toddler – Melrose Mom-ing

Taming the beast

And by this I mean purely TT’s hair 🤣😂

The hus-creature and I disagree on her hair muchly.

This is his belief:

Whereas I see it more like this:

The truth? Is probably somewhere in the middle.

Anyway, a bone of contention is “Baby’s First Haircut”.

Now please let it be known that I am actually not totally averse to her having a trim. I just don’t want her hair as short as her brother’s!

I mean, since she’s never had it cut, it’s all over the place length-wise and it’s fine to the point of unmanageably flyaway – but it’s so pretty.

But as a result, it’s bloody hard to keep neat. Loose is…. not possible. Not when she persists in still getting food everywhere at every meal 🙄 She also hates having tangles brushed out, so no, we don’t wear it loose unless (and until) the band(s) fall out.

And did I mention the flyaway? This happens often 🙄🥺

A ponytail seems easier, and it’s certainly the easiest style for me to achieve. But it doesn’t stay. The standard baby hair bobbles don’t stretch far enough, the interim ones don’t grip, and the smaller adult style? Like the ones I use? Her hair is too fine to use them singly.

So, I learned to braid.

This seems like a simple skill no? Especially as I can crochet (Also knit but crochet seems the most directly comparable skill). But I had never, ever, mastered it.

I’m also dyspraxic, as well as suspected ADHD; and so these aren’t conducive to learning this type of thing. But here is my current skill level:

On the left was a few days ago (we’ve since lost that pink band 🙄) and on the right is today’s.

I’ve since added a new product into our hair care routine.

Hair Shots By Amy

I discovered them while we were away at Great Wolf Lodge (having a Mommy and Me Pedicure 🥰) and we picked up the Cupcake one as that was:

my favourite

According to madam

Thing is? To me and her dad it smells vile 🤣😂 totally fake and cloyingly sweet. But it does make her hair smell nice to her. She adores using “my smelling”. It also dries and fades out to something more tolerable to my nose at least.

It also seems to act as a slight detangler and, I discovered today, controls her hair enough from ponytail to braid, to allow me to braid almost to the bottom of her hair.

Technically, you’re only supposed to use it on the scalp – the instructions are:

Lift hair and spray directly onto your head, 3-6 times depending on hair thickness.

But that’s tricky, so I spray on her parting, especially as that changes through brushing, and lift a few segments. Now also along her ponytail pre-braiding.

And, I wanted to try it myself. Yes yes I know, but it’s marketed to “all ages and all hair types” and I’m suffering in this heat wave.

I’m also an addict of all things Cotton Candy scented. No, really, you ought to have seen the amount of Snow Fairy crap I purchased from Lush over the winter.

Yes, I agree that Lush has turned devil incarnate on the marketing campaigns, and the prices are ludicrous, but apparently bubble bath is not a thing out here, so I occasionally indulge myself. Also the USA products are manufactured in Canada not the Poole factory so I can pretend it’s not so evil.

So I decided to try this one

I love it.

I’ve had numerous compliments on my hair when out and about since I started using it. It’s particularly good as I don’t like over-washing my hair given I basically fry it to oblivion once every four months in order to go full unicorn 🤣😂

There’s also anecdotal evidence that it helps prevent head lice – something to do with “disguising the smell of the hair” (for which I read: disguising the smell of blood under the skin on the scalp).

That’s clearly not been proven in any kind of standardised FDA approved testing, but paediatricians out here are already starting to spout it so why not.

I’m not certain which scents are unisex though, so for now #1 Son is safe 🤣😂

But hey, so far we’ve only had one bout of those nasty crawling buggers in total so anything that is chemical-free and might help keep that so? Gets a huge thumbs up in my book.

I will say though, that these aren’t cheap. Just under $15 a bottle, but it seems to last a while. Going to try the strawberry next on her when I need to replace my own bottle – I use more than she does 🤣😂

Apartment Life

Can suck. Suck utter balls.

We live on the first floor. The landlady lives above on the second floor.

Around December last year, after significant unpleasantness, new neighbours moved in downstairs on the ground floor.

I took down soup and apologised in advance as I have two children, one of whom is around full time.

Everything seemed fine.

While we were away, one of said neighbours complained to the landlady that:

The children run around so much it shakes the light fittings.

