West London chat - christmas & beyond

[tillyfernackerpants]

Hi all, can't believe I have to start the new thread

Slng, lol @ ds2!

Sfx, sparkle sounds nice!

I'm having to bribe ds1 to leave the house atm, that can't be right surely

He had his nativity yesterday, all lines remembered though there was a bit of yawning during it

Steppie - how fab! Will get her a card and try to remember to post rather than my usual approach - leaving it on the window sill waiting for fairies to deliver it.

Copper - yes you are the only hard hearted cow who doesn't well up at cutsie performances of offspring. I had to grit my teeth to stop crying watching DS last weekend at magician show (he was assisting) because he was just so into it and I was so choked up that I managed to keep both of us alive so far...

PCWorld - I think you're vaguely moving near to my Bro's family. Its a nice part of the world.

laptop apparently fixed, dh, the tech genius, seems to have fixed it with a hammer and a hoover

Good morning!

Quiet here, isn't it? Hope everyone had a good weekend. Have just been out hunting for a book for DS2's birthday... Difficult to find just the right book ...

hi everyone, hope you're all well. Been to a wedding over the weekend, amazing the amount of money some people spend on 1 day . Was fun though & lovely to catch up with uni friends.

Pc, how exciting for you, though scary. Am to see you go though!

vbus, lol at ds2 & grill. Think I would prefer that to continually bashing heads as ds2 is up to here!

hello all

essay land here but going well
anniversary this weekend spent with dd in particularly trying moodoh well she is the reason we got married after all

tilly it is gobs-making isn't it? me being mean always feel that the amount spend is the inverse proportion of time actually spent married

lordcopper what is the child into these days? dd has been lobbying for a Nintendo DS
a battle I will let dh fight and loose

sfx, I would say cynical more than mean . Happy anniversary btw

Happy anniversary sfx! DS1 was in the special weekend-drive-parents-up-wall mood on Saturday but recovered good humour on Sunday in time for FIL's visit. Shame.

We only had pub do for wedding and that already cost a fair bit. But at least fun was had by all, including us.

DS2 into stories. Any stories with interesting words. And into memorising and regurgitating episodes of Charlie and Lola and anything he watches. And likes song and dance. No specific toys.

DS1 has been mentioning Nintendo DS on and off. I said we'll get one at some point, not as birthday or Christmas present and not specifically for any person, but for us all to play with. That, I'm afraid, is the best I can come up with.

books that dd likes are the Mo willems books like the 'don't let the pigeon...'
and the Katie Morag books by Mairi Hedderwick
just about anything by Allen Ahlberg but especially the Gaskitt's stories

• loves the bit in one of them that says 'police baffled' she repeats that at every opportunity

the Emily Brown series by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton among many others

tilly I don't mind a good fancy party as long as I don't have to pay for it

hello all

Sfx - Happy anniversary

Tilly - Ouch for the head bashing! They are at such an amusing age!
We also went to a really good wedding at the wkend. My friend is a lesbian so there were a few twists on the traditional wedding theme and the speeches were v.funny

Copper - DS1 seems to love all books even the yellow pages! He can read quite a lot of simple books by himself. I too am not buying any DS/pc games for him til he's much older, plenty of time for that later on in his life

Dh decided to take the day off so it meant a bit of break for me too, phew

sfx - "police baffled" is very good. Which book is that in? My favourite story at the moment is DS2's recitation of the little old lady who cried wolf. Even better is this reader's review of the book.

lordcopper it is in 'The cat who got carried away'

headbaging tilly? ouch

here review was very funny

Copper at Recepionist joke

PC that's amazing news!!! You will be near the sea

I'm so glad we moved out of London (Heathrow flight path). I get the odd lonely moment here but its early days and my only regret is that I didn't move here 22 yrs ago when I first thought of it!!

Your quality of life will improve so much. We go to the beach 2/3 times a week and its so good being away from all the London stress. Hey we could do house swaps

On the scrounge... does anyone have an old mobile phone you're not using. My sim is fine but having problems with the handset and I'm trying to put off buying a new one until later. (shameful scrounge!)

Hello all

KC - sorry no spare phone. In fact mine really is also on it's last legs, must remember to get new phone soon

Dusty - that's lovely to hear that you're so settled in your new place

PCW - great to catch up with you earlier

Copper - once my mum got a wolf's version of Red Riding Hood out of the library for DS1 to read. DH and I thought it was really creepy and sinister. He basically made out it was all Red riding hood's fault that he ate up grandma, not sure what that is meant to teach young kids

BTW does anyone want to do another meet up in the Easter hols, maybe Weds 14th?

Sorry, Kew - my phone is also about to expire due to general maltreatment/being dropped in puddles ... etc!

vbus - 14th would be good for us re: meeting up. Good to see you earlier plus the chat helped. I have withdrawn from the probate house! Feels quite heartbreaking - but this is a head over heart decision.

Dusty - beach 2/3 times a week sounds amazing! It is early days and you will settle in soon. I'm giving myself a couple of years to get used to our new area. I'll be really sad to leave London, I think it's a great place to raise a family - but for us, the move is a good decision. I just hope that we get the house we want, there has been rather a lot of stress involved so far!

Am braving the library post-school - I give it ten mins tops before ds starts clearing the shelves and we have to make a speedy exit

kew none around I generally wear out mine before replacing them every few yrs

vbus and all 14th might work need to check
we are staying in London for the holidays hope the weather is ok

pcW I think I have only ever made mind over heart decisions in my life, getting tired of that now cue reckless midlife crisis or maybe not

I hope the change goes as smoothly as possible it is never stress free but hey onwards and forwards (not quite sure what that means)

dolphin - I miss the sea, glad to see you are settling in well, do the children like it too?

have parent evening tonight have list of mystery activities/ events to clarify, actually a few are now less of a mystery since I cornered the TA on the museum visit

funny isn't it - before being a parent my friedns (and I) seemed to have sapre ohones all over the place but now there are all knackered from being dropped, bitten, scratched etc .

Its OK I have decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one but am getting a really cheap one as I tend to knacker them pretty quickly!

£15 from O2 but no bells or whistles.

OOh OOh OOh!

I'm in the MN pre-election focus group!

I would have tried for that if only I could vote, this election is really getting me worked up and really have never felt so hopeless going into one
get them all out please and put sensible mums in

had parent consultation evening today, dd doing well very amused at her book with samples and notes on her work
and
I help every week - don't feature in the book
dh helped once on Bring a man to school day there are 3 pictures of him in the book

ah yes interest in politics (must remember that not £100 for three evenings...)

they pay you? goodness me I would rant on for free

Hello!

What pre-election focus group!? I can vote! NOT voting for that smug git though.

I want a new phone too - this is the one I got secondhand when Kew drummed up some excuse about being ill and missing platelets and whatnot to get out of giving me her handset. Which is just as well since this one seems to have lasted longer.

Have already bought THREE books for DS2's birthday. Would it be indulgent to buy another one?

DH out tonight. About to have blue cheese and rocket sandwich.