Mook

I don't know of anywhere that you could take it to (apart from back to where you bought it from). Ours was second-hand and when we had problems with it I contacted Dorel directly, they were brilliant, they arranged for a courier to pick it up and return it but it meant we were without a buggy for about 10days It came back with a brand new chassis - it was great!! check the dorel website or here is customer service phone number 01284 413141

I currently work as an after-school nanny, and yes we are few and far between unfortunately. The reason I work part time like this is because I have a toddler of my own who I take to work with me. Before I had my own child I worked full time as a nanny, and I had experience of looking after babies/toddlers alongside their older school-age therefore I knew I would be able to work in a similar situation with my own son. I am very lucky, my employer understands that my son and I come as a package and she has no issues with his high chair being at the dining table, his little cutlery and plates in the cupboards and drawers, a few of his toys kicking around the place, and (during the holidays) providing a room for me to put a travel cot up in for him a nap. She also understands that I can't always give my undivided attention to her daughter. From the outset I felt that her priority was for someone that she felt relaxed with to pick her daughter from school. If I felt that my employer resented my son being there then the job would never have worked out. I am happy to have a reduced salary, taking account that my employer provides my son with a meal, and that I can't always give my undivided attention to my employer's daughter. I also have back-up childcare in place in case my son is sick - I can still go to work. I am very happy in my current job and (as far as I know) my employer is happy too. I would suggest looking at (and possibly placing an ad) in "simply childcare" (Carla is great) and if you know of any nannies speak to them and get the word out. Good luck

A toy garage to go with the cars he already plays with

Hiya, I am a nanny (I'm not looking for work but I thought I would give you an idea of what it's like from a nanny's point of view) I have worked in two shares - one was very successful (lasted 8yrs) the other fell apart within 4wks. One of the most important things for me to be able to do my job properly, is that the babies/children are in similar routines - they have their meals at the same times, go down for their sleeps at roughly the same times (looking after two babies/young children is tiring and it is nice to be able to sit down and have a cup of tea and a minute to myself, and then to be able to get jobs done) Are you and the other family in agreement over what activities/experiences you would like the nanny to do with the children - it's not nice for the nanny to be stuck in the middle of parents arguing over it. I think as you already know the other family you probably already know what their expectations are - I would just say keep the lines of communication open with each other, be honest with each other and good luck in your nanny search.

I was in the same situation as yourselves a few months ago, where my son understood everything we asked of him, but had a very limited vocabulary. Other parents told me that he wouldn't be referred to SALT until he was at least 2 yrs old. I would recommend that when he points to something that he wants, you should encourage him to say the word for it - even if the sound he makes doesn't sound anything like the word you are still encouraging him to ask for it, (we started to do this with my son and we have noticed a big improvement) and try to ask him open ended questions (ie when you see a bus ask him what it is?) Also be aware children aren't going to be able to form words until their facial muscles are fully developed. (Children develop at such different rates) Another thing to be aware that sometimes children will put one area of development onto the back burner whilst they focus on other areas. When my son was born he was a big baby (10lb+) and all of his physical development milestones came after the "average" age, but he reached them and now he runs around like any other 2 yr old - but I do think that because he was concerntrating on his physical development he has has put his speech and language on the back burner, and also on top of that he decided that at around 26mths he wanted to be potty trained - he took to it like a duck to water. My son is now 27 mths and the explosion of words is very and truly coming through. He still isn't really putting words together to form sentences but I know that will come and I'm not worrying like I was three months ago. I am going to discuss it with the HV at his 2 - 2 and half development assessment, but my gut feeling is he probably won't need SALT. There's always something to worry about with children isn't there.

I used to nanny for a little boy who at around the age of 18 mths started biting his mum and I in exactly the same way as you describe. We felt very strongly that he was biting me out of affection therefore disciplining him became even harder. I made it clear that biting wasn't acceptable, I usually removed him from me, explain that it hurts and then encourage gentle affection. It was just a phase he went through, remembering back (it was a while ago) I think he grew out of it pretty quickly. Yes I can remember the painful feeling of teeth sinking into my shoulder - you have my sympathy!

