Forgot to say...

I took a pregnancy test, and it was negative. But you probably figured I'd have updated if it was positive!

Also, increasing amounts of CM, enough to get onto my knickers, so thinking it might not be long before I get my first post-natal period. 10 months and counting so far, and Robert's was 11 months, and he was night-weaned between 8-10 months, Christopher still has milk once or twice during the night, and no where near weaning during the night yet.

Hoping it stays away a little longer, the longer the better, until we feel ready to start trying for baby number 3!

It's been really hot this weekend, yesterday we went to a wedding, of a friend I've known for over a decade, maybe even as much as 12 or 13 years! We've not seen each other in many many years, and it was great to see him again. The boys had great fun in the venue's garden, especially since my brother was there and so Robert got to play with his cousin Ewan again (second weekend in a row!), and they get on so well now, it was lovely to see.

Will hopefully post more photos soon, but here are a few from the beginning of July.

We don't make our kids say please and thank you.

Imagine the scene, you're at a playgroup, and a small child, maybe 2 years old, takes a drink from the woman handing them out. The mum waits barely 3 seconds, before calling out from across the room "Say thank you!!" and repeats her demand until the child complies. The next child takes a drink, and luckily the child complies with her mother's request to say thank you after the first time. Every parent with a child feels obliged to make her child show proper manners in this social setting.

It was how I "learnt" my manners, I remember constantly being reminded to say "please" and "thank you" and given those memories I must have been forgetting my manners regularly until maybe up to the age of 8 or maybe even older!

Children do not need to be told in this manner what behaviours require a certain response. With enough modelling, they pick it up for themselves.

Now, Robert, being 4 months shy of his third birthday, does not say please and thank you every time that would be appropriate. But then I don't think there is any kid of Robert's age who remembers EVERY time. We do not push him to say it. If he forgets, and the situation allows it, we gently remind him, by speaking for him, so in the above situation, we would say in a slightly exaggerated way (so to ensure he has heard) "Thank you, Hannah", and if that prompts him to utter his own thanks then all is well, if not, we leave it. Mostly we do not bother with this, but in social situations where there is the pressure to show manners, we gently remind him.

At home, we thank each other, and we thank Robert, when he gives us things, and when we give each other things. We say please when asking for something. It warms my heart when he says please, and thank you (or, in Robert-speak, "dee-doo") appropriately. He also says "You're welcome" when we thank him, and if somebody burps, he says "pardon oooo", and if he burps, (or farts, sneezes or even hiccups) he says "pardon me". He asks for things saying "May I have..." and this is all down to our modelling. If I say to him "May I have some of your banana please, Robert?" he will say "Yes, you may, Mummy."

Moral of the story, kids are like sponges, whatever they soak up inveriably leaks out after a while :)

Sleep and milestones

Sooo... a long time no write! I don't have time during the day anymore as Robert has all but dropped his naps, and in the evening I tend to use what spare time I have then to do some digital scrapbooking or photo editing. Which means that blogging has lapsed somewhat!

It's now getting towards the middle of July. We have a 2 year 7.5 month old, and a 9.5 month old. It is amazing watching the two of them develop, both as indivuals, and as brothers! Robert is amazingly chatty, and picks up so many new phrases he hears out and about (and from the TV. ahem) and often repeats them several times over the course of the day. Today's has been "What is Spiky doing out in the daytime?!" which he got from Come Outside, the TV show with Auntie Mabel and Pippin, when they see Spiky the Hedgehog out in the garden during the day. His pronounciation is still a little unclear, but we can understand most of what he says, and he is working on his pronounciation all the time, now sometimes saying "banana" instead of "nana", and "Isps-to-fah" instead of "Ooover" when talking about his brother.

He is also pushing boundaries a lot, meaning that we have increased the number of time outs he gets lately... He usually screams as we are carrying him upstairs after being told for example that he's going for time out because he was hitting us, "I not hit you anymore Mummy!!" Sometimes we give him one more chance, other times we don't, he goes straight to time out, it depends on the severity of what he did and how many warnings he had previously. It is a very challenging time, and I'm sure it won't get easier, so we feel it's important to be consistent now, and make sure that we try and nip things in the bud now rather than let things get out of hand down the line. Sometimes it's easier said than done!

Even though he can be very challenging to deal with now, he can instantly make us smile when he wants to, with a funny antic or other, or saying something funny. He likes to pretend to be a ghost, covering himself up with a blanket. A few nights ago, he did that with his bath towel, and then started walking around, and despite us telling him to stop, he continued, and bumped quite comically into the door frame, and then Christopher's cot. He was fine, and even found it quite funny himself.

He loves to make Christopher smile, and laugh, and often "talks" to him by making babbly noises that Christopher makes, saying "gaa-gaaa-gaa!" with a big grin on his face. He does talk to him properly too of course, what I thought was extra sweet was one day, Christopher woke from his nap and started crying, and Robert went upstairs with me close behind, went into our room, and said "Are you alright, Ooover?" and then started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to him! Awwww!

He always wants to hug and hold him, and loves to play "ide an eek" which involves Robert crawling under the table, and peeking out saying "peep bo!" and then waiting til Christopher crawls up before coming out at lightning speed prompting Christopher to turn around and chase him away, before he then skirts back under the table :)



Christopher is now 9 and a half months old. Robert, by this age, was walking unaided, and by 10 months was quite a confident walker! In comparison, as I think I said in an earlier post, Christopher isn't as quick as Robert was. But I don't think he'll be much longer. He is balancing better and better, holding on with one hand, cruising with ease, and will stand for a few seconds if put in the right position and sort of pre-balanced. I don't think it'll be much longer before he's standing alone, and then walking will follow shortly afterwards I think. Before he's a year old I expect he'll be walking!

His sleep has been terrible the last few nights, waking every few hours, and SCREAMS. THE. PLACE. DOWN. until offered the boob, but even with a boob, he will still wake in a few hours and do the same :( We have no end in sight to when we will be able to move Christopher into Robert's room, as he is still nowhere near night weaned! We are hoping that some new skill (thinking, standing alone?!) will emerge soon to explain the horrendous nights.

We had some photographs taken at a photo studio, the same one as we went to when Robert was 6 months old. This photograph shows how sturdy Christopher is 1 handed!



Despite Robert being less than co-operative at the start, they did manage to get some nice ones of him. This is one of my favourites, and there are a few close up ones that I love too.



Onto some "me" news, 2 of my personal goals are well underway. The first of which, my weight loss, is going steadily again (finally) after a big stall, it's slow going but it's gradually coming off again, which I'm more than happy with. Over the last 9.5 months I have averaged at around 1.3lb lost per week, which is nice and healthy, and should see me at my overall goal by the time Christopher is one. I have dropped from 15 stone (well, 14st 11) since Christopher was 4 days old, and a size 20, to 11 stone and a size 14. I am aiming to lose 1 more stone, then see how I feel, but once I get there, I shall probably try and up the exercise, and tone up rather than just losing the fat. I am hoping to be in a size 12, or maybe a generous size 10 ;) Which is US size 6.

The second goal is my driving lessons. I have done 13 hours of lessons now (which reminds me, I *must* pay for another block tonight!) and have covered up to roundabouts, and in my last lesson, did my first maneuver, the "turn in the road" aka 3-point-turn. My next lesson is in 2 days time. I wonder what will be covered then :)

Anyway, sorry it's been so long between posts, I can't promise to say when the next one will be either! Most likely it will be posted by a 28-year-old though ;)