Now I admit, my children can be… boisterous… but no more so than any other 3 and 7 year old pair of siblings.

In fact, #1 Son, when left to his own devices, is perfectly happy snuggled in his room with his tablet.

So I was mortified. Since I thought we had dealt with this issue last year.

Apparently there were issues with doors slamming. We put large rubber bands over the relevant door handles and the problems went away

However, more information has just come to light. The landlady and her partner came to do some light maintenance (with about four hours notice this time 🙄) and the topic came up.

Side note: if you’ve never had kids do not try and discipline someone else’s thank you very much. Yes the landlady attempted to talk to TT and #1 Son about the excessive noise and, rather unsurprisingly, was ignored.

However, as it turns out, downstairs have set up a Meditation Room and have placed it under my kid’s bedrooms.

I’m more than willing to work with my neighbours, but that? That is taking the piss.

Fortunately, the landlady’s partner has grandchildren. He understands kids. She is child free, and kind of seems to view children as little aliens/a different species. Which is fair, but I am not hobbling my kids. They are entitled to live in their homes.

And though I would never put it like this – we were here first. They saw us all leaving the house en masse on the day they viewed the property. So they knowingly rented an apartment where they knew there were kids living upstairs.

So, there have been discussions of what can be done. The landlady and partner have suggested they will buy large Ikea rugs for the relevant rooms.

I’m not footing the bill for it. Rugs are a bastard to keep clean.

And I have suggested (and will follow through with) buying slippers for the kids. I have no problem with that.

But I have stated, on record, that while I will happily have “no running in the house” as a rule (indeed have been trying to institute that since we moved in) I am not stopping my kids from playing in the place where they live.

TT is in bed before 7pm, #1 Son before 8pm. That is not unreasonable. I am not putting their lives on hold for a Meditation Room.

I will not be shitty about it, we all need to live together, but I have my limits. I know my kids well, including their flaws, and they are not as bad as is being made out.

Mama Dinosaur mode has been engaged.

MLK Day 2019

Well dear audience I’m back.

There’s been such a huge mental block for me with writing since October. It’s not that there weren’t things to write about, it’s that I just….

Couldn’t do it.

I just could not put pen to paper. Or words on a screen. Every time I tried I felt so anxious it was ridiculous.

And this is my escape from anxiety.

So, I’ve decided to just take the leap.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. So #1 Son is off school, and the hus-creature is off from work 🙀 so we decided to go into Boston and visit the New England Auto Show.

One teeny tiny issue? It’s -15/16C out there at the moment. And there’s a foot of frozen solid snow outside.

However, we have gone native. I merely shrugged it off and we all headed out. And it turns out that there was one more small issue. We had left TT’s stroller on the front porch. There’s been a major snow storm. Yep, it’s full of snow and frozen solid 🤭😒😤

So, may I present TT’s first official free range bus and T ride:

She loves her “bear hat” and it’s so damn cold out that I didn’t have to argue with her at least about bundling up.

#1 Son on the other hand? Well he made it the 10 feet to the bus stop before he was whimpering that his ears hurt from the cold. We had packed his hat because we knew this would happen. So yes, he wore that too.

So we got to the Conference Center and stripped off to ensure we wouldn’t freeze on the way out.

I think you can see that one child was enjoying life significantly more than the other bless them!

So, the Motor Show was… genuinely interesting. It was all about the new cars coming in 2019/2020 – and not all of them either. Kia for example did not have their next generation hybrid available. Which was most disappointing to the hus-creature, as we are looking into future replacements for our trusty Bolt, and Kia/Hyundai have some great options.

But because it was basically a “see what we’ve got coming up and buy buy buy” event, something magical became possible.

You could sit in the vehicles!!!!

Honestly, it was like we had taken TT to the best theme park ever.

Now, she was insisting on dividing her car choices by colour. Or if they were a truck. We were forced to sit in/stare at so many trucks.

THE BIGGER THE BETTER MOMMY!!!!

Honest to goodness, the sheer size differential was amazing – I’m still laughing!

Why yes, yes this is my daughter behind the wheel of an orange Camaro! I’ve never seen her so happy!

