Mrs TP

And the recyclers came whilst I was out this am. Emptied all the bags and the small blue box and also kindly took an extra box I put out last minute. However they did not look in the large blue bin to see that was also full and have not emptied it. So I will email the council and see if they come again in the next few days. If not then I will have a full bin for the next two weeks and will soon have the small blue bin overflowing and be back to open bags again. My tiny garden will look untidy again the night before and during collection day.

That's fortnightly collections for you. Our garden was shabbily filled with loads of recycling this morning after a family special occasion get together at our house at the weekend. We had filled our large blue bin, small blue box (lids closed) and I put out 4 large shopping recycling bags full too - all of which have open tops. The bags had sat in my kitchen for four days and I put them out last night for today's collection. As the recyclers come any time between 5am and 3pm today not really sure what else I could do other than put it out the night before. Stuff is all safely tucked in the bags but doesn't look great. I do try and be tidy with it but from time to time we just have too much. What happened to the re-instated weekly collections David Cameron promised - stroker.

Aha what about 'civil godparents'?

Gently with a pumice stone for really stubborn ones.

Seeing relatives later today who had formal civil naming days for their brood so will ask if they have any formal sponsors / guardians and what they call them. I can understand having special nominated adults for your children especially if family unable to fill this role and definitely a recognition of how important those people are to you. But now I realise I am an old stick in the mud as the term godparent will always denote religious significance to me. One of our godparents is rubbish and if I were to choose again today I would choose someone else. Don't even remember her meeting her god-daughter who is now 3+ as she went to a wedding instead of the baptism and someone else stood in for her. People don't always turn out the way you might expect.

Definitely echo ???? godparents and guardians are very different things. Godparent is a religious title and only officially recognised by the church (Catholic, C of E and some other Christian denominations). It is strange to use this title outside of a religious setting. Guardian is a legal title. However godparents and guardians can be the same person, i.e. you may choose someone to be a godparent who legally would automatically be a 'next of kin guardian' or whom you may have legally named yourselves as a guardian. We had our children baptised C of E and had to fill in a form which included details of our prospective godparents and whether or not they had been baptised and confirmed. All had to be at least baptised otherwise they would not be entered in the churches formal records as a godparent. And the two females and one male for a female and two males and one female for a male is a general Christian tradition but hugely flexible. However they do usually require at least one of each sex.

Also what trips they take them on and whether you want them to do this or not?

For a girl it is usually two females and one male. For a boy it is usually two males and a female. Normally at least one of each and multiples are accepted. I am not up to speed on the whole role thing but you need to check out that those you have in mind have at least been baptised themselves if not confirmed. One of 'candidates' had not been baptised and so was not recognised by the church as a godparent although was allowed to say the vows in church and the vicar advised we could consider them a 'godparent' but not formally recorded in the church records.

Things can be very different in different local areas. I have relatives with little ones in Welwyn and Chelmsford who breezed into their local school nurseries and just can't comprehend how tough it is around here and the problems obtaining and expenses we have faced with childcare. However your daughter needs to check out the exact process for the school and go to an open day - if she mixes with other potential parents at an open day who are more aware of the true local situation then this should help either reassure her or encourage her into more action to secure a place somewhere. Good luck - daughters of any age don't like listening to their mums! And we all know they are usually right.

Defo echo Locale. We normally go out on the principle that it is not good practice to be out with wee ones at a time others are paying for babysitters. So we are earlier with kids - done and dusted by 7.30pm but no doubt you can be forgiven if your wee one is just one week old - many congrats to you and wow you contemplating going out v. impressed.

I love London Zoo but it is pricey and more suited to older children. Check out their website and see what animals they have that your son particularly likes. I can't ever remember having seen elephants there for e.g. Although, love their giraffes. At 2, I would echo that Battersea zoo is probably better esp with the meerkat tunnel that allows you to pop up and view in the middle of their enclosure. You can get in with the goats and stroke them. Also good play areas and plenty of picnic tables. Much easier day than hiking over to London Zoo.

It's not on and I am no angel having accidently, rather than deliberately, tripped up on swearing in front of mine from time to time but people need to be reminded it is not appropriate. I have a wonderfully supportive mother-in-law who is fab in all respects but for her over-use of the word 'bloody'. My 3yr old came back from her house recently and asked me to help her 'take her bloody cardigan off' - I told her off and she has never said it again. When I told my mother-in-law she was quite shocked and is defo more careful now. I have spoken to swearing kids in the park (when feeling brave) and said 'look I don't mind what you say to each other but can you tone it down in front of the younger children' and this approach has always worked. However much more difficult with a friend. I think rather than approach this with her out of the blue you have to pick it up with her every time she does it in front of the kids 'can you tone it down', 'pls don't swear in front of x', 'can we talk about this topic later when the kids aren't around' - don't get cross just be factual. If this is part of a wider issue and the whole friendship is not working out then you will just have to quietly withdraw or maybe just see her a little less and see if that works. We all do stuff that annoys other people, the world would be really dull if we were all the same but it is up to you to decide do her good points outweigh the bad.

