We’ve done it! We’ve toilet trained a child or the third and final time, and that feels good!

Just before Christmas, Daniel decided that he didn’t want to wear a nappy anymore. We had known from late summer that he was ready, but in our laziness kept putting the inevitable off. We just didn’t want to spend a week mopping up puddles from every corner of the house.

When the time came though, wee Dan displayed amazing control. He took off his nappy one day, sat on the toilet and pee’d. He got such a great response from us that he more or less refused to put the nappy back on. We persevered, got out the new Thomas The Tank Engine underwear and the whole thing was actually quite easy.

Here we are, one month later and Daniel has had only a handful of accidents. Like his father (definitely not his mother!) he displays superior bladder control, and usually adequate bowel control, though when he misses the toilet, he does it in a big way.

It’s strange to think that for the first time in more than six years, we have no nappy wearers in our house. No having to change that stinker every morning, which is great, but also no more babies, which is weird.  Once again it has hit home that our babies are growing up!

I just love the stage that our baby boy is at right now. Actually I should probably stop calling him a baby, he is more of a toddler at this point. But he is our youngest and last and I want to have a baby for just a bit longer!

Anyway back to the point, Daniel is 21 months old and chattering like a monkey! I love watching the joy on his face when I understand what he is saying, and more often than not what he wants to eat.

Many of Daniels first words have been food or drink related. Unsurprising, considering thats all he ever wants to do. He is now constantly asking for bananas, toast, biscuits, chocolate (I know, I’m a bad mother), grapes, milk or juice. When he asks for whatever it is he wants and I understand him he immediately yells “Hooray!!”, it’s just so cute.

I can see Daniels temper starting to lessen as he is able to communicate more. I am so looking forward to the day that he can say, “mummy, I am hungry and would love to have my dinner now.” But for now, “bye bye” and “banana” are more fine by me.

When all my children were babies I said that I would breastfeed them for as long as they were interested (within reason of course!) and both Rachel and Jake weaned themselves at just over a year old. Daniel seemed a much more enthusiastic feeder though, and up until a few weeks ago I could imagine me feeding him for at least another six months. How wrong I was.

It takes very little to knock a baby out of his routine. Last weekend Gerard and I were exhibhiting our flashcards at a local craft fair and Daniel was looked after by my sisters for most of the weekend. Before this point Daniel would take formula or breast milk in a bottle very grudgingly, and would never drink more than a few ounces. By the time Monday came around I could hardly get him to take a breastfeed at all.

I am now lucky if he takes a good breastfeed first thing in the morning, after that if I offer it to him, he just bites me (he is cutting 4 teeth at once, so I’m sure that explains a lot). He loves his bottle and in fact when he saw me take one out of the dishwaher during the week he went crazy and tried to throw himself out of my arms to get at it. He only calmed when I made up some formula and gave him a drink.

I am guessing that my days of breastfeeding are now numbered. I am glad to have been able to give my babies the best start in life, and I will miss being the one to provide their nourishment in a way no one else can. But as I seem to point out on this blog at least once a week, my children are growing up FAST! Soon I will have no babies left at all.

I read an article today about world birth rates and the fact that the amount of males born is signigicantly higher than the amount of females. It made for very interesting reading, and pointed out that this skewed birth rate is causing problems in some countries (such as China) where men are beginning to find that there just aren’t enough women to go around.
Reading the piece reminded me of my feelings and concerns when I found out that I was expecting my sons.

When I was growing up I always imagined a family with at least 2 or 3 daughters, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a son.

When I found out that I was pregnant with a boy during my second pregnancy I was slightly nervous. I wondered if I could parent a boy, I imagined a crazy toddler turning into a surly young man who is conditioned to bottle up his emotions and remain difficult to reach.

Everyone I spoke to with sons disagreed. Each and every person told me that wee girls are much harder work, they want to rule the house, while boys are much more placid and easy going.

To date my experience has been immensely positive and I can’t believe I was ever worried. My three children are all precious to me, it makes no difference what gender they happen to be.

I think my concerns must have stemmed from the fact I have two sisters very close in age to me, my brothers are a lot younger, one has yet to reach his teenage years. As my father was not around for most of my childhood, my experience of family life was very much a female orientated one.

I am lucky to have an excellent husband who is very much involved in the childrens lives. This will hopefully come in useful in those teenage years, when embarrassing topics have to be broached, and my son may not actually want my input into his love life, or romantic crises. And I am now wise enough to realise that my daughter is unlikely to want to confide in me about her first love or hot crushes either. Surly teenage behaviour is not limited to the males of our species, I can all too well remember the trouble I gave my own mother!

My sister is currently 5 months pregnant and strangely, experiencing exactly the same worries as I did, way back when. I am trying to give her the benefit of my experience, but I know that once the baby is born, no matter what the sex is, she will realise for herself, what a precious gift a baby is, and that sex is irrelevant to the love you feel for that person who is piece of you.

I’m a great believer in the school of thought that all children need regular, one to one, individual attention. I notice that if one of the kids is going through a spell of bad behaviour and we make sure they receive more individual time with us, it makes a big difference to their outlook and mood.

Therefore both Gerard and I do try whenever possible, to do activities and spend time alone with one of the children. For example, yesterday my sister bought gifts for the kids from a local toystore. Rachel’s gift was a make your own jewellry set. It involved quite intricate painting and gluing, before actually threading the beads, and I knew that this wasn’t something we could tackle with the boys around. Gerard therefore offered to take the boys or a walk and Rachel and I spent a fun hour making necklaces.

She revelled in the attention she received, and for once she was able to complete a task without it being pulled apart by her brothers, or without me being called away to someone else.

