Rebekah

Vehicles

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:53:04 GMT

Connor is obsessed with vehicles and this week I've taught him a new one in the 'Moving House' book.

Dummies and Guns

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:32:22 GMT

There were two stories in the news today that interested me.

The first is about the boy who was imprisoned for three years after his father found bullets in his son's room and called the police. The police found a handgun in the bedroom and arrested him for possession of a weapon.

I know that this could very well be a contentious point, but with so many stories in the news about kids who have been killed in the street with a gun or a knife I think it's a good thing that this father has done.

It must have been an awful decision for him to have to make but how awful would he have felt if he'd known about the gun and his son had killed someone? All too often we blame parents for their child's failings but this father is fighting back. He said that he had no regrets but "would think for longer, knowing what I know now. I only found ammo - I didn't know the weapon was there and I didn't know he was facing five years. Of course there's guilt that he will be locked up for so long and I feel sorry for him."

The judge sounds like a sensible man too. The minimum sentence for possession of a firearm is five years in prison but Judge Christopher Cornwall took into account the fact his father informed police - the defence argued a longer sentence might otherwise deter other public-spirited parents.

I only hope that I am never in the situation where I have to make the same sort of decision!

The second story is the one in which scientists believe there is a link between the dummy and ear infections. Parents of infants who are prone to ear infections should avoid using a dummy. This is based on a large study of dutch children which found that the dummy doubled the risk of recurrent ear infections.

I suppose that this makes sense considering how interconnected the ear, nose and throat are. The dummy could allow bacteria to more easily migrate from secretions in the nose to the middle ear. I had ear infection after ear infection as a child and three sets of grommets to try to cure the problem. I didn't have a dummy but I was a big thumb sucker- so much so that my left thumb was noticeably smaller than my right. I wonder if the same is true for the thumb as the dummy! Something for you Mum's with ear ache prone children to think about anyway :)

I take it back!

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:22:54 GMT

My son isn't a fussy eater at all :) I watched the programme that LisaMarie brought to my attention on ITV tonight called 'My child won't eat' and I will never say that Connor is a fussy eater again (I hope). I found the programme really interesting and am going to start a commentary in the forums incase anyone else did but here's a summary;

There were four children under the care of a doctor called Gillian Harris.

Aron is a 3.5 year old that only drinks milk. When he was weaning solid food made him violently sick and as a result his Mother is terrified of giving him solid food. He drinks milk and that's all. Aron sleeps at bottom of bed, has two night feeds and a nappy change. I was not surprised that Dad was not happy.

Advice:

Take milk away at tea time and offer him food that he will eat. Aron ate fish fingers and chips.
Go on an outing that will build an appetite and give him food. Aron chose a jumbo hotdog at bowling alley.
Leave him at preschool at lunchtime Aron ate with pupils at school and without fuss.

Bobby is 2.5 and he won't eat lumps or hot food. At the start of the show he was basically eating yogurt at every meal.

Advice:

Give Bobby what they know he’ll eat- biscuits etc. This will keep the weight stable and then introduce food slowly. At nursery he was eating his dinner and even asked for more. This was because his parents were getting upset and he was picking up on that anxiety but at nursery he was left to eat along, and was watching other kids and copying. He started to try new foods at home too.

Rachel is 12 years old and only eats chocolate and crisps. She is healthy and doesn't get ill. She was beginning to feel the peer pressure and wanted to be 'normal'.

Advice:

Set own target. Rachel decided to eat toast first. Before she ate it she was taught some relaxation techniques of blowing bubbles and going to the happy place.

Kayleigh only ate Mcdonalds because she thought that everything else was poisoned.

Advice:

Give her Mcdonalds and introduce food slowly. It took 3 years, introducing one new food as she felt ready.

Those poor parents thought that they were being bad parents because they weren't providing a balanced diet but the more they tried the more damage they were doing.

Suddenly Connor only wanting to eat sweetcorn and peas at dinner time doesn't seem so bad since he eats well at breakfast and lunch.

The programme also mentioned that all 2 year olds go through a fussy eating phase so that is reassuring. I guess it's all part of the setting boundaries, learning about themselves fun that is the terrible twos.

If anyone else watched why not chat about it in the forum here.

Funny fussy eater part 2 and the power of the duvet!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:27:03 GMT

In an attempt to get Connor to eat more than sweetcorn and peas for dinner last night I made him pizza with sweetcorn on it. Can you guess what happened??? Yep, he picked each piece of sweetcorn off and ate that. He ate maybe two bites of pizza and then asked to get down :) Then he woke at 5:18am telling me that he was hungry- grrrr. Tonight he ate egg and soldiers and the option of veg was not there! Fingers crossed for tomorrow morning.

Connor has recently gone from the bathroom each night and climbed up in the guest bed, got under the covers and said 'my bed'. There is no way that I'm letting him in a bed just yet as I'm not convinced that he would stay there when he didn't want to nap or sleep though. Tonight I left him reading his books and playing in his cot as he didn't seem all that tired. After about half an hour he was crying and didn't seem to be letting up. Up until now he's been sleeping on a duvet and has a child's pillow but I went in with an adult size pillow, tucked him under the duvet and told him he was having a big boys bed. He looked so chuffed and he settled straight down. What goes on in that little head!? :)

Funny fussy eater.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:17:38 GMT

My son has turned in to a fussy eater. I usually give him some meat or fist, some carbs of some type and veg. The last three nights he has eaten the veg. and left all the rest. If I try to feed him some of the other food on his plate after he's pushed it away, he spits it out as if I've tried to give him dust. His favourite seems to be sweetcorn and peas which he likes to watch balancing on his spoon and tries so hard not to spill any. Perhaps that's it! Perhaps he likes the challenge. I'm hoping that this phase ends soon though so that the balanced diet can start again. Strange child of mine.

