Long overdue haircut

Bug is getting his hair cut today. I'm hoping he cooperates. I can't remember when he last had it cut so it's rather long. He always looks so grown up when his hair is shorter.

Just a quick one for now since I need to get us ready!

You know you're a mummy when...

... you're excited about poo!!

Seriously!!

This afternoon Bug used his potty rather than asking for a nappy!! Excellent. Looks like this is the best approach to have. No pressure for my little boy and no stress for me. Just letting him lead the way. Well done little Bug!!

Potty Training [6]

I had to double check if this was the 6th potty training entry. 

Still not potty trained. Still plodding along and asking for his potty when he feels he needs it. One thing is that he won't do a poo in his potty. My mum was looking after him on Friday night, while I took my sister out to the shops, and he needed the toilet but cried and cried until my mum put a nappy on him. This happened before as well. I'd even tried leaving the room, because he's now at the stage where he won't fill his nappy unless he's alone, but he still refused to use the potty. I'm sure we'll get to that stage, just slowly.

Happy Birthday L!!

Happy first birthday to my lovely, youngest nephew. A whole year already. I can't believe it!

Ramblings

It's my nephew L's birthday tomorrow. I cannot believe he is going to be a whole year old already. It doesn't feel like a year ago that my sister was having noticeable contractions while saying she's not in labour!! Denial anyone?! A whole year. Wow. 

I've already got his birthday present. It was a leapfrog toy my sister wanted for him. I've still to personalise it but I'll do that tonight. Cutting it close aren't I? From what I remember personlising leapfrog toys doesn't take that long. 

Tonight I'm doing a bit of shopping with my sister. Just so she can get some last minutes things for tomorrow. I think she is wanting to get a number one balloon for L. He loves balloons. All the boys do. I'm not sure if she's wanting to get a plain cake or anything. I'm sure she'll give me instructions about where we're going when I pick her up. 

I need to remember and go to the drs for my prescription after work. If I pick it up I can put it in at the pharmacy later on. I just wanted to have it since it's a bank holiday on Monday and I wasn't sure how much I had left. It's my antidepressants that I've to stay on until January 2013. I didn't want to risk taking a few days break if I ran out. 

My annual leave is just eight days away now! Five shifts left until I'm off work for two wonderful weeks. I can't wait. I know I was off for four months at the start of the year but any time away from there is a good thing. 

Anyway, I should run so I can finish getting organised for work. I'm sure I'll be needing petrol as well. What a shocker! My car is always looking for petrol, or so it seems anyway. Since I've just been paid today I think I'll just fill the tank and then see how long it lasts me, rather than filling up here and there.

Christmas ticker

How scary is this?

 

I thought since my annual leave ticker will have completed very soon I should add another one. This one might motivate me to get organised.  

I'm really looking forward to my annual leave from work. September felt like so far away when I went back to work at the end of June and now it's only one week and two days away. 

Potty Training [5]

Another potty training one. I'll need to write a better update at some point. 

Potty training continues. Going well. Even at the childminders on Monday and Tuesday Bug was asking to use the potty. Still just pee pee's, he won't do anything else on the potty, still insists to use his nappy for that. I'm not concerned at all. I'm thinking once he is more confident with pee pee's then the rest will come. I'm still taking the no pressure and lots of praise approach. Whenever he uses the potty he still cheers and shouts good boy. My clever little man!! 

We're getting there!

Potty Training [4]

Potty usage continues...

This morning I changed Bug out his pyjamas and into daytime clothes. I also changed his nappy. About an hour later without any prompting he was pulling at his trousers and asked to use his potty. His nappy was completely dry!! Same routine of pee pee, cheering/praise from us both and then flushing the toilet. I think it's the flushing the toilet he gets most excited about. 

Really pleased that he'd remembered first thing this morning about his nappy. My clever little boy.

Potty Training [3]

Ahhh another potty entry. 

This morning Bug asked for my hand and said he needed to pee pee on the potty. Clever boy! Once he did he gave himself a cheer and a big clap. I gave him lots of praise. Then he wanted to empty it into the toilet and flush, which we done. Two minutes later we repeated. Another two minutes we repeated it again. 

