mimosa

We have a whole stack of Guardian audio CDs and the kids love them. They both like all the fairy tale ones (e.g. The Little Mermaid and Other Stories, Aladdin, Cinderella, etc.). There are about 5? cds in that series. Then there was a series for older kids with Rudyard Kipling, Paddington Bear and a few others. You can find them on eBay and they are not expensive. If you PM me I'll send you a link to some that I have digitised.

Their facebook page is regularly updated. https://www.facebook.com/groups/460121837515503/?ref=bookmarks

I was given a massage voucher for my birthday shortly after my baby was born. It was in a far away part of town. Not good!

Hi Eleni, one does already exist but it hasn't met up for a few months: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1556638824619703/ Eva

Rosendale 2nd December 4-6pm Lyndhurst 3rd December 3-6pm Judith Kerr 3rd December 12-3pm St Francesca Cabrini 3rd December 11am-2pm Edmund Waller 3rd December 12-3pm Goodrich 3rd December 2-5pm St John & St Clements 10th Dec 12-3pm Belham Primary, 10th Dec, Copleston Centre 10 - 1pm Harris ED 10th December 11am-1pm DVIS 10th December 12-2.30pm Fairlawn 10th December 12-3pm Bessemer Grange 10th December 12-4pm Heber 11th December 12-3pm Hollydale 14th December 3.30-5pm Goose Green Primary - Carols on the Green - Friday 16th Dec 6.30-8pm

Thanks for that. I don't think there'd be a problem on that front but I anyway don't want a wet mess! It sounds like a no goer. Shame, I was cautiously optimistic when several friends suggested it wouldn't be much trouble.

My concern is little ones getting drenched or slipping. But friends who've been to parties with bubble machines indoors say that this doesn't happen. This is what puzzles me. I'm for getting one but my partner is a bit sceptical...

The party will be in a hired space with little inside to trash, but my mental image is of little kids slipping up all over the place! But then friends who have been to parties with bubbles say that that didn't happen. I guess it depends on the bubble machine you use. Or does it... ? Maybe it's all wet mess?

Very good fun or a slippery nightmare? Need to decide very soon whether to buy one. Please share your experiences! Thank you

Thank you both! Jules-and-Boo, I love these!

My daughter is almost five and I realise that she hasn't got any proper chores. Has anyone got any original suggestions for regular chores? I'm less interested in the help factor, more interested in something that won't create more work and that we can keep going easily. There's tidying room (daily struggle), water plants (please, no! they will die), take crockery to the sink. Other ideas? We don't have pets and no proper garden.

I have experience of three nurseries and the staff have always been super supportive of the kids. There's never been any pressure to potty train before they are ready. There is always a member of staff in the room with the kids, making sure they are comfortable and safe. All three nurseries have let the children set the pace ? in consulation with us. When we've tried to toilet train too soon we've had no issues taking a step back. If anything, I've found the nursery approach has been really helpful. The children want to be like their friends: when they see the others going to the toilet independently, and getting stickers, they want to do it too!

Counting games. They agree on a number or each pick one for their turn, up to 20(they rarely choose 20 ? it appears to be random). We then count to that number altogether and then the other child gets a turn with whatever they both wanted. After awhile the counting seems to become more fun than the disputed object/activity.

We got the mint green version of this one from made.com (reduced to ?299 at the time). Can't recommend enough! http://www.made.com/linus-bunk-bed-pine-and-white

In the evening: https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/eAdmissions/app One website (not London-based council) said 'after 5pm'. I think it could be anytime after that.

Sorry, just re-read, they may also be short. Another one is American Apparel for kids. They have a good sale on online. All those three (Kids Gap, kids Zara and AA with kids clothes) are close together in covent garden if you'd like to see what they have.

I know for up to age 4 both Gap and Zara come up small.

Get a camera, not a phone camera. I'd say spend as much as you can afford and the most important thing to consider is not the pixel count but the lens quality. How much, roughly, is your budget? If your son likes taking photos then maybe even better is to see if you can occasionally borrow an SLR for him to use, maybe for a day or two, to get inspired. Does your school have a camera the kids can borrow? When I was a child my father lent me his camera and the thrill of using a 'proper' heavy, adult camera for a day was a big deal. I looked after it and was very proud of the results.

I saw Wild Fangs at Crawford School Xmas fair this year and my daughter loved it: https://wildfangsuk.wordpress.com

First baby was at Kings and my experience was not great. Second was a home birth with the Brierley midwives. Both straight forward births with no complications but the first was stressful and didn't get a room until 45 minutes before baby born. The home birth was good! Really wish I'd done it the first time round.

Got to say that the NCT group I went to was kind of so so. The class itself was less informative than the NHS one we went to (we went to a really great NHS one. I kept in contact with some of the other mothers for a year, but we had little in common apart from our babies and it felt a bit forced at times. I think it's pot luck: if the other couples you are randomly placed with turn out to be the kind of people you might actually want to spend time with if you don't have kids then that's great. Otherwise you do a few sessions and then it petters out.

I don't know if anyone has something like this... My daughter's thumb sucking is strongly associated with adult hand holding. I think it's because when she was little I'd often put my hand through the cot bar to comfort her or she'd sleep holding it when she was in the carrier. The hand holding is actually the bigger issue immediately, as she scratches at cuticles and it is quite irritating. I think much of my motivation to stop the thumb sucking is to stop the associated hand holding/scratching. Maybe I should start a post called 'comfort hand-holding/scratching advice'! We tried many, many times to substitute a soft toy/blanket for the hand, from an early age. It just didn't work.

Thanks etta166, I suspected as much. I don't really think my daughter is ready to stop! We've had some preliminary chats about it. I'll see what I can think of to motivate her. I find it unhelpful that strangers on buses, other parents and even some nursery staff tease her about the thumb sucking. Random people badgering do not help, just gets her sucking harder! Very interested to hear that you went for the thumbsie. I think this is more likely to appeal as it looks more attractive. Any other tips would be appreciated.

Thanks Undiscovered. Thumb guard solutions seem to have a lot of positive comments. How did people persuade their kids to wear it? Did you get them involved at the point of purchase, reward charts...? My concern is that it's quite expensive (though a good price if it works!). I can just imagine my daughter refusing point blank to wear it. Also, there seem to be a few versions on the market. There's: http://www.thumbguard.co.uk/ And some cheaper variants of that on ebay. Then there are versions of this kind of colourful thumb glove: http://thumbsie.co.uk/?gclid=CJD77fXQiMsCFa0V0wodT70JyA Which did people use?

Another bump for this discussion. I've got a four and a half year old who is very firmly committed to thumb sucking. I just don't know how I can help her to stop, as she really seems to need it. Are there gentle ways to break this really ingrained habit?