However, she was desperate to get her hands on “a purple one”. Except that there weren’t any.

Well, until we found the “super cars” section anyway:

Say it with me, “hubba hubba” why yes, yes I would very much like to sit in a purple Lamborghini thank you. Sadly both mine and TT’s hopes were cruelly dashed.

It’s sibling is retailing at over half a bar!!!!

But oh so pretty.

There were a few “classics” too:

And from a sheer interest perspective, a hydrogen fuel cell Honda:

Which is fascinating to both myself and the hus-creature, but sadly re-fuelling something like this in Massachusetts is… problematic.

All 38 refuelling Stations are only in California

At this point we had been wandering around for over two hours. #1 Son was bored out of his mind. TT on the other hand? If it wasn’t for the being exhausted due to no stroller? She would have happily kept going.

My girl is a complete petrol head!!!

Sadly, the journey home was not so easy. The Silver Line bus broke down in the tunnel so they had to send a shuttle bus.

However as they kept us waiting over 15 minutes and it was an over 15 minute bus trip to South Station? I lost my train fare. And I was pissed. It doesn’t matter that it’s “only” $2.75. That’s my $2.75 and they shouldn’t get to keep it.

Then we missed the connecting T. Then when we got back to Oak Grove we missed the next bus.

It was a cold wait. So when we got home it was hot chocolate for all – with a large dash of bourbon for the parents!

It was such a long day for TT that she did something she’s not done in over a year:

Passed out. On the T! Poor thing was exhausted. Hopefully she will sleep well tonight!

Stay tuned for the festivus look back. I’m hoping to get my mojo back.

It’s the 1st of July!

And summer is here! It’s so so hot. But the ever wonderful H, D and K assembled and filled two inflatable pools!!!

A big one (supposedly) for the three boys, and a little one for the two littler girls.

We are assisting simply by buying a new hose.

As H’s broke over the last summer and it’s replacement has mysteriously vanished – apparently there is no such thing as a cheap 100ft one left anywhere in Melrose! So we bought the premium luxury one from Job Lot. $37 well spent 👍🏻😃

But, as you might expect, that did not happen. #1 Son got fed up of waiting, so once the hus-creature returned from the weekly shop, he retired upstairs with his daddy to play Minecraft together… no, daddy didn’t get much of a choice! 😂🤣

And the twins were significantly more interested in the new “baby” pool, than their “we had this one last summer” big pool god love them!

TT dived headfirst into the big pool (as it was the one that was filled first) but got scared by the “sharks” in it – the inside liner is decorated with fish, seaweed etc.

But she had so much fun playing in the little one:

Group play in the baby pool

Then because of the bigger boys playing in it a little roughly (just boys being boys, but they are, we think, a little bit too big for it) it needed reinflating…

Which is the background noise to this video

All in all, we stayed outside until over an hour past her bedtime. She didn’t eat any dinner – but she had had a big breakfast and lunch, plus her bedtime bottle so I’m not worried there.

All the kidlets (except #1 Son, but we will work on that) had an amazing time, and this is just the start of the summer…

Oh, this is the bath after I insisted my daughter bathe before bed:

Do not worry dear audience, I have cleaned it 😂🤣👍🏻

Pass the whiskey

No. Really.

It’s 17:30, mom is starting her third beer, I am drinking my first (which is actually yesterday’s first – since my op I haven’t really drunk much in a go).

In the first instance mom ~~kicked me out of the house~~, gently persuaded me, to take TT to the park.

She refused to wear her snow boots. Or indeed any boots. And there was snow.

Not vast amounts, as it is melting, but it was there. She got wet.

But there were moments of cuteness

She then found (and ignored) a stick

No. There was no stick song.

We stayed out for about 45 minutes, and she had a whale of a time. But she did end up soaking wet due to snow and falling down.

I had to bribe her with candy to get her back in the pram! She totally charmed the man behind the counter in the grocery store though 😂🤣

Then came dinner. Sigh.

Yes, it went about as well as expected.

Take a guess, dear audience as to which bowl on the right hand side belonged to which child….

Go on…

I’ll wait…

She scoffed it. We are having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Honestly, even though I am tooting my own horn more than a little, it actually tastes really good!!!

#1 Son on the other hand? I basically begged him to eat three mouthfuls. Total bust.

