mima08

Another shout out for Trytime: it's the closest thing my son gets to getting tired out! We're in the 3-5yrs group but watching the girls in the 5yrs group - they are seriously fast and seem to love it, too

Hi Missse22, this might be totally random but have you heard of the book "poo goes to pooland"? Sounds pretty weird, but it's a little story about how a "poo" person goes through the plumbing system and gets eventually to this wonderful land... I think it was written by a health visitor or similar. In any case, I got an electronic copy and read it to my then 2.5 year old who was resisting the idea of toilet training. At the time it didn't seem to make much of an impact, however, months later, he told me that he always wants to poo in the toilet because then poo can go home to pooland... so it did make an impression after all and made him try... worth a go? good luck!

thanks for feeding back - out of interest: how do Plusnet guarantee the speed? I thought if they share the network with other providers (and ultimately going to back to BT Openreach), speeds are dependent on max capacity in the network? Might have gotten this wrong - could someone explain? thanks

Hiya, we saw Lizzy Lomax at the Dulwich Therapy rooms - she was amazing, very helpful and supportive. good luck!

There seems to be a split personality: I've had very nice, friendly and helpful service for myself and my son on some occasions, on other (regardless of with or without child) occasions it was more like I was interrupting something more interesting and shouldn't be cluttering up the shop...

Hiya, we're in between PR and Goose Green and the evening speeds are ridiculous. Under 1mb is the norm... I phoned Virgin they said its because a technical issue (implying fault, not oversubscription) that is supposed to be fixed by 28th Feb. Past promises of when things would be fixed have always let me down, so am not holding my breath... Phone and ask for a refund on your bill - and if anyone can recommend a really good supplier, please let me know!

Hiya, there could be many reasons - maybe your childminder hadn't had small babies for a while, maybe with other kids she couldn't quite manage, maybe there are personal circumstances - the list is endless. I do feel for you, it's an emotional thing anyway, starting with a childminder but I am sure you're better off to change now than later. My childminder always told me for her the most important part was to work closely with parents, lots of communication at drop off/pick up, sticking to agreed rules etc. So maybe that's something to look for when you look for a new childminder? That way, you'll get early warning should something not be right... And yes, all babies are fussy! Best of luck Mx

Hiya, sorry to read you're having a tough time. It's absolutely heartbreaking when they behave like this. We went through a similar phase, not quite as bad but seemed to be heading there. I always thought my son was getting trapped in his emotions and didn't know how to snap out of it, hence the physical action to get some release. What seems to have helped are talking about his emotions (when he is calm), explaining that everyone has them but that you don't need to act on them etc. Obviously, all in simple words. We also practised things like 5 deep breath when he feels frustrated. Actual incidents of lashing out or temper tantrums got dealt with firmly, we used time out, there are a few good threads on here that helped. Things have progressively become better the more he can express himself ... Good luck! Mx

Hiya, my son's former childminder is based on the border between Peckham and Camberwell (Oswyth Rd). PM if that would be useful, I believe she has places... best M

Hiya, I can hugely recommend my son's former childminder - Chrissy. She is based hald way between Peckham Rye (10min walk) and Denmark Hill (5-7min) and she was absolutely great in every respect. PM me if you have questions / would like contact details.

Personally, I played with hotwheels till I was about 7 or 8, maybe you could look on ebay to find some not so expensive sets?

HI Renata - thank you for clarifying the point about the waiting lists and also the bit about putting down 5/6th choice near a station or similar - hadn't thought of that before!

peggoula Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My daughter is in reception at bessemer, they get > fruit every day and vanilla ice cream on Fridays > as a treat. They have a brilliant salad bar that > reception kids go nowhere near to but the meals > are perfectly balanced. > Wonder what is that school you are referring to > is? I want to go there (as currently in a > pre-Christmas 5:2 hell ;-) ) Hiya, yes, Bessemer was one of them, but I thought a few of the others (another 4 altogether) said the same thing. I >>don't>word<< (which altered what i meant to say :)

this is interesting: we have just done the rounds of primary schools for starting next Sept and every school we visited stated that they only offer fruit and yoghurt for puddings? I am taking that's more wishful thinking?

Lovely ideas, will give a few of them a go... Mx

Renata Hamvas Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hello all, you will be offered a place at your > highest placed school on your form that you are > eligible for a place for. This means that for > example of you are within the last placed > distance for two schools, you will be offered a > place at the school higher on your list. If you > are for example offered your 4th place school, you > will automatically go onto the waiting list of the > three higher placed schools. many thanks for the explanation, Renata. I am still a little unsure: how long do you then stay on the list of any higher placed schools? Are you at risk of loosing a place if you don't accept it? So, for example you get offered a place on the 4th place school and don't accept it because you are hoping for the 1st, 2nd or 3rd placed one, can you lose out? Can you end up with none of the places, worst case scenario? thanks m

Hiya, I don't have any direct experience, but the Institute of Mathematics has various resources (http://www.ima.org.uk/careers/maths_careers.cfm.html) and there is a link for a maths careers website (http://www.mathscareers.org.uk/). From my experience of working with other institutes, they tend to be very willing to point you in the right direction as well if approached directly. Best of luck! m

Well done your 17 months old, it's brilliant when they do this! We also loved Trish's classes - my son started signing from around 12months old and I still believe the fact that he was able to communicate to some extend helped with the tantrums (and we had enough of them :)).

Hiya, not a physio but Daniel Harvey from Dulwich Chiropractic worked magic when I had severe SPD. I could barely walk but just a couple of sessions really improved it massively - I could walk, sit, sleep - all those things had been very painful before. He's not too expensive and normally you can get appointments quickly (http://www.dulwichchiropractic.co.uk/_) Good luck! mx

Hi, I was wondering if there is any local knowledge? Any parents with kids there? I would like to hear some thoughts - either here or via pm. many thanks! mx

Very touching reading - thank you for sharing.

Trytime Rugby at Belair Park (http://www.trytimekidsrugby.com/) - excellent fun and spending an action filled hour outdoor, means we don't feel so guilty for staying in rest of the day if the weather is rubbish. Btw, it's not really rugby at this age: they play a lot of games, do some kicking and little obstacle courses.

Hiya, we've been going to swimming classes since LO was 4month and the teacher always says ideally not to bother with swim arm bands as it means that the kids are in the wrong position in the water and can't really use their arms properly. So we don't use them much, unless on holiday where several hours are spend in the pool - it's quite nice to let him just float / race around without being held. Noodles are great - what we use most of the time now.

Hiya, we found all of the various wooden ones tend to work together no problem. We have bits of Brio, Bigjigs and numerous cheaper ones from the likes of Aldi, Liddle and Tchibo - which makes for a massive set and kept the costs down...

Hi there - if you are looking for something really active, Trytime rugby holds sessions for boys and girls on a Friday morning in Belair Park in Dulwich. We go on Saturday and love it and it means you get outside, even when the weather is not great...http://www.trytimekidsrugby.com/venue/dulwich/