Gubodge

What responses do you expect, Narnia? I am not the children's parent, and neither are any, presumably, of the people who have veiwed this thread. Just because we don't see that there is anything to be added by saying 'Yes, you're right, how awful' doesn't mean we don't care.

Unfortunately organic doesn't necessarily mean non-irritant. The only sun-cream that doesn't cause our eczema sufferer to flare up is the E45 one. It makes her look like a little grey ghost, but its worth it. My husband finds that it's not the sun but the sweat that exacerbates his eczema so when the small one was immobile we favoured having her stripped down to just a nappy but under a shade-a-babe pushchair cover when we went out. We would always ensure she had some exposure to the sun when it wasn't at it's highest though, as direct sunlight can help skin problems. (It's a contant bloody balancing act though. Heat - Bad for eczema. Sun - good for eczema, but my mother had a malignant melanoma so sometimes I'd just like to shut both girls in a darkened room for the summer.)

Vagina and vulva. If a three year old comes up to you on Lordship Lane and tells you "I've got a bagina, but daddy's got a willy. Baginas are the BEST!", I'll be the woman nearby, alternating between pride and mortification.

Fuschia and Justin sitting inna tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G. Laughs; points; runs away

Hmmm, I think we could do with "When Mummy Turned into a Monster". For small ones who find it impossible to sit still for even the shortest book, I recommend the Sam Lloyd puppet books. We have 'Hello Dudley', about a disgusting monster who won't brush his teeth and likes to wipe his nose on peoples skirts. Strangely enough it was adored by a 2 year old who had previosly had no interest in books. Who'd have thought it?

Mine have particularly loved: That's not my... Peepo Tiger who Came to Tea Meg and Mog Seuss Put me in the Zoo Little Rabbit Foo Foo Meet Wild Boars Snail and the Whale and at the moment the three year old adores my old Topsy and Tim books.

Sorry to take the thread back of track again but I have to respond to Domitianus, who is not aware of any children being knocked down in car parks? A three year old was killed in a housing development car park off Lordship Lane a year or so ago so whilst I'm obviously very relieved your mother safely guided you through the perils of car parks, please bear in mind that not everyone is so lucky. I'm not sure why you think you have a greater need to be close to the supermarket than someone whose legs are only 12 inches long. But maybe you're just lazy.

A quiet corner of the car park would not be more appropriate, and certainly not safer, unless pavements/pathways were introduced. Crossing the entire car park with toddlers can be hair-raising, given that they are completely invisible to cars reversing out of spaces. As for Goodrich, the school had traffic wardens patrolling one morning a few weeks back. It has made no discernable difference in anything but the immediate term.

I'd be less worried about the possiblity of strangulation and more worried about the corrosive effects of succinic acid, which is the 'amber oil' that is supposedly released. Although as the amber has to be heated to an awful lot higher than body temperature to release the oil, you're probably ok. But they look pretty and make mums feel like they're doing something, which may be worth whatever the charla... oops, vendors charge for them. There's lots of stuff that popular and widespread in certain countries that's still a load of rubbish. The french swear by hepatitic protectors and chloronics to maintain their health. Doesn't mean they have any effect at all, though.

It's nothing special but my daughters are still keen on going to parties at the Harris Academy, even though they've been to loads there already. You get the use of a bouncy castle for an hour. Or Peckham softplay?

I would have them decorating wands when they first arrive (Stick cardboard star shapes on the top of sticks in advance and have plenty of glitter, shiny stickers, feathers and silver pipe cleaners for them to adorn them with.) Then Gwod's games (we're particulalry keen on themed pin-the-tails in our house.) Then unwrapping presents in a fairy bower. (Ikea do a cheap bed canopy that can be decorated with butterflies and flowers.) Tea would be fairy cakes, fairy shaped biscuits and probably one of those domed cakes with half a barbie stuck in the top, with added wings.

I always fed both my two to sleep and even the bad sleeper had stopped falling asleep on the breast by about 6 months, allowing me to put her in her cot awake. She never had problems with getting to sleep, just with waking up.

I'd be surprised if they could get more out of a 'real' doll than a normal baby doll. My daughters have the boring normal type, but as far as they are concerned their babies cry, laugh, eat, wet their nappies. I can't imagine it really happening could engage them anymore than their imaginations do at the moment.

I have two children. We took the same approach to sleep and routine with both of them. One never woke more than once a night in the 10pm to 5.30am shift even as a teeny tiny baby, and slept right through from 4 months old. She is five now and will occasionally join us in bed if she wakes early (6am) or if she is unwell, but that's it. The other would wake numerous times a night and didn't sleep through until she was two and a half. She hasn't made a habit of it since then either. It is an unusual morning when we wake up and find she's not in the middle of the bed. In short, I don't think there's anything you can do to make them sleep better. Some sleep, some don't. Good luck!

