Friday, January 28, 2011

No, wait! It's a girl!

This morning, eager to demonstrate to Toby Phoebe's ability to predict the gender of our baby, I said, "Tell Daddy what sort of baby we're having. Is it a boy baby or a girl baby?"

And Phoebe yelled, "Girl."

"Oh!" I said, "I thought it was a boy. Would you prefer a boy baby or a girl baby?"

And she said, "Girl."

Just to be sure I said, "Are you sure? You said you wanted a boy yesterday. Are you sure you want a girl baby and not a boy baby?"

"Yep."

Now I'm confused.

In other confusing matters, I'm looking for a baby car seat that will sit on our pram base. I didn't buy one with Phoebe because they are over $300 and it seemed a bit extravagant for something that you only use for a few months when you can hire one for $70. But it's one thing I really wished I'd had and I decided I'd buy one for our next baby, especially as this one will get shunted about a lot more than Phoebe, to and from daycare and other activities. I figure we'd spend $70 anyway and the re-sell value is pretty high on these so it's probably worth it.

I've been looking online to see how cheaply I can get one. I found one in a local shop for about $270. Not the cheapest but I figured maybe I could pick it up and avoid delivery costs, which would make it very competitive. I emailed the shop to find out if this was possible, and if not, what the delivery charge to my suburb would be. This was the reply I got:
We will price match the total of the online order including the freight in store. To pick up, simply make your order online and add in the comment box that you would like to collect from store.
To have it sent, just add your item to the cart and add your delivery details, the cart will quote you the freight.
Say, what? If I'm paying for delivery anyway why on earth would I bother going to the trouble to come to the shop to pick it up? Perhaps if I was homeless. There are two local online stores that seem unable to give me a delivery charge without first taking my credit card details. Call me cynical but this makes me nervous.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

It's a boy!

Phoebe confidently informed me this morning that the baby is a boy. I then asked her if she'd rather we had a boy baby or a girl baby and she decisively answered, without hesitation, "boy". Previously her answer to that question had been "baby", which is somewhat less specific.

Toby and I had already decided not to find out the sex of the baby and now it seems we don't have to because we already know. Thanks, Pheebs.


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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Toothbrushing, we're toothbrushing

For those of you who are wondering how we got on with toothbrushing a few months back, or who have their own little tikes refusing to partake in dental hygiene and are looking for ideas, here's a quick update.

We introduced a new element to her bedtime routine: Peppa Pig. Phoebe loves Peppa, who she calls simply "Pig" and we'd shown her the odd episode on YouTube. I bought a triple disc DVD and we let her watch one episode before bed (which often turns into three as she loudly demands "more" as soon as the credits roll). But she's not allowed to watch Peppa until she is fully ready for bed, which involves putting on a nappy, and a vest or pyjamas, and, of course, brushing teeth. Peppa is much better bedtime viewing than our previous choice of The Night Garden as each episode is only 5 minutes long. Night Garden is half an hour and we just aren't organised enough to have dinner and bath done and dusted with a good half an hour to go before bed.

As for the actual tooth brushing, we tend to do that in the front room these days so Phoebe doesn't get distracted pulling faces in the bathroom mirror. She gets given the opportunity to brush her own teeth first, and generally she's much better at doing that now, as opposed to just chewing the brush. We coach her, reminding her to brush the sides, top and backs rather than just the front. If she refuses, or just chews the brush then we do it for her. If I don't think she's done a good enough job then I do it for her. Every now and then, simply because I know she's not that good at it, I do it for her.

Now onto my technique. Well, I had to employ some tough love and take the risk that I might put her off brushing her teeth for a few years. Which doesn't seem to have happened, thankfully. I suppose doing it herself is preferable to having Mammy do it for her.

Basically I sit her on my knee and cradle her in my left arm with her right arm behind my back. She's slightly reclining so I can see into her mouth. I then hold her left arm with my left hand. I use my right hand to brush. She sometimes tries to clamp her mouth shut but she hates being restrained so much that she usually can't help but yell and scream in protest. And that's when I dive in with the brush. I clean all her teeth as quickly as I can, although I don't always manage to get them all done. As soon as I'm done I free her and sit her on my knee and tell her she's a good girl, even though she isn't. It stops her from crying and she pretty much cheers up straight away. Then we watch Peppa Pig. Ten times.

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Morning, baby

I suppose I should start this post with the news that I am 21 weeks pregnant. I know, I know, that's what this blog is supposed to be all about so how come I've managed to go 21 weeks without a single pregnancy post? I mean, it's a pretty big deal. Well, that should probably be the subject of another post but suffice to say what with starting a new job, looking after Phoebe, renovations and Christmas, it's been a fairly jam-packed 21 weeks. And then there's the obligatory first trimester silence, which I felt compelled to observe.

So anyway, there you go. Baby number 2 on the way, expected some time in early June. 5th to be precise but let's not dwell on that - we all know what happened last time.

So Phoebe is going to be a big sister. My little baby is going to be a big sister. She thinks everyone is growing a baby in their tummies, all females anyway, including herself. I can understand the confusion. I could guess that maybe 30% of the ladies she comes into contact with are either expecting or have recently had babies. I told her that she doesn't need to grow a baby because she has a mammy who will do it for her. I told her that it's quite hard work and an often thankless task and that if you can get someone else to do it for you then that's the best way.

She talks to the baby, which is very cute. She says to me "open" and tries to lift my top up, which isn't ideal when I'm wearing a dress. The first time she did this I thought that she wanted me to open my tummy so she could see the baby. I told her we couldn't see it until it's ready to come out.

She'll pull my t-shirt up, wave at my tummy and say "Morning, baby." Then she'll wave again, saying, "Night night, baby," and pull my shirt back down again. The other night we were staying with friends and Toby was taking her to bed. He asked her to say goodnight to everyone and she waved at each of us. I got two waves; one at my face and one at my tummy.

She doesn't seem to understand the difference between a brother and a sister so I'm not sure which she'd prefer. Last time I asked her if she wanted a boy or a girl she answered "yep", which is good because that's what she's getting.

I'm hoping that things are going to calm down a bit for us now and that I'll have time to do some more regular updates as Phoebe is becoming quite chatty, interactive and at times very funny. Meanwhile I'm off to plan the cake for her
2nd birthday. Where did that time go?




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