Pickle

I'm making a Jambalaya tonight, from the Hairy Bikers cookbook. Chicken, chorizo and prawns, the kids love it!

Grotty, that's how I approach it, but I guess others will differ. My kids have drinks with dinner, and daughter was still having milk before bed when she became dry at night. Get into a good routine - like Mrs TP says, the pull up should be the last thing to gon on before bed. After bedtime stories my kids both go to the toilet before bed, and we leave a potty in the room for them (although now they are both old enough to et up and go to the toilet in the night). For a while we lifted our son before we went to bed and took him to the toilet, but it didn't really make a difference. With him it just suddenly happened, albeit nearly 4 years later than his little sister!

Are you sure it's not your doorbell playing up? We have one of the remote wireless ones which is prone to random ringing.

Leave it to the child - I switched to pull ups for nights when we daytime potty trained (2.5 for son, just 2 for daughter). By 2.5 my daughters pull up was dry every morning so we switched to pants with no fuss (and she had never wet the bed!). At 6 my son has only just become dry at night. I really don't think there is anything we could have done to change this, it's hormonal, so other than restricting evening fluids etc. you can't really drive the process.

I've just been looking at the photos on their Facebook page, looks great fun, I think my older kids would love it.

Welcome. Theoretically, the whole lot of us could be men masquerading as women...

We had a MacMillan charity bag through the door earlier this week, so it's possible that they are out collecting any that have been left out. It would make sense that they have someone looking out for bags left in front gardens.

Go and ride the cable car across the Thames? Lots to see and do in the O2 afterwards.

Agree that the park itself is fantastic, we have spent many happy hours over the years pottering around there, the kids like it more than Dulwich Park as there are more areas to explore. My 1 year old is happy enough with a swing and slide, but if I take the older kids to the play area now they do get bored - they used to quite enjoy playing in the "woods" behind the swings and along the side, but these days that area seems to have been thinned out and isn't as fun for them. I would love to see some money allocated to the little playground, I'm sure it would be welcomed by many.

Are you sure you were at the adventure playground and not just the little kids one? Adventure playground is quite cool - lots of tall wooden structures, plenty of opportunity for injury, appeals to my Kiwi upbringing! The little playground could do with a spruce up, hasn't changed in the 6+ years we've been using it.

My son was quite old when he finally had his snip done (all relative, at just under 8 weeks!). He gave a tiny whimper but that was it, so I don't think it was too painful. He cried more when he had his first inoculations a week later. Like Fuschia, it took a while to completely master breastfeeding afterwards as he had to learn how to thrust his tongue forward, but happily it all worked out for us. Good luck.

Huge difference for us - meant the difference between being able to breastfeed my baby and having to bottle feed. I wanted to breastfeed, it took until he was 8 weeks old and had the snip for it to be possible for him to latch and feed efficiently.

My younger sister has kept rats as pets for years now. I don't see the attraction, but she claims they are friendly, fun, easy care pets to have. She lets them out to run around the house, they have chewed holes in pretty much everything she owns!

And while I'm on the topic... Dressing your kids the same, especially in the situation where they are not twins. Don't do it. Not only do the poor kids look stupid, but those people saying "aaaah look, how cute, you've dressed them the same" are actually laughing at you behind your back.

Otta wrote: > Christening s for people who don't really bother > with church are just another excuse to make them > centre of attention and get more presents out of > people! COMPLETELY agree. We were invited to a christening for a friends kids (then aged 3 and 1) at a church in Redhill. They are not religious, never go to church, and that was obvious throughout the whole cringeworthy service. She had dressed the girls in matching outfits to rival My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings. Other than an excuse to have a party I don't understand at all why they did it. The fact that our kids aren't christened is a contentious issue with my in-laws (one of many issues if I'm honest). I would feel like a complete fraud.

I hope the other Mum isn't a forum user!

Christchurch is a nice place, as long as the quakes have stopped! Probably the best place in NZ to go at the moment to see true Kiwi spirit in action. For proper winter/summer the south is your best bet. We got occasional snow in Dunedin when I was growing up, not as much as here though. Gets warm in summer, but not unbearably so - Central Otago (Queenstown, Wanaka, Alexandra etc.) get really hot in summer. My brother lives in that region and looks like he's from a completely different family with his Kiwi tan.

Chillaxed, I'm a Dunedin escapee too!

... these are the type of skills you'll need ;) Location really depends on what lifestyle you want. The big cities in NZ are like big cities everywhere. The south island tends to be a bit more relaxed and the ski fields are easily accessible if you live in the south somewhere. Property cheaper the further south you go, and more space in general. I grew up a 2 hour drive from the Centrsl Otago ski fields, it was fab and made for easy weekend ski trips. Rotorua is, from memory, a bit grim (it stinks, to start with)! Some cool stuff to see in terms of thermal activity and traditional Maori crafts etc., but I can't imagine living there. As a 38 year old single (male?) with an accent you will find yourself surrounded by adoring kiwi females. You have been warned!

?50,000 is the individual amount I think.

My son used to be the same at that age, but after a couple of playdates where it was obvious he had a miserable time (generally I find reception age upwards they go by themselves to the other persons house, not sure if that's standard or not?) he started getting a bit more selective :)

Just be honest. If my kids get invited on a playdate I ask them whether they want to go (they are 6 and 4). If they say no, then I reply honestly saying they don't want to! Might not win me friends, but at the end of the day if the kids aren't friends at school I don't see the point of forcing it.

Yep, I agree too. I'll probably get shot down, but when we got married in NZ we had a no kids wedding. A couple of our guests from the uk had kids with them (our little nephew included) but were completely happy to have a night without them. We helped arrange a babysitter - the kids were at the church and briefly at the drinks part of the reception early evening, but after that point they were taken away and looked after for the night. I have 3 kids, and could think of nothing worse than having to look after them at a wedding. For me it's a time for me to relax and have fun, not worry about whether they're being trampled on the dance floor by a drunk uncle.

There are good bus links from there to the station, much easier than driving down and having to park. Parking near the nursery should be straightforward.

I took baby Pickle to a playgroup this morning that we've been to a few times now and I love it. Generally I detest playgroups (mainly as I have older children and can't really be bothered spending time in a room with other peoples older children!), but this one is refreshing. I was thinking about it on the way home - I enjoyed it because - it was not pretentious in the slightest. No rice cakes, organic juice. Custard creams and sugary drinks. - the few kids behaving inappropriately were disciplined - it was cheap - no puppets, structure, or adult intervention in terms of what the kids could do. Just lots of well loved toys and a nice big safe space where the kids could get on with it. - the adults were friendly. Interestingly, the majority of adults there were childminders. They are a very welcoming, down to earth bunch of ladies. I'm thick skinned and am at the point in my life where I don't really care whether people speak to me or not when I'm at groups with my baby, but this particular group is a refreshing exception to the norm in these parts. Not really a heated debate topic, but my musings on life for today ;-)