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Tag: parenting

Grateful for marrying daddy
THIS week I’m grateful for:
- Marrying Daddy: Princess Ella was particularly upset on Wednesday, because she “wanted to marry her daddy’’. “I don’t want to marry anyone else,’’ she said, with real tears streaming down her cheeks. Over the past few months she’s been keen on marrying the boy she goes to childcare with. The reality of being locked into a loveless marriage for the rest of her life had obviously sunk in. I tried to explain that we don’t marry our daddies (no, Tassie jokes, OK!) and that it would be a long time before she’d have to worry about that anyway. After more tears and more “but I just want to marry Daddy. Please?’’, I’m grateful The Bloke in The Shed stepped in and agreed to marry her. Ah, to be that innocent again.
- Parenting Line: I didn’t post earlier today. Did you notice? You see, there was a bit of an incident last night that I have been scolding myself over. Li’l Holly was in her cot, waving her dummy at me, while I tried to get her white noise CD playing. I couldn’t get it to work with my toe, like usual. The next thing: THUD. Then loud, piercing screams. When I turned around, to my horror, she’d fallen out of her cot and hit the floor hard. The rest of my night was spent having to wake her regularly to check she was OK. I’m ever so grateful she is and that the Parenting Line was there to reassure me. However, I’m also upset with myself that I would do something so stupid as to leave the cot side down and turn my back. Just when you think you’ve done an incredible job of keeping your children safe, a split second can change everything. There’s (some) comfort in knowing I’m not alone. But still…
- B1 and B2: In happier news, thanks to the Bananas in Pyjamas, there’s been much hilarity in our house this week. Out of the blue the other night, Ella asks: “Do you know what I’m thinking, B1?’’. I responded with: “No, I don’t , darling’’ and was promptly told that wasn’t the right answer. I tried again. “Yes, I think I do, B2’’. It’s at this point we have to try and see if we’re thinking the same thing. The combinations have been absolutely ridiculous. Apart from the time we were both thinking about chocolate.
I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.
November 4, 2011
Behold the chatterbox

Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths – probably because they can't keep their mouths still long enough.

I KNOW that the visual of a woman with a telephone in one hand, head nodding, arm flailing and mouth flapping at a 100 miles an hour first starts to take shape about age one. I also know that when Zoey from GoodGoog sent out the tweet: “ The child is trying to kill me by continuous talking and never stopping EVER’’, I felt a huge amount of empathy for her.

With a one-year-old and four-year-old princess, I already have a chatterbox in each ear going from about 6.30am until 7pm EVERY day. I’ve learnt to just nod and say “that’s nice, darling’’ every minute and a half. Although, that often fails because every second sentence from the four year old is often a question.

The following incident then happened yesterday, which I know just reinforced my fate.

Princess Ella trailed behind me as I took Little Holly into the nursery for her morning nap. Ella knows she’s not allowed in there while I’m trying to put her to bed. She usually only hypes her sister up by singing and playing peek-a-boo, none of which help Holly settle.

On this day, instead of leaving when I asked, she popped herself up into the feeding chair and began the following dialogue:

“I’m a big girl now, aren’t I, Mum? I’m allowed in here, because I can be really quiet, can’t I, Mum? I won’t say anything. See? I’m being quiet. I’m a good girl.’’ And it went on.

I rest my case.

Do you have chatterboxes? What are your coping mechanisms?

Linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.

October 28, 2011
The not so Happy Birthday
Yes, that's Christmas paper. Like she's going to notice!

I KNOW I’ve had a right faeces of a week. Monday was meant to be all about celebrating Baby Holly’s first birthday. That point where I softly kiss goodbye to our dependent li’l bub and embrace a fully fledged toddler who’s ready to begin along a new path in life.

Sweet music was meant to play, princesses were meant to dance around the room and there was supposed to be lots of cake. Cake with pink icing. And I planned to talk about this gorgeous pop-up version of Guess How Much I Love You?

*INSERT screeching noise from old record player… or car breaks (whatever takes your fancy)*

Instead, enter skin that looks like it’s baked in the sun for four hours, chins dribblier than a cow chewing its cud for the fourth time and 4am starts to the day. Yes, welcome to Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. And before you do the “shock-horror’’ face, it has nothing to do with cows (I don’t know how many times I’ve repeated those words this week). And don’t fret, I won’t gross you out with photos of the blisters. But here’s her hands holding her birthday bracelet instead.

