nijibaby

Two simple little words, but a jolt to the system if it’s 9pm, you’re sitting quietly downstairs and they’re uttered by your beaming toddler, who has made his way out of his bed, sleep-sack, room, and down the stairs for another first …

August 19th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (1)

… you find visiting the sandbox is a central part of cooking as you search for your saucepan/colander/tupperware.

… you find yourself exclaiming excitedly when a fire engine goes by, and then sheepishly realise that you’re alone in the car.

…you can recite ‘The Going-to-Bed Book‘ by Sandra Boynton by heart.

… you find yourself offering colleagues at work alternatives rather than ‘yes’/'no’ options or open-ended questions, e.g. ‘Would you like to incorporate these changes this week or wait until next week when your other project is complete?’

…a cork brings more relaxation to the whole family than the glass of wine itself, since child is kept occupied in the bath for a good 5 minutes.

… you read Jill Murphy’s ‘Five Minutes Peace‘ as therapy, relieved that somebody else understands what you’re going through.

… you conclude that the answer to the question ‘Just how dirty is sand/yoghurt/general grime in connection with a child’s hair?’ is ‘Not very’ and thus child’s hair only needs to be washed every 3 weeks.

You know you have a toddler and are days away from your due date when …

… you find yourself saying ‘Gosh, does licking that wall really taste good? Obviously, since Savannah’s now trying it too.’

… at a play park discussion, you whole-heartedly agree that the only food your toddler has eaten over the past week is cereal or pasta and sauce, but don’t admit that it’s only because the toddler has not actually been offered anything else. After all, an added bonus of a play-date is that hopefully your child will scrounge some fruit and veggies from someone else’s snack box. (Yay for the co-op!)

… supper involves feeding your child crackers in the bath.

… you check your maternity clothes for colouring pen and paint stains, and realise that you never had to do this the first time around.

… the new game in the house is ‘Helping-Mummy-by-picking-items-up-from-the-floor-so-said-Mummy-

doesn’t-have-to-bend-down.’

… your toddler’s new vocabularly word is ‘kranky’ as in “Mummy tired, yes? Mummy kranky?”

… rather than enforcing the former house rule that you need to sit down to drink, you decide that it’s an excellent opportunity for learning cause-and-effect and new vocabulary, as in ‘You’re coughing because the water went into your lungs not into your tummy.” (This proved remarkably effective, not only did toddler promptly sit down to drink the rest of the water, but he also asked to see Daddy’s lungs when he got home from work.)

… all house rules other than no hitting etc. and preventing major injury are now ‘former.’

August 8th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thomas, seen here in a recent photo, yesterday identified himself correctly as Thomas.  This is the first time we’ve heard a straight answer to the question “what’s your name?”  Previous answers included “Yeah” (most common answer) and “You” (a distant second).

Note the careful attention to detail here as Thomas is eyeing up the landing of his preferred aircraft.

August 3rd, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

 ”Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.” 

 Our local hospital has a tour for toddlers to  get a preview before visiting their new siblings. Thomas was pretty overwhelmed and dragged his favourite rabbit around by the ear before retreating to Tony’s arms. It reminded me of Christopher Robin and Pooh.

 Brilliantly, we were able to see our friends, Emma, Andrew and Thomas’s pal, Hannah, and their day-old baby boy, Liam! Another big warm welcome to another summer baby. Thomas and Hannah said a quick hello, and Thomas perked up. 

August 2nd, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thank you Learning Curve.  These wooden trains are still a favorite nearly a year later.

July 30th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The no-napping continues… *sigh*

July 25th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thomas was counting his way down the stairs:

‘Four, Five … Chicken, Four, Five … Chicken … …. …. Nine … … {long pause, no movement} …{triumphantly} TV!’ 

July 25th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I have been looking through the blog both to try and answer some questions from friends with younger children and in preparation for Sprog #2, and I am dismayed to find that we haven’t recorded anything useful e.g. about sleeping, or eating, or weaning, or whining. So here’s a quick snap shot based on the baby-sitting co-op kids and some other friends.

 Sleep: All the kids generally sleep through the night. Most families are at a ‘don’t bother to go in unless there’s really loud crying for at least 5 mins’ stage and have been for, I don’t know, at least a year. 3/10 are in big beds, the rest are in cribs/cots. I think that 8/10 are still taking 1 nap, though quite a few have a day here or there when they don’t. All the kids nap in their beds and have done for ages. (i.e. at least since they were 1, if not younger.) Nap time starts between about 1pm and 3pm and last between 1 hour and 3 hours. Bedtimes vary between 6pm (non-nappers) and 9/10pm, with most being around 7-8pm.

Eating: Ha!  A constant topic of conversation! Typical toddlers: it’s anybody’s guess as to what they will eat and when and how much. Snacking is the order of the day, though different families vary in how set their meal times and snacks are. We have one super eater, who eats anything all the time, and one ’super-taster/gourmand’ who has VERY specific, limited tastes all the time. The others have hungry days and not-so-hungry days/weeks. In general, other people’s food is always better! Crackers and fruit always go down well. They say that over the course of a week a toddler left to his/her own devises will eat a balanced diet. I’ve never tracked that, but between all the kids at a co-op play date they eat a balanced diet!! Between the parents we pack pretty balanced foods and by the end of the outing usually everything has been eaten by one child or another.

Kids also seem to vary in how much they use utensils: seems to depend a lot on the temperament of the parent as to how much of the mess they can deal with.

Eating Out: Families vary in how often they take the tots to restaurants and what kind of behaviour results. Some swear by breakfasts, others early  dinners, some don’t go at all, and other go through various stages. 

Sharing: In general, they don’t. But they are really beginning to get the concept of taking turns, having good days and bad days. Sometimes they can share their toys at home, but other days it’s too much and we have to head to a park with ‘neutral’ toys. They all have favourite toys that they don’t share and we don’t make them - asking them to leave them in the car/pushchair instead. They also ’switch’ toys sometimes, trading one for another.

 Tantrums: they ALL have them, and have had for some time now, though length and frequency really vary with each child. Thomas has 2 varieties: the more frequent and quick ‘jump-up-and-down’ variety (It’s such a stereotype that it makes people smile when they see it.) and the much rarer ‘collapse onto the ground with forehead down and bum in the air.’ This one has a desperate edge to it, and can last longer. Thomas is not particularly persistent though. Some kids have full on lying on the floor and screaming for 25 mins ones, though not very often.

Discipline: I think that most of us (perhaps 6or 7/10) use time-outs in some form or another. The other kids just seem to be more compliant and so don’t really need them. I think that it’s strongly related to hitting/biting too! 

July 18th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thomas alternated bites of multigrain pretzel crackers with Boursin (garlic and herb soft cheese) and yogurt and granola. Nothing better than garlic/berry combo at 7am.

This was washed down with “bolk” (milk), which he is now allowed to drink from his very own china mug, given to him by his cousins, Louise, Charlotte and Victoria. (He has only just grown out  of a pour-any-liquid-onto -my trousers-and-then throw the cup-on-the-floor stage.) He then delightedly decided that he was drinking tea, like Mummy. He lifted up his mug, looked in and said ‘Hi, Tea’ before every sip. I love my morning cuppa, but it has never occurred to me to greet it. Perhaps he absorbed more of the Japanese Tea Ceremony at the Hanami Festival than we thought, or perhaps it’s his Brit genes showing through.

July 18th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment