siobhanleighhunt

sushi, what road you in? I'm in st adian's road and my car got broken into the other night

I do it regulary via car so can help if you doing it that way. KidKruger what time of day you journeying?

as i said in my post i really don't want to scaremonger. absolutely not. And I too was greatly reassured bu buggies helpful post. I have posted about my encounter elsewhere on the forum (http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,409093,412726#msg-412726) and to be honest, when i read salia's post, I would have felt guilty if i hadn't mentioned what had happened to me. Espically as i had brought it up elsewhere on the forum. Hence my post. As per my previous post on monty's thread, basically what I'm looking for is some advice about how to manage what do do when a questionable dog approaches your child. I really love dogs and want my kids to enjoy them too

I too was quite weepy (gordon and kids. And also at the prospect of a conservative gov. And also poor samatha having to stand there in those heels whilst bearing bump!) Going back to gordon and his leaving performance, I thought it was so lovely and grand but I also thought to myself 'oh my god would i take the chance that they behave???"

sorry to add to everyone fears, but thats what I'm about to do. I had an incident in the rye recently when my 2 yr old who was playing with a hoola hoop (not the crisps but the real thing!) had a questionable dog come bounding up out of nowhere and started tearing at the hoop trying to get it off her. Luckily she just froze and I managed to swoop her up (with my other baby in sling) and remove her from the immediate threat. There was no owner in sight; he comes idling up a few moments later and just snears at me. I was probably shaking for about 15mins after. And I love dogs, brought up with them, and my kids love dogs too and I don't expect anything to change that affection. But...it SO nearly happened to us. It didn't... on this occassion but i feel very very strongly that this is something waiting to happen. Its the owners not the dogs who are the problem to a certain extent, but nonetheless some dogs in our local parks pose a real threat to our kids. I would really like to do something about this huge problem - i don't know what to do but does anyone feel the same? does anyone have ideas?

we've been trying the whole stir fry thing for a couple of weeks now and whilst the enthusiasm is there ("mummy loves stirfry, martha loves stirfry" rant) the reality of being presented with beansprouts is less impressive. we perserve though and i'm sure eventually they'll get their heads around it if we keep doing it each weekend. I'm currently saucing them with 1 part ketcup/ 1 part soy sauce/ 2 parts olive oil - annabel karmel i think. But I so love this whole meze, picnic approach idea as well! I think it'll work wonders for mine - kids get to control what they eat, i get to do my necessary calorie-control thing, yet we all share a meal and i can encourage healthy eating. More more more! Loving your ideas!

now fushia that sounds like a great idea! I know you've mentioned this meze approach elsewhere on the forum and i think it has legs in my household! (no ironic pun intended!) I'm intrigued - how many mums sit down with your kids at teatime and eat with them or do you eat later? The ealiest my husband ever gets home is 7 and at the mo I choose to eat with him but i'm beginning to realise that this may change in the not to distant future

can i hijack? I'm "veggie" bringing up my 1 and 2 yr old girls as meat-eaters, like their daddy. Anyone in the same position? I say I'm veggie but actually, I'm no longer really veggie because I now eat fish at the weekends so that we can all sit down as a family and share the same meals. I know there are lots of family friendly veggie and fishy recipies out there but I am always seeking the loosethebabyweight low fat option, yet toddlers need and prefer higher fat meals. Anyone got any advice/tips/experiences/ recipies they'd like to share on family eating?

or how would we go about setting up a W5 one? Me to off to south ealing and am dreading the thought of being without EDF. What can we do?

is there any list or does anyone know what children centres and one o clock clubs are on and when this week? There was a sign on the big tree in the rye playground about events taking place this week at a couple of them which made me think maybe the usual times weren't applicable.....? I've been once to the CP one o clock club and it was really nice. Makes me think why on earth haven't I been back! There is good parking there, good outdoor space and a nice baby area as well. Costs ?1.50 I think?

wow - "the days are long but the years are short". that felt bang on!

