I have an issue with societies need to put age limits on what my kids are aloud on participate in! 
When my girl was three she was clearly quite capable of participating in gymnastics with the 6 year olds but wasn't aloud to. We were asked to leave the kindy gym when she climbed a rope to the roof. It was very high and I understood their concern but why not just put her into a more challenging group. This same girl has asked her school if she can race with the boys in a higher grade to give herself a challenge but was told no.
My second girl is stuck doing to same level of gymnastics until she is old enough for the next group. She also left little athletics because there was no challenge.
Now I have a boy who is sooooooo ready to start school next year and is forced to wait another year. He will do kindy twice. His kindy let him go up a level early due to the fact that they just couldn't believe he is only three! He is a new years eve baby and very tall, most of his friends are 5 and shorter than him. his social skills, language and motor skills are excellent and many  teachers were surprized to hear he wasn't starting next year. All three of my kids would have thrived at school a year earlier than they were aloud to attend.  All the mums on this forum need to think and plan for the eventuality that your kids will be held back by their age. Three year olds who can read and are physically superb have no easy place in this world. I hope that some mothers have an easier time than I have and that other countries are more flexible. But for all of my whinging I would NOT stop teaching them! What they gain is priceless compared to what they are not aloud to do.
I think Its time society recognized ability over age!

Oh nic your husband must be a clone of mine! He is completely useless around the house. I have 3 kiddies and I went back to work after the first and second were a few months old. I was constantly tired as I worked and then came home to do all the house work and cooking. I left for work at 5am and was home by 3 so I beat my dh home by 2 hours so he figured I had all the time in the world to clean! I was so tired I actually drove off down our street and forgot my baby was asleep in her cot! I came home called my neighbor to baby sit and went to bed! After I had my third I refused to go back to work. I made it clear that since I was doing all the home duties he could pay all the bills, saying he can't have it both ways! There is no way I could hold my job now and keep up without external help, so I don't try to anymore. I do miss work, but it's not worth it. I can honestly tell you that the third child is more than a third more work!
Please remember ladies you are not superwoman, it's ok to spend some quality personal time on the couch alone, it is ok to leave your baby with a friend for an hour and have a cup of tea in piece, it is ok to spit it accasionally when hubby comes home and just walk out the door saying I am having a walk ALONE!
The help with the tiredness I can recommend a daily multivitamin, I am always surprised by how much this helps. Take a nap when the opportunity arises. And try to fit in some exercise, it will make you tired in the short term but will make you happy and more energetic after a few days. It could be as simple as dancing for 10 mins with bub or chasing a ball in the park. It is important, very important for your mental health and physical health. Finally try to laugh, even if it is just at your own silly baby jokes!
It really does get better as the kids get older, even if they do decide to get up a 5 am every single day!

Reading comprehension isn't just asking questions. The type of questions you ask make all the difference. So this is what I was taught as a teacher. First question should be something that has a simple answer that is directly stated in the book. Eg, what is johns sisters name? Your child should always get this question correct. The second question should be hinted at in the book in words or pictures Was the king angry? why do you think that? The third question should be inferred in the story but the answer not given directly. This one is harder to think up but it gives an excellent indication as to whether your child is reading above their conprehention level, as often happens with children taught to read early. It's not a bad thing but you need to be aware of it to ensure that you can provide books that gently step up your child's knowledge base. This question could be about linking the story line back to your child's life experiences or even a discussion about the characters personalities.

This is the first year I am making Christmas gifts but these are for the adults. I have made flower pot pens for all the kids various coaches and teachers and they were so well received I will make them for all those difficult nanas, aunties etc. The instructions are simple and my kids 6,8 did most of it. You need to paint a .small terra-cotta pot and  fill it with beans or little smooth rocks. Take the top end off a pen and and insert a fake flower using a hot melt glue to stick it in firmly. Then wrap the pen with green florest tape. When it's dry put  5 flower pens into each pot and wrap with cellophane.it looks like a bunch of fake flowers but it's useful and pretty and their hubby's won't Steel the pens! if you don't understand google it for pictures in Australia it cost me about $5 for each one but I didn't shop around at all and the kids loved the craft project.
When I was little my dad made us a set of large blocks for outside use in the sandpit (which was actually a pile of gravel) he made it from house framing pine lengths pulls from skip bins at a house being built next door. We loved the blocks so much I have a request for him to treat my kids to some soon. It's a simple cut and sand job and we used those blocks for over 10 years!

