In Gourd We Trust - 10 / 10 club - all welcome

[FrannyandZooey]

For anyone who wants a boost to their general health. The suggested goals are:

EAT 10 PORTIONS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES EVERY DAY - if you don't usually eat much fruit and veg I would build up gradually or you could upset your digestion.

DO (AT LEAST) 10 MINUTES OF EXERCISE EVERY DAY - can be yoga, stretching or something more energetic. The plan is that the idea of doing 10 minutes is not too daunting, and having started you may well find you want to do more.

There are no restrictions on what you eat so long as you get your 10 fruit and veg as well. The focus is not on weight loss but on improving our energy levels and hopefully our general mood and well-being. Sign up below and post here to tell us how you're getting on and how you are feeling.

Basic guidance on what constitutes a portion of fruit and veg here and you can download more detailed information by following the link at the very bottom of the page

Anne, you're callous.

Yes.

Mean, mean, mean.

I'm going to have to take one these MN break things people do, or lurk. I quite fancy lurking. Foxy is going to be my sponsor, I shall email her when it gets tough. Otherwise I'll end up having internet fights, and that is so maaaad I can hardly sit on my chair for the thinking about it.

100, what is AP? I'm hopeless on initials.

Franny that sounds great wish I had a spare £95

Attachment Parenting - co-sleeping, slings, extended bf, oh and I think that positive elimination thing falls under the banner too.

God, I sound like an expert. I only know this because Avi told me it a few weeks ago.

Oh dear.

I replied.

Right I'm going to lurk now. My SIL will have to wait for Avi's words of advice.

Come and adore my ds2! He said this morning:
"Ds1, will you teach me some fights when I am bigger so that I can fight Nestle? I can remember one - kick their butts! And I can bite their arms..."

I can do some of those things! Not the wee one, but the breastfeeding, co-sleeping and sling bit - not an expert like Avi, and i also use detachment parenting sometimes, when i'm busy and actually wish they'd all go away.

My god toots, you have toddlers taking on multinational corporations? Wowawoowa.

you all co-sleep? With dp and arms and things?

Co-sleeping - check.
Baby wearing - check.
Extended bf - check.
I always wanted to master the weeing thing though.

Ah TooT this is our main holiday this year (did not want people to think we are swanning orf places all the time)

No I haven't been back to the apple thread yet. I am [fear] of it. Why haven't we got a [fear] emoticon? Anyway, I have rung the nursery and kind of semi sorted it out but I am not totally happy, however I will wait until I get back from holiday to hash it over on here. I was stupid to do it last night as I knew I would get a whipping for it sooner or later, and I was feeling far too sensitive to take it.

Have eaten small mango, nectarines (fab), kiwi, then baked beans and pinto beans for lunch. Cold. Because my neighbour turned up when I was just sitting down to eat. She wanted to talk about how intolerant other people are and how she gets judged as a parent all the time. It was just like being on here but without the smileys.

Co-sleeping is the saviour of maternal sanity.

I did sling till 2, co-sleeping till 3, breastfeeding till 4

do I win? Whaddaya mean it's not a competition?

No obviously not now. But with dd1 we did, until dp started the whole thrashing thing - but for first year. Couldn't with dd2 as the thrashing had started by then. But probably would have done. But actually that wasn't because of any kind of parenting theory, it was because i got more sleep if i didn't have to move or sit up - just point boob in general baby direction when she made loud noises. Actually, that's probably just called lazy parenting.

The children's bit sounds wonderful though. And it's near Salisbury. I'm having really stupid thoughts involving my credit card.

Ah but ds2 was in the sling until he was 3 (sometimes). And I currently co-sleep with 2.

Oh okay, then you two can help me. Will you?

(then I'll go on lurking duty, because MN is doing my head in a bit.)

So. Child is nearly two, and he sleeps with them and she bf him in the night etc still, and the day, and slings too a bit, though he walks, but I think slings rather than uses a pushchair.

1. she's exhausted. The child doesn't and never has slept though the night, and she bf him back to sleep.

2. I get wound up by the whiff of martyrdom about the whole thing.

3. I do my best to say 'mmmm' it is hard etc, but then I can't, because I want to say:

Stop being such a control freak. Let the kid have some space from you. It's not good for you or him to not be sleeping through the night when he's nearly 2. This is madness. You have to teach him how to put himself to sleep. You need to get a balance, you need to go out with a friend at night sometimes. You are in control, you are the parent, you don't have to demand feed anymore, the child is 2, you are allowed to say 'er no, actually, let's do this instead.'

So I can't say that, so what do I say?

I forgot to boast about the gym last night

HEY EVERYONE i WENT TO THE GYM

and on the way home a big fuckoff dog leapt out of the darkness and ran at me VERY FAST and I said in a very shaky voice "Please can you call your dog off"

and they said "don't worry, she won;t hurt you"

and I was too scared to say "but it is bloody terrifying to have a strange dog charge at you, and if you can't stop her running at people you should have her on a lead."

Ds went in the sling at bedtime till he was 3, and we used it for things like going round London

[competitive attachment]

100 I am glad you want to help her, but I don't know how to help you do it, because I don't agree with anything that you've said about co-sleeping.

Oh, we had 3 big dogs run and bark horridly at us the other day and I shouted at them but couldn't walk/run away because dd1, ds1 and ds2 were in a hedge. Makes me all shaky.

Help me then. She needs to talk to you lot, not me, and I want to help her, but what I'd say would be useless, callous and insensitive.

Oh she needs 'help' because she's sad on the phone and crying and tired. And brother emails saying 'what do I do?, we haven't slept for years now.'

Also, I then have wild loud voice in my head that says, 'put him in his own room' he can get in your bed if he's sad or lonely - all mind still do this - but get your bad back.

i can't say that either.

100, has your SIL specified quite why she's not happy? Could it be that she feels disapproved of (generally, not by you) and just needs some support or to meet other AP types? This is just my first thought.

I mean, Franny, I'm not saying any of these things because I realize it would be inappropriate.

BUT I don't know what to say instead.

tell me.

Hey 100, if mn is doing your head in, why do you want to lurk? Won't that make it even worse, to read but not say anything? Is foxy lurking? What's getting on your nerves in particular? And lastly, did you ask around, about the bag hater? Is it because you dont wear your glasses?