Still Alive

But barely =(

We've been an en-lurgied household for nearly three weeks with no end in sight as yet. I started it all off over two weeks ago with some sort of flu like virus that had my sinuses screaming and left me feeling like a wrung out dishrag for over a week.

Then as I was still recovering the Ewok came down with a 'proper man cold'. He's had the sniffles before but this time it's serious. He's been coughing and sneezing for three days straight and his poor little nosey is red raw, so now every time he wipes his nose it hurts so much he cries, but he won't let me put anything on it to help as it stings too much to start with. I've just has to sneak into his room and take his temperature as it was 38.8C (101.8F) when I put him to bed. Fortunately the baby paracetamol seems to have done the trick as it's back to normal now. Fingers crossed that's the worst of it for him and he'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Naturally, because my system was still buggered from whatever virus it was that I had, now I've come down with the blasted cold as well. It arrived yesterday and then invited it's mates along for the party today, so now my nose is red and sore too.

And finally, I've just heard Wookiee downstairs sneezing his head off. He's been sorting through old boxes of stuff from when we moved here nearly 5 years ago, so it could just be dust, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him snuffling with this cold tomorrow.

Bleargh.

More Stitching

Another finish from a couple of days ago. This piece is destined to be part of a larger wallhanging being created as a group project with many other stitchers. It should all be finished by the beginning of June, so hopefully I will be able to share pictures of the finished piece then.




This is based on mini-kit called Lone Fisherman from Permin, however I've messed with it quite a lot. Removed the fisherman, extended the design to fit a larger square, reversed it and, most obviously, coloured it. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out in the end.

I actually have the kit and two others (Country Lane and Off the Rocks) which I plan on stitching from the kits and then making up into something with a bit of patchwork. At the moment I'm leaning towards making each one the centre of a small log cabin block and then either stitching them all together bellpull style, or making them into individual mini pillows.

Miss Manners is IN

I've just read a post by the excellent Mamacita about the dangers of letting the children rule the parents and home, rather than the parents doing their job properly.

One of the commenters asked, as someone who doesn't spend much time with small children, is it reasonable to expect a 4.5yo to eat/chew with their mouth shut.

So, my opinion on the subject is, that they are never too young to start learning good manners and polite behaviour. Just because they may not understand why that behaviour is necessary or the centuries of social conditioning behind them, doesn't mean that they can't be taught to behave a certain way, understanding can come later.

So my 2.5 yo has learned to say please, thank you and you're welcome. He says pardon me when he experiences a gas escape from either end, for the most part he doesn't talk while he's eating and he keeps his mouth shut when he's chewing. At the moment he's learning that we don't snatch, by me making him give something back and try taking it again nicely if he does snatch the first time, and he has to keep doing it until he gets it right.

No, he doesn't always get it right, he has to be reminded of all these things occasionally, and frankly I don't think that is a problem, the fact is that more often than not, he does get it right, and that makes me proud.

Oh, and for the record, seeing someone smacking away at their food with their mouth hanging open physically disgusts me. Seeing a young child doing it I can cope, as long as their parent is working to correct them, however seeing a grown man doing it (one of OH's friends springs to mind) is utterly disgusting and I have very great difficulty eating around people who do that.

Got the munchies?

Then make your own munchy seeds:

2 tbsp Sunflower Seeds
2 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds
2 tbsp Pine Nuts/Kernels
1 tbsp Sesame Seeds
1/2 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce

Mix them all together in a bowl and then spread out on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for about 5 mins at 150C / Gas Mark 2. Keep a close eye on them to ensure they don't burn. I took them out of the oven every couple of minutes to give them a stir.

Leave them to cool and then munch.

Next time I think I'll leave the sesame seeds out, they're too itty bitty next to all the other seeds. I was also told you could put golden linseeds in, but I didn't because I didn't know whether I liked them or not, and they were quite pricey compared to all the other seeds. Basically I think you could use any combination of any seeds you like. The idea is to very lightly coat them with the oil and soy before roasting them.

I made some yesterday and it's only because of my self-control that I haven't already eaten the lot. Ewok thinks they're yummy too.

As promised

A post not about Ewok's toilet training.

I have actually managed to do a little stitching over the past few weeks and here's the results. It's from the 2002 JCS Ornament Issue and I had a kit for making it from a friend who was clearing out her stash, so it seemed rude not to stitch it. The design is Abigail's Christmas Ornament by Earth Threads

Just the stitching (sorry for slight blurriness, it's a scan and the beads were already on)



Finished as a tuck pillow, the little pillow was part of the kit.

With hindsight I probably should have subbed out the pink thread for something else, but I was just looking for a quick, easy stitch that didn't involve digging through my thread and project boxes for threads, and trying to select a fabric from my extensive collection.

Progress

He's been allowed to wear trousers around the house for the first time today. So far we haven't had any accidents (that's me setting things up for a soggy evening folks), although he has managed to pee over the rim of the toilet seat and all over the floor, his pants and his trousers a couple of times. I keep trying to tell him that if he sits there trying to watch himself pee then he's going to get wet feet, but he's still fascinated with the whole thing. Good job I keep a mop and bucket in the shower in that bathroom.

He's also earned two more cars since last I mentioned it. He's just earned his third and is merrily playing with them all at the moment.

Tomorrow I promise I'll write about something other than toilet training *lol*

P.S. One fun thing I've learned since we started toilet training. Ewok has veeeery ticklish bum cheeks *hee*

Understanding

Before having Ewok, I would always wonder how any mother could leave her child. I'm not talking about ones who gave them up for adoption as soon as they were born, but the ones who had started to raise their children and then suddenly abandoned them with their fathers (or other relatives).

