Pickle

Home made thai green chicken curry - yum!

When I lived in NZ a McD's cheeseburger and banana milkshake on the walk home used to sort me out. And then McD's for breakfast - "hot cakes and syrup"... a delicacy I don't think they offer in the UK, followed by a hash brown & hot chocolate. I was a really healthy specimen back then!

*Bob*, you've made me smile. Perhaps someone should go down there and create an ED-style "disturbance" for them to film? Some kind of pram war? A dispute over organic wine? Estate agent cars being attacked?

Crimewatch? ;-)

I agree with Moos - Trinity, your post wasn't offensive in any way :) It's an interesting topic, and amazing how opinions will differ (even within subsets of parents using the same "techniques"). As someone who does use a routine I'll be the first to agree that it doesn't work for everyone, and I think a lot of it depends on the personality of the parents, not the baby. In some ways I'd love to be a "go with the flow" kind of person, but never have been in any other situation so I guess it followed naturally that I'd have some kind of routine in place when it came to bringing up children. The GF book itself, IMO, could do with a re-write. It does come across as very clinical (e.g., 8am, mother to eat breakfast and drink a large glass of water), when really it could be written in a softer manner. She's really just telling you to make sure you take care of yourself amongst the chaos, but seems to lack the correct bedside manner! Despite having used GF as a guide, I would hate to see someone try to follow it to the letter. One of my friends got in quite a state over it, feeling as if she was "failing" as she wasn't able to do everything the book said. So once again I think it's important that these books are used as guides and you incorporate only the parts that are of use to you. I wonder how much of the success of these books is due to the changing family structure these days? Certainly for me the lack of having my Mum nearby (she's on the other side of the world) meant that a lot of questions that in past generations would have been answered by older maternal figures in the family were instead answered by reading books or looking on the internet. Also for a lot of people, having babies older, and coping almost as a single parent due to work commitments of partners must have an impact. Anyway (I've got too much time on my hands... baby Pickle asleep, right on schedule ;-)), that's my thoughts! In a couple of months when baby Pickle #2 arrives I'm sure all my theories will go right out the window!

Heh heh, I like it... "The Pickle Method"... perhaps I should write a book?? Although in the first 6 months it was me that was pickled, red wine was my saviour! Purely medicinal of course.

Each to their own... it's easy to criticise other people's parenting decisions, but I think everyone is different and will have their own way of doing things. Who's to say what's right and what's wrong? Personally I used what I like to call "Gina Ford Lite"... didn't follow her advice to the letter, but used it as a guide. As a result I have a happy little boy who sleeps well during the day and night. For me, the benefit of having a routine is the fact that I'm able to go along to various activities with him and know that he's going to be awake and happy (meaning we don't waste money signing up for things and then not being able to attend - important given how much some of the things round here cost!). At 15 months he still has a short nap in the morning, and sleeps for 2 hours at lunchtime (12-2). Other friends babies of the same age have dropped the morning nap completely and just sleep at lunchtime - it really does depend on your baby.

It's so nice to hear something positive said about Kings. Sorry to hear you had a stay in hospital, but I'm really glad your experience was a good one (as good as a stay in hospital can get!). We've used Kings A&E a couple of times for Mr Pickle, and they were great both times, especially as it was at the peak of "sports injury" time on a Saturday afternoon. Personally I've stayed in a few times for pregnancy related illness and despite them being overstretched (especially when it comes to maternity care in an area where pregnancy seems to be contagious!) I had a good experience. Currently I go there once a week for monitoring and tests and they're great.

Blimey! I live near that house... means I stand to make well over 100% on mine... *rushes off to Foxtons to put house on market*. I'd be VERY surprised if they get anywhere near that!

We must be lucky... I often leave big cardboard boxes (flattened) out on recycling day beside our bag and they always take them!

-- moved topic --

It runs between Forest Hill Road and Underhill Road (it's the road down the side of the Herne pub)

They did look to be pretty full on - thankfully my screaming son seemed to deter them from attempting to engage me in conversation!

... but did you have the hair and name badge to match? And how was your humming?

Aha-ha ;-) Lived in ED for 5 years and never had the pleasure before.

My otherwise dreary day has just been brightened up by the great guy I saw walking along LL - wearing an Elvis t-shirt, humming an Elvis song, wearing a name badge with "Elvis" on it. Oh, and he had an Elvis hair style too. Whoever you are, thanks for making me smile! :))

Poor thing! Perhaps give the RSPCA a call? Or maybe a local vet, they might know what the best thing to do is?

What a horrible thing for your little girl to experience - I wish her a speedy recovery. This has been an interesting post... I thought I'd add something I saw in Peckham Park on Sunday... We were in the kids play area, and a family with 3 small kids came in with their parents. Two of the kids were visibly upset, and their Dad was exchanging "words" with the owner of two dogs - I'm not an expert on dog breeds, but to me they looked like some kind of Staffie. The dogs weren't on leads, and the Dad involved was basically telling the woman that she should put them on leads. Obviously something had happened between the kids & dogs to make the kids upset. The father was being very reasonable, not swearing etc., but getting a blast of abuse back from the dog owner. The dog owner then set herself up on the grass right outside the play area. Continued to let the dogs run around unsupervised, and was even throwing their ball up against the fence of the play area to encourage the dogs to run up to where the kids from earlier were playing. There was another family with young children sitting on the grass (they were there before the dogs arrived), and one of them politely asked if the dog owner would mind moving further away, as her kids were also a bit scared. Once again the dog owner let loose with a tirade of abuse, then started throwing the dogs ball over by this family. Admittedly the dogs were more interested in their ball than in the kids, but to a small child a big strong dog running towards them at full pelt is a pretty scary thing. In my opinion, people like this should not be allowed to own dogs. She was rude, ignorant, and totally irresponsible. She could have taken the dogs to any other spot in the park and let them run to their heart's content, but to purposely antagonise families with small children was out of line. Anyway, reading this post made me think of this incident, as when we were walking home I noticed the dog owner going into a house on St Aiden's Road. I just hope that one of her dogs wasn't the same one that attacked the little girl! I noticed a sign near the kids playground yesterday saying that all dogs should be kept on a short lead - is this enforceable?

Thanks DC, very helpful. Off to do some reading now!

Thanks Cora - it's all so confusing!

Great, many thanks for your help.

OK, so reading all the posts about schools has got me wondering (and worried!)... at what age are you supposed to make contact with your local school and get your children on their radar? Our local school is Goodrich. My little one is only 15 months old, so I'm assuming I've got years yet before I have to think about it?! Thanks!

A shame... was chatting to you last weekend UC - good luck with future ventures/locations. The Warehouse seems to be lacking something. Can't put my finger on what, has all the makings of a success but it's a shame that it doesn't seem to be working.

My card was cloned at a certain ED petrol station a while back, and then used for a spending spree in Egypt. Thankfully RBS noticed before I did, and the money was refunded immediately. Needless to say that petrol station no longer receives our patronage, unless we're totally desperate and have cash!

Great news Sandperson, congratulations!