Pickle

Ha ha, I know that's what you meant Andycam, but it would be an interesting addition to the bar options on LL don't you think?! ;-)

A Walkabout, classic! Would give me a chance to relive my first couple of years in London as a young antipodean - snakebite anyone?! Not sure the sawdust on the floor would cater well for the children on baby club days though...

I'm with you on the broody front, and I already have two! I seem to run into people with teeny weeny newborns everywhere I go at the moment (and I'm one of those crazy ladies that simply must make conversation with the poor unsuspecting Mum!). Must remind myself that babies are like kittens, and grow into big smelly creatures! We've got a small gap (just under 17 months) between our two, which I fully admit wasn't entirely planned. We always anticipated a 2 year gap, things just happened a bit quicker than expected ;-) However I wouldn't change it, and am pleased things turned out the way they did. I haven't had to deal with jealousy from my eldest, as he was too little to fully realise what was going on and wasn't old enough to realise that suddenly he had to share his Mummy. From a practical point of view, having such a small gap does mean you have a period of effectively dealing with 2 babies - nappies, needing help feeding etc. And for me it was made a bit more difficult as my son didn't walk until he was nearly 2, meaning he also needed carried up the stairs etc. On the plus side, I've had nearly 18 months in which both children have a lunchtime nap, giving me a break in the middle of the day - something you don't get the benefit of with a larger age gap. Also we hadn't really come out of the "baby" phase, so it wasn't such a big shock to have a newborn around. Now, at nearly 3, and nearly 18 months life is almost easy. The small gap means that we can go to various groups and they both enjoy themselves, my youngest seems to be learning things (like feeding herself) a lot earlier than my son giving me a little more time to get things done in the kitchen while they're eating. They play together nicely a lot of the time, although admittedly I do have a role as "referee" a bit now when the play turns into eye gouging, hair pulling etc.! We are over the baby stage now and starting to get our independence back which is lovely. In my family I'm the oldest, with a 4 year gap between me and my brother, and I remember very clearly the day he arrived in the house and shattered my little world - I was very aware of the need to share my parents and didn't like it one bit. Unfortunately our relationship has never been a good one. I also have a sister 10 years younger, and we get on brilliantly as the age gap is so big there was never any rivalry. There's no perfect answer!

I use the parade of shops up by the Plough a lot, as for me both them and the Forest Hill Road shops are closer than the "main" shopping area of Lordship Lane. I agree with Brendan - the new Sainsbury's will just mean I no longer have to jump in the car to get the things I need from Dog Kennel Hill, and I really don't think it will alter my use of the other local shops.

I can't stand the Maria Carey one (mind you, I don't like her music at the best of times, so her singing a xmas song was never going to work for me!), and the Slade one gets stuck in my head for days on end driving me mad. Always enjoy hearing the Pogues, can't help but smile. Am looking forward to teaching my 3 year old the lyrics this year...

I'm a stay at home Mum and can honestly say I love it. I appreciate not every one can afford the stay at home option, luckily for us it is an option. Mr Pickle and I both grew up in families with Mum's who were at home (until school age, when both our Mums did part time work), and had spoken about it before we even got married, so for us it was a very natural decision for me to be at home. I have a university degree, had a successful career as an accountant, but even before children came along found myself questioning whether the stress/hours were really worth it in terms of my happiness. Hence I gave it all up to be self employed doing something completely different (running weight loss classes!), and that's what I was doing up till I had children. Financially going back to doing that makes no sense in terms of what it would cost me for childcare, and I never saw it as a long term career choice anyway. I will go back to doing something once the kids are at school, but it won't be a city based job like I used to do. I'm hopeful that eventually I can go back to teaching music (flute teacher) which I did for a number of years in NZ, as it would fit in well with family life as well as being something I truly enjoy. The early years fly by... my son is nearly 3 and it still feels like just yesterday that he was a tiny baby. In less than a year he'll be at nursery 5 mornings a week, so before I know it he'll be at school. My youngest seems to be growing up so quickly, and will follow her brother to school just a year after he starts. For me it's precious time at home with them that I'll never have the chance to have again. Of course there are days I wish I was working, days where I'd love to hand the kids to someone else to give me a break (I currently get 2 hours a week when my son is in a creche, so only have my daughter, but that's it), but the good days far outweigh the bad. I plan our week ahead to make sure we've always got something to do, as my worst nightmare would be to be stuck in the house all week! I have every respect for working Mums, everyone's situation is so different and it's a very personal decision. I don't come across many 100% stay at home Mums, would be interesting to know how many others are in my situation!

