kerry.finlay

thanks for sharing - interesting read. i'm just beginning the EHCP journey and I had no idea until recently that TAs assigned to deliver 1:1 support have little/no SEN training :-/

If you mean the red gingham summer dresses - yes they're fine. And no restrictions on when they can wear them. My daughter will be wearing hers in Sept when she goes back, weather permitting :-)

A few of us have set up a hyper-local Dulwich single mums support group on Facebook. It's a 'secret' group so it's totally secure and invisible from any of your connections (i.e. your face won't be used to promote it around FB as a member!) So you can seek support/friendship/get things off your chest with peace of mind. And we're all pretty much around the corner from each other so the hope is we can meet up. PM me your email address if you'd like to be added.

Adding our recommendation! Peter and Bargt are so professional, dedicated, thorough and pro-active. What a refreshing change! They fitted new spindles and handrails and newel posts to two sets of stairs and painted/finished them, and they fitted moldings and painted all our doors. They communicate well, check regularly that you are happy with what they are doing, and above all are actually nice to have around! Oh and they did half of this work while we were away for the week - totally honourable and trust worthy. And they cleaned up really well too. Highly recommend them. You can call them on: 07873507878.

Hi We're looking for someone to come and replace our spindles/handrails/newels on two flights of stairs. We have all the wood. If you could recommend anyone, or are a carpenter who can do the work, please get in touch. [email protected] / 07930 440095 Thanks

Hi Do you have to buy tickets in advance or can you just pay on the door?? thanks

Hi Trying to think of a high-end (but not stuffy) venue for a 40th birthday saturday brunch, with a 5 year old and almost 2 year old. Haha! The Lido is ace but we go too much so not special enough on this occasion. I am thinking Duck and Waffle?? Anyone done it with kids? Do they even have high chairs?! Any other suggestions welcome please :-)

Travelling solo with the two kids to States next week. Eeeeek. We have the bulkheads so have some room, phew. 9.30hr to fill. Some/most sleeping hopefully. We're pretty used to travelling on train around the UK on long trips but slightly different! Any tips for little entertaining games/toys/treats would be warmly welcomed. And any general long-haul with kids tips too. thank you!

Been too slammed with work and endless hospital appoitments, and have a funeral to attend on Friday! Nails are looking shocking and need some serious love! if you can help me post 7pm when the kids are asleep, pls shout! In Dulwich Village 07930440095 thanks

sorry to resurface a pretty old thread but just wondering if any of you who have tried this, colour your hair regularly. google is scaring me! and would anyone with pretty long hair dare to share a before / after pic?! thx

Thanks all. And Blah Blah, what a very kind offer :-) Thank you very much. It's a John Lewis machine and I reckon about 300-400 when I bought it 9 years ago. Nothing special but has never let us down! I'll get a labour quote from a couple of plumbers and weigh it up against some of the pretty good Jan sales deals out there. Thank you again!

Thanks for the responses! I have 2 kids including one baby with bad reflux so it is on at least once a day now! :/

We have an 8/9 year old machine that's just starting to lose its mojo - bearings are on the way out. No idea how much parts and labour would be to replace them. Guessing a new machine might be more cost effective in the long run? Can any plumbers give me an idea how much to replace them? And also if we went with a new machine, how much to plumb new/remove old machine pls? (it's freestanding not integrated.) thanks

We chose nanny sharing for our daughter when she was 11 months for the social side and felt happier leaving her with a nanny. The best part of our share is that we joined a family who we really connected with, who had had their nanny sole charge for 3/4 years already, which we felt really helped (rather than recruiting from scratch). I felt more able to trust her with our daughter because we were walking into an established set up. Good luck!

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Need a date night dinner venue near to home. Looooooong time since we went out sans kids! Thanks

Thanks for that - I'll have a look!

Hi Looking for some advice from any parents who've used wireless baby monitor devices/apps. We have a regular baby monitor but we're staying at a country hotel for a couple of nights soon and we know from past experience the range doesn't quite reach (thick walls etc) if we want to go downstairs for dinner in the evening, so always go for a babysitter. Was wondering if these wifi options work ok where ordinary monitors fall out of range? Any advice warmly welcomed! thanks

Thanks for the advice. I'll pass it on!!

Hello After some advice for a friend. Does anyone have any advice/tips on tranistioning a 2.5 yr old who has had a sole-charge nanny since the age of 1 yr to a nursery? We have a toddler the same age who recently started nursery, but we've done a nanny share from the age of one so she'd been used to being dropped off elsewhere and left with other people. So different scenario really. Any wisdom greatly appreciated, as always! Thanks

http://www.airportsdirectservices.co.uk/ If you are doing long trips or airports, these guys are unbeatable. We've used them a lot now and the car seats are immaculate, as are the cars. Punctual and polite. V reasonable rates. Highly recommended.

We are experiencing exactly this at the moment. Our 2 year old started mid January 2 days a week. We've been in full-time nanny share since she was 1 where she is always with other kids on playdates etc. She's found drop-offs very traumatic and like you, we are told she is quite teary at points through the day, although she is asking for cuddles. She is often also teary on collection. Our nursery has been incredibly undertanding and helpful. They have a cuddly toy who 'lives' at the nursery and he was given to our daughter to take home and look after, and we were tasked with photographing his adventure - they put these pics up on the noticeboard, sp she can see them when she is there. They also created a scrapbook with loads of photos of her playing at nursery which we keep at home. The trick of these being is that you are reminded to talk about and encouraged to make nursery part of the conversation at home - to merge the two as much as possible. It's really helping. We talk about nursery every day, we look at the pitures. She now doesn't freak out when we tell her she is going today and doesn't get upset on the way there (progress!) and now calms quicker when we get there. Give it a go :-) Hope it improves soon.

We went a few years back to Aquadulci - http://www.aquadulci.com/ We swore we'd go back when we had kids. Pool and gardens great and it is 2 min walk from the pool to the most magnificent, best family beach we have ever visited - and that is many! It is on Chia bay - long, wide beach and the water is shallow till far out. Beach club where you can rent beds/brollies. Only drawback is that it will be SUPER busy in August.

There are actually two dogs guilty of this - one at the bottom of Calton, one near the end of Gilkes (we're on Calton). However one barks more loudly and more often than the other. Mutiple times in the evening and often, like you said, in the small hours. As far as we can see it is a case of the owners not letting the dog back in after letting it out to do its thing. I know dogs bark, but this is a case of bad owners in my view. I know exactly which house the main offender lives at if you'd like to know - send me a PM. Said dog has woken our baby daughter up most nights, for months. Worse in the summer as her windows need to be open and the garden backs onto ours, so the dog is pretty much underneath her. Grrr. And for the misery here who thinks it's as simple as some ear plugs - want to come and try sleeping in her room one evening?

Hi For me the NCT charge was too much for us at the time and I felt that I could learn all I needed to know from books, online, friends and the NHS classes. For the social side, you are on it already - I found all my mummy friends through the baby group on the forum. I thought the NHS class we did was great and everything we needed to know. And I've met some really lovely friends for support on this forum. So for me I didn't need NCT classes. Good luck!