Pickle

When at a roundabout, driving a car, and the person you've given way to (as per the road rules), waves a thank you as if you've done them a favour. This has happened so many times in the last week I've lost count (I live right by a mini roundabout). I'm just following the rules, don't thank me!

My experience is that they're a bit of a nuisance. If your child doesn't want to ride it, or pull it, they become a slightly unwieldy piece of kit to cart around an airport. I also found in flight they were bulky and quite hard to get into in the limited space you have. We fly long haul to NZ once a year, and find having backpacks for each child much easier than the Trunki (which we've since sold).

Not London, but not far away - Leeds Castle is great fun for kids, brilliant playgrounds.

I have had quite a few occasions away from my 3 - including 8 nights when I flew to NZ alone for a funeral (horrible circumstances, but oh my how I enjoyed those flights!), two separate times (3 days the first time, a week the second) when hubby took them to stay with his parents in Scotland, recently 2 nights when hubby and I were away for his 40th, and the odd night here and there over my 7.5 years of parenting. I miss them, but not to the extent that I spend every minute thinking about them. It's SUCH a treat to have evenings and mornings without children and their demands! I'm already planning my next child-free weekend :)

It's a different pushing experience than the chameleon :) Less bouncy, as the tyres aren't air filled (although maybe the newer Bees now are? Not sure). Not as bumpy as a Maclaren though. To push it's brilliant, light and very maneuverable. Easily pushed with one hand, leaving the all important coffee/chocolate bar hand free. Also worked fine for me once I started jogging again. Very easy to fit in buses, if you use them - will fit in the buggy space down the end where other buggies don't (where the annoyingly placed pole is). Cons - shopping basket tricky to access when in parent facing mode. Fine once the seat is round the other way though. It will see us right through until the day we don't need a buggy anymore, so money well spent!

Yes, my situation was the same. Chameleon for first, loved it. P&T (Vibe from memory) when I had my second. I didn't love it, but it did the job. I opted for a Bee plus third time round and I love it. With the cocoon it was a lovely snuggly space for a newborn, especially a winter born baby (January). By the time she was too big for the cocoon she was in a strong routine which meant most napping was done at home over lunchtime, so she didn't really need to sleep in it much. We still use it now, she's 2.5, and have plenty of room. She had a little nap in it last week when we were out for the day. It's brilliant for folding quickly and sticking in the boot. I remember with my chameleon that was a real pain, and resulted in us buying a separate buggy for the car!

Congratulations! It sounds like your gaps will be similar to mine - when #3 arrived my eldest had started in reception, #2 was in school nursery 5 mornings a week. I've got 3.5 years between second and third. As I had a small gap between my first two, I found having just one baby at home a breeze, as you say. It helped that she was very chilled out, but my mornings once the older two were at school were just lovely - I didn't rush out to playgroups when she was small, so we spent lots of time drinking coffee and watching morning TV! School runs no bother, and for ages when I got home from the morning run my baby then slept for an hour, result! I haven't found a huge difference having 3, although am starting to notice the quantity of food we eat in a week increasing (probably more to do with #1 finally having a growth spurt and eating 2 or 3 helpings of every meal). My two girls are very close now that the youngest is able to join in with her sisters games. We didn't have to buy a new car, can fit three seats in the back of our car no problem. Wishing you all the best for the early stages of this pregnancy x

(My son spent most of last summer with painted toenails too!)

:( I have a 6 year old girl who loves having her finger and toenails painted - I let her have nail varnish on her toes, but won't put nail varnish on during term time. I don't wear nail varnish on my fingers, but do get pedicures over summer. When she plays with friends they have fun with lip gloss and glitter, not something she gets from me, but just harmless little girl fun. I remember playing with makeup when I was little. I went on to get a university degree, and haven't felt the need to get fake boobs or marry a footballer. These days I don't wear makeup at all, so it was a passing phase ;) In my mind, it's not far different from letting them get pretty face paint put on at a school fair. A friends daughter had a lovely time at a party held at Mothers Inc, from what I heard the prices are reasonable and they get a mini manicure and lip gloss etc.

Poor wee man! Making a den is a good one - we did this a lot over half term using the dining room table and sheets. They then enjoyed doing everything in there - eating, reading, Lego, iPads etc. For craft ideas take a look at the Baker Ross website, if you don't already know about it. Some really cool stuff there. The Lego encyclopaedias are great, for something to read which will hold his interest. Star Wars (he may already have it?), as well as the general character ones, Ninjago etc. C will sit for ages studying them, more time than he spends reading other books.

I guess that would make sense if you don't utilise an outside line to dry clothes... But I'd find it just as much of a nuisance having to cart a basket load of wet washing downstairs to hang it outside. For me, it gets washed, hung outside, brought in and ironed (in front of tv to make it less boring), then taken upstairs and put away.

They're the norm in New Zealand too, I would definitely go for it. My Mum has one the size of a decent sized bedroom!

Just wondering if anyone in the Upland Road area (near Underhill) heard or saw anything last night - our car has, at some point between midnight and when we noticed it this morning just before midday, apparently been climbed on, causing extensive paintwork damage and the windscreen broken. If anyone else suffered similar damage, or saw anything, please let me know.

My 2.5 year old is often grumpy at that time too. I have older children and a school run to do, so can't indulge her too much as we need to leave the house, so tend to get her up and give her a biscuit, which usually cheers her up.

Ha, I knew there were a group of you who would enjoy this thread! Good trip down memory lane, I remember so many of the games you talk about. Time was key, I would still enjoy sitting down and playing games, but life just doesn't allow it these days. Will we be a new generation of retirees 20/30-odd years from now? My 70 year old father in law sits all day reading his beloved Scotsman newspaper from cover to cover, I don't see myself doing that, but reliving teenage gaming is on my list!

If I was a car jacker, I would probably avoid the car with three kids in the back singing along to Aqua. Snowboarder, our alarm only goes off if the car is interfered with from the outside, so it's fine to leave dancing kids in the back without it going off.

That's a scary situation. If I had a car that could easily be broken into or hot wired I would think twice. As it is, it's a very modern car, with alarm, immobilisers and smart key entry. Virtually impossible to get into and would make a lot of noise if someone tried.

I leave mine listening to "Barbie Girl". That's probably more of a reason to call social services than leaving them in the car to start with :)

I do it quite often, for exactly the reasons above - paying for petrol, nipping into a shop to buy bread etc.

We use a Gro Clock - even though my older two can now tell the time they still like using it.

Agree that technology has it's uses, as frequent flyers to NZ with 3 kids we make the most of it, but I am pretty strict on limiting screen time. If I had the choice, I would prefer them to be quietly playing games than singing bl**dy "Let it Go". That's pure torture.

I think it may have been Space Quest - a looking through screen shots and the sight of two muscly women wearing (not much) latex while poor old Roger Wilco is strapped to a chair has triggered memories. Figure my Mum didn't ever check the appropriateness of our games :)

List of Sierra games brings back memories, we had Police Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. Getting closer.

God, slow loading, soooo tedious. Was the cause of so many fights between me and my brother. Hobbit, nope, would have remembered that name. It's really bugging me! Google is not helping (although there are other people asking similar questions).

No, you actually typed in instructions, albeit basic ones. I don't remember using the mouse at all. I remember it being pretty cool in terms of graphics, for the time. And it did tend to be pretty slow. Memory tells me that it was loaded on the PC, but also required a floppy disk to be in the drive chugging away every now and then. It could have been older, I'm basing it on when we actually got a computer. Kings Quest looks similar, but the name doesn't ring any bells.