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Dearest 23 Month Old

Nov27

Hello Toddler…we’re going on holiday!! Oh yes, after almost 2 years we are braving it and going abroad. Some (a lot) of people are saying we’re crazy to be taking a toddler on a plane but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Millions of people do it every day, right? I’m sure it’ll be ..umm…we’ll see. I’m slightly concerned you hate sand though. A week on the beach. Hmmmm.

Anyhow, you said your first 3 word sentence this month, hurrah!! It was “Look At DAT!!!”… So so cute. You don’t actually say hundreds of words so I was getting a bit worried that you might be referred for speech therapy and planning on hiding under the window when they came round for your 2 year check so was pleasantly shocked when you said it. You also like asking “What da doing??!” very regularly. You tend to just babble through, unconcerned, through any words you don’t know and just gesture wildly. It’ll probably come in use on holiday in parts they don’t speak English.

You’ve also learned how to open the most difficult doors at your Aunts house. You’ve been opening every other door in your existence for a whole now but, one day recently when we came back from watching Skyfall, we were greeted with an almighty booming declaration of “HE OPENED OUR DOORS!!”. We stopped dead in our tracks, petrified at first…then registered what was bring said. It brought back a flash of Jurassic Park. You know, that scene where the dinosaurs learn to open the doors to the kitchen and people realise they are doomed. Doomed!! (Not that you are anything like a dinosaur, you understand? Although you do regularly mess all my pots and pans up! And last week you managed to flip the lid of the cooking oil and spill 2 litres all over the floor. Do you know how hard it was to clean that up? I was sliding around 2 days later despite having mopped it repeatedly).

You’re much more confident in yourself now and show a bit more determination if someone takes a toy from you. Our stance is still very much “share share” but that secret worrying part of me now worries a bit less about your self confidence. And maybe I won’t sign you up to karate classes just yet.

We are going to have to start organising your 2nd birthday party soon!! I’ve already seen the perfect cakes. (yep there’ll be two, again!), both are Sesane street related. Actually, I should probably order both today. And maybe the decorations…and maybe all the plates and stuff too. Argggh, let the party madness commence!

So until next time baby Toddler….mmmmmwah!

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Autumn

Nov6

Autumn is meant to be beautiful. The changing colours, with all the reds and golds of nature making up the landscape. The change from long days to long evenings and the change from summer days (ahem!) to long cosy nights in front of the fire.

I actually don’t like Autumn very much. I’m not a fan of long nights and dark mornings. I much prefer the warm weather of summer and don’t really get very excited about falling leaves, or the colours or the cosy fires. I am a bit of an Autumn grinch.

There is one thing that I do look forward to at this time of year though. Something that only appears for a small period around now.

Black peas.

They seem to only surface around bonfire night for some reason even though I’m pretty sure neither Guy Fawkes nor the houses of parliament at the time had any fondness for it. The other thing about them is that I’ve only ever found them in the town I grew up. And maybe the odd surrounding town. They look and feel like normal peas but are dark in colour and have a very different taste. Best eaten with salt and vinegar it sounds a slightly disgusting food to anyone that’s not tried it.

I took this a few days ago to send to my friend that now lives in the south, mainly to remind her of what she was missing. I didn’t send it in the end, feeling slightly mean about it.

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And, if you’re wondering, they taste amazing! If anyone knows why they’re available around this time of year then I’d love to know.

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Next Time

Oct29

Little Z will be turning 2 in December and we are now starting to mull over whether it is “the right time” to have another baby. The answers lie on a very extreme spectrum of “Yes yes it is!” all the way to “No no its not!”.

There are plenty of things we are working through in our heads. Or, rather, things I am pestering the OH about. How will we balance two? Will we manage? What if it’s really hard? What about work? And sleep? And childcare? And sleep? Do we need a bigger house? And what about sleep?

What I DO know is that the second time is slightly easier in some respects because of the experience with the first. I know this because someone on Twitter said so and this is now my 2nd baby mantra. When the time comes I mean.

So, in keeping with my 2nd baby mantra, one day, in the future, these are the things will make it easier next time around:

Next time I know that labour may be long. Very very very long. Very very long.

Next time I will use the buzz thingie on my TENs machine a lot more. I may just keep it on buzz throughout.

Next time I wont be shocked at what meconium looks like. (“But it’s so sticky!!”)

