I love rocket and roll, put another lime in the fruitbowl, baby - 10 / 10 thread

[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

Thomas magazines are bad.

Ivor the Engine is excellent (although you may well have realised how I feel about it ).

I have no idea why moses baskets have hoods.

Franny I have emailed you

I think it is to keep any dust-in-the-air or stray rays of sun off PFBs. Or to look a it like a pram. Or just to look pretty. Ours had a curtain arrangement on, which the Germans rather pleasingly call a 'Himmel' - sky or heaven. For ds2 we took the curtain off and hung a mobile made by ds1 from the curtain pole thing. Now the basket is off its stand and serves as ds1's sailing ship.

Yes, yes, Ivor is fab. I've been looking for a picture of Idris but I can't find one - I want to draw him on my bathroom wall (for DS)

UR not the BATHROOM wall
cold water is certain death to dragons, you know

When dd1 was in her Thomas phase there were two types of magazine - one much worse than the other.
Actually, most children's magazines are dire and overpriced.

which ones are NOT, TooT? we bought National Geographic for kids the other day and it was one long advert for the Indiana Jones film, interspersed with badly written slangy pieces about dangerous animals and extreme sports

Oh Avi. Must you deprive him of everything unsuitable?

DS1 was mad about Thomas. We had Brio ones. I used to know the Sodor branch lines. I never quite got the moral of the tale, or lack of, because the books were so outrageously boring it used to do funny fuzzy things to my brain.

I suspect - a bit like pirates - that all that shunting, and puffing, and the problem with that black Diesel train, were all part of the fun. And they were v. nasty to each other, and quite judgemental. Henry I always thought impossibly pompous. I had a soft spot for Percy. James exceptionally boring. We had a video too, with good songs on. There was one where some unfortunate train - Rusty perhaps - was going over a waterfall and he cried out 'We're all doooomed' and DS1 used to walk about saying that, and it made me lolol.

As for Annie and bloody Clarabelle or whatever her name was.

Ahh you see, such happy memories.

I bought one Thomas magazine once. God, that was a bore too. But nothing was as boring as a book we had about James getting stung on the nose by a bee.

yes they are dull and when not dull are nasty with twisted morality
sometimes dull AND nasty at same time

must say Avi your ds always strikes me as particularly non deprived

I hadn't thought of the cold water problem. Good point. Shouldn't be a problem in our bathroom though - the water is so hot one has to leap out of the shower yelling "$#f#*@$" every few minutes.

LOL.

But the point is that they have the trains, and they play with them. And that is v. jolly, and the toys endure for ages and ds2 was sending them on some quite perilous journey last summer in the garden, with a water effect.

That's why the toys are good. You just have to read the stories a little bit if they are interested. But it's the playing that matters.

Also v.good for learning numbers.

There is a picture of Idris on my profile (handily swiped from google)

The DK Find Out one is okay... There is one called Cy or something which looks almost promising sometimes but it is pitifully thin and worryingly price. The NG one is better than a lot.
There is a definite gap in the market though.

wooden trains are good
the Thomas branded ones are hideously expensive from what I can see, aren' they?

UR phew. That;s ok then.

I don't think you've quite got a handle on benign neglect you know.

it means being neglectful. Like what I am, and letting them do what they want.

The benign bit is that you feed them and kiss them and wipe their tears.

It's easy really. Except you have to be quite neglectful about all sorts of stuff, like what is suitable and what isn't.

[contraversial]

I sent off for one called (I think) storybox and it was fairly crap as well

if the NG one is one of the better ones I think I had better give up

the Charlie and Lola one is quite nice but my god it does come with a lot of glitter
I think ds has just outgrown it also

me? well not buying them stuff seems quite neglectful to me

it works in our house

Yes, faces are where it's at. For small boys and Autists. It's the fixed expression I think.

DS did learn numbers thanks to Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordan, James, Percy et al.

I have been looking at the gun thread. DS really has no interest in guns, shooting and things at all. I wonder if it will develop (whilst hoping it won't).

Yes, dd2 has had Charlie and Lola a couple of times. I wish the people didn't all look so cross.