Here’s what I know about Hand Foot and Mouth Disease:
- It’s a mild viral illness, which includes slight fever, loss of appetite (never in this house!) and blisters on the hands, feet and mouth.
- There’s a 3-5 day incubation period.
- It’s spread through contact with the fluid in the blisters (ewww) or their faeces (double ewww).
- The blisters are infectious for as long as there is fluid in them and the faeces remain infectious for several weeks.
- No treatment is required. You basically have to allow the blisters to dry naturally (easier said than done when fingers are in mouths to help ease teething pain).
- Princess Ella and I have become slightly obsessive about hand washing.
- Bonjela (or as we call it, Bon Jovi minus the big hair) goes a long way in easing the pain of the blisters and ulcers in their mouth. They can also get a sore mouth a few days before the ulcers appear.
- The blisters on their hands and feet don’t appear to bother them.
- Someone suggested icy poles are also a good remedy for little ones who refuse to eat or drink.
Top this all off with the fact the groceries I’d ordered from Woollies online arrived yesterday – full of use-by-as-soon-as-you-can items for Holly’s birthday party. The party which has been postponed a week. I know we’ll be eating well this week.

NB: This information was gained from a leaflet provided by childcare and tweets and Facebook messages from fellow mums. Please, consult a health professional for expert advice.

Linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.
October 7, 2011
SHED: Boo you, Dad

“Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,’’ she said. I know you haven’t lived as a father until you have been booed relentlessly by your own three-year-old daughter.

She wasn’t mucking around either. “Boooooooooooooooooooo,’’ said Princess Ella in the back seat of the car. The boos were loud and continuous and in fact lasted from the time I picked her up from childcare till the time we went up the driveway at home. I’m not even exactly sure where she learned to boo.

Okay, explanation. Ella had been looking forward to her little sister, Baby Holly, spending some time with her at childcare. You see, as Holly’s nearly one, we’re slowly introducing her to childcare with an eventual view to her spending at least one day a week there.

Doing my bit, I dropped Ella off at childcare in the morning and travelled to my workplace in another city, while Princess Kel was to take Holly in later. Hours later I got a call from a frantic Kel, who’d been searching the house high and low for her car keys, only to then discover I’d taken both sets with me inadvertently.

A decision was made and due to my work commitments, Holly would not be going into childcare that day and was housebound. Needless to say, Ella was less than impressed when I explained to her what had happened on picking her up from childcare. “Booooooooooooooooooooooo,’’ she said. Yep, dad was in the poo with both mother and daughter.

Ella is immensely proud of her sister and loves to show her off to her friends at childcare and she was clearly upset dad had ruined her chance at gloating. Therefore, I know I deserved the “boooooooooooooooooo’’. Oh well, I know it probably won’t be the last time I deserve it.

Have you ever been booed by your children? Or worse?

Linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.

September 30, 2011
Adjusting more than just the cows to daylight savings: a plan for children

Bring on daylight savings! We're all tired of getting up with the rabbits.

THIS time every year the farmers start complaining about the cows getting grumpy and mums get grumpy about the kids complaining they’re tired. Yes, welcome to the wonderful world of daylight savings.

If you’re like us and have a bird sitting on the window sill at 5am whistling to the tune of Wake Up Jeff, you’ll know daylight savings couldn’t come quick enough. Last night we started on the path to gently adjusting Baby Holly and Princess Ella’s body clocks for daylight savings, which this year happens at 2am on Sunday.

Since Ella was born, we’ve used this guide and it’s worked for us – from babyhood to preschool age. So I thought I’d share our (mind numbingly) simple plan for those who have never had a plan or end up going stir crazy because their overtired children turn feral for the next two months. If it works for the cows, why not. If you have teenagers, sorry, but you’re alone on that one!

You can adapt this to your child’s bedtime if it isn’t usually 7pm. Also consider moving their dinner time earlier by 15 minutes each night as well. This can be used at the end of daylight saving too, by putting children to bed later.

