Pickle

Depends on whether you have any back problems... we have a 4 door car and it's great - when I visit my parents I have to use a 2 door and even though my kids are old enough to climb in themselves I find it a real strain on my back to have to lean in and do up their straps. Personally I would never have managed with a 2 door car when the kids were babies, but everyone is different (and not everyone has a back like a 90 year old aged 35!). P x

I tried the new pool yesterday during the "women's only" session, and was very impressed with the facilities - modern, clean changing rooms, warm showers etc. The pool itself is great, temperature perfect. My one gripe is that I wanted to lane swim, which was fine until they set up for aqua aerobics at 10.30am, at which point one end of the pool was roped off. Not ideal, but I was still able to swim about 3/4 of a length... then the class actually started and half of the women involved came to the other side of the rope, meaning those of us trying to swim were left having to swim widths, which is pretty pointless. Is it not possible to leave a couple of lanes open for swimming while the aerobics is going on? While the class does seem very popular it's not for me, and I'm sure others feel the same way. Tuesday mornings are the only time I can use the pool while my kids are at creche so it seems a shame if I can't use it for proper swimming!

We went today (our first visit, loved it!), the main equipment wasn't out, just the smaller stuff. Kept my kids occupied but I can imagine it's lots more fun if you can play with the big stuff.

Pebbles, my kids are at Magic Moments 2 mornings a week, and my son will be 4 in January. I have my fingers crossed for a Goodrich nursery place for him in January, as while Magic Moments is absolutely lovely I don't think it really prepares them for school - it's just a creche, so they're only there for 2 hours, so it'll still be a huge shock to go from that to reception. Most kids there use it as a natural stepping stone to nursery, and my son is one of the oldest there. Good luck for the Goodrich place, I know loads of kids that are there and love it. P x

Oooooh, Antijen... all of a sudden I feel like I'm reading a copy of 'Oor Wullie :)

Being flexible about your dates is generally the key. We fly to NZ quite frequently and book tickets by ringing our preferred airline directly (Singapore Airlines) and talking to them about the best/cheapest options. They will always match prices shown on other websites, so if you have an airline you would like to use try this approach - nothing to lose. Good luck, and enjoy!

Oh no, that's not what you need! I wonder if the colour will fade a bit over the first few washes? It might be that it only looks dark for a week or so and then will settle down a bit to a lighter colour. Worth ringing them to have a chat about it I think - if you're really not happy I'm sure they would re-do it either free or at a discounted price.

I had a friend over yesterday while I was starting to get our dinner ready, the time-honoured "Nana's mince", which has been passed down the woman of our family for a few generations now. I'd never really questioned it until it was viewed by an outsider. It's a very basic recipe: In a lasagne dish you assemble a layer of mince (browned) with onions, curry powder and cornflour to thicken. Top with a layer of cooked white rice. On top of that goes a can of spaghetti in tomato sauce. Finished of with a sprinkling of grated cheese. It gets cooked in the oven until the cheese is all bubbly, and bizarrely has always been served with coleslaw. So I look at it now and realise it's very very strange, but it works, Mr Pickle eats it willingly and the kids love it. Anyone else got weird and wonderful foods that have worked their way down the generations?

Are you open to trying cloth nappies? My 1st child was in disposables and I remember having to change whole outfits frequently due to the problem you mention - I moved him into cloth when he was 10 months old, but my daughter was in cloth from birth and we never had that problem. Otherwise I guess just doing them up more securely to ensure there's no gap at the back is the best option. P x

Perhaps it's changed recently, but a couple of months ago Mr Pickle got a slap on the hand by a police officer for riding the wrong way up that section (along with every other cyclist doing exactly the same thing, it's a common cut through for cyclists).

My kids love "Come Outside", and I have to admit a soft spot for it. I had picked it as older than the 90's as it seems so old fashioned. It's currently series linked on Sky+ so they can watch it in the evening while I'm getting dinner ready. Zingzillas is still a favourite, however obviously the BBC spent too much of their budget paying the artists, as it seems to be the same 4 or 5 episodes shown constantly. We stopped watching Numberjacks when my son kept asking whether the Spooky Spoon was going to come into his bedroom in the night. As a child I had recurring nightmares about Sly the Goblin from the Noddy books... :-$

Funny, I've been thinking exactly the same thing. Every time we wait at the lights on Forest Hill Road (which admittedly is a pain as the cycle takes ages!) someone crosses against the lights. I know that not everyone has time to stand and wait, but given that the majority of the time it's other parents it does annoy me too. Thankfully my son tends to shout out "that naughty man/lady didn't wait for the green man", meaning he knows the rules, and more often than not makes the person in question turn around shamefaced :)

On the few occasions my kids have seen Dirtgirlworld they have been mesmerised. It is a slightly odd programme, and I find the thing that annoys me the most (apart from the weird mouths) is the strange array of accents that the various bugs have. Is the caterpillar/grub type thing supposed to be a Kiwi or an Aussie?!