Just keep away from him and let him get on with it. You busy yourself with the tasks not him, he's got enough on his plate. My hubbie quit 5yrs ago properly after endless attempts. Was on 30 to 40 a day and none of his friends thought he could do it but he did. He was unbelievably moody whilst going through it and I just kept taking deep breaths, not rising to anything and thinking would it ever end and it did and he was eventually restored to his laid back self. It is tough in the evenings, we were both working full time with two wee ones but your support in not rising to his moods will be really helpful to him. He will know he is not being rational. Good luck to both of you.

Oh good luck with it. Almost slightly envious as a little part of me is thinking I should be making more of an effort as my older two are old enough to remember such events in the future. However the little one has decided this is the week to ditch nappies (just after last week when I was moaning on here she is too old to be in nappies) and now I am worried about going more than two yards away from a loo as there is no way she will use a potty - travel or otherwise, it has to be the proper loo! I am sure you don't 'hate individual people' just large crowds.

Yes write the letter but after the end of term. Keep a diary between now and then of every occasion a driver is rude to you and list these incidents in your letter; e.g. On Tues May 29 got on X bus at X stop at X time and driver said 'blah de blah', On Weds May 30 etc etc This way you have a record of specific events rather that just an overall moan - I really do sympathise but it is important to keep complaints factual. Saying that I love 'mynamehere's' complaint but that approach is unfortunately easier for an adult to get away with. Do the letter though and if you don't get any feedback improvement do the same next term and this time copy your letter to the South London Press.

I think you need to check out this website and see what will be best for you: http://www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/Default.aspx I sympathise. I can't be doing with the logistics of all of this stuff. Have a friend who is coming to stay in the summer who I know can't believe I have made no effort to get Olympic tickets etc. Hubby will be working and it just won't work with the brood in toe.

hpsaucey - I have girls but they have male cousins who visit. My girls can be quite 'thuddy' on the stairs but just not to the same degree. Also our girls use our second to bottom stair as a spring board to leap from into the hall. I commented to a friend that the particular stair had become quite worn and was almost broken and said 'what would it be like if we had boys' and she replied 'broken'!

Leather is not an intelligent entity and will not stop molding just because it has been passed to another child. If shoes are going to mold to a child's foot surely they would continue to mold to a different foot, albeit from a different starting point and perhaps not as pliable as time goes on but if they are in a fit state to look like they would take the wear and tear of another then they probably have a bit of molding left in them.

Let her try them and see if she finds them comfortable or not.

Girls screech around the house and boys thud.

I had my 3 all at Kings. After emergency C-Section with no1 (2001) nurse was reviewing my records and noticed a positive strep B test that had been ignored in labour, she slightly panicked and baby had anti-b for 48hrs after delivery and all good. I was shouting about it during birth of next baby (2004) and I had the anti-b drip but all too late and baby born 30mins later. Baby and me kept in hosp, baby observed for 3 days and all well no signs of illness and no anti-b. No 3 (2009) again rapid labour and too late for effective anti-b drip during labour. Baby given anti-b for initial 48hrs, bit poorly and so extended for 5 days, heavily monitored, chest x-rays etc and responded well to anti-b and discharged after a week. There are still many hosps that do not routinely test for this. Kings are tip top and I feel priviledged to have had mine there.

Oh dear a v. difficult one. You will never know unless you try it for yourselves. There is no right or wrong, just what works for you. Toss a coin thinking heads you move and tails you stay, then judge your gut reaction to what result you get. This has to be your decision. Good luck.

Yeuch, defo in our front garden around the food caddy. Thankfully not in the house. Sympathies.

Oh this is all v. supportive and encouraging - many thanks. I really am trying to keep my anxiety away from her and have never moaned about any accidents but do keep saying she needs to start using the toilet and telling me when she needs to go, to which she responded 'but you keep buying more nappies'! She will do it once in a while just not consistently and sometimes looks so surprised when an accident happens. I left my older two to what I considered to be late at just before their 3rd birthdays and we were all done and dusted within days and I could see they were ready. I think I just need to chill a little longer and forget about it.

My 3rd child is not out of nappies and I am demented with it. She turned 3 early Feb and is just not interested. She is v. smart and 'with it' conversation, play and technology wise (iplayer and DVD etc) but does not give a stuff about the loo or potty. When I have her out of nappies we have endless accidents and she just stands there staring at what's going on and blames me for being too late. From time to time she will shout me in the middle of the night and say she needs the loo even though she has a night nappy on and but I take her to the loo and it is all v. successful. Often if we are out somewhere diff such as a cafe or shop she will ask if they have a loo and will go perfectly properly but at home she does not give a stuff. Probably because she knows I will clear it up. She will sit quite happily in a nappy that is busting at the seams and not tell me if she has done a poo in it either. I have tried days without nappies but I am cracking before her due to the number of accidents. We did have a bit of a good phase recentlyish but then she was ill with a v. upset tum and we are back to square one. She doesn't care a hoot but I am bothered that she is 3+ and still in nappies. Do I just need to chill a little longer? My two previous children were latish at approaching 3yrs but all very simple and over and done with in a couple of weeks. But this one is just not interested. She does go to pre-school in the mornings and is mixed between using the loo and her nappy. I think I just need someone to say she is not the oldest child around still in nappies.