u/One_red_balloon2022

It feels so intentional that since her introduction in the series, Harriet Forster is shown as an immature woman who is just arm candy for her decorated husband. Many other instances prove how she may have orchestrated the whole Wickham Lydia thing … not out of malice but simply because she is immature and probably married young and for money, and very much what you’d call a “flirt” for Victorian times.

Examples below -

1. The way she says “Denny and Sanderson seem well pleased” at the very first gathering when the militia are at Lucas Lodge (episode 1)- she has quickly gathered the type of girls kitty and Lydia are the interactions with the officers

2. The way she comes and grabs Wickham when he’s chatting with Lizzy (episode 4) - the overly touchy and flirtations body language is such a giveaway of her own character

3. The biggest hint is how she invites Lydia who is younger than kitty to be her particular friend at Brighton . Why would a married woman seek the company of such a young and immature girl if not to live vicariously through her? (Episode 4).

4. And we also later find out in her letter prior to running away she confessed to her about what she was about to do (…”if you cannot guess with whom I am run away then I would call you a simpleton”).

All this to say - I’m convinced Mrs. Forster egged Lydia on and gave her and Wickham many opportunities to flirt, because she is a bit of a bad seed herself.

Thoughts? Is this a widely known thing? Is this just how the show portrays her?

My nearly 3 year old has been skipping naps on weekends since February. So our afternoons/ evenings lead to him being tired and really wired/ very excited and bouncing off the walls (it doesn’t make sense but that’s not the point of the post). As you can imagine we can’t do “quiet time in your room till the light changes green” etc just yet.

Now to the problem - toddler is potty trained. We’re watching tv while I read a book in bed. I know he needs to pee since he hasn’t gone. I prompt “hey let me know when you need to go we can pause” or “do you need to go?”. He usually always says NOOO but then will say “I need to go” and go.

5 minutes later his show ends and he’s jumping off the bed to bounce around. Suddenly he pauses in his room and starts to pee. I grab him and plop him in the bathroom and he basically pees a huge puddle on the floor. I’m starting to get irritated but keep my voice firm and plain. “Hey I asked you and you said no. Now you’ve peed your pants. Next time when you need to go please listen to me or tell me. Now we need to take a shower since you’ve got pee everywhere”. I’m a little rough with him I’ll admit since he’s trying to squirm and I get him in the shower. Now the craziness begins. He refuses to listen to anything. “Hey lets come out of the bath, time to put on clothes, don’t step here I need to clean pee off the floor”. He’s bouncing around running from room to room banging doors and giggling like this is a game. I’m losing my shit so I say “I’ll count to 3 and if you don’t stop I’m removing you from here”. He doesn’t listen. 1..2..3. I grab him and take him down stairs and leave him near the bottom step and walk away. Obviously and clearly I’m mad. The kid is still laughing. Giggling away. Starts throwing shoes. Playing. He’s completely naked by the way but whatever.

I yelk ok you’re not listening, I will need to take your train set away. He goes “yes put it away I want to see”. So I do it. I march the box and his Thomas roundhouse thingy out the door and let him watch as I dump it in the bin outside (I actually just fake it but it looks real). He’s STILL LAUGHING AND GOOFING OFF. I say hey you want to listen? He says NOOO. So I say no swimming pool today and grab his floaties and pool toys and put them out the door.

You get the drift. The child did not calm down. He laughed and giggled like a maniac the whole time. We ignored him. I told him I was mad. I asked nicely. I raised my voice. I followed through on consequences. I even walked through the whole situation about how accidents happen and I will always help him but playing when we’re serious is not good etc. he doesn’t even look my way and is just laughing/ playing off to the side.

What could I have done differently? He’s remorseless. It’s been 2 hours. I feel so drained. And I’m mad that I got so mad. But I just want him to say “I’ll listen to you mommy can I have my toys back??” He couldn’t care less! HELP ME! I really thought I knew how to handle things but I feel lost right now.

Just got my period this morning which means IUI #2 was not successful. As I wiped and confirmed that my period had indeed arrived after feeling super crampy the previous day a sudden thought washed over me - no my body did not fail me. Because she probably feels very bad too. That she can’t do the thing she knows how to do or that she is trying to do. I’m ovulating, I’m getting my period. So there’s something not right and I want to empathize with her like I would with a friend. Tell her “it’s ok. I feel so bad with you. Just hang on and let’s try again”. That empathy for my own body vs. anger or hatred that things aren’t going my way seems to have softened my stance and I’m already going into this period feeling .. peaceful? Not angry, not overly hopeful. Just .. here.

What silly mantras help you?

As the title says, I’m in need of shorts for my son and going up to his regular size (3T) means the waist is ALWAYS too big. I can’t tie the drawstring because he needs to be able to easily pull down his pants to go potty himself.

The brand that has worked for me is the Gap jersey fabric shorts. But he is slowly outgrowing 3T in length (they’ve always been on the slightly shorter side but it’s fine with me).

I’ve tried - old navy, generic Amazon basics brand. Haven’t tried target yet but I just got their 3T pants and I foresee this being an issue with the shorts. Help!

My nearly 3 year old has been waking up super hungry and demand his “barrrr” with his morning milk. We currently only have the Made Good bars in rotation. I’ve tried a few other brands but they don’t meet my criteria -

- should be soft/ chewy but not crumbly and not fall apart easily
- have whole grain ingredients listed first
- limited icing or things that can melt and get sticky
- taste decent / be something I’d want to eat
- bonus points for shelf stable (most are but still making this comment)

Do you all have recommendations?

2.5 yo (m) and husband and I just went to a beach vacation for 5 nights (think : 85 degree weather, unlimited food drink pool time at the resort 24X7). We’ve beeen back home for 2 nights but he’s still quite off.

He did fine on the flight there but a few things threw him off which led to a rough first few days -

- airplane bathroom : the loud flush and tight space freaked him out and he sort of regressed and kept peeing his pants the rest of the trip. We’ve continued to have accidents since we’ve been back. I know stress can make them regress but I didn’t think a vacation could be that stressful for him + we’ve done weekend trips before

- limited eating : the hotel had all his favorites but he rejected all of it. We kept him hydrated via juices and even offered ice cream as a way to provide him some fats/ dairy but even that he rejected after a while which baffled us.

- increased crankiness : we gave in to some extra screen time so now he’s been having a hard time doing his usual things and keeps asking to the tv as a crutch (vs eating or sleeping when that is what he actually wants to do). We’ve had so many meltdowns or just big extreme emotions (happy/ excited or mad)

I know travel is hard and getting back to reality is harder. We just dropped him off at his preschool so I’m hoping the routine (while hard to get back into ) will be helpful and what he needs.

Is this just normal for a 2.5 yo? Will traveling just be this way till they’re say 4/5 when they can truly enjoy it and understand what’s happening?

Just want reassurances that vacation can be fun again. I get travel with kids is challenging but I assumed the new-ness and general fun of a place with limited rules would be exciting.

I just feel more mentally and physically tired after my vacation than not.