Love your story Sillywoman, a testiment to good parenting :)

Ha ha, I love your trick GSJ57, how long until he twigs do you think? BB100, that's good too. My son loves peas, daughter won't touch them - I did try calling them sweeties one evening, but as she doesn't really like sweet things (child of mine? Can't possibly be) it didn't work. I caught a bit of Nina and the Neurons earlier today and am now thinking along the lines of green space atoms?... My brother (32) refuses to eat raisins because when he was tiny (and I was 4/5ish) I told him they were dead flies with their wings pulled off. Even now he won't eat them. However my children love eating grated courgette which I tell them is green caterpillars, so my bug references haven't phased them. Prawns are snails from the garden...

Ever had a day when you feel you've actually won (an albeit small) battle with your feisty children? Mine today is the fact that my two (3.5 and 2) happily ate salad with their dinner, having point blank refused up to this point in time. The refusal was due to my older son, who declared a long time ago that salad "isn't yummy", which of course means his sister refuses to eat it too. I'm patting myself on the back for my craftiness - I've had lunch with them for the last few days, and have had salad. My daughter asked on Monday whether she could have some, to which I answered "no, it's Mummy's special lunch". Same thing on Tuesday. Tonight I asked them if "for a special treat" they would like some salad with their dinner, and you would think I'd offered chocolate buttons for breakfast - such excitement (and it was the first thing eaten off both plates). Mummy 1 - Children 0 ;-) Any other crafty methods for dealing with childhood battles welcomed!

Sorry to hear this, not nice for her or you! I would offer food and drink throughout the day - she may not want anything, but if you offer a range of things she may eat some bits and pieces. Bland foods and apple seem to be good for upset stomachs. No harm in giving her diluted juice if it means she will take on some fluid, just try to restrict her to little sips as often as possible. Hope she feels better soon x

I don't tip mine. As she's through an agency I pay her holiday pay every 13 weeks (which is one week's pay) and at Christmas I give her a small bonus.

Use this link: https://kiosk.iristickets.co.uk/k?zipposcircus&signup Sign up as a new online member, then you should be able to book tickets - you use the discount code at checkout to get 50% off. Hope that helps.

Oh yes, the 3+ stage, we're in the midst of that with our son (who wasn't too bad through the 2 stage). He has days where he's lovely (today has been a good one, helped by a morning at creche and an afternoon at a friend's house), and days where he is honestly unbearable. I find everything is so emotional with him, completely random mood swings which are difficult to understand. Common phrases in our house are: I don't WANT *stamps foot* to do that Right, I'm not going to be your friend EVER AGAIN Mummy Oh, it's not FAIR *once again a foot stamp is usually put in for emphasis* Thankfully he can also have equally sweet moments, and frequently tells me he loves me (bizarrely always when I'm wiping his bottom - I guess it's nice to be appreciated during those glamourous moments of motherhood?!)

Starbucks at Sainsbury's Dog Kennel Hill do flat whites, they're not bad - they even put the traditional fern pattern on top. It makes this kiwi smile :) Now if only they'd serve lolly cake for me to have alongside it I'd be the happiest kiwi in East Dulwich!

Goodness, no way! My cleaner (also through Selclene Dulwich) does her 3.5 hours every week without fail. If she runs out of general cleaning she will clean the fridge, or today she saw a basket of ironing I had sitting in the kitchen and made a start on it for me. She is super honest on her timesheet, will note down if she left 5 minutes early (!) and make the time up the following week.

I agree Molly. First time round admittedly I had it pretty easy with a chilled out son (although at 3.5 he's now pushing me to my limits), but I did find his occasional tantrums hard to deal with. Daughter is a lot more feisty and tantrums are a very regular occurrence but I just ignore. She generally sorts herself out, comes up to me and says "I stopped cwying now Mummy" and is happy once again. Goodness only knows what goes on in a 2 year old's head!

I think Cheryl's choices were brave - both girls are very different to what's happened in the past, but I doubt whether either of them will be able to pull it off come the live shows. Ridiculous that both of Simon's manufactured groups got through over the established groups who I thought were actually quite good this year.

We went for a look at the new facilites this afternoon, what a transformation! There were only a handful of people in the pool at 4pm, they all looked happy enough, no blue lips in sight. Looking forward to trying it for myself next week.