My two don't seem to mind the slope of the seats (and older boy switched from a Bugaboo where he was sitting fully upright). You can use a bar across the front of the top seat which older kids can grab hold of to pull themselves forward, but we don't use ours.

Pickle

OK, here goes... 1. Which pushchair do you have, would you recommend it and why? Phil 'n' Teds Vibe - yes I'd recommend it (as a double buggy, not as a single). Lighter than the original P&T's, quite easy to push, compact enough to fit in most shops/through doors, serves it's purpose well. 2. Is it true that... a. ...side-by-side buggies aren't great for different ages because they'll pull towards the heavier child? I think it depends on the buggy. I tried a double MacLaren and it was hopeless, really hard to push even when my two were newborn and 17 months respectively (and my oldest was small). I then had a Out & About side by side for a while which was much easier to push (lighter, easier to steer) but I didn't like it due to the width (we bought it solely as a pram to keep in the car, as it folded really flat). b. ...side-by-side buggies mean that the toddler will bother the newborn? (my daughter doesn't like the single Maclaren so I fear the double one will be worse). I never had a problem, but my son didn't really notice his sister was there - both in the buggy and life in general! Until of course she started crawling/standing up/walking, at which point he suddenly became VERY aware of her. I dread to think what would happen if I put them side by side in a buggy now, prime fighting opportunity! Hard to answer really as all toddlers are different, some won't leave a newborn alone, others ignore them. c. ...the Phil&Teds is great for the newborn phase but sucks once the youngest child also wants to see the world, as the bottom seat (which to me looks a bit like a shelf) kind of sucks? I heard a bigger toddler may find the bottom seat "cool" but will a 2.5 year old? This was my big concern too. Technically once you move to using the bottom seat you're supposed to have the smaller child down there, and the larger one on top, but we do it the other way round. My son is more than happy to sit at the bottom (nearly 3), he likes getting in and out of the buggy a lot now and seems to understand that it's only fair for his sister to have the front seat. They still get a pretty good view from the lower seat, it's not as bad as you think. The Vibe has more space than the original versions. d. ...tandem buggies other than the Phil&Teds are impossibly heavy and a massive pain to get into the boot of your car? e. ...tandem buggies are very hard to maneuver? I've never used one, but from what I've heard this is true. Good luck! There's no perfect solution to the double buggy dilemma - I can't wait for the day that I don't need to use one anymore!

Completely normal, I think they all do it at some stage. My son was like that for a short period around 10 months, my daughter has days even now (17 months) where she does the same - due to teeth or illness I think, and has done since she was about 12 months. Generally she's like Molly's little one, very outgoing etc., but she seems to have days where only Mummy will do. I don't mind too much, as most of the time now if I ask her for a cuddle she shakes her head, says "no" then runs in the opposite direction saying "byeeeeeeee". Most people will understand, so try not to worry about it too much.

Very frustrating I agree - I'm also waiting for a parcel that was dispatched on the 17th (which I need to send on to NZ for Christmas, and the last posting day is next Friday, so I'm starting to stress!). I was in the Silvester Road sorting office today and heard a person with similar concerns being told that they had 5 vans out on the roads today in SE22, delivering all of the parcels they have in their office - so the backlog isn't at Silvester Road, it's somewhere further down the line. We're getting sporadic post (Underhill Rd end of Upland), nothing for a couple of days followed by a huge delivery of things ranging from posted in October to posted yesterday - there doesn't seem to be much logic to it.

Hi EmmaCC, In similar battles with my daughter (who now eats quite well as long as she's allowed to do it herself) I'm still struggling to get her to eat breakfast, so have started cutting down her milk (she's 17 months). Although because I don't want to risk her not sleeping I've cut back on the pre-breakfast and early afternoon amounts, but am still giving her a full bottle at bedtime (she has about 9oz at that time). So she now has around 5oz pre-breakfast, 4oz after her nap (about 2.30pm), and 9oz before bed - and I do think she's been a bit better with her quantities at breakfast. Would be interesting to hear what others around the same age have in terms of milk - she was BF until just a few months ago so I really don't know whether what she's having is "normal" or not! It does get better. I'm finding my nearly 3yo (who's always eaten well) is now starting to develop little likes and dislikes, but it's been funny "testing" him to see whether they're genuine. Tonight's conversation while I was preparing dinner... "what's that Mummy?" "courgette" "I don't like courgette do I?" (he's been refusing it for a couple of months) "yes you do, just not courgettes in circles - these courgettes are rectangles" "oh yeah, I like rectangle courgettes, they're yummy" ... then happily tucked into his courgettes like they were the best thing out. Similarly he happily eats courgette "worms" (grated).

