don't remember any impact either sudden or over time, although it is the hip I carry the kids on so I've switched to the other one or try to carry them on the front. I'm on anti-inflammatories for a week. Dr Google is telling me it can be caused by being an athlete (not applicable!!) or by underlying issues in teh lower back, which is possible I go for a massage (cheap chinese walk in on our street) every fortnight or so and the lower back is always tender, although I dont't suffer lower back pain at all, maybe it's all tight muscles? Anyway my chief suspect is the kids as the cause. Young kids quite literally would break your back!
Kathy how are you getting on in work? Do you get to work routinely from home? I think that would make a huge difference. 5 days in the office takes its toll

wuffly

Lucuma that bursitis looks extremely painful, hope you get over it quickly. Can physio help or do you need to just mind it? Kids def break your back can only imagine with 2!

Yeah the eye thing is a bit of a disaster alright, one of those things that was bothering me for ages but i just thought i was over wearing my lens and tired from a year of feck all sleep. Let it get far too bad before doing anything about it. Its improving finally, but will be on drops and drugs for a few months. I went about getting laser 5yrs ago, literally in the clinic about to get it done when the dr noticed in my notes i had a cataract... which i mentioned at my initial assessment and they said wasn't an issue, anyway I was told it would affect my reading vision if I went ahead. I was so lamped and upset i just left. I did not feel like they were people i could trust. I will need to get the lens replaced in that eye so i think once this clears up i will look into getting them sorted once and for all. lucky the problem is in the same 'bad' eye. Glasses are a pain the ass in this sunshine and humidity i can't see a thing when i walk outside, the transition lens are ok but not dark enough for driving etc...

We are full on mid leap here the moody toddler than roars when he can't have what he wants is back! He was like this during the last leap when we were home, which was a total shock to the system. He can sometimes be a bit cranky when you take something he's not supposed to have or close the kitchen gate but normally moves on and gets over it fast, he is cranking it up to 11 these days! The terrible 2's will be hell! When he's not raising the roof he is great craic laughing all the time, latest trick is hiding under a blanket and giggling, the problem is he likes to walk with it on his head...tripping himself and walking into things. :eek:

Starting to see him interact a bit with other kids now, so funny! He runs to hug his nursery girlfriend when he sees her in the morning. She is super cute and so affectionate always putting her head on his should and comforts him if he's upset (a kid in soft play ran up behind him and started smacking him on the head and she ran over to cuddle him when he got upset!) Talking about soft play.... he always seems to attract kids whose parents are on the phone and have no problem with their kids hitting other kids. I know he needs to learn and there will always be bigger stronger kids etc... but the few times we've gone he's been properly attacked by other kids. The first time i literally put him down was chatting his friends mother and the above happened, the kid just saw him and went for him. The last time one kid just followed him and took everything he was playing with which is fine just kids being kids and he was fine with it for about 5 mins but then got p*ssed off. Took him off to a different part as he's been pretty good and other kid was older so no way was my fella going get to keep anything if the other kid wanted it and thought he'd had enough thoughening up for one day. The kid followed again and then started taking the stuff and hitting him hard with it (plastic frying pan bruise on his forehead). The kid was about a year older and his dad was just playing his phone. The place got busier and he went off and harassed some other kids but he literally made them all cry pushing and hitting and throwing stuff, his dad did nothing until another parent lost the plot when he tried to drown his little girl in the ball pit. I'm trying to find the line between letting my kid deal with it to a certain point and drop kicking the parent! It was super cheap place so maybe it just attracts a rough crowd lol!

Struggling to find a rear facing non isofix car seat 2nd hand, i think i will end up buying the Joie every stage supposedly will last until he is 12.... as long we get a few years out and a least another year rear facing I it will be happy enough. Kathy the axkid looks great and probably better for longer term rear facing but they aren't available here, 95e for delivery so that's definitely out!

Hitting the height of summer now, which is rotten think I'd blocked out how hot it gets after being away last year 47* today :eek: Not going home was a great idea at the time!:rolleyes:

Hows work going Kathy? your little fella all settled in creche?

Kathy22

hey ladies, life has been a little hectic. I feel like its beenso long since I got to come on here. Work has been insane and with a little guy to look after now too I find I never get a minute. I get to work from home whenever I want although am usually needed in the office during the week for meetings. I do 2-3 days at home and other weeks only manage one day. It depends. However I just kind of manage my work schedule and do stuff in the eve. I am supposed to be doing stuff now but hey im distracted!

Lucuma yes its when you put the glass over the rash, so scary as you associate it with all bad things but it can be common with a virus which i didnt know.

No ideas what will go in hubbys car next. We will just wait till the time comes to decide, he still fits ok in the maxi cosi still and we barely use it so will hold off as long as possible. Its expensive but worth it, I tried to find the safest on the market and cost wasn't really a factor, of course if it was 1k then that would have been a consideration of course lol! Wuffly someone posted a good seat with international delivery on the extended rear facing group recently. If I find it I will share it.

Lucuma love the photo, what an absolute cutie. We definitely have grasped that it is not good to jump or roll of the bed.He looks down then turns around and slides down. He does this going down the stairs now too, one of his favourite things to do is slide down the stairs, with me behind him of course. He is mad for the stairs and has managed to open the gate by himself more than once, if I forget to click it in properly. Like he is testing me.

Wuffly you poor thing, that sounds scary about your eye. I can totally relate, I have had eye surgery before (cornea transplant). I gave up on contacts, pain in the ass. My little man has broken one pair of glasses before, these ones were pricey so I have to be careful he doesn't do the same to these. Why do they always want what they cant have. How is your eye now?

Lucuma how is your hip? That sounds sore. We are falling apart ladies!

I have been sick the last 2 weeks. I kept ignoring it as was so busy with work and doing a lot of work in the evenings when the little man went down. Anyway finally went to the doctor yesterday after feeling like absolute pants all morning. Have a kidney and sinus infection. Got some antibiotics so will hopefully go away in a few days.

Wuffly how do you cope in that heat! I literally would not survive. I went to Dubai at the end of my honeymoon in August and literally could not cope with the heat. I remember going for a walk on the beach and literally gasping for water 10 minutes in haha!

We are going away next month for a week. I am currently researching pushchairs or something light to bring with us. Any recommendations? I want something decent but not overly pricey. Cannot believe we have not travelled with this guy yet. The plane should be interesting as he never sits still.

We are not walking yet, wants to walk holding my hand but hasn't the confidence to go for it, took a few steps a few times but that's it. He was like this with crawling, will do it in his own time. All settled in creche and enjoys it now. He interacts with the other kids now which is good.

Anyway this is turning into a novel. I will check in more often, it has been so long.

PS night weaning sucks. I have a boob addict child who is not willing to let go of the night time feeds. I need to though as time to consider going for number 2 soon eeeeek!

wuffly

Sounds hectic Kathy. It is pretty intense getting back into working and settling them into day care etc... let alone taking on a new role. Well done! Hope you are feeling better. So hard to mind yourself and the small ones some times! Definitely don't get as much time to rest and get over things!

I've gotten the joie every stage car seat will install it over the weekend. If it works out ok I'll get another one for the other car. Most reviews only fault it for not being isofix which is the main reason we had to go with it. Although i think i may change my car towards the end of the year, theres no AC in the back and the poor fella is so warm when i take him out (i do have the AC blaring and i have a summer cover but unless you cool the car for ages before hand which is only possible when you leave the house its just gross). I was afraid it would seem a bit rubbish or flimsy but its seems pretty good quality, just annoying its 100e more expensive here! Anyway will see how its going. Yep kathy if your not used to it the heat is horrific and even if you are it still pants! Its crazy travel agents selling people holidays here over the summer or during ramadan! Before kids I didn't mind the summers too much, everywhere gets quiet as so many people leave once the schools finish and there are lots of hotel deals and sales etc... its just with a little one you go a bit stir crazy when you can't go for a walk without getting in a car and going to a mall or going to softplay etc... although we have streamlined the getting out of the house process at this stage! Def getting out for a few weeks next year! Daft not to this year, but anyway!

Don't really have a cheap stroller recommendation there is another thread on it at the moment. Looking at one myself but will probably get something like the mountain buggy or laya, as we travel a nice bit and I want something I can use longterm. Going away at the beginning of Sept! Cannot wait, just to another emirate but soooo looking forward to a break. Hope ye have a lovely holiday!

Non stop walking and a few falls here, he walks like a little drunk its so cute loves if you chase him. He just walks around chatting to himself! (no words just babble and screeching!) Still a lot of whinging in his sleep and he has a bottle of water in with him most nights sleep is ok-ish. Great that your little fella is all settled in creche its so cute seeing them interact and develop. Our fella doesn't want to leave just wants us to stay and play!

Hope you are making progress with the night weaning Kathy, you must be wrecked! I think we have gone a bit backwards giving him a bottle of water if he wakes at night but he goes back to sleep so quickly, i just gave in! OH is traveling every other week and I'll do anything to get some sleep! Its great that you made your BF target! I still wonder where it all went so wrong for me, but I do feel like i could make a better go of it next time.

No 2! Don't think I'll be able to get my head that just yet plus I'm on a ton of meds for my eye so the decision is out of our hands for the time being.

Lucuma hope your hip is better and hope your little ones are doing well.

Lucuma

Hi ladies, Wuffly that parent at the soft play just sounds so ignorant. I realised very quickly that you don't get to be on your phone at soft play! Or indeed any other similar situation like a playground. They need constant monitoring. We were in a soft play place actually last month and same thing happened - an older kid seemed to be playing with my 1yo very nicely, he was helping her to do stuff. But then as I watched he put her climbing up this slope and as soon as 'she'd get up one or two steps he'd push her back down to the end again and repeat :O Had to intervene pretty quickly! And anyone that is on their phone when their kids are anywhere near water like a pool in a resort or whatever, is just insane. I think as the first generation of parents to have smart phones they're still a novelty and we're still finding our feet with them and realising the perils of them!!
I can see why you didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling about the crowd that were just about to take a laser to your eyes alright Wuffly. It was probably your gut instinct telling you to walk out that door! I found the day of the laser fairly terrifying/traumatic I think they gave me a Valium and if it hadn't been for that I'd say I would have ran out of the chair. It's totally counter intuitive to sit there while someone burns your eyes with a laser. I had side effects (dry sore eyes, poor night vision, halos around lights at night) for 1-2 years afterwards but all perfect now. They slowly settled over time. I suppose in pitch darkness I still see halos around lights when driving at night but either they are not as pronounced as they used to be or else I've adapted to them to the point where they don't affect my vision at night anymore. Whereas for the first 1-2 years post op I used to feel quite unsafe driving in pitch darkness coz of the halos around lights and street signs, they were very distracting.
Kathy you sound worn out you poor thing. Having to work at night when the little man is gone to bad is an awful dose, is that really the only option? Is this the price to be paid for 1 day off per week? Sounds like you still have to do 5 days work in 4 then. There really are no perfect solutions for working mothers! I'm becoming very disillusioned with the whole working mother thing......on the countdown til I can take a career break, hopefully 1 year from now when we move back to Ireland. Working and saving like mad over here where salaries are way higher and tax is way lower in order to pave the way for a better quality of life when we move back. Like yourself Wuffly I'm sure.
Well my little one took her first steps last week! And twas just me and her there  I'm sure the nanny is lying and she had probably alraedy taken some but hey I'll happily take the lie! The Childminder I had when my older girl took her 1st steps didn't even try to hide that she'd taken them at childcare which I found upsetting considering I had specifically asked her not to tell me  Christ don't these people realise how hard it is for us working mothers to miss that kind of stuff!?
She has taken a few steps here and there since but still predomintantly crawling. I think they're so adorable at this age, especially compared to her tantrum-throwing, screaming and shouting 2 year old ''spirited'' sister haha. The 1 yo is our easy child (times 100) and she's the only reason the nanny hasn't quit I'd say !!!
Wuffly I think the bottle of water is grand, it's a stepping stone - in the right direction! And it doesn't have the tooth decay worries of milk night feeds. How do you prevent him from soaking himself and the bed with it though? I tried giving our one a bottle of water into the cot and she just soaked everything.
Kathy good luck with the baby making !!  Still fairly sure we're not going again here. Had a bit of a scare there last month and I literally saw my life flashing before my eyes.......made me realise that I really can't face the thought of going through it all again any time in the near future and ruining the bit of a life that I finally have back!! Actually life is pretty good at the moment. I can face anything with sleep.......I always said to myself as well that once I was getting a full night's sleep I'd never complain about anything else again so now that I am I have to stick to that haha. I just think no-one has any idea how hard sleep deprivation is til they've experienced it. It's so f*cking hard!
Re the pushchair for hols I'm a believer in just bringing the normal buggy. It's very handy to be able to clip the maxi cosi into it and rental cars always have ****e car seats (or dont'have any...or they cost the same to rent as the car rental did) or even if you don't rent a car it's great to be able to bring them out in the evening int he restaurant in teh maxi cosi and they can sleep in it so you don't have to all go to bed at 7pm every night! If buying a lightweight stroller I would buy one that the maxi cosi can be clipped into.
Plus nice big wheels with air etc are better for going over cobblestones which holiday places ususally have. But our buggy is over 10 years old so I suppose I never had the fear of it getting damaged on flights etc, it's already a wreck!

Kathy22

@Lucuma I figured the car seat over there would be crap. Not sure whether to bring our Maxi cosi or buy a second hand one online for using over there. Need to look at the cost of renting one over there but no idea where to start.

We ended up buying the Babylo Scat, it folds really neat, looks nice, is really light and was a good price. It probably isnt as functional as those umbrella McLaren or Silvercross pop buggies but I found them a bit big and clunky.