Here’s the bedtime plan:

Tuesday: 7pm

Wednesday: 6.45pm

Thursday: 6.30pm

Friday: 6.15pm

Saturday: 6pm

Sunday: 6pm – the children are already adjusted

If you missed last night, that’s OK. You’ll still be on track if you start tonight. The key to all of this, of course, is to be organised and expect to be SUPER tired this week. Unless you have a live-in nanny. Yeah, right.

Do you transition your children in the lead up to daylight saving? What are your tips?

Read more sleep tips in the Sleep Challenge.

September 29, 2011
The Wonder Week: Wake me when it’s over
Baby Holly during a sunny period.

WITH so much interest in The Wonder Weeks, I thought I’d continue posting as Baby Holly passes through each fussy period. Besides, it’s so easy to write about a Wonder Week when you’re in the midst of a sunny period. Yes, I’m SUPER thankful for that.

To be frank, the last Wonder Week – Wonder Week 46 – was, well … let’s just say I gained a further three grey hairs. So forgive me if I didn’t feel like posting about it at the time. You may well have seen quite a bit of colourful language going on if I had. Just call me Joan Rivers, minus the facelift.

The three Cs – cranky, clingy and crying – were out in force. We went through some major separation anxiety, which didn’t help her start to childcare. Try leaving the room when she’s stapled to your leg. Things have settled down now. Again, thankful for that.

Week 46 is all about The World of Sequences. It’s about how things fit and belong together. For example, they know the spoon has to go in the bowl and then into their mouth. Instead, it tends to catapult from the spoon to the wall for a new Weetbix wallpaper finish.

The seventh developmental stage is called The World of Sequences. And no, that’s not the stuff you put around the ruffles on your fuschia-coloured skirt. Following it, Baby Holly is now:
- Pointing at what she wants and is babbling more than ever. More words are emerging, including “sister’’ and “Mum’’ (yay!).
- Is able to take the spoon from my hand and place it in her mouth. She has been able to feed herself finger food for some time now.
- Fills bath containers with water and then pours them out. Or throws them at her sister, which ends in tears – always.
- Learning to stack her ring stacker and can see her processing how to stack blocks.
- Becoming more game when walking from one piece of furniture to the next and letting go more often as she begins to learn to stand unassisted.
- When giving her a horsey ride on my foot, she bends her knees, aiming to jump higher off the floor.
- Tries to climb steps – and everything else. Heaven help us!
- Participates more in peek-a-boo and gets excited when playing hide-and-seek with her sister.
- Imitates a lot of what I do, including brushing her teeth and hair. If only she had some hair.
- Blows hot food before eating it. Picture it: it’s cute. Add to that her newfound love of big pash kisses.
- Claps her hands at the end of songs, when we say “yay’’ to anything and when others clap.
Here’s what we’re doing to help her development during Wonder Week 46:
- Getting her to watch (and help) with household chores. She stands up at the dishwasher while I unpack it, helps put the ironed clothes away (OK, so she throws them across the room) and watches me make the bed.
- Encourage her to use a spoon (despite how utterly messy it is).
- Naming objects, such as body parts (especially when dressing) and objects. She’s already mastered quite a few. It’s always followed by hand clapping.
- Singing movement songs, including Incy Wincy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle (she loves twinkling her fingers) and Pat-a-cake (she now claps her hands – in fact, she claps her hands at everything).
- Hide an object under another object (box, material etc) and get her to find it. She also likes lift-the-flap books and plain old peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek.
- Toys have included Ella’s rocking horse, balls, stacking blocks and rings and animal picture books (especially lift-the-flap books where she can lift the flap herself).
At the end of this Wonder Week, we feel like she’s now able to communicate with us easier. I feel like she’s really turning into a toddler. Although, I’m not sure I’m ready for that.

I’ve already posted about Week 26, provided a copy of the Wonder Week chart, reviewed the book and had author Frans Plooij guest post. There’s more about the new expanded version of the book on the official Wonder Week site. But to learn more about the Wonder Weeks themselves, buy the book on Book Depistory OR on Amazon.

What are your tips for dealing with a cranky, crying and clingy baby?

Please note, some of the above are affiliate links. I only support those products and services which I have full trust in.
September 22, 2011