The Mercedes Benz Pelvic Floor

To the tune of Janis Joplin’s Mercedes Benz.

 

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a new pelvic floor?
I did all my exercises, I wish I'd done more
Worked hard on my clenches, though it was a chore,
So Lord, won't you buy me a new pelvic floor?

Oh Lord, won't you help me to hold in my pee?
I don't want Tena Lady Pads, I'm not eighty-three.
Fifty-two times a day, I already wee.
So oh Lord, won't you help me to hold in my pee?

Oh Lord, get this baby away from my blad.
I can't take the kicks, Lord, I'll go oh so mad.
Prove that you love me and don't make me sad.
Oh Lord, get this baby away from my blad.

Everybody!
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a new pelvic floor?
I did all my exercises, but wish I'd done more
Worked hard on my clenches, though it was such a chore,
So Lord, won't you buy me a new pelvic floor?

That's it!

Playdough maths

We were just sitting at the dining table, after dinner, playing with the playdough(*), while Chris took the dog out for his evening walk. One of my favourite things to do with playdough is roll it into balls (adventurous, I know). I find it quite a soothing activity and love getting the balls as round and smooth as possible.

I was doing this, almost without thinking, while glancing at my Google Reader to catch up on a few blogs (as you do) and passing the finished balls to Rosemary.

At some point I noticed that she was counting the balls, each time I gave her a new one. And counting them properly, which is something she’s only recently got quite good at – she used to be very impatient and either skip items or count one item three or four times. The next ball I finished, I held it up and asked ‘If we put this one down, how many do you think there will be? If there are four balls now. What comes after four?’ ‘Five!’ ‘That’s right. Shall we count them and see if we’re right?’ ‘Yes!’ ‘One, two, three, four, five. Yes! We’re right!’ ‘Yay! Four and one make five. Is there any more playdough?’ ‘Here you go.’ and so on and so on, until we got to ten. Then she started putting them into the jar while counting them and then taking them out and handing them to me and counting them.

At some point during this, it suddenly occurred to me that we were doing maths. You know, simple addition. Wow – how exciting is that? I’ve been waiting all my life for a child who will enjoy doing maths with me. And it’s starting already. I do hope we can keep up her interest, so that she lets me join in with her algebra with her, too, when the time comes.

What spontaneous learning activities have you come up with recently? Is there something you’re really looking forward to doing with your children when they’re ready?

 

(*) Technically, it’s called Soft Stuff, as it’s the dough from the Early Learning Centre. You can read my review of the Bumper Activity Jar over at The Great Toy Guide, if you like.

We can take turns, can’t we?

Yesterday, Rosemary had her first play date. Well, it was the first time she had a friend round to play, rather than a cousin or a younger child of one of my friends. N goes to the same playgroup and lives round the corner, and they’ve got on extremely well ever since they first walked up the hill together. N and her one-year-old sister and mum came to Rosemary’s birthday last week (the only other child there was Rosemary’s cousin, due to my being very disorganised), but yesterday was a proper play date (I think, unless I have the definition wrong!), where N came round to play on her own.

They played very well together. I was able to get the dishwasher filled, a load of washing on and caught up on the recycling. I even managed to sit on the stoop and catch up on my Google Reader items, while they played in the new sandpit. There were a couple of incidents, where they were both going for the same thing – for example, I was reading a book to them and dropped it and they were both trying to be so helpful that they bumped heads and both cried about the other one picking up the book; my solution was to drop another book for Rosemary to pick. But, for the most part they were very nice to each other, and I heard lots of ‘We can share, can’t we?’ and ‘You can use the rolling pin now and then I can use it when you’ve finished.’ and ‘I’ll play with this baby, and you can play with this one or this one, if you like’ and ‘We’re best friends, aren’t we?’ N was very polite, asking me (“Rosemary’s Mummy”) if it was OK to play with things before getting them out and was fine if I said we couldn’t get something out.

They did a fair bit of imaginative play together – babies, doctors, picnics, going to the beach, shops – and they played in the sandpit, played with the playdough, did some sticking and had some stories. There was pretty much no floor visible by the time N’s mum arrived to pick her up, but it was worth it to witness such lovely co-operative play. N didn’t want to go home when her mum turned up, and Rosemary didn’t want her to go. They both started to get a bit grumpy, then, arguing over some stickers and a few other little things – but clearly because they were disappointed and a bit tired by then. Rosemary will be going round to N’s house on Thursday.

All in all, it was very successful and did only take me about 15 minutes to tidy up the living room after Rosemary had gone to bed. I hope there are many more play dates to come – with N and with other children from playgroup. (As an added bonus, N’s mum is very nice, too, and I think she may be my first playgroup/school mum friend. So it is possible, after all. Though it was actually Chris who got her phone number for me.)

