walking

Persuading a stubborn Monkey that he really should wear a hat and mittens…

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As a baba Monkey was fine with wearing hats, but he never liked wearing mittens, so last winter was hard at times as his poor fingers would get so cold! We put mittens on and he would just pull them right off. This year, he doesn’t even like hats, and definitely not mittens! I’m not too surprised as he often needs convincing about ‘new’ items of clothing. At the beginning of the summer he absolutely hated wearing sandals, but he got used to them after wearing them with socks for a while. Then, after a summer of being barefoot or just in sandals, the first time we put socks on again you can see he was thinking “and what, are those things on my feet??!” and he kicked up a fuss. It must be odd for them as their memories just don’t go that far back so even though he has worn them before, it feels like a new thing to him. He eventually got used to socks and shoes .

Monkey happily in a hat age 41/2 months

Monkey happily in a hat age 41/2 months

Monkey happily in a hat, age 9 months

Monkey happily in a hat, age 9 months

When he had to wear long sleeved tops, jumpers and thick coats he wasn’t impressed either, but he has again got used to them though he still gets cross about long sleeves sometimes.

The hat thing is also our fault a little bit, as we have been playing around putting things on our head and laughing, so he thinks that putting things on your head is silly, even when it’s a hat. So we didn’t manage to get him to wear a sun hat all summer, though occasionally sunglasses did stay on for a few minutes at a time!

Anyway it has obviously been getting colder so the hats and mittens have come out. Hats he screams and pulls until they come off (even if they are done up) and hoods are the same. Unlike other things, there just seems to be no getting used to them. And the first time mittens went near his hands he ripped them off as if they burnt him and threw them away in disgust!

But… we are finally getting somewhere now after some careful persuasion! Full credit for the mittens go to daddy, as he spent quite a long time introducing mittens to monkey whilst in the house, playing with them, putting them on himself and then holding them open for Monkey to put them on himself. Monkey is at that age where he wants to make decisions for himself, so I think this has been a big thing in the fight against hats and mittens, he will not wear them because we want him to, it has to be on his terms!! The first day that Monkey willingly put mittens on outside, and kept them on the whole time, I couldn’t believe it! So like I say, full credit to daddy!

He now realises that they keep his hands much warmer and he is happy to have them on a lot of the time, which is great. Hats have been a lot slower progress, even with trying the same methods as the mittens, we have not got anywhere. However, today we have had a Eureka moment!

It is pretty much freezing here today but my neighbour and I still go for our daily morning walks. As we left the house today I deliberately didn;t try to put Monkey’s hat on until we got to my neighbours house and knocked on the door. While we were waiting I had a chat with him and popped his hat on, and it stayed on!! I think those couple of minutes in the cold, followed by the chat were enough for him to realise that the hat would keep his head warm. Yay! It stayed on the whole time we were out, and when we went out later in the day there was no objection to hat or mittens for the entire time we were out!

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So I am a very happy and proud mummy today, and he looks so cute in his hat!! 🙂

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More Autumnal Fun and kicking up leaves – 17-18 months

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The clue is in the title really but Monkey loves kicking up leaves! My regime of making sure I tire him out enough to nap well and sleep well is working and involves a lot of time wandering about outdoors.  Actually I think that was just a blip as his naps are basically back to normal now, yay! Sorry, sidetracked, yes lots of time walking outdoors. When my mum (Nanny) and I first showed him kicking up the leaves he looked at us like we had gone mad, but lately he loves it! As you can see in the pictures 🙂

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Not much else to say about it is there really! So cute though! In fact I am finding this to be such a cute age. I have pretty much thought that at every age but his personality is really developing now and he is such a funny little monkey. He’s playing so much more independently, babbling away constantly (though still no words) and just chuckles and grins all the time!

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Dropping daytime naps at 17 months??? Nooooooo!

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Monkey has been worrying me slightly this week. For a while now we have had an awesome routine, where we are busy all morning and then he naps really well in the afternoon. (And I can get some jobs done, or blog or rest etc.) The amount of time he sleeps can fluctuate quite a bit, but apart from the odd occasion where he only sleeps for 40 mins, he generally sleeps for a good hour and a half at the very least, and most of the time it’s more like 2 and a half hours! Which is amazing. He always sleeps really well overnight too, generally from 7.15 to about 6.30/7am. Sometimes he is still randomly awake (and happy) in his cot at like 8pm, but not often and he usually sorts himself out.

Anyway, it started at the weekend, and on Saturday afternoon he went to bed (seemingly tired) at around 1.45 ish, which is pretty normal, but then didn’t actually go to sleep until nearly 2.40. He was perfectly happy, chattering and giggling so I didn’t worry and he did sleep in the end, it just meant we had to wake him up at 4.30 so it didn’t mess up night time. Anyway then on Sunday, he went for his nap, but DIDN’T SLEEP AT ALL!! Me no likey! He was perfectly happy the whole time, and we kept hoping he would go off to sleep, so he was up there for nearly 2 hours! I guess he was resting at the least but the worrying thing for me was that he was happy the whole time and happy all evening, in other words, he can cope without a daytime nap, WHAT???!!!!

