Turn around stir fries, every now and then I feel a part (of a mango)

[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

Sorry you have more tooth trouble, Avi. And what a shame you are missing your black-tied DH

lol avi
your poor teeth
caramel shortbreads sound divine

UD...ds would LOVE that..it sounds fab
I am trying to book a long weekend away somewhere with my grandparents so we can go fossil hunting...Lyme Regis maybe
We went to Bodiam castle this week & they were doing a lot of excavation work & ds crouched with the men in the drizzle & cold & was utterly,blissfully happy chatting & watching them work.
However....he is also desperate to learn to ride,as all the other children in his class can & do at break time & he feels very left out & is I think taunted a little.
So 100....oh yes please
Any advice gratefully received
In fact....can I book you for a weeks crash course?
It is a proper little bike with stabilisers.
He had a lovely little trike on a pole...but never got to grips with that either
He just cant pedal...he cant get the circular motion...why I just cant figure out.
He seems to be taking after me sadly,but I think he would love whizzing about on his bike once he clicks with it.
My mother didn't allow bikes or climbing,or skating,roller blading ,walking in long grass,running down slopes etc etc
I was very unadventurous as a result.

avi...we havn't been out for 3.7 yrs either

Here you are

No 10/10 in the thread title, which threw me. I thought someone had gone mad in a greengrocer shop (AIBU to throw carrots at the green...no, it doesn't work, give it up now).

Anyway.

I have peppers and tomatoes roasting in t'oven atm for tomorrow's lunch (something with sun dried tomatoes and couscous and herbiness, I think) and have chopped up carrot sticks to go with houmous too [mildly organised]

Today I have had sweet potato, chickpeas, apricots, sultanas [Moroccan], haricot beans, tomatoes, leafy saladness, sweetcorn, kidney beans, grated carrot and think that's it.

I love this thread. You're all nice, kind, intelligent and very beautiful. Oh and funny. So there. Thank you for being welcoming when I dip in and then bugger off again for ages.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunker
mwah

gosh...I think you have put us all to shame
(me certainly)
how are you?

Avi we didn't go out together for ages - I think 3.5 years
in fact I didn't go out at all for years and years and when i finally tried, ds woke up and got upset and dp had to come and get me!

I still prefer to go out by myself, with dp babysitting as I can completely relax. We went out together the other night and I was just constantly half thinking about getting back for the babysitter and was everything ok. Plus it was a hassle to get babysitter etc etc etc. I am sorry you would like to have gone out but didn't, though. I think in a year or so things will be very different.

I would just like to be able to go out
dh doesnt need to figure
I miss the cinema & theatre

but then again...I would chew off my nails worrying about ds

I am lucky, we have lovely teenage babysitters who I have known since they were tiny, and who have known ds from birth
he would rather live with them than me, I think

age 2 no-one else would do, though

Okay, firstly make sure the seat is down quite low. Encourage him to sit on bike and just push along with his feet first. Shout 'hurrah'.

Then keep putting the pedal to the top, so he just kicks down and travels forward. Do this for a bit, put pedal up, kick down. Put pedal up, kick down.

Then encourage him to try and bring the pedal up himself, to kick down.

Once that is done, it is quite a natural progression to kick down, and follow the pedal round, and kick down again.

Be patient. I frequently had to leave the 'training ground' to bite cushions and scream with silent frustration. I think it is an incredibly annoying thing to try and teach anybody.

I managed to teach ds2 to ride with stabilizers with this technique. DD and DS1 just got it, but for those that don't, I think you have to break it down as above.

Does it make sense? Come back if it doesn't. Don't despair, it's just one of those things. He will get it, it might just take longer. Who cares? He'll get there.

Your mother sounds rather like mine, Lully - no walking/ running in the grass, jumping in pikes of leaves etc. ANd now, I like nothing better than seeing how delighted DS is when he splashes in puddles and rolls down the hill. I think it is hard to teach them how to be athletic. I'm sure it'll come eventually but it is difficult when your friends can do something you can't. WHat about a likeabike type of thing? Would that be a temporary solution?

