June 08 - 118 (and counting) sleeps till Chistmas, but don't tell Deb!

[EddieIzzardismyhero]

Welcome to our new, cosy thread. Log fires, big jumpers and Christmas shopping .

What do you mean it's still August?!

[DewinDoeth]

on the height debate... But not surprising, given that I'm quite small myself. Iestyn has years to go in his cot. We get value for money here!

Poppy are you not a mouse trap kind of gal then? Go on, you know you want to.

DG can I start a big debate with you about toy kitchens? As you know, I am woefully behind here, and have just bought a mini set of saucepans for Iestyn and a little tea set. He loves them, and I'm contemplating more kitchen stuff - including food, and possibly a kitchen... This morning, he was playing with the saucepan and wanted to put it in the oven - the real oven. Whilst I was happy with that for a bit, I panicked thinking I might forget, turn on the oven and melt a plastic saucepan with a knitted cauliflower in it and cause a fire or something. So I persuaded him that his highchair was an oven (well, it has shelves...).
Do people reckon I'm too late here (that's not for DG ) and he'll grow out of them really quickly? Or is this an idea for Christmas?

Onto real kitchens - I've made a mistake. I bought a fridge freezer - I needed a bigger one. It (a) doesn't fit in the gap and will involve shaving a bit off my wall (in my defence, it fits in the opening, but won't be pushed back because my wall is uneven). But (b) the freezer isn't any bigger than my old one. I'm so upset at being so stupid - I didn't know the size of my old one, but assumed the new would be bigger due to it being a bigger machine altogether. It's not. So stupid. Can someone make me feel better?

[Rolf]

Dewin I think "home corner" toys get loads of use so yes, a great idea for Christmas presents.

What a shame about the fridge freezer. Is it too late to see if you can exchange it?

[Amberc]

Hi all I am feeling so awful again. I have such a head cold now on top of the cough that the pain made me cry this morning Nd my pathetic paracetamol doesn't even touch the sides. I can't sleep as I'm in too much pain so yet Nother trip to re doctors for me.

Spider luke is 96cm we measured him this morning do not too much mote than you but he is a skinny minny. He is too heavy for a lot of the buggies now which all tend to go to 15kg.

Just to cheer me up I must tell you of a really sweet thing luke did yesterday. He brought me a box from the playroom and said look mummy a box of special things for you. And he'd put All his best toys in it! Bless him. I can't go near him now cos he's just got over a cold and I don't Want him to get this. Sorry for mistakes iPhone.

[DomesticGoddessInTraining]

Sorry to hear that you're feeling rotten Amber. Hope you get over it soon.

Dewin - I'd be fibbing if I said I wasn't worried about getting value for money buying S a kitchen at this stage. I really wish I'd got one last year instead of his garage. The ikea catalogue dropped through the door the other day and they have a page of toys - kitchen, train and easel and I asked S if he liked the kitchen. He just kept saying 'no, I like THAT!' pointing to the trains. I really contemplated scrapping the kitchen and just getting him loads of accessories for his train set. However, my SIL says when he was at the IL's last week he was playing away with DN's old kitchen for ages, so I'm really hoping he'll like it. He also really likes the home corner at nursery so fingers crossed. I did loads of research on toy kitchens on here too (anything but my overdue assignment) and lots of people seemed to rate them as presents for 2-3 year olds.

On 'home corner' stuff, I was in Costco the other day and saw this toy hoover that actually picks up stuff for a tenner. Thought it looked fab.

Waves back to Abdn - hope the job is going ok!

[DoNotFeedMeBiscuits]

spider I have measured C for the purpose of your research and she is 86cm, we weighed her at the weekend and she is 25lb 8oz, if my Mum's scales are to be believed. I think that makes her 25th % for weight and 50th for height.

[DoNotFeedMeBiscuits]

although another chart makes her 33rd percentile for height. oh well....

[Rolf]

Amber

Spider I'm not offering to measure T as when DD1 was a baby I was asked to take her to the HV every week to have her head measured, so never again

[poppy34]

Am sorely tempted dewin - even found some of the old style kill them ones on net(at moment have humane one) but what do I do with the bodies? 1. Leave them in my boss' office as an offering in style of a cat (amber are your kittens into that yet?) 2. If I dispose of them which bin do I put them in(complex recycling at work as we are no longer allowed bins). Is it food waste or other?

Amber is it just general shonkiness or blicke sinuses?

[poppy34]

And can you still get about in car/ foot penguin? Sounds like you have done all
You can for now

[poppy34]

Dgt hope tonight goes better - giving up and letting e cry only Thing to do. Oh I hear you re branded toys- e has a princess dress (as well as pirate kit - am keen on new feminism
Thread there is) from Disney and peppa bed set . That's good work for s to sit through that

[DomesticGoddessInTraining]

I've just measured/weighed S Biscuits and almost exact measurements here! That brings him out to be just under 25th centile for both weight and height according to his red book. Am looking longingly at the first measurements on his red book when he was 75th centile for both right up till he started weaning

[abdnhiker]

quick hijack - poppy can you email me a copy of your nanny contract? I've found a couple other ones at www.nannyjob.co.uk/information/employment/employmentcontract.aspx but I'm unsure of how to change them into a fixed term position. DQT do you know? can I just add the line "Date of Contract Expiry"? Do I need to specify this as if I don't get my contract renewed obviously the nanny job is redundant?

