Pickle

Ha ha, Help-ma-Boab, squash isn't scheduled in, sorry ;-)

Polly, the Porchester Spa looks ideal, thank you. Will ring tomorrow and see if I can book myself in for next Thursday - for ?60 I can get entry, a body scrub and a massage, seems pretty reasonable. Excited! Must visit the revamped Dulwich Library and stock up on books! Goodliz, your idea is also a good one, I am looking forward to a week where I can exercise when I want to, rather than when kids/school runs/baby nap times dictate. Borough Market is a great idea too, I'm ashamed to say I've lived in London for over 12 years and never been there. Great ideas, thank you all.

I've been lucky with gifts in the past and had a few spa days at the Sanctuary in the last few years - agree it's lovely, might look into deals I can get for next week.

After a pretty horrific month due to my brother passing away, a fleeting visit to NZ to help with funeral arrangements etc I am very much looking forward to half term, as lovely hubby is taking all 3 children to visit his parents for a week. I drop them at the airport on Sunday, and pick them up the following Sunday! I've arranged a couple of boring admin type things (dentist, hairdresser), but would love your recommendations, either in ED or beyond (given I will be completely free of children and routines) for - breakfast/brunch place, where I won't feel too silly sitting by myself - somewhere to get a massage (not too expensive) I'm planning to go to Westfield Stratford for a look around, any other recommendations? What would you do? Obviously no morning alarm, tv, books, knitting and wine are already on my list!

I am just back from a rehearsal in the church next to the hostel, and walk down the side of the hostel building to get in. There are families squeezed into single rooms with bunk beds, it's not a nice situation for any family to be in, and I doubt they would choose to be there if they weren't genuinely in need.

I don't think MM has a miminum number of mornings, unless of course it's changed in the time since we left. I originally started #2 just 1 morning as she was quite young, but quickly changed to 2 (and eventually 3) as she really enjoyed it (and so did I, it's amazing what you can achieve in 2 hours!).

I guess jet lag won't be an issue for you, which will make it easier if you do go. For me, the thought of 30 hours of flying alone with a scratchy toddler, followed by a mere 5 days in NZ with a jet lagged toddler, pretty much made my mind up! While my parents would have loved to see my little one, I also know my Mum would then have worried about cooking, getting bedrooms ready etc, which wasn't what I wanted her to be doing.

Another vote for Magic Moments, my older children both attended from 2.5 and 19 months respectively and loved it, leaving to move to primary school nursery at 3.5. The staff are lovely, and I'm sure they are CRB checked (to be honest I never checked, I didn't feel I needed to once I had met them). My youngest will be going as soon as she can walk.

We have the Maxi Micro for our 5 and 6 year olds, they will last for years as the handlebars go up quite high.

Just to add... I'd never been away from her for longer than a few hours, and still breastfeed, so added stress. We ended up getting an emergency nanny as hubby had enough to deal with, given we have two older children, and it was a busy time at work. She was absolutely fine, in fact, she had a lovely time!

I've just been through this, with the sad loss of my brother at the age of just 34 a few weeks ago. I flew to NZ alone, having agonised over whether to take my youngest (16 months), and was very glad I did in the end. Being there by myself made it so much easier to focus on my parents, sister, and myself. It would have been stressful trying to deal with the requirements of a toddler through all of the upheaval of arranging a funeral and the associated things that go with it. I don't regret my decision at all, it was the best thing to do in the circumstances. So sorry for your loss. P x

The first time we went there was a Winnie the Pooh film on which was ideal - gentle and only about an hour long. We went to Peckham, cheap and cheerful.

Surely even if a child has SEN, that's no excise to park illegally, and get a parking fine? SEN aside, I know a lot of people who choose to drive to school simply because they (not the kids) are too lazy to walk. We are at Goodrich, I know people who drive that live on Friern, and towards the shops on Forest Hill Rd - a 5/10 minute walk at most.

Good. The morning school run offenders deserve everything they get, I'm sick of dodging badly parked cars and seeing people parked on zig zags as we walk to school in the morning!

That's hard to say, as I don't think anyone will have first hand experience of both. My kids went to Goodrich nursery, it was a lovely environment and prepared them really well for the move to reception.

Brilliant, I'm glad you've got someone helping.

Hmmmm, I'm not sure about Corian. We were all set to get it for our kitchen, then went to stay with family who had recently had it put in their new kitchen. It may have just been a bad choice of colour, but it looked really plastic-like, and really ruined the look of an otherwise lovely kitchen.

Oh, poor wee man :-( I'm glad you're now being taken seriously and getting the help you need to get him better. Is your partner home to help with your older son? Get well soon baby Saila!

We had a refurb of our kitchen space done 3 years ago, involving putting in bifold doors and ompletely changing the way we use the space. Things I love about our kitchen are: - underfloor heating, which runs the length of our ground floor from front door right through the kitchen - mixture of tiled (kitchen area and hallway) and wooden floor (small sitting area at the end of the kitchen) flooring. Looks nice, very practical, able to be mopped which is important with 3 kids, one a bottom shuffler - colour. Personally I don't like white kitchens - we have a mixture of apple green cupboards, pale quartz work surface, turquoise glass splash backs and wooden cupboard surrounds to match the floor. Sounds weird, looks nice. - seating - we managed to find a little sofa which fits in the space, together with a small dining table. It's ideal for us, as we spend a lot of time in the kitchen area and it's nice to have a comfy seat. Our cupboards are matt finish sprayed wood, avoid high gloss with kids, you'll never get rid of the little fingerprints! Our fridge is an American style one (two doors, so a full height fridge and freezer), can never have too much fridge space. We have a large pull out larder cupboard/pantry which is brilliant. We had the kitchen made for us by a carpenter as part of the refurb. Probably works out a bit more expensive, but it meant it was built completely to our specs, and could be changed as he worked (for example, a tall skinny cupboard to keep the ironing board and broom in was added quite late in the process).

That sounds excellent, you are absolutely right about the conflicts surrounding the climbing frame, that's a big part of what makes it unpleasant at the moment. I look forward to visiting once the changes have been made.

It's Katie Fisher, details here, good luck x http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1051812,1051828#msg-1051828

The Herne is our local, we've got 3 kids, and never go there during the day. Main reason being that so many of the kids in the play area are allowed to run riot by their parents who sit enjoying their drinks and leaving others to sort out darling little Nescaf? (insert other relevant beverage based name as appropriate). Not fun at all. We go in the evenings once the kids are gone and it's ok for a drink, not so flash for food in recent years.

Three by the war memorial on Lorship Lane, noticed them this afternoon.

We never stop! Get there as quick as possible, hand kids over to grandparents and relax! On the way back to London we overnight in the Singapore Airport transit hotel. So glamorous. I would sort out which airline you are using, then work out a logical stop from there. Dubai would be nice if flying Emirates, Singapore on SAL etc. I just got back having flown Air NZ for the first time in the 12 years I've lived here which was great (loved the inflight safety video and chilled out nature of the flight attendants), my stop was LA, which would also lend itself well to a week's holiday in that part of the world. Have fun x

I'm pleased you have a diagnosis, but it's a shame not much can be done to help, poor little thing. Did your 3 year old enjoy his A&E experience? I remember the play area being quite good, and hopefully it wasn't too busy on a Sunday morning.