I would love to know what's going on his little head! I just find it strange how even the toilets/baby changing rooms that he is used to going in - the ones at the swimming pool, at toddler group, even the one in Cafe Nerro, he's suddenly started to get frightened in them. Sometimes he is in his buggy and other times he is on his feet and it had never been a problem until the incident with the hand dryer. Like I say we've only just started to become interested in the potty, I've never attempted to lift onto our toilet let alone a public one so I don't think it is a fear of the toilet itself. Thanks Fuschia for the links on Amazon.

Thanks Ladies for your input. I hadn't thought about the fear of being locked in but now you mention it he has also (quite recently) started to refuse to have his bedroom door closed when he goes to bed, it's got to be left ajar quite a bit with the landing light on. Having said that we went swimming today and he was fine with cubicle door closed and locked, but then we've been swimming weekly since he was 4mths old so he's very used to those changing rooms. Now I'm very confused. We did also use the toilets at the swimming baths and although he was upset he wasn't as hysterical as I have seen him, so maybe, hopefully, it's just a phase that will pass. I think we're just going to have to give him lots of reassurance and distractions. I'm going to have a look online to see if there are any children books that might be good for us to read to him - Great idea Fuschia. Thanks again Ladies

My two year old gets very scared whenever I need to use a public toilet. It's making it quite difficult for me to go for a call of nature. When I tell him that I need to go he starts to cry and sometimes shake. I think it is down to the acoustics and the noise of the hand dryers (a couple of months ago he got hysterical at the sound of the dryer that someone else was using, whilst I was changing his nappy) At home he is very at ease going in and out of our bathroom, which made me think it was just public toilets. But today at my SIL's he refused to come into their bathroom with me to use his potty, (dipping our toe into potty training and it's going well at home) we had to do it outside in the hallway. The only thing I can think of was bathroom door had been closed until we needed to use it therefore he hadn't had time to go in and investigate the environment. Obviously I don't want him to be frightened whenever myself or his dad need to use a public toilet but also I am getting a bit concerned that once his is potty trained he won't use public toilets himself. I am happy to take potty out with me but I do not think it appropriate for him to do his calls of nature in the hallway of a building especially if we are in a restaurant or something. Just wandering if anyone can offer me any advice on how to deal with this? Thanks in advance.

Yep this happened to me too - not a lot of exercise and plenty of bourbon creams. After a year I decided something needed to be done especially as I was very fit and healthy during my pregnancy. Last July I rejoined weightwatchers (did it a few years ago) and swim 40 length once a week, and have lost 17lb, still got a few pounds to go but getting back into alot of my pre-pregnancy clothes which has really pleased me. The only thing I will say about weightwatchers is I know alot of people (myself included) who have done it, got very close to their goal weight and then have found themselves pregnant!! Must be something in their ready-meals ;-)

Mine were pretty accurate - scanned at 39 weeks at 10lb, was born at 40 weeks at 10lb 3.

Hiya, I was once a pregnant nanny. Legally you have to keep her job open for her, but under the same terms and conditions that it was before she got pregnant - ie without her bringing her child to work with her. She can request flexible working, but I believe that is down to the discretion of the employer, but you do have to provide a good enough reason to refuse it. As an employer you are supposed to do a risk assessment - talk to your nanny about how she is feeling and what you can do to make her working life easier. You have to allow her time off for appointments - I managed to arrange my scans (and I had a few) for a Friday which was my day off but my midwife appointments were on Tuesdays so I sometimes used to take the little boy that I was looking after with me - that was something that I choose to do but I was in NO way under obligation to do it. Just keep the lines of communication open.

I started to take B swimming when he was almost 4mths. It is an activity we still do now. We go to The Spa in Beckenham, they have lessons throughout (except for the 2 weeks over Xmas and NY) he's even got it tomorrow, bank holiday Monday, so you don't have thing of it not being on during school holiday.

Other half had kittens during the week as he walked into little Mook's room to find him body-surfing over the railing of cot. Needless to say, as of yesterday there is a new bed on order. Note to self - the week that little Mook goes into bed, other half is not allowed to work late, go out for a pint, go to gym, etc etc and we can both sit a top of stairs waiting to catch little Mook as he tries to hurtle past us to get to his toys.

A hairdresser once told me to rubbing a thin layer of conditioner into my scalp and then rinse as a good preventative to nits, as it puts a layer of "debris" on the scalp making it very hard for the lice to get to the scalp and lay eggs. Sorry it's not a cure but I believe it has worked for me (have worked with children for almost 20yrs, some nit infested, and never caught them)