ILX Parenting 3: Back In (Potty) Training

The shinstraps are the worst bit of that contraption. And the colours.

I've now digitised two hours (26GB!) of mini-DV tapes so I may get carried away with YouTubing the gals. Here's Lulu snoozing...finally, in her high-chair at Grandma's back in September. I could mix in some Harry Hill preamble and a laff-track if you like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacFEByCHKM

So Beeps did this for the first time yesterday:

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2236/im003758bx7.jpg

And yes, we've moved the books out of the way now.

cute!!! in the last 2 weeks beeps learned to sit up from laying down position, creep on tummy, crawl on hands and knees and pull herself up to standing. progresso! oh, and say "mama mama mamamamamamamamamammmmmmmmm"

Tardlet? TURDLET.

dude, that had better be an xxxxxxpost

Yes, yes!

Beeps is such a cutie!!! <3

I'm waiting for her and Charlotte to form a band.

That's some good development spurting from beeps, woo!

I am currently praying that Alice has not caught chickenpox, after one of the baby group mums found out that she's got it... in the meantime, here's a toothy A with a toothsome pineapple:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2194/1985701946_0a035f4a89.jpg?v=0

wow, beeps is going to be running a marathon by the end of the month! and the chatting is great! we have yet to get so much as a single 'ma' out of lulu, much less a 'mama'. she's got 'gah!' down pat, with an occasional 'da' when she's feeling fruity.

cute picture of alice! unlike you archel, I have been trying to get chickenpox out of the way for going on three years now but no dice. every time any of their friends get it we're over there like a shot but just can't catch it no matter how close they hang out together. I'd rather her get it now than when she's in school. there's never a good time for them to be sick but if alice gets it now it may not be so bad, ava's friends lucked out with not many spots and not much more discomfort than a bad cold. mike didn't get it till he was in his 30s and it's so much worse to get as an adult. I knew someone who got it in college and he had blisters the size of QUARTERS!

I have never had mumps, this worries me intensely.

Mumps is part of the MMR vaccine though? So there's no reason kids should get it these days (and therefore you should be okay).

chris, you can book yourself in for an MMR vaccine, it's not just for kiddies anymore. after a routine blood test when I was preggers with ava I was told that I'd never been vaccinated for rubella in my untamed youth. they no longer give single vaccines so I had to get an MMR before I could get pregnant again.

it's pretty unlikely you'd get mumps but since kids don't get the MMR jab till after a year old, I guess there's a slight chance a baby could catch it and pass it on, there was a measles thing going around a couple of years ago right when a few of ava's pals were scheduled to get the jab (she'd just had it so had a narrow escape).

here's munchkin the younger cruising furniture:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/1955100982_3b26b136f0.jpg

Funny to think that when our kids are having kids and worrying about these things, we'll be telling them that we had mumps or German measles or whatever when we were young, and they'll look at us like we had scurvy or black death?

Now I realize what it means to have two kids: Both have a cold. :-( Liesje has to take some meds - *squirt* it in her mouth as she doesn't do the bottle - because she has phlegm (???) on her lungs. This night was a disaster as both were coughing 'n' wheezing. Ophelia's alright but lying down the phlegm builds up and she doesn't know how to get rid of it, I guess. She had the nastiest cough ever. Sounded like a asthma attack. *sigh* Apart from that, Liesje sleeps quite a bit but drinks less as she has a runny/stuffy nose. Poor thing. :-(

Also her reflux is pretty bad as a result. Again: poor thing. I have to hold her up slanted (and enchanted heh).

Poorly baby here too -- we have just spent three nights in hospital as Howie has bronchiolitis. We called the doctor out on Saturday night as he was sounding a bit wheezy, expecting to be told to give him Calpol and put him to bed -- next thing we know, we're being blue-lighted an ambulance and hooked up to oxygen in hospital :(

Anyway we are back home today after a worrying few days, he is still poorly but breathing much better, and will recover faster without nurses coming in every 20 minutes around the clock to poke and prod him.

Oh my lord. That's frightening, Meg. Good thing you can call out doctors on a saturday night. Sure can't do that here.

I hope O, L and H are feeling much better soon. Beeps' ear infection sure seems trivial now.

Archel, you take the best photos!

Awww and sweet lulu! Did you guys get a lot of falling and resulting baby injuries when they started pulling up/cruising? Beeps busted her lip open last night falling from a standing position on to a toy. First time she's bled, I guess. I'm thinking we'll see a whole lot of this in the near future.

Yikes, Meg. Poor Howie and poor you, hope he's better soon (and I'm sure you'll all get back to normal quicker without the prodding and poking - we have SO had enough of that after Alice's two hospital stays.)

