snowboarder

Just to say my 3.5 yr old adores playmobil and doesn't seem to find it too fiddly (I do though - omg all those little pieces!!) - he's loved his Knights for about a year now!

Not wanting to scare you but the primary education board on mumsnet seems to suggest it can happen that you are without a school place for some time until a place comes up - I think it depends how close you are to schools that you want - though maybe in more suburban areas where there is less choice.....http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/2174251-Appeal-on-Monday-for-son-with-no-school-place-at-all-for-6-months-Help-pls

`thanks - the next page http://www.kiddivouchers.com/taxfreechildcare10things.php is even more enlightening....basically the new scheme is more complex, less flexible and doesn't sound a good thing....:-/

I had both a bee with a bugaboo board (not the seated one) and a maclaren quest with a lascal mini. Neither was ideal, it's not that easy to walk - the bugaboo board makes you walk like a cowboy and the lascal isn't great either - I found it hard to walk any distance with either and was glad of my double buggy (with a 22m age gap)... But people do get on with them fine so maybe I just have a low tolerance threshold....!

I'm being thick, but I know Childcare Vouchers are being phased out next year, and am trying to understand how the new scheme will work. Am I right in thinking if you already receive vouchers you can continue to do so after next April? My youngest is only in nursery until next summer, then we would want to use the vouchers for summer camps/after school care only. Is anyone brighter/more enlightened than me?!?

Sooo if I did pulled pork and bread rolls and coleslaw etc....what for the veggies who are coming?!? Halloumi?

Ooh that looks amazing scaryt - I've never tried doing pulled pork....am I brave enough?!?

We have 5 families worth of friends (with kids...eeek!) coming over to our house on saturday for our annual get together....what to cook for them? I often do big vats of chilli, casseroles etc and baked potatoes, with pasta and sausages for the kids, with a selection of puddings. Any ideas for anything a bit different that will be easy to make on saturday morning?

I only ever really read/post in the family room, but after 7 yrs in ED have for the last 2 yrs been living in a village between Orpington and Sevenoaks.... I miss ED..:-/

I'm not coeliac but we have cut down on wheat and white carbs a lot, and get a lot of good recipes from paleo blogs and Facebook pages. Eat Drink Paleo is good, as well as PaleOMG.

Hum. yeah, I don't think we paid that much - but quite! Is that next years price?

We seem to be reaching crisis point in our boys playroom - they have so much stuff, it's an absolute mess and with christmas and birthdays coming I'm feeling the need for a cleanse! But at 3 and 5 they still seem to play with most things - I found them with the mega blocks (the big baby ones) out yesterday, and the happy land I'd earmarked for disposal is suddenly my 3 yr olds 'best thing'! How does everyone else manage?!? I Javan entire drawer full of castle duplo that is rarely touched, but I'm sure they would play with it if I was more proactive at helping them set it up!

Happy to put them on here - http://www.simpsontravel.com/greece-holidays/lefkada/villas/mousses-creche-and-childrens-club We had a really lovely holiday - I think my only reservations were that the beaches were not that amazing (no really sheltered sandy beaches for little ones, but fun wavy sandy beaches or calm pebbly ones), restaurants/town were not really walkable, and that there wasn't much else to do in terms of attractions like there are say in Spain. None of this mattered though, it was amazingly relaxed, safe, and warm!

I'm planning to be on the case with booking next years summer holidays now that I'm in the swing of school term time restrictions! SO. Those of you with 4-6 year olds (and older!) - what did you do this summer? Did you find a lovely place that didn't cost the earth? Can you share?!? We had an amazing 2 weeks in Lefkada in Greece in a lovely small complex of 12 villas with a pool and limited kids club. I would absolutely go again but for the cost - it was q expensive and we can't afford to do that too often. But I like sun, I like to go for two weeks, my boys like a pool and some sort of activities on offer. Anyone have any ideas?

Although these are super cool (I want one:-)) http://www.ottolondon.com/urban_kids/

Only seen these online but tresspass thinkgs are usually ok.... http://www.traveloutdoors.co.uk/festivals/festival-clothing/rainwear/childrens-ponchos/

It's mybe not an ideal 'date' night place as I think it's mostly communal tables, but I really liked the French House cafe - felt really relaxed....and is in ED!!