Obsessed with sleep? Who? Me?

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:13:47 GMT

You may think that I am absolutely obsessed with my son and his sleep. You'd be right. But you would be too if it had been such a major issue for so long :)

Anyway, four unusual things have happened this week and I want to know what's changed.

1. Connor goes to bed without crying in the evening.

2. Connor has woken up at 7am (not 5.30am) for the last two mornings.

3. Connor has gone for his nap without crying.

4. Connor has woken up and called for me instead of crying.

The only thing that's changed is that he now has two teddies in his bed as far as I can tell. It's so strange, but I like it!

Oldie but goodie

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:56:22 GMT

I have spent the last two days working in the garden. I have to admit that I haven't done anything other than mow the lawn in the back since we moved here two years ago so you can imagine what it's like, or was like should I say. My arms are covered in stings and scratches and I ache all over!

Connor only slept for an hour today and when he woke up he was still obviously tired. I didn't want to stop work in the garden to let him sleep in my arms though as storms were forecast and as I came down stairs I noticed the swing chair that I'd got out of the loft to lend to a friend. Connor is still quite small and seems to be able to make himself more small when he feels like it so I thought it was worth a try. Here he is 2007 in the chair the first time around.

The Fisher Price Fisher-Price Linkadoos Takealong Swingchair is available from Toy R Us and we used it quite a lot when he was little. When I put him in it today he wrapped the blanket around himself and dozed next to me whilst I carried on gardening. It was great. I didn't have to worry about him and what he was doing because he was right next to me, and I didn't have to keep stopping to go and push him in his big swing because the chair swings itself. Fantastic! Now I'm thinking what other toys we have that I can revisit.

Sorry Gill but you're not getting the chair just yet :)

3 hours!!!

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:20:02 GMT

Today I put Connor in his cot at 1pm. He cried momentarily and then settled down to sleep. At 4pm I had to wake him up. A 3 hour nap in his cot, without major complaints, and he probably would have slept on. I won't know what to do with myself ;) On the flip side, he really didn't want to go to bed at 7pm and made a big fuss- lots of noise. I think perhaps 1pm was a bit late to put him down.

A calmer crèche experience

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:50:44 GMT

I've been taking Connor to the crèche at the gym since the New Year. He sobbed when I left him for about the first month, and then first he and then I was ill and we didn't go. Then all of a sudden about three weeks ago, he didn't cry when I left him. I was concerned that since we'd not been for a couple of weeks that good work would have been undone but this morning he watched me go and didn't cry! When I came back he waved hello and carried on chasing a girl around to give her a kiss. It's so nice that I don't have to worry about him now. I can concentrate on my work out. I'm enjoying every new stage more and more.

I still can't believe how much he's understanding. This morning I was looking for my keys in my bag in the kitchen and when they weren't there, I called down to him in the hallway 'Connor are my keys in the drawer' and he opened the drawer and took the keys out! I was surprised but in a pleasant way. It just reminds me how careful I have to be now though. They are so impressionable and take in so much.

Connor is telling me all the time when he wants to go to the loo now. He is resisting the potty but does sit on it occasionally with his clothes on so perhaps he's becoming more inclined again. As soon as Connor was able to lift his head up, every time we changed his nappy and before his bath we would put him on his potty. More times than not, he would use it and I never had to change a dirty nappy. Then just after Christmas he decided he didn't want to use it anymore. I didn't want to make him 'afraid' of it so I haven't pushed it but I think that we're getting nearer him being ready for potty training. I have to say that I'd rather like it to happen now, before we move house in August:)

Connor September 2007

Changes!

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:38:32 GMT

Today I've been to a friend's Son's 1st Birthday party. This is a friend that I went to school with and lost touch with until I bumped into her in the supermarket a year ago yesterday. I can't quite believe that it's been that long since we've been back in touch.

It was strange looking at Danny (the one year old) and thinking back 7 months to when Connor turned one. They change so quickly!

Every day now I notice another few words, a new colour, a new action. I'm amazed how quickly Connor's developing and how much of a personality he already has. He endears himself to people with his quick smile and enjoyment of cuddles but he knows what he wants and is so strong willed. I love how affectionate he is- blowing me kisses and coming over for cuddles.

Today Connor said 'blanket' for the first time and blew some bubbles. He's stringing words together now and although I don't always know what he's saying exactly, you get the general gist. Every word I say he pretty much copies, as if to store it away somewhere for future use. It's astonishing! I said 'green' earlier and he said 'Go, go, go' so he's already made the association between the colour green and being able to cross the road or leave the traffic lights. It's all so clever. I wish that I'd recorded every new word (and I recorded a lot!) now but I guess it would be hard.

When I looked back at him in the car mirror earlier he blew me a kiss and made my day. Every day it's a joy to see him learning. It gives me a reason to get out of bed each day :) I wonder what tomorrow will bring...?