quickbrownfox

Although I grew up with dogs, the experience of bringing a puppy into a home with young children (then 1 and 5) was new to me. I had all these romantic ideas of instant love between the kids and pup, these proved, um... wrong. The little one sort of bumbled around freaking pup out and the older one alternated between being disinterested and overly affectionate. Anyway.... 18 months later all is well, with both girls having a great relationship with our pooch. But it was pretty hellish for a while. What I found worked was just to treat the dog like a third child with her own needs (sleep time, play, rest, exercise - slightly Gina Ford-ish, yes) and not to force the kid/ dog relationship. Pup was crated for quite a few weeks and that made it easy to separate her from kids, which I think is important (although wouldn't need to be a crate, could just be a different room). I think we as parents (with the very best intentions) can be inclined to over-orchestrate things. Based on my experience, so long as you avoid putting the dog and child in situations they will find really stressful (like the period when the pup has razor sharp teeth and wants to test them out on everything and everyone... teething... we had lots of ripped clothes), I think a very low key introduction is preferable. It's taken over a year for my toddler and dog to be comfortable with each other and for at least a month our older girl wanted to 'give her back' (I now regularly find my daughter curled up with pooch in dog bed). If you play it low key and let things just develop naturally I am sure all will eventually be well (it sounds like you are doing lots of good things already)! Growing up with a dog is such a precious experience :-)

I am really hoping the 'power of the forum' can add some weight to this campaign. You may have heard about this story in the news recently - Women's Hour (BBC Radio 4) covered it last week (can't seem to find on iplayer, but you may have better luck). As someone who has had a very successful ED homebirth experience, this really has struck a cord with me. Please consider adding your signature to this petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/please-grant-full-clemency-to-dr-midwife-agnes-gereb#

A lady emailed me the other day asking if we did sheets for this one: http://www.uppababy.com/ Apparently was top rated by Which!! And is rather good (sorry to not strictly answer your question.... I'm a Bugaboo Cameleon lady, personally, but if I had another I think I would be open to be wooed by another mainly as it's not the best buggy for car travel!)

We've just got some cute Aden and Anais ones in stock - they're the lightest I have come across as are made out of a soft cotton muslin. http://quickbrownfoxofdulwich.co.uk/ergopouch-organic-cotton-and-bamboo-sleeping-bags ED Forumers get 10% off and free delivery with the code EDFORUM :)

I promise promise promise the Love Mae wall stickers can be moved around no problemo. I regularly move our ones around and there's no damage to stickers or walls. I know they are toppy, though - they're made by a tiny business in rural Australia and with all the import costs, it's difficult to sell them for any less :-(

candj - thanks so much for mentioning Quick Brown Fox. I sell loads of the Love Mae stickers (in spite of them being on the pricey side) as they are so easy to apply and move around. And they are pretty cute too. karter - I really wouldn't go to town on decor until baby has arrived. It's so much more fun to gradually accumulate cool stuff as you find it, and once you start to get a feel for his or her personality. Kids like colour though - once they're a few months old you really do see them stare at and respond to colourful things. I always think clear (white?) walls are a great place to start - gives you huge scope to add splashes of colour and not get stuck in a 'colour scheme'.

Hi Moos - it's a tricky one. How old is your little guy? I run Quick Brown Fox of Dulwich (online babies bedding shop) and be I'd be happy to let you have one of our ErgoCocoon swaddles to try him in. It's a looser swaddle (and reasonably houdini-proof), so it may be a good solution for the transition period from 'proper' swaddle to sleeping bag (these ones also allow you to release one arm at a time). Anyway, PM me your address if interested and I can send you a sample...

You may also want to check these guys out if organic is an option: http://www.naturalmat.co.uk/ ... although I wonder if they are actually the same product as the John Lewis ones.....spec sounds similar. I'd recommend Natural Mat based on my research into such things!

Sanne Panne Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > toddler!!! What especially annoys me about the > > move out of sleeping bags is that they kick > their > > blanket/ duvet off at night and then come in > > search of warmth. Aaarrrgggghhhh! > > Thanks for the advice about the cot beds! > Regarding sleeping bags and blankets: there's a > third option, a warm sleepsuit. The Baby Sleep > Shop has 1.2 tog polar fleece (but cotton lined) > footed sleepsuits which allow the toddler to walk > around (not as freely as in normal clothes but > it's pretty good) and stay warm without being > constrained to a sleeping bag. We've always only > had our daughter sleep in footed sleepsuits - in > summer a plain vest with a cotton sleepsuit on top > and in winter these fleece ones. There are cheaper > fleece sleepsuits available too (I believe Next > have them) but the ones we use are really, really > good and warm without being too warm... ?21 > though. > http://www.babysleepshop.com/acatalog/Fleecy_Sleep > suits.html Funny you should mention the sleepsuits.... I saw these similar (although sans inbuilt feet and prob not as warm as fleece) ones on the 'oracle' that is Bambino Goodies. http://www.bambinogoodies.co.uk/we-love-po-p-all-one-pjs/ . It's a great blog that currently has the low down on non-high street cool kiddy-stuff sales! I'm trying to be good and conserve cash, but there is some seriously cool stuff out there!

I agree with Sanne Panne - get a (second hand?) cot bed so that you can keep the bars on for now and 'graduate' to sideless whenever it suits you (Boori does a great one that comes with special low level side bars for when you initially take the cot sides off - pricey, but great quality and you can use as day bed after, or resell for a decent price). Unless you have an enormous child, a cot bed should last them until they're at least 4 at which time maybe a single bed would be the way forward. If you do get a single now, you could always just put pillows on the floor initially in case they roll out. Or get one of those side thingies.... We had no choice but to take the bars off our sprog's cot bed at around 2.5years, as we had an escapee on our hands. It's a pain as she nowadays refuses to sleep in a sleeping bag and sneaks into our room at night, but it's better than her breaking a leg trying to jump the bars. I'd love to go back to the days of a well contained toddler!!! What especially annoys me about the move out of sleeping bags is that they kick their blanket/ duvet off at night and then come in search of warmth. Aaarrrgggghhhh!

yes, bolo is cake too. I guess I'm using 'cake' in the broad sense of the word (they use 'pastel' for things like cod fish cakes as well as sweet tarty things). Thanks for the na pura suggestion - I'm going to give them a go.

Wow - Babington House looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

lorraineliyanage Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Stockwell has some great Portuguese restaurants, I > think Camberwell has a couple too. Which ones do > you go to? > Sorry to hijack the thread with talk of natas! yes, sorry to go on about food! We don't tend to eat out Portuguese as we can cook the things we like at home (although maybe we should expand our horizons - any suggestions? There's one in Crystal Palace we tried a while back, but it was soooo salty), but I can't (have never tried) to make the natas. You can get them at ED deli, the new coffee shop by the library and Blue Mountain (and of course nandos). I've not been blown away by any of them - but - they're still yum. Need to make sure they're fresh and the pastry is crispy.

Pasteis de nata (literally cream cakes) - they're the best thing in the universe (I was raised on them!) Luckily with our proximity to Stockwell, these gorgeous little tarts are just about everywhere around ED nowadays. "Pastel de nata' is the only bit of Portuguese vocab my husband bothered to learn. It seems anywhere around the Med, you tend to find locals with a genuine love of little ones. For guaranteed sun, I've heard good things from friends about Egyptian all inclusives.

By the time I went to Kings, I was in such mooing-like-cow agony, that I would have been soooo embarrassed to have had to make that journey in a taxi. I was embarrassed enough to be having contractions from the carpark to the labour ward, let alone in someone else's car!!! My advice: if you're going to taxi it, do it before the going gets tough!