Guest post by Frederique

Bonjour ! I am very excited about being a guest on Erica’s blog. It is my first guest post ever and I am feeling kind of intimidated?! First, you might like to know who I am and how I met Erica.

My name is Frederique, I am French, I am 33 and the mother of lovely 2-year-old Benjamin. I am an English teacher, a journalist and a blogger. I have 2 blogs: My Baby Rocks, an indie rock mother blog and Wild Writing / D?lire d’?crire, a bilingual blog about creative writing.

I got to know Erica when once googling the word “mumpreneur “on the internet and reading the definition given by AceInspire. I recognized Antonia as I had reviewed The Mumpreneur Guide, for Egg Magazine, a free magazine for pregnant women. When visiting Erica’s website, I decided to sign in the Mum Blogger eCourse, thanks to which I learnt soooooooooooooo much and feel a lot more professional as a blogger now. By the way, while writing this article and adding links, I noticed AceInspire’s eBlogging course on the home page of the company’s website and just joined it, so excited!

For my guest post, as I wrote above my first ever, I thought you might enjoy a tiny selection of French records to enjoy with your children from folk music to rock n’ roll…

-Mon imagier des Amusettes (published by Les Editions Gallimard), a compilation of well-known tunes for children. You also get a karaoke version for each song.

-Any CD produced by Enfance et Musique, an excellent music label for children. I love A l’eau, a concept album about water by H?l?ne Bohy. But really, all the music produced by Enfance et Musique is brilliant!

-If you like pop music and a little bit of provocation, you might laugh to a singer self-proclaimed “Le roi des Papas” (literally “the king of daddies”). Vincent Malone likes making fun of everyday life and everything (even vomit and poo!). Definitely not for the squeamish but a good laugh and cheerful contemporary tunes… I love the album leroidespapas.com. For this project, “Le roi des papas” asked children to invent then email song lyrics. He picked his favourites and composed a series of incredible songs!

-Last but not least, maybe my favourites albums for children : La pittoresque histoire de Pitt Ocha (2003) and Pitt Ocha au pays des mille collines (2009) by Les Ogres de Barback, a group of French rock music inspired by music and musicians from all over the world. Each CD includes an original tale you can play before you child goes to sleep and both albums are beautifully illustrated. I strongly recommend the two CDs because they are so brilliant… The second album contains a few political allusions, this is maybe why I prefer the first CD which is a bit more innocent!

Hope you enjoyed this post and feel free to contact me! A bient?t!
Frederique

PS : the video is the trailer of H?l?ne Bohy’s show Le bateau de Nino including many beautiful songs from the album A l’eau.

We’re fortunate to have family that own a caravan near Pitlochry. Tummel Valley is a beautiful place to visit..if you don’t mind rain, it does rain a lot, but the scenery is stunning and more than makes up for the poor weather. So, what is there to do in Pilochry for toddlers?

The Queens View

Stop at The Queen’s View for breathtaking views, homemade cakes and teas and a quaint gift shop in which to spend some pocket money.

Children’s Amusements

The Children’s Amusements are just off the main high street, parking is available close by. There is an outdoor rides based park with the usual merry go rounds. Inside there are some two pence machines and a few old one arm bandits.

The Salmon Ladder

This was a bit under-whelming on the day we visited as we seemed to be out of season. On the right day though this would be a great spectacle for toddlers, the fish (apparently) jump high into the air and during migration around 5000 salmon use the ladder.

Victoria’s

We headed to this place for lunch and found it to be very child friendly. The coronation sandwich was really tasty and the children’s chicken goujons were homemade. Will definitely go back.

The Park

There is a huge park just off the main street which has a children’s play area and a very large football field, great for a kickabout.

Between 12-18 months children will begin to understand turn-taking games (nursery & school guide 06-07)

Starting with the easiest, here are some turn taking game suggestions;

Roll the Ball

Take turns roling the ball back and forth.

Catch

Once you’ve mastered ‘roll the ball’ try gently throwing the ball.

Snap

Take turns to lay a card until a match appears and someone shouts “snap”

Hide and Seek

Take turns to hide while the other one ‘seeks’.

Pairs

Shuffle cards and place face down, take turns to reveal two cards at a time. Try and make a pair, if you get lucky, take another turn.

Photo by flickr user StubbsUk

I found this helpful (rough!) guide in a parenting magazine it shows how much sleep (approx!) your child should be getting for each age….

1 week 16.5 hours (4 daytime naps)

1 month 15.5 hours (3 daytime naps)

3 months 15 hours (3 daytime naps)

6 months 14.5 hours (2 daytime naps)

9 months 14 hours (2 daytime naps)

12 months 13.75 hours (1 daytime naps)

18 months 13.5 hours (1 daytime nap)

2 years 13 hours (1 daytime nap)

3 years 12 hours (1 daytime nap)

4 years 11.5 hours (ouch! No nap…)

I think this guide is pretty good although, from my experience working at a nursery I found most of the kids had stopped their daytime nap by their 3rd birthday.

What are your thoughts? Did your babies/children follow this pattern?