Sniff! I went to Townley Road when my first daughter was 6 weeks old. She's 5 and a half now and we still meet up with a group of the other mums and 'babies' on at least a weekly basis. Both my daughters count their best friends amongst the children from the group and I have made some real lasting friendships. Going there was probably the best parenting decision I ever made. I'm really glad it's still going.

Some children can be fooled into consuming diaralyte if you make it into an ice lolly. And Linzkg, I grating the apple releases the pectin, which is what helps to settle the stomach. Pickle, Glad everyone is getting through it before your trip. It'll be a stress free flight now I'm sure!

There's 23 months between my two. The eldest was there for all my midwife appointments and scans so knew something was up, but we didn't make any kind of deal about until as late as possible. Lots of 'There's a house inside my mummy' in the last month or so, but even a month seems like an age to a toddler so she probably thought I'd been pregannt forever and was never actually going to produce this sibling she heard so much about. Not much rivalry between the two of them. There's no adoration but they muck along pretty well together, but it is noticable that they get along best when both MrG and I are around. Oh and Laurac, there's no way you'll be as overwhelmed as the first time. I went out for lunch the day after giving birth 2nd time round. Second and subsequents tend to just get slung in a sling while you get on with life.

The B for BRAT should be banana rather than bread. I wonder if there are two different things going round. MrGubodge had something a couple of weeks ago that lasted a week and had him suffering from horrible stomach cramps. I've got something at the moment that seems to be much improved already after only 24 hours and with no cramps.

#1 child was about 18 months, #2 around two. Both times we only took one side off to start with, just in case it was a disaster. It never was though and they were very happy with their big girls bed with a fold down bed guard. They never even attempted to get out in the night, #1 because she's just ever so good, #2 just didn't seem to think of it. It was a bit of a pain actually, she'd wake up in the morning and rather than trotting into see us would still just lie there and bellow until we came and got her. Weirdo.

It is only a September intake. And I know people who live ten minutes walk away who occasionally drive to St Anthony's, so wouldn't make any assumptions about catchment area from the number of badly parked cars outside.

I think most of what Forgetmenot has posted is obviously bonkers, but there is a grain of sense in there. Why on earth are you taking a todder who loathes it to the hairdresser, and how on earth do you expect any barber to cut the hair of someone who is squirming and writhing. I take my two to GMs, or at least I did. They are great with the elder, who will sit motionless until its done. The younger doesn't. It's not that she doesn't like hairdressers, just that she is a terrible fidget, so it took forever and the poor hairdresser had a terrible time; so now I do it at home. I sit her in front of Cbeebies and it doesn't matter if it takes for ever or if a sudden movement means its not entirely straight. When she's a bit better at sitting still, I'll give the hairdressers a go again, but at the moment there are several downsides and no upsides to not doing it myself. I don't think it is fair to a barber/hairdresser to expect them to cut the hair of someone who is constantly moving. And I don't think it is fair on your son to have to undergo what is obviously a traumatic experience for him just for the sake of shorter hair. He'd probably be far happier if you did it with clippers at home.

My own first child was a ventouse delivery, perhaps because I had an epidural, or it may have been that I couldn't have done it myself even without the epidural as it turned out her arm was in an odd position with her hand up to her face. What I do know is that I could not have pushed on despite the pain, I was at the end and could have done no more and the epidural (even though it didn?t work properly first time) was the best thing ever and the anaesthetist my best friend in the world. My second labour was a breeze in comparison. It still hurt like hell, but a completely different, manageable pain so I was able to go through it with just water and two puffs of G&A. Be very grateful if you?ve only ever had labours like my second, but don?t ever assume that just because you know all the downsides of epidurals that when push comes to shove ('scuse the pun) you wouldn?t ever need one. Mine enabled me to give birth to a healthy baby girl. The woman on the programme?s little boy was doing well and that had been achieved with an epidural and ventouse. We have no way of knowing what might have happened had those options not been available to her. (I was in tears too, and was really impressed by Holden.)

There must be something about Picasso. I remember my then 3 year old studying one closely before turning and asking if he had painted or drawn it. When I told her that it was painted she declared 'That's very good then. I could probably draw it but painting's much harder.'

I did not discovered the sex of either of mine until they were born, and they didn't have settled, definite names until they were about a week old. I'm one of these weirdoes who couldn't possibly consider naming a child until I've met them. But it did put us at a disadvantage. Early on in my pregnancy we'd had Isobel pretty much at the top of the list, until a friend, who was not due until a couple of months after me, declared that that was what their (confirmed) daughter was to be called. In my hormonal state it felt a bit like they had cheated, by swiping the name before they had a child to bestow it on. They've been forgiven now, although I still think the name would suit ours better than theirs.

For a one year old I would just do a plain buttercream icing with a '1' in sweeties or smarties on the top. Or just hire/borrow/buy a figure 1 cake mould. (Actually, I think I made a large, square cake and cut it up to form a 1. But managed to end up with it back to front. Duh.) You still need the sweeties though. Cake on its own is not enough, the more sugar added in various forms the better.