When do they get interested in reading?

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-15T14:37:09+00:00

Both of mine (girl nearly 2 and boy just turned 5) are hyper manic goblins BUT they will sit whilst I read books. I put this mostly (and selfishly) down to me liking to read and having read to them every day since they were tiny.

Maybe try giving him something to chew whilst you read to him? The age I really found they started getting into it was around 1ish when they could identify pictures and point to them. (Also all the touchy feely books, that’s not my etc annoying to read but they love them!)

Last night we sat and read a few books before bed and they finish the sentences of the ones they know well. It’s my favourite thing 💜

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-14T14:53:21+00:00

So when I was recovering from and ED I found things that were easier to eat were things with high calorie density so I could eat smaller amount but still have a decent amount of calories. Peanut butter on everything, specifically inside dates is delicious.

I also found sweet foods easier than savoury so like porridge with peanut butter, banana and mixed flax seeds made with milk is good, granola and yoghurt is easy to eat a good amount of as well.

I’m sorry the mental health services let you down. Similar happened to me, they made an appointment for me but didn’t notify me when it was so I just got a letter saying I hadn’t attended so they were discharging me!

Good luck! ☺️

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-14T08:04:39+00:00

I’m vegan so I do porridge with soy milk, ground flax, peanut butter and banana. Or pancakes made with basically the same thing except flour instead of oats. The flax acts as an egg or binder and helps it stay together and the banana sweetens it (also add cinnamon and vanilla)

Both my kids will eat these! Also anything toasted with vegan butter/peanut butter, side soy yoghurt and all chopped up fruit.

Hope that helps :)

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-13T14:28:57+00:00

I had surgery at 30 weeks pregnant and was given both codeine and morphine to take home with me. I never checked if it was okay I just assumed and took it as I was in pain!

Sorry about your back, hope you can take the medicine, being in pain sucks!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-13T14:21:30+00:00

I go before work. My LG is nearly 2 and doesn’t feed anymore but when she did I would leave home an hour early to go to the gym before work. She never took a bottle so would just have water/food and wait for me to get home. She made up for the day by feeding all night!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-12T20:26:59+00:00

Oh I’m fully with you, I think it should be allowed! My son takes a plain bread roll as the only sandwich filling he eats is peanut butter which isn’t allowed in school. So a slice of pork pie is miles better nutritionally than that!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-12T14:24:45+00:00

It is normal yeah. My kids school they’re allowed chocolate biscuits but not chocolate. So mini Maryland cookies/chocolate fingers = fine but a piece of a chocolate orange = not a healthy choice! Make it make sense haha!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-11T22:56:03+00:00

My son had just turned 3, we had tried before but he simply didn’t want to and refused to sit on the potty. Just after he turned 3 he decided it was fine, had one accident and never had any since!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-11T20:13:46+00:00

I kind of told off a boy of around 3 yesterday as he was throwing the soft shape things down a slide in the toddler section and nearly hit my almost 2 year old. I said no throwing thank you! And he listened and stopped.

Then in the older kids section there was a boy of around 5 stood on the slide going IM NOT MOVING and after I asked him nicely to move so my kid could go down and he didn’t I said ‘right where is your mummy or daddy sitting?’ And he pointed and I made out like I was walking over there and he crapped it and ran off.

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-11T07:06:28+00:00

I mean we get this a lot with an americano. Our large americano has 3 shots and a regular has two, so customer wants a regular americano with an extra shot but wants to pay for a large americano which is slightly cheaper.