My Dad is a big fossil hunter - he finds them in all sorts of places - in the stone on buildings (limestone), marble etc and around quarries. I'm not sure where you live so can't help with places to look. Didn't ahundred just come back from Lyme Regis though? Sounds like she knows about fossils.

It's so hard to leave a child isn't it? I often yearn to be out doing something grown up and, when I do get the chance, I spend my whole time thinking about DS. Or I notice things like diggers and fire trucks and feel sad that he wasn't there to appreciate them with me.

Also [obsessed now] check the bike. DS2 found the one he had really very stiff, and it was quite. You need something quite light with good turny pedals.

okay......
ds is a child who normally grasps things v quickly,so gets very despondant & angry when he fails at something.
We had a screaming hissy fit unlike anything I'd seen for almost a year this morning.
Also dh called him useless which really didn't help grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

ds thinks dh is the be all & end all & thought dh could magically show him & ta da ...he would ride.

We are going to Greenwich tomorrow...I will try the 100 method in the park
his little face nearly broke my heart this morning

We go out about 3-4 times a year, when either my Mum or my sister offer to babysit..in fact we are out next Friday but haven;t decided what to do yet

Avi last time (just before Christmas) I explained to DS that my sister would be here (they stay with us so he sees them before bed), and he was fine with it (he's 3.11)....there is hope if you can find someone you are happy with.

Sorry I didn;t mean to suggest about other women swooning at DH ...I was just being whimsical and nostalgic

You must tell him that it takes practice, and some things are just like that in life, and not to give up.

With the putting a pedal up and kicking down thing, alternate the pedals. You will get a bad back, but you do get to celebrate the little rides forward. Once he's got the forward idea, then the constantly doing is easier. I ran along shouting 'kick, kick, kick and kick down and kick down and kick down.'

Good luck Lully.

Lully, I am well, thank you. My knees ache surprisingly and often, so I can't go running, but then it's freaking cold, so I don't really want to...so every cloud and all that.

Avi, that's tough - I spend more time away from mine than I'd like to in an ideal world (work) but barely any time away from them socially doing fun things - DH sent me out for dinner by myself after I went mental with it when DS2 was born. I took a magazine (hadn't had enough sleep for a book) and there was a wasp in my dinner, so I didn't do it again. Not that that's any comfort to you. The wasp looked miserable about it all too. I'm not quite over the mental, am I?!

There was more, but I can't remember it.

Oh, yes - teeth. Avi, much empathy. Hope it's fixed forever now. I'm having my front teeth drilled off (they're crowns, I broke them in a seesaw encounter I'd rather not think about when I was about nine) on Monday which I'm avoiding thinking about.

UR....ds would so love your Dad
dh has no interest whatsoever
We are in Kent

My grandmother let us make camp fires,climb trees,swim in rivers etc...my mother would have dropped down dead with shock if she'd known.Her proudest comment to date is "You & your brother never had a single injury because I protected you both"

humbug

100...i think the saddle may be a bit high,but it's down as far as it will go.It's for 3-5 yr olds.It's a Giant if that means anything.
The pedals are a little stiff tho....

hmmmmmmm

100 you should write a parenting manual

Knowing how to teach bike riding so much more useful than how to puree a carrot

Lully, is it a fixed wheel bike? Ie does it go backwards if you push the pedals backwards, not spin? I had one like that as my first bike and it was harder to learn to ride than a freewheelier one because if you forgot to pedal, they carried on anyway and you fell off. Or maybe that was just me - I am a bit absent-minded. I think I used to forget I was on a bike. I hope DS picks it up soon.

Franny, how are you and your lovely neat bump?

Hah. My parenting manual would be useless FK, but it would be mildly amusing from time to time and have top cocktail ideas at the back.

Hmm. The bike isn't sounding perfect to be honest. Can he touch the ground when it is stationary? Keep going, try the technique. If it can teach a dyspraxic to ride, I think it can teach anyone.

I've just realized it is my turn on earlies tomorrow. Oh yes, we're back to just gone 6am again (well, 5.45 on Friday), so must go to bed.

Night night all

Have a lovely time tomorrow, cake eaters

Top Cocktail ideas at teh front,100, if you please.

And any parenting methods only to be put into practice after imbibing at least one of said cocktails

Now I really am going >>>