Don't cry, Mammy, it's okay...

[ailbhe]

Today I was reading a book to Linnea and we reached a page which said "Sigh baby cry baby boo hoo hoo" so I boo-hoo'd. And she climbed over and hugged me until I was better. I almost cried for real.

And then she did it again when we read "This little baby makes lots of noise."

Yesterday when I said "Come on, let's brush our teeth," and headed for the bathroom, she stopped dead right outside and made "Make it better!" noises. She was standing next to the blue step, which she needs to reach the sink. It wasn't in the bathroom! and she wanted it there.

The two days we've given her chocolate cake, she had immediate and noticeable mood change: hyperactive, followed by cranky and unable to concentrate, followed by concentrating on being cranky. Also, she was very thirsty both nights, though that could have been the weather. So no more chocolate cake. Or biscuits. And now I have a reason if anyone argues with me - "Because I say so and I'm her mother" doesn't usually hold much water.

Comments

[hypatia.livejournal.com]

Its funny, its just amazing when they start making sense of those sounds and how suddenly they start pulling them together. I loved the way they made up their own words or assigned near match words quite often in their determination to be understood.

Regarding chocolate cake - odds are its sugar rush combined with the low water. However I was the evil bitch queen and worked on the basis that if they really wanted turkey twizzlers (or the veggie equivalent in my case) or chocolate cakes they would ask for them wouldn't they :) If she is used to mostly non processed food and gets something (even home made) which has high sugar concentration it will likely produce sugar rush effects. Either way she doesn't need it so why bother?

The weird side effect of this was that I had children who begged me for raw mushrooms, baby carrots and the odd grape or a slice of granary bread when out shopping rather than crisps and biscuits. I think its quite easy to impose adult ideas of 'treats' when they are no such thing for babies and toddlers. I had friends express amazement that they would eat real vegetables and fruits and wholemeal bread - but they never had anything else so why would they object? We are not great cake/biscuit eaters so we simply didn't have the stuff around most of the time.

Currently they eat me out of house and home as they rocket up above me and so I do keep cake in the house but fortunately they still regard fizz and 'junky stuff' as 'sometimes foods' rather than everyday fare. I'm still considering deploying e numbers to stunt their growth...

[ailbhe]

However I was the evil bitch queen and worked on the basis that if they really wanted turkey twizzlers (or the veggie equivalent in my case) or chocolate cakes they would ask for them wouldn't they :)

She did, the first time - I had a guest and she saw food. The second time, I was mother-in-lawed while ill, which I think is a good excuse. I'm glad she had the visible reaction though because now I can counter the mother in law with "Not after what happened last time," like I did when she wanted me to wake a sleeping baby to go and do something fun with her.

But it was really telling, how dramatic the reaction was.