We finally started walking here, he has been standing and walking non stop along the furniture and walls the last week or so and today he finally just let go. He has a few words now he seems to have picked up from creche, says tata when you give him something, dayday for bye, hiya for hi, up when he wants to be picked up and then mama and dada. He has got a second molar and i swear to god it has been the worst and slowest tooth ever, really bad nappies, cranky, sleeping crap etc. seems to be back on form now. Phew!

I am working 5 days a week Lucuma, he is only in creche 4 days because granny and grandad mind him on fridays and I work from home on Fridays too. It is tiring especially because it is so busy.

Holidays in 2.5 weeks, really cannot wait and I have another week left to take then in September so we might go somewhere else for a few days or a week.

Not long till your holidays Wuffly. Lucuma are you off anywhere?

Hope you are all keeping well

Lucuma

Great that he's walking and starting to talk Kathy! Very exciting. Wuffly what language do the nursery speak with your little one? Mine has no real words but her sister was the same due to being spoken to in a different language Mon-Fri 9-5 and then english in the evenings and weekends, it confuses them.
No excuse for her not walking though, I can't blame bilingualism for that! Since those first few steps she seems to have given up, loves crawling, she's a die hard crawler  I'd say she could be 18 months before she walks. She must be able to sense that Mammy wants her to stay a baby as long as possible
Why not just bring your own maxi cosi Kathy? It's free and you just check it in when you're checking your suitcase in. Obviously carrying it in the airport is a bit of a pain but there will be 2 of you and just 1 child. As someone that often flies with 2 kids+ assorted bits and pieces on my own I have to say flying with more adults than there are children seems like a walk in the park to me now!!
We are going to Cork for our holidays, exciting or what! West Cork at least. Same place we've gone the last 2 years. Different set up every year though. The first time we camped (I was 39 weeks pregnant haha) the next year we stayed in a mobile home (I was sleep training an infant so didn't really leave it) and this year we're splitting into 2 groups one are camping and I'm in the group staying in a house thank god. I'm not counting down to it though......holidays with kids are bloody hard work, the only advantage of them really is they're a break from the normal hum drum. It's the sleeping arrangements that usually kill me.......it's the same crap you have to normally deal with except with worse sleeping arrangements (e.g. all crammed into a smaller space or sharing a room when normally you have separate rooms etc) we're staying in a typical holiday home with topsy turvy arranged rooms, was trying to divvy them up with the other family we're sharing with there recently adn we came up with some strange combiations! My favourite was all the toddlers in the rom at the top of the spiral staircase with me on a different floor haha.
It'll be a good experience anyway Kathy and you'll learn a lot! I have found I learned everything so far about travelling with kids the hard way.......bring the buggy to the gate anyway I'd advice and bring a sling with ya for the bits (like possibly long walk through airports etc) where you've no buggy.
The flight is going to be sh!t at that age, there's no 2 ways about it! It's my least favourite age for flyign with them ....they want to be on the move but the aisle is pretty much off limits as the air hostesses are constantly coming up and down with trollies etc. I'd advise a window seat and a middle seat for your husband and yourself to keep him penned in! They're too young for screens (although you can try a little bit.....VLC app is good for getting cartoons onto an Ipad and if you have a normal (non-Apple) tablet then it's easy to put stuff on there. Food is the only solution I have found at that age....they basically need to be fed constantly. Raisins, ella cheese puffs, rice cakes etc. I flew on my own with the 1yo recently and at check in they kindly blocked off the other seats so I had a row to myself (you might get that as well if you let them know at check in that it's your first time flyign with baby......) and I tried the Ipad but it was of limited use. She was down on teh floor picking up dirty stuff and trying to put it into her mouth for most of the flight :O The only way I coudl keep her entertained was lots of snacks so obviously with a row to ourselves (I sat in aisle seat she roamed around middle adn window and the floor) there was a big mess which there was no point in me cleaning up til the end.....well the air hostess kind of freaked out and gave me a big rubbish bag and said ''now will you please clean that seat for me"'. Beatch! Like as if I wasn't going to clean up after myself!
Between nannies here at the moment which is headwrecking.....and heartbreaking. I let the one we had go and now I'm thinking I made a mistake

Lucuma

btw I have both of mine saying ''Day-day'' for Bye and the locals here think I'm off my head.....it's clearly an irish thing!

wuffly

Hey ladies, i wrote a big long reply the other day don't know where it went:mad:

Kathy hope ye have a lovely trip, agree with lucuma flights are tough when they are on the move, hopefully will go quickly for ye! We didn't actually bring the buggy the last time. Our first trip it was handy to put all the hand luggage in tho and carried the baby. Carrier is a lot better for keeping him calm and in our case the only hope of getting some sleep when waiting for the flight, we usually fly at night. Fair play for flying on your own Lucuma. I might go early with the little fella at Christmas, it will be long and ****e!! We are just going up the coast for a long weekend at the end of the month, so just an hour in the car. I think the little fella will enjoy it more than us getting a splash around in the pool and new places to wander around. I'm hoping to be finished all my tablets by then so i can drink some wine when he's asleep! :P
Still thinking about a light stroller but the longer things go on I'm wondering what is the point? He's still happy enough in the carrier as long as your moving, i think he'd be the same with a stroller....

Sorry to hear it didn't work out with the nanny Lucuma, hopefully the next one will be the right fit. You need someone your totally happy with, had friends move back last year and got a nanny and ended up leaving her go just after paying all her visa stuff etc... they found the perfect lady after, it was expensive but worth it. How is your hip now?

Our nursery language is english but he does have arabic classes :rolleyes: his teacher and ta's aren't native english speakers. They were initially but then his class was split. His teacher from Sept is english. We wanted at least one native english speaker in his class it didn't work out that way but his teacher is fab and she adores him will be sad to change classes. Everything is dadadada... bah for a kiss, and tata when he gives you something, very very occasional mamama and short version of his own name. Day day! I love it such an irish thing!

Wondering when i need to look at shoes? He's not walking outside at the moment because of the heat and in the malls etc... i have a pair of pre walkers they are just a bit slippy sometimes. He's so frigging fast!!

Went with the Joie every stage car seat, so far its a total arse ache, I've done a good few adjustments but i despise it! My OH installed it before he left for a week(bad idea!), the first day was a total disaster, we had tried him in it in the house which was no bother, in the car totally different story there was no room for his legs his bum was in the air. Not ideal to be figuring it out at 7:30 am in 36 heat! its ok now but he's still very far forward for my liking. Need to try and move the shoulder straps and see if that makes it any better. Possibly my car being low and the back seat having an incline does not help. Still in the maxi cosi in my OH's car and has loads of space!

Molars sounds though Kathy, we are still on 8 teeth here (4top and bottom at the front) just coming to end of a leap so will probably hit as things almost settle down :eek:

Loving the cuteness and devilment at the moment, he's totally mad, loves being chased and laughs so hard he nearly falls over. Going to be a total handful!

Oh how i would love a career break... for the first month I would sleep! Then I would do a proper spring clean and finish some of my furniture projects and actually learn how to use my camera properly! Figure how to make a living doing something i like! Hahahaha a girl can dream lol! I am hanging to go back part time but i just can't justify it while we are here. My friend moved home a few weeks ago and isn't going back to work until Jan taking some time to sort the house and settle the kids in nursery. I'm not really in a rush home but on the other hand I would love to be at that stage.

Lucuma

Well we FINALLY started walking here! 15 and a half months! That's a full 3 and a half months later than her older sister, gas! She took her first step alright around 12 months but then just reverted to crawling and cruising. 
Of course after me cajoling her and walking around the flat with her holding her hands for weeks what does the little imp do? Waits til her feet land on Dublin soil (she spent 3 days with the in-laws in Dub before we went on our hols down south) and then walked for her Nanny + Grandad in Dublin! As a proud Corkwoman I hate conceding anything to the Dubs! Hmph! And I wasn't even there.....
She's still fond of the crawling mind, she's probably doing about 60% walking and 40% crawling now. I still find it so funny to see her walking around, her walk is hilarious....like a duck :P:heart: Must make more videos, I think I only have 1. These stages pass so fast, never to return. My sister gave me an old pair of shoes from her 1 year old so we have just been using them, they're fairly scuffed looking Clarks. I did buy her official ''first pair of shoes'' https://www.clarks.co.uk/c/Softly-Lou-First/p/26127401 they're a bit silly as they're cerise pink so wont'match with lots of things (I normally always buy grey or navy as they match with everything) but I just couldn't resist them! 
She has been acting up at night now with the last while. Holidays weren't a great success I have to say. Sharing with another family in less-than-ideal sleeping conditions and it wasn't what I would class as enjoyable! Especially as the little one and I were sharing a room. She's a light sleeper (ridiculous) and so even if I got her off to sleep (which often took hours due to different surroundings/excitement of staying with her cousins) then I would wake her again when I went to bed. Just the sound of the door handle opening would wake her. I couldn't open it silently as the door was incorrectly fitting the door frame so it made a noise when you opened and closed it (I have this issue at my MIL + FIL's hosue as well actually) horrendous. So I tried going to bed with her but she knew I was there in the bed and wouldn't settle, kept calling at me from her travel cot. I even tried sleeping on the floor so she wouldn't see me there in the bed. I think I tried everything I could think of eventually I left the holiday a day early and went back to my parent's house where everyone has their own room and there's plenty space between everyone so she gets some silence to fall asleep (which she needs). I told my husband next summer I want a house where everyone (me, older child, younger child) all have their own room each and I don't care what we have to pay for it, otherwise I'm not going :ermm:
The place we always go (West Cork) is really popular though so the decent large properties would often book out 18 months in advance. 
Kathy you must be just back, how did yours go? At least you can still use the magic boobs to just get him back to sleep during the night so it doesn't really matter about sleeping arrangements! 
Wuffly that's good that from Sept on your little one will have a native english speaker in the nursery. It's weird but I would rather the childminders speak to mine in their own native language rather than speaking to them in broken english (incorrect grammar, pronunciation etc). Anyone that ever minded mine I always told them please talk to them in your native tongue, whatever that may be, but the important thing is that you talk to them! 
I was at the library there over the weekend and I've started to take out 4 books now - 2 in english and 2 in the local lingo for the nanny to read to them. Again I don't think her reading them books in her broken english would be particularly helpful to their learning english but of course I want her to read to them! Trying to infuse them with a love/excitement of going to the library - lost on them til they're 2 in fairness though! 
So yeah the little one has been leading us a merry dance at night since we got back from Ireland. Been up with her a few hours most nights the last 7 nights. We've been taking it in turns, especially if she wakes the older child as then it's a case of 1 each. At least with the older child you can just climb into her bed and both go off to sleep though, whereas the little one it's a case of sitting in the arm chair in her room singing songs, cuddling, giving water, calpol, frozen mango in the Clevafeed etc and then leaving the room, back 15 mins later for the same ding dong etc repeat etc! The other night I thought I had finally got her off as I left her room after the 2nd round and she cried for a few mins then silence. I thought ''Ahhhhh got her off''. Next morning I found out my husband (who had been in the older one's bed with her) had just come out and taken the little one and took her into the bed with the older one, all 3 slept there! :D Well the important thing is I got back to sleep! It's literally musical beds in our place ....and I thought we had left those dark days behind. The joys of a 20 month age gap eh! :'(
I finally went and bought a 'fat' wedding ring. Got sick of not wearing my rings, I've only been able to wear them for about 6 months after I got married (Jun 2015) and then I had to take them off due to pregnancy swelling. Haven't been able to put them back on since :(. I find the idea of getting them let out depressing in the extreme (it really seems like admitting defeat!) and also I could just see myself getting them left out, taken in, left out, taken in as the weight goes up and down which would I assume weaken them eventually? So I thought it easier to just buy a cheap and cheerful ''fat'' wedding ring instead. I got this beauty for wait for it......40 euro! In a silver shop. It's silver, looks like a traditional wedding ring (like the ones my parents have) it does the job and it's nice and shiny. Seriously makes me question some of the decisions I made in the last few years tbh.......could badly do now with that 5k it seemed oh-so-important to spend on diamonds at the time!!

Lucuma

ring

wuffly

Congrats on your little walker Lucuma! Her shoes are gorgeous! We finally got the little man measured, he wriggled like a demon, so didn't even end up buying anything in clarks, got him sandals and shoes from next(both for half the price of one pair in clarks) so far he's getting on great with the sandals handy to put on him for going outside. Loves them now and knows it means we are going out if they are going on.

Your holidays sound like it was hard going, anything that gets them out of routine really needs to be worth it! A very light sleeper here as well, at least for part of the night, sometimes the tiniest thing will wake him but the last few nights there have been fireworks for EID, really loud and close and not budged. We went away for the weekend and it actually went really well for the most part, borrowed a travel cot and our room had a little hall by the door that we could put him in and he couldn't see us. Wore him out at the pool and the beach both days (only one nap) and he passed out at night quicker than at home. Went out to the balcony and had some wine. It was horribly humid the first night so sweated it out pretty quick but was still lovely. He loved the beach when he got used to it, practically eating the sand! He was like a briar the 2nd night a dinner, wouldn't go in the high chair and the food took ages. Should have done room service! He just wanted to run around and wouldn't hold my hand, literally dropped to floor and roared every time i got hold of his hand. Proper tantrums will be some craic :eek:
Hope sleep is going ok and ye are getting back to decent nights sleep!

I think your right re the languages Lucuma, that's the reason we wanted a native english speaker. There are just too many languages for them all to speak their own, staff and students. (english, arabic, tagalog, hindi, danish, italian....) I can't even speak Irish. Although i think he says no in danish he's too best buddies are danish in there. Words are slow enough to come, not worried as i really need to curb my language when im driving or he'll be f'ing and blinding at the grandparents at christmas! :rolleyes: now we have bubble and apple (not sure where this is from as hardly ever eats them) and cracker (his most adored food! irish bunlayan rice cakes literally the only non home made thing he eats! fecker!) Did you get a new nanny? hope its going well.