Another vote for Little Bubbles - we've been going for over a year now, great fun. Both my son (nearly 3) and daughter (17 months) love it. We also go to Ruby Rhymes, Monday 10.30am at the top of Red Post Hill. ?5 per session, drop in basis so no need to sign up for a term. We've been going there for about 2.5 years now, as started when my son was just 4 months old!

I've got no problems spending money on wedding presents, or with wedding lists (figure at least you know they want the item you're buying them), but have a BIG problem with wedding lists where ?50 buys you one side plate! Had "friends" who got married a few years ago, the cheapest item on their list was ?75.

Well done for actually doing it despite the chest infection - many people wouldn't even try in that situation. You're very brave doing it 2 years in a row!

The clock that's part of the church on the corner of Goose Green (Adys Road end) chimes on the hour (although just a single "bong" I think, nothing too spectacular).

When I did the marathon in 2005 I trained with the Dulwich Park Runners - one of the more experienced runners drew up a great training programme, and as well as running on the standard club nights (Tues and Thurs) I also did my long runs every weekend with a group from the club. Highly recommend them - also meant I did most of the marathon with a running partner who I'd trained with and there were supporters from the club right round the course. And they were waiting at the end with champagne! Their website is: http://www.dulwichparkrunners.com/ They usually have quite a large group of runners entered into London, so you'd be in good company. Good luck, I hope your next marathon experience is more positive :)

I have to agree with you Woof. Didn't really enjoy the last series of it much, but this time round it's really entertaining. An interesting family, and an eye opener for me too. Can't help but love the relationship the old couple have, absolutely hilarious. Do you think the young girl (Shay?) will make up with her Mum by the end of the series?

We played a similar game tonight Curlykaren... but ours involved a 3 year old, a 17 month old and a balloon. Hilarious until the point where the 17 month old got really annoyed and attacked her brother with a combination of teeth and fingernails (admittedly I was still finding it quite funny at this point, but did my best to show sympathy to my fragile flower of a son!)

Very straight forward in New Zealand too - you start school on your 5th birthday!

... although perhaps looking at a picture of an actual tiger might help scare the wind up? I can lend you my son to do his best "scary tiger" noises ;-)

A sure fire way to get my daughter to burp was to walk up and down the stairs with her, and my friend used a great position that she called "tiger in a tree" (no idea whether that's a technical name or something she made up!), which I don't have a chance of explaining without demonstrating - involved kind of draping the baby over your arm, with the head resting on your hand, and legs either side of the crook of your arm. Confused?!

Congratulations Ko!!!! I don't really have any advice - all we did with both babies was use Infacol before every feed, but admittedly neither one was terribly windy and we didn't use it for long. Worth a try if you haven't already used it? Hope you're enjoying the newborn cuddles, my babies are both walking talking monsters now, I'm jealous!

Sing together now "Nina and the Neurons"... Ceebeebees for us these days from 4:30ish when we get home from whatever reason for getting out of the house I've thought up for the afternoon (today we've been to Hope and Greenwood especially to buy liquorice satins - so I'm coping with the witching hour by pumping myself full of sugar ;-) ). My kids have their dinner at 5:30, so it's just about manageable. Older boy sits and watches TV, younger tends to "help" me in the kitchen while I get dinner ready. Even if we've got nothing planned we tend to go for a walk around the block just to get us out, and the kids seem to think it's an adventure being out when it's getting dark. Admittedly there are days where I start looking at all the ads on the forum placed by young people wanting babysitting work - would it be cruel to lump a 17 year old student with 2 grumpy children at 4:30??

I agree with Eliza.D's advice - try to get a park somewhere over the other side of Rye Lane if you can, in the residential streets. The multiplex is fine, but not very nice after dark. The last time we parked there we had to push our way past a group of people shooting up in the stairwell, which wasn't a very nice experience.