Holiday

Jambeans started her holiday last Thursday evening by doing a poo in the bath. I was in it with her at the time and got out at a speed worthy of an Olympic Gold. What I was supposed to have done next was stay super calm and not show Jambeans that what she had done was in any way wrong or distressing. What I actually did was nakedly flap, squawk and hyperventilate for 20 minutes while screaming incoherently at the boyfried (who did stay calm and sort everything out). Jambeans was quite unhappy and (bf had fished her out of the bath by now) finished her poo amid screams of distress on the bathroom mat.

My score for that particular test in perfect parenting- FAIL.
Ho hum.

Set off on Friday to the West Country for the week. Got lots of sleep, visited the rellies, got fed, got (even) fat(ter), enjoyed the free babysitting, introduced Jambeans to the outlaws' dogs again, saw friends, went to 3 zoos and an aquarium, which was cool but admittedly was getting bored of them by the last one (which wasn't planned - we're not that zoo bonkers - it's just it was the nearest pit stop on the way home when Jambeans had enough of being cooped up in the car and started screaming).

Jambeans really enjoyed herself and smiled the whole way through. I totally fell in love with her all over again. She says 'dada' discriminately now. Also, on the last day, when we stopped off at mum's on the way home she rewarded us by taking 3 whole steps all by herself. Bf has been beaming with pride and calling her 'toddler' all day today (the usual 'darling princess bubfried' plus all the other silly nicknames still very much there too - it's gonna be a long time before they get binned)

She introduced us to 'holiday rules' sleeping, which basically means us putting her down at 7, her screaming until we give in and take her downstairs, then NOT sleeping until we drag her cute but sorry ass upstairs again at 9.30 then only falling asleep between the two of us on the not-really-big-enough-for-3-even-if-one-of-us-is-only-a-bub double bed and only then allowing us to transfer her to the travel cot.

We're paying for it now as she has spent the last half hour screaming and trying to climb out of her cot. Bf and I had a momentary 'dunno what to do' moment till images of Supernanny flashed into my head, where distraught mothers drag hissy-fitting toddlers back into bed for hours on end with no eye-contact, no cuddles, no talking etc. so have tried that and it seems to have worked.