oimissus

mild curry risotto soup (mine will eat pea, celery and tomato soups) cheese and tomoato puree on toast beans on toast jacket potato pesto pasta cauliflower and other veg cheese for my 2 and a half year old I still do some recipes from my baby and toddler book which are proper meals but she still loves.

Saffron - ah yes, that does sound good, I probably skim read it a bit too much. I've been thinking about it and I think you don't need to worry if this is not your family's outlook (which it sounds like it isn't). For example, my mother and her 4 sisters, all now in their seventies, would have been brought up in a society which was pretty rigidly gender stereotypical, and yet they all went on to higher education and were all professional women (lawyer / dentist / head teacher etc). I don't recall my sister or I being expected to 'be' a certain way, and I know that neither of our daughters will have that either, regardless of what anyone else may say (we both have fairly trad in-laws but I'm not too concerned about their influence in this way).

I haven't, no - sounds interesting! Not sure what point you're making though . . . ? That if a boy wants to wear a dress that means he's really a girl? (I may have misunderstood the plot summary.) I'm wearing trousers as we type - definitely not a man the last time I checked!

is this something that people only worry about with concern to girls - do parents of sons worry that they might end up being testosterone-fuelled, uber-blokey rugger-buggers (mmm, nice) if they play with too many diggers and wear too much navy blue? Seriously, I think it's your own personal influence that matters most. Really, it shouldn't matter if your daughter wants to play princesses all the time when she's 3, doesn't mean she can't become a doctor, lawyer or brain surgeon. Or a nurse, hairdresser or beautician, if that's what she wants. I actually think that stereotypes have broken down far more for girls than boys, and it's easier for them in a way - if they want to go to a fancy dress party as a pirate, no-one would comment, but a boy going as a fairy would raise a few eyebrows I bet, and not just amongst the older generation either.

it's going to be sometime in the next week, there were guys clearing out the drains yesterday morning and they said could be tomorrow, Saturday - any day soon!

has anyone else been invaded by fruit flies? We have suddenly got gazillions of the little bastards. I'm wondering if it's to do with the presence of the food waste caddy, though I've put that outside and we still have loads. They seems to really like the bread bin and our framed posters, particularly the Bridget Riley one . . . My hair is really thick and I keep thinking I can feel them in there yeuch!

hmm, that doesn't sound good. Is there no way you can swap bedrooms, or is hers not big enough? If not, I think you need to look into getting an air-conditioning unit installed - when I was staying with my sister-in-law in Queensland most places seemed to have wall-mounted ones in bedrooms (and all the houses were on stilts) - in the short term you can get portable ones, from Argos possibly? Also, d'you have Velux blinds on the skylights - I thought you could get blinds for those that reflect heat out?

that would explain it, Lacey, my info was from 2009.

that's interesting, Bellenden, as I was told once you have strep, you have it, it doesn't go away, ie I would need to have antibiotics at any subsequent birth I had. Also, do you not think your baby should have been observed? We had to stay in a long while as baby was on antibiotics (she swallowed meconium on the way out) and then they wanted to observe her for one more day once she finished those, although the postnatal ward would not be my top choice of place to hang out, for my baby's health I was more than happy. People do see to have a lot bad to say about hospital births which I think is very unfair as they can be absolute, and literal, life savers, a good team is a good team wherever you are.

Becky Byrne in Nunhead is excellent, covered everything with no emphasis on 'natural' over 'medical' birth.

I thought that a blackout blind was meant to help keep a room cooler as the material reflects the heat back out? I could be wrong, we have blackout curtains, which we keep shut and the window open all day in Miss Oi's room, and all the other windows upstairs open too (we have bolts on our sash windows which means they can be open a couple of inches). Her room has hit 29 degrees in the past, but it's rarely disturbed her, hardly and clothes and bedding, one fan pointed away from her, door open. Given how swelteringly hot the postnatal ward was at Kings, I can't imagine it's a problem with a robust toddler.

hi missy, I agree with jennyh, although my birth was quite full on the team at Kings were fantastic and I would have no qualms about having another child there. I did yoga classes all the way through pregnancy and certainly used, to my advantage, some of the techniques I learned there. Maybe look into having a doula there if you feel that would make you more comfortable.

I think the problem is that midwives in this country can't provide an antibiotic drip (I believe they can in for example Holland, where of course home birth is much more common). I had strep and had antibiotics both when it was discovered (about 10 days before I went into labour) and during labour and birth. Personally, once I knew I had it, I would have wanted to ensure everything was as safe as possible for the baby - the fact that many women have it but don't know was irrelevant - I did know, and I found out that if it gets into your baby's eyes it can cause sight problems, so antibiotics all the way for me (I was wired up to so many things anyway, one more didn't make any difference!). Have you spoken to your midwife team about it? My info could be a couple of years out of date. Obviously the best thing would be for midwives to be able to administer antibiotics.

second the Ikea one, cheap as chips, easy to clean, removable tray. Not great if you have a small kitchen and need something that folds away.

how old is your daughter?

according to Facebook it is! Hopefully it won't be rained off this month . . . (famous last words . . . )

I've pm'd you

in summer, d'you mean? I take it all off, I think it's airier on really hot days. I think I had the whole thing off for around 3/4 months last year, and if the odd chilly day appeared I just used a blanket. It's a lot easier without it, you've got more strap to play with, if you see what I mean!

hurray! have a large glass of wine.

I would have thought that any ballet class would be mixed by default (I would be shocked if any purported to be girls only), do you think he'll feel self-conscious if he's the only boy? How old is he - thinking about it I suppose at later stages the steps would be different so they would be separate? But if he's a toddler I would hope he could attend any class he liked.

there's a shop on Rye Lane that sells Bugaboo stuff (down the bottom near Asda) which might be able to help you wrestle it on? I think you must have a newer model to me, mine has buttons for the top bit too. Crazy that one should have a bloody footmuff on in May, I keep thinking I'll be able to take mine off any day and then it all goes pear-shaped!

it's not actually segregated, though, is it - nothing to say that boys HAVE to be pirates and girls HAVE to be princesses, though I bet more girls would go as a pirate than boys go as a princess. How much of that is actually coming from parents? Enlightened, educated parents who wouldn't dream of dressing their sons in 'girls' costumes, or buy their sons 'girls' toys? sorry, Ole, this has strayed off the point of your original post - enjoying the discussion though! (edited to correct crap spelling)

etta - no reason at all, though there's no reason why our generation should be living them either!

well, she could, Pickle, she could easily go out and leave a grown man to make himself some lunch. The fact that she doesn't is up to her, surely?? (or even leave him a sandwich, if she was feeling charitable?) I wonder how many of us will manage to bring up our children to all help around the house, or will it somehow end up being the girls helping mum whilst the boys play games with dad . . .

I think mine went on fairly easily, it is a tight fit I grant you.