Sleep is still hit and miss here with teething but more good nights than bad generally. Still no more teeth tho... had a mild fever for a week took him to the dr as it wasn't shifting she said anything under 38 is teeth.

Great idea re the books, little fella loves his books only way to get him to sit still for a few mins is to sit and read with him. Never thought of getting some in another language, must get some Irish ones at Christmas would help us both!

Its a lovely ring looks like a proper wedding ring, my wedding ring just about fits, can barely get my engagement ring on but afraid it will get stuck, when i do wear i feel like I always end up scratching him with it, so will leave it off for now.

Weather is finally cooling down here and getting myself used to OH's travel and working 6days, will be easier when we can just go outside. Although most people are back from their summer hols now and so we are full on visiting to get out of the house!

Kathy how did your hols go? How are you getting on with the night weaning?

Lucuma

Tagalog, had to google that one. It rang a bell as I have a cleaner and a weekend babysitter from the Philippines and I remember something-a-glog being mentioned, that was obviously it! Some name for a language ! 
That dinner scene sounds familiar Wuffly :O I've actually given up on dinners in restaurants now, took me long enough!! It's just not worth it. I'm changing my whole approach now....think before I was trying to live my old life and squeeze the kids into it, now I'm being realistic and practical and trying not to waste money on nice cafes/restaurants which they neither appreciate nor enjoy. Took them for fast food today actually, think that's the first ever time! That was stressful enough, can't believe I ever used to even try restaurants with them!! 
So her sleeping didn't improve. The other night I put her down at 8pm and at 9:30pm I was sat in the room in the dark with her, legs going, arms going, trying to rub her nose against my face, laughing and joking away as if it was the middle of the day! When it suddenly occurred to me this child isn't teething, she's back nearly 2 weeks so it's not the disruption to her routine......she's just not tired. Like, at all! And it dawned on me maybe it's time for the old 2 to 1 nap change! Don't know why it didn't occur to me before, I'm a bit slow that way! With my older one I never had to actual parent or make these kind of decisions, her childminder just informed me one day she was gone from 2 naps to 1. I remember being like ''Really? Ok so!'. I've never had to actually figure out when it's time and what's involved, gulp. I looked up my book and it says between 16 mo + 18 mo they go from 2 to 1. She's just gone 16 mo. The book also said though that you know it's time when you find you're putting them down and they're not sleeping. She still does sleep at both naps, especially the morning one. She'd often go down at 10am and if there's total silence she will sleep til 12 or even 1pm. But still though I can't explain her night time antic any other way, it must be the naps? So I started on Friday with just one nap. Today she was very tired and cranky not having her 1st nap. But on the plus side she slept through the night the last 2 nights since we started implementing it !!! A very welcome change! So gonna stick with it. 
Wondering now about some of her gear like the jumparoo and the bath seat and the walker. I was guilty on no.1 of getting rid of things too soon, then I'd discover i still needed them. So I'm a bit slower this time around. Not in so much of a hurry. She's just going in the bath with the older one now without needing any bath seat (boy am I glad to see the back of it, cursed yoke!) but then I know the day will come when I need to leave her there unattended for a minute for some reason, I'll be reaching for the bath seat. So gonna hold onto it for a while. She has also developed a sudden grá for her walker!! Yes she's walking around the apartment with it ...now that she can actually walk and it's no longer needed :D And the jumparoo or ''prison'' as I call it. It is still handy sometimes, I see it as in lieu of a playpen (which is what my mother would have used) for those moments when you're cooking or doing something you just can't have them pulling off your leg for and you need to put them in there temporarily so you can get something over and done with safely. So again even though the bloody thing takes up way too much of my living room, probably hang onto the jumparoo another while too! 
Her canines on the top have been pushing through now with ages. They're taking forever to come through! No sign of the bottom canines yet. She is still mainly shouting at me but her comprehension has really improved. I say stuff to her now and I know she really knows what I mean, it's amazing. She actually nods her head and all to say yes to something, and well we all know they don't have a problem communicating when they don' t want something, words or no words! I thought i heard her say ''dodee'' today but I could have been imagining it. She definitely understands dodee though coz if I say it to her she picks it up/points to it/gives it to me. 
That's annoying he is fussy about food Wuffly, he only likes the home-made stuff so! My little one will eat basically anything. She's got a much broader palette than her older sister. We're still spoon feeding here, although she's starting to demand a bit of self feeding. I just love spoon feeding coz you can shovel veg and all sorts into them before they become toddlers and start being picky! I like to think the veg you shovel into them from 6 - 18 months gets them through the following few years when they start refusing veg :P. I was feeding her porridge this morning and it was going great til near the end. She started getting quite upset. Because she can't talk, I had no idea why. Felt sorry for her, it's frustrating that she can't tell me what she wants. I was guessing so I started giving her a pre-loaded spoon, that seemed to help. But she was still annoyed over something else, who knows! 

Trying to figure out when she should take her afternoon nap now if we're going down to only 1. Am thinking 12 to 2, although that's not going to work every day with the nanny due to playschool drop off/collection for the older one. But something to aim for when possible anyway (and at weekends). This feels like a huge decision, when to change to 1 nap!

Lucuma

The bad karma sleeping fairy visited the other night - the one that ensures baby wakes up on the night of the day that you crowed that baby has started sleeping through the night  She slept again since though.
Hmm might have to rethink 2 nap to 1 strategy. On Mondays the older one starts playschool at 12:45 so the nanny said if younger one is down to 1 nap, when should the nap happen? I said wait until she's back from dropping older one to PS. Which means younger one is going from normally napping at 10am to not napping til 1pm. Today was the first day of implementing this.
Nanny sent me a pic of little one asleep in high chair half way through her lunch :O Back to the drawing board......

wuffly

Aw jeepers Lucuma the absolute cuteness of her asleep in the highchair! The 1 to 2 nap transition seems like a hard one to guage especially with another child in the mix. Not much hope of pushing it out 30 mins at a time if she has to wake up and go out.

I think I'll be leaving it closer to 18 months, although i'd love the ease of one nap, the faff and in out with 2 naps is so awkward.

We had a nap disaster in nursery on sunday mostly because the new class teacher is a twat that ignored everything we discussed before he changed classes. He's just not ready for only one nap and especially can't miss the morning one, the afternoon one, we can get away with sometimes but he's still pretty ropey by dinner time. So the first day after asking her to leave it at least a month, she decides to see how he gets on. Of course he ran riot until 1pm then only slept for 45mins. He was a monster by the time i got him home. I'm on my own this week so that was great craic... Had a parent teacher meeting with her last week, which i thought was pointless as surely the staff could just handover anyway turns out I was basically right as she listened to nothing. And didn't bother to talk to his old teacher. (Missing her big time and its only day 3!) He was upset when i left him this morning, which practically never happens. Maybe he knows mammy wants to strangle his teacher! :P I just find it annoying that everything was fine last week and all of a sudden its like no one knows whats going on? I'm sure it will settle down but it never even occurred to me he would get unsettled or his routine would get changed without even a quick chat. :mad:

Its not that he's fussy with food, more that I've always just given him homemade stuff. Was easier to have something packed when we were going out and that i could feed him as soon as the h-anger started. 30mins for plain pasta last weekend was hell! Also got a bit sucked into just making things i know he will eat especially after he was so sick when we were home in April. I haven't tried much new stuff with him lately. Now he's obsessed with cutlery he must have 'poon' (spoon) or the world will end, even if a spoon is useless for what he's eating, spoon in one hand feeding himself with the other. :rolleyes: Last few days have gone back to properly giving him what we have for dinner rather than just planning around him, not sure when we stopped doing it really. Its been messy with the fork (he's great with spoon and things like yogurt). I'm thinking he eats plenty in nursery, right now he's getting used to the cutlery and he does eventually eat something, also totally stopped making something else if he doesn't eat whats in front of him. its more something my OH does, but it was pointless and half the time a waste of food.

The understanding now is incredible, I ask him to get his shoes so we can go for a walk he goes and gets them and sits down for you to put them on. Runs to the kitchen for his bottle when we say its bedtime. He knows what he wants too, screams blue murder when we get home now if I don't take him across the road so he can bark at the neighbours dogs! He does this with OH (thanks darling cause its not hot and sweaty enough just getting in the door!!!) He does this loud oo oo that sounds like woof, its very cute. Still loves his books and shouts out his favourite line of oh dear or oh no only time he sits still! If you start ring a ring a rosie... you can literally never stop! ever!

I have looked at putting a few bits away too, but he still loves the walker, even in softplay he will always go for it. Theres a few soft toys that he doesn't touch anymore will sneak them away soon at least I can vacuum pack those. He's loves with kitchens and pots and pans, in nursery and play areas he goes straight form them, so i think Santy will be taking a trip to ikea or doing some 2nd hand shopping :P

I think they are at a stage now where they don't like being in the highchair too much or at least that's what it seems like here. Even if he's still hungry sometimes he just wants out, then wants to finish food on the go.... a wanderer and grazer :rolleyes:

Starting the last leap now, the leap of doom apparently which may explain the sudden clingy-ness and upset at nursery. And random night waking. Yeah 6 weeks of joy!! :eek:

Kathy22

Hi guys. So lovely to see some updates. Lucuma cutest little photo of her in the high chair. We had no option when he started creche, they only do one nap in the class he is in @ 12pm after lunch at 11.15. He generally sleeps for 1.5-2 hours during that nap. Then on Fridays and the weekend when we are at home he always falls asleep between 10.15 and 10.30 which he has been like since a small baby. I think the creche keep them busy which keeps him awake.

Things have been a bit up in the air since holidays. He took ages to settle back in creche and was crying going in every morning, he has gone really fussy with food and whereby he used to eat everything going is now refusing anything that is spoon fed or taking 3 mouthfuls and then calling it quits. This is in the creche also which is a pain as I used to be grateful he got a good and varied diet in there. Can't keep him in the high chair for long unless we give him a book or entertain him, its a disaster. He has 12 teeth now including the 4 molars and his 2 eye teeth on top cut through over the weekend. He has been the crankiest, fussiest child the last week and sleeping worse than when he was born. Me and my husband were like zombies. I was also travelling with work for a few days so not sure if that fed into his emotions as he is a real mammies boy.

Havent had much luck cutting out the nighttime feed. We are down to just that one as now when he comes home from creche we go straight outside or he goes out with my husband and i make the dinner. Distraction is key. My husband wants to hire a sleep expert, we have spoke about this many times and not done anything about it, mainly because the last few months my husband has been travelling a lot with work and we had the holidays etc. However starting to really think about number 2 now so we need to do something. Praying any future children are not bad sleepers like this one. I also think I know a lot more now and will not make the same mistakes.

Running around the place now. Holidays were great, so nice to get away and as my folks came we got out a few nights for dinner. Flight over was fine as it was his nap time. Flight home was absolute torture and we were all miserable when we got back. He slept in the car en route to the airport then woke 30 mins later when transferring him into the buggy and he was like a demon, would not stay in the buggy and instead wanted to run all over the place. Luckily on the flight we had a seat in the middle of us so eventually after trying everything i breastfed him and he fell asleep for an hour. I will be planning flight times for the next one a bit better, we are thinking of doing a winter sun holiday for a week.

Lucuma sorry to hear your holidays didnt go too good, think its the disruption to their routine that sets them off. Your wedding ring is lovely, I never took mine off and now I can get it off but i have to do it slowly and with patience as my fingers are not as slim as they were lol!!!

I love how they are now understanding things, my guy is the same when I say lets go he grabs his 'schoooes' and sits on the step on the stairs to let me put them on. We have a few animal sounds down and the creche thought him to blow kisses which is possibly the cutest thing in the entire world. Cannot believe winter is coming and this will be his second Christmas. Where are our babies gone!

wuffly

Holiday sounds good Kathy, at least the flight going over was ok, otherwise you would have been dreading the flight back the whole time! Lovely to get out for some dinners, our babysitter is back, so looking forward to a few dates! I need a few more months before thinking of No2, some nice food, drinks and get a bit fit/less fat! Finally back to the gym this week, i'm sore all over but at least I've started. Going at lunch time as its my only chance, with OH traveling etc... and I'm not paying a babysitter to go to the the gym lol!

Holidays are a curse for the routine, going home for 3 weeks at Christmas, can't wait but the flight and getting back to routine will be a nightmare.
Is your little fella going through the last leap at the moment? We are finding it utter hell, although getting a bit better think we only have 2 weeks left and just over the stormy period, he was back to waking at night, wouldn't sit in his high chair, throwing food, super clingy, generally a demon. My OH is traveling a lot and changes at nursery didn't help either. Thankfully back to 2 naps although short and happy out going in. Was awful dropping him when he was upset. Will probably go to 1 nap in a few weeks. He started nursery so young they have to do all the kids by their own routine and they keep it up until 18 months, after that they all fall in line, which is grand. I was annoyed as they didn't follow their own policy and leaving him up well beyond when the 1 nap kids go down was nuts.

Lots of new words popping up now, still no Mammy, which OH thinks is hilarious!

Best of luck with the sleep expert, I don't know how your doing it, lack of sleep is hell. We at least get some chunks of good sleep.

Kathy22

Hey ladies. Wuffly we also had a rough patch with the last leap but he seems to have come out of it now and is in flying form most of the time.

I have finally night weaned him the last while, cannot even remember how long its been but he is sleeping well and we didnt need to get the sleep expert in the end. My husband went into him at night time, first few nights were hard but he sleeps through mostly unless his teeth are at him. He is currently getting 4 eye teeth at the same time so when they were cutting through at the same time as the last leap that was fun :O

Will be so nice to get home for Christmas, cannot believe this is their second Christmas, time is going too fast.

