juno

We're going here - didn't fancy a hotel as like to have our children in their own room. It looks lovely and have been with this travel company before... http://www.simpsontravel.com/greece-holidays/lefkada/hotels/mousses-creche-and-childrens-club

I like this Spanish Apple cake from the baby led weaning cookbook - uses olive oil rather than butter - http://baby-led.rhgdsrv.co.uk/blog/?p=416

...or...we decided to go for baby 3...however 2 miscarriages later I'm thinking it probably isn't going to happen now...and that's a shame because I was/am very happy with 2 but had kind of shifted my mindset to 3. This just goes to show you just can't plan these things..!

Such a personal thing! I find 2 immeasurably harder than 1... Consider character of older (current) child (our is 'spirited'(!)), finances, space, whether you want to go back to naps and sleepless nights etc. My two are now 1.10 and 3.8 and I do feel like I'm just about surfacing again! They don't really get on particularly well yet. Obv I am glad I had two, and there's a part of me that wants a third, but I sometimes look at friends with one and their life looks much simpler in comparison! Good luck in your decision. It's also a hard thing to make a 'decision' about though isn't it? Baby no. 3 does not seem to be on the cards for us for reasons way out of my control...

No real experience with proper constipation, but I do find a good long soft play energy session gets things moving for my rather reluctant 3.5 yr old. Poos really held him back with potty training too OM - had to give up on first attempt. Books helped - 'everybody poos' and 'poo goes to pooland' (http://www.scribd.com/doc/28743654/Poo-Goes-to-Pooland-1-1) seemed to help, although I did feel like I was losing my mind talking about 'mr poo' the whole time...

Mrs TP Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why not go the whole hog and get the child to book > the sports class and drive the car there too! HAHA! My 3.5 yr old can get dressed by himself - I'm sure they all can if simple elasticated waist and t shirt tops kind of stuff - often he chooses not to though and it's one argument I'm really not going to have with him just now - understand more pressing need to as they get older. Surely just peer pressure and growing up sorts this one out? And probably is slower/harder for only/older siblings?

I know, in classic post christmas panic. Has anyone tried the Cambridge diet? I'm SO depressed about how I look and the what should have been lovely family christmas photos are just horrific. I've been pretty useless at following diets in the past. Weight watchers on line has not worked - I just lose interest and find inputing all the ingredients for meals tedious, and I fail daily on it! The cambridge diet looks extreme but maybe that's what is needed?!? Has anyone tried it and lived to recommmend? Thanks - and sorry for being such a boxing day cliche :-)

Me and most of my friends followed a similar pattern - moved away to uni at 18, came back in the holidays and briefly once finished then got rented places with friends....seemed like a nice natural progression.... Anyways. These days 3.5 is the new 18, right? He certainly acts like a teenager....

Dunno about anyone else but seriously, after a day with 2 small ones clambering over me and mauling me pretty much all day, once they've gone to bed I just want to be left alone.... Date nights good though. We are lucky to have local-ish parents. Have even managed a night away for a wedding!

Thanks for all the comments - gwod - 4!! I haven't spoken to a doctor about my particular circumstances so maybe the advice varies. With my second birth the nhs seemed very up for a (closely monitored) vbac so it's interesting that they do not recommend this after 2 c sections. I wonder whether the risk of rupture after 2 sections is higher than the risk of a third surgery? Hmm - food for thought - off to go and do some research! I will report back.

Due to various (unrelated) issues with both my births I have had 2 c sections. We are starting to think about the possibility of having another baby, but I am worried about a) the likelihood baby 3 would have to be a c section, and b) what the risks are with having yet another surgery. I know vbac are possible, but does the risk of rupture increase proportional to number of previous sections? Has anyone had 3 c sections? Thanks in advance...any advice, anecdotal or otherwise would be appreciated. Juno

Thank you all again - had a better day yesterday. I'm trying to pick my battles, as it were. I think he really is just an ordinary, active cheeky 2 yr old who sees the potential of getting a reaction and attention out of his behaviour - so it's just managing it, especially when he is excited because daddy is home, etc. Deep breaths. I'm reading a book that tells me all toddlers are cavemen. So why would we expect them to be good?!?

Little edf - baby is 8m - has sort of got worse but he's also got older so the behaviour is more sophisticated. I know the sibling rivalry probably doesn't help and some of the aggression is to do with me diverting my attention to his brother. BUt the chucking of a glass of water across the bedroom was nothing to do with the baby!! A lot of the time he kisses and cuddles the baby and loves him, and is upset when for example he comes down from his nap and finds the baby is still asleep etc. All normal...but tiresome and I kind of feel like he's becoming a bit out of control. He goes to nursery 2 mornings a week and they have never reported any problems. Maybe an extra morning...(please!!).

Thank you so much - I will think about some of the methods for calming/avoiding scenes. It's not so much that he has classic tantrums - it's almost like random acts of violence! Sometimes over excitement, or boredom, or tiredness - like it's an outlet for his emotions. And I know there is a lot of normal 2 yr old naughtiness - running away in sainsburys giggling etc - I know this is not unusual but it's just he doesn't seem to react to any kind of telling off - he simply doesn't care! One thing that I find works quite well to avoid the 'i'm not coming, I don't want to go out' scenes is to repeatedly and calmly tell him what we're doing today...and warn him that we will be leaving soon etc as I find that if you spring a trip out he reacts. All the above is a bit tricky when you have a wailing baby that's just been shoved over for the umpteenth time, but I know I am not the first to experience this!

My 2.5 yr old boy has always been 'spirited' and although he can be lovely he is becoming a real handful. I just wanted to canvas to see how others cope with challenging toddlers. I'm not good at being strict and I just don't know how to handle the general stomping and shouting. Today has been a bad day - he has thrown a full glass of water across the room, he has pushed and kicked his baby brother a number of times, and after a lovely morning swimming with daddy had total meltdown at lunch, refused to eat because there were 'bits' in his pasta (a meal he has previously enjoyed loads of times), and eventually we just put him to bed. My general coping methods are that I tend to remove either him from the situation (kind of informal naughty step) or remove something he is enjoying (turning off tv) but really he doesn't specially seem to care - he'll just sit and wait then come back and play, or he'll find something else to do. The only thing he cares about is his little comforter, but I feel uneasy about removing his special toy as a punishment! He is infinitely worse at weekends too, which is a bit tedious. Agh. Please help!! I'm wondering whether I should try and spend more time with him on our own at weekends (he tends to go off for fun with daddy whilst I chill with the baby)...restrict tv time generally....be better at more organised/structured play so he doesn't have time to be foul...go back to work and let someone else sort him out (seriously tempting)....I need to do something as currently I'm feeling utterly miserable every day about dealing with 2 young children, one of whom is hell bent on destruction!! Thanks in anticipation....