The only injuries Alice has really sustained are bumps on the head from when she was at the standing/cruising stage but couldn't yet manage to land on her bottom if she fell, she'd just go straight backwards in a vaguely comedy fashion.

Oh, and Matt is usually responsible for the photos, not me, I must confess...

all these poorly babes, I hope everybody's on the mend soon! meg, you must've been so worried, glad howie's recouping in the comforts of home now. I know they're a necessary and often life-saving evil, but crap I hate hospitals - no sleep allowed!

we haven't had any major tumbles since lulu started cruising furniture but egads I'm sure they're coming. I'm just waiting for the day lulu gets a bit more confident on her feet but still doesn't have the best balance - that quick walking thing new walkers do where they're really trucking across a room and then suddenly lose their balance and go face first into furniture makes me wince thinking about it.

hope elisabeth and ophelia ditch the colds soon! our gals are always sick at the same time. they've both had snotty faucet noses for what seems like weeks now.

X-posted to Archel: Yeah, it's just great when the nurse bursts in at 2am, announces loudly, "Hi, I've just come to have a look at him", turns the light on, peers at him and says, "Oh, he's awake then?"

Also loving the monitor that, when his heart rate goes above a certain level, sets off an ear-splitting alarm that spooks the life out of him and, amazingly, makes his heart rate go up even more.

it'll be ok when lulu starts testing her limits, pam - you just have to live with a certain number of bumps and bruises. abby still gets them at almost two years old, and she just kind of forgets about it after a few seconds.

is it common for preschoolers to form specific parental alliances? our eldest just wants mommy to help her with everything - when i do try to help, half the time she demands mommy, even if it's a simple task. meanwhile, the youngest is apparently running my wife ragged with her mischief, but she's all sweetness and light around me...

Completely natural, Mike, and it even changes from year to year. Ophelia doesn't have a really strong preference, but she does tend to hang on to my husband more. I think it's partially because I was so pregnant, I couldn't carry her (nor was/am I able to take care of her as much as before). My husband is ace, he's been taking care of O more (like mornings he will wash, dress and feed her) while I take care of Liesje.

actually, yeah, ava's still getting bumps too. she fell off a chair last night trying to squeeze onto it with mike and landed on her head and then this morning when we were visiting a school contender and waiting for the tour to start, I turned away to wipe lulu's nose and she did it again! she's got a big old bruisy egg hidden under her fringe.

we totally have the parental alliance problem and I'm the chosen one at the moment. after 12+ hours of wrangling both of them I really need a break when mike comes in from work, but if ava so much as stubs a toe she only wants mummy and is hysterical unless I come back downstairs. it's the same in the middle of the night, on the weekends, all the dang time. god I love her to bits but it would be so nice if she'd let mike be the comforter sometimes.

beeps is evry much daddy for playtime and mommy for boo-hoo sooky time. its sweet but it kind of sucks too.

pull up injury number two reported from daycare: cut finger while trying to open a door (!?!?!)

Pam's right about Ava's Mom thing, y'know...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/2007995885_1c8ffa674e.jpg

Part 2 in the series 'Alice posing with amusingly large fruits and vegetables':

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2202/2020567960_73c0ea8883.jpg?v=0

Look at Alice, too cute! Meg, I hope Howie's feeling better. A baby on my online birth club got bronchiolitis, scary stuff. I hadn't even heard of it before then.

Nath, hope you aren't suffering too much with your two having colds, hope they get better soon.

I'm incensed with IKEA at the minute. We got a second hand IKEA cot via Pam and i went to buy a new mattress on monday. Well apparently they've changed cot sizes, but they claim that if you take the old cot and buy a new mattress they will replace the cot. I thought I'd give it a try, but the customer service women I 'spoke' to on their chat service says that because the cot is two years old they won't replace it! I'm sorry, but how many people will be reusing the cot for child no.2 much less than two years after they bought the cot? I know I was a bit cheeky trying it on as I hadn't bought the cot in the first place, but for anyone who did actually buy a cot was was hoping to use it again it would be rather annoying.

I did think we could just shove the mattress in, as it's just a wee bit too big, and we did do just that, but it's weakened one end of the cot which collapsed this morning at 7am with Aidan in it, whoops.... He was fine, just got dropped over to one side a wee bit. guess I'd better get the wood glue out for a patch up job and go buy a new cot for long term.

I've finally decided which washable nappies I want to use, after trying out various makes, and waiting until he's not soiling every single nappy! We're going for bum genius 2.0 which should fit him for a very long time. I've got two and have been very impressed. I was using terries when I was visiting my parents, and it was easier than I expected but the bum genius are even easier and definitely less bulky. They're about the same price in dollars in the US as they are in pounds in the uk, so I'm going to buy them over there and get my sister to ship them over. Archel, are you still using washables?