Ok, so I know I am lucky with the routine we have had. It wasn’t always so easy, we did the Ferber progressive wait when he was three months old and it changed our lives, he became a brilliant sleeper. I know it isn’t for everyone and for a long time we didn’t want to try it, but it absolutely worked for us. Anyway, I also know that at some point he isn’t going to need to nap during the day any more and I will have to cope with him being awake all day. But, I have really been hoping that it won’t be for some time yet. I was hoping that in 6 months to a year, when he is happier playing more independently, and using his imagination at playtime, and basically not needing my input or help as much, then I will be able to cope with the no more daytime naps. But 17-18 months seems so early!! I also in the back of my mind thought that no more naps, may coincide with playgroup or something 1 or 2 afternoons a week, but we will see.

All week has been up and down but it has pretty much taken him ages to get to sleep everyday, although Monday and Tuesday he did sleep. Yesterday however, he did it again! No sleep! Just chatting and happy in his cot for about 2 hours. We both got a rest obviously and who knows maybe he did doze a bit, but it’s concerning me a lot. We had had quite an easy day though as his grandparents came round and we were nattering and chatting a lot. So maybe he just wasn’t tired enough?

I took to my good friend Google and searched various forums online and found other mums in the same situation. Some whose children dropped their naps at around this age and never slept in the day again (Yipes!) others where it was just a phase and they carried on putting them down and they just started napping in the day again. (Please please please)

I have decided I am not going to let him drop his naps without a fight, this may seem selfish, but seriously how can he go from a 2 1/2 hour sleep to 0?? No way. So today I have been on a mission to tire him out! We have been out at the shops without the buggy. Interesting and I got laughed at by a passer by when I was trying out a ‘look, don’t touch’ method, but otherwise it was fine and we had fun.

Then after lunch we went for a walk to a local play park. Normally we go in the buggy and it takes about 10 mins to get there. At Monkey speed it took us 40 minutes! Was fun though, and we had a short play at the park then I wanted to come home before he got too tired. I failed in this though as his poor little legs were far too tired for the journey home! I don’t blame him because my legs are tired too! I managed to get him to walk about half way but then had to carry him the rest, and boy is he heavy now!! We came in and started to play a little but he was getting very easily frustrated, which is a clear sign of tiredness with him.

So up he went to bed and after just a couple of minutes chattering he is fast asleep! Phew! So clearly I need to tire him out more to keep this nap, we shall see how it goes. When did your little ones drop daytime naps? How did you cope?

 

 

Aaah back to normality and some muddy autumnal fun

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Much as I love my husband and loved him being at home last week, it was nice to get back to normal this week. Last week didn’t exactly go as planned, and with us both feeling so poorly we were shut up inside the house more than we would normally be, so by Sunday we were getting on each others nerves a bit (especially with a healthy dose of PMT added to the mix!). I think if we had been able to get out and do all the things we planned last week it would have been different, but as it was, by Monday morning it was nice to get back to normal.

Monday is normally a Nanny day (and Grandpops if his shift pattern allows) and we went for a lovely autumnal trip to a local play area, which was great fun. Mummy and Nanny were having lots of fun kicking up leaves, though Monkey didn’t really see the fun in that as much as we did! hehe

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Tuesdays was tumbletots, which he loves, and then just some general playtime and a trip to the shops. Wednesday we were supposed to meet some friends at a soft play place, however one of my friends little girl has chicken pox! She is a year older than Monkey and we did consider a chicken pox party so he could get it out of the way, but I am sooo not ready for him to have it yet. My other friend’s little ones are also poorly and they were off to the doctors so we had to come up with another plan.

It was a bit grey and gloomy but not too horrible out so we made an impromptu trip out to a local country park to have a run around, and bumped into Grandma and Granddad! Which was a lovely surprise! We had lots of playtime with them, a nice cup of tea in the cafe when it got a bit cold, and some running around in the mud. After deciding to sit down in a big muddy puddle Monkey was very muddy by the end of it but lots of fun was had so that’s all that matters.

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Thursday another friend and I took our little ones to a soft play centre we hadn’t tried before, and although Monkey was nervous and clingy to start with (as he can be in new places) we had a really love time. Monkey warmed up and started playing by himself so my friend and I got to have some good mummy chats which was very much needed for both us, so it was really lovely. Her little ones really enjoyed it too .

Friday is a day with the grandparents which is always lovely and a really nice way to end the week. Nice to all be well and happy and just generally, back to normal! 🙂

Busy busy bees, walking, teething and more baby classes

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Phew, so it has been a while since my last post and though there has been lots I have wanted to write I do not seem to have had the time!

It was my 30th birthday this week so last weekend we had the monkey stay at my mum’s so that we could have a big party to send off my twenties. I had friends coming from all over the place, including Edinburgh and Malta so there was a lot of advance preparation to be done and we had practice runs for monkey to stay with the grandparents. Despite all this though Monkey was not a happy bunny when I tried to put him to bed at their house and knew something was up so it all got off to a very stressful start with lots of crying (and not just from him 🙁 ). He went off to sleep in the end though and after one or two drinks to calm down the party was fantastic and I felt very lucky to have such lovely friends.

