West London chat into Winter

[sfxmum]

hello folks chat away

Ohhhh I would love to meet up during half-term! But we are away for most of it and have plans for the very end of it so looking highly unlikely. Shame it's not a two-weeker, I would REALLY love to see you all!

SFX - you have a blog? Link, please!

Just looking at some stunted doughnuts on masterchef - lol! I wonder if my emergency tuna/bean/pasta bake would pass muster. Nope. Thought not.

Am on the wine, has been a long day, the usual effort at the school attempting to make some headway with parents (getting there!) followed by a playdate after school resulting in tantrums, tears and tiaras! Ach well, onwards and upwards re: tomorrow eh!

westwing no blog my life is boring just linked to one further up
so how do you make headway with parents? honestly I have no idea how to make casual conversation maybe there is a course for it

SFX I agree - some of the Kew schools expect massive amounts of parental involvement, in some cases in areas which the school should be teaching. I found it very hard to keep up with expectations of parents, 'specially as DH and I both worked FT.

The thing that worried me most was that the classroom assistants marked the homework and so often marked it wrong, due to the fact that they had never learnt to spell properley themselves .

news.uk.msn.com/uk/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=154860797

Our school has no expectation of parents.

sfx - just smile and say "how's your LO settling?" And then talk about how monstrous your DC is after school. Then moan about school. Then the weather. Then about what you are going to feed your DC that evening. Easy. That is, if you want to make conversation. I find it's next to impossible to make new friends after reception. Though we are lucky that DS1's reception year has so many nice parents.

Now to pick up DC. DS2 wants to visit old nursery.

dolphin I must say after a very wet start to the day it has been quite sunny and warm

lordcopper I think I fail at the smile bit to start with I generally avoid everyone because I don't know what to say they probably think I am rude
but I seem to do fine on coffee mornings etc

spent the day with my aunt who is on 'I am going to die soon' phases very cheery but I actually enjoy spending time with her

we will be having a school stuffed toy to entertain for the weekend

hello from Isleworth . My DD2 is 12 months and i haven't dome much with her in terms of baby groups and activities. want to go out and start now- have any of you anything to reccomend?

Just watched Midsomer - that was the most unbelievably outrageous and ridiculous plot I've ever seen and I've seen "Diagnosis Murder" staring Dick van Dyke.

nosferatu - sorry no recommendation. Others might know.

Must switch off telly - Cameron on. Yuck yuck yuck.

nosferatu hi welcome I think tilly might be best placed for advice there as for me I always highly recommend a membership to Kew Gardens, sanity saving place as far as I am concerned

lorcopper Mad me is on that is good, and what do you mean diagnosis murder has preposterous plots

that should me Mad Men not mad me I am still reasonably sane and not on telly

hi nosferatu, everything I can recommend is in Brentford. There's a toy library, a music group on Weds am at Watermans, a playgroup on Mon am at the free church. That's all I can think off the top of my head

Copper, I seem to remember there was a programme a while back about how to survive if you lived in Midsomer!

thanks ladies!
I am a member of kew and a frequent visitor ( I agree on sanity).
I am going to try Brentford! I forgot about it. You see I have 6 years age gap between the kids and I did soooo much with my first one but I think there has been a change of places and trends.

Do you guys ever meet up?

PS is anyone into Mad Men? I am trying to watch it

Hi Nosferatu. We have just moved away from Isleworth but one thing I can recommend is the mother & baby/toddler group at Marlborough School which is on from 0930 on Thurs and Fri mornings. It's a very friendly group run by a lovely lady called Debbie and you can just drop in as and when.

There is also a lot on at Duke Street church in Richmond.

Hello all!

Stayed up late last night doing practice cryptic crosswords so I bit tired today ... >

lorcopper apparently dh's uncle won the times one last week, it is the 3rd time, the folk at his old farts club are very envious

nosferatu there are some day time meets mostly for those with pre preschoolers, sometimes we meet up at half term and holidays as well as evening meet ups
re mad men I had the 1st series around for some time but did not watch it then was bored one day and could barely stop, downloaded the following ones and am now following the current on on bbc4. imo excellent televisions very good production, believable and coherent well developed characters

still not used to dd's after school activities now counting the time until she is back home

Hello all

Welcome Nosferatu - I'm going to meet Tilly at Toy library on Tues and there is evening meet up on 23rd to Wagamama if you fancy coming along

feeling a bit as DH left for China today and will be there for a mth, hoping to try staying sane whilst he's away

Did anyone see the article about woman who starting reading at 8mths and had read Charlotte's web by age of 2

Off to watch Nigella now

I wonder if a child who reads at age 2 is "easy" in that you can just put them on the sofa and tell them to read a book. I suppose it probably doesn't work like that ...

Off to find a bottle of wine or something.

vbus did you watch Nigella? got sidetracked into that then stayed for AutumnWatch forgot that was starting really like it

meant to add vbus that it must be quite a daunting prospect, but I know you have friends and family so don't be afraid to 'impose'

foggy morning and foggy head

Hi all!

I've seen some posts on this thread talking about babysitting. I've just started my own website where childcarers in Twickenham and surrounding areas can promote themselves for babysitting work. Please have a look! www.twickenhambabysitters.co.uk

Jenbob - thanks for link, will bear in mind for future. good luck for your business

Sfx - thanks, might take you up on your offer Nigella was ok, not too inspriring, much prefer current Hugh series, are you watching it?

Spoke to Dh today who said he really struggled to get any food. No one speaks English in his apartment block. he went to restaurant downstairs and eventually they got someone to translate the menu - they served sharks fin, caterpillars and bacteria risotto He said after wandering round he eventually found a 'Subway'

vbus- I may come to Wagamama if that's ok.

I can understand you - my DH used to go to Iraq and Afghanistan for 6 weeks and last time the bomb exploded over his head so he kinda says no to it now.
But those weeks were dreadful and funnily enough everytime he'd come back it was almost difficult because DD and I had our own rhytm and it was hard to accept him back if that makes sense. Very weird.

Are you used to his absence?

jenbob thanks for link, best of luck

vbus yes do, also is he back by the 10/11 if so I have tickets for Union Chapel
dh does not want to go to that one

nosferatu that sort of workplace sounds extra worrisome, I presume he is a civilian contractor? my dad was Forces, it can be a weird sort of life
know what you mean about disrupting rhythm

just had four 5yr old girls baking and decorating and eating fairy cakes, along after their beans and eggs, thankfully all gone now but I do like the mayhem in small doses
dh left the minute they arrived

hello nosferato and welcome
is your dh in the forces?
sorry not on MN much but life gets in the way, doesn't it?

vbus, i feel your pain. dh went back to india on sunday for "4-6 weeks." eek! hard as the kids are really missing him and, now i've been there too and enjoyed the Four Seasons suite life, I'm probably more than

at dh's risotto

hopefully around for meet-up on 23rd but forgot it's half-term week.

hope you all enjoyed the sunshine today.
toodlepip

ah, hello sfx
now, indulge me in answering a very stupid question.
can't ask it on the running thread because a) i don't go running b) i'd get laughed off it

when you're running on the towpath how do you deal with nasty devil friendly dogs jumping up on you?!

last time i went lumbering jogging on the towpath one such creature (with an even more scary owner) had a bit of a rush at me which put me off (but any excuse).
right, stop sniggering now......