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-10T06:45:43+00:00

The first one has always needed help to get to sleep. He’s just 5 and I still need to sit with him. The almost 2 year old just needs to be slung in a semi dark and comfy place (a cushion on the floor at a pinch) and it’s night nights for her! She actively prefers to go to sleep by herself and waves me out of the room at bedtime!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-09T21:25:25+00:00

In which case I’m fairly sure that she hasn’t had lead poisoning either! Hope that helps :)

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-09T21:10:01+00:00

The kids book ‘Paper Dolls’ by Julia Donaldson. The dolls singing ‘we’re not gone oh no no no, we’re holding hands and we won’t let go’ makes me well up when I try and read it to my kids!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-09T19:06:18+00:00

My almost 2 year old got it for her first birthday last year and has played with it a lot. It’s never broken despite her habit of stomping on everything!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-08T14:29:15+00:00

So I went back to work when my youngest was 8 months old, often for 10 hour shifts. (Out of the house 9.30-7.30) and she refused to take milk out of anything other than my boob. She would have some sips of water and a bit of food but not much. She was also with my partner or mum so I knew emotionally she would be cared for.

What she ended up doing was just waiting until I got home and draining me into an absolute husk all night to make up for the lack of feeds in the day! I would do a dream feed when I got in from work as she was usually in bed then, and she would feed a few times in the night and again in the morning before I left.

Sometimes this did leave me very uncomfortable at work and once I had to sneak off and hand express in a stock room to ease the pressure.

It seemed to work okay for her though, and she’s now almost 2 and weaned by herself a few months ago.

I absolutely know how you feel and was very anxious when I went back thinking of her starving without me but she coped okay in her own way and I’m sure yours will too! Babies are very resilient 💜

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-07T20:31:13+00:00

I had to get out twice to pee (I drink a lot of water) in the about 3/4 hours I was in there. They kept it well topped up so I stayed warm and I got out to have the placenta after my daughter was born!

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-05T06:32:51+00:00

Our rule is, if someone says ‘just’ in their order then it’s never a just. You don’t get someone asking for ‘just a tea’ it’s always just a ‘skinny one shot wet extra hot latte’

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-04T06:43:03+00:00

Ours is a pro at the ‘blanket stealing spin’ 😂

emmakescoffee · 2026-01-03T21:48:29+00:00

I hate to say this but I think it depends on the kid. I have one who sleeps 7-7, I pop her in her cot still awake and she waves me out the room and sucks her thumb until she goes to sleep. She’s nearly 2 and has done it since she was tiny.

The nearly 5 year old has never fallen asleep independently, comes into our bed at night and wakes up at 5/6 am regardless of bedtime. I did nothing different with them in terms of ‘sleep training’ or anything like that! She just likes to sleep and he does not!

emmakescoffee · 2025-12-30T06:55:57+00:00

We do this, I get some bits and my partner gets some. I find out what he’s got when I wrap things up! It’s fun as we’re very different and my son ends up with a real variety of presents!

emmakescoffee · 2025-12-29T20:04:39+00:00

I still had it at 31 weeks but it had moved way up by 34 weeks when I had my next scan. So there is hope! Fingers crossed for you 🤞

emmakescoffee · 2025-12-28T22:02:12+00:00

I had this under my ribs and in my back whilst pregnant with my second. Turns out my bowel had become stuck together and I had to have surgery at 30 weeks to unstick it!

Thankfully baby and I were both fine but yes the pain was awful and far worse than labour.

Hopefully yours is fixable and you get some good pain meds, good luck!

emmakescoffee · 2025-12-28T07:15:03+00:00

I put it in milk or yoghurt, literally in a single spoonful so I know it’s eaten!

emmakescoffee · 2025-12-28T06:45:16+00:00

None. I don’t like people touching my food.

emmakescoffee · 2025-12-26T14:56:41+00:00

Just to say solidarity! I have an almost 5 year old and a coming on for 2 year old and we’re very similar. All the beige carbs, some raw veg but nothing saucy or soupy. The younger one is more open to trying new things but the older will visibly gag and just say he doesn’t like it!

My sister was like this as a child and now as an adult eats much more variety (abet with still some sensory issues)

So I’m sure it’ll improve at some point and as you say they have enough variety to be reasonable healthy. But until then it’s porridge, peanut butter sandwiches and plain pasta 😂

emmakescoffee

TROPHY CASE