ILX Parenting 4: We make our own people

And to start us of he's me boy looking pensive in Bethnal Green.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nedtrifle/2616255473/"; title="Untitled by Ned Trifle, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/2616255473_6530d2de39.jpg"; width="500" height="375" alt="" /></a>

Oh, good start...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/2616255473_6530d2de39.jpg

Haha I just watched this ep of Seinfeld this morning.

...And to keep her happy here's the girl working hard at the allotment...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3028/2620992554_0051345167.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8900/hbjunekp5.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3126/2572183119_307f396430_m.jpg

Elisabeth flashing her knickers and checking out her sister.

I (perhaps ill-advisedly) posted this on another thread, but here we go again:

(It was taken with our eBay-scored 1980s Bronica medium-format camera on 6x6 slide film; the only digital camera here is the one Ava's using!)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/2614473724_c8dee17333.jpg

And Lulu packing her bags and deciding she's had enough...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/2618885649_03140901a8.jpg

(I can't actually recall whether we have two of those T-shirts or whether the one we have fits both).

hahah - excellent. Obviously not using vinyl in her sets though?

I can't believe 16 months ago he was a newborn...
http://lh5.ggpht.com/ColveyClan/SGaq1Y6JlpI/AAAAAAAAHRo/ap2HfErRVVM/s400/CIMG0529.JPG

OMG! hes grown up so much!

cute kids all over this thread already!

Now that we ditched the potty training thread, we started "officially". Urgh. Cleaning up wee and poop is no fun, esp if the dog has decided to join in: last few weeks she's been peeing and pooping in the house. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stick with it, Nath - it gets better, honestly. And don't get too discouraged at further accidents beyond the point when you think you've cracked it, cos that happens too. Ava actually over-reports her need for the lav, included a panicked "I need a poo" at 5am on Saturday morning. No dice.

When did all y'all start potty training. I read something recently that said you can start at 18 months but that the average ages americans start is 36 months.

here is beeps in the car with suzy Qs up her nose(reposted from cellpwn pics thread)

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1725/sqsq0.jpg

We started potty training with Ava at 31 months. She kind of "got it" in the space of a weekend but we had numerous accidents in the weeks that followed including a spell of 3-4 days where she totally relapsed and wouldn't tell us when she wanted to go, leading to multiple costume changes... She's been mostly fine since the beginning of the year (just before her 3rd b'day) but still has a bit of a fear of climbing up on the toilet (she's so small a simple step still isn't enough for her to easily get on there) and flatly refuses to use potties any more so we always have to help. Combine this with a genuine terror of hot-air driers in public restrooms and the Ava lav experience can be fairly fraught.

flatly refuses to use potties any more

Actually, that's not quite true - she's quite willing to use the porta-potty when we're miles from a public WC. Once on the Tube!

Here's Ben after munching on dried strawberries, looking like a baby dracula:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3010/2628543314_a2ee426439.jpg

aww! more foodface pics pls parents

Ben and Beats look quite satisfied with themselves, dont they?

It's Beeps. We voted.

;)

Ben Pickles and Beats Beeps look quite satisfied with themselves, dont they?

fixed

Oooh I love looking at all these cute kids - they seem more relevant now, ha ha!!

Marley doing what she does best: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3065/2628848462_5bb5abd9de.jpg

Beautiful shot of your kids with the camera, Michael. But now you've made curious of the photo Ava took! Or should I look for that (ten years on) in the 'Children of ILX' thread?

Ahh...shhhh everyone...don't wake the baby...

Ava's photo is still on the card in the Fisher Price...if she hasn't deleted it (she loves the bin icon and the crunchy sound it makes so she's constantly wiping pix).

Foodface!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2628971862_221845b361.jpg

Okay seriously ilx parents statistically at least one of you must have a child that isn't completely adorable and awesome.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/2568121366_115f9ac675.jpg?v=0

this is Olli from about a month ago

no foodface pix, as he's still only on milk

pj have you ever watch the wonder pets? "Ollie Ollie Ollie to the rescue!"