My boy is starting to look very grown up, scary stuff!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2268/1973592681_73fe884a01.jpg?v=0

that is totally annoying news about the ikea size switcharoo - a couple of days ago after some spectacular milk spillage in lulu's cot (ex-ava's) I was thinking it was time to buy a new mattress, but I guess I won't be doing that now. vicky, it's probably not worth the hassle but I wonder if you schlepped it in there in person if the people at customer services wouldn't know the diff or would take one look at handsome aidan and have mercy on a hassled mum and do the exchange anyway?

I do hope this series of alice with fruits and veg is going to continue!

Wow Vick, Aidan REALLY looks like Chris in that picture, but a lot like you as well, somehow.

We were still using washables (Little Lamb then Motherease donated in bulk by a friend) until a couple of months ago but we moved and no longer have a washing machine... I have never heard of bum genius but I didn't find using washables much hassle - until it came to going out for long periods when we always used disposables I must admit. And it is annoying the way that most baby clothes are made to be worn with disposables.

So Liesje has a cold which is no: Not only does it make breastfeeding tricky - if I don't put her up for half an hour to an hour (yes, inc nights), she sometimes vomits. Also sleeping is very difficult. As a result I am now resigned to playing scrabble for half an hour or more during the night. Today I have a rather "interesting" headache. Harumph.

Ophelia is with her grandparents. We noticed she was a bit tired again before leaving and seemed a bit lethargic. And *hurray* she had a little fever last night. If it's an ear infection again they'll have to *pop* in a tube in the hospital. Harumph times two.

Breastfeeding is much easier, but damn my breasts love to produce milk. Especially right side. I sometimes push a bit out because it's too painful. As a result I can't give Liesje more than ten minutes milk cause otherwise it's overflow.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2230/2037006569_576a3fe111.jpg

Wow, seconded on how much Aidan looks like Chris! Alice is also the spit of her dad, but I've said that before. Lulu appears to be the third member of ILX-babies-who-look-like-their-dads-that-I-know

(OK, fourth, as Megan looks totally like Onimo as well)

Lulu appears to be the third member of ILX-babies-who-look-like-their-dads-that-I-know

Really? We think it's scary how much she looks like Pam's dad and brother (and, indeed, Pam's brother's kids). Not that you'd know what they look like but I can't see much Jones in there.

No, I definitely see a resemblence, at least in the picture up there of her hanging onto a chair/sofa. As you said, not being acquainted with the wider family, I only have you and Pam to go on, but I definitely see a good bit of you in her.

It's the being-dwarfed-by-furniture thing, isn't it?

haha, no.

'Alice posing with amusingly large fruits and vegetables'

And doesn't she look like she loves her fruit and veg!?
We had a couple of HUGE parsnips in the vegi-box this week they would have been perfect for this series.

Here is The Boy posing with a musket(?) - I'm not sure what it is actually. It wasn't loaded though.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/1732473031_e58f8451b3.jpg

Hahah, you know what that shot makes me think of...

http://www.bradleysalmanac.com/pictures/aug-2004/delaware.jpg

Yeah, his hair is exactly like that!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nedtrifle/1875074016/"; title="Who ate all the pies? by Ned Trifle, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/1875074016_2a28079c59.jpg"; width="375" height="500" alt="Who ate all the pies?" /></a>

Ooops...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/1875074016_2a28079c59.jpg

Shouldn't you be leading him by the ear to a barber's?

With a musket in his hand?

He just needs to find some late 80s shoegazing type band to join.

An actual dirty dronerock boy, who knew?

And he's getting an electric guitar for christmas! (or so he hopes - ha!)

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/album_fullsize.html?c_photo=113336413

Still a smiler even in hospital...

Goddammit, why can't I link to images using the tags below?

Yay! I like Cole - I have a beautiful nephew by that name.

Wow, people be sprogging! congrats, you guys!

More pics!

Ben:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/2600886144_fb98f5b9a4.jpg

Owen:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/2600881948_ca6ddc153a.jpg

Ben and Owen playing with a fountain:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/2620180974_b6ee624f49.jpg

Beautiful. How old are these boys now? Do I remember you saying they could say the alphabet at 18 months? Beats is 16 months next week and all she says is "DADA!!!"

OK, we're moving up to 4!
Using sunny's title...
ILX Parenting 4: We make our own people

Think we might be approaching this time with Howie -- in the last few days he has done a wee on the potty every night at bathtime, and asked for the potty this morning.

I have TEH FEAR over putting him in pants and spending the next x weeks wiping up accidents (especially as I'm glued to a breastfeeding newborn half the day) so am considering going via pull-ups, and leaving pants til he is reliable at letting me know when he needs to go. OTOH some say it's best just to stick 'em in pants and put up with the mess for a while...

So... any tips?

Argh, meant to start a new thread on this. Pls ignore this one!