helena handbasket, thank you very much for that - we've started your approached very recently and you're right, it does seem to work. But I just struggle to obtain the headspace to think through whatever scenario is about to happen, and explain it through to Martha, and explain what is expected of her, whilst her baby sister screams in my ear about whatever toy she's had taken from her/ food that she currently demanding. As a shortcut I seem to be resorting to sanctions i.e. "if you don't do this after three seconds (or three minutes ect ect), then there will be no more of that" which seems wrong/ cruel and not appropriate for her age. But it seems to motivate her!... But maybe that approach will have consequences? How old is yours now HH? LittleEDfamily has reassured me (thanks for your lovely pm lEDf!) that it gets better when they are 3. Ondine, I am intrigued by your comment - its ringing alarm bells with me for some reason and so I am hoping you can elaborate on "him feeling like an adult long before he was ready". My daughter's quest for independence seems ruthless and to her own detriment at times although I'm inclined to just go with the flow of whatever she thinks she wants to do rather than confront and restrict all the time. How do you strike the balance in your experience? womanofdulwich, thanks for sharing your positive story - I so hope mine turn out so well adjusted! Do you think that boys and girls developmental milestones are different? From what I've read boys and girls develop differently and boys run around like headless loons and girls just sit there and colour in for 5 years! I think at 2 Martha is physically average - she does run, likes dancing and she follows instruction well (touch your head, toes, nose ect ect) but shows no sign of being particulary physically bored as such. I can tell when she's periodically bored because she just goes around distructing things - pulling toys out from boxes, throwing things on the floor, generally making a pointless mess. But maybe I'm not wearing her out enough physically and thats why she's having these major hissy fits? mmm more i think about it and it seems thats what you are all telling me - physically wear them into the ground and they can't then kick up the fuss!

oh god I so need everyones thoughts on this! I am so desperate. My daughter turned two last week and at the moment every single thing is "martha do it! martha do it!". She insists upon doing everything for herself - changing her nappypants, every single item of clothing, opening doors, getting in and out of bed, coming down the stairs (our incredibly steep stairs); everything has to be done in a certain way to her comand regardless of how long it takes her to do it (and her capability of doing it) and its complete meltdown if it doesn't happen. And I mean...complete meltdown - I am the woman you feel sorry for in sainsburys! Which would be fine I guess except I've also got a 10mth old to feed/change/ entertain ect! I went to see a child psychologist a couple of weeks ago (excellent free drop in session peckham every couple of weeks; lovely psycholgist that was really helpful) I went not because i was concerned about my two year old but because i was concerned about how well I was dealing with the meltdowns/ was I saying the right things ect ect. After observing, psychologist told me i have an advanced 2 yr old who is also very stubbon. I'm open minded about the whole difficult behaviour/ intelligent thing. Where as I am as thick as a wooden blank but nice to talk to, my hubby is academically gifted but needs structured guidance about what he might be feeling emotionally. Thoughts and tips apreciciated. From what I've experiened its all about managing their expectations and telling them about what is going to ho happen before it does.

oh my god what a witch!

Emily, hope Woody is continuing to improve? Thanks for keeping us posted on his recovery. I am heartbroken to read this thread. My experience of the rye is that it's a playground for the best and the worse of dog owners. I don't have a dog yet. But having had a childhood with dogs as part of the family I hope that when I am in a position to take on the responsibilty, I would love to have a dog one day. But for now I have too small a garden and two small children. The eldest is nearly 2 and just reaching the capability of running away from me and creating distance between us. All the doggies and dog walkers that I've introduced my children to in rye in the time that i have lived there have been lovely. However I did recently have an awful encounter with some sort of bull breed running up to my toddler whilst she was playing with a hoola hoop. I was about 100 yards away from her, tending to the baby. Basically a dog galloped up to her and started yanking at her hullahoop. I ran to scoop her up. Dog took the notion to run at the baby in the pram that effectively I was running away from! So I had to run back and shove myself (& held toddler!) in front of pram to stop the what can only be described as 'a very excited' dog from jumping at baby. During these split seconds I could see the owner out of the corner of my eye casually strolling along the path beside the picnic area. He never changed his pace and just watched whilst I ran between the two children. He eventually called out something along the lines of 'oh don't worry, he won't hurt them'. But, as I yelled back at the man 'but I didn't know that!'. Nothing happened but it so obviously could have. I really don't want my children to have any bad encounters with dogs. I really love dogs and want to be able to facilitate happy friendship between both. Are there any experienced dog handler out there who have got any advise about how to handle public park situations with children? I've never been afraid of dogs at all. But since becoming a mum I'm finding a casual walk into the rye can be really stressful because of feckless owners. I would apreciate advice on how to handle this situation (without the obvious screaming blue murder whuich is what you feel like doing!)

