Babies Born June 2006 #50

[AmandaJ]

Hi all didn't even notice the new thread, doh, but I'm here now. Well the kids had a stomach bug last week which I ended up getting as well so wasn't to happy with that but we're all better now. Cody will most probably only have a family only party as well as a cake a mothers group, other then that not much else.

Talking of parties at Hungry Jacks, I had Kailen's 5th birthday there and will be having Lockie's 6th birthday there this year, it's quite good and no mess as well as I will be getting close to popping this one so don't want to do to much stress wise.

Cody is starting to talk really well now and says thank you all the time it's sounds so cute the way that he says it, I just can't believe how quickly this past two years has gone, it's just flown by. He's just become a really little boy now and a real daddy's boy, which DH loves, he always wants a shower with daddy and as soon as daddy's home it's daddy, daddy daddy.

Bath yay on the pub crawl.

Mel that soup sounds yummy, I've made some pea and ham last week and it went down a treat.

Ali glad that Liam is finally settling into a routine and making life that little bit easier, and how nice of that man to compliment Tori's manners, well done.

Nic has your dad finally got somewhere after been stuffed around by the specialist? I hope he is going well and starts his treatment soon.

Hi Maya and Jess

hugs xoxo

[nickers]

hi all,

we had the final inspection of the house today and i pick up the keys tomorrow!!
we will have a busy 2 months getting as much done to it as possible before we move in. i posted some pics on facebook recently.

my dad finally saw the specialist this week. Looks like he will give radiation treatment a go.
it last for 7weeks and there will only be an 18% chance it will work.
due to him having such a great operation and them not being able to 100% pinpoint where the cells are it only gives a small percentage they will be zapping the right spot.
If he did nothing they estimate he would have 5-6yrs left. Even after the radiation he may still only have that amount of time left, but we will take that road after the treatment.
looking about starting it in about 3weeks. (they go away next week for 2 weeks)

Ali- i bet my neice talks similar to Tori. although she is a second child so sure she picked up her early speaking skills from her older sister. I'm struggling with nixon and his manners atm.
I always encourgae him to say please and thank you (or even Ta) and he just wont say it.
if i hold onto soemthing and wait for him to say it he ends up trying to pull it from me and screaming..... got any tips??
i know when he starts to speak better it may become a little easier for him but i am sure he understands but just wont say it.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Nic, I wouldn't force the issue of P's and Q's - well, I'm not, anyway. I just make sure I model the words I would like him to use, so often he'll say something that is supposed to be 'thankyou', and we haven't made any inroads to 'please' yet - it's hit and miss with this 'thankyou' as it is. The concepts can be out of their depth at this age, so I've decided not to create a complex about it, and I don't want to shame him by forcing him to say 'please' before getting something, or extracting a 'thankyou' out of him when I or someone else gives him something. 'Manners' are so arbitrary the concept of gratitude quite lofty, so if kids have their P's and Q's at this age, it's not because they are any more or less grateful than those who don't At any rate, it doesn't make them rude, so don't stress!

[*Ali*]

Nic- Pete and I just made sure we always used our P & Q's when talking to each other, especially when Tori was in hear shot. If Tori would ask for a drink, I would always add Please mum on the end so she got the concept. I didn't really push too much, Pete was a little more insistant- but I think because she talks so well it was like a natural step for her, she is basically talking in sentences. I agree with Maya though, it is like anything else if you push it too much it becomes the old battle of wills.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Ali - I have always been impressed by Tori's sentences! Can't remember if I mentioned it, though, so here it is, just in case! Yep, I can imagine that with her aptitude for speech, modelling manners would come so easily to her, I'd be proud, too
At uni again. Oscar was the most relaxed ever about me leaving. Didn't want Babu, wanted to read the digger book instead! He easily said 'bye bye, see ya' and watched me leave! Boo hoo for me...mainly cos I'm going to be very full in the milk department come 4 o'clock...
Nic - that's a good prognosis for life expectancy that your dad has. He has time to be a figure in his grandkids' lives, and the ones he doesn't meet can hear all about him from Nix, Tyron and your sister's kids It's a good idea to get some stories from his life recorded on DVD or CD, or written down. My MIL got cracking on her memoirs when FIL passed away. It just reminded her that she has stories to tell and life throws curly ones that mean stories are lost forever. My grandmother was illiterate and they don't have fancy recording devices over where my mum's family lives, so it's all oral now, whatever's left. Radiation is hard work, and your dad has an ace family to see him through - I mean, you're his daughter, he's got a head start!
Ok, better justify childcare fees here...

