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In the Night Garden

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 12, 2009 in Uncategorized | 5 comments

Should I be concerned?  My Little Miss knows a bit too much about In the Night Garden, I fear.

In the Night Garden book

The opening theme begins and Little Miss shouts out “GAH-DEN…GAH-DEN”.  She makes a little circle on her hand the way the Mummy or Daddy does to the child or baby.  She makes little “ooo-oooh” sounds like Upsy Daisy before the title credit. 

SHE KNOWS WHETHER IT’S THE NINKY NONK OR THE PINKY PONK JUST BY HEARING THE MUSIC!!!  “Non non” for Ninky Nonk; “Poh” for Pinky Ponk.  Little Miss claps along with Makka Pakka’s theme, does a little dance along with Upsy Daisy’s theme, Knocks on the Door and finds her nose along with the Tombliboos theme.

When the Pontipines come on the screen she calls out “mi mi mi mi” just like they do.  And oh, when the Dance at the Magical Gazebo comes around…well, it’s just all over!  Little Miss calls it the “doh”. 

No one in my family can understand why I don’t mind the In the Night Garden characters as I loathe and abhor the Teletubbies.  My husband says that In the Night Garden is just like the Teletubbies!  Pfahhh….what does he know!  I love the fact that my Little Miss has ONE show that she will watch and stay focused on.  I know, I know…it’s the evil telly!  Well, I don’t think a bit of telly is such a bad thing…so sue me! 

In addition to knowing too much about the show, we have the clip-on soft toys of Upsy Daisy, Igglepiggle and Makka Pakka and the small plastic dolls of the whole crew.  We have a few books and that’s about the extent of our In the Night Garden collection.  We don’t have the Igglepiggle Sleepy Soft Toy so if anyone special wants to send it to us for a review, we’d happily accept it. 

Actually, I shouldn’t be worried about Little Miss’ attraction to In the Night Garden.  It’s me I should be worried about.  I know the words to all the character’s theme songs, I know the opening and closing narrative, I know what comes with each bit of music and even the dreaded dance that they do…I could dance along with them for goodness sake!  Perhaps I am the one who should not watch?!

Until then, Little Miss and I will tune in to the daily episodes of In the Night Garden (well, we don’t watch EVERY day) and have our happy little routine.  Maybe you should check it out, if you haven’t…it’s not so bad after all!

Makka Pakka, Akka Wakka, Mika, Maka, Moo...

Birth Memories

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 10, 2009 in Uncategorized | 6 comments

I was tweeting away when one of my fellow Twitter-ers posted a photo of her daughter JUST being born by C-Section.  Mummy in question, in the photo was peering over the edge of the drape to see her daughter being lifted from her.  It was a lovely picture with a beautiful new baby taking her first breath.  I instantly felt sadness.  I didn’t have that moment and I suddenly felt a real emptiness about that. 

My labour and delivery were not as I had planned, but then again, is anyones?  I was 12 days overdue and went in on Sunday 1 June, 2008 at 9:30pm.  After being checked and monitored by one of the nurses, they determined that I was in the early stages of labour so I wouldn’t need pessaries.  My husband was told to leave and they continued to monitor me throughout the night.  At some point my blood pressure flew through the roof so blood tests were ordered and more monitoring ensued.  In the meantime, I didn’t sleep a wink.  Being one of four women on a labour ward is not exactly restfull.  Every time I needed to use the loo I had to shuffle down the hall to a communal toilet.  I’ve never walked back and forth so many times.  I was having mild, very sporadic contractions but nothing horrible.  I learned that birdsong begins around 3:15am in June in England as I was awake to hear it. 

Around 8:30am, a doctor came in to break my waters to try to get things moving.  I kept thinking about the “knitting needle” that she was using to do it and kept waiting for the gush of waters that I had always heard about.  There was no gush but there was definite pain!  My contractions started to kick in a bit more and I started to really want my husband with me.  He turned up freshly rested and bearing magazines and snacks.  I just wanted him to rub my back and be with me…didn’t really care about the OK Magazine in his rucksack. 

