Saffron

Yes, we LOVE the CP 1 o'clock club! The staff are so nice and friendly. There's plenty of space for buggies, so you don't have to leave them outside. The outdoor play area is easily visible from indoors. The toys are clean and in good condition. There's always paint and messy play too. What's their longterm plan? Is the club still under threat for closure in the future?

I like a regional accent of any variety, but I don't like bad diction or grammar. And the two are definitely not mutually inclusive. I think Dolly Parton has a gorgeous example of a thick regional accent, with impeccable diction and grammar. Children can have beautiful accents of any variety and still manage good diction and grammar. Nunheadmum, I get what you're saying about your daughter appearing not to understand the spoken difference between the sound of 'ask' and 'aks'. I would say it's down to her young age. I agree with others who suggest always gently correcting her. If it really bothers you (yes, it would bother me too!), maybe you can make a game of trying to get it right? Star charts? Work phonetically at each letter in sequence? ...but only if your daughter likes that sort of thing, otherwise it could backfire. Then she'll start saying it to annoy you. :o xx

If your LO likes sleeping in a moving buggy during the day, have you thought of using a baby hammock at night? We used an Amby hammock. I recently saw one in the Famiy classifieds section. xx

EmilyE Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > North-ish Ruskin Park, Myatts Fields, Kennington > Park. (185 bus) > Also Telegraph hill Park, Hilly Fields (Brockley), > think there is a bus, but can't remember which > one. 484 bus from the Goose Green end of ED goes past Telegraph Hill and Hilly Fields (and there's now a cafe in Hilly Fields!!). The bus journey is about 15 min. The P4 bus from Horniman end of Lordship Lane takes you within walking distance to Hilly Fields, and also to Ladywell Fields. Ladywell Fields has a cafe and 2 playgrounds. There is a playground by the cafe with a shallow entrance to a small stream (dogleg of the Ravensbourne, I think), which is clean for wading but with a rocky bottom (wear aqua socks or crocs to avoid sore feet). At the opposite end of Ladywell Fields, there is a playground with swings, slides, zip line, spring-style rocking horses for babies/toddlers, etc... and it's fenced. We live off Hilly Fields, also near Ladywell. So if anyone is coming our way and would like to meet up, give me a PM. My little girl is 2.5 yrs, but she plays well with all ages. xx

Wow, brilliant post, Ju*Ni! I lurveee the EDF!! Your post is so supportive, and what you say makes good practical sense too. I'm really hoping I can find a Montessori nursery within good distance that offers the days and times I need for my daughter. Thanks for the advice and links.

It happens fairly frequently in London, if you check your change carefully. I used to think it was really interesting to get foreign currency on accident when I was a child. Save it for a trip to the British Museum, then place it in their donation box! Every penny helps?! :) (How do they sort through it all???)

Yes, you're right, as far as I understand pretty much any school can call itself a Montessori, which is not the same as having an accreditation. (And it looks like there are different bodies for accreditation???) But Montessori accreditation does not guarentee a good Ofsted report either, just to add to the confusion (!), which might explain why some Montessori schools don't bother with accreditation. I'm finding it hard to suss what's what among all the different descriptions and accreditations. What does it all mean????????????

Can anyone tell me what the difference for Montessori accreditation is between MSA (Montessori Schools Association) and ME(UK) (Montessori Education UK)? I love the Montessori philosophy. I went to a Montessori nursery and have fond childhood memories of it. Although, now looking for nurseries for my 2.5 yo, I'm discovering that all Montessori schools are definitely not equal. Indeed I was surprised to read on the website of one local Montessori that their policy on potty training is rather pushy! That grates on me personally, as I don't believe in rushing toilet training, and it doesn't fit with my previous ideas and experiences of Montessori. I've heard that a lot of nurseries are pushy about potty training (not just Montis). How do parents handle this? All insights welcome!

susyp Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When I rang to make the appointment the > receptionist said "oh yes we know who xx is" > because the entire waiting room had of course > heard the screaming!! So I am dreading it. > Should we give the receptionist the benefit of the doubt... maybe it was her/his crude attempt to diffuse future upsets with humour and not meant to distress you? Sometimes it doesn't translate well over the phone. > I have made some progress in that the antibiotics > and the cream that were prescribed have made her a > lot less sore very very quickly - so we keep > discussing how clever the doctor is - but I still > think when it comes to undress we will have > another scene. > > Any tips?! Can you speak to a nurse the day before (or morning of) your appointment? S/he might be able to advise you if a physical exam will be needed at all. As others have said, you may simply need to describe your daughter's symptoms on the day, depending on her progress of course. Hope it's all better soon. xx

1 night at King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill... we were married on my Due Date. My labour started the next morning, baby born that evening! Had we all the money and time, I would go back to Hawaii. I was there for a short holiday ~10 years ago. Skip the touristy stuff, find the hidden treasures. Husband would probably choose west coast of Costa Rica, or Zanzibar, both places he's been and loved. We have friends in Sri Lanka, which sounds great, but never been there ourselves. I'd say any where warm and coastal sounds nice, considering the weather here this summer. There's a heatwave in Texas, very nice beaches there too. xx

You probably already know this, but it's not helping your daughter for her to see that you don't have control of the situation, ie her running around for 30 min and kicking and biting you. Is there a trusted adult friend or family member that you can take with you who would help you firmly but kindly physically restrain her? The longer she spends making hysterics of it at the drs office, the more the anxiety builds in her mind. I think it's incredibly tough for you to have to tackle this scenario on your own. You really need to enlist some help on the day, even if it's only for the moral support. xx

Carriwell Washable Silk Breastpads, NCT shop online sells them and LilyPadz too. xx

Ah, keep meaning to do this... friend's wedding in August! I've been finding that a lot of b/fing dresses are aimed at women in the early postpartum days. I have my waist back, so something with a bit more shape would suit me, but it isn't so easy to find what fits in the right colours and styles.

