Creche

Well we've just completed our first week of adaptation at the halte garderie (part time creche that means).  She did 15 mins on Monday, 30 mins Tuesday until today when they asked me to call after an hour to see if she was OK and them she stayed for nearly 2 hours in all today.

It costs 0.05pc of your salary - Euro0.95/hour for us (based on 2007 tax return... complicated huh?) and she can go for 8 hours a week... ie 2 mornings or 2 afternoons booked in advance plus another 8 hours if I call up on the off chance someone else has cancelled.

I have to take a bag with 2 nappies, a change of clothes, a piece of fruit / cup of fruit juice for the morning or something dairy for the afternoon.. no cakes / biscuits allowed... and her teddy or whatever.

They have a room full of cot bunkbeds, a room for nappy changes and hand washing and a room for playing with things like wet pasta (yes really..) as well as an outdoor area.

Children can go to this creche from 6 weeks old until they start maternelle school.

First Birthday

A year has passed already - like lightening in fact.

Eloise is now a little more than 9 kilos, has 6 teeth and runs (not walks) - she loves her bike (her feet don't touch the floor or the peddles) and will be starting at the halte garderie (occasional creche) very soon.

We've just had another injection at the doctors (measles etc) - we've had very little in the way of illnesses, only a small gastro for which no medicine was prescribed - just no milk / eat carrots, quince and rice and wash your hands lots really...    and we've just stopped breast feeding completely.
And we've just fitted locks on the kitchen cupboard doors... hmmm.

Helena Frith Powell on babies in UK and France...

How long after giving birth should a woman wait to make love?

It’s an issue all parents face - but rarely talk about. Now, one mother dares to ask that important question…

After giving birth, a woman thinks of many things; chocolate, baby names, how soon she can go home, how soon she can sit down without the help of an inflatable rubber ring, and which breastfeeding bras are the most practical. Read more...

www.Enciente.com

If you can read a bit of French - this is a very full site on everything to do with being pregnant in France... Click here to go to www.encient.com

9 months

It's been a little while since my last post...

Eloise is now 9 months and 3 weeks old - she's cruising the furniture - eating chunks of anything she can get her hands on (mostly off the floor) and has 2 teeth (the first one of which was rather painful..) and she loves the swimming pool.

This month we have to visit the doctor to have an obligatory 9 month check - there is a sheet in the back of your carnet de sante that has to be completed by the doctor and stamped otherwise you don't receive anymore money from the CAF.

Eloise was generally measured and weighed - questions on the form included "can she play peepo?" (yes) and does she point with her finger? (no) and does she know her name (yes).

We have to go back at 1 year old to have another vaccination.

Cost of visit to doctor Euro27.

Six months three weeks..

I'm sitting up - albeit a little wobbly and have a cushion in waiting... and I'm eating anything I can get my hands on...

Baptism in France

There is an interesting article about a Baptism in France on This French Life's site here.