Living with Chaos..... Day 55

What can I tell you? Each day is totally unpredictable. The unknown always lurks around each corner or behind the door. When you enter a room you are never quite sure what sight will greet you. I can guarantee you one thing, good or bad, Chaos will be in the middle of it.....

Chaos, if you didn't know, is our 18 month old whirlwind. He is totally gorgeous (gets that from me - HA!), has the most amazing facial expressions that can have you in hysterics mid rant. He is loving, confident, chatty, out going, adventurous, clever and helpful. He has so much character it oozes from him. He grabs your attention just by walking in the room. He can distract you from anything without you realising it. He picks things up so fast, I'm glad he can't read or he would be dismantling the car engine to see how it works or building a house in the garden! He is amazing. He is great company and always cheers you up. He also knows when your sad and gives you a hug. His latest thing is putting his little hands gently either side of my face and giving me a kiss. He is to die for!


I can hear you, don't worry. Why call him Chaos if he is so amazing? Well....
He has been walking since he was 10 months old. He started climbing before that! As soon as he could reach he was doing chin ups on the kitchen table at less than a year old. (He could clear the floor by 2/3 inches!) He would climb the bookcases, try to climb out of his cot, try to fit through the bars on the stairs, climbs on the table, climbs on window sills. If he can reach it, he will climb it. He also likes emptying drawers and cupboards, shelves, boxes, bags, in fact anything at all. He can also do this at lightning speed. While you are busy clearing away the dozens of bags of crisps he has just thrown all over the floor, he is off in the other room busily distributing toys/books/DVDs everywhere.


Why don't I tell him no? I have tried a million times. At our old house he had a thing about the stair gate. He had just started pulling himself up on things. This particular day he pulled himself up and was somehow standing on the bottom step holding onto the gate. I took him down and said "No, it's not safe" and put him the other side of the room with his toys. The second I put him down, he crawled back over to the gate and did it again. I put him back by his toys and told him no again but a bit more firmly. 5 TIMES he crawled straight back to the gate. By the fifth time I really shouted at him, thinking surely he must understand by now. He had a bit of a cry then started playing with some toys so I went into the kitchen. Two seconds later that Big One called me. "Mum, he's on the gate again"   What can you do??

From that day I stopped saying No as it was pointless. I have found that distraction works very well as long as you have something more interesting/new for him to do. Channelling (no, not calling my spirit guides, they disowned me!) is also very useful but takes a bit more effort. I found that one of his favourite things was to take all the clean, wet washing off the airer and throw it around the room. Now, he helps me put the washing on the airer when its wet and take it off when it's dry. He could load and unload the washing machine by the time he was 11 months. If he drops something on the floor he knows whether to get the dust pan and brush to clear it up or a cloth if it's liquid. Like I said, he is very clever. As I'm sure you can gather, a complete handful with it!

It doesn't end there though. Oh no!!

Chaos had reflux as a baby. He was only diagnosed at a year old (as he didn't projectile vomit?!) After a few stints on infant Gaviscon he has been fine. Weaning was hell. He has only been on completely solid food since Christmas as lumps used to make him gag. Now things are a fine balancing act. If he doesn't get enough sleep he wont eat as he is over tired. Then he doesn't sleep well as he is hungry so the whole thing spirals down until he gets a high temp. Once that breaks service resumes as normal and he picks up again. The problem we have at the moment is weight loss. He wont eat potatoes, rice or pasta so it is very hard to put weight on him as he is quite picky with other things too. After our visit from the health visitor (Bloody Health Visitor) I have been keeping a food diary and becoming quite concerned by just how little he eats. (There are only a few pounds difference between him and Squish now.) He has had the runs this week too so I spoke to the childrens nurse about him yesterday. She thinks it is a combination of teething and being a picky toddler. I am trying not to worry too much as I'm sure he will improve but it's hard to watch him fade and not be able to do anything about it.

Having spent the rest of today showering him off and washing the floors I can safely say Chaos has a bug. I will take him to the Drs tomorrow as he isn't keeping anything in now. I really hope he gets better soon, it's too quiet without our normal Chaos.

Captain Chaos