The toddler's baby.

Ryan loves his teddy, Roger. He is quite obsessed with him at the moment. Started about 3 weeks ago. Roger had to be taken everywhere, given super tight cuddles and is really treated as his baby.

Roger has an incontinence problem, so is normally seen wearing a nappy. He is sometimes dressed in a onesie. He is put in the rocker. He is put on his tummy for tummy time. He requires to be wrapped before bed, sometimes he needs a longer sleep than Ryan, so we must creep out of the room, so as not to wake him. Roger likes a drink of pretend milk out of a bottle.

I love that Ryan has this imaginative play. Mark was not big on it. He preferred to push a car around. Ryan is not a "player", he likes to run around, and throw/kick balls. He is also VERY big on playing Daddy to this bear of his. I'll upload a video in another post (from my phone) of this morning play... very cute.

Tuesday Rants.

I feel a rant coming on.

#1. Motorbike insurance.
In NSW you need "Compulsory Third Party" (CTP) insurance, also known as a Green Slip. This is to cover injury in an accident. In Victoria this is a general insurance called Transport Accident Commission *TAC* and it is a part of the cars registration. In NSW, they have privatised the CTP part, so you need to shop around for it as well as your comprehensive insurance. That is the back story!
Jamie rides a motorbike to save money on petrol for going to work. It was up for renewal this week. The Registration costs $111 for the year, CTP is $421 and full insurance is $374. We have to do this for 3 vehicles every year. Jamie shopped around for his CTP, found a better price (our previous company wanted $50 more), but he was informed that the CTP will NOT cover at fault accidents for his own injury (I'm pretty sure that is what he said). So in the very unlikely event that Jamie would cause an accident on his motorbike....

Just read the fine print. Jamie got me in a tizz for nothing. Most of the greenslips are a "no fault" argh.

Coping with a 20 month old.

I think I'm having trouble with the gorgeous Ryan. I have just admitted in writing here that Ryan is hyperactive, aggressive and destructive. Its completely true as well.
It's not all the time. Most of the time he's affectionate and sweet (always hyperactive though). But its the aggression that is worrying me.

Reading what Courtney said in the link above, and I shall quote:

In considering Pudge's behaviors, we could definitely classify most under two categories:
1. Behaviors that occur because she doesn't have the communicative skills to appropriately express herself (i.e. slapping an adult across the bottom or jabbing a peer in the chest to announce her arrival instead of using her voice to do it.)
2. Behaviors that occur because she is sensory seeking. (i.e. emptying toy boxes and laundry baskets and any drawer in the whole blessed house she can reach, tackling her brother, body slamming the shih tzu, etc.)

Pudge is an almost 3 year old girl with Down Syndrome, so her challenges are different. That being said, Ryan is still non verbal, he grabs me by my jeans and pulls or pushes me until I'm where he wants me to be, I know there is a voice in there, just want him to say "come here Mummy". The sensory seeking part is very very true (just wish I knew what it meant), he opens everything, pulls out stuff, goes through any open door, escapes at every opportunity. Ryan is also similar to Pudge in that he has a high pain tolerance. Give him a needle, he'll give you a dirty look. Fall over and get an egg on your head, rub it better and just a little cry. Smacks on the hand are greeted with amusement "why the heck did you do that?"


But onto the aggression. Mark is rough with him. Mark is very rough with him. They "play" constantly, in a throw you around, pretend to hit, trip you over, yell in your face. Mark never (well hardly ever) uses real words when around Ryan, its all "arrrrhhhhhh" and stupid laughing. Whenever Ryan starts to cry because Mark has taken it too far, "I was just trying to make him laugh" Who freaking cares about him laughing. Its teaching a wrong behaviour. Ryan is learning that aggression is ok, because Mark does it. Ryan will then choose his target - Ben. But Mark (sort of) knows when to stop, Ryan is still very young, and doesn't yet possess the skills to say, oh this might hurt Ben.

I seem to be stuck on a record player saying "time to calm down Mark", "stop screaming Mark", "that's enough Mark". What if my younger boys only remember me being angry with Mark?

The hyperactivity is crazy. He runs from the minute he wakes up. If he sits down, he will want a blanket on his knees (its cold here at the moment and we don't use our heater, we put blankies on our laps). Instantly the blanket is pulled up, he is standing up again, spins in a circle, sits down and does it all over again. This can happen 10 times in the space of one minute. The only relief Ryan gets is when he is in his high chair, bed or car. I wish sometimes he would just relax, but he doesn't seem to be able to. I take him outside to run around and kick the ball, but I never do it for long enough, so then there is a tantrum.


