h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Purple,
I'm glad you're purple because I like being purple too. I thought I might change colour along the way but I am still purple and I'm pretty sure I will stay that way. Purple's ! It rules!


Funnily ehough I had a boyfriend once who hated purple - his problem.


Ythika the very puple giraffe

the purple crayons were always my favorite when I was little so when I got sick of "emmi" I knew Purple was the way to go eventhough generally it is not a colour I like Enjoying it so far! Very nice to see someone else of the purple persuasion...

Purple

Sorry, I somehow missed your reply.

I always tend gravitate to purply or pinkish clothes although I have always said I my favourite colour was blue. I tend to feel better wearing purple or pink and I think that is why I chose to be purple. I have decorated a lot of my house in blues and yellows but rarely chose to wear either. Blue and yellow are relaxing colours to have around you but I don't feel quite right in blue.

I don't know if it is my influence or not but my daughter tends to want to wear pink or purple as well ("i love my pink"). It is hard to buy her much else though. All the clothes for girl toddlers comes in pink, purple, light green, light blue and orange. And most of it is in the first 3.

Anyway I'm just rambling, talk to you again soon,
Ythika

hello again! Sorry for the long delay but I have been away

How old is your daughter? When my little sister was slightly longer she went one step further than clothes and actually insisted on being called Pink herslef. She, at all of about 2, refused to respond to anything else for about 3 months Demonic little hussy that she was she had us all calling her pink by the end of a week and when she finally decided that she actually prefered her real name we were all a bit dissapointed ahh well!

I meant littler not longer!

My daughter is 2 1/2 and has just been the best little girl for her Grandma while we had a 5 day holiday. We had a 3 day holiday with her beforehand and took her to a small zoo, out on a special gumboot hunt and then we went out looking for puddles for her to jump in. She managed to get totally saturated just by jumping in puddles. She had an absolutely fantastic time - and then she had a much needed bath.
She came home with Grandma so she could go to swimming lessons and we could have a bit of a break. I think Grandma had a lovely time and we walked our feet off in and around Sydney city.
Currently our little one is trying hard to show her independence but I can't wait for the funny shows of personality to come - just like a month of being called Pink.

Ythika

sorry it has taken so long to reply... I have what must be the worlds most useless internet connection, the computer isn't great either so it's a rare day when both are working

The early personality quirks are always good fun as little ones test the limit of what is allowed... some times infuriating but more than made up for by the amusing ones! Your little one sounds great!

I must say she is great - most of the time - but unfortunately yesterday wasn't one of those times. I can count at least 7 lots of tears or tantrums without even thinking about it and 3 were before breakfast. Yesterday was not a good day but she is sleeping right now and looks like an angel.
The angel looks are a blessing. Some of my friends get abused in shopping centres if there child steps a foot out of line. Mine keeps getting in people's way and they just stop and say that she's beautiful. I feel so sorry for my friends as I know that their children are at least as well behaved as my daughter and that they have put a lot of effort into making sure they are well mannered. Life's just not fair, is it?

Nope!

One of my little brothers used to be like that (not that he isn't still very handsome but when he was little... oh my!), dark dusky curls, huge blue eyes and the longest eyelashes ever and this little body that just begged to be hugged. It used to drive me nuts because he could get away with anything because he was "too cute to stay cross at"

ahh. The tantrum phase... good luck! the worst has to be when they do it in public and you get all these looks from people who haven't had 2-3 year olds and think you are the worst parent/ carer ever! grrr.

I'm very lucky - most of the tantrums are in private. But if she puts on a performance in public I will just sit down beside her so I have a front row seat. Hopefully that will put her off because she won't be having the desired effect. It did last time.

apparently that is the best way of dealing with it as long as you stay calm and the little one isn't of a violent disposition!

Violent? Only if you count trying to smack me! It's not that bad as she wants me to put my hand out to be smacked so it's not a big deal and not obvious. I don't like smacking her but I would rather give her a small smack on the hand or bottom than have her repeatedly do something that is dangerous. It is so easy to loose your grip on them if they are jumpimg around and when it's on the change table or similar it is down right scary.
Calm - sometimes I'm good at calm. I'm better at calm in public. Maybe I would be better off pretending we are in public all the time.

Y

I know what you mean... toddlers seem to have absolutley no sense of danger - even after they have fallen from the same place repeatedly One of my little brothers was a nightmare like that- always leaping before even thinking about looking, running around like a crazy thing and with a passion for climbing- thankfully he was very sturdy and always seemed to bounce but he always had a good collection of bruises we would often get concerned looks when we were in public and if he hadn't been so obviously adored and happy I think we would have ended up with a call from social services!

My neighbours told me the story of when they were visited by social services. They thought they were being asked about someone elses child. When they realised what was going on they were horrified. It had been said that their son was supposed to be screaming all the time and covered in bruises. Apparently, he was almost always covered in bruises from his own efforts but that day he wasn't. They think their other neighbours reported them because they had argued over something. The social workers were satisfied that they weren't hurting their son as he was beautifully dressed and didn't have a scratch on him. It must have been awful to be accused like that.

My mum always used to worry when she took me to the doctor's as I was always covered in bruises and could never say where they came from. I have heard that children who are covering up abuse usually claim they don't know how they got their bruises, so that wouldn't have helped.

I don't know how it is where you are but social servises round here are woefully inept and there are frequently cases of them either allowing terribly burtalised children to stay with whoever is hurting them or taking children away from parents who would rather die than cause harm to their kids. Thing is once a child is in the "system" after abuse claims it can take years to get them back even if you are innocent

Very scary how much power someone else can have over your own child and how if they are no satisfied or don't believe you they can affect you. Bah.

I don't know - I don't think you should be allowed to be in child services unless you have had a child or have taught/ spent *a lot* of time with children in a dometsic environment... a lot of it has to be seen to be believed!

There have been children die from abuse that have been labelled "at risk" but somehow nobody thought they were in that much danger. And I have heard of children being taken away when the parents have done nothing wrong but I can't confirm any of them.
A friend has had her little boy (toddler) fall or jump on his baby brother and fracture his leg. The two children have to be seen for that to be easily understood. None of us doubted it but she got enough evil looks from strangers to last a lifetime.
My daughter ran away in the carpark today and she doesn't listen when we try to tell her how scared I was. She thinks it was funny.


We seem to always be talking about toddlers and your younger siblings. What are you doing these days ?


Ythika

Finishing off school at the moment Three weeks and then I am done and it is the longest summer holiday ever til I start uni! I took a bit longer than usual (two years!!) to finish school because I was ill so to finally be nearly there is a huge relief!

What about you?

I'm a public servant with a job that sounds like it should be interesting but rarely is. I only work part-time - 2 1/2 days a week. Then there is playgroup, swimming lessons, catching up with friends with toddlers, visiting my Granny (almost 97) and hootoo during daytime sleeps.
I can relate to the being sick thing. I was hopeless at uni. Had to quit at one stage and move home to my parents because I was too sick to look after myself. I can't think of much worse than trying to struggle through study when you feel awful. Good luck and I hope you stay well from now on (there should be one for luck).