EmilyPie

The potty dance is awesome!

Mudchute city farm is great. Lots of space for the animals. Feels like being in the countryside. Nice cafe too looking out over the horses in their stables. Coram's fields is great. Bring a picnic, loads of different play areas and a few animals. The little train in brockwell park on a Sunday, plus all the other attractions of course like lido, water play etc. Ladywell fields is lovely but not much shade so bring sun tan lotion.

Yes, get them to pack for you!!!! Otherwise it is hell.

Loved this, thanks!

I got these for my 2 boys http://m.johnlewis.com/mt/www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-baby-doll-twins/p1517957?sku=233718490&kpid=233718490&s_kenid=23c9b382-25ed-d789-3ae3-0000278f69cc&s_kwcid=403x12373&tmad=c&tmcampid=73&kpid=233718490#page_loaded Twin babies. They're pretty basic but only ?15 and went down very well. One pink and one blue so you could maybe let your little boy pick one for him and one for his new sister? Agree with the above though that it doesn't have to be dolls. Ours are a recent development. When number 2 arrived we didn't have them and instead spent lots of time feeding and changing teddy bears.

More lego here!

A whoopee cushion went down very well with my 4yo

May also be worth exploring dysgraphia http://dsf.net.au/what-is-dysgraphia/ I don't have personal experience but it is something a friend is exploring and sounds like it describes a lot of what you are experiencing

Ours brought a Thomas jigsaw which went down well. He was really into jigsaws though. Something he can play with at once, even in the hospital, is probably a good idea. Sticker/ activity books too?

Thank you both, really helpful. It hadn't occurred to me that you could take the pedals off a normal bike is that easy to do? I like the idea of having stabilisers as a back up. Both in case the boy doesn't like the balance bike approach and in case I can't work out how to get the pedals off! Am not the most confident rider myself so approaching the whole subject with slight trepidation!

It will soon be my son's 4th birthday. We never got round to getting him a balance bike and I was thinking I'd just go straight to getting him a normal bike with stabilisers. However, according to the internet stabilisers are the devil's work. Is 4 too old for a balance bike? Are stabilisers really a bad idea? Should I just give up and accept he will never ride a bike? I really don't want to end up shelling out loads of cash either. All words of wisdom gratefully received! Edited to say that he's smallish for his age, if that makes any difference?

I had a walking or mobile epidural which meant I could still move around and that I didn't need a catheter in my bladder. This was nearly 4 years ago and I remember the anaesthetist saying to the midwives that this was now best practice and the midwives seeming unaware. May be worth enquiring about? And big congratulations to klh!!

For my first baby was in distress so they broke my waters and stuck me straight onto the syntocinon drop and it was murder. The epidural, when it finally arrived, was total bliss! I read a magazine, had a little sleep. It might have slowed things down a bit but it was well worth it. And baby was delivered without assistance. I had a walking or mobile epidural which meant I could still move about a bit which was good. Second time round my birth plan consisted of an a4 sheet with epidural written on it in massive letters and nothing else. In fact though it was very quick and manageable and I coped fine with just a little bit of gas and air for getting the head out. I did try and get them to give me an epidural at that point but they pointed out that as baby was on his way out it probably wasn't worth it! So, anecdotal evidence only but I think they can be great, you don't necessarily need forceps etc, but also you might not need it if it all goes smoothly. Good luck!!!!

My lo is 3 and only just getting into proper lego. Duplo gets made, dismantled, merged and reborn like others have said, but his big boy lego kits live in their own Tupperware boxes to be dismantled and remade whenever his little brother is asleep, and are fiercely guarded when he is not!

Don't know if this is any good but have been eyeing up the classes myself http://www.blackheathcooks.com/whats-on#3-2015

I have flat leather ankle boot which stand up fairly well. Pretty easy to clean minor mud with a baby wipe,although I do sometimes think wellies would be useful on more serious mud bath days. On the sling question we have recently moved from older in buggy and younger in sling to older on scooter or buggy board and younger in maclaren. There was a period in the middle when the youngest would go in the maclaren until the oldest got tired then he'd go in buggy and baby would move to sling. My two are now 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 and we still occasional use a sling. As long as they're supportive they can be used for a long time.

Thanks Fuschia, that's really helpful. I'll go and raid the spices cupboard and will slso try and get hold of some b6. I have been doing a little bit of expressing in the shower but maybe not enough. It's a bit painful though!

My son is almost 18 months and I have just stopped breastfeeding. He was only having one feed at around 3 or 4am so it wasn't a sudden stop but this is day 5 and my breasts are still enormous, hard, lumpy and painful. I've been taking ibuprofen but it doesn't have much impact. Has anyone else experienced this? How long does it last? Anything I can do to make it less painful? Thank you!

The card shop on north cross road had loads last week.

A friend of mine had a special feeding box full of toys her toddler was only allowed to play with at feeding time. I was never organised enough to do this but it worked really well. Will depend a bit on your lo but stuff she can do on the sofa next to you is good. Could include jigsaws, maybe this kind of thing Bigjigs Toys BJ766 Wooden Dress Up Bear Family https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006TG2DE0/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_FVlDub112VYKA or Nina Ballerina Magnetic Dress Up Playset https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000IEBY3A/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_JWlDub0JC0FSE sticker books, jars of beads or buttons to sort, her own doll to dress and feed and put to sleep, books for you to read to her, feathers for tickling you or the baby (depending on how grumpy this will make them). You could get her to decorate the box too so that it feels special and she is excited about getting to play with it, and occasionally add something new to it so it stays exciting.

We definitely haven't cracked it. We do lots of the things above but it is still a struggle, not helped by very little sleep. We're about to start a more structured approach to weekends where hubby and I each have one whole day off a month and we also each have a whole day with just one of the boys. Am hoping this will make the weekends feel more manageable and less like a total free for all where everyone is tired and breaks are won by successfully sneaking off to the toilet! Don't know if it will help but will report back.

We bought an indesit IWDD7123 a couple of months ago. It has been great. No more smelly clothes from trying to dry them in a small flat, especially when it is too warm to have the radiators on. Was about ?320. Seems to wash and dry well and not unbearably noisy. Is quite slow. 4 hours + to wash and dry, and probably doing terrible things to our energy bills but made life MUCH easier!

I think they're called valley cushions. The nct shop used to sell them (online). If you type valley cushion into amazon you get a few too. I think foam is better than inflatable.

You can also get pouches that you fill with pur?e yourself. Might be that she likes the sucking rather than the spoon at the moment. Only worked a few times with my very fussy weaner but I was a bit rubbish at persisting with it. Ella's pouches are still popular round here and mine are 31/2 and 1 but they do eat (some) other stuff too. Some are just slow to get into the whole food thing.

http://busyasbees.co.uk