Hello Mudduh Hello Fadduh: ILX Rolling Parenting Thread

In the meantime, here's the world's happiest baby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFHcFGKPMQ4

So I think the Vicodin was keeping those guys asleep at night. Sounds like the weekend was a bit roughnow that my wife is off of it. Any tips for getting newborns to fall asleep? We've got the whole quieting-them-down thing working, but the next step (getting them to fall asleep) is, of course, much trickier.

I do remember strapping the carrycot onto the back seat of the car and taking my baby daughter for a night-time drive on more than one occasion - that was something which always seemed to get her to fall asleep.

Health visitor comes today, so fingers crossed...

(Sorry, I'm not sure what the proper response is.)

On occasions I have resorted to letting Edith sleep on top of me, but a price there is to pay in keen and quivering exactitude, etc...

anyway, we unfortunately have given in to societal pressure and let our other two kids into the Santa Claus lie (you know, that he actually exists.) Some holy roller at my kid's school recently admonished me for perpetuating the lie (the nerve of her, but that's another story) but I admit to not feeling all that comfortable perpetuating nonsense to a six year old. A big part of me wants to let him in on the truth.

When my parents sat me down and told me that there was no such thing as Santa Claus, I calmly told them, "If that's your attitude, you won't be getting any presents from him."

I'm pretty sure my six year old would throw down shit like that as well.

We never got the sleep things sorted out, some nights are better and some are worse, but I can pretty much count on the kid waking up every two hours at best, every 45 minutes at worst. Sometimes he'll go three or four hours at the very beginning of the night. It sounds miserable but it really isn't, we're all fine the next day.

I can't believe you never got the sleep thing sorted out Teeny...I'd want to kill myself. I don't need much sleep, but there's no way I'd be sane if I were still being awakened every couple of hours at this point. I'm terribly impressed!

For instance, after getting her used to plenty of different tastes and textures (and all home-prepared) between 4 and 12 months, we've slipped back into just giving her shop-bought jars of sloppy stuff meant for 7 months and up - just through sheer exhaustion and lack of time. No excuse though - at 21 months, she should be eating with us, not fed pureed slop like a tot half her age. Also, she still drinks from a bottle - we really need to phase this out (especially the pacifying 150ml at bedtime) and get her into the world of the sippy cup (with which she usually takes one glug, goes "Ahhh" and chucks it on the floor).

Mind you, she hasn't been scratching or headbutting me that much of late and she was a darling going to bed tonight. I even got her to tidy up her jigsaw pieces (no, she can't do the jigsaws yet) and magnetic phonics letters. She has an Aboriginal* grasp of numbers - 1, 2 and er, everything after that is also 2. She calls DVDs DDDs.

(* - isn't [the popular myth] 1, 2 and many?)

Another switch forced on us: we've bought Ava a bed. She can climb out of her cot now (though won't attempt to do so unless we're in the room and she's trying to reach us) and last week she somersaulted clean out of it. Incredibly, she wasn't hurt. Still, she's too young for a bed (ha - it'll take us months to clear the nursery and build it) and nighttimes are going to be difficult once she does go in there.

Mother-in-law has been called home all of a sudden, so we are back to core family members, which is a bit daunting at first.

This sounds really cheesy, but I got rid of bottles by explaining that Father Christmas was sorting out presents at this time of year for all the boys and girls, but that he really needed her help - some little children weren't lucky enough to have bottles to drink out of, and if she would give them hers, in return Father Christmas would be so pleased that he'd make sure she got whatever gift it was she really wanted (some doll, I seem to remember). We made a big production of wrapping up her bottle in Christmas paper, and attaching a label addressed to Ftaher Christmas, North Pole, The World, and actually posting it in a mailbox (I have no idea what the poor postman must have thought) ... but it worked, because she never asked for her bottle again, and was all excited and proud of herself for "helping" someone else.

We were actually laughing about this together recently, and my eldest daughter said it was a wonder she had turned out so normal because "MY WHOLE CHILDHOOD HAS BEEN BASED ON LIES!!!"

Unfortunately, it's an integral cot (removal of sides not possible), but the perimeter of cushions sounds like a good idea (or maybe just a temptation!).

The nursery depresses me the most - it's basically become just a storage room (33 boxes!) with a changing table in it, all the paintwork on the floor has become damaged from dragging furniture around and we don't even have time to discuss how to rearrange it to accommodate the bed, never mind doing the physical work. I can't find any of her clothes most days.

Ava's nursery in our old place was so cosy and well organised. Her cot has been jammed in the smallest bedroom (desks, shelving, more boxes) for months now - she must feel like she's being consigned to a cupboard every night.

http://static.flickr.com/110/303758603_8ea57c1939.jpg

Mark got a trophy for the junior kata at his karate competition (pictured with his senseis)

http://static.flickr.com/111/303758604_16b817e116_b.jpg

David got a karate medal for turing up, or lending moral support, or something

http://static.flickr.com/105/303758607_d055005f0c.jpg

Lovely kids, Gerry. But what is it with the Scots and the karate?! I never did anything like that as a child; I bet my daughters completely defy my wishes and want to do kickboxing or something.

