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My daughter has recently seen what she thinks are Pelicans flying overhead. I know there are some in St James's park, but do they really fly around the city a bit? We have looked up pictures of flying Pelicans on line and she feels sure that it is one of them...she says that usually they are being chased by crows....has anyone else seen this?

I really recommend Caroline, a great one to one, local teacher in Yoga, Pilates, and all sorts of personal training. She is also kind and funny which I feel helps alot!!! Her number is 07808860952.

Half Moon Montessori is great, I love it. However it is not hardcore Montessori in that although it does use all the precribed wooden montessori learning tools and activities' it also uses other stuff as well. In some ways this makes it even more child-led than the by-the-book Montessori method (I have some experience of this to compare as well) as children are able to do such a wide variety of things depending on their individual interests. Horses for courses.... Also I think all nurseries in which you can use the govt childcare vouchers now have to have some handwriting, letter and numberwork in the term before you start school - this is very un-montessori as they would prefer to wait til the child indicates they are ready, but nearly all Montessoris do this now otherwise thhy would price themselves out of the market.

I think it's worth getting no.1 a dolly before no.2 arrives - for a bit of role play and to stimulate a few baby centred conversations...sometimes they're not interested and sometimes it works a treat.

One of mine is 01/01/01. When we book flights and stuff they ring us up because one of our kids birthdays has gone to "the default"

I totally agree with what Woman of Dulwich said about letting go of the idea that one birth has more value than another....and infact with her whole post. I think one way to improve your birth experience is to remain flexible in your expectations. First time round one is lead to beleive that you have the power to choose your birth experience, but of course you can only choose your preference for birth experience, often events require a deviation from the plan. This can leave you feeling guilty that we had somehow not chosen correctly, or that the mind body/mind had not performed as it should and that we have in someway let the baby down at the outset. With 2nd or subsequent babies one is much less focussed on the birth itself, more on the new life that it produces, In my experience, this means less trauma around the delivery and hospital stay and more joy about the arrival of a new member of the family. Regarding the hospital stay - I can remember that I did hate that part with number one, but with the others I noticed it less. I think I was more aware of my role as a mother. For example if one's toddler required a hospital stay, we wouldnt even consider worrying about how unpleasant it might be for us to be on the ward with them, or how to avoid it or keep it short, we would just turn up and do what's necessary. It feels more like that with number 2. Infact the whole thing's easier, so my advice is keep as many options open for yourself as you can, and remain flexible when the time comes...good luck!!

or this

I think its allocates 40% church places and 60% non church places, so lots of non christians.

I think that actually measured by shortest "safe walking route"

Yes, that cafe is on Burton Bradstock Beach.

People on Landells sometimes get into Dulwich Village Infants ...and they will be having a bulge in 2012

The farm at Abbotsbury is http://www.abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk/childrens_farm/index.htm you can buy discounted tickets if you go to the Swannery and sub tropical gardens which are also in Abbotsbury - I particualrly love the gardens. You can go Fossil hunting at Charmouth - great beach for it a low tide on the western side. Lovely part of the world - enjoy!

Here is the link to the old thread about BCG http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,459569,459670#msg-459670

Why dont you try the west dulwich forum - you may get more luck finding people local to you - hope you find some!

I have a 2 year gap between my first two, then a 4.5 year gap before the 3rd, and then a 15 month gap before the youngest arrived (yikes!!) and I really feel that the benefits and shortfalls of the different length gaps have sort of evened out. Of course there's hard bits when you have 2 little ones, but there are also difficulties in meeting the needs of children with a broader age gap. I agree with Molly, dont get too hung up on when the children arrive - but if you know you want them, get on with it because not only can it get trickier to conceive, pregnancy and children get more tiring as you get older!!! Having said that, the 15 month gap between my youngest two arose as I felt I was getting older and it may take more time so we didnt hang around - Mother nature's got quite a sense of humour hasn't she! There's never been any shortage of love to go around, and as people have pointed out, its an ever expanding thing, and of course they have the love of their siblings as well as the love from us. Many congratulations to Snowboarder and Alieh, you will of course find that your gap...and of course your baby, is just the perfect one.

Rememeber that one's experience of the scanning procedure is very coloured by the outcome. When all is rosy it's laughs and joy and guessing the baby's character traits, when there's an indicator for an abnormality, there are long silences, extra measuring and probing, trying to ascertain the full details before presenting them to you....when something's wrong or potentially wrong you are frightened and angry at everyone - but it's not necessarily the scanner's fault.

Really great for feeding but SO ugly! For this reason you only want them in the house for a limited time ( If all goes well, its not long before your comfortable feeding anywhere) so I would really recommend getting a second hand one - they often turn up on the sale section here.

I agree, this is sad. However - it's not been open that much recently so perhaps James is pleased to see it go - hard to imagine the replacement having the same homely feel (or the same magical homemade banana loaf!) None-the-less, I wish the newcomers success.

Thanks so much, I'll get in touch with her.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a teacher that will teach from our home, at grade 3 level?

My parents used to tell me that ice cream vans played the music to let everyone know that they'd run out of ice cream. Grrr!

Chin up Fi, her time will come! Even if her most excellent progeny are treating her well right now, remember that, just as it is with your son's bashing with said bucket and nightime wakefulness - its just a phase..... You've only to decide whether, when the tables are turned, you will be supportive or smug!!

I would rather eat an animal that has lived it's life in the wild and been shot, than one than has been reared in a farm. Squirrel, deer, pheasant. More humane in my opinion

Me to 2 year old daughter when I found a poo on bathroom floor; "B, what's this doing here!?" B;"Cinderella dood it" .....beats a glass slipper...

I second what alieh says. Some advisors advise letting them dry out and some advise keeping the nipples moist between feeds. For me letting them dry out when my babes were small meant that they crusted up and the pain at the next feed was prohibitivly bad. I was advised to use used parafin dressings that are usually used for burns which worked really well at healing while damp and stopped my boobs getting stuck to the nipple pads as well. They are like this and you can buy them in any chemist http://www.betterlifehealthcare.com/view_product.php?prodID=7992&ref=google_base. Also nipple sheilds can help temporarily. http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Nipple-Shields_334235/?CAWELAID=334508285&cm_mmc=Shopping%20Engines-_-Google%20Base-_---_-Boots%20Nipple%20Shields You dont get a great latch with them so not great for long term use but if things are too bad to continue they will give a bit of respite - allowing a couple of non nipple cracking feeds in which your daughter's boobs can recover a little. Good luck - my toes are curling while I remember it!