October 08 - Got ourselves some crying, talking, sleeping (sometimes!) walking, living dolls.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Well somebody better start the new thread, so might as well be me!

No stats this time .

That is 48 minutes from me according to google maps. Would be fine with me

Star - Croydon is a TERRIBLE place! It's a really violent place to be.

CSWS - I have no idea how or why it's stopped being a problem for her but...... it has! I don't think it was linked to an illness as I have tested her on it a few times and it has always caused hideous poos. She has started eating a lot more recently so I don't know if that is something to do with it or is indicative of something that has happened with her gut. I am trying to rack my brains to think if maybe it could have been something else that caused the issue but I really don't think it can be. It's very odd.

If you're struggling to fin somewhere to go, don't worry about me because DH might NOT be off. Plan to not include us but we'll try to fit in with your plans if he is around.

Can people share what you give your dc for lunch?
I'm running out of ideas to send with Q. Tomorrow it's a peanut butter sandwich.... boring, I know, but he needs the nuts, lentils, beans...etc as he's refusing all meat now! (and fish ).

I usually send some sort of a "main" then maybe cheese, always apple, blueberries or banana (any fruit that he likes) perhaps an innocent smoothie stick or a yogurt/fromage frais. Oh and a veg, like peas or beans if he doesn't have veg in his main dish.

"mains" I've packed so far are...

• Peanut butter sandwich
• Sweet potato/edamame/spinach/broccoli baked patty/cake
• beans/rice or beans/toast (black beans or baked beans)
• Pizza
• Toasted Cheese with spinach

It seems really not nutritious now... any other ideas?? I know cm would cook for him but I can't let go of it.

50ft you could get a train to me and I could drive you? Or get a train to richmond or somewhere on the way and I could drive you and M? Happy to!

Croydon looks nasty. We only ever get out at the Ikea carpark which is a safe little bubble. I don't like driving down the small part that I have to drive down to get there, though! yuck!

star - how does 3 portions of fruit/veg in his lunch not sound healthy?! And it sounds like there's plenty of variety there too - remember that as working adults we tend to live on sandwiches or baked potatoes for lunch, so prob get less variety than Q has.
But if you want other ideas, then you could try these and these (we don't bother with the salsa, and I sometimes add a handful of spinach to the mix too).

Star - That's a lovely offer but..... I'll have the boy AND I would have to go into London and back out again to get to you or Richmond.

Right, lunch: M didn't eat lunch today OR Friday because all she wanted to eat cereal and raisins. I refused to give her cereal, she wouldn't eat what I had made so she had nothing. M often has left overs for lunch, so veggie curry or sausage casserole. Or we have soup together. Failing that I tend to make her something hot because she prefers it, so stir-fry with noodles, french toast with baked beans (that is an emergency lunch!), sweet potato cakes, homemade fish fingers and sweet potato chips....... But I realise that none of these are packed lunchy. DS would only eat cold food when he was little so he had lots of chopped up veggies with humous, cold meats (no good for you), cheese, pitta bread, cold pizza...... Sorry, none of that is much help is it? How about something with pasta?

Chickpea bread...... mmmmmmmmm sounds delicious.

I've got a friend who moved to Croydon and to this day I've got no idea what possessed her. Her house is lovely though.

I'll come down town to Clown Town. Or anywhere else on the North Circular.

I'm not really great about packed lunches Star as my CM cooks for S (and he's happy to eat things are her house that he won't touch here ) but has she got a microwave? You could do jacket potatoes with hummous and cheese, or with baked beans and cheese? My CM made a blended spinach and broad bean sauce for pasta which S loved. You could make something like that and send it in for her to warm up for you. If you want to know how to make it I'll type it up for you.

A friend of mine has been making burritos for her ds and I thought I'd try that this week. You could stuff them with all sorts of things like refried beans, cheese, guacamole etc so really nutritious.

I can't believe how many teeth everyone's got. Poor S still only has 6 and that sixth one only came this weekend.

Spanish omlette or onigiri could be portable? Lentil soup?

Aaargh - Matthew has had the worst nappy rash and itchy, dry, red skin today, and I've no idea whats causing it.... I'm a bit worried he may be getting more sensitive to tomatoes, if he does that I'm screwed as I use them a reasonable amount in my cooking . He hasn't had anything else I can think of that would affect him .