Foodface pic from March 2004.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2628252303_22d4db168c.jpg

never watched wonder pets! I'll have to check it out. My older kids might be too jaded to watch something this cute and homespun-looking, tho.

Did someone say foodface? (age 10 months)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/ColveyClan/R3oLQrXXXzI/AAAAAAAAFrc/786ImC5qVtA/s400/CIMG1045.JPG

Ookay, having a major migraine attack and two kids: HELLISH. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband and the two kids were at the creche most of the time. But having to breastfeed with a migraine attack and the oldest crying cause she peed her pants: NO GOOD. :-)

When did all y'all start potty training. I read something recently that said you can start at 18 months but that the average ages americans start is 36 months.

18 months is okay. But they have to be able to communicate (preferrably verbal) that they need to go wee/poo. ALso keep in mind that this is VERY early so you're bound to take longer and have more accidents. Here they advise about 2,5 yrs old. 3 is still considered okay but a bit late. I think they prefer 2,5 yrs old cause that's before they go to the kindergarten. In the US kindergarten isn't that prevalent, I think, so the parents can wait a bit longer. The idea is that the longer you wait, the quicker the child will learn it. Hah. Ophelia still doesn't tell us. But she can hold her pee up longer than anyone, so we only have about two accidents a day. :-)

Beeps is soooooooooooooooooooo cute in that pic, SS. Those eyes!!!!

Rumps, dear, I am jealous of the beauty of your baby. Honestly. What. A. Pretty. Baby.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2623410415_11a8684d46.jpg

I was freaking out that she didn't sit. Then I held her t-shirt (at the back) and realized she was able to sit pretty well. Tonight, my husband told me, she sat for about half an hour playing with her sister and watching telly. Hmm. Okay, I know, telly is bad, but she sat for half an hour. Silly me, always worrying. :-)

Peggy and kids are out at my Mom's place in Long Island for the month. I go back and forth on weekends. Got a call this morning from my breathless wife before I even sat down at work, telling me that Oliver (age 2) had fallen down a flight of stairs. Everyone says he's fine and okay and his normal little self, but I am beside myself. Going back out there Weds. night. CAN NOT WAIT.

Food photo, but I don't think it'll beat Meg's - avocado?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3286/2466535089_9c76c23d37.jpg

Does anyone know if flickr videos can be embedded in ILX? Anyway, here's the link to Aidan slurping away at spag bol http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsbrown/2589857110/in/set-72157603809350652/

I'm loving baby led weaning, we're getting to the point where most meals Aidan is eating what we're eating. Last night we had sausages and leek/onion/pepper tart with brie (bad mummy) all sat round the table together.

It always amazes me how gorgeous ILX babies/children are.

Alex, can't imagine what you must be going through. One of Aidan's friends fell down the stairs yesterday and escaped unscathed but the same can't be said about his mum, she's in pieces!

Yep, same thing happened with my daughter - a flight of stone steps when she was 4. She just got up and carried on the rest of us are all around her saying "have you got a headache/how many fingers am i holding up/do you feel dizzy/sleepy/grumpy/etc" - they are often more resiliant than you think.

Something like that seems to happen to one of our boys nearly every day. The only thing that has left a long-term mark is the cat scratch.

Alex, speaking from experience, you shouldn't worry too much when kids fall down stairs. Not that you shouldn't worry at all. It's when your parents fall down that you should start to worry.

Gosh, that's true, Billy :(

Lovely flash-bounce on that pic, Vic!

Thanks for the support, all. I've been repeatedly assured that he's okay. Still, can't wait to see the little fella tonight.

We took the boys pony-riding yesterday. And they got their first taste of jumping around in a bouncy house. Probably the best day of their lives so far.

Owen:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2644490278_fae62d6623.jpg

Ben:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3014/2644495662_02a3009345.jpg

:D

Hey, Sterling, what year did Loveless come out?

http://www.douglasandlisa.com/sterling/s268.jpg

pony rides! they stayed on ok?

great photo, douglas.