Finally at about 1pm, we were moved to the active labour ward.  Because I was “induced” there would be no midwife-led unit and birthing pools for us!  We arrived in a small room with a bed, chair and lots of medical equipment.  At least we were in a room of our own though.  We had 2 midwives who stayed with us during this time…we got to know them quite well but I couldn’t tell you today what their names were.  I was asked about pain relief as I was going to be put on a Syntocinon drip.  I wasn’t sure but was brought round to the epidural idea.  Then I was repeatedly stuck in the worst ways 3-4 different times in both hands in order to get a canula in for the Syntocinon drip.  They couldn’t get it in!  On top of the contractions that were now becoming decidedly uncomfortable, I was being tortured my midwives, nurses and doctors who took 4 attempts to hit a vein.  That pushed me right over the edge…EPIDURAL NOW!

After being properly scared by the anaesthetist who said “DON’T MOVE!”, the epidural began to run.  I felt a cold rush into my spine and the pain began to go away.  Who cared if I could move my legs?  I didn’t feel pain!  But guess what then?  The epidural was patchy!  This meant that after short periods of time, the epidural would wear off from my right mid-ribs down my right leg to my toes.  This also meant that I began to feel contractions again.  I would get sprayed with cold spray to test the numbness in my limbs, twisted and turned to try to get the epidural to float over to the right side and then get the epidural topped up for a while.  This process was repeated numerous times.  I couldn’t lay down and couldn’t really get comfortable as Little Miss had a foot or some pointy extremity lodged in one of my ribs so again, I couldn’t sleep.  I hadn’t slept for about 30 hours at this point. 

Apparently I created a lovely environment for my baby because she decided that she was just not going to come out.  After 2 rounds of Syntocinon and numerous epidural top-ups, I was still only at 3-4 centimetres.  10 hours after entering the active labour room, a C-Section was decided upon and I was grateful.  I knew that had I ever got to 10 centimetres there was no way I was going to be able to push Little Miss out.  It then took another 2 hours to get to theatre as there were so many c-section women in the queue.  We were now into 3 June, 2008 having come into the hospital on 1 June.  Sigh…

Finally it was time to be wheeled into theatre.  My hubby was led away by the midwife to get “scrubbed up” so I was on my own.  This is where I began to get scared.  Theatre was cold and echoey and bright.  I couldn’t get over how large and shiny the light above the table was and vowed to NOT look in it.  I didn’t want to see what was about to happen.  Once I was installed on the operating table, I began to get quite scared.  Hubby was not yet with me, people were bustling about and I was all alone, really.  I think due to the epidural which had been topped up again and the fear, I began to shiver and my teeth began to chatter.  I couldn’t control it.  I felt cold and very frightened.  Suddenly my hubby was next to the right side of my head and he kept asking if I was alright and why I was chattering.  I didn’t know!  I was so worried about when they would start the c-section and then I felt a lot of pulling and tugging and then I felt my own legs moving!  What??  Once of the nurses remarked that “this woman’s legs are moving!” and some more drugs were pumped into me.  I could feel everything…not pain but massive tugging and yanking around.  I still don’t know, to this day, if I was halucinating or if Little Miss was really stuck.  I do know that she wasn’t coming out any other way and that she did seem to be stuck in my pelvis.  I continued to chatter and shiver and feel really bloomin’ miserable. 

There was a release when they finally got Little Miss out of her home of 9 months followed by a mewling sound and a “It’s a Girl!” from someone.  Hubby and I gasped and said “It’s a Girl!”  I knew it was a girl…mother’s know these things.  The next few minutes were a bit of a blur.  I know Little Miss was wrapped up and brought to my hubby who then held her to my head so I could look at her.  I’d never seen such big, dark eyes staring at me.  She was quiet and calm and just stared at me.  I said “Hi you” and after a minute or two, began to feel really horrible.  I told hubby to take her away as I was going to be sick.  I kept shouting to the medical people that I was going to be sick and finally someone brought a dish for me to tip my head into and be sick.  How dignified!  My daughter just comes into the world and I throw up!  I made sure hubby went with Little Miss and then I know a lot more drugs were pumped into me.  I had looked at the clock when I threw up (1:55am) and then just was very dozy and out of it until about 2:45 am when I was being wheeled out of theatre to recovery.