Star, I'm afraid I can't help much as Matthew is pretty restricted with meals. I'm in a food rut at the moment too.... Could you cook up some soup for Q to take that the cm could heat up? Might also be a way of hiding some meat/fish if you are keen for him to have a bit? I made a yummy ham and pea soup recently which the dcs both enjoyed and chicken soup is always a winner here.... If you weren't keen on using meat you could do a bean & veg soup - I always blend mine to make them thick and 'brothy'.

I'm 'celebrating' my birthday tomorrow by going into London to meet up with someone from work to discuss potential options for going back.... Still, I will be having dinner with my dsis, so its not all bad

Yes Pistachio, however I only EVER have one child refusing my cooking as DS eats pretty much ANYTHING! M often eats more when DS is around.

Ekka - Poor M and poor you! It must be hard trying to cater for the worlds most allergic boy. Sounds eczema-like but you'd know eczema when you saw it, M had it badly enough. Heat rash? DS had terrible eczema as a baby and also suffered from heat rash every summer.

Thanks all. Good suggestions. Aubergenie, we actually have onigiri molds from when we lived in Japan. Good idea. He's fickle with rice, but we'll see how it goes.
Thanks for all the ideas. It's good to hear what other dc are eating for lunch just to gain perspective and realize that ds is actually eating pretty much the same thing and he's ok

Oh, he won't eat soup.

He refused all of his lunch yesterday then came home and ate nearly all of an essential waitrose personal cheese pizza with spinach on it. Then ate an entire (peeled) apple, a cup of blueberries, a bag of organix spicy tomato stars, raisins, oat biscuits and edamame beans. at the amount!

Can you post recipe for chickpea bread, pistachio?

Q slept until 1.30am then woke and mumbled and fussed and stood up with hands outstretched in his cot for about 40 minutes so I was tired and picked him up. Then he slept soundly, without moving in between dh and I in our bed until 6.30. Even though he came in our bed, he still slept better than he has in ages. he used to thrash around a lot and wake, cry just loads! So much better! I'll work on not picking him up out of the cot over the holiday.
Weird that he slept in there all night the night before, though, without even a whimper...

Have a fun birthday celebration today, Ekka! Sorry to hear about M's rash. I hope it's not tomatoes!!

So, who's in for clown town, then? Fun!

Happy birthday Ekka.
W lives on crumpets, flat breads/wraps/pitta, toast and jam, bread and butter, grapes, dates, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, mango, banana. He doesnt like cucumber, eggs, tomatoes.
So lunch is pretty much always the same old thing.

Def cant make meets that week. G at netball every day and H has extra gym!
Only had 1 day free in the hols and made arrangements ages ago. Sorry ladies. Have fun in Brent Cross. I used to go there all the time when I was at university.

What a shame, Ronshar. Another time then, for you.
Q is iffy with eggs, too. And won't touch jam! . Every time I've tried to give it to him on toast he spits it out and blows raspberries until he's satisfied the taste is gone. Loves mangoes... all fruits, really. Veg if soft.
No tomatoes yet.

Q could eat Toast with butter (occasionally peanut butter) Raisins and Cereal all day, every day if we let him.

Happy Birthday Ekka!

Ds not bothered about bread products, but dd never was either.

He has an ear infection, so at least we have a reason for the misery, and some antibiotics now .

thanks pistachio

CSWS glad you got to the bottom of it! Poor D Ear infections are so tricky because you just never know. Q has been poking his fingers in his ears a lot lately. We keep thinking it must be that but then he spends most of his days quite happy.

Happy and ear infections don't really go together ime star! I pondered with dh this morning whether it might be ear related, as he has been falling over after taking a step or two quite a lot, and ear infections obviously affect their balance. Though at other times he'd run round in a circle copying dd .

I should have written - he spends most of his days happy with cm. He's quite irritable with us at home. It's like he saves up all of his irritability for 4pm.

So, 8th April, Clown Town. Who's in? Aubergenie, csws, star, maybe 50ft - anyone else?
What time would be best? Will need to sort out Q's adjusted nap...etc.
I'm annoyed with myself reading this... why can't I just go with the flow?

lol star! Well if we want to have a good play and still get somewhere nicer for our lunch (I suspect that dd might want to eat at ct) then we'd better make it a reasonably early start - say 10:30?

what is ct? I can do 10.30. Maybe Q will sleep in the car on the way there and back. If he screams the place down at lunch I'll just make an exit...
oh... ct must be clown town. Is it ok food there? Might be easier to just eat there, then?