we've just had an infestation of RATS in ours (rental property)- they got in by chewing through plaster by the u bend of a downstairs toilet. I've also got a toddler and a baby so when I found out it was rats I just cleared out to my mums until it was sorted. You know you have rats when they don't die properly in ordinary mouse traps. It took 3.5wks before pest control gave me the nod. Three and a half weeks snowed-in in a small bungalow in the suburbs of west london with my toddler, a baby, and my mum and dad..... happy new year! I returned to the property after 3 weeks to discuss with landlord about getting the place cleaned and it was taking so long to go through details that I ended up running into baby's lunchtime. As you do, I pulled out the first weaning spoon out of the utensil drawer and it was only half way through the feed that I realised the rubber tipped spoon had been nibbled in half! It is the most horrible horrible thing to have happened. Makes me feel sick now ever time I feed her. I couldn't use Colin because my landlord has his own pest people but i spoke to Colin on the phone and he was ever so nice. My understanding is that its a 3 stage process - get every possible entry point sealed, entice residing rodents into peanut buttered traps, stuff poison down to kill of the remaining ones. And it takes a few weeks. Sorry I'm a bit vague on this bit. My approach was 'sort it but I don't want to dwell on the detail'. I find the idea of rats around me or my babies quite crippling. Sorry!

has anyone got any experience of or recomendation for piplings playgroup? or even any general advice apreciated. My daughter will be 2 in a few weeks time and i think she would benefit from more social enviroments. we do lots of playdates, one o clock clubs and the children centres are great, but... I am always there - along with my 8mth old who is becoming more demanding and wants her own mummy-entertainment-show! I think my toddler would benefit from a "stepping stone" towards nursery. However we intend to move away from ED in the next couple of months (I know! I need to but I SO don't want to) so I don't want to start nursery and then pull her out. Piplings sounds like a good temporary solution. What do you all think please?

I've got the same buggy and i use the lascal buggy board - which i think IS the one they sell in soupdragon. Its a bit fiddly but i'm happy to show you how i fix it on. pm me if you're interested

great idea Molly but unfortunately they are doing refurbishment works there at the moment. Re the landlords obligations..... I am learning that as a tennant I have very few rights and what constitutes 'unfit for habitation' is a matter of opinion! However landlord is responding positively to negotiations and will reinburse within reason

Our rented house needs urgent works scheduled for this wednesday and I face the prospect of being homeless with a 7 mth old baby and a 22mth old toddler!!! We're thinking of renting a citadine type apartment for a couple of weeks but just thought I'd check here to see if anyone was going away for a couple of weeks and would benefit from a house sitting family? Or does anyone have any ideas about local places I could stay for a couple of weeks with a young family?

my eldest was 14mths old when the second came along. They are now 22mths and 6mths. So having been through it recently (err going through!) I am happy to meet up and tell you my experience. I remember being very worried whilst pregnant with the second and didn't have a clue how to find out more. Remember googling 'two under two' and things like that. I joined a second mums coffe group as well. also found toddler classes, children centres, and an endless supply of new toys very helpful. pm me if you want to know more - its too horrid for public consumption. Only joking!....

thank you very much! I am a desperate woman with an 18mth old and a 3mth old and have found the one o clock clubs invaluable over the summer. As is this forum! I am currently compiling a weekly planner chart-thingy of all the clubs/activities going on from the sept term. you know, the sort of thing which you could have stuck on the kitchen door and look at at lunchtime as you think 'yikes what'll i do this afternoon to keep the loons pre-ocupied?'. i will share it with you all once its complete so please keep chucking in ideas and info

i see from their website that whippersnappers are also at dulwich park on friday mornings - but where is the francis peak centre?