I’ll keep trying…

Several important milestones

So yesterday wasn’t your average Sunday.

I was going to walk to the pub with mum but it was raining really heavily. So we all had a baguette meal at #1 Son’s request. Both children really enjoyed themselves and actually ate real food. TT also tried various adult foods such as horseradish cheese and Gorgonzola dip. No, she didn’t like them but at least it was funny when she tried.

TT has been trying bunches again:

I’m not sure she approves yet 😂🤣 whatever we do she yanks out within 10-30 minutes anyway sigh.

We decided that it was a good idea to actually get some exercise, so when we discovered we were almost out of cat food (I know right how did I let this happen?) We decided that I would go to Shaws with the sprogs and the hus-creature, and get some fresh air.

Well we managed it. Nobody ran off, broke anything and I didn’t collapse. Then something very amazing happened.

I drove the car home!!!!

Yes, me – who hasn’t been behind the wheel in over six months!!!

I was probably more than a little aggravating to the other drivers, but I made it home.

#1 Son even told me “you have done well Mommy, good job”

And trust me, I needed to hear that!!!

We went out tonight for a small spin around the immediate estate and to the train station and back – a bit of road position practice mainly. Again, nobody died and there was only one instance of my getting my side of the road screwed up – approaching a one-way gyratory on the left whilst turning left fired up my dormant muscle-memory neurons, but I moved over before there was an issue and didn’t even get beeped so all is good.

I need to be able to do the school run before Momma returns to good ole Blighty.

Tosay #1 Son voluntarily tidied TT’s room – it was done very well. What was amusing was TT checking all the cupboards in her little kitchen to see what he had put in there.

TT is now very upset to wake up to a wet nappy, and for the last two nights has insisted on “wee wee” within 10 min of her bedroom door closing.

So tonight we cut down her bedtime bottle amount and as of last night have cut out her 11pm bottle 🙀

We will be attempting to sit her on a potty at 11pm instead after getting #1 Son up for his middle of the night toilet break.

Both of them are growing up. TT is now almost 100% reliable on the #1 front, so now we are working on #2.

Night-dry may well be possible much sooner with her…

I’m also three weeks post-op now. Time flies when you’re “having fun” I guess.

A productive few days

TT has been dry in the day for three days on the trot!!!

This is amazing! And she has completely bypassed the potty and has gone straight to using the toilet.

So I could have saved the $20+ I invested in a mini toilet style potty but never mind eh?

We are struggling a little with #2 at the moment but we are getting there.

We have already thrown at least one pair of underpants out

She has also been a little unwell the last day or so. Wednesday night was awful. She woke screaming in pain at 22:00 and was clearly either constipated or very gassy. We tried a warm bath, Nanny/daddy walking her around, we even gave her an approved constipation tablet – nothing worked.

She was so bad she gave herself a fully hoarse throat the poor wee thing 😰

So we ended up co-sleeping because she just would not settle back in her bed alone.

And it reminded me most forcefully why we do not do the co-sleeping thing.

Poor Daddy ended up curled up on the foot of the bed under the duvet whilst I ended up very sore due to the squirming sleep-thief octopus.

So I spent a lot of yesterday resting because I was exhausted and in pain.

Much better today. However TT has had a slightly upset tummy, so the two events may have been linked. Her pjs were a bit of a state this morning 🤢

#1 Son has been doing reading and writing practice with Nanny. By reading phonetically with the Biff, Chip and Kipper books supplied by other Nanny he is now romping through, and is already on Level 2.

My pride knows no boundaries. We are more than a little concerned though that we are teaching him the British way and not the American way, but it’s working for him – so Momma has volunteered to chat to his teacher about it next week to see if either they can keep letting him learn this way or provide us with suggested resources to help him move on from phonics.

But he is enjoying reading. This is a bloody miracle.

TT decided yesterday that she wasn’t up to being outdone:

Reading practice with TT

I mean, logically it’s nowhere near as impressive, but it’s pretty cute.

Momma has also been trying to tame and tidy the unruly mop that is her hair:

It lasts about ten minutes but hey it’s progress!

We are planning on working on colours and shapes with her next week once #1 Son returns to school.