We are having treatment at Kings with my eldest - it is truly painful as mostly he refuses to open his mouth, and we go home again and go back in 3m time....The dentist he sees does seem to be lacking in child management skills (which my husband told her, to which she replied 'you do the childcare, I'll do the dentistry'!!). I've never really investigated any alternatives...maybe we should!

My two don't seem to be able to master balance bikes at all - they don't/didn't get that you have to sit on the saddle and both of them just walk with it between their legs - despite being confident scooting etc. We bored of the balance bike deal when my eldest was 4 and bought him a specialized 16" bike - he had stabilisers for a couple of months and now rides it fine. Youngest at 3.5 has both a balance bike (walking!) and a stabilisers bike - bloomin' bikes coming out of our ears. Annoying because you don't know until you try. I'd pick a super light metal one up second hand if you can....

I think we used the same nanny as nunheadmum - it was about 4 yrs ago but I think the company is still going, if not the specific nanny we both used - Nightnannies.com, and the nanny was called Maya. She stayed over for 3 nights in total and was available by text and once came round in the day to look at naps too - I'm pretty sure it cost about ?500 - combination of agency fees and nanny fees. I know it's a lot but it absolutely sorted us out, and my now 5.5 year old has been an amazing sleeper ever since. He hardly ever messes about at bedtime, always asleep by 7.30, while my younger son plays up until about 8.30 - ironically he was the 'good' sleeper as a baby. I hadn't slept for a year by the time we called the agency, I couldn't have done it on my own, I simply didn't have the energy. I was also dedicated absolutely to making it work, having spent all that money! To be honest, also, her style didn't really fit in with my more 'attachment' style breast feeding/cuddling parenting style, but I was ready to try anything. Over the first two night there was probably a total of about 3 hrs crying (in 1 hr bursts) - by the third night he slept though. That's probably less crying than what was a normal 3 nights with multiple wake ups. I don't regret it for one second.

Just to add to the above - when my eldest wasn't sleeping we got help from a sleep expert - she actually came and stayed at our house overnight in a type of super nanny type role - which was weird but amazingly it worked - yes it was expensive but it was life changing. I kind of felt I had totally failed and was embarrassed to pay for help, I'm not sure why, but anyway - don't be. And it does get easier, and the children start school and preschool. I have nostalgic thoughts back to when my 2 were younger now (they're currently 5 and 3) but I know at the time I sometimes felt I was doing some sort of penance for previous sins...!

Haven't you posted about this before?

My little boy has just started year 1 and so far has only brought home his reading book - he did get simple homework last year (phonics, numbers etc) which I initially felt fairly ambivalent about but he was really excited when he got it - loved to do it mostly and loved to show off what he had learnt at school. So we went with it as much as possible. Actually find it harder to get him to read to me...tell me that's a boy thing..?!?

Fmm :-) We got ours from a tiny kitchen shop in Hamsey Green, south of Croydon called Cathedral Kitchens - the website doesn't really do it any favours but they are great! I kind of had a bit of a lightbulb moment when I realised Magnet/Howdens/Ikea were not the only options for kitchens. The small kitchen shops can order you parts from different suppliers and really customise the design to your needs...I love ours...I think it's a 'Crown' kitchen but possibly with different doors. However the smaller shops/suppliers don't really seem to offer the same deals on appliances etc. We had an amazing kitchen fitter who came via the shop and was so great. The only thing I would change in our kitchen is the pull out larder cupboard. I hate it and just want a basic cupboard!

I had a c section with both mine and it didn't affect sling wearing! I had a lovely close sling with my second - but I found having a baby in a sling and controlling a toddler really hard and slightly hazardous, and I found it really impossible to cope with baby in sling and toddler and all the stuff I seemed to cart around. But many do seem to manage! I loved having a double buggy that I could strap my toddler in and know he was safe, especially if having to deal with an emergency feed or nappy change when out and about...my eldest was a bit of a runner-offer, v stressful with a small baby in tow!