I put his nappy back on. A few hours later he asked for the potty again (he did have a wet nappy in between). He then went for a nap and when he woke up he played outside and when he came in he had a dirty nappy. He knows when he needs the toilet because he leaves the room and if I walk in he says mummy go away. Once I'd cleaned him up I kept his nappy off (mostly because he didn't want a nappy on), since he'd already had a dirty nappy and had been doing so well peeing on his potty I wasn't too worried. It was off for about two hours without any accidents and few actual pee pee's (that we flushed!). 

I'm so proud and he's doing so well. I'm just going to keep following his lead with it. No pressure. I think after a few days of nappy free time in the afternoon I'll start encouraging him to use his potty instead of having a dirty nappy. Again, no pressure, if he isn't too happy I'll leave it a bit longer. 

I have every confidence he'll get there in his own time, just as he's done with everything else.

You're not a single mother...

I really need to stay off parenting forums. Just because your husband works full time during the week does not mean that Monday-Friday you're a single mother. Seriously, it doesn't. I'm a single mother. It's just me, all the time. I don't mean this to sound so negative but the only break I get is when I go to work. What do you think happens when I have a migraine and can just about stumble to the bathroom to throw up? It's business as usual. I'm not saying people in relationships don't get ill, of course they do, but I'd imagine once your partner got in from work if you needed to lie down or whatever then you'd have that option.

Anyway it really annoyed me. I don't expect anything since I chose this. I knew I was going to be a single mother from four weeks pregnant. Obviously I'd not change my now two year old for the world but it still irritates me when people say things like that. 

I think I've finishing whining... for now.

Fighting Sleep

Bug still has a nap most afternoons. There are some times when he won't nap and it just results in a very grumpy, overtired boy. I'm not when he'll stop taking a nap but for the time being I still feel he needs it so when he's getting tired I'll encourage him to nap. He still sleeps well at night, generally 6:30/7pm to 6:30/7am. This afternoon he was fighting sleep. I asked him to get bear and honey bear (his two teddy bears he has to have with him) and we'll go for a nap. He happily went upstairs to his room but wouldn't settle. I brought him back downstairs. Twenty minutes later he was crying and asking for a nap. This time he wasn't as happy going upstairs but was asleep within minutes of me walking back downstairs. My sleepy boy clearly needed a nap. 

My son used to be terrible for fighting sleep when he was a baby. I didn't sleep more than two hour blocks until he was 16 months old! Of course my son was worth every minute of being shattered but I couldn't imagine going back to it. There were nights when he just refused to sleep. I'd try everything. Long breastfeed to sleep, long walk in the pram, drive in the car and I even bought a swing with a vibrate option. My little boy must have been too scared he was going to miss something. 

It wasn't planned but I did end up co-sleeping to a extent. Only because it reached the point where I physically and mentally couldn't sit up any longer. I had to lie down so I lay my son down beside me and a lot of time he would eventually fall asleep. Only for the two hour blocks I mentioned earlier but two hours is two hours! I'm sure anyone who has experienced looking after a baby will agree you need to take all the sleep you can get. 

I'm so glad my son sleeps well now. I always feel for my friends when they remind me of the sleepless nights. 

It's worth it and it does get better.

Potty Training [2]

Potty training [2] aka later that same day... 

Just a quick update. Only one more success on the potty today. Just before bath time. In all honesty Bug has the cold so I'm pleased how he's doing on the potty considering he's not himself.

Potty Training

 I'm sure there will be plenty of posts of potty training.

A few months ago Bug showed an interest in the potty. It didn't last long but I did continue asking if he needed to use the potty. When he's at the childminders she also asks him if he needs to use the potty. It wasn't actively training him, more trying to get him used to it. 

Last night Bug asked to use the potty so I helped him get the potty out and take his nappy off etc. He sat on the potty but didn't do anything. 

This morning he came to get me and said he needed to do a pee pee on the potty. This time he did pee pee and when he looked in the potty he gave himself a big cheer. Then I cheered for him. Clever boy. He then wanted to flush his pee pee down the toilet (with my help). Once we'd done that he asked again and, again, he cheered when he seen he'd done a pee pee. Clever boy. He was excited he got to flush the toilet again. 

I asked him to tell mummy (or nanny, since she's looking after him today while I'm at work) when he needs his potty. 

Just going to take it slow, no pressure and see how he gets on.

