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 .

I think electricity would be a step too far for dp. We could really have done with a fridge when we were camping in France last year. We looked at that bed last year HMM. It looks really good doesn't it. The only reason we didn't get it was that it wouldn't fit in our tent so we got a travel cot that has a detachable thermarest thing that we use instead.

What I really want is a camper van, but dp isn't keen. Some friends of ours have a company renting them out so I'm going to get one for a weekend sometime and hope that dp is converted!

Evening all. Busy weekend here. Pudding club a success last night - the syrup sponge worked well with parsnip and courgette , but the blackberry and pastry thing was the big surprise hit!

Happy mothers' day to everyone for tomorrow .

Yes MyJob, I believe that's what most people do. We went in August last year with Pops and I just put her on a spare cot mattress that we had, she did wake up a few times in the night tho.

The one thing I would say is just take loads of fleecy sleepsuits and a high tog baby sleeping bag because it can get pretty cold at night - whatever the nighttime temp is on the forecast will be the temp inside the tent!! Altho you can get in-tent heaters... [HMM needs bigger car]

I have an Excel list of things to take on a camping holiday which was compiled by another MNer if anyone wants it, just send me your email address on FB.

Aubergenie, we've always thought electricity was too much faff, but in reality all you need to do is buy an electrical adapter with special covers from a camping supplier (makes sure it's a tent one, not a caravan one) for about £60 and pay a bit extra for a pitch so we thought it was a bit of a no-brainer with a toddler. We rented out a 60's VW campervan for our honeymoon and toured California in it - it was AMAZING! You'll probably go for a more modern version tho if you have any sense

CAN'T WAIT TO GO CAMPING WOO HOO!!!!!

Oh by the way, Pops has had a snotty nose non-stop since the middle of Jan and she's quite chesty with it now, should I be taking her to the docs for it?

Also, DH thinks she might have a lisp, she's not saying her T's yet and she does sound a bit lispy on her S's, she still has a gap between her front teeth, should we be doing anything about this at this stage??? Apologies if this is a dumb question!!

Anyway, I'm off to bed, I've finally caught Pops cold and feel like poo. Have a good Mothers Day everyone!

X-post CSWS [waves] Night night!

Good camping thread

Happy Mother's Day Yay for the pudding club.
What is it that you love about camping aubergenie and hmm? I may be willing to give it a go if someone can convince me. I haven't wanted to go in YEARS. What do you do when you are camping that you just love?
I would just let Q sleep with us on a mattress if we ever did decide to do it.

Q doesn't talk. I would not know if he has or doesn't have specific letters and certainly not if he's lisping... Poppy seems very linguistically advanced to me!

Happy Mothers Day to everyone! Hope you're all getting some much needed R&R. S helped us out by sleeping in till 9 this morning (after a wake in the night and a quick wake at 7 for some milk). Dp and S are going to make me breakfast in bed and I got this cookbook. Yum.

A quick question: S had D&V earlier in the week. He's fine in himself now. no v since Tuesday. The D carried on for a couple more days. He's back on his food now, but not eating loads. BUT his trumps smell absolutely vile. Really grim, like someone with giardia or something. His poo is a mustardy colour and looser than normal and smells appalling too. Should I worry?

Star - I love camping as a way to get away from it all. We like quiet sites with lots of trees, and it's just so relaxing sitting outside in the quiet with no tv, no internet, nothing. Brilliant for kids too. S absolutely loved it when we went last year. The only downside was that he didn't go to bed until it was dark which was about 10.30 at night. I can't wait to take him again this summer.

Myjob - a travel cot will be fine. Ours is too big for our tent so we just took the mattressout and put it between us. HMM is right, you definitely need loads of blankets and warm nightclothes. Do you knwo where you're going to go?

Just popping out for the day.... Happy Mother's Day. I will be back later if you remember who I am....

Hmm - Lisping etc is totally normal at this age. You should only really start worrying about that when they're school age.

Gah Pistachio, that sounds grim. Hope you're better soon. Your dh sounds like my dp - no need for a tent when a bivvy bag will do perfectly well. I've pointed out to him that he can still do all that wild camping stuff with his brother and his mates, but that if me and S are coming, we actually want to enjoy myself...

Dd still says 'w' for 'l' so when she is doing her alphabet and reading there can be quite a lot of confusion 'w' for 'wion' is my favourite

I had a lovely day out in London yesterday, didn't get home till midnight - we went to Pollack's toy museum, out for lunch at Deuxieme, then on to see Noel Coward's 'Private Lives' at the theatre and finished up with a trip to St Martin in the Fields for their Saturday night classical concert - Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Just me, my mum and my sister, absolute bliss.

Currently ds is asleep and dh has taken dd swimming, so I'm enjoying the nice weather (and had a chance to clean our windows).

I don't think I'm ready for a camping holiday with the dc yet - I loved camping when I was younger and so did dh, but I'd like the kids to be a little older before we go.....

Awww wion, that's so funny!