[Bathsheba]

Nic: Yep, what Maya and Ali said, they mimic what they hear. Does your DH say his P's and Q's all the time? Even when you are just passing the salt? Little ones pick up on this kinda stuff. At least this is one area I don't have to worry about... my kids are all very well mannered but I've put it down to the way DH and I say please and thankyou habitually for every little thing... I pass him the remote, he says "thanks"... He opens a door for me I say "thanks"... so Niall just copies us automatically... it's not because he's grateful (like Maya said, he's too young to understand gratitude) but because he thinks that's just what you do when something is exchanged or done for you. ETA: this is why littlies sometimes say "Ta" when they are giving you something... even though it's not the way you do it they know that saying "ta" is a part of the exchange process even though they don't know why.

[Roryrory]

Hi girls! I am being naughty and taking time out from my work day to finally say hello. I have been lurking and reading and realised this made me feel like I was still part of the dialogue whereas in reality you didn't know I was here lol!! Ah well, enough prattle!

Nic, my DH is really big on please and thankyou and it is due to his efforts (and willingness to have head-to-head battles with Flynn) which has led to Flynn saying please and thanks all the time (to the extent that he says "cuddle please" when he cries). He doesn't have a clue what it means but just parrots it, just like saying "sorry" whenever he crash-tackles Ollie. Poor kid is so used to saying "sorry Ollie" that whenever we reprimand him he says "sorry Ollie". Sorry and P and Qs really don't sink in til much later so all you can do now is start teaching "conventions" rather than the feelings behind it.

I am finding it so hard to juggle everything at the moment. I so want our place to be clean and look nice, and for the boys to be well fed and have clean clothes, and to catch up with friends regularly, and to get to the gym 3-4 times a week, and to read novels for my bookclub, and to remember to cleanse and moistrurise every day, and to spend quality time in the evenings with DH and to work on my career as much as possible! It is all too much! DH has NEARLY finished his masters, and so we are about to begin the slow process of handing over running the house to him, but I really don't know how I am going to let go! I mean, there is a birthday party he needs to go to on Monday with the kids - will it ever get to the stage that I can trust that he will (a) remember the party, and (b) buy a present and have it wrapped in time? I know it will, but getting there is so hard and trusting the path which leads there is difficult, IYKWIM. I think deep down I think I can still (and want to) do all the things a SAHM does and work full time, so I am resisting it and feeling bad. I am stressing about Ollie and feeding too - I am still expressing at work but it is a battle to produce enough, and the days I am home (when I should be topping up my expressing) I am so busy doing all the other things that I feel I am neglecting his EBM production. He had 2 bottles of formula while I was away a few weeks ago and I feel terrible about that (stupid I know!) but I just can't get out of my head the thought that I have failed him by not making sure he had 100% BM.

I am ramnling!! It really isn't that bad - life is good at the moment and the boys and DH and I are happy, but sometimes when I stop and think about all I have to do (or THINK I have to do) I get overwhelmed. DH keeps telling me to stop being a martyr and speak to him abot how we can both share the load but my "control freak" side takes over LOL!

Better get to work - nice chatting to you. girls

[Smoke Jaguar]

Ha, Rory! My DP tells me to stop being a martyr in that he DOESN'T want me to tell him when I'm running thin on fuel...I think he needs revision on what a martyr is...!!
Yep, I'm procrastinating again, better go for real!