ILX Parenting 3: Back In (Potty) Training

Ava turned three last Thursday! We have kept her birthday celebrations going on for a full four days with staggered gift-opening and a weekend barn party at Godstone Farm in Surrey (with 30-odd guests, three of whom were also celebrating b'days). And how does she react to this extravaganza of presents and cake?

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I don't mean to single anyone out, but Michael -- Ava is so photogenic that it's palpably terrifying. Seriously, every shot of her looks like something by Mary Ellen Mark. Good lord.

It's true. Have you not considered selling her into a child-modelling career? She could bankroll the lot of you :)

Seriously - that "world domination" shot? That's a fuckin' album cover if I ever saw one.

You are very kind. I suppose we could submit an image to an agency, it couldn't do any harm. If they wanted her to be the acceptable face of chemical weapons exports, we could always say no. Unless the money was amazin'.

Just so Tallulah doesn't feel left out, here she is as some kind of Dr Seuss character:

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E after a busy Valentine's Day:

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aww..yay for love!

It just gets better and better doesn't it?! At the minute anyway! I can't believe that Aidan's 6 months already.

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We're getting adventurous with the food, the other week he tried a vegetable pakora, and gnocchi with pesto is a firm favourite

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wow! beeps is still eating squash from a jar. mostly because, besides chocolate pancakes, thats about all she likes.

once again, i wish i could see these flickr photos at work :(

Hey Alice's daddio with the fruit posing gave me an idea - we should all do THEME photos. Like someone picks a theme and we all take photos of our kids around that theme. It could be holding something or being somewhere or doing something etc. Could be fun?

BTW - AlexinNYC absolutely OTM. Also Lulu is the epitome of a 'gap baby' model too

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Can I just say: going to the doctor is GREBT. We discovered she had water in her ears (as she has a mild cold) which caused pressure, hence waking up more.

Also, hey, SWADDLING ruls and so does putting a baby in a seperate room.

Result: MUCH more sleep for baby and parents.

HURRAH.

Also, no ferberizing needed at all (for mommy). Daddy forgot to swaddle and had to ferberize.

BTW very tempted to breastfeed exclusively till six months. VERY tempted. She's almost 4 mo now!

If you can do it, do it!

Time for more pictures...

Owen rocks out
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Happy Ben
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Hanging out on the couch
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cute!

its beeps' birthday on sunday! yay!

we've got the forward facing carseat and cow's milk ready to go. good riddance to spending $54 a week on formula. weee!

yay for beeps hitting that milestone! perhaps you should celebrate with some babe disco:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7254296.stm

featuring my fave pull-quote of the day: "some people actually borrow kids to come here with"

Happy birthday Beeps! Howie's birthday was on Sunday. He has been in the forward-facing seat for ages now, he is one tall baby. No cow's milk for us, though, as he is allergic to it. Luckily he has no such problem with breastmilk, although he has recently started sticking both hands down my top when he's hungry. Note to self: teach the boy some table manners!

Growing up:

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edith looks like shes making coffee for a friend off camera who is telling her a juicy piece of gossip. so beautiful!

and happy birthday, howie! ive wondered for some time if beats should be in a front facing seat (she was 31.5" (79cm) at 9 months)but the websites i read were so insistent about not putting kids in a front facing seat until theyre one that I put it off. she is spilling out of the rear facing seat and her feet are squished against the back of the seat. seems more dangerous to be squished in to me but im too scared to make those kind of decisions myself. anyway, its going to be fun being able to chat to her in the "conversation mirror".

do you have any birthday pics, Meg? did you have a party? we're just having some family over.

that baby disco sounds like fun! here they have an annual "daddy daughter ball" where the dads dress up in tuxes and the daughters wear gowns. no moms allowed. so cute. beeps can only walk a few feet before she falls down so she might have to wait until next year.

beeps can only walk a few feet before she falls down

She takes after her father.

Edith is completely amazing. I love her. Is there an extra?

Oliver's first big snow day last week

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Charlotte was a bit more stoic about it.
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Charlotte's hat is so great. She's got a "Yeah, I've seen snow before, Dad" look. Oliver looks so happy. Look at his snowy mittens! I wished it snowed more here.

Its really hard to get a non-blurry photo of Beatrice these days but here a couple of only slightly blurry ones:

Hanging out on our bed:

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Posing for a "happy birthday" picture for her Australian cousin:

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It only occurred to me last week that it might snow when we go visit my sister in Rye, NY next week! I'm not really looking forward to the flight, Aidan's learnt to crawl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98eRZ5FZmsA) and just never stops moving so I get the fear every time I think about the 7hrs 50mins flight.

Happy birthday Howie! And Happy Birthday on sunday Beeps! Goodness, that flew by, didn't it?!

Sunny, I've read lots about how much safer it is to have them rear facing for as long as possible too, here in the UK it's not such a widely discussed issue, most people turn them round as soon as they fit into a forward facing carseat.

Natalie, did you wean Ophelia earlier then? We were going to wait until 6 months but decided to do baby led weaning - i.e. finger food, from the get go and apparently if they can pick up food, get it into their mouth and swallow it then they're ready, and Aidan eat some carrot at about 5 months and a week.

That's odd. My sister lives in Rye as well. And her name is Vicky.

Oooh, got any 7 month old friendly tips for Rye/NYC then?! We're planning on making sure we go to any proper restaurants at off-peak times, we've been told that Otto would be a good place to go early evening.