Yeah - they get strapped-in a bit, but they can sit up on their own pretty well.

im so pleased flickr has video now. some july 4th weekend video of the beeps:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/equinestate/2642416069/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/equinestate/2643190500/

Damned canines -- Howie has just taken two hours (of screaming) to settle to bed (this after waking about six times last night). He has been dribbling rivers today so the teeth have got to be to blame.

Loving the pony rides!

crochet I think? I don't have a better picture of it unfortunately. its awful cute tho

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4291806867_bc62781285_m.jpg

what's that on your head? A WIIIIIG

What's that on your head part II

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss71/fabrickd/BaxterChloe.jpg

omg that is adorable!

Two of the all-time greats right there.

On a similar theme, an oldie but a goodie (Dec 2008)...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/3106747101_ec6cf95264.jpg

Gah, I already posted that on this thread (15/12/08)! Sorry!

(Come over to the Parenting board, why don't you?)

Michael, I'm super jealous of your photography skills! And your kids are super cute!

yep that's my kid allright

LOL!

Mine is obsessed with Barbie Girl God almighty. Did play her Peter and the Wolf which she dug. But she quickly changed it for Aqua again.

my two-year-old thrust her hand into my pocket last night and said "money daddy, pleeeeeaaaaaase!". and so it begins.

on the other hand, a few days ago she came up to me, gave me a hug and said "don't give up". not that I was despondent at the time, but it's lovely to know she's looking out for me.

musically, old rock-n-roll (elvis, berry, holly, richard, etc) sends her into a dancing frenzy. could be worse.

bupple surpers! that's too cute.

crazy twins full action - sorry, still not able to post images... :(

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41673601@N04/4205984162/

The Bupple Surpers!!!!!

Also, "don't give up" is ridic adorable.

marco, go to all sizes - pick medium size and then copy 'n' paste the code into here and press convert to bbcode :-)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/4205984162_335c6b7f34.jpg

Thanks a lot, Nathalie!

mine:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/guanoman/SDC11511.jpg

You guys know I can't resist a thread revive (particular one as spectacular as this), even if there is a Parenting Board over yonder...

Arriving in style at Liverpool Lime Street:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4374509142_67247113c6.jpg

Some birthday gift fun in video (I'll leave this public for a wee while):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pernfors88/4376689337/

rufus and cyrus at the dog show in nyc last week.

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs272.ash1/19950_342395475907_767115907_4746853_5667016_n.jpg

No problem at all, Marco, I like seeing cute kids here. :-)

Scott, not only are your kids mad awesome, I absolutely LOVE their names!

WKIW Scott's kids (well, all of these tykes really) as they look COMPLETELY AWESOME.

Yeah, here's A&A after Alice found a store sign in a shop:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/MarkGrout/DSC08496.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42392331@N04/4860185393/

http://flic.kr/p/8ptHMT

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42392331@N04/4860185393/"; title="handsomehaircut by bingomcgee, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4860185393_7348027457.jpg"; width="500" height="375" alt="handsomehaircut" /></a>

http://flic.kr/p/8ptHMT

I think you meant:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4860185393_7348027457.jpg

Handsome little guy!

i cant figure out how to do it...things have changed since i was last here.

Figuring out how to play a uke Dobro-style at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh310/yodelagogo/alecwpeg.jpg

Chloe sporting her new Elton John look.
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss71/fabrickd/DSC01443.jpg?t=1280944450

<3

any tips for how to get a small baby to sleep in her bassinet? right now, the only place she'll sleep for extended periods of time is on top of my wife, on the couch, which isn't really safe. but if we put her in the bassinet, even when she's totally zonked out, she starts crying after 10 minutes at the longest

How old is she? I don't think we were able to her sleeping in her bassinet until she was about 6 weeks old. Are you trying white noise? We used to put static on a radio in the background and that helped.