And as for writing with #1 Son? Well Momma is working on individual upper and lower case letter formation with him, and we are already up to K!!! The hope is that by Monday he will have done the entire alphabet through, but we shall see.

He has also had a full session with his new therapist and he doesn’t hate the musical therapy.

*collapses in relief*

I’m going for a walk at the weekend!!!

💕💕💕💕💕

A slight backslide today

Maybe I overdid it. Maybe this is normal. But I feel rotten. My stomach is sore and crampy, and my incision hurts a bit.

I have sent the hus-creature to make me a hot water bottle whilst I hide in bed. He is happy to do this. He has also made me a cup of tea and brushed my hair 💗💕

He is a lovely man person 😘

Poor old TT has had a bit of a rotten day too. She is severely constipated right now 😰 So the Mothership and I are putting our heads together to find ways of sneaking more fibre into her. I am deeply sympathetic to the poor wee thing.

#1 Son came home with a Valentine he made for me:

I’m not crying – you’re crying.

He’s so proud of it too 💕

Post Operative Check – Part the First

And happy Commercial Romance Day!

The hus-creature got me a lovely card and Haribo Gold Bears 💗💗💗

A few of which were used to bribe TT to use the potty 🙄

And while I was asleep this morning he also sent me this:

My heart and my world. 💕

My own daddy knocked it out of the park too by sending my Momma some gorgeous chocolate covered strawberries – great job dad 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Me? I got the hus-creature a mug. See, he has developed a major taste for coffee, and needed his own* mug to take to the office

I got him the one on the right, rather than the pink one 🤣😂

And at 15:30 today (well roughly anyway) I toddled (slowly) up to see my surgeon for my first post-op checkup.

I cannot believe I am only 9 days post. Comparatively I feel great. I thought he was insane to send me home when he did, but he was right.

And yes, I did say that to his face today 🤣😂

He very carefully checked me over, with minimal prodding. My incision is healing fantastically apparently.

He removed the first set of steri-strips, replaced them with a mere two, and has given me orders to clean the area with hydrogen peroxide solution twice a day.

Yes Sir, Dr. Witkowski *salutes sharply*

I am doing exactly what he tells me, because as far as I am concerned, this man is my hero. He has given me a life.

I saw my pathology reports. My insides were indeed a mess. Endometriosis, Adenomyosis, my tubes blocked and scarring up the wazoo.

Most tellingly was my cervix, which was still flagging abnormal cells. But he is confident that he got it all. There’s no need to worry (direct quote there).

He is glad he took everything away. Looks like I was at risk of developing cervical cancer later but no cancer of any sort detected anywhere at all. So all good there.

He wants to see me again in two weeks. The six week ban on all things remains in place, and I am to continue gradually increasing my exercise levels.

Oh, and I’ve lost three pounds.

And only 0.5lb of that was interval organs!!!

I’m counting that as a win!!!

*After sadly breaking a cool one of mine mumble

Angry mama bear is angry

I just had a call from the counselling centre where #1 Son is registered. His therapist quit. Effective immediately. With zero communication to clients.

I’m furious.

It explains so. much.

Why she cancelled last week’s appointment with less than two hour’s notice 😡🤬
Why she failed to reschedule it at all.
Why she never answered my email when I copied her in to one sent to his school guidance counsellor.
Why, despite promising me for over three weeks that she would do so, she has never followed up with the school.

I’m just speechless and furious.

I give major props to the counselling centre though. They stayed 100% professional. Although when I commented that “it made sense” a bit more came out when I read between the lines (see the above list).

They’ve gotten him in with a new therapist. Who specialises in kids with sensory and emotional issues, and is a music therapist.

I’m a bit anxious though, as it isn’t a proven to work with him technique. And he does have an issue with loud noise. But he needs to see someone, so we will give it a go.

It also throws a spanner in the works of the diagnosis procedure.

Argh.

In slightly lighter news, TT ate half an adult portion of yesterday’s vegetable lasagne – including picking out the courgettes and mushrooms to eat.

BREAKING NEWS:

Whilst writing this post, TT has done….

*drum roll please*

A wee wee on the toilet. Unprompted!!!

Much praise, dancing (though not by me) and chocolate have been administered.

I am tired now 🤣😂