Do you mean the cottony type of pads? I had some cottony re-usable ones that were very good. I can't remember what brand they were but the inner lining was 100% silk, which was very kind on sore nipples! xx

OMG, I had the most awful pain in my nipples, and LilyPadz were the only thing I could use for a while. The pain was so bad that I used to cry sometimes when I was nursing my daughter. Then my nipples cracked too. LilyPadz + Lansinoh cream were really good for healing. If your nipples crack, sometimes it's best to keep them moist while they heal. When they dry out, the skin can lose elasticity at the site of the crack, and suckling will split the crack again. Moist healing helps avoid this cycle of re-splitting. I had 2 pairs of LilyPadz, so I could use one pair while the other was drying. I found that washing them 2x with Ecover dish liquid, then leaving them to air dry was best. They retained their stickiness for weeks this way. xx

Sorry if this is repeating anything from the mumsnet link, didn't have time to read... but do a search on PMDD and migraines, both have possible links to altered serotonin levels interfering with hormones cyclically. I have migraines occasionally too. They're awful, and I don't know what triggers mine either. Thankfully I only seem to have a couple every year or so. The last one was while I was watching flash photography on tele, which has never happened previously. Now I'm paranoid every time they say something will have flash photography!

Growth spurts can last much longer than many people realize, eg 6 weeks! Verds, what you say does all sound very normal. But if you can afford to get some "expert advice" that's w/in the parameters of your parenting style, then I say go for it. Just don't let someone talk you into a sleep arrangement that really doesn't suit your parenting style just b/c the person is an "expert". xx

Ah, brilliant, have loved TDLP! I asked them why they aren't at the Lewisham (farmers) Market on Saturdays anymore. They said the stall fees were too high, but they're hoping that if enough people ask Lewisham Market about them, they might get asked back with lower fees. We'll be looking forward to their summer events, esp'y Hilly Fields. :)

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This discussion and our own slight coyness brings > me back to an ongoing sub issue.. Naming female > genitals. While we are chat happily about willies, > most women are more circumspect about girls' bits > > Why is that? What do you call them? The fact that even some adults aren't sure to what other adults are referring when they say "girls' bits" is very interesting.

No, actually, that wasn't really the point I was originally making. To clarify: I'm not disparaging other terms that people use, I'm simply saying that it's not perverse or wrong in any way to describe the genitals with the correct terminology.

It is indeed "to each their own" with parenting. However, that is not the case with anatomy and physiology textbooks. There is a consensus in reproductive medicine. Yes, calling the external female genitals the vulva --the girl's "bits" that you can see on the outside of the body-- is calling the vulva what it is, by definition of such. It's not wrong to call it a vagina (which incidentally also does not encompass all of the "bits"), it's simply incorrect. Colloquially speaking, the vulva is often referred to as the vagina, but the two are in fact not the same. As analogy, many people also refer to babies as being in mummy's tummy, when indeed babies are in the womb.

Barley, you might want to check out some other local forums too. They're perhaps not as dynamic as the EDF, but they'll give you a feel for local interest including areas surrounding ED. http://brockleycentral.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/nurseries-in-brockley.html

sillywoman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Interestingly, my 16yr old has just had her school > leavers Prom. The real deal. She and her beautiful > friends didn't look anything like that saccharine > bunch of wannabe's in parkview's post. Um, you may not like the pics, but that's a rather ungenerous thing to say about a group of children. I'm sure your daughter and her friends looked lovely, but you don't have to disparage other people's children in order to proclaim your own child's beauty. Geez, what kind of example is that setting? :(

dulwichgirl2 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Now I am confused. Isn't the vulva the entire > structure and aren't we really talking about the > vagina? Ie the "difference" cf boys? > Nothing confusing, it's very straightforward. The vulva is the external set of female genitals only. Wiki does a good grown-up review of the physiology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulva The word vagina is frequently incorrectly used (even by women!) to refer to the external female genitals. However, the vagina is an internal organ only, and it makes up just part of the complex internal reproductive system. The vagina is the internal tract connecting the vulval opening to the uterus, ending at the os of the cervix. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_os For a more complex review of grown-up female reproductive anatomy and physiology: http://www.thevbook.com/. Keep this book on your shelf for when your daughters are a bit older too. xx

Just b/c FGM may not be in the "same league" as male circumcision, does not mean that male circumcision is not also an awful thing. The foreskin is physiologically functional tissue. You wouldn't cut off a baby's finger tip. Why cut off the end of his penis? Whatever its origins, modern medical science should seek to discourage this practice on infants.