Pre – School

Tuesday was the first full day of Pre – School for Albert.  I was excited for him as he has been desperate to go back to school most of the Easter half term.

We set off, myself on foot and Albert on his balance bike and we had a lovely walk/ride through the local park.  Albert loves it so much as he’s surrounded by all the older children and he’s in awe of the “big boys” on big bikes, often going very fast so I struggle to keep up!

We finally made it to school, and as we approached the little hut in the grounds of the infant school (that I really hope he gets in to), he was saying hello and good morning to the teachers and children and showing them his lunch box, seemingly very excited to be staying for lunch for the first time.

After hanging his coat and helmet on his peg, we put his book bag, lunch box and drink in to the relevant boxes and I settled him down with an activity whilst talking quickly with his key worker about his lunch – I have rules that he has to eat certain things before eating crisps and then a sweet thing like yoghurt raisins or custard etc.  His eating has got a lot better, but we are struggling to expand his variety of different foods.

Anyway, after I had finished talking, I said goodbye and to have a good day and I would see him later. 

I then waddled home – desperate for the loo, as with all the walking the baby bounces on my bladder! Then it was time to get the shopping done whilst I was on my own and sort out a few things, have a sit down and then it was time to collect Albert before I knew it. 

I decided to drive halfway, and park at the park.  I thought that he might be quite tired after a full day, and I was right.  His teachers came out and said that he was great, but got tired in the last half an hour.  Still, I managed to keep him awake until dinner time, then Daddy came home and did bath and bed after a little puzzle and play, whilst I sorted our dinner. 

He must have had a great day as he was asking to go back after we had been at gymnastics on Wednesday. 

Victoria

Mini Break

Back in June myself and Bertie went away for a couple of days with a very good friend Caroline and her daughter.  We are members of Tumble Tots and they were having a big Tumble Tot birthday celebration At Alton Towers.  There’s also a new part to Alton Towers called CBeebies Land.  The children were very excited about this, especially Caroline’s daughter as she’s a little older and has watched more CBeebies than the dude, at the time he was mostly in to Disney Channel.

Sunday morning I left early to collect Caroline and her girly, we were all super excited to get on the road, not before long and the children were falling asleep after a little sing along to the Frozen soundtrack.  We stopped a few times and I took a few wrong turns and we ended up arriving a few hours later than we would have liked. 

Once checked in, we headed straight to the park on the train that took us right to the entrance.  Our first stop was CBeebies Land, and we went on one of the CBeebies Bugs for a tree top tour, they absolutely loved it. After we got off the ride, we started seeing people wondering around with Tumble Tot bags, so we went in search for the building where the Tumble Tot party was being held.  However when we got there it was completely EMPTY, we asked for some help and know body knew anything about the event.  We decided to go back to the hotel and check again in the morning in time for the morning show.

We were staying in the Splash Landings hotel and as the children love swimming so much we decided to have a quick swim and play after dinner.  The children absolutely loved the pool, the slide mostly, We should have spent that whole day there, it was so much fun, I wish we could have taken a camera in too!!

They went to bed after a nice warm bubble bath and woke up bright and early for breakfast.  We got into the park nice and early, so I thought I would take the opportunity to go on a fast ride myself and we trecked all the way over to Oblivion, it was great, I loved it. 

We headed back towards the building for Tumble Tots but again it was completely empty, again we asked for help, again he had know idea what we were talking about.  He called over to the main office and they confirmed that the shows should be where we were but nothing was there.  We decided to go in to CBeebies Land again and went on the Postman Pat Van ride, again they loved it – they both got to sit in the front and “drive”. 

Through out the day we went on various rides, had a picnic lunch on the grass in the sunshine.  We kept checking in at the Tumble Tot building at the right times on the leaflet I was given back in our class In Henley – on – Thames but nothing. Yet we saw lots of people with Tumble Tot bags.  I am quite disappointed that we missed out when the reason we booked to go away was solely because of the Tumble Tot event. Luckily the children didn’t really miss anything as we kept them busy with other things in the Park.

It was getting quite late and we were all feeling quite tired so we headed back to the car, changed the children into their pj’s and prepared their milkies and last snacks. Not before long they were both asleep.

Back to the Beginning

In a previous post about my little Mr Farty Pants, I touched on the subject that he has always struggled to poop.  This got increasingly worse as time went on and at around 9 months old, things changed for the worse.