Today though it was a different story. Gerard was at work, and I was at home with the three wee ones. Rachel wanted to read a new book she had recently got, Jake wanted to build train tracks, and Daniel just wanted lifted. I tried reading to Rachel first, but Daniel was screaming to be lifted, and when I obliged , he attempted to eat Rachels book. I then told Rachel I would read with her this evening when the boys went to bed, she wasn’t amused and started grumping and whining.

Jake then began to cry because he couldn’t get his train track to fit together properly, so I bent down to help him, once again Daniel wanted to be involved and pulled up the track as quickly as I was laying it. Jake panicked and then in temper swept all the trains and pieces of track away, declaring that he didn’t want to play anymore.

I was at my wits end. The three kids were crying and I could feel my temper starting to bubble. I was trying my very best to be attentive and interact with them all, but in the process managed to dissapoint each of them.

In the end I did what all bad mums do, I put on a dvd to keep them occupied, and rocked Daniel to sleep. I don’t want the kids watching TV all day, but sometimes I just can’t manage anything else.

If anyone knows a way that one person can split in three, or even better four, please let me know. Whoever patented that invention would be worth a fortune!

I love breastfeeding. I breastfed all my children until they were at least a year old, and at almost nine months old, Daniel is showing no signs of stopping.

I am well versed in all the health benefits of breastfeeding, both for baby and me, but one aspect I hadn’t thought of was the cost.

According to this study I have already saved myself at least $567.42 just by breastfeeding Daniel. If you take Rachel and Jake into the equation also, I have saved myself approximately $2000 on formula milk since my children have been born.

As many of you will know I am the bargain queen, and I am so chuffed that I have been saving myself money for the last four years without even knowing it! Good for me.

I came across this article “New Mom Seeking New Friends” a while back on Daily Bulletin, and it took me way back to when Rachel was first born..

Becoming a mother for me was quite an isolating experience. I was the first out of all my friends to have a baby, I didn’t know anyone in my area, and other than my mum I had no one to talk to all day while Gerard, my sisters and my friends worked.

As happy as I was to become a mum, (and I was ecstatic!) I was also daunted and lonely and terrified, it was the one time in my life when I could have done with support from people in a similar situation.

When Rachel was 9 months old I bit the bullet and joined a local mother and toddler group. I was so nervous when I walked in for the first time, but little did I know that I would in time come to live for those Thursday mornings when I could engage in some adult talk and gossip. Even if it did constantly revolve around our children, our lengthy labours and our lack of sleep!

When Jake was born we moved house again. I spent another 2 years knowing no one in our area. So in Septemeber when Rachel started pre-school I once again began to venture out of the house.

The kids and I now attend two weekly mother and toddler groups, we are invited to more birthday parties than I can afford, and Gerard is starting to worry about the cost of my much improved social life.

It makes such a difference having people you can call upon in times of need. It makes an even bigger difference having people you can just talk rubbish with for a few hours while you watch the children play.

I am happier, therefore my children are happier. We have finally made a life for ourselves in our home-town.

Just the other day my mother and I were discussing the obvious benefits of breastfeeding and pondering as we often do why more people don’t give it a try.

I mentioned that like Esther at All Things Creative, I always found the first few weeks very difficult. No matter what position I tried to feed my baby in I always ended up in great pain, with cracked and bleeding nipples.After the birth of Daniel I was even tempted to give up and try bottle feeding for a change.

However each time, as soon as my baby turned 3 1/2 weeks, the pain disappeared as if by magic and from then on breastfeeding was the easiest and most beautiful experience in the world.

My mum, in her infinite wisdom, came up with a great analogy for the process. She believes that breatsfeeding is like learning to play the guitar. Stick with me it makes sense in the end (kinda).

When you begin to play the guitar you end up with very painful and blistered fingertips, caused by holding the strings for too long. But after a few weeks of practice your fingertips form callouses and the pain disappears. In my mothers mind breastfedding is very much the same thing.

I don’t like the thought of calloused nipples though……not very sexy at all!

For weeks our wee man has been rolling around on the floor. He could spin in circles and get to where he wanted to go by rolling over and over. But tonight, just as we were watching Coronation Street and enjoying some of the childrens Easter Egg, Gerard noticed Daniel chasing the balloon.

We watched in amazement as Daniel pulled himself forward in a bid to grab the evasive balloon, but each time he reached it, it slid from his grasp and he had to go after it again.

All this was done with a lot of grunting and moaning but as soon as he finally got the balloon he collapsed on top of it and began to lick it vigourosly!

It was one of those moments where you realise that nothing will be the same again. We are going to have to re-childproof our house (I think I’ll be popping over to LuckyMom for some tips!), as in the last two years since Jake was crawling we have definately let our standards slip. The cupboard locks are broken, we have fitted automatic closers on all our doors, and many of Rachel and Jakes toys have hundreds of little bits that can be easily choked on.

More importantly Daniel, who will probably be our last baby, has taken his first steps towards independance. Our baby is growing up. Its really hard to believe and sometimes to cope with the idea that this is the last time we will do all this……..

A major report published by Fathers Direct for Fathers Day named Aka Pygmies as the “Best Dads In The World”.

Apparently the Aka Pygmy men spend more of their time infant care giving than the males of any other society. They even go as far as offering their nipple to a crying baby to soothe it until their mother is ready to breastfeed.

The Pygmy men are also the ones who get up and settle the baby at night and spend a couple of hours at a time holding the baby close to their body during the day.

What I wouldn’t give to be a Aka Pygmy women! They seem to have it easy.

I am very lucky to have a husband who takes pride in being a very active father, but I think that even he would draw the line at breast feeding the baby. And as for night feeds, I should be so lucky!