hellosailor

Cocoon is fine from birth xx

It's more expensive to have them fit it I think, so we used a local gardener we've used before who had experience in fitting artificial grass.

we used easigrass, as have a few of our friends, and are very happy with it. They have different grasses at different prices and will send you samples to choose from if you contact them

brilliant Sillywoman, hahahaha!

Yes it's true, it's closing permanently sadly

Thanks, might try it then!

Those curling things that look a bit like a mini hair dryer that suck the hair up inside and curl it and then release it?.are they worth the money? Do they work and are they hard to use if you're a bit malco-ordinated?

My son inherited his sister's pink scooter?and her floral pyjamas?and scooted around the rye on his pink scooter dressed as Elsa the other day!

I think st. barnabas has one

yay! Now that IS christmassy!

yep, what buddug said..

I used to love our rocking horse when we were children, the glider type, pretty large. Have your kids enjoyed having one? Did they bother with it? And is anyone thinking of selling a glider type one? xx

Massive congratulations Belle, that's wonderful xx

Nicola at childsleepsolutions has lots of recommendations on here, have used her myself and she is very good

LondonMix Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sorry, where I'm from, when something bad happens > in a community, the community extends an offer of > help. > > That could be helping with child care or meals or > anything else someone might need while staying in > hospital with a sick child, helping the school > with anything they are trying to organize etc. > > If that is way out of order in London, then sorry > but its absolutely not meant to be disaster > tourism. I can't believe anyone could even think > such a thing. Don't worry LondonMix, most people wouldn't think this, offering help and support to people whether you're close friends or just nearby is what makes a community and your good intentions were absolutely clear. xx

That's interesting, thank you Loz I will look into that. xx

Thank you everyone, will look into that Simonethebeaver. Cheryl_M that is a totally grim situation, your poor niece. Her ex partner will also be able to reduce his maintenance payments to her for their children when his new child is born as he's spreading his finances between more children..I learnt that today too

Obviously they will be able to tell you more at his 2 year check but, I had the same thoughts about my son's speech in particular when he had just turned 2, and another couple of friends had the same worries with their children when they just turned two, and all three kids are now 3 or 4 months on from their 2nd birthdays and have gone from only having a couple of words to proper sentences so it does often change very quickly xx

Is he fairly recently two or nearer 3? They do seem to plateau for weeks at a time when they're just two and then suddenly learn lots in the space of a week..

Thank you everyone. My research so far tells me that.. If I work I get ?64 a day before tax. I will now need to pay ?85 a day childcare, so if I work and my ex doesn't have to contribute anything to childcare, I will lose 20 quid a day by working, while he pays no childcare costs. This means me not working at all to look after our children or paying the entire childcare amount even tho it means I'm losing money simply in order to facilitate him earning 60k a year. The alternative to me working for a loss is to have benefits. *Note to self* - if I get up to the pearly gates and reincarnation exists, come back as a man.

tomskip Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So, one half of a couple leaves the other, leaves > the two young children behind, and then never has > to worry again about the cost of their childcare? > How can anyone even think that is logical or > acceptable? Presumably HelloSailor has "work > needs" because she needs to provide for the > children apart from anything else. The alternative > is to give up work and become totally dependent on > benefits. Yes Tomskip, that looks about the size of it from my research.. If I work I get ?64 a day before tax. I will now need to pay ?85 a day childcare, so if I work and my ex doesn't have to contribute anything to childcare, I will lose 20 quid a day by working, while he pays no childcare costs. This means me not working at all to look after our children or paying the entire childcare amount even tho it means I'm losing money simply in order to facilitate him earning 60k a year. The alternative to me working for a loss is to have benefits. *Note to self* - if I get up to the pearly gates and reincarnation exists, come back as a man.

Thanks Mick Mac, but why would childcare be considered as my work needs as opposed to his work needs? i.e if I went to work and refused to pay for childcare then he would have to stop working altogether or miss work twice a week to look after our children? We both have parental responsibility so surely our work needs and childcare needs are the same if we both work? If we both want to go to work to earn money then can it really be that only one parent has to pay for childcare to facilitate that, even if that parent earns a fraction of what the other parent earns? I hope not, agh!

I have applied for an appointment with a family mediation firm but in the mean time wondered if anyone could tell me the answer to this? My partner left last year. We weren't married tho we had lived together for years. Our eldest child (aged 4) has just started reception and our youngest child (aged 2) has 2 days a week in a nanny share. if the child maintenance he is legally required to pay is around ?400 a month, yet he works full time and I work 2 days a week (so nanny share needed 2 days a week for youngest and after school pick ups by a childminder needed twice a week for my eldest) is it the case that he doesn't have to pay for any of the childcare? That it's supposed to be included in the general maintenance equation? I've been told different things by different people?any light you can shed forum?

Thanks all and good idea Saffron xx

DulwichFox Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > They sometimes close for 1/2 day for staff > training sessions.. > > They have 100's of registered patients.. I > cannot see it has closed without warning.. ?? > > DulwichFox Actually the last time I checked (approx 2 years ago) they had over 60,000 patients (no I haven't typed an extra nought) and they're still accepting new ones, which is why they're unable to provide any kind of service to the patients...