We are off on a winter break to sunny lands for a week in 2 weeks. Longer flight around 4 hours very very early in the morning which should be fun but hey we will get some time to relax which is much needed as work for both of us has been crazy lately.

How are you both getting on? Many words? We seem to pick up a few new ones every week, its great hearing him understanding things. Amazing how much they develop these days.

wuffly

Great news re the sleep Kathy! You must feel like a new person!
4 new teeth in one go,hope they come up soon!

We still just have 8, there are a few bumps where his premolars should be coming in but nothing has popped up yet. He has another ear infection, seems to be a thing on my OH's side, other than that we survived the last leap, it was murder and OH was away for a lot of it. I still feel wrecked even though sleep is back to normal.
Down to the one nap which is great, although it is a struggle to keep him going until 12 if we are at home.

Your holiday sounds fab, will be lovely to get away, hopefully the flight goes ok! Planning an actual holiday for early next year! Cannot wait! Very excited for Christmas at home can't wait to get him into some wellies and let him off Although at the moment he's not a lover of wearing pants so dressing him for an Irish winter should be mighty craic altogether

Still tons of babble but more words emerging every week. Finally getting the odd Mammy. He understands everything, its mad! His friend is all chat, counting to ten and singing along to everything, loads of animals noises. Our guy is more action lol. Its lovely now to see him recognizing his friends and running to give them a hug, the non cuddler is now mad to give cuddles.

Need to get him a scooter or balance bike, he's like the park joyrider whenever we go, getting on any abandoned toy with wheels:o also sits on his teeny tiny tractor at home :rolleyes:

Hope ye are all well, Lucuma how are you?

Lucuma

Hi Ladies, hope ye are all well. Well done on night weaning Kathy! Sounds like you are reaping the rewards. I'd say you don't know yourself with all the sleep, that is a dramatic change for you guys!!! Although I am so used to being woken now by either one or both kids that even on the rare night they both sleep through, I still wake up around 4am. Post traumatic stress disorder I think ;)
Re the high chair, mine is strapped securely into mine so there's no choice but to stay in it. She's happy to stay in it though, as she's a total savage so being in the high chair = food which is all good in her world. Getting out of the high chair means feeding time at the zoo is over = bad! 
Mine has been stuck at 14 teeth for a good while now since the top canines came in. The gap where the bottom canines aren't is very prominent now and I notice it on other kids too and also on photos of my older one from when she was 1, it's like a hallmark of their age those missing bottom canines! The little devils are also starting to push through as well though. She seems to get a temperature & for a few days to signal the start of new teeth but the actual teeth don't appear til about a month after the few days of having a temperature ! 
Kathy do you really need to start thinking about no.2 so soon, obviously i don't know your circumstances (I assume it's age related you're worried?) but I was pregnant with no.2 just as no.1 turned 1 and I've been through the mill the last few years. I find I'm bitter and resentful to people who have huge age gaps coz they always look so rested, so content and so in control of their lives compared to me. Obviously I don't show this though !! :D But as I'm there in a haggard sleep deprived stressed out state with 2 toddlers screaming at me I look at the people with huge age gaps looking all happy and rested and I think ''I bet your kids will hate each other/never play with each other'' haha. Only joking..........kind of :D:D:P:P
That was kind of sh!t that you were thrown straight into only 1 nap when your little fella started creche at 1 year old Kathy. Most kids would still be doing the 2 at that stage. That might have been why you weren't getting a lot of sleep at night as well! 
I'm sure your next one will be a good sleeper, it's karma, you're due one! 
I was laughing as you said you'd be planning flight times better for your next holiday and then you said your next holiday you're flying at stupid o'clock hehe. Great idea taking Granny & Grandad on your last holiday, are you bringing them for winter sun as well? I hate flying with kids as I've overdosed on it (PTSD going on there too!!) so no holiday will include a flight here for the forseeable future ...not til they're old enough to check themselves in and carry their own bag, that's my cut off. So I don't see the appeal in foreign family holidays at all - to me the hassle and the trauma outweighs any possible benefit but that's just coz I've taken one flight too many with smallies in the last few crazy years and I am scarred for life after it. Can't wait to get off this rollercoaster/give up this rock n roll lifestyle in less than 8 weeks when we move home for good  It was worth it for how we've set ourselves up for life with the money we earned but my god has it taken its toll on us. 
I can't wait for really simple things, like picking blackberries or watching Granny baking scones around the kitchen table. Just the simple pleasures in life that you don't have when you're an expat. Never missing any more birthday parties or family special occasions. The kids growing up with their cousins. All that priceless stuff. I can't fecking wait. Flying home for Xmas will be so different this time, knowing it's a one way (actually technically it's a return as I'm using up a flexi that I bought in a sale so that was a bit of a waste of money haha) 
Wuffly I presume your OH is away all the time growing his new business? That's really hard on you when you also work full time. I was actually watching the George Lee 'Better off Abroad'' on RTE Player international on the Ipad there lately the one where he went to Dubai and I was absolutely fascinated!! Despite what I said above about being done and dusted with the expat life after watching that I want to live there! It looks like gold is flowing out of the taps. There was one irish woman who is a wedding organiser and she gave an insight into the Emerati weddings - all female! And so lavish, fascinating. I was googling Emirati weddings after it. Actually most of the people interviewed were entrepeneurs, it also pointed out that to open a business there you have to have an Emerati business partner, i assume your OH does too then? How's his business gonig? The irish wedding organiser had a helper from the Phillipines, she said everyone has help there, you've obviously ruled it out (I know you said before you didn't want to get dependent on something you couldn't afford when you leave) I think if i was there and if it was cheap to have a live-in helper I'd be too tempted not to :D Although it sounds like the nursery is great for the socialising for him with his little friends so there's 2 sides to it. 
My little one has a nanny so she doesn't get that social element but then she has the big one to play with most of the time (except when big one is in playschool) so it's not as much of an issue. Hopefully the lack of a childcare environment won't mean she's an anti-social brute when she does start PS herself LOL. 
I got a balance bike too early for my older one and it was a total waste of time/money. It was so bad that I abandoned it on the side of the street one day while out for a (painful) ''cycle''. She just wanted to put her feet up on the ledge and have one of us push her on it (back breaking). A tricycle worked out better she was 2 and a bit though. For little one the ride on car will do her for now. Dont'have the space for anything else over here anyway, might buy one of those trikes with a handle when we move back and have more space. Our house in Ireland has a continuous footpath the whole way around (I deliberately built that in with smallies in mind) so they can go around and around without even having to leave the house. 
Despite the bi-lingual thing the little one is actually starting to say a few words in english now alright! She is the opposite to your fella Wuffly, she's all Mamamamamam and no Dada. Poor Dada! She calls him Mama too. She was saying Dada ages ago but just stopped. 
She says ''Oh'' for orange, Ta-Ta for thank you, 'Du' and points for ''There''. She also says ''Du'' kind of if she wants to get down (I coudl be just imagining that one though!) and she says ''Da'' and waves (trying to say Day-Day), she puts her finger up to her lips and says ''Sssssh'' (so funny) and says ''Tss'' and points to her teeth and the rest of the time it's just Mama-mama-ma continuously. She goes beserk excited when I come in the door after work every evening, runs away laughing when I try to give her a hug though! She's a little fairy, full of divilment. 
She is obsessed with brushing her teeth, absolutely loves it. I definitely got away with me brushing the older one's teeth for longer but with the small one, she sees her big sister brushing her teeth by herself hence wants to hold the toothbrush! So we have 2 tootbrushes  she holds one and I hold the other and actually brush them while she sucks toothpaste off her one (her one has to have toothpaste on it as well, otherwise there's shouts!) We're pretty much down to 1 nap now as well I told the nanny to cut it down to 1 and we usually only have 1 at weekend, unless she's hanging by 10:30 which she sometimes is! 
Foodwise she is refusing the spoon since we went on summer hols with the other family adn she realised she was the only tot being spoon fed. So it's been a messy few months as she learns to self feed. She's improving though! Getting about 3/4 of e.g. Weetabix or porridge into her mouth now with the spoon. She's highly indignant if I scoop up the bits that fell and try to spoon feed her them though, she doesn't want to be treated as a baby! It's amazing isn't it? How they're pre programmed to start refusing the spoon at a certain age. In terms of being fussy - a dinner is made and put in front of them every evening and they can eat or not eat but they don't get anything else if they don't eat. Works well so far. I also never take anythign they don't like off the plate in advance. I have a strict rule with the 3 yo that if she doesn't like something just leave it on the plate but I am not taking it off in advance. Enforcable via Time Out if necessary, although after 1 or 2 TOs she just accepted it and now she knows no point complaining the dinner is on the plate and if she wants to leave the whole thing behind or bits of it behind that's no problem. I also don't make any fuss if they don't eat something, try to keep attention off teh whole thing and keep it low key. I notice that they could not eat something one week and scoff it down the next.  So my policy of just continuing to serve them meals they rejected in the past seems to be working  so far

Lucuma

post script. By the way Kathy am I right in saying that we neither gain nor lose with the latest changes that Katharine Zappone made to the free ECCE years? Ours start in Sep 2019 just as they would have anyway?

wuffly

Aww Lucuma, I didn't realise ye were so close to moving home! Well done! Best of luck and I hope the last few weeks go well. Must be amazing to be so close!
Part of me wishes were that close but I also know I am not ready to move back just yet. Would love to be in the same boat with house built etc.! My friend moved home over the summer and she is loving it! Taking off until Jan to get everything sorted and get the kids settled, she may never go back to work. Both sets of grandparent near by and both great with the kids. Winner!

Re food we are the opposite all food requires cutlery, even if it doesn't! He's a pretty good eater but is loving saying no to everything, then shoving it in his mouth! We did have him strapped in the highchair but he would lose the plot, Now its an ornament. He kept taking his plate to his little ikea table and chair so we just moved it beside our table. He's great at breakfast but he wanders at lunch/dinner. OH made him one of those ikea hack kitchen helper stands he loves that and will generally eat more when he's in it. Think he just feels freer or something!

Funny you mention that lady, she lives in our compound/estate and her mam used to work at my friends nursery. For the most part people with kids nearly all have a nanny or a maid. My friends and I with kids in nursery are the definitely the exception rather than the rule. I've gone too and fro with the idea again recently but I know we'd leave him in nursery for a few hours a day so a nanny wouldn't be enough of a help to justify the cost. Monthly it is cheap but the visa and medical insurance etc.. make it similar to nursery in long run although a nanny is way more flexible. We do get a cleaner in once a week to blitz the place and do the ironing and it makes the world of difference.
OH is on a contract at the moment so that's what's keeping him so busy but he's doing his own stuff as well. Its hectic but all hopefully worth it.

Loads of chat now, although I can't make out half of it! Mostly the names of his nursery friends and loads of animal noises.

Tooth 9 has finally made an appearance along with an ear infection and now a virus!

I think we will be looking at longer gap between kids if the next pregnancy were anything the last I couldn't cope with work and a toddler. I'm still on a heap of meds for my eye so the decision is out of my hand for now anyway.

Lucuma

Interesting about the high chair being an ornament. I have no idea when kids normally stop using high chairs. On no.1 her thighs got too big to physically fit into it anymore, and there was a lot of jiggling to get her out without hurting her. When I bruised both her thighs one day :O we decided it was time for a change. Now she has the same as you're saying the little table and chair of her own and it works brilliantly. But as for this little one, we made sure to get a high chair with plenty of space for them to grow this time around so we won't have to make the change coz she's too physically big, so the question is then when do you make the change? I actually have no idea! At least your little fella gave you a clear indication he was having no more of it so that decided that! She has a tendency to use the high chair as a royal throne from which to fling all her food onto the floor, so from that point of view moving her closer to the floor might stop that practice!! I won't be shipping her high chair back to Ireland (it's not worth it as we bought it 2nd hand for 15 euro!) so when we get home I'll have to decide to do I buy a new 2nd hand high chair for a 20 month old Hmmmm. I would be afraid of her wandering during meals alright. Sometimes she eats a bit more purely coz she's trapped in there and the food is in front of her. Decisions decisons! I won't be buying a brand new high chair when we move home anyway that's for sure! 
Coz I knew her language would be delayed over the bilingualism I taught her a little bit of sign language which is working great, only thing is she does the one for eating/food continuously to me all day :D As if she needed yet another way to convey that she wants more food (on top of standing at my feet crying when I'm eating, trying to open the fridge, protesting loudly if anyone else eats something and doesn't give her some, going into the kitchen and pointing and shouting ). She is obsessed with diluted orange which she calls ''Oh'' and looks for it all the time. Her reaction when she is given water instead is actually scary.......talk about a drama queen. Very funny though!! 
She isn't a fan of getting her nappy changed now and I have to try and keep up the jokes or if that fails wag the finger and give out. She's a little madam as well and has a temper on her! Tries to slap us a lot, and bawls crying when we give out to her for it then. We've already had to do Time Out (1 minute in her cot) but most of the time a stern voice and a wag of the finger does the trick. All of her reactions both happy and sad are so extreme.......she's unbelievably affectionate and showers us all with hugs and kisses all day long! Very sweet  
I'm looking forward to being at home with her I have to say, should bring her English on hugely as well being immersed in it, I'd say I'll see huge leaps forward in a short space of time. 
We're getting rid of the dodie here in 2 weeks time :O:'( Not looking forward to it, although it might be easier than we think. It's the 3am and 4am wakings where I'll miss it the most, when you're woken at that hour you'd do anything to get back to sleep yourself ASAP and not having a dodie to give her as a quick fix (although she always needs a cuddle as well) will be hard. I'm praying she's not as dependent on it as we think and she will quickly adjust.....fingers and toes crossed! If it wasn't for the fact we have an older child I'd keep using the dodie I'd say but we really need to get rid of it for teh older one and it wont'work unless all dodies are purged from teh house. Tried before taking it off just the older one and it didn't work once she saw her little sister still had one. So we're gonna rip off that plaster and do them both in one go - I'll stock up on the Gin now ;)
Still no Da-Da here, just says 'Ma-ma, Ma-ma, Ma-ma' from when she gets up in the morning til when she goes to bed at night. The nanny told me she says it all day too so she might not even know it refers to me LOL. I'll massage my ego and tell myself she is just obsessed with her Mammy! 
When I'm getting ready for work in the morning she is always trying to scab some of my 65-euro-for-a-small-pot face cream, if I let her dip her finger in then she immediately wants to dip it in again and again! I wouldn't mind but her beautiful soft skin hardly needs it as much as mine ! She gets cross then when I cut her off after only 1 or 2 dips. 
Night time we're doing so-so. Still wakes, I'm not sure how often. I've decided to keep track of it for a fortnight in my diary so I can really see coz I think our perception of how often they wake and the reality can be different, as my husband and I told friends 2 totally different stories recently about how often they wake!

