Thursday 26 September 2013

Bringing up baby: 21-22 September 2013

Update so far:

Tilly is vocalising and storytelling a lot more. He is beginning to tell us about the interesting things he's done ("I mow the lawn!") and the interesting things he's observed ("babble babble babble red balloon!" "babble babble babble knock on the door driving to Ah Mah's house").

One of the more amusing things I hear him say, apart from his standard "What doing?", is "How about me??" said in a very plaintive tone.

***
It's been a mostly good weekend.

During Saturday, Tilly inspired us to clean the spider webs from the inside of the house, and to vacuum our house. It was very nice to end the day in a clean house.

Atilla was very good on Saturday, having an early nap, and we managed an early dinner, and an early bedtime for him. I cleaned the kitchen and gave husband an early night - which he took (as opposed to staying up late to game).

There was a magnificent thunder and lightning storm in the dark hours of the morning.

***
Sunday was a very emotional day. Lots of emotional swings from young Tilly. And subsequently, emotional swings for Mummy and Daddy. We all ended the day at about 10pm or 12pm after minimal housework, a real contrast to Saturday.

The sticking point, I think, was Tilly's constipation. The end result horrified me.
All weekend Tilly was to-ing and fro-ing regarding the toilet. He didn't want to sit on unless he was ready to poop. (I think) He could feel the poop and his bowels working away, but it wouldn't come out. He was very long suffering and sat patiently but nada. So he hops off again and carries on his day. Parental assistance is required for all these activities.
It culminated on Sunday night during a late dinner (prep and cooking delayed due to aforementioned parental assistance).
For an extended period of time - at least an hour - this family experienced a hullabaloo of Tilly's pained tears, his sweaty face, his despairing wails, his desperate pleadings to have Mummy get his stuck poop out (I couldn't see anything to pull :-(), his shame at peeing on himself while he was in training pants, Daddy's loud frustration that Tilly didn't want to concentrate to poop.
In response to Daddy, I asked him to remove himself from the bathroom and take care of himself, and I would take care of Tilly.
Tilly and I calmed down, and he decided to give the toilet another go. Not much happened, so we cleaned up (yet again) and returned to our activity (whatever it was).
Next episode, calmed Daddy helped Tilly on the toilet. This was the first productive session. But by the gods, the outcome!
I'm containing my devastation and despair. My poor kid is developing dreadful constipation these past two weeks. Today was one of the worst I've seen. It caused enough pain and blood to turn the toilet water pink. The kid was quite cheerful after passing such a difficult stool, pointing to the water, "Pink!" he says proudly.
 On his subsequent session on the loo, he wanted to turn the water pink again. Happily for me, it was just a normal soft stool. Disappointment for him.
 We are trying prune juice on him, as he's unreliable on chomping prunes.
 I feel like I've been a Bad Mother: I'm so despairing that I've not done more to prevent his pain (even if he is proud of making pink poop). Usually it can be pulled out, or bits knocked off to make the initial pass smaller, or massaged out. But not today. 

The next emotional swing was at Toothbrushing time. (Daddy later explained that Tilly wanted to do it twice, complete with toothpaste. Daddy wouldn't allow it.( Frustration on both sides and tempers flared. After completing minimal housework, I ventured upstairs with the required paraphernalia - soft toys, water bottle, a bowl to catch potential upchuck. 

The bowl was a potential fuel to the upchuck - Tilly has begun to associate the bowl with the requirement to upchucking, even though we've done our best to explain that the upchuck requires the bowl. 

Anyhoo I did my bit to de-escalate the situation: calmed and soothed Tilly down in my own way, and calmed Daddy down in my own way. This took some time and effort. Gotta be 10.30pm by now. 

We all fell asleep on the floor of Tilly's room. 

***
I woke up to start Monday at 5.40am, and the other two had a late start at around 7am. Lucky sods. At least it gave me time to do some more housework, and to prepare roast chicken dinner. Hope the chicken turns out well. 

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Bringing up baby: Highlights 15-22 Sept

Tilly mows the lawn (c) ^_^ 2013
Last week Atilla helped to mow the lawn. He was so proud of himself. 

Tilly vacuums the house (c) ^_^ 2013
This week Atilla helped to vacuum the house. It was a heartwarming sight. 

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Bringing up baby: Amazing Siberian Slippers for kids

These are the variations of the slipper pattern "Amazing Siberian Slippers" I've knitted for Tilly in the depths of winter 2013, as he's outgrown moccasins.

outside view (c) ^_^ 2013

insole view (c) ^_^ 2013
These ones were the second set I made, in complete certainty I had got the sizing correct this second time around. He wore them a few times, but they were too big and kept slipping off his feet! to wails and cries.

green slippers (c) ^_^ 2013
These are the ones I made, adapting/reducing the pattern to Tilly's feet measurements. He's really keen on them. They are just right, and stay on. He needs to make an effort before putting them on, and taking them off.

Monday 23 September 2013

Bringing up baby: Tilly's world view a while ago

2013 sometime
This is what Tilly sees when he has to climb up the stairs to the second level of our house. Intimidating, isn't it? No wonder he always wants to be bau-bau'd (carried).

Thursday 12 September 2013

MS Access: Really Basics - Use a form to update multiple tables

So at work I am learning something new about Microsoft Access Database. I want to use 1 form to update at least 2 tables, and there are 3 tables involved all together.

For the past 2 and a half hours I've learned that my form needed to be have Recordset Type = Dynaset (Inconsistent Updates). For a majority of this time I've been searching and puzzling about where I can find this property so that I can change it.

Some links I've tried (not including my google searches):

I've even tried video tutorials, but I didn't have any luck.

No where did they tell me the most simplest thing: 
  1. In the form, go to Design view.
  2. Right-click, to select Property Sheet.
  3. The Selection Type should equal Form; this can be chosen in the drop-down menu below the words 'Selection Type'.
  4. In the Data tab, in the second row, is the form property "Recordset Type". And in the column next to it, I can choose "Dynaset (Inconsistent Updates)". 
  5. Yay!
Yes, I'm a total n00b.