Melody if you are committed to always giving him the attention he needs even as he gets older it won't backfire on you. As kiddies get older usually around age 4/5 parents hold back on the attention usually without realizing, they expect kids to be able to entertain themselves a lot more often. Now I think this isn't a bad expectation but if your child is getting used to you being a talker and providing a lot of the stimulus you need to be aware to pull it back more slowly than the average parent to avoid the tantrums. Obviously you are not just an average parent (or you wouldn't be on this forum at all!) so I am sure you will have no problems. Spoil Thames both with your love and watch them grow into confident happy humans with high self esteem

I have seen the difference between chatty parents and parents who rarely talk and I am all for the talkers! Children do need to hear ALOT of words but perhaps not constantly. I watched my son playing in a wheelbarrow full of water today. If I had been talking I would have missed his beautiful singing and his narration of his game. Priceless? Beyond priceless. I rarely hang the washing smiling but today I did 

When I first found rainbow music I thought it was a great idea but then I realized my children know their abc's so I wondered what the advantage of colours would be. Sheet music is just circles named by letters corresponding to keys on a piano so why complicate it with colours too? However My daughters piano teacher has told me not to be so hung up on her learning the names of the notes and just to learn which note is which key on the piano for now (she is doing her 2nd year of piano now) I am now thinking that if your kids don't know their alphabet then rainbow music would be great but if they do perhaps sheet music with the actual letters written in the music stave would be better in the long run. But I have no idea if anyone make this sheet music. I can see the merit of rainbow colours making music fun and interesting, I have a daughter who is much more likely to be interested if the piano was multi coloured!

Have faith, my girl did the same to me, I gave it a rest after a year when she lost interest at age 4, but now she is at school and did the entire primary reading corriculum in one year! She was bored in her first year at school because they went encouraging her to read but in grade 1 ( our first year of REAL learning) she learnt how to read completely! Even her teacher was surprised beyond words. I think my ground work when she was three was worth every effort now! She is a confident well adjusted 8 year old now who can read anything! She now spends her time in class talking! Lol the biggest problem we find now is finding books hard enough with appropriate content!

I have used them at least six times for shipping to Australia. Excellent! Quick and efficient and soooo much cheaper than our book stores here. They have a us and a uk site so check out each before you purchase as you can save a bit by comparing each, well I have as the exchange rate varies!

Latria my boy walked later than both my girls ( by a month ) and in our playgroup of about 15 kids the girls were all a month or more faster at walking than their brothers although each family varied in what age the kids walked so some of it must be lifestyle or genetics. I am a big believer in encouraging them to walk early as little kids spend such a huge amount of both physical and mental effort in learning to crawl and then walk. Once they have this skill mastered they can spend their energy in learning the next skill.
 My first child ( girl) walked at 9 months and didn't rest after that, she had a full cross pattern run on her 1 st birthday and wins all the races at school (she is 8 now). My second was a lazy girl and I encouraged her to walk by having her outside naked, at 8 months she decided the grass was too prickly and up and walked inside! She is so far ahead of her peers in running that she is usually in a race of her own! (age 6) both the girls are excelling at school in all areas. My son is three and he walked at 10 months and then didn't do much more until he was a week off 1 when we went on a holiday and he had to walk or miss out on the action! People who meet him are surprised he isn't starting school next year. He speaks clearly and is quite tall. He is active and friendly and seems as bright as his sisters. He is fast too, like superman he tells me!

Wonderful, I can feel just how excited you are! Food is always an excellent motivator for boys, apparently that's the way to their hearts  keep encouraging him to practice and I know three boys who didn't bother to walk until just before two and all three of them are perfectly normal little school boys now! We think their high chair was just too comfortable!

iPad I have one and both my kids and I love it! The apps are awesome, there are so many to choose from. I find my friends with the galaxy struggle to find apps for younger kids that are educational. It could be my friends that are the problem but do check first!