[abdnhiker]

Oh - and no idea what Fraser is for height or weight - for small growing kids I think it's better to just watch and make sure they are growing rather than chart them! DS1 has just passed 15 kgs and is now big enough for the next stage car seat :) (he's four).

poppy the humane traps never worked for us - we use the old fashioned ones.

dewin :( about the fridge - do you really need a big freezer though? I like having a high fridge to freezer ratio personally and had to search to find the biggest fridge ratio I could.

penguin hope the flood is okay..

[DomesticGoddessInTraining]

Hi Abdn, you can make a contract fixed term as you say by inserting a contract expiry clause. The nanny is still entitled to written notice of the expiry of the contract at that time though - usually whatever their usual notice period is. Without an expiry date you can make someone redundant by going through the usual redundancy procedures - they wouldn't be entitled to redundancy pay for the first two years. If you made someone redundant after they had been employed for two years, even if they were on a fixed term contract, they would still be entitled to statutory redundancy. Fixed term contracts can only be renewed for up to 4 years (unless it can be objectively justified) beyond which they should be treated as permanent employees.

[poppy34]

Will email it when done e's tea- mine doesn't have fixed term in it but was adapted from one that did have it in. Can send you that too.

And suspected humane traps rubbish as there are loads of them and tons of mice (am not only one with desk visitors) qed.

Have pushchair leg (strangely rather than Arms) as took e out and there were loads of steps so lugged her and pushchair. Seems to have crippled me

[abdnhiker]

big thanks dgt and huge thanks to poppy. Written notice will be no problem - I should know from my work by then whether they'll be keeping me on.

[poppy34]

just sent contract - pushchair leg is no joke. am done in like I'd done something seriously sporty.

On an aside (and I know dgt may take me up on this) - I a bit re the hustings on here for labour leader. I do wonder if they'd extend the same to a lib dem or tory leadership hustings (insert your own joke here about how the leadership of those two parties is interchangeable). Its the election all over again - I think mn is fine as a place for issues but somewhere down the line someone seems to have believed the hype in the press re it being the mn election and started thinking its like newsnight. And that makes me a bit sad as that seems to detract from the parenting focus here...

And that is a long way from saying as a parent you are not political -just that I think that the politics on here sometimes gets to overshadow the parenting.

[PiggyPenguin]

J is 90 cms, which is a bit bigger than I expected but I don't know what percentile that is. No idea on weight but he polished off a big plate of pasta and sausage in tomato sauce for tea so thats good enough for me!

Kids back at school today. J really missed them (so did I )

Dewin the freezer thing could have happened to anyone. Can you exchange for a different one? Especially as it doesn't fit. Our new house has a fridge/freezer and a separate fridge and freezer which seems a bit of an overkill to me. Still, they will prbably come in really handy for about two weeks a year over christmas...

[DewinDoeth]

Iestyn is just over 85cms, so actually not far off other here. Thank goodness, he won't be accepted in a circus! He has new shoes too - 5.5, although I suspect they're a bit too big.

Poppy what's happened to your leg? Where is it hurting - ankle, knee, groin area?? (Beware - my 'expert' hat is only made of tissue paper...) Did you pull something going up some stairs, do you think?
Wise post on the hustings - I was all about that when I saw it today.

Amber hope you're feeling better, and Penguin hope you're not flooded.

Thanks for all the replies on the fridge freezer disaster! I'm feeling quite down about it (although probably fixating because I'm feeling down about my job, plus I'm alone all week with parents on holiday and DH sitting in Swansea, so no backup and no company).
Ok, so this is the situation. Bought this one which I liked on account of it being stainless steel. (And the price!) Bought it from Currys, delivered on Saturday.
Won't fit - it's the walls which are wonky. Also the freezer is the same size as the one I just got rid of. (Largely because it's a bit smaller due to being frost free.)
Phoned currys, no options there - they won't take it back because it's not in packaging (guys took it off when delivering). It's also scuffed where I tried to get it to fit.
Options: stick with it, learn to live with the fact that the freezer isn't huge, but maybe buy another shelf for the fridge. And get my handyman in to shave the wall down so that it fits. Abdn you might be right - do I need a bigger freezer...? I thought I did, though. I definitely needed a bigger fridge and got one.
Other option - stick it on e-bay and try again. This will no doubt involve losing money. No idea how much to put it at though: and it might not even sell. If it did, though, get one that actually fits and has a bigger freezer.
WWYD? Who would vote for a bigger freezer?

My new computer isn't working either, and I've had to get my old one out.

Need a good shake - generally feeling down, but that's what happens when you're told you're not good enough...I'm feeling pretty failurey at the moment.

