Breastatarianism and (almost) threenage rage

'twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Could be heard Mummy's voice shouting
For the love of God GO TO SLEEEEP!

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It's almost a wrap for wrapping the Pixie Monster. We've managed to get to the stage of wrapping with both hands out without losing much more sleep than usual. Little miss does seems happier to sleep with her hands out, probably because now she can get her hands on her favourite comforter, to which her new Snugzee comes a distant second: my bosoms.

Little miss is a confirmed breastatarian. She simply adores being breastfed to sleep, and I take great pleasure in doing so on the days where everything is going smoothly (and yes, it is possible for a post six month old baby to breastfed to sleep and stay asleep longer than forty minutes so nerr). It's just that on those other days, you know the overtired/teething/developmental leap/ who knows why ones that it can be an issue.....

And as for solids....little miss quite frankly isn't that keen, booby monster that she is. I have managed to convince her to sample banana, watermelon, rockmelon and mango by taking the baby led weaning approach and simply handing her bits to try when I have been eating them- and these have been mostly sucked on and any bits broken off spat out before the entire chunk is thrown to the floor.

However this approach has been more successful than spoon feeding. After a four day mouth clamped shut deadlock I had a brainwave (ie, why would a demand fed bub who is used to controlling her own intake and who has never accepted a dummy be willing to open her mouth for something as foreign as a spoon controlled by someone else?) and simply handed over a loaded spoon for little miss to try herself.

We now bub who has taken in teeny tiny bits of rice cereal and EBM...before throwing the spoon away and spitting the majority out.

Thinking that it may have been the fact that rice cereal is about as tasty as cardboard I mixed in some pear puree this morning and handed over the spoon. The result? A baby whose entire body convulsed in a visceral shudder at first taste.

I'm assuming that she'll be weaned by the time she is twenty one.

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Conversation with cheeky monkey girl Part 1:

Me: So A, are you going to be a good girl or a naughty girl today?

CMG: I'm going to be a naughty girl.

Me: Why?

CMG: Because I enjoy it

Me: [Walk away so that she can't see me laugh]

Conversation with cheeky monkey girl Part II:

Me (expecting the standard apology after carrying out a standard time out for behaviour): What do you say to Mummy?

CMG: I say NO Mummy, NO...(glaring at me)....bloody hell!

And so it would appear that we have, at two years and almost eleven months, hit the threenage year. Where on earth has this sassy, determined attitude emerged from? And why is it so hard not to laugh and/or when your little one is like a mirror to your own quirks (ahem)?

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The other day cheeky monkey girl had a taste of unprovoked violence at the hands of her closest little friend who had dropped in for a quick visit. Us Mums were chatting away while the girls played when all of a sudden CMG let out a sob and we turned to see her playmate absolutely belt her in the face for the second time with one of the dolls from CMG's dollhouse.

This isn't the first time that CMG's friend has lashed out, but it was the most vicious and it happened without any warning as there had been no squabbles over toys or the like. CMG's face came up in a welt, with two gouges under her eye.

At times like these it sucks being a parent and having to take a mature responsible approach. What I really wanted to do after I had calmed CMG down and tended to her wounds was to whisper in her ear "You're bigger, and stronger. Take her on and show her what it's like as you rain down the pain".

What I had to do was to calmly tell my friend (who is at her wits end with her daughter's behaviour) that playtime was over and to take her little girl home.

I was rather proud though when before they left, CMG went up to her friend and said very firmly that "You must NEVER EVER hit me" (in a voice uncannily like mine). And at least CMG is savvy enough to understand that the reason her friend went home was not her fault.

However I am starting to wonder whether attitude is transmissible via minor flesh wounds....