Sanne Panne

When I don't have enough freelance work (which is relatively specialised consulting work) I look at proofreading, text editing, translation and similar jobs on www.guru.com.

Thanks so much for the feedback so far. Yup it's a girl (not the quiet/girly type but she's not a total wild tomboy either) and she's probably going to be ok with letters etc as she has an interest in that anyway - I just don't want all the efforts to be focused on developing those skills because if she has them they will emerge anyway unless she ends up in an extremely unstimulating environment. What I find important at this age is that she gets lots of time to play and run around as well. She's only friggin' 2.5 years old now and I have nothing against her learning to write her name but I probably don't want her to spend two of her three daily hours there trying to hold a pen while she could also learn about the moon and sheep shearing and cow milking (which I do with her at home and when out&about but which I hope a school does too).

We've been offered a place in kindergarten. Is it still the lovely school people tell me it used to be or are the rumours true and has it changed - and in either case, what's it like? I'm not interested in percentages of pupils getting into other private schools at all (not planning on going down the private school path long term and we may move out of the area within a year or two), really only interested in whether it's a nice place to go to school when you're only 3 years old :) All opinions welcome either here or via pm. Thanks!

We live on a hill now and I just can't bear the "carry me, carry me, carry me" requests during the final bit of the walk home. Carry you, your scooter and push a buggy? Ummm... not even if I wanted to. So scooter only for the park now ;)

I guess that's what we'll be doing too Pickle. M can walk most of the time and for that last bit up the hill she can jump in the back (making it pretty much the same as a Maclaren with a buggy board although the back seat does allow some proper rest when you go into town). Did you use to lock the front wheel too or were you ok with the swivel on?

I think I should just have M in the back more, it's just that S isn't really heavy enough to provide enough counter weight yet. It doesn't tip over but it often feels like it will and M should definitely not climb out by herself or the thing WILL fall! And it's a bit wobbly with so much more weight in the back unless I block the swivel functionality in the front wheel - and then it becomes a pain to go around corners ahahah

Thanks Clare! I was thinking of ordering the doubles kit from the Sport (isn't that the one with the longer seat and the less pronounced frame?) but I doubt it fits on the Vibe. I really don't care about looks so anything that works is good for me. On the Sport you could make a thin foam pillow with the shape of the frame partly cut out and attach it with velcro. I really don't want my kids to be princesses on the pea but the Vibe frame is a bit more bulky than a pea.

Pickle where are you when I need you? ;)

Thanks for the number Mellors! Ordered the straps right away. And yes I agree Peppa... we tend to take the Maclaren with the buggy board out but our 2.5 year old sometimes needs to be able to sit and/or nap when we're out on longer trips too.

Title says it all I guess. 7 month old about to touch the top bit of the doubles kit frame. What's the next step, tuck your chin in for a year and good luck until you're tall enough that you can semi comfortably rest your neck against the frame? Or shall I swap my newish Vibe for another P&T and if so, which? I sometimes put my toddler in the back seat which works out great for the baby but it's a very wobbly push and the toddler gets fed up relatively quickly. Oh and the straps in the front seat don't fit over a toddler's winter coat. (she's 2.5 and only slightly bigger than average). Leave alone those in the back.

I've gone down to OCD'ing once a week. Works wonders for the soul.

Yes eating together definitely helps loads and is good for many other reasons too as we all know. But it doesn't mean they mangent tout ;)

What seems to work sometimes (in fact it just happened again this morning and I'm sure I'm not the only one to have experienced/used this) is to have them try something during a playdate at someone else's house. Peer pressure. "Oh look, are you eating kiwi? Do you like it? Shall mama buy some kiwis on the way home too?". Make sure to capitalise on it quickly or they'll find the particular food "weird" again. And "eat one more piece of broccoli before you get your next fish finger" is indeed a good one but I can only use that to get her to eat more of a vegetable she already likes. Oh and "are you done with your sweetcorn? Shall I eat it then?" "NO! It's MINE!". Ok, you eat it then :)

Agree with Helena Handbasket, our first didn't change her sleeping/waking patterns at all after we moved her onto formula at 4 months (I quit breastfeeding for other reasons than sleep but we thought it would be a nice extra). Sleep still pretty awful at 6-7 months and we ended up using all kinds of methods-from-books. Second baby did great by just going with the flow. It had nothing to do with our parenting experience because we didn't do anything differently regarding sleep, never had to apply any of the "methods", it was just LUCK. Those who claim they hold the truth on how to make any baby sleep better without full-blown crying it out which is just not an option for most parents will have to come up with a very good explanation if they are to convince me!

I pay ?10, non-agency

Now that's a useful post Saffron, thanks!!!