Kathy22

Hey ladies. well back to rainy Ireland after a lovely week in the sun. Weather was fab and the hotel we stayed in was lovely with lots for the little guy so happy out. They had an indoor softplay, outdoor playground, baby disco, and lots of kids pools. He napped a lot during the day, did 3 hours some days so we got some time to relax during the afternoon.

Lucuma I laughed at your note about the early morning flight, easy how we forget eh :pac:

The morning flight @ 6am was ok actually he slept for like 2 hours. The flight home he slept in the bus on the way to airport, slept the whole way through security but refused any sleep on the plane. It was a long 4 hours, felt like an entertainment manager and all I wanted to do was sleep

He is an absolute blast these days and is a great character, loves music and dancing, head, shoulders, knees and toes is his favourite, nose and toes and shoes are his most favourite words. He is a little cuddle monster and needs some hugs and kisses to see him through the day. Getting one of his back molars at the moment, started on holidays and he was off most food, except ice cream and yogurts, bread and milk. He only has 4 more teeth to go and if all 4 back molars are like this one I am not looking forward to it. He woke at midnight last night and would not go back to sleep, very unhappy. Hubby is away with work so brought him in with me and we both got no sleep. He is a gem of a sleeper now, never wakes at night although wakes at the crack of dawn @6am most morning.

Lucuma your little one sounds like a great eater, my guy refuses to stay in the highchair so we got him a booster seat thing for the table and it is the best thing ever. He loves it. He eats like a dream in creche which I dont understand at all? He is a completely different eater at home. Just pushes things away and says no. Another of his favourite words.

Lucuma re baby number 2, yeh partly age related and partly me being broody. I just feel really ready for number 2 to come along. Although my cycles are only back a few months so it might take a while

Also I actually am very clueless on the ECCE scheme, should really read morw about it.

you should get the Ikea highchair for €15, chap as chips and very functional i.e. easy to clean. Hard to believe it is their second Christmas this year, time is going too fast.

wuffly

Good luck with getting rid of the dodie Lucuma! Fingers crossed its not too painful for all involved!

Thankfully he's back using the highchair, for breakfast at least, he went in it no bother the last time Daddy was away which leads me to believe Daddy is just a weak link! He usually sits with him at breakfast when he's around so i think little fella recognized he could get a lap to sit on if he tried hard enough. Tried him again a few times and we've had the odd dinner, sometimes he just sits on an ordinary chair but he's up and down so much its the same as doing the lap thing and then he wants to go to his own table. He just seems to want to be free to move around. When i pick him up from nursery if its snack time he is always sitting at the long table happy out munching away with the other kids, don't know how they do it

Had a parent teacher meeting yesterday :rolleyes: apparently he's good at sharing... surprising but good! He certainly isn't if there's a ball! He's been bitten a few times but thankfully hasn't bitten back. Conscious that he might start seeing biting as an ok reaction if someone takes your stuff so hopefully it stops soon. His teacher seems to think he's past the point as its not his natural reaction so hopefully she's right!

Funny re your little one and the face cream Lucuma, we have the same with paw paw, he likes to stick his finger in it and rub it on his head. But he also thinks sudocream is paw paw! Has tried to eat it a few times lol! Great re the sign language I downloaded the app but I never did it.

Kathy your holiday sounds fab! great when places have facilities! That's great he is such a good sleeper now, hopefully this phase or teeth passes quickly for you. Can understand the broody feeling especially as these ones get older, really feels like he is a little boy now.

Finally got a few new teeth here, up to 10, half way there (eck!) Finally got him some proper shoes, just been in crocs and sandals the whole time, went to get his feet measured again and there was a sale. Ordered some wellies for home! My poor parents, they hardly ever get post now a load of packages! Ordered his car seat from smyths, great value and free delivery! Will do until he is 4.

I am amazed at him playing now, got him a toy farm 2nd hand from a friend and to be honest it was more a joke present for my OH who would love a farm than for the little guy, but he loves it moving the animals around especially putting the horses in the stables etc... making all the noises... very cute loads of babble about what he is doing but I have no idea what's going on! He loves those pip and posey books, his favourite phase is 'oh dear' and puts his hands up to his face.

Lucuma any recommendations for places in Cork for kids? like soft play etc? Looking forward to going home but I know after a few days we will need to get out of the house!! Just planning in case the weather is too bad for walks etc...

Best of luck with the move Lucuma, will be great! enjoy being off! I am super jealous!

shesty

Sorry, I am popping in...I have an April 2016 baby and Lucuma I am half in awe of you getting rid of the dodie, our eldest is almost 3.5and we are talking about it now.....but baba no.3 is due next year and I am just not seeing how it would work to get rid of the elder's one, but let no.2 and the baby still have theirs.Especially since the two I have spend their whole time whipping them out of each other's mouths!!!The downside of a small age gap!!!We do limit it to just for sleeping but when they are tired in the evenings they both want them.
Also re-highchairs we have Hauck wooden chairs at the table for both.Bought them in Aldi over the last couple of years.They work a treat, although Miss April does NOT like straps on her and does have a tendency to wander the odd time.I spend my whole time telling both of them to sit down, so much so now that the little monkey stands in her chair and shouts at her big sister to sit down regularly......

Lucuma

Shesty don't be in awe til I've actually done it :D 1 week to go til D-day. It's not going to be pretty. 
I think get rid of it now if I was you. Kids don't suddenly want dodies again once they've gotten used to not having them, like for example I got rid of the bottle at 1 year and if I gave  a bottle to my 18 month old now she wouldn't have a clue what to do with it (or a breast for that matter) so once it's gone and a few months go by, it'll be fine to have a baby who has a dodie the older ones will have moved on and forgotten what dodies are. But you'd want to make sure it's gone a few months before baba arrives. That's my tuppence worth!

shesty

I definitely agree with that, but the constant presence of no.2 with hers (and she's very attached to it!) Is going to cause me problems too.Santa is thinking about swapping no.1s soother for toys but he hasn't committed to it yet😂I was holding off this long on the basis that the older they get the easier it is to explain to them that they won't be using it any more.But I can't explain that to my 19 mth old when she wakes at 3am and wants it!!

Lucuma

I meant get rid of both of them now ! Rip off that bandage Shesty............if I can do it you can do it

Kathy22

Happy Christmas ladies, hope you are keeping well and the little ones loved it. Wuffly hope you are enjoying your trip home. Lucuma are you guys in your new place? We have been having a very relaxing Christmas and enjoying the time off. Its flying by though Little man got more spoilt than I even imagined. Had to retire some toys and put some away for a later date, madness!

Lucuma

Happy new year Ladies! Life has been crazy for me the last month, I'm exhausted. It's almost like newborn tiredness again .....mentally tired as well as physically! It all seems like I dreamt it now - the packing up, the goodbyes, the ending everything in one country and moving to another then straight into a new house and Christmas, oh and a christening thrown in for good measure! (I know.....ours are nearly ready for the communion but better late than never eh!) The upshot is though that I do not have to find a job or sort childcare, and the relief of that is unbelievable. To be honest if I did have to do either of those 2 things it would push me over the edge. I'm overwhelmed as it is. Didn't think the move would take so much out of me. The little one is blissfully unaware of anything, she just takes life day-by-day. Ok so what country/house/people am I seeing today! The older one found it hard especially watching all our belongings being sold off/given away. Randommers calling to the door taking away all her stuff.....that was hard for her to take! The cost of shipping was ridiculous though....the stuff we'd have shipped wouldnt' be worth the cost of shipping! So have to start from scratch here now and buy everything again.
Am expecting her english to take off now that she's immersed in it. We're home 1.5 weeks now. She said her first full sentence last week. Guess what it was? ''I want this'' LOL. Typical eh!!
She's in flying form though and sleeping well, the new sleeping arrangments in the new house are brilliant for her as she is off the main drag and has silence which is amazing after living in an apartment in Europe where we all had to tip toe around once she was in bed. Now I'll be able to cook and do housework when she's in bed and she wont' hear a thing, that is truly life altering! Although since we moved back I'm only fit to fall into bed myself once the kids are in bed....I'm sure that'll change in time though!
Had a really lovely Christmas in Cork. Sorry Wuffly I didnt' get back to you on time about soft play areas. There are loads in Cork. Monkey Maze in Glanmire would be a big one. But there are several others too. And top floor in Mahon point is a free soft play area which can be a god send!
Got rid of the dodies on the 5th Dec. In one fell swoop well actually I kept giving the little one a secret one for nearly a week and then got rid of hers too. I was in every morning during that week hiding it before the 3 year old saw it! With the little one she asked for it (via sign language) for about a fortnight then she realised she wasn't getting it and gave up asking. We had a few rough nights and I think she didnt' really nap for a few days (according to the nanny) but then she settled again and now 1 month on, it's like they never had a dodie honestly. They have been completely forgotten about already. I actually think 90 percent of the whole dodie thing is in our heads (as in, ours, the adults!) it's just yet another smokescreen/thing to faff over when trying to get them to go to sleep and stay asleep, they no more need it !!!
Delighted to have them gone now. It's one less layer of bullsh!t to be dealing with when it comes to bed time!
Great that the little man got spoiled Kathy, how bad!! We're grandchild 9 on one side and 6 on the other so don't get many presents at all - just god parents & Granny this year! Santa went a bit mad though what with it being the first year ever that the presents didn't have to fit in a suitcase!!

wuffly

Belated Happy Christmas & New Year ladies!

Lucuma, that sounds hectic my friend has been home 6 months and she still feels busy with the kids in creche part time and her not working, but they are settled into a good routine and she loves it, don't think she'll go back to work anytime soon! Running a house and kids is full time!
Hope it all goes well! Congrats and well wear on the new house!

I hear ya on the totally spoilt front Kathy, had to get an extra suitcase coming back although to be fair we packed light going home. It was mostly good, apart from OH getting that horrendous flu, still hasn't shaken it and experiencing A&E with a injured toddler, man did i miss my private Dubai healthcare! He ended up needing stitches under general anesthetic after a fall at a friends house, found the only sharp edge in her curvy kitchen! Didn't end up even thinking about soft play areas! Did Santa at Leahys which was fab!

Little fella was very clingy with me the first week, less so when his Dad arrived. He loved being out on the farm and got braver everyday. Wanted to be right in there milking cows by the end of it. His speech is amazing now, new words and little phrases popping out everyday. We now have 'I need it' and 'I want it' eck & see you next time! My mother let him run riot! My FIL managed not to be a total dick and my MIL and him got on like a house on fire, tea parties everyday! Was lovely to see him with all his cousins all older they were smitten with him. Was great to have so much time at home and for him to get properly settled and get to know everyone a bit he's missing them all now.
Was lovely to be home but glad to be back in our house and routine. Was dreading nursery but his buddy came straight out as soon as we got there and he was grand, thank god! They are amazed at his speech but i guess being totally surounded by english speakers for a few weeks drew it all out.

That's great re the dodies Lucuma! Worth the few nights torture to not have to worry about forgetting them or them falling out!
Speaking of habits, we are still on 2 bottles a day here but will look to drop the day one shortly he doesn't really need it as he often conked out in the car at home with out it. Thank god he slept in the car! He's old enough for lunches in nursery now so going to try them out this term, he's bizzare with food now, the veg lover hates all veg now and still only wants to eat pork! (not allowed in nursery!) need to get some other meat into him! lives on eggs, cheese, pasta and fruit. BLW leads to less fussy toddlers my ass!!

He was a dream baby coming home, just the two of us and he conked out as soon as the lights went out on the flight to London after charming the airhost into moving the guy next to us so we had two seats and same again on aer lingus and slept again on the one to Cork which really surprised me. Also could not get over how nice the heathrow staff were, he was getting anzty in the q after waking up and having to stay in one place, a girl came over and jumped us passed everyone even though I said I was grand he was just tired, probably saved me a lot of stress trying to keep him contained! I was so lucky as I was hungover after an unplanned catch up with a friend passing through. Eejit!!

Happy New Year Ladies! hope its a good one xx

Lucuma

Airhost, never heard that one before. I would always say ''male air hostess'' haha.......air host is so much more succinct! Sounds like you had a mixed bag at home Wuffly, jeebus I can't believe the poor lil fella had to get stitches under GA....what are the bloody chances when you're home on holidays for Xmas! And then for your OH to get the flu as well, but the family bonding sounds lovely and very special! ''FIL managed to not be a total d!ck' LOL :-D
Ah the joys of the festive season and extended time with the ol in-laws eh! Has to be done.

Yeah it's amazing how their english takes off once immersed in it for a few weeks. We had a new word today! 'shoe'. I was delighted. I can't wait to hear her voice if you know what I mean? Coz it's just babble so far.