I still don’t know what the heck happened in theatre with Little Miss’ birth but I did end up losing about 2 pints of blood and nearly needed a transfusion.  Doesn’t seem like it was all that pleasant and I have rather horrible memories of the whole thing.  I feel like I missed out on the JOY of birth, even though there was a moment of joy when I knew Little Miss was safe and when I saw her tiny face.  I was so out of it and so out of control that it’s mostly a blur.  My other friends who had natural births had that “Awwww” moment that I couldn’t have and it makes me a bit sad.  I did feel like a failure as well.  I know I ended up with a gorgeous, healthy Little Miss and that’s all that really matters.  If there’s a next time, I hope I will be a bit more in control and happy whether that’s with a c-section or natural birth.  I’m grateful that my Little Miss and I came out of the entire thing mostly safe and sound but I do have some very mixed feelings about the entire thing.  What about you?  Was your birth ideal and “fairytale” or was it your own personal nightmare?

What a card!

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 7, 2009 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

My Little Miss adores going outside when her Daddy comes home (see Creature of Habit ) but today it was raining.  That horrible, “it only rains this way in England” sort of rain.  But she was desperate.  She kept putting her hand to her mouth (Little Miss sign for please) and saying “pleeh”.  So I said, “Let her see what it’s like”!  Hubby opened the door, deposited her on the patio and well, you just see how much she hated it? :

This isn't so bad after all!

Little Miss was soaked to the skin but absolutely loved playing in the rain.  She’s just like her Daddy.  After a nice warm bath order was restored.  Guess my genius plan backfired a bit, eh?  So much for Mummy of the Year!

"I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain!"

Such Manners!

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 5, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

My 14 month old Little Miss has such lovely manners, I am proud to say.  I’ve always strived to have her be polite and want her one day to have proper table manners, when she sorts out how to not turn the spoon upside down as it’s approaching her mouth.  We’ll take it one day at a time with that one.

Anyway, Little Miss has taken to pointing and “mmm”-ing at something when she wants it.  God only knows what she wants sometimes…you end up pointing back at everything she seems to be aiming for until her eyes light up.  So, I decided to have a lesson.  One day after hearing one too many “mmm” ‘s at everything, I said, “Sweetheart, when you want something from Mummy, say PLEASE, not mmmm”.  Little Miss looked at me, put her hand to her mouth (Little Miss sign for PLEASE based on Makaton Justin on Cbeebies!) and said “Plee” which is how she says PLEASE.  Such an angel!  Now, anytime the “mmm” comes out, I say, “use your words” and she puts her hand to her mouth and says “Plee”.  I have such a clever girl.  Mind you, I still don’t always know what the heck she wants but at least she’s polite in the attempt. 

In addition to “plee” and the hand gesture, we also have been working on THANK YOU.  I’m not a huge fan of the word “ta”.  My American side comes out in this regard…I would rather have Little Miss say “Thank You” or nothing rather than “Ta”.  Not that there’s anything wrong with this, mind (don’t mean to offend the UK-ers out there!).  Everytime the situation calls for it, I model the “thank you” for Little Miss and repeat it several times.  It’s taken a while but one day, out came “tank uhhn”.  That’s right folks!  My girl said THANK YOU!  Well, not many people would understand it as THANK YOU but I do and that’s all that matters.  And it’s a start isn’t it?  She’s getting quite good at it now and every once in a while the “you” part actually sounds like a ”you”.  It is interesting, though…she’s repeating the sounds that stick out- the “t”, the ”nk” and the “ou” albeit rather muffled. 