I'm surprised he stuck at it as I didn't think he had the disipline and concentration required at that age but he's doing well. He's really skinny and smaller than most of the other kids but he doesn't seem to mind them knocking him about :)

I can't imagine Ophelia being like this. A baby. She's outgrown the babiness and turned into a sweet adorable GIRL.

The other evening she discovered she can actually sit without putting her hand on the ground. She was always able to, but now she actually put her arms in the air and holding toys. Then started shouting a bit as if to say:"SEE I CAN DO THIS!" She's also standing with one foot on the ground and the other knee on the ground. It's so frigging CUTE.

I'm now knitting her a matinee cardigan. HURRAH. And another sweater (for class project).

I think she just woke up. Gotta run!

Oh yeah...

Gerry, you have such beautiful kids! That last pic is SO Adorable!

I always get pissed off when people say:"Oh you have a GIRL! Lucky you! I have a boy." FFS a boy or a girl, WHAT THE HELL DOES IT MATTER. It's a wonder. Enjoy your kid.

I just looked at the enormous pile of tiny clothes we have accumulated and realised that they're only going to fit for a few weeks :(

How are you feeling, Archel?

Solution: wait a couple of years and have another one. ;)

xpost: arrgh Mike, impossible to contemplate right now!

Megan is starting to look like Mrs Onimo.

People have this idea that girls are easier. Hah. Maybe the sort of dull girls who grow up to make remarks like this were easy, so that's their frame of reference. Sort of like people who LOVED school growing up to be teachers, and then totally not grokking kids who don't.

He's starting to get interested in physically interacting with stuff too, and making loads of eye contact - his body can't catch his brain on this tho.

Alice is three weeks old today, hit 6lb yesterday and seems bursting with new found strength. She wriggles all over the place and is having fewer deep sleeps and more cat naps with alert periods. I think I need to get over the feeling that awake = bad, and start thinking about how to entertain her when she is.

Oh and responding to the sandbox thread: hi Nick! Pint sounds good - parenting looks more manageable through a beer fug I find.

Oh I gotta tell you all this! It's the funniest thing. I've been telling it to everyone IRL (heh). Every night I'll read a little to O and then she'll stand up and page through the book (I'm holding). She loves to point to pics and text and then I'll tell her what it is. After about ten min I'll put the book away and say:"Now it's time to sleep, don't you think?" OPHELIA TURNS AROUND, FLOPS ON HER BELL! And she puts her thumb in her mouth and turns her head away from me. Yep, she puts herself in the sleeping position IMMEDIATELY.

She's always been easy. Sometimes she refuses to have her morning/afternoon nap but evenings she's always up for sleep.

Turns ONE YEAR in 12 days. I CAN NOT WAIT! :-)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/138/340231332_bc812e8dd5_m.jpg

Tallulah is now 9 weeks old and she still wakes for a feed at least once a night (which is how it was for the first 10 days, but nothing like the carnage of weeks 3 through 7 when a milk tanker wouldn't have sated her); at 8 weeks she was 4kg (birth weight: 2.1kg) which is fairly remarkable porking out. Lots of eye contact, smiles and gurgly giggles. Still worry about her sinus congestion issues and she barfs far more than her big sis ever did, but she seems to be thriving.

Ava is nearly 23 months and the most frustrating/wonderful person on Earth. Her tantrums are getting pretty ferocious now but, by golly, she's a treasure most of the time. Can manage most of the alphabet and has counted to ten at least once; knows lots of colours, calls her sister "Yuyu", has a fixed, consistent vocabulary of about 30 words, plus about 2,000 that we don't understand. Says "Oh...no" and "Oh....dear" and "Sorry Daddy" when things fall over or spill, which always makes us chuckle.

I guess it depends on the age gap; right now, Ava can't be left to her own devices because she rarely plays/draws quietly on her own - she runs, jumps and climbs on everything and is a general danger to herself (see black eye pics on Flickr!). When we finally get the nursery sorted out and get some stair gates fitted (still don't have them in place - we have gates in the kitchen/hall doorways instead), her room will be more of a playspace for her, where she's less likely to hurt herself or break/ingest something she shouldn't. We're hoping for a calmer time of it then.

So Pam has to deal with a super-energetic near-2-y-o and a very hungry newborn (though she's given up the breastfeeding - T's been on formula since week 5) and sometimes it's nearly impossible.

But...they will grow up and entertain each other and it'll all be fine. But it's hard right now. Getting them out of the door to go anywhere seems to take the best part of an hour.

sorry, rambling. :-)

a child development person I know says 3 yrs is ideal spacing...something about less competition but they still have enough in common. My sis in law has 4 and the last 3 are 2 yrs apart or less, she seems to do great but I don't know how.

Nathalie, don't worry about "nipple confusion." I have my own unproven theories about it (that it's bullshit) but if you soldier on, your baby will easily handle going from nipple to bottle. My wife pumped for a year and nursed mornings/nights. I have found that, more than anything else, a lot of parent's problems with their kids is myopia. Also Natalie, there's a learning curve to everything and when an infant is involved, it seems like we try out think our instincts at every turn. If you love having your shop, then fight your way through the tough times and you'll come out okay on the back end. Love your kids to pieces, do the best you can with your spouse (or partner or whatever), and things will get better.

I say this after what was easily the hardest month of my life, a time where my uselessness to the planet was particularly obvious.