beckelina

There's a playgroup every weekday morning in the pavilions at Meersbrook Park from 9:30 - 12ish I think, very friendly but I think it's more suited to toddlers - more activities etc. There's a Mother and Baby group at the Grapevine Centre, Heeley on Tuesdays at 9:30am - I've never been but heard good things. Have you tried a local Sure Start as well? They often run good groups. The Sharrow one is a bit far, but they do a good Thursday morning group in the Trinity Centre in Highfield during term time.

This is the same one that emma.82 mentioned - Fox Glen playground which the Council has recently done up. Or just for a big runaround try Parsonage Farm at the top of the hill.

However I definitely do not wish for my taxes to go towards homeopathy when there are much more urgent needs within the NHS. How do we solve that quandary?

Ben Goldacre calls this 'regression to the mean' - basically a lot of conditions and illnesses have a natural cycle too - the symptoms appear, they get worse, they get really bad, then they start to improve (or you die). By the time some people have got bad/desperate/acute enough to try homeopathy, they may be in the 'improving' stage of the cycle of the illness. And wrongly attribute it to a sugar pill made with water that has been banged on a horsehair pad seven times... I'll add my voice to those recommending Ben Goldacre and particularly his book 'Bad Science' for an interesting read on homeopathy (and a lot more besides...)

Me and my Gran both found this poem helpful to read when my Grandad died: In The Next Room -by unknown Death is nothing at all; I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone, Wear no forced air or solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is Well.

I think there's still a morning play group from 9:30 - 11:30 in the Pavilion at Meersbrook Park? It's quite a small group, but a just turn up basis.

There's a playgroup on Thursday Mornings run by Sharrow SureStart at Highfield Trinity Church, just on the corner of London Road. Term time only, 10:00 - 12:00.

After I had one home visit I started going to the drop-in clinic -much easier from my POV and have never had anyone chase me up if DD didn't see anyone for months. All they used to tell me was to 'keep an eye on her weight, but don't worry about it, she's fine,but just watch it' which obviously made me worry, until I decided to ignore it. But all the different HV's I saw were supportive about BF-ing and baby led weaning - only prob is the constant weight fussing!

@sibon - I left the house with a small baby at half seven am. By the time I was home from work, baby in bed and other half had spent an hour queuing to vote, I could only get there at 8:15pm and in to vote at 9:15 pm. Probably lots of similar stories...

BBC are reporting that police have been called to polling stations to move people on... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/liveevent/

I queued for an hour at Heeley, and when I left at 9:30 pm there must have been at least 45 mins worth of people still waiting :-(

Try looking for Kids Can Do - should be stuff on there. Also Art In The Park run free events for kids, and the SCC Rangers do lots of exciting stuff too.

Sleeping is the thing that really drives me nuts. I've just had my first full night's sleep at ten and a half months, but imagine there's plenty of disruption still in store. My friends have a 2.5 yr old girl who is a bad sleeper - they've found a sleep clinic trick that has worked for them. They have a nightlight on a timer, and when the 'magic light' is on, she can get up and play, but when it's off, she has to be in her cot. She's really taken to it and it's working well. Is your daughter old enough to understand that kind of approach? I hope it gets better soon x

There's great baby-led weaning forums on Mumsnet and facebook,and also a dedicated forum here http://babyledweaning.com/forum/ where you can get loads of advice and tips. Other veggie stuff that my girl likes: chickpea dip on rice cakes, sweet potato mushed on rice cakes. Good luck x

Molecatchers get paid per mole, so they hang their catch onto fences so the farmer or landowner can easily check that they've caught what they said they did, with minimum effort, like the next time he drives past the field. A mole infestation in a field can reduce the available grazing by up to 10% because of the molehills, so they have a big financial impact on the farmer, particularly at times when they need good grazing, like lambing. It's nasty but it's life.