Monkey was also very happy the next morning playing with his grandparents so although I was filled with guilt, I am sure it didn’t do him any harm for one night. That said though he has been really clingy this week, but also just very fragile, mainly because of his teething! Grr! His back teeth are coming through and it is certainly throwing him through a loop! He is really tired but also can’t seem to sleep for very long, so there was me boasting about his long naps in my last post! Tsk! I should have known better!!

So it has been a busy couple of weeks, and we returned to tumble tots on Tuesday but also started a new class on Wednesday which is called Music for Little People, and well the clue is in the title it is all about music for little people 🙂 It was quite a busy class with a bit more of a variety of age ranges between 0-2 so he wasn’t the youngest in the class but there was still a fair few older than him. Anyway as I have mentioned before Monkey loves music and he seemed to really enjoy the class so we shall be going back there on a regular basis I think 🙂

Then on Thursday we met some of my other friends with little ones at a local park to play and enjoy the sunshine which was just lovely and hopefully we will have a summer of nice weather so we can play outdoors a lot 🙂

The big news of the week really was that on Thursday afternoon Monkey took a great leap forward with his walking abilities! He took his first steps a few weeks ago then seemed to lose his nerve, but on Thursday when Daddy got in from work we had a really good game of him walking backwards and forwards across the living room to mummy then to daddy then to mummy etc etc, with us extending the gap over time. He had so much fun and we just loved it! I’m sure all mummies feel that pride when their little one really starts going for it and getting more independent! Scary though it is! So now he has been doing more and more unaided walks which is lovely, although I now am rethinking child safety again and am terrified what he will now be able to get up to when I leave the room! So yes, scary but exciting!

But sadly he has got really poorly in the last 24 hours and is currently having a good long sleep. We think it’s his teeth but really, when they are babies do you ever really know 100% what is bothering them? He has a slight temperature but is just really unhappy though doesn’t seem poorly particularly. He’s rubbing his ear, but he rubs his ears all the time to signal tiredness, hunger, boredom etc. so well, who knows! Obviously getting lots of love and cuddles (and calpol as necessary) but just pleased that he is sleeping as he didn’t have a good night at all the poor thing! Fingers crossed he gets better soon!

Loving the long naps and cheeky development!

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Tuesday of last week was a very trying day, but I thought I would share that Tuesday of this week was a looovely day 🙂

To start off we were going to Monkey’s first ever experience of Tumble tots. Now, I love being a stay at home mummy, but I also feel that I need to get out of the house with him most days, if not every day. Otherwise I go a bit stir crazy and also I find that he gets quite bored of the same toys when we are at home all day with no variety. He’s a very inquisitive little monkey and likes people and places and new things.

We spend a lot of our time visiting family and friends and other kiddies but now that he is down to one nap a day we have much more time to fill. This has led me to looking at some mum and baby class type things that we can do to entertain him. Tumble tots immediately sprang to mind. Now he has taken his first steps in the last few weeks but has gone a bit scared with it the last week or so and is very much clinging to mummy to walk again, which is fine he’ll do it in his own time. But the classes at Tumble tots are 6 months-walking and walking to 2 years, so I wasn’t sure which to take him to! The decision was made for me as the nearest location to me aren’t running the younger class at the moment so we went to walking-2. He was the youngest there I would say and couldn’t do a lot of the things but he was really loving it, running around all over the place (dragging mummy with him – he really doesn’t need me just hasn’t got the confidence yet) yelling happily.

I’m always a bit nervous of these places too and the other mummies, wondering whether there is any cliques, are they gonna be judgemental etc, but nope, they all seemed very nice, and the same as me, running around after their slightly more mobile toddlers! There was a few other new mums too and everyone seemed as nervous of each other as I was, but it was all nice and friendly.

Anyway the reason I am telling you about this is that that afternoon, monkey had a lovely long nap. 2 3/4 hours long! It was amazing!! I got so much done!

I baked some lovely oat and raisin biscuits, did some yoga (my latest thing in an attempt to tighten the wobbles) changed our bed, got washing out on the line, hoovered downstairs, perused the internet for a bit, looked at hotels for a girly weekend I am going on in a few months, emailed some friends and on and on and on! It was amazing!!

By the time he woke up it was nearly 4! Most of the afternoon was gone and he was so well rested and happy that we had so much fun! He is such a cheeky monkey though, we sat in the sunshine in the garden for a bit and he kept picking daisies (and trying to eat them, d’oh!) so played a bit of back forth, you know, hand out, can mummy have it, and he was so cute, he’d go to put it in my hand, then snatch it back giggling and shaking his head! So funny, I dunno where he has got that from but such a cheeky monkey.

He’s developed a funny little chuckle this week all of a sudden and now just sits and chuckles to himself sometimes, which is so cute. We were walking along in the buggy the other day and a car drove past, then disappeared behind a huge roundabout and when it came out the other side, monkey had a right chuckle!

Anyway I will stop gushing now! I have also been busy crocheting and made some adorable little booties and a hat for my friend, more info and pictures to follow soon!