I’m proud of my girl!  Next lesson, I’m hoping is “LOVE YOU”!  We’re getting proper, smacky kisses now versus open mouthed, drooly kisses so I’m thinking “LOVE YOU” isn’t far off now.  I’ll keep you posted.

Creature of Habit

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 3, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

My daughter is such a creature of habit! It’s amazing the routines we have acquired considering I shun routines for the most part. But my Little Miss loves to have her patterns and it’s obvious that routine is what makes children happy; it reassures them; it comforts them. Would you like to know some of Little Miss’ routines?

Morning Routine: Daddy gets up with Little Miss during the week (thank you Daddy!) and they have the same routine every morning. They go downstairs, put the kettle on and then Little Miss races to the patio door in the lounge to help let out “Sinji” (our much-beleaguered, 12 year old black lab). She watches while he goes outside, makes a “bluck” sound if he does a poo and does a little happy dance in place when he comes back to the door to be let in. Little Miss helps Daddy by closing the door (while he holds her) and then it’s “bickie” time. Little Miss chants, “bickie, bickie, bickie?” until Daddy helps her to give Sinji a bickie or 4. Then it’s time for a bottle and then it’s time for Milkshake on Channel 5. Little Miss doesn’t really WATCH the shows that much but she does ADORE the theme songs. Some of her personal favourites are: Roobarb and Custard, Fifi and the Flowertots, Olivia and most recently Thomas and Friends. She does a little dance, shakes her hips, stops all other activity to snap her head toward the telly and follow the theme song for the 10-15 seconds that it runs. Once that’s done, off she goes!

Getting in the Car: Whenever we get in the car, the following occurs without fail… I place Little Miss in her car seat, she glances up at the roof of our house and shoos away the “dickey birds” (birds). I strap her in, Little Miss calls out repeatedly for “dum dum” (she sounds very French the way she pronounces it…that nasal accent) until she gets it (we do allow dum dum’s in the car) and then she waits until I am in the driver’s seat. Once I’m in place, she brushes her hands together (as if brushing dirt off your fingers) and says “Go, Go”. This is how we have to go anywhere! It makes her happy; who am I to rain on her parade?

Home time for Daddy: When Daddy comes home from work, Sinji goes ape s**t; barking and barking and barking. Little Miss turns quickly to me, says “OOhhh” and rushes round to see the front door. When Daddy opens the door Little Miss does a little happy dance and has THE biggest smile and laugh ever (gee- Thanks my daughter!). She makes kissing noises, races to the gate that separates the lounge from the front hallway and waits for Daddy to come give her a kiss through the bars (he ducks down mind you…we don’t have a floor to ceiling gate! Then Daddy comes in the lounge and Little Miss automatically starts asking for her “shoooes” so that she can go outside. Daddy MUST oblige…even if it’s raining! Then we all get ready and pack Little Miss in her Smart Trike and head to the park where we have another routine!

Park!: Every night we roll down to the park at the end of our road. After arriving in the car park, we proceed around the park, anti-clockwise (mind you, Little Miss doesn’t make us do this but we just do it!) and head for the SLIDE! Little Miss calls out “sllliii” and we have to do at least 4-5 slides on the rather bizarre slide…long and gradual, not steep. Then it’s off to the swings (see picture above) where now, the other baby swing has to have her ball in it so they both can swing at the same time! Then we have to cajole Little Miss into going home…best done quick and quietly but not always successful.

I love the fact that my daughter is a creature of habit, really. It’s a bit easier to plan and very easy to keep her happy. I don’t buy into the ROUTINES that “experts” like Gina Ford recommend but I do love the little routines we have in our household…it makes all of us rather happy!

To the Park Daddy!

Bonjour et Bienvenue!

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 3, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Welcome to Cafe Bebe!  I’m just setting up my blog so bear with me as I get it rolling. Come back soon for a great post!