Babies Born June 2006 #32

[Smoke Jaguar]

Mmmm...DP cooked the yummiest roo pie for dinner! Oscar is now squealing to himself on the loungeroom floor.
Heaven - I don't think you need to edit your post: You made your point and that's fair enough. As long as we post according to BB guidelines, then there's no need for extra self-censorship Your post was clear and god help us if we have to explain our original posts until EVERYONE is happy! We just have to accept that we cannot control how everyone is going to perceive what we write if we've gone to the effort to post responsibly and within BB posting rules.
I, personally, don't see a city 'divide'. It's a happy coincidence that a few of us live in the same city and can catch trains into a central location (or, as a few weeks ago now, travel in to someone's house, but Rory is close enough to the city). We do most of our correspondence online still, because it's easier to keep abreast of news in this one place. Maybe the divide is between the people who post here to muse about their experiences as well as to do daily chit chat or post about their babies' developmental moments, and the people who post here to just talk about what is going on in their babies' lives, or their own. Hmm, that wasn't clear. I think I'm trying to say that there is an element of 'musing' that some members have and some members don't. Sometimes the musings, used to stretch my own understandings in my case, may push someone else beyond their comfort zone and the way they feel about it creates a defensiveness within themselves. That's fine. The choice is yours as to whether you engage in those musings, or how you will allow yourself to be affected by them. It comes back to personal responsibility. There certainly seems to be no 'divide' in our parenting orientations, we have a diverse range of parenting approaches in this thread, and we've been able to tolerate, accept and/or respect these, for the most part. Posting opinions is totally allowed on BB, the main rule, though, is to do so with respect and civility. I've said this so many times. If you post an opinion, however, I don't see a problem with disagreement, if it's done in a respectful way. I often disagree with people here on BB, but BB is not a place where we come to be agreed with and have pats on backs all round. I enjoy diversity in thought and opinion. I don't mind someone taking a different view from my own, unless I'm being ridiculed or deliberately offended (which I don't think has actually happened here, and I wouldn't be offended in that case, I'd just feel sorry for someone who'd waste their energy trying to be offensive, instead of finding ways to contribute positively to the world). Just don't post opinions if your ego is too fragile to deal with an opposing or different opinion in response! And, you know, sometimes, if you're in a bad mood, or a 'funny' mood, you might just miss the humour in someone's post - just give that person the benefit of the doubt before you become defensive and upset!
Build a bridge - let's get over it :P
Welcome back, Jo! please do keep popping in when you get a chance. I, too, had Freya on my list of girl's names...and DP was kind of down with it until I came up with names we liked more! So, yes, GREAT name for Freya, Jo
Ali, great news about your MIL! My sister has a similar arrangement with her MIL after her husband's uncles sold out of his grandfather's house. Also, for them, it fell into place in the nick of time!
Nic - Oscar has steadfastly refused to nap today, so I'm hoping he goes down soon!
Night all!