Is Manhattan really as stroller unfriendly as we've been led to believe? We're planning on buying a back pack baby carrier when we get over there to make getting around a little easier.

Is Manhattan really as stroller unfriendly as we've been led to believe?

Parts of it, especially downtown (Soho's cobblestones and thin sidewalks are palpably stroller-hostile).

I think the subways are inherently stroller-unfriendly, and between stairs and turnstiles and getting on/off trains, are guaranteed to make you wish you'd done something else instead (like vacationed somewhere without subways).

Hah. You guys must be JOKING. Come live in my city which has no subway but every pavement is slanted to the max and streets have "klinkers" and cobblestones. Compared with that, subways are the bomb.

Man, it's already four months ago that I delivered Elisabeth into this cold hard world (to quote Falco). Time flies with one kid, but it *swooshes* by when you have two (sick) kids. It's been a rough couple of weeks with Ophelia having a urine infection and also a little bit of a virus which she passed on to my husband and also Elisabeth. The latter started to puke the other night, projectile wise on mummy and everywhere else. Not a fun thing to behold but I know that this too shall pass. :-)

Vicky, I think we started with solids when she was nearly five months old. Mostly because teh feeding chair hadn't arrived in the shop. We did it once when she was exactly four months old, mostly because we were so excited to enter a new phase in her life, I guess. With Ophelia (first born) I was so excited to do new htings and couldn't wait for her to grow up. With Elisabeth, which is the second and last child (though you never know!), I want to wait and enjoy everything a bit more, I guess. I'm not sure if I can hold out another two months though. Although I love breastfeeding, I do sometimes... certainly not dislike it, but it can be somewhat inconvenient because you have to plan around it, especially when you're feeding every two hours. But what am I saying, I love to breastfeed. I am extremely happy I was/am able to. :-)
It's a very strange experienced seeing something *foreign* (not mummy's milk) enter their body. I must be a freak for thinking that. But really it WAS (and will be) freaky: you're so used to pumping milk into their body, it was kind of alien to see Ophelia eat something out of a pot. hah.

Ophelia had a terrible week: urine infection, guests in the house who wake her up VERY early and that virus. She was so *strange*: flopping on the ground and cranky and sh*t. We had her blood tested but it seems to be tiredness and maybe a bit of a growth spurt? She's also displaying new behavior: manipulation. Funny but at times GRRRRRRR. For example she has the tendency to let herself fall or knock against something and then say "PAAAAAIIIIN!" or start to cry. Or just moan or whatever. She has also dropped me as fave and now daddy is numero uno.

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I waited til 6 months to start Howie on solids -- when breastfeeding is so damn convenient, I couldn't see any rush to start complicating things. I think I am a bit of a freak for doing this, though -- most people I know in RL got out the purees much earlier.

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Howie's birthday cake...

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Sorry, this should be the right size.

aidan & vic on a horsey:

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Oliver preparing to pass judgement.

ha. Cutest judge ever.

So it was book week at school and on friday the children go to school as their favourite book character and Child No.2 IS Lola from the Charlie and Lola books.
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Holy shit - don't post this on the internet, you'll get sued for copyright infringement!

(I met the author once - she is TOTALLY HOTT)

that dress! id totally wear it.

STOP PRESS! Potty training regression (just after Cardiff took the lead).

Amazingly, Edith pissed on me just after West Brom took the lead. Perhaps she is trying to tell me something.

Anyway, here is a picture from happier times:

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that dress! id totally wear it.

-- sunny successor, Sunday, 9 March 2008 03:59 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

It was available in adult sizes, my friend bought one!

parents, how do you start your kid on peanut butter? dial 91 and leave finger poised over the 1 while they take their first bite?

have a plastic tube from a dismantled ballpoint pen ready for an emergency trachiotomy?

Drive to the hospital and give it to 'em in the parking lot.

Wow, I have never even considered worrying about this! I guess if one of you (the parents) or yr family members has ever had food allergies, you're a lot more aware....

I dunno, this might be paranoid but maybe put a schmear of it on their skin somewhere and see if it rashes/gets hives? That'd be extreme, I guess, but at least you'd know.

Thats a good idea, L. I'll probably end up doing it rock hardy's way though! I dont remember anyone having allergies when I was a kid. Maybe seasonal ones. Certainly not peanut allergies.

I bought a cookbook for toddler recipes because I figure I'm going to have to quit the baby food soon. Later, I realized it was written by a Brit and a lot of the receipes for 12+ months have either something peanut based or involve whole eggs. My pediatricians says not peanut oil, honey or egg whites until 2 y/o. I wonder who is right? I know my Australian BFF is giving her 16 month old all of those things.

not = no, of course

yeah we just gave our kid peanut butter when he was about 14 months old. then the doctor said "wait until he's at least 18 months old, or as long as you can" and we decided fuck it around 17 months. he doesn't seem to like it very much but no ill effects. No-one in the family has nut allergies though, just hay fever. The whole nut allergy thing seems quite mysterious and strange, they certainly say it's on the rise, and we know a few kids who can't have even almond oil near their skin....

also, how long do these terrible twos tantrums last? Ian is almost 21 months old but has done everything early: talking, walking, etc; downside is that he's doing his tantrums and fits now as well. Holy god, try to put a sun hat on the kid and prepare yourself for an hour of misery.