At least he still sleeps fantastically. 7:30pm until 7ish. Then a 2-4 hour nap in the day time. PHEW. But last night he woke at 12:30 and was awake until around 2:30am... strange.

Is it because of this challenging behaviour that I'm almost relieved to be going back to work? I feel a bit of a failure as a parent at the moment, I know I'm not. But the lack of talking is really getting me down. Last night our friends daughter said "I love you Daddy". She is about 3 months younger than Ryan! BUT she is a girl, the eldest and her mother is a trainee primary teacher.

Advice is most welcome.

Confused.

Mark, Ryan, Ben. Ryan, Ben, Mark. Ben, Mark, Ryan.

Too many names. Oh there is a good one, "Jame, I mean Mark"

What the heck do you call them??

Gorgeous little boys.

Happy 4 month birthday to my little dude Ben Arthur. Time has gone so quick.

So being 4 months old means he had needles today. He's currently sleeping it off. He was really good about it, so good in fact that Ryan got a lollypop!

Ben is getting quite chunky, his face is filling out, he is full of gorgeous expressions. I just love him to bits.

Ryan is a handful, but then he's 20 months old. He's getting taller (just). But its his understanding that is amazing. As you know, we've restricted dummy usage. Now when he gets out of bed, he hands him dummy to me and we place it on his dresser. He also gets to suck on it during nappy changes (a trick that Roy taught us), this morning I asked for it back after his nappy change and he wouldn't open his mouth. So I said to him, its either give me the dummy or you go to your cot. No handing back of the dummy, so I put him to bed and he fell asleep. Also yesterday, I was sitting on the floor feeding Ben, I asked Ryan "please give mummy the remote" and I pointed to it (it was on the next chair) he walked over, picked it up and handed it to me. Excessive praise given. He's a smart cookie.

Mark is a teenager! He's totally obsessed with war video games, they are very *very* violent, so he spends most of his time killing people! As always, he's great with the little boys, although sometimes a little rough. Food and filling Mark is an issue. I feel I want to say another story, but I can't remember it.

I must find my camera cord, I need to upload photos.

Today

This is a post about the Today show. (I was going to do it on my phone, but I'm at my computer now, so will do it here - quicker)

I spent years hating the Today show, I was a firm fan of GMA (before it was axed) followed by Sunrise. I loved Kochie and Mel and their antics. But then they started to sour on me. I think it was during the coverage of the Christchurch earthquake when Kochie was standing in front of the Grand Chancellor Hotel and you could just see him wishing it would fall down so he could be in the footage.*


Then I saw/read that Karl Stefanovic was up for a Gold Logie. Not that dickhead Karl I thought. Then I switched. He is very funny, I love Georgie and Ben. Lisa is the weakest link I feel, but still think she is great. The things that irk me about the Today show.

• They sit so close together on the couch, I know its so they both get in the shot. But I don't even sit that close to Jamie, let alone someone who isn't my husband.
• What is Richard Reed laughing about all the time?
• Why is Richard Wilkins still on tv?
• Why is the weather readers job the best on tv?
• How come they spend so little time on each topic, surely some things deserve a little longer than three minutes.
• I think its funny when the segment "Girls on the Grill" comes on, Karl starts with a "Good morning to you Lisa and Georgie" yet they have all been talking and sitting together since 5.30am and the segment is at 8.30am

And I shall leave my Today discussions there.






* I don't know whether he was actually wishing that, but it sure looked like it.

Blogging on the go

Now have installed Blogger on my phone. More silly typing on this touch pad.
Sitting here watching Masterchef, once again frustrating the hell out of me. None of them have ever skinned a chook before, but they only give them the bare basic time. Why why why?
I was talking to Jamie yesterday asking about this conflict that "they" say is necessary in reality shows. Who wants conflict? Who wants this stupid pressure? Not me, I'd rather see them do it well and see how to cook the dishes rather than super complicated food.

Today's cooking.

I'm making Beef Stroganoff for dinner (minus the mushrooms).
Dessert is going to be some sort of apple puff/turnover, need to find a recipe for it.

I played secretary for MyNetHost this morning, two of our clients needed some help, so I did phone support and got them through it. Very satisfying that. It also baffles me in this day and age that I rang a client and they gave me their credit card number no questions asked. I still have it written in front of me. If I was another person (ie my evil twin or just plain criminal) I could do some online shopping.

Babies are both asleep. Neither really napped at all yesterday, so I am looking forward to a peaceful day.

I was sick overnight, that was yuck. All better now.