How's your eyes now Wuffly? I need to get the little one checked out for allergies in the new year (so like, now!). She still needs a vest change at every single dirty nappy (and often tights or pants as well depending how bad it has leaked) that's not normal at this age is it? She has always been like that but it's still like that at 20 months so I'm thinking there must be something wrong. And she gets this red rash on her neck which I notice flares up (also her chin and cheeks go red) after eating certain things. I've never been able to pinpoint what it was also I think I was semi in denial til we moved back though as I couldn't be dealing with an allergy on top of working 5 days a week etc. But now I want to get to the bottom of it. Daktakort clears the rash on her neck though after a few days - it's the only thing that does though (that's the steroid cream and anti-fungal you need a prescription for it) so I'm wondering if Daktakort clears it, is it really an allergy then or something else? But anyway this red rash has been there since she was a very small baby and again like the poo explosions I just think it's going on so long now it needs to be checked out!

Her favourite things at the moment are brushing her teeth (obsessed! wants to do it several times a day) all types of peek-a-boo and hide and seek (the 20 month old version), and being little miss Independent. She objects violently now if I ever try to spoon feed her, wants to do everything herself. I think it's amazing how little humans are pre-programmed to strive for independence like that! She's such a messy eater (and drinker though) sweet lord above.........it's tricky when you're in other people's houses and I've forgotten a sippy cup or they give her yoghurt. yoghurt in general is just a disaster. I swear more ends up on herself and the floor than in her belly. But woe betide me if I try to help her with it or stop her from sticking her fists into the pot!
She had a full on tantrum last night.....it was almost scary. I actually couldn't do anything ....if I went near her she kept hitting me. I just had to sit on the stairs and let her ride it out. She was a rollercoaster of emotion, went on for so long! I had a rough ride with the older one through the terrible twos and I'd say I'm facing similar with this one....she's only warming up to the terrible twos at the moment, just trying out the odd tantrum here and there for now while she perfects her technique!
She flew home with her Daddy for her last flight.....apparently she was a nightmare! Cried her eyes out during take off and landing. Glad I dodged that bullet! The older one was a dream.

Lucuma

Oh by the way Kathy I took your suggestion and got the Ikea highchair! The one for 16 euro that really ends up costing you hundreds coz it gets you into Ikea! Total spend was only 152 actually ......we held back! I'd say that chair has cost other people a lot more ;-)

Wuffly you mentioned your friend that moved back and doesn't work having the kids in creche part time. I had 2 SAHM friends over in Europe and they were both saying that I will need ''a day to myself'' and they both put their kids in creche a few half days a week before they got to pre-school age. I was asking one of them if the child settled and she said no the child hated it (coz she was only there 2 half days so never settled) and the same happened with both her kids. But she made her peace with it coz she needed the time to herself.

While I may be humming a different tune in a few months time (let's face it I have no idea what being a SAHM is actually like in practice!) I just can't even contemplate doing that with the little one. The working mother's guilt which has driven me to make this drastic move and give up a very successful and lucrative career in the first place can't make peace with the idea of plonking a screaming child in a creche and going home and doing the washing or the shopping. It was bad enough walking out every morning to the little one roaring ''Mama, Mama, Mamaaaaaa'' after me as I literally slammed the door in her face and headed off to work but I was doing it for a very clear reason -to pay for their future etc. But to do that when I don't actually have to do it? Defeats the whole purpose of becoming a SAHM in the first place for me.

I think it's an interesting topic though coz these women (who could all well afford it) seemed to think it was a necessity for a SAHM to have the child in creche for at least a half day or a few half days a week. Like I say ask me in 6 months time i might have a different view !

wuffly

Haha, you meet a lot airline staff here so you learn the lingo pretty quick!

Re my friend that's SAHM. They were in full time in Dubai as she worked full time, they were happy out going and settled fast. I think if they had been upset she might have reconsidered. The older one gets his free hours etc... I think initially she just had so much to do she needed them in and her hubby stayed on here for 6 weeks after she left so she needed the break! I think like everything each to their own with working and kids! All kids are different, our fella isn't very sensitive to going to nursery where as his best buddy is, and balled the whole time our fella was away and literally nearly tore the arm off the TA to get to him his first day back! And to be honest they are only just starting to interact so I don't really get it, but he seems to like the comfort if having someone he knows. They always run to each other and are excited but then go off doing their own thing?!
I think my fella would miss the interaction and activities if I were to stay at home full time so I think part time would always be on the cards for us. I would be a needs time for myself person, always have been, but OH is very good to say do you need some time, its just harder now he's working 6 days so I don't want to lose the little family time we have. if i could just get a pt job and salary to match! lol! Next time (lol) I would hope to take more time off and also get a bit more time with the toddler as well! He such a mad yoke and so funny! That said being home and getting to go out for walks every day in the depths of winter really made it a tonne easier, being cooped up in the house we both get a bit cabin feverish! At home we just wrapped up and got out. No lathering in sun cream etc.. and for some reason would wear the woolly hat no bother, sun hat total mare. There was just so much to see at home. Its great here this time of year but not a chance of getting out in the summer. Soft play with have me broke and insane come summer!
Got him the ikea kitchen, loves loves it! non stop cooking! Ikea is mental, their's just too much, oh that's nice or that's handy.... take my money!! :rolleyes:
Finally put away some stuff, its been replaced with christmas stuff, he hasn't even opened it all yet! :eek:

We've had the odd tantrum and throwing himself on the floor a bit, but he's gentle enough going down so I know its a tantrum as opposed to a sensory thing so just chat to him and let him ride it out. So far none in public but I guess that's to come! Oh Joy!

Hope the allergy test gives you some answers and whatever it is, is manageable. My friends little fella had a tonne of allergies when she started weaning, he's grown out of a lot of them now, so fingers crossed its nothing she won't grow out of. Just as you mention it clears up with steroids, my brother has psoriasis, which clears up with steroids but it would be less if he managed his diet better, apparently dairy makes it worse. A GP could probably tell straight away.

Re the poo explosions; we have only had a few in the last few months and mostly teeth related. I always move him up a nappy size if it happens a few times, went up to size 5's way before he hit the weight, not sure he has hit the weight yet actually. He poos 2-3 times a day, which my mother was shocked at, told us to get him to a dr but he's always been that way, used to be more!

Kathy22

Hey ladies hope everything is good with you guys. Wuffly you must be settled back now after your visit home. Sounds like your little guy did really well on the flight, fair play to him. So hard forcing them to sit still and be quiet for long stretched of time. Our guy loves the Ikea kitchen as well and my mam bought him a tea set for Christmas so he is always offering cups of tea LOL. 
Lucuma how are you finding things? Are your little girls settling in well? 
We are doing well here. He is generally a happy little dude and sleeping well, lots of words and his understanding is coming on fantastic. Still no sentences. His favorite words are no and what's that. Eating is still a challenge, he is so picky, I thank God for the creche as for some reason he eats everything they give him and when i make it he refuses it. So frustrating. He went through a stage of drinking a lot of cups of milk, kept asking for it. But his nappies have gotten terrible so have cut it out to twice per day. Still feeding at night, but hubby is going to take over soon. He started a new role and has less travel so need to pick a time and cut him off. I actually joined the September 2018 thread. Very early days so tentatively saying it here but baby number 2 on the way later this year (fingers crossed).

wuffly

Aw Kathy congrats! I hope all is going well. How are you feeling?

I'm debating getting my little fella a tea set as well, he loved the one at his grandparents house over christmas, but he has so much stuff already. Its not like anyone else will buy it for a boy for his birthday or anything. I get so many odd looks when I say santa brought him a kitchen. :rolleyes: He's a little maniac bopping from one toy to the next, playing with cars, to cooking dinner, to building a tower, to pushing his walker(still going!)

We've toughened (aka me) up a bit re only eating sitting on a big chair or in the high chair, making some progress ate all his dinner on a big chair for me last night. Previous night when Daddy was home, total melt down, ran off with a wrap and that was it We are only just starting with food in nursery he's eating a bit, but we are sending back up at the moment, which i will cut back on next week. I'm just glad he's at least trying them.

Kathy does your creche have an exclusion policy after vaccinations? As in the little ones can't be in for 24hrs after they've had routine vaccinations. I got landed yesterday when i stupidly mentioned I was picking him up early for vaccinations and they said he couldn't come in today. Doesn't seem to be a thing anywhere else and its not mentioned in the f'ing handbook, just in a policy we've never received a copy of. Had to rebook them (18month ones that are already super late!)

Looking forward to our holiday in a few weeks!!

shesty

Interesting to see you say that Kathy, my second has been using a Hauck chair at the table since she was 1(like a tripp trapp.one) I have made the mistake of not tying the straps on it and lately she has taken to eating two bites then wandering off.Have been impressing on my extremely jiggly 3 year old that food is to be eaten at the table and if you are not in your seat, then there is no more food coming your way, for the last year, so I am not making that mistake again with no.2!!Have gone back to putting her in the high chair (she's 21 months) and she is much better.I know it's an age thing, they can't sit for long and have no impulse control, so I guess it's up to me to create the boundaries, but I am sticking with it, it's the only way to teach them about sitting for food.No.1 spent much longer in the high chair, when I think about it.

Kathy22

Thanks so much Wuffly, we had an early scan today and all as it should be so it feels a little bit more real. I have been more nauseous than my last pregnancy and the tiredness is a killer especially with a little guy but otherwise feeling well.

My mam got him this tea set and he loves it, gets flung around a lot. He is like your guy always busy and jumping from one thing to the next, literally dont know how he doesn't fall over at the end of the evening.

We are mostly eating at the table now in a little seat that straps to the chair. He hates sitting for any amount of time so sometimes takes food and runs. I feel like I have made so many mistakes with food. He eats everything in creche but is so fussy at home, only likes things he can pick up like roast chicken, pieces of fish and potatoes. Hates pasta of any kind which is a pain as I love it. I think he knows he will get something nicer if he holds out for it cause i am too soft Loves fruit and would spend the day eating strawberries, blueberries, apples etc, if you let him.

@Shesty good to hear other experiences. We are not alone but I think i need to be more consistent with him. I really wish he was more adventurous with food but hoping it will come with time.

He currently has a cold and a bad nappy. Had to get some cream from the doctor today for it. Not a happy camper.

Lucuma

Hi Ladies, how are you all? Finally got a chance to log in again, the last few months were hectic with settling in after the big move. Congratulations Kathy!! That's brilliant news! Nice age gap as well with no.1 being 2 and a bit. Every little helps! 20 month age gap was hard going for the first year I have to say, it's grand now though - they play together and get on very well.

Can't believe our babies are nearly 2! The birthday party is on Saturday here. I booked a children's entertainer which I thought would take the pressure off but it creates a new pressure of what if not enough kids turn up and I look like a spanner for having an entertainer for like, 4 kids :-D If everyone that RSVP'd yes turns up, we should have 10 little kids (and a few oldies but the entertainer is aimed at pre-school age) but it's cancellations I fear. I actually can't wait for the school age bday parties. They will be so much easier, twil be like rent a crowd as all their class will turn up and I'll never have worries about numbers again!

I really like being a SAHM and don't miss work one bit. Not that it's easy, it's very intense and physically demanding (the bursitis is back in my hip from lifting them and my back is usually sore) I got a long overdue back massage this week so it's not too bad at the moment. Also cut right back on using my phone as I have a repetitive strain injury in my right shoulder from the phone. So now I use the laptop wherever possible (whatsapp web instead of whatsapp etc) and I type everything on my phone with my left hand instead. I also deleted Facebook from my phone as well, and for once it's staying deleted this time! Bit of a digital detox going on here! Long overdue to be fair.

How are you feeling Kathy? Are you going to find out the gender?

My littlest one is a very fussy eater as well. Doesn't eat most stuff!! I don't give alternatives though, I just put her to bed without supper. I'm a hard @ss :-D She snacks so much throughout the day and carb loads at breakfast so she has already consumed enough calories by the time dinner comes it doesn't matter if she just eats nothing - She's not exactly wasting away - 91st centile for weight at her 2yo check up with the PHN last week!

We had to cancel our first allergy appointment on the public system coz of having a wedding on that day. They haven't made her a new appointment. It's going to take a while to get used to the healthcare system here. I thought they'd offer a new one when I cancelled the old one but No. So I'm not sure do I need to go back to the GP now to get referred again and start from scratch again or what?

I switched over to Soya stuff for her since Xmas but the nappies were just as bad as ever. I joined a few groups on FB and wrote a post in a closed group about her and they said that if your child is allergic to dairy it's 50/50 that they're allergic to soya too! So now we are off soya and dairy and drinking Cocunut milk, coconut yoghurts and Vegan cheese made from cocunut oil. They put cheese flavour in the vegan cheese so it actually tastes like cheese and it even melts so I use that for dinner (lasagne, spag bol, pasta bake etc). I get my groceries delivered by Tesco but they don't have any soya free stuff so now I have to go specially to Dunnes and Super valu to get the Coconut yoghurts! It's not too bad though as I'm at home so at least I have the time to do that kind of stuff.

Are yours still having a nap? We are here but often have to have it in the car - generally she nods off when I'm collecting the 3yo from PS and if I move her she will wake up and not go back to sleep again so have to leave her have her nap in the car with the child Angelcare monitor in the car and the parent one with me (so handy - it has an unbelievably long range as well). She will sometimes go in the hosue as well though if I can ensure total silence (this involves bribing the older one with Netflix and closing the sitting room door) and I have to leave her cry for 5 mins, then she nods off. I find though she's hard to get down at night if her nap was late or if it went on for too long. Think she shoudl only have an hour max now, maybe even 45 mins. It's hard to wake them from a nap as it's so tempting to just enjoy the 1.5 or 2 hour break but I pay such a price for it when it comes to bedtime, I need to be disciplined!