In some cases it is because they really don't care about their kids any more, their own happiness is more important to them, and I'll never understand that.

However, I'm starting to understand that some of them genuinely believe that their children and their fathers will be better off without them, that they are screwing motherhood up so badly that it would be better for all concerned if they just left.

I'm not saying that what they believe is right, in most cases I suspect it's far from it. Just that some days I can see how they end up feeling that way.

Success and Failure

Ewok's toilet training has progressed to the point that we are now only rewarding him if he goes to the toilet, does something and keeps his pants dry and clean. We started following this system on Monday morning, and his reward is a sticker on a chart. We also said that once he had 15 stickers on his chart he would get a toy surprise as a reward.

Well he's just earned his first toy surprise *yay* It's a matchbox car from a box of them that Wookiee bought at the weekend for just this purpose. It's a perfect reward for him as he loves cars and he's sitting happily playing with his new toy right now.

The failure is on my part. I really tried to deal with the nighttimes but last night I snapped. I went in to him at about 12:45am to take him to the toilet, only to find that he'd already soaked his bed, although he'd not woken up to it. So I took him into the bathroom to get him changed while Wookiee sorted his bed out. Then I put a pull-up on him.

I'd decided that I wasn't doing him or me any favours by persuing the nighttime training at the moment. We were both losing sleep and consequently being tired and cranky with each other during the day, which I'm sure was affecting his daytime training. So, he'll stay in pull-ups at night until they're pretty much dry in the mornings, then I'll look at nighttime training again.

We're calling the pull-ups 'night pants' and having one on didn't stop him from getting up and going to the toilet this morning when he woke up, so no regression there so far.

Right, now I've got to create a new sticker chart that he can take to nursery with him this afternoon.

Aww

This is the effect the nighttime training is having. I took this less than 5 mins ago:



He's lying on his old cot matress, which I brought into the living room for him to sit on while he's training, to try and save the sofas from accidents. He's actually been lying there watching tv for about 1.5 hrs, I'm just surprised it took him that long to fall asleep.

A New Outfit

What do you think *twirl*, does it suit me, or does my bum look big?

The saga continues...

Well he knows what he's doing now, but it's still a bit hit and miss as to whether he makes it to the loo in time or not. Yesterday he only had a couple of accidents, today there were more accidents than successess.

Tomorrow is going to be his first big test as we have Tumble Tots in the morning and Sure Start Stay & Play in the afternoon. His old changing bag is already packed with several changes of pants and trousers, there's more trousers in his travel box in the car and a piece of disposable changing mat in his car seat. Neither event is more than a 10 min drive away, so fingers crossed he will be fine travelling. My main worry is that I haven't managed to get a folding loo seat yet, so he'll have to balance on the big seats, which isn't a problem as long as he only needs to pee...

Nighttimes are what's killing me. He hasn't had a dry night yet, and when he wakes up wet in the middle of the night, it's not being woken up and having to go and clean up that's the problem, it's that he then won't let me leave him again for at least 30 mins, usually not until he's deeply enough asleep that I can creep out of his room without disturbing him. On top of that I'm having to wake up 1.5-2 hrs earlier than I used to, to try and be up before he wakes up, so I can get to hom and get him to the toilet before he wets the bed while he's waking up. Although to be fair, this morning he woke up before my alarm woke me, and he'd managed to get out of bed before losing it, but not onto the loo.

So I haven't had an unbroken nights sleep for the last 6 nights, not more than 5 hours total on any night, and I have to be alert and vigilant all day long. I'm about dead on my feet now.

Quick Update

By george it works!

As of lunchtime today he 'got it'. We had a couple of accidents in the early evening but I think they were down to him being tired. But he also managed to take himself off to the toilet three times during the afternoon and pretty much manage on his own, with me just hovering and reminding him to flush and wash his hands afterwards.

He hasn't had a dry night yet, but then we've only had two nights of it, and I'm just going to go and check on him now before heading to bed myself. He also hasn't needed to poop since lunchtime, so there may still be a little work to do there, I'll find that out in the morning.

Still, practically potty trained in 2.5 days *phew*

Potty Training

We're following a 3-day potty training system.

It's killing me, but it does appear to be working. In two days we've gone from nappies and no attempts at even trying to PT, to a sucessful pee and poop in the toilet with still-dry pants and him initiating the visit to the toilet.

This was followed by an accident 20 mins later, but still, progress is definitely being made. We'll see where we're at by tomorrow evening.

Awwwwwww

I always check on Ewok before I go to bed at night, just to make sure he's ok, tuck him in properly if he's kicked the duvet off, and check his nappy. At the moment I usually have to change his nappy lest it be all full and leaky come the morning.

When I have to do this, he will rouse a little, I'll get vaguely coherent comments from him and co-operation with any nappy-changing instructions, such as asking him to lift his bum up so I can slide the new nappy into place.

I was doing this the other night and he was his usual 80% asleep, 20% co-operation and mumbled sleepy comments. I changed his nappy and put his pyjama bottoms back on him, which is his cue that he can curl up again because Mummy's finished messing him about. I snuggled dog up to his front, and his arm went round him and I got a sleepy 'thank you' which made me smile. Then I pulled the duvet back over him, tucked him in and turned to pick up the wet nappy for disposal, and that was when it happened....

From behind me I heard a very very sleepy 'All cosy'

Click for bigger image
Picture taken a while ago when Ewok was still in his cot