Star, don't forget Pops has only been walking for a month whereas your Q has been walking for aaages, they rarely do both so quickly. Oh I just love camping, we are different campers to Aubergenie as we normally like more than a field and a few trees We like to go to slightly bigger sites, where there's a swimming pool I can take Pops swimming, a playground for her and a cafe for us so we dont need to cook all the time. Where do I start? Well there's the fact that LO's absolutely LOVE tents, well Pops does anyway. I know some LO's don't like sleeping in them but I think that's where they're not started early enough.

The toilets and showers in the sites we go to are always clean and hot showers are a must, you don't have to have hook-up electric because there's usually an electrical socket you can use in the shower block, just take your hairdryer. There's an excellent campsite review website www.ukcampsite.co.uk/ where you can find good sites to suit you. You can find all sorts of sites; we stayed at a campsite on the outskirts of Oxford pre-Poppy and went into Oxford for boozy nights out!

You can take along a disposable barbeque and eat some nice cremated charred food with a nice glass of wine watching the sun go down while your LO romps about in the grass with the other children ... [HMM goes into daydream mode] alternatively we go to the nearest town for a chinese takeaway and bring it back to the tent and have even had a pizza delivered to the site before!!! I don't understand people who say they'll be infested with bugs because there is always a netting door to the tent to stop flies/ spiders getting into the bedrooms, although you may have the odd one in the living area (if your tent is that big). In short, Star, camping is ACE and you should try it, even if you borrow a friends tent so you're not shelling out if you don't like it. If you fancy trying it Star, why not look for a nice site just a few miles from where you live (if that's possible where you live!!) and then if you all hate it, you can get in the car and drive home and go back for the tent in the morning

Oh and you can get free wi-fi at some sites so you can MN while you're eating your cremated food and drinking your wine

Barbecues and wine are definitely a must. Actually, you're right HMM. What we wanted from a campsite pre-ds and what we want now are totally different. When we were in France, we stayed on a lovely site in the Loire valley with a pool and pizzeria and I really looked forward to sitting ds in his high chair in the restaurant and having a glass of wine in peace. S LOVED being in the tent and used to bounce around the bedroom throwing himself against the sides for ages.

I'm slightly more at the pistachio end of camping, i'd rather have the 4 walls (and an en-suite...), tho i have to say HMM makes it sound attractive BUT only if the weather's nice, Camping in the rain is my idea of utter misery, add 3 DCs and you get a swift upgrade to torture level .
aubergenie - not sure if anyone's replied to the diarrhoea question - when they all had D&V a few weeks ago, DDs nappies were like that for maybe a week after the V stopped? really pale and foul. They sorted themselves out - apparently it can go on for up to 2 weeks, which is rather grim. HTH.

Def too early to worry about the minutae of speech.

Agree with pepper re nappies after bug. Beware that they can develop a temporary lactose intolerance after a tummy bug too, so you might need to keep him off dairy if he doesn't improve (I think he has dairy normally doesn't he?!).

I am on the loathe camping end. I need a proper comfy bed with my tempur pillow and body length pillow, and an ensuite bathroom, and heat, and a proper cooker, and .....
I did camp once, with my dive club, in the Scilly Isles, which wasn't too bad, but I was only about 20 at the time.

Had a lovely (ish) day.
DH made me some hand made truffles (yum) we went out for lunch but it ended up being horrid service and Q got grumpy as it was close to nap time. Had nice time together and I had a bit of time with Q on my own.
DH still got the lie in but I got to sleep a tiny bit while Q did for his nap.

I MIGHT try camping with Q... we'll see what happens. I don't like spiders...etc. We camped for 46 days throughout UK/Europe about 8 years ago. Nice campsites, showers...etc but got so sick of the tent. And insects.

Did everyone get mothers' day presents apart from me?
I had dd tell me that I wasn't the best mother in the world, but that nanny (my mother) is. Yeah right.
Had a nice time at the in-laws though.
Neither dc asleep yet, despite being put to bed around 7:40. Grrr.
And my mac is being a PITA.
Grump grump grump.

Your dd's grammatical errors sound perfectly normal to me btw pistachio. Dd likes to put an s on everything for a plural, so foot becomes foots instead of feet , and she struggles with past tenses like threw instead of throwed and caught instead of catched.

Thanks for the toxic poo reassurance Pepper and CSWS. He did such a bad one in his sleep just now that dp could smell it in the hall through the closed door. I did wonder if it could be a reaction to the ABs that I've been on too but it sounds like it's pretty normal. I have to say, I've never smelt the like!

DH got me the new barbara kingsolver book. I didn't even know there was a new one!! she's my favourite author but I've only had time to read stuff for work lately.

Yes pistachio your dd's language sounds perfectly normal for her age. Linguistics and language development is a very big interest of mine... I'm a bit of a nerd.

Csws glad you had a nice time at the in laws. I can't believe the dc are still awake after being put to bed at 7.40. They must tire out soon!! Q gets supremely grumpy if he's up past 7.30. After 7 it becomes apparent that he's tired. Poor boy loves his sleep... just wish he'd sleep throughout the night!

Ah yes, your ABs would affect his poo too aubergenie!

They did nap on the way home star, which was rather late for ds' nap (4:40 to sleep for nearly an hour). Dd had seemingly been playing on her leapster, whilst ds was babbling and then whinging, and despite getting sleepy when being cuddled then wouldn't settle when I left. He settled ok once dh had been in for a cuddle though .