are you swaddling? the miracle blanket really helped with those early bassinet days.

our kid slept in our bed/on us for at least the first couple months - it was a gradual transition from bed to bedside to crib to crib in her own room

just a couple of weeks. I know we can't really "train" her yet, but we also don't want her sleeping in an unsafe place. we haven't tried the white noise yet.

swaddling helps but I don't think you're supposed to let them sleep overnight while swaddled, since it's the same as having a blanket with them in the bassinet. and if we unswaddle her, she wakes up.

we might try having her sleep on my wife in bed instead of on the couch, I think the main concern is her head could get caught between the couch and the cushions while my wife is asleep

not to plug this too hard, but http://www.miracleblanket.com
it did work really well for us, and it doesn't come undone even during restless sleeps. our doc said it was fine for overnight.

we went right to the crib with cole after about three nights. he hated the bassinet, but he slept swaddled all night. we also bought one of those rollover helper things...it did shit. try some sleep sacks.

yeah we moved sylvie to the crib after about a month, i think. she was doing fine in the bassinet, but we couldn't sleep with her right next to us ... any little sound she'd make would freak us out. and then if she *didn't* make any sounds, that would freak us out even more. haha, welcome to parenting.

ah good point about the miracle blanket/sleep sacks, I forgot about those

yeah it definately took a while to stop waking ourselves up to check if cole was ok. he rolled over about 2 mths old in the middle of the night and we woke up and shit ourselves worried he would suffocate. he didn't. needless to say he's been a stomach sleeper ever since and we never had a problem, in fact he hated sleeping on his back and would be up half the night. once he started on his stomach he slept through the night most of the time.

Co-sleeping is safe when done properly -- NOT on the couch (this is v dangerous), but in bed as long as nobody has drunk alcohol/smoked/taken drugs and as long as well out of the way of blankets and pillows. Unicef do a leaflet on safe bedsharing [here

Swaddling and bedsharing not recommended afaik because of overheating risk but I've never heard that you can't leave a baby swaddled overnight in a crib. We put both ours in grobags (Howie from a few weeks, Archie from birth).

I swaddled Elisabeth. Btw she is almost three and ends up in our bed most nights. The first year was HORRIBLE. She woke every hour to two hrs. At one point I cried. I regretted breastfeeding because I cldnt sleep for more than two hours without interruption. Then she started sleeping longer at about a year. Damn that wasone zombie like year. Better now but most nights I still get up to take her into our bed.

My daughter who is 4 and a quarter has been having trouble getting to sleep for the last few weeks. At bedtime she keeps asking me to check cupboards and wardrobes for monsters before I can leave her and then she gets up again saying she's scared. When my wife asked if she'd ever seen a monster in a cupboard she said yes, on a film, a monster came out of a cupboard and stole a child. It turned out she had watched Labyrinth on DVD on a sleepover round at her friends house. So now she's scared to go to sleep and is tired during the day which is not good as she's just started school.

So any advice on getting children over fear?

When her friend's parents realised she was scared they turned the film off (their daughter has seen it lots of times and is obviously Ok with it) and it occured to me that it might be an idea to watch the whole film through with her (I assume it all turns out OK in the end?)

But I dunno. Telling her monsters aren't real isn't cutting it at the moment.

So how are your kids doing? Ophelia is 5,5 years old. Going to the last year of kindergarten. She'll probably be in a special group so she can learn to read 'n' write. Yay. She's been obsessing over this for quite some time now. Elisabeth is 3,5. Broke her collar bone the other day. :-(

Oh my! I hope she recovers quickly. That's some scary news.

Yeah. I felt guilty since I went upstairs and left'em alone for ten minutes. But not to worry. She's wearing some sort of soft brace. And it doesn't break like with adults. It's a "green fracture": it splits but no complete break. Does that make sense?

I felt guilty since I went upstairs and left'em alone for ten minutes.

dude come on, it's not like you passed out with a lit cigarette in your hand and the front door open!

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