[SpiderWilliam]

Dewin sorry to hear about your fridge and computer woes (and job too of course). You can look on ebay at auctions that have already finished: put in roughly the model and select condition: "new". Then look for a tick box which says something like "auctions already finished". That should give you an idea of what you might get for it. It is down to luck of the draw though as to whether there is someone able to collect a large item like a fridge who lives reasonably near you. Having said that we managed to sell a 5 year old washing machine for £70 to a bloke who was happy to drive from Hull to Surrey to collect it. Nowt so strange as folk.... Have you asked your handyman how big job shaving the wall down would be? It might not be too bad, although very dusty I expect.

Thanks everyone for measuring their DC's. I love a few stats to muse on.

Apparently my friend's prem baby is doing as well as could be hoped for. He was over 3lb which is good for 28 weeks; is breathing on his own, and is taking his Mum's milk. However Mum has been re-admitted to hospital with ongoing pain and problems that had been hampering the pregnancy. The trouble is that she is in the local hospital and the baby is the the larger hospital 10 miles away which has the more intensive SCBU. Such a horrible situation for the whole family.

I feel as though I have reached a new milestone in my life today: writing P's name in all his stuff for nursery school which he starts in the morning

[DebInAustria]

Dewin, sorry to hear about the fridge fiasco, Is there a little bit of space somewhere like a garage for a small chest freezer to suplement the other?

Poppy - how's your leg?

Spider, naming things for nursery? How did that happen so quickly? Which one did you go for in the end?

Sybil, I'm not looking forward to mine going back next week as Ethan will be so sad.

Amber hope you're feeling better

Glad the water went down Penguin

Goddess/Dewin, I would change the role play in Nursery(3 and 4 yr olds) , eg, hairdressers, shop, garden centre, castle, etc.... but so many children just played"house" whatever the situation, you will get your moneys worth from a kitchen I'm sure.

Now here's my moan of the week, sorry.Don't know if any of you remember that Ethan has some problems walking, well he walks and runs but seriously turns his right foot inwards, anyway specialist said he needed orthopedic shoes and that they'd be covered with our health insurance, shop said the ssame, I ordered boots for the Autumn. I went to collect them and they are sandals, in September and I had to pay towards them. I had to pay 38 Euros and the health insurance pay the remaining 132 Euros . Apparently the insurance only covers sandals as the boots cost 250 Euros a pair . Can you believe how expensive they are? They are not even made in different width fittings, or half sizes. I don't know how people in Austria with children with serious special needs can afford anything.So now my baby has these clomping sandals which seem to emphasise to me how he walks, and I've noticed other people watching him too now. I know, it is such a minor problem compared to what some parents have to cope with but I did feel sad.

Also mil has gone home today after a month with us and it is nice to be on our own again, but tonight I had to load the dishwasher and bath my own children, shocking!!

[DomesticGoddessInTraining]

Tonight's CC was one hour and fifteen minutes. to make the evening worse we went to turn heating on - no pressure so re-pressurised boiler but that didn't work and then the filling looper leaked for ages. It finally stopped but no heating.

Deb - sorry about E's shoes, that sounds pretty rubbish for him. Will you get an help with this when you're home?

Poppy, I don't mind the hustings, but I do object to ranty, abusive and I'll-informed posts about politics.

I still haven't actually decided who to vote for yet - though I came out at 84% for EM on votemarch.

[SpiderWilliam]

Deb - that would make me feel sad too. Does the specialist think that the shoes will correct the problem in due course? I think you are quite entitled to feel a bit glum about it. We all want our children to be perfect. I am sad that P is starting nursery with a big vertical scratch down his cheek, which is really silly. He is at the Montessori one that initially put him on the waiting list. My first choice. Hope he enjoys it.

[DoNotFeedMeBiscuits]

have been in the library all evening. my chocolate intake is ridiculous while studying - I ate a twirl and a galaxy caramel in the space of 2 hours. I did however answer 100 questions on the eclectic selection of radiology of the genitourinary tract, adrenal glands, obstetrics and gynaecology. I got 68 right, which is heading in the right direction.

DGIT we can compare small children next week! just think, by this time next week we'll have met Iggle Piggle in real life. Wow. The rest of you are jealous aren't you?

dewin we had to shave a bit off our wall to fit our new fridge freezer when we had our new kitchen installed a couple of months ago - was a VERY tight fit. I'm with abdn on fridge/freezer ratio - it's all about the fridge space! I would second the idea of a small chest freezer secreted somewhere else if you need more space.

Poppy loved the idea of you leaving the mice as an offering to your boss, and also the use of the word shonkiness!

I made bugger's courgette and chocolate cake today - it was rather tasty warm out of the oven, allegedly it is better tomorrow though - I will let you all know!

[DoNotFeedMeBiscuits]

deb how impractical that they will only give you sandals. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get corrective shoes on the NHS here, and I doubt they'll be sandals! hopefully they'll sort out the problem quickly.