srisky

Have pm'd you.

dance

Talk show host - Radiohead

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Important thing is that you and anyone else teaching him learn the correct way to say each letter/group of letters, otherwise learning will be tricky for your child and very confusing once he starts school. YouTube is a good place to start. Have fun :)

No personal experience, but have heard that Oxford reading tree (Biff & Chip; Songbird) are good and also Jolly Phonics.

Minder - the Villa is both a nursery and pre-prep school. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think that children already in attendance at their nursery will have first refusal for a place in the pre-prep school (which starts at reception age). Children not at the nursery will be assessed for entry at reception. Being a pre-prep, I assume it goes up to age 7y.

What a great thing to do! Do you want paper as well as pencils/crayons? How about sharpeners, erasers? I'd be happy to buy nee. Where/when can we donate?

Thought this was about another type of service from the title...

Anyone got experience of this?: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1456165.htm Not as stylish as some of the others on this thread but still looks nice and I like the fact that it can be separated into two beds and comes with a pull-out third bed (or can buy with storage drawer instead). Height is only 145cm, so not sky high. Although I am thinking of using the lower bunk and pull-out for the kids, as they are waaaaay younger than the 6y age recommendation for bunks, and the top bunk for grandma!

Pickle Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > :( > > I have a 6 year old girl who loves having her > finger and toenails painted - I let her have nail > varnish on her toes, but won't put nail varnish on > during term time. I don't wear nail varnish on my > fingers, but do get pedicures over summer. When > she plays with friends they have fun with lip > gloss and glitter, not something she gets from me, > but just harmless little girl fun. > > I remember playing with makeup when I was little. > I went on to get a university degree, and haven't > felt the need to get fake boobs or marry a > footballer. These days I don't wear makeup at > all, so it was a passing phase ;) > When I was about 8/9y old (primary school age anyway) I remember pretending to be Sandy from Grease and even blew out talc powder rolled up in paper pretending it was a cigarette. I loved Grease, still do, but I'm nothing like Sandy. The biggest influence in my like were my parents and their behaviour and expectations. Having said all that and knowing I turned out ok, I'm not sure how happy I'd be letting my kids watch Grease where the depiction of 'cool' is smoking ciggies, bunking off school and snogging in the back seat of a car....what were my parents thinking?!

Have PM'd you

Great! Look forward to meeting you both. I'll give others a chance to reply here or via PM and I'll be in touch.

My daughter will be starting kindergarten at Herne Hill in September and I thought it would be nice for her to meet some of her new class mates beforehand to help settle her (& her class mates) in. I think the school organise something similar but I figured a few more meet-ups will make faces more familiar and a talking point about who she will play with etc in the build up to the first day. Children new to the school and those who are moving up from the nursery welcome. I suggest June as a broad starting point for a date to meet and if all goes well we can meet in July and August, too. Venue to be decided but will see how many reply first!

We are also contemplating adopting for number 3 (in the distant future) I feel lucky to have experienced pregnancy & child birth and I don't feel the desire to do it again even though two children doesn't quite feel enough. My children are loved beyond measure and feel sad to think that there are children that feel unwanted. It's just awful. BUT I imagine it's very very difficult to bring up an adopted child when your biological children are young (I think minimum age gap is 3y) as they can't be treated as an equal but need special dispensation, attention, rules relaxed and this may upset your own children. unless you adopt a baby who won't have any 'issues' but they are relatively few and may have older siblings.

Thanks all for the advice. He is already in a sleeping bag so I think our best bet for an immediate (and cheap) solution is to use the travel cot as it is very deep. He tends to lean forward over the side of the cot if the wants to get out or is upset, plus it is difficult to drop everything immediately and run to him whenever he wakes just in case he goes over the side again.

This morning our 13m old fell head first out of his cot, which is at the lowest level. I think he may have been reaching for something but he was definitely leaning & reaching when he fell, so a sleeping bag won't prevent it happening again. We have put his cot mattress on the floor and will see how it goes but I don't hold out much hope. Anyone have any suggestions where such a young toddler can sleep safely? Thanks!

That is shocking & worse that it has happened more than once. The safety of the children should be paramount. I shudder to think of one of my kids walking alone outside. I'm so glad he is ok.

Ended up getting this: http://www.sportsdirect.com/karrimor-running-belt-mens-764002?colcode=76400243#customerreviews It's very small but expands to fit my smartphone, keys, Oyster card and some cash. Thanks for the suggestions!

A big thumbs up from us. My 3y old often says she wants to go back to nursery about 30 seconds into our walk home and a few weeks ago she woke at 2am crying that she wanted to go to nursery. That was fun. I hope her love of nursery is not a reflection on our parenting! They have also been wonderful settling in our 13 month old, really loving and thoughtful as to what he may need and very keen to hear our thoughts.

Also recommend Indian Dining Club based in Gypsy Hill. I got their recommendation from here. You can order & pay online, plus they do free delivery. Plus points are that there are generous quantities of meat and the food is not oily. Also love Ganapati's (different type of food to Indian Dining Club).

Underhill Rd is now open at Barry Rd; I don't know about Friern Rd end. Was it an RTA? I only ask as I hate turning on to Barry Rd from Underhill or walking near that junction as there have been a few accidents there over the past decade.

Not a bad idea after 4 kids...

Reading this thread with great interest - we 'only' have two kids but both hubby and I have pretty full jobs/hours. Liking the idea of a live-out au pair, if there's such a thing (no room for a live-in), can anyone give me a tough estimate of how much they charge? Thanks

You could contact the registrars at the private schools to see if there are places that have come up. It maybe that some of the pupils have accepted state school places for Sept or moved private schools and will, therefore, relinquish their place. Good luck in finding a school that suits.