He wouldn’t poop for days on end and when he did try to go he would stand bolt upright and tense his whole little body and scream in agony.  I tried everything to help him: leg exercises; trying to sit him with his knees up on my lap; feed him apricots, prunes, raisins; and after a few weeks of these the effects started wear off.

I got increasingly worried and took him the GP to yet again be told that it was normal, but to help ease the pain, he give him lactulose.  Again, this only worked for a short time. He was then prescribed a powder medicine called Movicol, and I was to give him half a sachet every morning.  This did help again for a while. 

It wasn’t until just after he turned 1 years old that I finally got referred to a paediatrician and he advised that we increase the Movicol to 2 sachets every morning and this would be messy, but we needed to clear him out.  We then went back after a month or two, can’t quite remember, and the Doctor said that constipation in children was quite common and only 1 in so many children have it severely.  He gave us a treatment plan on how to wean Bertie off the Movicol. 

Within a week of being off of Movicol he went back to square one, it’s like we had done nothing to help at all.  I put him back on one sachet a day until his next appointment in a few weeks time. 

The Doctor said that he could feel a “series of boulders” in his tummy, which were “quite hard”. He told me to up his Movicol again to 3 sachets a day for a few days and then back down 2 a day.  He again told me that it was common for children to be constipated, but this time I said but what if my baby is that one that is different?.  The Doctor said there wasn’t a lot that cold be done till he was 2 years old, so we are booked in for some blood tests in January before our next appointment.  He is 2 in early February so it’s close enough. 

So, for the foreseeable future, he has to have 2 sachets every morning.  We have also been assigned a community Nurse to help out with a few things before our appointment in January as he likes to refuse food a lot too. 

On a happy note, in spite of this ‘little issue’ he seems to be growing well and following his centile for height and weight. 

Things I said I would never do

Before I got pregnant – and whilst I was pregnant – I had my own views on parenting and what I would and wouldn’t do. I thought I would give a little insight into a few areas in which I have gone back on my word.

I always said I would breastfeed for at least 6 months.  That changed after a week. The first latch on was great and he fed well for about 5-10 minutes.  However we discovered he has a minor tongue tie and within his first week I really struggled to carry on with breastfeeding.  I went to an NCT breastfeeding clinic, got advice from friends and still nothing helped.  I was in agony every time he fed and I would tense up and cry.  Bertie’s latch was fine, it was his suck.  It was unbelievably strong (and still very much is!). After lots of crying (during and after feeding him) I had to make the decision to stop.  It was heartbreaking for me that I couldn’t feed my son and took me a good few weeks to stop feeling guilty.  I did however pump for a week, but after a few pumps a day this began to hurt too, so I reduced the amount I pumped and after a few days my supply just dried up. I then had to exclusively formula feed.  As I mentioned above, this took me a while to “forgive” myself as I felt so guilty.  I would think people are staring at me thinking, “why is she bottle feeding him and not breastfeeding? That’s so wrong.” 

Then I thought, “people would probably stare if I was breastfeeding in public and think I should do it in privacy.”  So, whichever route you go down, do it with pride and don’t worry about what people are thinking. 

I also always said I would never give a dummy.  I have always hated them, and I never had one when I was little.  However, even after a feed when I knew he wasn’t hungry he would suck his fist and he tried to suck his thumb.  I didn’t want him sucking his thumb as you can’t take a thumb away, so, I gave him a dummy.  Luckily I had one as it came in the Tommee Tippee starter kit, and he loved it. He likes spitting it out though, so I have to hold it in his mouth. Luckily this didn’t last long, and now keeps it in most of the time, but he does like to hold on to my hand like a security blanket, it’s so cute and makes my heart melt.  I just hope his need for a dummy doesn’t last long and he doesn’t get attached to it, that is what I’m dreading most.  Fingers crossed.

Lastly, I was always a bit sceptical about co-sleeping with babies, and I always thought I wouldn’t do it. But yet again this is something I have done, actually been doing since the day we bought him home.  Bertie loves his cuddles and has always been cuddled to sleep.  In the early days/weeks, I would sometimes wake up and wonder how he was asleep on me. I must have got up still asleep when he was whinging.  However, I do need to try and stop cuddling him to sleep as I think this could become a problem.  

So, really, no one can say exactly how they will approach things and react to certain situations as a parent. You just have to make your way through it in a way that suits you and your baby. No two babies are the same, and no two mothers are the same. Do what is right for you and your baby.