Isaac I said 'No'

Isaac I said No.....No Isaac.....No......I can say it until I am blue in the face but my 14 month old son seems to revel in the entertainment and even find it mildly amusing that I attempting to stop him doing something that he is enjoying. I don't know whether the fact that I'm saying no is feeding his behaviour and positively reinforcing it by providing him with attention or whether he doesn't quite understand what the word means...although I'm pretty sure its the former rather than the latter.  Either way, I seem to be adequately failing at disciplining him already and I fear the future will not be bright when it comes to saying 'No'.

In addition to refusing to listen to me and pretty much disobeying my every command he's also starting to have mini temper tantrums and gets very frustrated if he can't do something after one or two attempts. The problem I have is that the temper tantrums are mildly amusing for me, except when he decided to hit me in the face when I took his dummy from him the other day. When I told him off he just looked at me as if to say 'What'!

I always thought I would be quite good at discipline as my niece and nephew always seemed to listen to me when they were little, however it seems that I am becoming the person I never thought I would....my mother!!! My mum was never very good at disciplining me and my brothers and generally left the telling off to to my dad as his stern look made us stop in our tracks before he even opened his mouth. However, on the other hand, we generally ignored my mum as she laughed/smiled when telling us off so it didn't really have a lasting impact on our behaviour.  I do try not to laugh when I tell Isaac off but I obviously don't have an impactful tone to my voice as as soon as my husband says no, he gets the quivering bottom lip and tears. I feel the disciplinarian in me needs to be nurtured or I fear my one year old will be running riot before he is two years old! 

Has anyone got any tips or advice on telling one year olds 'No' without reinforcing the behaviour and encouraging it?

The challenge of flying with a toddler

Oh dear god. Anyone who has ever flown with a child under two will probably feel my pain. I don't know why I thought it would be anything but challenging to be honest as Isaac doesn't sit still at home for longer than a few minutes before his attention is drawn to something else. He spends the day flickering between his toys, pointing to everything he can't have and pulling all his toys out of his toy chest so sitting on my lap for a two hour flight was always going to be testing.

We toyed with the idea of investing in a tablet for him but decided against it, mainly because we didn't have time to look at options, money was tight and we didn't think his short attention span would fully appreciate it.  He can't even sit through half an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse these days so it just didn't seem worth the investment, however, in hindsight it may have been worth its weight in gold if it had kept him still for just a few minutes!! 

It was an early evening flight which took off at 7.40pm, pretty much Isaac's bedtime, so he was already tired, had spent an hour being restrained on a coach journey and another hour in a buggy in the airport so now he just wanted to be free to play and explore. Fair enough to be honest. I get antsy sitting on a plane myself, let alone and one year old but it was a living nightmare. He wriggled, he cried, he threw things, he had tantrums, he spilt water, he hit me...for two whole hours. However in between tantrums he smiled sweetly and waved at the air hostesses and other passengers like butter wouldn't melt whilst giving me daggers for restraining him. 

In the end the only way I managed to keep him from having a complete meltdown was by singing every nursery rhyme and lullaby I could think of sweetly into his ear while rocking him gently (thank god I have been regularly attending rhyme time or I may have come off the flight completely bald). Even then, every so often he let out a scream in frustration and threw his dummy (which was cunningly attached to a strap) before I gently replaced his dummy and he settled down again!  

Anyway, we made it through the flight and had a fantastic holiday so the pain of the flight was 100% worth it for two precious weeks of quality family time. We can't wait to do it all again next year. At least I will know what I am letting myself in for!!!..

What have your experiences of flying with a one year old been and how did you survive?

isaac enjoying a different kind of flight!

Is he walking yet?

The daily question is he walking yet from family, friends and even strangers keeps echoing round my head and playing on my mind. 

My son Isaac has just turned 14 months and he still has no interest in trying to walk. He can stand on his own, furniture surfs everyday and potters round with his walker but seems reluctant, or maybe lacks the confidence to take those first steps. 

I'm trying not to worry, as the Michael McIntyre sketch reminds me, you never see adults crawling round the place! However, since his first birthday, I keep getting asked by other parents, friends, family and even strangers, is he not walking yet? 

A number of my friends children, of a similar age, are walking, and have been for quite sometime, so as a parent you can't help but to compare and feel a little disappointed that he hasn't joined that 'walking club'. It also forces you to ask the question 'what is wrong with Isaac?' and why isn't he walking? 

I think its difficult because at every stage, he has been ahead of the game, he had his first tooth at 4 months, he sat up at 5 months, he crawled by 8 months and stood up by 9 months so we were expecting walking to follow very quickly. However, as time ticks by and he still hasn't taken those precious first steps, we keep being forced to question why?

At first I thought maybe there was something wrong with his legs as when he does walk with his walker he turns his feet right out and walks on the edge of his feet but he can stand on his own and yesterday he took one small step, so I keep reassuring myself he will. He is also a big boy and he has a lot of weight to carry around so maybe his legs are simply struggling to support the weight of his body at the moment or he just lacks the confidence to go it alone.

For whatever the reason it hasn't happened, myself and my husband are putting that aside and just doing everything we can to reassure and encourage him and just let him do it when he's good and ready.

As a first time parent you can't help but to worry about the smallest of things and sometimes your anxieties and woes need to be set aside to just let things be. I know Isaac will walk (eventually) but in the meantime we will just have to sit back and enjoy him crawling, climbing and clinging onto my legs! 

However if anyone has any advice on tempting toddlers to take their first steps please feel free to comment. Thanks :)