Wuffly that's some dose not being able to go out for walks for much of the year, can't imagine it! The last 2 days we literally just had the first sunshine since I moved back in Dec, it was so amazing! I have found the weather to be very dreary since i moved back. I haven't lived in Cork fulltime since 2005 so I had forgotten just how damp and miserable it is. The bit of sun this weekend was badly needed I can tell you!

What are the plans for the bday parties? A woman at a playgroup told me she got nibbles in Supervalue, in the cold food section the likes of garlic bread, brushetta etc that you just pop in the oven, great tip as I wouldn't have known that! I'm going to buy some to practice during this week rather than do it for the first time ever on Saturday! Will probably make the cake as well myself so might do a trial run of that as well during the week!

wuffly

Hey Lucuma!

Great to hear from you! Been meaning to write an update but the weeks keep slipping by.
I know its crazy these kids are almost 2! Best of luck with the party! I’m sure it will all turn out great. Hope ye have a fab day! I think you’re the only person I know that’s looking forward to school age parties!

We are in a constant cycle of parties, my head is melted with presents and what not! We had one 2 weeks ago in the morning and we were all just dripping with sweat as it was outside, kids loved it tho, massive nap when we got home! Lol! The next one we have is going to be at a water play place…. Which means parents in swimwear… I am not swimwear ready!
We are being crap parents and just having cake & nibbles with the 4 of us that were preggers together, my friend that moved home will be back on hols around the birthdays, so will be nice to have them all together. The 3 here are like siblings as they still go to nursery together. We finally put up a shade in the garden and I picked up a paddling pool for 20e so will whip that out and hope it keeps them entertained for a bit! It’s starting to hit the high 30*s so our days outside are numbered but hopefully with some shade and water the early mornings and evenings might be somewhat manageable. It’s great that you are over your first winter at home, hopefully the next winter won’t be as bad! I think we were extremely lucky with our 3 weeks at home in Dec, the weather was great.

Delighted to hear that you are loving being a SAHM, living the dream! I am desperate for part time… but I’ve finally changed jobs so its not on the cards for the time being.
The new place is closer to home and nursery but it’s a promotion so not exactly the direction I planned, fingers crossed its a good move for the time we have left here. Think its time to start planning No2!

Sorry to hear the bursitis is back and the repetitive strain injury. Are you doing physio? Not sure if you are planning on it and you probably already know but if you are planning on getting private health insurance at home you need to get it within 9months of moving back or you will be totally loaded, not that’s cheap anyway! My family have always had it and with elderly parents it actually makes a big difference.

Digital detox sounds like great plan, I hate being clung to my phone which is bit of a prerequisite for this job but I try not to touch it from when I get home until he’s in bed and same in the morning.

Hope you get another allergy appointment soon, would be good to know where you stand with it all. That’s interesting re the soya allergy as well, OH is trying dairy and gluten free at the moment as he was just constantly coughing and having an upset stomach, seems to be making a difference. Its taking me awhile to adjust and I keep forgetting, I wouldn’t mind doing it myself but the little fella is dairy mad and I don’t really want him to be dairy free if he doesn’t need to be. (The other day he wanted a spoon of butter, so I let him have it thinking he’ll think it’s disgusting and that will be the end of it, not so! Loved it the little lunatic! Have to hide it now!). He’s getting a lot less fussy with food but still a grazer. They changed the food provider in nursery so just decided to pay for the term and not offer a backup. He seems to be getting on pretty well and trying lots of new things. We don’t offer alternatives either and for dinner he often doesn’t eat a lot but like yours he carb loads during the day. We are having to re train re sitting at the table he was great to sit and eat but I had an emergency trip home for 5days and since then he wants to be on laps or just wandering over and back to the table. The high chair is long gone. Part of me thinks we need to be though with it but then I think it won’t be forever. We just make sure what he does eat is at the table no following him with food or letting him wander off with it.

His chat is great now. Lots of sentences and understands everything. Loves loves loves his books. Sings the alphabet and counting to 10, not that he fully gets it. He learns heaps of songs in nursery so he comes home singing stuff in French and all sorts. As bossy as anything, always wants to go to the shop and knows when we are driving past and not stopping!
Pretty good to hold our hands when we are out and about, we go for a little shop on sat mornings, just the bits we can’t get online, he loves the trolley and then go for a coffee in a place that had a few rocking horses, the feckers got rid of the rocking horses so my 5mins of peace is gone!

We still get naps although nursery changed it all again… he moved up a class, although I like the teacher the move has wrecked my head, he sleeps for about 1.5 hrs there but might do 2 hrs at home at the weekends. No issues with bedtime so far.

Kathy, how are you doing? How is the pregnancy going? How far along are you? How is your little fella?

Happy Birthday to the kids xx

wuffly

Forgot to ask, do your littles seem ready or interested in potty training? He seems really aware and nursery have said he often asks to go to the toilet. He doesn't ask at home, so possibly just seeing the other kids going and wants to go too. I don't think i'm ready to be dealing with that. Although glad we have tiles all over the house

Lucuma

wuffly wrote: »

Forgot to ask, do your littles seem ready or interested in potty training? He seems really aware and nursery have said he often asks to go to the toilet. He doesn't ask at home, so possibly just seeing the other kids going and wants to go too. I don't think i'm ready to be dealing with that. Although glad we have tiles all over the house

Tiles all over the house is definitely a winner! Same here. It'll be my first time potty training a child in this new house. Yeah it's fairly horrific alright, I waited til 3 for the older one. Interestingly enough the little one is telling me now when she's doing or has done a poo and she's also started to really obviously squat down to do her poos (in her nappy). Pics attached of 2 recent episodes. 1 in DFS just as I sat down to talk business with the woman about getting finance on 5k worth of sofas despite the fact I have no income and the other on a recent visit to the park.

Kathy22

hey ladies great to hear updates on the little ones. Lucuma that is hilarious. My little guy does that as well, makes it fairly obvious when he is doing number 2. Don't think we are ready for potty training here at all, will be waiting until he is a little older, although would be good to have him out of nappies before no 2 arrives, i doubt its likely as he will only be 2 and 3 months.

Lucuma fair play, id say being a SAHM is tough going, i love the idea but just dont think it would be for me. Id be climbing the walls by the time my husband got home. Work is crazy busy at the moment with loads of extra work needed for a big project we are working on. I am really hoping that come the end of next month it will calm down and I can just focus on handover.

All going well here, 24 weeks now so over the half way mark. We didnt find out what we were having at the big scan, couldnt decide so just left it as a surprise. Sure only 16 or so more weeks to find out LOL. Much more tiring the second time around, with work and my little energiser bunny I am wrecked come evening. He woke at 5am yesterday morning and has been sleeping poorly the last few weeks as the last of his teeth cut through. I think he has only one more left to get now. The back teeth has so far been the worst, chesty, bad nappies and genuinely seems in pain with them keeps telling me 'mouth is sore'.

Lucuma how did the party go? We are 2 in 2 weeks. Having a small thing in our house with family and a few friends. Just going to do food (a BBQ if the weather is nice) and cake. Not very exciting. Literally cannot believe he is two. Fastest years ever. He is flying it, lots and lots of words, bit of a talker. We recently learned the colours so is going around telling everyone the colour of things and can count to 10. Amazed by his progress, its just so amazing to see them grow. He has no clue his whole life is about to change in 3 months, Lol. Hasn't grasped the concept of baby coming.

Wuffly when is your little man 1? How is the new job going? The heat sounds hard! Not sure id be able to cope in climate like that. Have been debating a mini sun break before i cant fly anymore but thinking more in the line of a staycation these days for convenience.

Lucuma

Morning ladies,
Having a lazy weekend here, 2 weeks into a 4 week stint without Daddy - this is the longest yet (did one 3 weeker alright). At least the weather is brighter here now (still with showers some days but it's definitely improved overall).

Same here on the teeth I think Kathy. The last 2 that were missing were the very back ones at the top. They weren't appearing for ages and then I finally spotted something white coming through the gum there in the last fortnight or so. Tooth no.19 + no.20 are defo making their appearance now. Not sure if they're giving her bother. She did wake up in the middle of the night a few times in the last week alright but I put that down to me telling someone that she was finally sleeping through the night (only took 2 years!!!) so she was trying to make a fool of me. Sounds like your little fella had an awful time with his molars Kathy, you must be delighted to be on the last one now so! He may not be out of nappies b4 no.2 arrives but at least teething will be over! I only recently looked up actually when do they get teeth 21-28 and apparently it's the same time that their front teeth start to fall out - never knew that!

In general sleeping is going brilliantly here - after a period of adjustment when we had to say bye bye to the cot there in early February. Left her old cot behind in Europe (gave it away) so I bought a new (2nd hand thankfully) cot for her after we moved back and she literally got 6 weeks use out of it and then started climbing out of it. In a gro bag !!! :-o I came down to her one night coz she was crying and as I approached the door I saw the door handle rattle. I was pretty freaked out in general the first 2 months in the new house on my own so I actually thought is that a ghost. I opened the door she was standing there to greet me!! In her gro bag. She somehow leapt from the cot in the gro bag, onto a tiled bedroom floor. She seemed grand anyway but I got an awful shock. I thought it might have been a once off but she kept doing it (tried travel cot also - same deal) so had to get rid of the cot. Had a conundrum then coz she's too small for a big bed, so we've had to do an intermediary step of mattress on the floor. So her room is literally a padded cell ....there's a mattress on the floor (with bed rail just on the mattress), a stair gate at the door (which remains locked all night) and literally nothing else. Not a single other item in the room. She obviously took a while to adjust to not being in a cot but she's settled now and accepts the bounds of her new prison! Every morning I'm woken not by an alarm clock but by her coming to the gate, standing there, rattling the gate and calling 'Mama Mama, Maaaamaa!!!' til I get up :-D the door is open behind the gate (I took the locking mechanism out of it so you can push it closed for noise purposes but she can just pull it open). It has worked out really well as an interim step between cot and bed! I'm lucky in the new house I have the space for this though, wouldn't have had a totally empty room to just use for this purpose last year!

Got rid of the grobag then as well as it's not safe obviously if she's walking around the room so now I'm using the fleece lined sleep suits Pennys etc) or padded sleep suits from Mothercare. There's no guarantee she'll keep a blanket on herself overnight so the fleece/padded suits are a godsend. Wondering when it's time to give her a single duvet, think she's still a bit too young?

The party went great, phew! It's only the 3rd kids' party I've ever thrown (we skipped the first few) and I'm definitely improving as we go along. I'm looking back on the 2 parties I threw last year now with embarrassment to be honest. I just went off in the totally wrong direction trying to make really fussy food and trying to have a theme (which no-one got....the food just looked weird) and I missed out on basics such as I had cocktails but only 1 bottle of white wine and most people wanted white, I only had huge red wine glasses and people don't like to drink white out of a massive red glass and I had no plastic cups for kids at all (only sippy cups!). My husband and I also tried to make actual full dinner food for the last kids' bday party last Sept and that wasn't touched. SO this time around I did things very differently. The party started at 3 and my husband only flew in at 1pm so I had to do all the preps myself, I worked my @ss off for a few days and esp morning of. In fairness my Mam took the kids that morning, wouldn't have worked otherwise! 9 out of the 10 small kids invited showed up so there was enough for the entertainer not to look like a spanner, phew! There was also 4 older kids and 17 adult guests. So it was busy enough to have that crazy party feeling but we weren't swamped. The food worked out great, was so happy with how it went. Think we just hit the spot with what was served and how much. So I'll be repeating that for the future! It's funny how you know when a party worked and when it didn't work. Those 2 last years were where I cut my teeth I think .....at least I left my mistakes over on the continent and started with a clean slate here!

Sounds like ye are really both career women! Fair play. Yeah Kathy it's weird for me as my only experience of being a SAHM there hasn't been any husband coming home in the evenings! I'd say if you were a SAHM with a hubby coming home in the evenings your day would be divided into 2 parts - the part where you're on your own and the part where you're not and they would be very different. For me it's just one continuous thing it's always me on my own with them so I do bedtime on my own every night, do all baths on my own etc. So I know no different (and am so so glad I don't have to cook dinner for a man coming home every evening! That would be a pain) but I'd say if a SAHM who was used to having someone come and relieve them in the evenings and then suddenly that was gone they'd find that an awful change. But in my short term of being a SAHM I never had that so I don't miss it. I am living the dream actually Wuffly, at last! These years are so precious before they start school. We have a lovely routine of playgroups now. Monday is cleaning day so we don't go anywhere (I have help with the cleaning but I work with them), Tuesday we go to the local playgroup in the village here (lovely for getting to know locals and meeting the kids that she'll be in big school with eventually), Wednesdays I go to a Mama's brunch in a lovely cafe near the city (it's great for Mamas nothing to do for toddlers though so after she throws food around I usually put netflix on my phone for her), Thursdays I take her to a music and singing class which her 1st cousin my niece comes to as well with her au pair, and Fridays we have a choice of 2 playgroups there's Cuidiu one on the 1st and 3rd Fri of every month in a play centre which has a great cafe with homemade goods so if that's on we go to that if it's not there's Option B which is a music and singing playgroup in a neighbouring village. So we have a full schedule it's great! Then she has her nap in the car so I have some alone time with the older one and then in the afternoons I have both kids so we just hang around, maybe call in to visit Granny or go to a playground or they watch TV while I catch up on the chores or we race around to the shops or run errands. One thing alright about the combo of having no childcare and also no husband here most weekends and no evenings is that I have no choice but to bring the little one with me everywhere - whether that's exchanging a steam mop, going to the GP for myself, getting photos developed in the chemist, going to Dunnes for a knicker-sock-vest shop for the kids, supermarket shop whatever! Unlike your fella Kathy she won't stay in teh trolley anymore, she discovered she can just stand up in it so she does! Then it's not safe so I have no choice but to take her out. And once she's out she runs off in the opposite direction adn I have to just keep doing my shopping til she either comes back of her own accord or a random stranger brings her back. Going to the supermarket with her would take years off you literally, she pulls large bottles of stuff off shelves, grabs packs of rice noodles etc and runs off the opposite end of the supermarket etc. With my older child I used to be stared at all the time coz of the tantrums and crying and roaring, with this one it's coz of the sheer devilment. I do drop her into my Mam whenever possible but think I've kind of over-used that as I've noticed she's not returning my calls as much anymore :-D I've started to make appointments with Mam now which works better I think. E.g yesterday she took them while I went for physio on my shoulder, and next week she's doing the same while I go for follow up and the week after I've her booked in while I go for a back massage. But for the ad hoc day to day errands I usually have to take her along - not for the faint hearted!