Next Time I will know how to change a nappy and give baby it’s first bath. I won’t hover behind the care assistant nervously.

Next Time I know the baby won’t sleep through at 6 weeks old

Next Time I will be strong enough to tell interfering parenting police to sod off (sort off. Mostly!)

Next Time I may even duck and hide of the parenting police come round to visit. Obviously I need to train Little Z to do this too.

Next Time I will fill my freezers with meals and save myself panicking about “what will we eat?!!!” post baby for the first few weeks

Next Time I will not stress that I am feeding baby all wrong.

Next Time I won’t panic every time the baby cries.

Next Time I will try not to obsess with getting baby “into a routine”. Little Z eventually fell into one.

Next Time I will know it will be a good few weeks before things settle into a new reality.

Next Time I won’t obsess about the baby’s height and weight

Next Time I won’t force myself to baby groups if I don’t feel like going

Next Time I will get through even more box sets during those first few weeks.

Next Time I will not obsess about how little sleep I’ve had.

Next Time things will be a bit easier.

Books

Oct23

“What’s the red book?”

The morning after I’d arrived home with a 3 day old Baby Z a health visitor came knocking on my food at precisely 9am. I remember this very vividly because we’d been up for most of the night with our little party animal who had night and day confused. He’d finally given in about 6am and both the OH and I were exhausted and shocked by how much work this little bundle of joy was creating. Didn’t babies sleep at least 5 hour stretches? Little did we know.

Anyhow, the very perky health visitor was now sat in our front room talking me through various things and giving me about a hundred pamphlets and books to add to the hundred I’d already brought home with me from the hospital. SO much information. When was I going to read it all? How was I going to raise a baby? I barely had time to read it all. And I hadn’t even had a shower yet!

And she kept referring to a red book. What the hell was that? I knew I had a big green book. She shook her head.

“No, no. You should have a red book that the midwife wrote in. Did she not show you?”

I dunno. I was all high on morphine For the first day in hospital, and distracted with trying to pick out a name for Baby Z. I looked around a bit more hoping it would magically show itself. After sifting through even more papers I finally found it and she showed me the baby growth charts and explained how I could take Baby Z to clinics to get him weighed. Oooh.. Ahhh…I’d heard about this from my friends. Suddenly I was interested in what the very eccentric looking lady had to show me.

This became my favourite book during the first year of Baby Zs life. It probably still ranks in the top 3.

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The Rules According To A Toddler

Oct23

Today I sent out a pondering tweet “Toddlers seem to have their own rules for living don’t they?”

I instantly got a bunch of emphatic replies mostly shouting “Yes!!”

After careful observation of just the one toddler (mine), I think I know what the rules are.

 

1. A Toddler must run everywhere. Walking is forbidden.
2. Standing still for longer than 3 seconds is also forbidden. Run, run. Always run.
3. Holding hands is no fun. Express your contempt if this is requested. Strongly.
4. Eating any food detracts from playing time. Don’t do it.
5. Eating food from the floor is ok though. And is tastier.
6. Stamping on food and then eating makes it even better.
7. Do not let parents clothe you. They are stifling naked freedom. Protest loudly.
8. Do not let parents put clothes on either. Protest loudly.
9. The same applies to all nappy changes. Run like hell.
10. Provide hugs and lots of kisses. Only occasionally on demand if they’ve been good.
11. Say very cute things. It melts adults very quickly and keeps them distracted.
12. Never perform on demand for other people. Watch adults then laugh nervously and declare “they do it at home all the time!”.
13. No fear! Climb everything and try to jump off everything. Fear is for adults.
14. Swoon when protesting. Thrash around too. It makes you wriggly and give the adults a bit of a challenge.
15. Demand everyone joins in a song. Protest if they don’t.
16. Keep waking up the night before the Adult needs to do something important. It ensures they won’t oversleep.
17. Dance to everything in a very cute way.
18. Wave and say hello and bye bye to anyone you pass in the street. Even to the miserable buggers.
19. Demand to hold anything that looks remotely expensive. Protest loudly if you hear the word “No”.
20. The best place to sleep is in between the two Adults. Kick them often in the night to remind them you are there.
21. The iPad is yours. Demand it as soon as the Adult picks it up.
22. Say the word “Noooo!” one regular basis. About 10 times an hour.
23. Talk one day and don’t bother the next. Pointing and shouting is sufficient.
24. Say “Ove you” every so often. See number 11.