Do you enjoy having your children’s friends round to play, or is it a nuisance? Do they have local friends you can call at the last minute to suggest a play date, or is it all organised months in advance? Do you have any tips for continued play date success?

The Big Sleep (issue)

Kim Hong from Fleishman Hillard sent me a Pampers Golden Sleep Kit recently. It contained:

• Golden Sleep Guide
• Fairy fabric conditioner
• Golden Sleep ‘Taggies’ sleep comforter
• Golden Sleep CD of lullabies
• £1 Pampers vouchers

If you want a chance to win a kit of your own, you can fill out a 5-minute survey. There is also an opportunity to go on board the Golden Sleep Train, which you’ll find at:

• Westfield Shopping Centre, London (this weekend)
• Trafford Shopping Centre, Manchester (Saturday and Sunday 16-17 August)
• Silverburn Shopping Centre, Glasgow (Saturday and Sunday 22-23 August).

So… this kit got me thinking about sleep issues and how we will help Eleanor to sleep. The booklet has a bunch of tips, most of which made me nod and say ‘Yes, that’s a good idea.’ and almost none of which we did with Rosemary. The one that got me in particular was:

Babies should be helped to learn how to fall asleep alone. If a baby can do this at at naps and bedtime, it will help them to go back to sleep after waking during the night (self-soothing).

Yeah. We didn’t do that. And, as we had been warned by most people, from health visitors, to grandparents, to friends, we had issues for a long time. Rosemary nursed to sleep almost exclusively. It took a concerted effort on Chris’ part to get her to go to sleep in the evening without mummy milk. Unless she fell asleep in her buggy, she pretty much never went down for a nap without it and gave up her afternoon nap at the same time as she stopped having milk. And she has only just started regularly sleeping through the night and still has some nights where she’ll wake a few times.

I didn’t really mind it for the first year, as I am of the opinion that there’s nothing wrong with comforting a baby, however they need it. I dislike people saying you’re spoiling a baby by letting her nap on you or people talking about using your nipples as dummies (ahem, it’s the other way round; the dummies are nipple substitutes). But after a year, it did get a bit annoying and also somewhat constricting – not really possible to go out for a drink with friends, for example, unless it was for about two hours before bedtime (which wasn’t until 10pm in those days).

So, the plan is to try to do better for Eleanor (and me – let’s face it) and help her learn to fall asleep herself, as well as accustoming her to sleeping among lots of noise (well, she’ll have to really, with a little sister as energetic as Rosemary).

But there’s a problem. The closer I get to holding her in my arms, the further removed I get from this plan and the closer I get to my needs and desires to provide comfort in whatever way she needs it, even if that means nursing to sleep. And, well, you know, nursing to sleep has some great benefits, especially in the middle of the night. You produce this great hormone that not only helps the baby go back to sleep, but also helps you get back to sleep. Fantastic. I didn’t really mind being woken up a couple of times a night when I knew I would be able to get back to sleep really easily. It’s really easy to comfort your baby by sticking a boob in her mouth. She was pretty fine with all her jabs, because the second it was over she had a breastfeed, and often went to sleep. Don’t know how she’ll cope with the next lot – chocolate probably. And I’m remembering how lovely it was to have her fall asleep on me, or next to me if we were having a lie-down feed. It was a beautiful feeling to be able to give her the peace of dropping off to sleep.

Hopefully Chris will be able to remind me about all the things I disliked to about nursing to sleep. I’m sure there were plenty.

So… what do you think? Train them up for self-soothing as early as possible? Nurse to sleep as much as possible?

WaterWipes

Alice Johnstone from Seventy Seven PR sent me a pack of Derma H2O’s new product Water Wipes recently. Water Wipes contain 99.9% water and 0.1% grapefruit seed extract, and nothing else. They are therefore completely suitable for use on newborns. Once opened they last for a minimum of three months. Oh yes, and they’re completely biodegradable.

What I would have given to have something like this when Rosemary was a baby. Cotton wool and warm water is fine and not too much hassle at home, but when you’re out and about it is such a faff. And even at home, the idea that you could occasionally just pull a wipe out of a packet, especially in the middle of the night, is very appealing.

If you have a small baby or are expecting one soon, I would really recommend buying a pack of these. They’re available from some Boots stores and from www.boots.com and www.amazon.co.uk. The only issue, really, is that they aren’t cheap, at £4.49 for a pack of 72 wipes. We usually get a pack of (80, I think) Simple wipes for around £1. But there’s no way I’d use them on a baby.

So… I’m keeping the pack I was sent for when Eleanor is born and will probably buy another pack, too. But I’ll most likely stick to the cotton wool and warm water at home (unless I’m really tired!). There will be a pack in my hospital bag, and in Eleanor’s changing bag. (Hmm, wonder if I still have any of the many changing bags I bought for Rosemary, or if I’ll get the opportunity to buy a new one.)