darlin'

@bluesuperted THANK YOU!! for linking to my blog. And yes please come and join me on my Facebook page too as I post daily play ideas over there too. I have 3 girls age 3, 2 and 18 weeks and I verge on the edge of insanity most of the time, so these things are to keep me going too! xxx

This is absolutely BRILLIANT!! Thank you SO much for doing it. Have bookmarked it and will be visiting regularly :-)

Ah thanks Born&BrED for mentioning my blog! There are some fab ideas already listed in all the answers above, love them! I write mainly about the play ideas and activities that I do with my 1 and nearly 3 year old at home. I was a reception teacher in ED so probably taught some of your kiddies a few years ago. Nowadays I have to keep myself from going mental and because my nearly 3 year old sounds *exactly* like yours Sanne Panne- interested in toys for all of 20 mins! Hope some of the ideas can be helpful, but please know this is not all we do all day every day and we still have all the usual strops, tantrums and tv days (ummm, a lot!) x

Crompo that's so cool! I love that it's an island- brilL! (they are great for getting a bit of peace and quiet!)

:)) That's great!

Definitely agree that the simple everyday things are what catches their attention (although I also loved the Jumperoo!) At 6 months they begin to be able to sit up or hold head up really well when lying down so the whol world opens up to them. A wonderful thing to create is a treasure basket filled with natural and everyday items that can be mouthed, bashed and explored using all of the senses. I have a little collection of treasure basket ideas and other baby play ideas that have been tried and tested with my two on my blog. You can see them here if you like- it's a direct link to the baby play list. Baby PLay Ideas at The Imagination Tree Hope some of those help- most are from recycled/ every day materials so cheap and easy to create!

Thanks for that link Fuschia. Some of those other signs are really interesting eg thin, elastic skin and easy bruising. Will look into this more. Hope your son gets the help he needs. OT should be really hot on this I imagine.

Thanks ED Mummy. I think I will speak to GP and hope they don't think I'm being crazy. I know I can touch thumbs to wrist and have over curved back so maybe it's a similar thing. Interesting how common it seems.

Bought mine from Myriad Toys as well. Such a lovely online shop- all about natural play. Brill.

I know you have enough ideas already (by the look of it!) but just want to suggest 2 titles that my 2 year ild LOVES (as did many classes of Reception kids that I taught in the past): "Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly" and "Faster Faster Nice and Slow" by Nick Sharratt and Sue Heap. Has them in fits of giggles, brilliant rhyming text (v good for early literacy development) and wonderful bright pictures.

Lots of people have said anything after 2 is easy! At the moment I can't quite imagine it myself. I found the transition from 1-2 much harder than 0-1 for some reason!

We have used this with our eldest since teething and now still on occasion as a toddler. We get mocked relentlessly by some of our friends but others have tried it too and seem to think it helps! You have to make sure you buy one that is knotted between each bead so that if by some freak occurrence it gets broken while on baby, the beads won't cause a choking hazard. The type to buy is baltic amber- no copies. The way I see it, it doesn't harm to try and it definitely seemed to help to some extent for us.

I'm interested in knowing more about this. What signs did/do your babies first have that show they may have it? In the last month or so my baby (10 months) has been doing the splits when she sits down and moves around, sometimes causing her to fall flat over onto her back because it means she's not propping herself up in a balanced way when sitting. It has freaked us out to see how flexible she is and I've been wondering if it could be something more. She was very mobile in the womb, going from breech to transverse and back to cephalic all within a morning. I eventually had to have her by c-s at 41 weeks because she just wouldn't stop moving and therefore couldn't engage. Does that sound like an indicator for hyperflexibility/ mobility do you think?

Oliver is the most popular name in the UK at the moment I think! It used to be Jack for aaaaaages.

Hi Fuschia I'm really sorry you are facing this and I understand what it's like. I was in the exact same situation with baby 2. Breech baby then officially unstable lie- went in for loads of appointments at MAU to check position. I was desperate for a VBAC so kept asking them to let me go and they actually were quite lenient. Then at 39 weeks I saw a different registrar at MAU, she detected transverse lie again and kept me in even though I had my 18 month old with me at the time. They offered me an elective c-section that week but it was very confusing. SOme consultants said there was no point waiting- babies like this never settle and you should just have the c-s. But I met a couple of others who said yes baby could go head down right up unitl the beginning of labour and I should wait it out. I found it VERY confusing and even my Oakwood midwives didn't really know what to do. I wouldn't say they were my advocates particularly. Anyway, long story, but in the end I waited it out until 41 weeks, they tried to do a sweep to induce labour and then they planned to turn the baby as labour started. But my cervix wasn't ready for induction and they couldn't give me a chemical induction due to previous c-s. So I had another c-s and it was perfectly fine. I was out within 48 hours and found I coped really well with the baby this time even though no-one helped much. Th 2 weeks away from my 18 month old were AWFUL and if I had known it would end with a c-s anyway, I would have had it right there and then on the day they had checked me in! I was just SO desperate for a chance at natural birth that I really wanted to give baby every chance possible to turn and make her own way out. The actual stay in hospital was quite pleasant and I did get a very good rest (on the plus side!). I wasn't in the antenatal ward so it was quite surreal but relaxing as well. Were your previous babies early at all?? They fact that you have already had 3 births could mean that you would be a very good case for induction and your body might respond brilliantly. It would be worth asking for them to try this (maybe at 38/39 wks?) and if it doesn't work then just go for the c-s. Whatever you do, it will be wonderful in the end. Sorry for writing so much. X