damzel

LOST! 1 x calm, laid back, easy going, smiley toddler FOUND! 1 x head stong, stubborn, "no no NO!" shouting rebellious nearly 3 year old. I am completely in shock by this sudden change (thought we'd got away with it) and am going completely insane. I have no idea how to handle it so am probably doing the worst "calming" job ever. Deep breath

I had the same dilema when my daughter was about the same age and kept seeing lots of babysitters advertising their services on here but was dubious about being able to reliably check them out. Eventually, I saw a post from someone saying that their babysitter was looking for extra work. I checked the poster's previous postings which had gone back a number of years and she seemed like a normal, every day mum(!) so decided I could trust her recommedation. The babysitter turned out to be a child minder by day so we really felt we could trust her judgement. We still use her now and she's fantastic. When you find the right person, your whole life opens up. Good luck with your search!

If you are self-employed and setup your own scheme, I would recommend steering clear of BusyBees and use Kiddivouchers instead as they are considerably cheaper! (You have to pay admin fees if your an "employer" but it's still worthwhile signing up).

I've not seen the Kiddy Infinity range before and whilst I can see the benefit with a baby, I think the bumper at the front would be in the way of a toddlers books and games - (Molly, the steering wheel is a winner btw, thanks for that! Oh, and the retro phone has a date on the back - 1987 so not quite our era...) Anyway, back to car seats - thanks for the Babycare tip - I think I'll go down there at the weekend. As for the scare tactics, whilst I completely support it, my kid is still at the "you tell me not to and I just have to" stage (when does it end?!)

I'm in a bit of a dilemma regarding car seats. My daughter is only 2 and 9 months but very tall and about 16-17kg (I think). She's grown out of her group 1 but seems a bit young for the group 2 which use just the car seat belt to keep the car seat in place. Whilst some group 2's come with the 3 point harness, it's only appropriate until they're 18kg which isn't too far away. Also, because of her height, the straps points are too low at the back, forcing her shoulders down when they are tightened - this is the problem that we have now. My main concern is that she will be able to get out of the normal seat belt (she's always trying to get out of the 3 point). Does anyone have any thoughts/solutions for this? I am also keen to get one that is not too upright as she still sleeps a lot in the car - can anyone recommend one that's good for a snooze without the head roll?! Cheers as always x

Thanks, but as far as I can make out, you can't drill down to accidents on a specific corner. Just stats regarding the whole borough?

Does anyone know if there is a public database of road accidents online? I want to research how many times cars have crashed into my dad's garden prior to him moving into his new house as we're hoping to persuade Wealden council to put up barriers.

So what happened? I need closure

I remember hating getting my hair washed as a kid and it was because I have particularly sensitive eyes, not that anyone knew that then! My mum bought a round disc type thing that fitted around my head with a wide brim all the way round. Difficult to describe but I probably looked like Saturn from the top! It did the trick and I was all ready to use one with my daughter as she seemed to hate having soap/water in her eyes too. However, my (australian water loving) partner put paid to that idea and just gave her no choice but to get very wet and enjoy it. He got in the bath with her and played very messy water games week after week, without trying to wash her hair, jsut making sure she was soaked from head to toe. She loved it and now she doesn't mind at all about getting water or soap in her eyes. I wish someone had done that with me - I still hate getting water in my eyes!

Sanne Panne - see my earlier post regarding the stuff for pets that I used. It does the trick for sure. I bought it online.

Regarding the clean-up, when I had my first crack at potty training in the summer, my friend who just had a new puppy, suggested that I use the stuff they use for cleaning up pet mess. It worked out great - Out Pet Stain and Odour Remover "effective on urine, vomit, blood, feces and more". I bought it online but now I get a bit inundated with spam from Pet Supermarket and I don't have a pet!

Ocado all the way. Excellent service and on the odd occasion they make a mistake, they sort it pronto. Also, they have a really good iPhone app which is (even) easier to use than the website so I do all my shopping on the journey to and from work. I actually did my last shop on the plane from Australia to Hong Kong recently, then sent the order in Hong Kong airport when I had telephone service. They delivered it a couple of hours after we got home from our holiday! Brilliant

I can't make 12th as my OH has already claimed it but will keep my eye out for the next one as I really enjoyed the last one in the Mag. Have fun.

The DVD is a great idea unless you have an iPhone (or want a good excuse to get one!). I've downloaded free and cheap kids shows and play them on my iPhone whenever we need a distraction for our daughter - perfect for long haul, airports, car journeys, wherever because it's always in my pocket. The funny face sticker books are a real winner as are the kids mags you can get, usually with rubbish plastic freebie on the front. There's lots in the mags that entertain my 2 year old on flights.

(you) drink mint tea - supposed to help. I didn't know about it when I was BF but my daughter had sips of it herself when she was older and it helped the wind.

Funny, we've just done the same thing. It smells delicious but we have another 30 mins to wait yet hmmmmm.

The ready made rolled puff pastry is great for making tomato and cheesey rolls, puff pizza's, twists, all sorts. Easy to hide the spinach too

I'm filing that tip for future reference!

I've got to do the reverse journey late Thurs evening and was thinking of getting tube to elephant then bus. Does that sound nuts? I find trains few and far between from Vic in the late evening

Grab some numbers Sue, the draw hasn't happened yet. However, it's been so long coming, I can't remember my number(s?) hmmmm

So is the Mag or Plough? I'll be there between 7:30 and 8pm. How will I know who to look for?? Is anyone getting definitely getting there at 7:30pm and can wear a potty on their head or something?

I'm an advocate of the video camera - it made us less paranoid as we could just glance over to see things were okay, rather than running upstairs all the time at the slightest peep. I'm sure it helped her sleep through quickly too as she didn't get our attention at every peep. If you do go down the video route, don't be fooled into buying an expensive colour one as it's all black and white through infrared at night!

Either's fine with me - I live between the two :o) Thanks for your efforts, Ruth

Someone posted this up a while ago - I kept it as I thought it was great! Maybe it will help

Me too.