Screaming toddler

The screaming. It's over silly things and really hard to listen to. Today, we were in the garden, Bug was climbing on a chair. I asked him to stop. Explained he could hurt himself. Climbing continued. I removed chair because I was worried he was going to fall and hit his head on the concrete ground. Screaming begins. Really high pitched, window shattering, screaming. I think I'd be able to handle his toddler tantrums if it weren't for the screaming. It's the screaming that stresses me out in the middle of a shopping centre. All eyes are on us... me.

Back Online

I'm back online after almost a week of my home broadband being down. I don't think it would have been as frustrating if they gave an accurate resolution time. First the resolution time was Friday morning, then Friday afternoon, then Monday morning (obviously don't work over the weekend!!), then Tuesday morning, then Tuesday afternoon, then Tuesday evening and we're finally back online this morning. Finally. I'm sure now that it's back I won't bother with it but while it was down I really wanted to get online. I could have used my phone, or my tablet, but the touch screen drives me crazy!! I do like my phone and tablet for browsing but I don't like typing anything longer than a tweet on either of them. 

My throat hurts. When I took my AD this morning it got stuck in my throat, made me panic, but managed to cough it up. Nice. Now my throat is sore, probably from the hard, panicked cough. I see more cups of tea in the near future. 

Bug is wonderful, as always, but rather naughty at the moment. The so-called terrible two's started before he was two but I'm telling myself this pushing boundary, screaming stage won't last forever. It's not as though there are tantrums/meltdowns all day long, just here and there. On Sunday I had to go up to Next to change a pair of jeans and at one point Bug was lying on the floor, screaming, kicking his legs, you know, the complete tantrum package. I just ignore anyone staring. When my son is having a tantrum there is nothing I can do. If I pick him up he'll scream louder and start throwinghis head back, nine times out of ten when he does that he'll hit me in the face, ouch, so I don't try to lift him anymore. Just give him a few minutes and he calms down. 

It's a lovely day today so will be good to at least get out in the garden to play.

Hello August

How is it August already?! Ok I know it normally follows July but this year has been so fast. 

Bug was back at the childminders on Monday and he was delighted to see her. I'm so glad we have a wonderful childminder. On Tuesday he wasn't too impressed when I came to pick him up, after work, because he was having so much fun on the trampoline. There were plenty of tears, kicking the legs, screaming, etc.. The childminder made a joke about it being good he's not like that when I drop him off! Very true. 

I was off work today (excellent) but we didn't get out much, apart from a run in the car, because it's been miserable. Lots of heavy rain. What happened to the summer? I must have blinked and missed it. I'm off work again tomorrow so I'm hoping it's a bit nicer so we can get out. Even if it's just in the garden! We did have some fun today. Playing with lego, by playing I mean Bug asking me to build things and then destroying them. He absolutely loves drawing, with anything, crayons, pencils, pens, a black ball point pen from my bag! We were drawing for a while. Anything I drew got drawn over (of course)!! Bug is so good with his colours. He's such a clever little boy. 

This morning he slept in until 7:45am!! This is the latest I've slept since 2009! Towards the end of my pregnancy SPD made sleeping hard work, combine that with my bladder being squished and I was up at 6am most mornings. While I did enjoy the sleep in this morning I do think it might have messed up his naps. He napped earlier (strange) and not as long as usual. This meant by around 4pm he wasn't happy, lots of tantrums over little things and then wanting to go to bed at 5pm. I kept him up until 6:30pm when he happily went to bed. I wonder what time we'll be up at tomorrow. 

Last week I started Christmas shopping (seriously). It was only a present for my mum I ordered but it's still a start. My nephew, L, is one the end of this month so my sister mentioned she wanted a leapfrog thing so I ordered that this afternoon. I can't believe he's going to be one year old already. I'm glad I have a present sorted and didn't get the usual get him whatever you want suggestion. I'd rather get him something my sister wants for him or something he needs instead of a toy for the sake of it. At least this is a learning one. 

Speaking of toys, I really need to sort through my son's toys. There are so many of them, they're taking over. I'll need to mentally note what ones he doesn't play with. Some of them he won't bother with for weeks and then suddenly he won't put them down. They're everywhere. 

Since it's relatively late I think I'll leave this year and go relax a bit before bed. I'm still not sleeping that well but I'll write about that another day.