No that's probably not the same jab - anything they give you after you already catch it is probably not a real vaccine anyway, just a cocktail with antibodies I would assume (since you don't seem to build up immunity when you get it, a traditional vaccine may not work as all it does is stimulate your body to make antibodies). The regular vaccine is pretty much risk free like all of the standard childhood vaccinations. It must be so stressful to be pregnant and have to worry about chicken pox, I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this :( Princess Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just to second New Mothers point about girls and > immunity. I have had cp 6 times. Blood tests in my > first pregnancy showed I have no immunity. It > wasn't too hard to avoid it in my first pregnancy > as I wasnt interacting with many kids etc. Now I > am pregnant again, it is a real nightmare. We've > had to pull my son out of nursery as they've been > overrun with it since before Christmas and I am > cautious with any groups we go to as everyone > seems to be talking about someone they know with > it! As far as vaccines are concerned my midwife > has only told me about one they will give me if I > do get it. It's not a cure though and there are > huge risks associated with it. Is this the same > vaccine you refer to?

If they don't get it before school age it may be worth vaccinating them... you can have it done privately for about ?75. In the US and Canada it's part of the standard vaccination programme. We did it when our daughter was just under 2 but I completely understand that most people don't mind their kids just getting the disease when they're small. Just worth considering if they don't catch it before they get to the age when they'll probably be really miserable!

I think you'll be absolutely fine. You're such a chilled mum with your first that you're unlikely to become overly stressed with #2. And your daughter is probably too young to get "terrible two"-style jealous so it may not be that bad at all. And hopefully with the way you and your man have things set up at home you can get that shower in the morning while he looks after the kids! Maybe make a deal about that before the baby is there. The transition from 1 to 2 was ok for me - I was a bit of a control freak with baby 1 and much more relaxed with baby 2 and (consequently?) she's a much more laid back kid. Yes the days get busy and you may never have time for yourself (especially if you don't make a real effort to get a routine in... I didn't) but if you get decent sleep at night (like me) you can handle it. But again, a routine will probably make life a lot easier! Oh and if you want to read a book about routines do it now because you won't have time or energy when your baby is there ;) My biggest struggle was the jealousy but that seems to have improved a lot now.

Roald Dahl.... e.g. Danny the Champion of the World. Getting seriously nostalgic here.

Don't go for Japanese, Thai or other South East Asian cuisine... they'll just be shocked at the price and disappointed in the quality compared to what they get there. Sorry, not much of a help! Hereford Road has real British food, non-pub style, and is just off Westbourne Grove. Not hip but definitely decent.

Will definitely try olive oil and may buy walnut oil just in case I get desperate one day. I have an annoying generic nasal allergy that I can somewhat tame with a nose spray but the side effect is that I can't smell a THING even when I can breathe perfectly well so I won't be able to appreciate the scent... on the other hand I don't faint when changing baby nappies ;) My husband brought some dead sea salts back from Israel and I put those in the kiddies' bath tonight... their skins felt quite smooth. It's probably similar to sodium bicarbonate, another salt after all. Lots of nappy free time today and bum is better (and "only" 3 mini poos after the morning poo for those who really want to know hahah). S still cranky during the day so please, teeth, make your appearance now and then give me a little break ok? I mean give the baby a break ;)

Peckham Rye Park cafe really difficult with multiple buggies in winter imo (if you need the buggies, i.e. can't leave them outside). Same with Cafe Nero, you can't take 5 pushchairs there. I found even one non-Maclaren tricky. If you want to venture out a bit you can take the 37 to the Florence in Herne Hill.

Meakit, a good friend of mine wrote me an email last year saying almost exactly the same thing. Things went so well with #1 and #2 that she wanted one more and he's a darling, absolutely amazing kid (now 2.5) but her life has become much more difficult in many ways. She had to take her kids out of their private English school (mum is Hungarian, they live in Budapest but dad is English so they liked the idea of the English school - not for poshness but for bilingualism), rent out part of their house and so on. All totally worth it of course as it's "only money" but they have struggled a lot. What they found harder was the middle child not adapting very well and showing what could be middle child syndrome although you never know if the same behavioural issues would have come up if the little brother had not arrived. Sometimes I almost want a third child as well and sometimes I think about my Hungarian friend and fear that I may resent my life if it becomes THAT dominated by kids. You'll always love all your children equally much and it must be true that you never regret having another child whereas you may regret not having one... so I would say "go for it" if you instinctively like the idea and "think it over a few more times" if your heart doesn't immediately say yes.

What's the ideal type amber again? With my little one suffering quite a bit (although her bum seems to bother her more than her gums!) I may consider getting one too...