You have to listen to the monkey in game "happy birthday yoyo" pronounce "Z"..."Ze-d".."Ze-d"..arghh I wanted to feed that monkey some bananas....

  this is the same reaction I have to hearing "zed" pronounced as "zee".  The difference in pronunciation between English speaking countries is really funny.

How exciting for you and your daughter.  Congratulations!

How scary.  I have no experience with febrile seizures but it looks like there was some great info from the link that was posted.  I hope your niece recovers soon.

I've only just seen this 2010Bebes.  I also have a daughter aged 3 (born March 2007) and would love to share experiences and see how things have changed.  I was born in the 70's so have vague memories of things being different but of course my view of that time as a child would be different to your view as a parent.

We have quite a good children's theatre in the city but not in the little town we moved to last year so we have to travel a few hours to get there and it's on my list of things to do next time we are there since Hannah has never been. 

I remember staying with my grandparents in another small town about an hour from the city when I was a child and the highlight of our visit was going to the children's theatre while we were there. 

Our dentist does a special first visit from about 3 years old where they get the child to sit in the chair, ask them if they can count check their teeth and show them some of the instruments for checking teeth and explaining what they're for.  Then they get a special teeth activity book and pencils and stickers so the kids love it.  We just took Hannah last month.

Before then they have always been good about letting kids come in and look when I've gone.  Mind you my Mum comes too to look after her in reception and is also a patient there.

I think the familiarity is a good thing.  Much like my kids come with me to the dr so it's not all about going when they are sick or need vaccinations. 

Congratulations Stephanie!  I am expecting a baby later this year and have a 3 year old daughter.

What an awesome link.  Thank you 

What fantastic links.  Thank you 

ETA

I have just read the link in the original post to the nymag article.  I have to say it really resonated with me.  I was one of those children with a very high IQ who was always told I was smart, attended special classes for the highly intelligent children in the district and was expected to do very well academically.  Since everything came so easily to me if I couldn't learn something immediately I floundered and refused to try because the idea of trying and failing terrified me.  That would mean I'm not smart, hey.  For me I was ok not trying and failing because I somehow thought I could save face by pretending I didn't care to learn that particular thing.

Fortunately there were very few things I didn't grasp fairly quickly.  Unfortunately one of those was geometry and I failed maths in Year 12 which is something I had been very, very good at and won awards in competitions for.  Now I know that spatial maths is not something that comes easily to me but I have no problems with calculus and other more abstract concepts.  Now I am going through a maths programme to complete it because even 15 years later it bothers me that I failed at something.  The difference now is I know that I need to put in the effort to learn which is something I never did before.

We named our daughter Hannah because it was a name we both liked and it felt right.

The other day I noticed a couple were auctioning the right to name their baby on ebay.  I was more than a little bit stunned and would think it is illegal.  Who would do something like that though?  They were suggesting it would be a great opportunity for a business to get publicity

This is also a favourite here with my 3 year old.  We have some cards I bought from the zoo when we were there last and she loves it.

  they are such funny stories.

My three year old has an imaginary friend.  She will go to the door and open it and stand there while she lets him in.  It is very funny when we ask her what she is doing and she looks at us like we are really dumb and says she's letting him inside.

I agree with tammtamm21 that it never hurts to read a lot of different books but with an eye to what feels right for you.

Personally I read both Ferber and Babywise and have to say that I reacted quite strongly to both as it went completely against everything I believe about babies and children.  It is also worth noting that last year Ferber wrote a retraction stating he now believes much of what he wrote was wrong and apologised to those who may have followed his advice.  Having said that others swear by them so I think it is a case of finding what suits your child.

One thing to be aware of is the misconception that Attachment Parenting is the same as Permissive Parenting and that your children will dictate your life.  This is a completely false assumption and in my experience is quite the opposite.  Most attachment parents are able to take their children everywhere and anywhere and the children become very comfortable in all manner of social situations and are less inclined to melt down.  We have never had to decline an invitation or consider whether it fits in around our child's sleep schedule because she is used to sleeping in slings or her pram now she is bigger (or even on a blanket at our feet) amongst the action. 

On the other hand I have seen many, many families who have had to leave early or not come at all because their children need to be in bed by a set time in their own environment or they completely lose the plot.

Anyway just wanted to mention that because time and again I hear that attachment parenting means you need to revolve around your children and I believe this is not healthy or sustainable long term.

I've just made it to the 30 week mark so am getting a bit excited.

Thanks Marmee    Hopefully I can get enough organised so that things will run more smoothly for the first few months.  I'm mostly tackling paperwork this week and one box a week from the garage.