number 2

We had a "sleep sheep". - quite a nice cuddly sheep with a sound box inside. Worked a treat for us. I think! Might've been a coincidence though!

We tried to do ours on a budget and I really wish we hadn't. It cost around ?4000. Replacing like for like with a proper shower over the bath and some nice tiles. The bloke we used who we found from here basically did a runner once we'd paid and never completely finished e job. Please pm me if you'd like his name to avoid!

I'd second puddleducks. They are fab!

hi, i don't have a child with special needs myself, but i do work in special needs. you could try contacting sunshine house on peckham road. it's the place where all of the children's nhs services are held. i'm pretty sure they have parents' groups. you could also try your local children's centre (usually attached to schools) where they might be able to point you in the right direction.

i would go with a childminder if i were you, a good childminder is worth their weight in gold if you find the right one.

good luck!

Yes, you can always rely on our boy for embarrassment!

Jah lush, that is magic!

I have a different surname from my son and traveled back from France with him alone. We were stopped at passport control where I was questioned about who I was in relation to him. The situation was not improved by him claiming that I wasn't his mother, but an ewok by the name "Chief Chirper" (he was in the midst of his Star Wars obsession at the time). Took some fancy footwork and a very lovely additional passport control official who noticed the first guy's total sense of humour fail to get us back in the country. So yes, I would say take a letter!

Choc my, I sent a v similar post out last year! It's so tough knowing people have places they have no intention of using. Good luck to you!

Yep! That sounds just the ticket snowboarder! Maybe we should open up somewhere ourselves!! Not in South London though ;)

Love the look of glisten, but I don't do well without a loo! He Menorca place looks perfect, but just checked and they only have tents left. Anything like this with a kids club would be perfect!

Ok, so I know this has been done loads of times, but I'm going to list our own requirements as, of course, ours are slightly different.

Ok, so we'd like somewhere in Europe, warm but not baking.

We have a 5 year old boy so things to keep him happy, I'd say a pool is a must, kids club would be a bonus.

My other half would go a bit bonkers couped up in a resort for a week or more, so options for days out/wandering are a must.

I'd prefer self catering.

Any ideas anyone? OH is thinking of Menorca. I'd like to go to Croatia.

Thanks people!

Have sent you a pm with an offer of help!

I have two friends with children in reception and they are really happy in lots of ways. It was the school we were offered too but we ended up at St. John's and st Clements. I still wonder if we should have stayed put. I was a bit concerned about the space there, but the aforementioned friends don't seem to feel that's a problem now their kids are Ther. As Skegness says, it seems like good things are happening there.

Prm, as far as I understood it, everyone gets put on the same waiting list and everyone's distance is calculated the same. The other thing that happens to make you go down the list is when people either move into the area with a child of reception age and is closer than you, or they get a child in higher up the school and then their reception aged child goes ahead of you on the list, irrespective of distance. It sucks, but them's the rules I'm afraid. We started off at 4th on the Ivydale list and bounced from there to about 8th or 9th.

Guv'nor and Starbright

'im indoors found this on trip advisor......

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g60763-c147344/New-York-City:New-York:Vacation.Apartment.Rentals.html

Thanks all. We'll have a look. The problem is that so many of these things are apparently illegal and therefore a bit of a gamble. Who knew?!? Every other city is fine, just not New York! Grrrr

We're thinking of going to New York with our 5 year old this summer. We've got into the habit of always staying in cottages, villas, apartments and the like when we go away so that we always have the chance to put him to bed and then have a bit of an evening to ourselves. Does anyone know of anywhere or done anything like this in New York? My other half read a trip advisor piece today that said it can be really dodgy to do private lets as there are massive restrictions in subletting so many places in NYC. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

We're thinking of going to New York with our 5 year old this summer. We've got into the habit of always staying in cottages, villas, apartments and the like when we go away so that we always have the chance to put him to bed and then have a bit of an evening to ourselves. Does anyone know of anywhere or done anything like this in New York? My other half read a trip advisor piece today that said it can be really dodgy to do private lets as there are massive restrictions in subletting so many places in NYC. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Yes Jeremy!!! That's the sort of beard! Not the "I've had one for years because it suits me and/or I can't be arsed to shave". It's the self conscious, hipsteresque "ooh look at me, with my big bushy beard" (with or without beard comb) that gets on my wick.

Those daft bloody beards that all the young dudes are sporting these days. I like a beard or two but this massive rash of them all over Peckham and ED are really piddling me off. My other half caught a fella in the loos of the flying pig with a little "beard comb", grooming his mush. Shouldn't have eaten all those wings with that facial hair I reckon......

Ooh thanks all. I think the other problem with solid wood is that it insulates so well that the underfloor heating is pointless. Where are Westminster carpets? Do they do both karndean and amtico?

Ooh that's interesting. Thanks red devil

We have a golf plus which is a really nice size in the back and really comfortable. The boot doesn't seem as big as it claims and might seem small after an estate. Really nice car to drive though. Feels nice and safe.

We are about to have a conservatory built to get some more space. We've also forked out for underfloor heating and it came as a bit of a shock to find that we couldn't have the solid wood flooring we wanted because of said heating ststem. So, I'm thinking of Amtico or Karndean vinyl flooring. I know Amtico in particular is very expensive. Does anyone have either and can tell me how they've found it and, just as importantly, how much it cost. I was a bit taken aback by lordship lane carpets who reckoned it would cost almost as much to fit as the actual flooring. Any recommendations of suppliers would be fab too.

Thank you!