That's when they'll get the most out of it, but babies need to be read to. It helps them a lot, can't be overstated. Take it from me, my kid has severe ADHD but he's a stronger reader than most of his classmates.

vouching for "the book with no pictures", but maybe when they are 3-4 yo.

Hard to say because for every useful suggestion, there's a chance somebody else has already bought it. Some things I'd have found useful - a nappy changing setup, with plenty of nappies and wipes and cream and maybe a changing mat. Sleeping bags. Boring clothes (vests, onesies). Professional cleaner. Takeaway voucher. If you can check what they already have that would help. Or if all else fails, get nappies and wipes.

The one certain piece of advice I can give is DON'T BUY TOYS.

So many toys...

Depending on how close you are, a cheeky gift of prophylactics might get a smirk, but yeah, pretty much anything that offsets/diminishes the daily function task load would be a godsend. Laundry, tidying, sleep, meal prep, etc. 🖖🏼

I wanna just throw my support behind this one, if there's a local service that does gift cards (and maybe even cleans dishes) this is an amazing option for new parents.

Earplugs, they have nice ones made for concerts that reduce dB levels instead of just cutting all sound, could be handy

3 hrs worth of a professional home cleaning service.

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish - helped me a lot, still does when I have the presence of mind to communicate effectively. I didn't spend a lot of time around kids until I had one, so a lot of this stuff didn't come naturally to me.

That and The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak. Really fun way to get a kid to be able to enjoy books without the comfort of art on every page. And the first years are the most crucial with regard to being read to.

Booze and caffeine.

It really depends on the colleague. But cash is always nice to have(regardless how tacky it may feel) so that they can get what they want/need. Babies grow very quickly and your colleague might be drowning in handmedowns (this goes for toys/clothing/certain accessories).

A sympathy card

Hopefully your ankle isn’t too bad.

No, you misunderstand. While leisurely going down the station stairs, minding their own business, there was this idiot who brushed past and promptly made a somersault, probably injuring themselves even though they walked away as if nothing happened.

Oh god, same thing happened to you?

Well, it sounds like my wife's going to have to turn in her resignation and go back to school for another year. Feeling defeated, but it sounds like once she's finished that year she might still have a job at the current place.

I keep getting so excited when I think we're permanently going back to two incomes, and it keeps on being temporary. It was my idea to send her to school for optometry, and I worry that it won't work out. I'm usually pretty good at predicting the future... except when I'm hoping something good will happen.

You're never gonna believe this...

Not bad, some skinny git just tripped over trying to pass me at the station and we're all laughing at the impatient bastard.

Just took a small tumble on the stairs just now at the station whilst trying to overtake a slow fat person. Had to walk it off to save face and maintain flow but I think my ankles might be more fucked than I let them let on

I used to. I got £150 total in a couple years, But, they've since banned me for unknown reasons.

Got £50 out of this app a few years ago and immediately uninstalled it, I highly doubt your answers have anything to do with surveys being offered to you.

One day I'll be brave like you and throw a Linux distro on my desktop

The exercise was "fried Mars bar for the entire family" not "turn the entire family into fried Mars bar". I'm afraid you'll fail the marketing class exam buddy 😞

I've heard of that, but I don't try new distros very often and I'm getting work done with Mint. The real trouble is my weak command line skills, I'm still banging rocks together. The beauty is that it does eventually work most of the time.

Had a go at plumbing for the first time in 10 years, converting an indoor tap into an outside one.

I still don't trust how a tiny curved piece of metal can stop water from leaking through ("olive seal"), but seems so. The current state of the art tech are "push fittings" (read: plastic joining doo-hickeys), but I opted for the old fashion olive+nut compression fittings.

Cut the indoor 15mm pipe, fitted a 15mm --> 1/2" flexible connector with isolation to it. Drilled a 20mm hole to the outside. Slotted in the outside tap plate with 15mm copper stem. Cut the stem. Silicone'd the eff out of any gaps (because that's what the british seem to do for everything...). Elbow compression fitting on the other side. Add the 1/2" connector to the elbow. Turn the water back on, and hey presto, no leaks!

I now have an outside tap to water the plants, which might be a bit late given the heatwave has gone and my plants are either fried or tired, but I'm ready for the next one.

Next step is erecting a sun shade. No point in having a garden if you can't go in it

I love having my gf over when I'm working and she's working. I tend to work harder if someone is in the room with me (under the "look at me! I'm working!" attention mindset), and we're fetching each other teas and hot waters. It's lovely.

gaming on linux

I've been hearing a lot about bazzite running on NixOS if that's something