She got 3 tea sets for her bday! Not the one you showed before Kathy but 1 tin one, 1 plastic one (both huge hits) and unfortunately one ceramic one (what were they thinking.....) she figured out she could just drop each piece on the tiled floor and it would break she was after working her way through the jug, the pot and the sugar bowl before I confiscated it! It went straight in the bin, no use for it in this house!

Hope the party in the shade goes well Wuffly. I used to use a paddling pool on the balcony during summers in Europe. I find they stay in it for about 2 mins then want to get out, they need an adult with them constantly maybe sitting next to the pool to play with them to keep them in there I found. Great idea though to combat the heat! I'd never cope in UAE with my sweating problem......I'm so glad to be back in Ireland from that regard. No more mozzie bites or kids dripping in sweat to worry about. Congrats on the new job Wuffly! That's great you got a promotion and it's closer to home and nursery, win win! Hope work eases off for you soon Kathy - so tiring to be up the walls at work, pregnant and have a toddler at home! Wuffly hope all's ok on the home front, hard to deal with issues at home when you're abroad.

Wuffly on the health insurance we actually both kept up our irish health insurance all the time we were abroad (it was mandatory where we were in Europe too so we paid/are paying it in 2 countries!!). I went private for both babies when I came home to have them in Ireland each time so I would have needed it for that anyway. I had a very expensive package with VHI to cover all the maternity stuff but now that I'm done with that I've downgraded to probably their cheapest package, just to keep it ticking over. I don't have the kids on it though. Sure with free GP for under 5s here and the fact they are rarely sick anyway (apart from rashes and ezcema....but not very serious) I'll hold off on that for a few years I suppose.

So any sign of the Terrible Twos ladies? I'm actually starting to think I might escape them on this one. She throws stuff on teh floor and shouts 'No!' several times a day but it's done in such an obvious over-the-top theatrical fashion with the most hilarious pout you've ever seen that you couldn't possibly take her seriously. I have to try so hard not to laugh! And it's pure blackguarding as well .....literally 2 mins later she's laughing away. She's a gas character. With my older one the Terrible Twos was a year of crying and public shame. She had real whingey, moany crying and was genuinely upset - she wrecked our heads completely. But with this one I find her fake tantrums and especially the puss on her that I actually never want her to change from this stage! :-) So maybe we're actually going to escape this time, fingers x'd!

Kathy I'd 2 in nappies for 16 months (no1 was 20 months when baba arrived and she was 36 months when we toilet trained her) and it's no fun. A lot of days I literally felt I was drowning in poo! Thing is though that after TT you don't escape either, you're stuck wiping their pooey bum til they're 5 or so. And you have to deal with the accidents which continue for a good while. It is better than nappies though don't get me wrong! But with the little one having a poo explosion every day still which I have to wash out of her vest, tights etc and then dealign with the toileting of the older one I still handle a lot of excrement on a daily basis. This is the part of parenting that no-one warns you about - you'll handle sh!t daily for years! Ugh.

Man yeer two are flying with the chats!! Way behind that here. She can't count at all not to mind to 10. Only just started answering what does the cow say etc. She has about 5 of those animal noises. Only colours are orange (which she gets wrong as she refers to yellow as orange as well) and blue. She's an amazing communicator though. I think that's where all her theatrics come from actually it's from not having the language to express herself so she puts it all into the facial expressions and the body language - so entertaining. I'm never left in the slightest doubt what she wants or means! She is slowly improving with language so not worried. It took a little while after moving back but there's new words starting to come in now. The only sentences would be 'I want Peppa' or 'I want that' or 'Dada all gone' and her pronunciation of those is babyish as well. And as for singing the alphabet, my 3yo has only recently started doing that! That's so impressive

Wuffly I laughed when you mentioned about your little fella giving out if ye drive past the shop! We've the same thing going on here. She spends a lot of time in the car now dropping off the older one to PS and collecting her etc. And it's like having a little dictator in the back she starts giving out mad if we dont' go the direction she's hoping or if we drive past Granny's house!

Lucuma

P.s as part of 'save Mammy's back' campaign this is our new set up in the room I use for dressing the kids now. First they climb up on the stool, then onto the windowsill and then across to the changing table. So no more lifting for me, at last! And they actually love it...it's a bit of adventure for them. They also love jumping from the changing table onto the double bed at the front when they're finished, so it all helps to make it fun I suppose. Anyway I'm very relieved. The little one is climbing in and out of her own car seat now as well. I only have to lift her in and out when I'm in a rush or she's refusing to go in (which is still often enough ) had a great session with the physio this week though. He sold me a stretchy band which I have to do exercises on to build up my shoulder muscles to be better able for all the pulling and dragging. Also on diphene

shesty

Lucuma just flicked through your post there (nosiness-I have an Apr16 baby).....my older two are 21 mths apart and i had them on my own all the time for the duration of the 11 mth mat leave, so brought them everywhere.To be honest, I still do....just throw them in the car and bring them along on errands.My older was (still is!) A runner, she wouldn't sit in anything and if i didn't hold her hand constantly she literally made a break for it and didn't stop. I got reins for her.....Mothercare do little backpacks with a rein out the top.She didn't love them but suddenly when the choice became 'sit in the trollley or wear minnie mouse " (they were minnie mouse ones).....the reins won out as the lesser of two evils!!!!They aren"t the perfect solution, but they actually allow you to have free hands and not have to worry about the toddler bolting.
No.2 doesn't mind them at all, though she still has a mind of her own when wearing them but it means she can walk, I can push the buggy and keep an eye on no.1.Plus there's now a no.3 so not sure how that's gonna work.....!!!!
Anyway just a thought for when you are balancing the bags, trying to get in and out of shops and trying to keep a grip on a toddler!!!!

wuffly

Hey ladies!

Glad the party went well Lucuma!! Hope yours went well Kathy.

How are you getting on? Sounds like work is hectic, hopefully it quietens down a bit for you soon.

Our birthday is this weekend, just 4 couples and 5 kids. Will be enough, had the same lot last weekend and it was mental. I feel like this birthday has totally crept up on me and don't feel at all prepared to have a 2 year old (cause it all changes at midnight lol).

He is still in the cot, in the grobag, long may it last. He'd never stay in the cot if he had the choice! Bedtime is still pretty good, was a bit wobbly after I was away for a few days and he got to thinking Mammy can leave, I don't like it. Now we have a 20-30 sec protest cry when i leave after bedtime routine and then he lies down and goes to sleep, usually down by the time i go next door and turn the monitor on, he's already back down. Even had a few nights of no protest altogether which is what we had before I went away. Sleep is generally good although a few nightmares and crys in his sleep but generally doesn't wake.

Sounds like you're really settling in at home Lucuma, great to be in a place you know you are going to stay and put down proper roots. 4 weeks and no OH you're amazing! OH is away most weeks for a few days but always back for his day off, I'd crack up on my own for a month! Although having said that, as much as I love him and as great as he is with everything around the house & little fella, sometimes it is just easier on your own!

This little fella is a bit of a runner as well but he's getting better at holding my hand or not going too far, he know's if he does its back in the trolley or being carried. The malls here are too big to give him too much freedom and he always makes a bee line for random things, like the mens loo's, emergency exits or lingerie shops :eek: He pushed one exit door that was alarmed and it frightened the bejesus out of him.

I think we do have a bit to Terrible Two's, arm swinging and whingy crying(with real tears) & the odd lying on the floor if he can't get his own way, mostly been able to talk him down so far and nothing major in public. I guess it could be a sign of things to come :eek: He's good to say sorry etc... but more so because he wants to move on than because he's sorry but I guess that will come.

Think he's just a chatty kid even nursery have said they wouldn't expect him to talk so much and use sentences at his age. He said well done to TA the other day when she counted to 10 in arabic and gave her a little clap:o. Re counting to 10, he can say it but i think he actually only understands 1 & 2. He has an amazing memory for the books he likes, he can finish every sentence in 'going on a bear hunt'. Noticed he's getting a bit sensitive about some stories, that's don't seem sad to me but kind of are. He doesn't like the giant getting hurt in jack and the beanstalk and randomly has this sticker of a killer whale that looks like a f*cked up Penguin and he keeps saying it looks sad and has tears in his eyes... explaining its a killer whale and not a weird penguin doesn't help and he keeps looking for it even though I've take out of the book. Re colours he says everything is yellow!

The paddling pool is a major hit, thank god, loves getting in and out of it and taking buckets of water all over the garden. Back at swimming lessons the last few weeks and he loves it. Was thinking he hadn't missed much, then saw one of his old class mates swimming on his own between his mum & the instructor, I was amazed!

I really wish I hadn't dropped my VHI, the thoughts of starting again and all the waiting periods and exclusions... anyway will worry about it when we get back.

Re the car and directions, as soon as we sit in, he tells me where he wants to go; so and so's house, the shop, the beach, the digger..... and then we get 'no, Mammy go back....!'

He's so aware of us going out to work now etc... the other day I got 'No Mammy no work, we go to shop' he means our local spar type shop when the guy at the deli gives him free slices of ham, he's easily amused! Felt so bad.... I am not even remotely a career person, just sort of where I am at the moment, I'd hope to take some time off or only work part time when we move home if possible.

Hope the physio and exercises are helping Lucuma, these kids would have your back broken, OH made one of those Ikea hack kitchen stand for kids and its the best thing ever. He happily stands in it dictating what's going on in the kitchen, highly recommend! he can get up and down on his own now, before I used to put him in so that's a help as well. also can pop him at the sink and he can wash up, he'd stay there all day if he could. It is hard to limit his water usage tho!

Re potty training, I'm in no rush, have the little steps and seat that you can put on the toilet and he keeps climbing up and sitting on it and saying 'my turn to peepee or poo' will hold off until he's really interested for now nappies seem easier to me! I can tell when he's doing a poo and will often say when's done it, now even asking to be changed. Using the pull ups now during the day and there's way less drama at changing time!

Lucuma

Wow Wuffly he is flying at the talking!! We are nowhere near that here. She is coming on but very slowly. How did his party go?

Yeah I have a backseat driver as well it's gas! She doesn't have the language to tell me where she wants to go but she just protests loudly if I don't go in a particular direction. She seems to want to do the playschool run on every car journey, I suppose coz it's her twice-a-day routine so she knows it the best.

We are now in the land of Hidden vegetables :-/
Not somewhere I ever expected to be as I managed not to have to go there in the 3.5 yrs since I became a parent but hey-hum here we are! The little one eats no veg at all apart from hummus, avocado +baked beans. And none of them are even really a veg!! She won't touch any kind of sauce on pasta or bolognese or lasagna so can't use that trick but she loves/devours pizza.
So a friend of mine with a fussy eater told me to liquified the veg with a can of tomatoes and spread on pizza bases. Cheese on top (vegan sh!te here!) and serve. Tried it tonight didn't think it would fly but it did!! She gobbled it down. So I got onion, mushrooms +tomatoes into her, jackpot!! I froze the rest of the sauce to use next time we have pizza. And it actually tasted really nice even for an adult.
The only meat or fish she eats is burgers +meatballs so I made hidden veg meatballs last week. Put the cooked veg in the food processor with the mincemeat, shaped into meatballs +cooked so I got courgette +onion into her that way.
Also I have started giving her carrot sticks dipped in mackerel pate (from SuperValu) she thinks it's hummus so she sucks the mackerel pate off and says 'more'. So I've been getting fish into her that way! So a couple of rays of light at the end of the fussiness tunnel there! She's just so different to my older one who has a very broad range of likes but them's the breaks eh!
Sleeping is continuing to go well. Touch wood the dark days are over. Really starting to enjoy life now after many years of just surviving/ticking boxes off. Have given up alcohol and in process of giving up coffee. Have lost 10lbs since moving home (after being stagnant at the same weight since I had April 2016 baby) and think I will lose more. The detox from alcohol is amazing, takes a few weeks but it's incredible. Was long overdue too, the ol vino was my crutch the last few years but was no longer doing me any favours.
I tried the little one on the 1st bike where she had to do some work herself today, bought her one of those Scuttlebugs in Smyts. She wasn't a fan, ha! She couldn't get the hang of the steering at all. Will just have to put in the painful hours teaching her like I did with the older one, who is only now showing enthusiasm for the balance bike.....1.5 years after we 1st started her on one!! They certainly come to things in their own time.

Lucuma

Oh and bad news kind of here this week. Both kids have had thick green non stop snots the last few weeks. Little one bit of a chesty cough as well. Couldn't figure it out coz we are in the middle of a heatwave?! A friend was visiting the other day. Mentioned that her daughter had similar & it turned out to be hay fever.
I was like Nooooooooo
So I bought Zirtek, gave em both 2.5mls this morning & same in the evening and sure enough the snots virtually disappeared.
So on top of food intolerances & eczema I'm now bloody facing hay fever as well, FFS! I have none of those things & neither did my parents. But hubby has hay fever and I've recently learned that asthma,eczema, food allergies &a hay fever are all part of the same tree. So the fact he has hay fever means they're likely to have any or several of those things. :-/