oimissus

I had a ginger teddy called Lizzie. I washed her in the washing machine a few years ago (she would have been in her mid-30s at the time) and her head fell off. So now my daughter plays with Lizzie's head.

yes, I've discovered from this thread that we've been having staycations for years, by taking what I thought were our holidays in Britain. Who knew, eh?

brilliant, thank you. It all seems to be covered with trees, which is great, but makes it hard to find on the map! Can you park round there?

can anyone tell me which bit of Ladywell Fields you go to for river dipping? Or are they all close together - Google maps is showing what look like 3 separate parks. thanks

I think it sounds amazing for the younger children, but the reality is that they will be going on to more regular secondaries (be it private or state). Will the children in your school be prepared for that?

The Villa doesn't take children under 2 but it has a long waiting list. If you are interested in it, ring and ask them when their list opens after your baby is born, and get them down asap. We thought Camberwell Grove children's centre looked fantastic but we missed the boat there (prob worth registering at birth there too, they take children from 6 months), but very happy at The Villa. I think some places allow you to register before the birth, some not till the baby is born. Worth having a look around now and registering interest with any you like (you may have to pay a fee to do this). The council can send you a list of all registered childminders in your area. Most people I know did childminder or nanny-share when the children were babies, and moved in to nursery post-2 years.

out of interest, from those who have high sleepers - we were planning to get one for Miss Oi when she's a bit older but her room gets insufferably hot in the summer and I wonder if sleeping higher will be even worse for her?

second everything David has said. Like the sound of it.

I would get tough but I have zero tolerance for arsing about at bedtime, I'm bloody knackered by then. If she plays up then it's straight to be with no stories. If she's screaming because she's cross then it won't kill her to scream for a bit. Dad does it sometimes (I'd go out for that, so there's no other option). It probably is just a phase - we've had a few over the years, lasting a week or so, but it's so wearying when it's going on. Oh - and she might be teething. Miss Oi teethed almost up to when she was 3, which took me by surprise.

hmm, so for a child starting reception in 2014, they would never get in as they'd always a year ahead. Ah well. It was exciting for half a day! I'm at a loss as to where we'll apply to, given that Lyndhurst can't bulge cos of building works, DKH bulged this year so presumably won't next and I think Bellenden is too small to bulge. Any idea when we'll know which schools will bulge next year?

agree with LondonMix - this would be a local school for us (albeit one that will open the year after our daughter would start reception) and I found out about this purely by chance on the admissions thread. It would be great to keep up with news on this - what years will it be - al the way through primary, or year 3 onwards (like Dulwich Hamlet)? If primary will it just start with Reception, or will there be the opportunity for parents like us to apply for Year one entry in 2015? Lots of questions - exciting news!

one of the better results of not being in a cot is that now she's dry at night (only for the last couple of weeks or so) she will get up and use her potty in the night and then go back to bed which is very handy! (Getting up and coming into our bed rather less handy . . . )

damn. Would/will be one of our nearest schools, but a year too late!

sorry, James, to clarify - there's going to be a new primary school on the old Bellenden school site? Do you (or Renata) have any further details of this? Thanks.

just after she turned 3. Friend had a nightmare time with her 2-year-old so decided to leave it as long as possible (and get my money's worth from the cot!)!

do you have any 'mum' friends (eg NCT friends) you could start a babysitting circle with? People you trust who know you and your baby? That's what I always did. We're having our first paid babysitter next week (Miss Oi is 3.5yrs) and even then it's someone from her nursery.

about 4 months - this is when I believe they start resisting sleep, wanting to stay awake and see what's going on. I used routines suggested in Your Baby Week by Week.

does anyone know if this is open yet? Thanks.

Miss Oi wasn't dry until after she was 3 - no mention ever from nursery that she needed to get on with it. Much better, in my view, than those places which force a schedule on to children which in many cases results in potty training takes weeks or even months to be successful (i.e child dry in the day). Had a friend who's very advanced child wasn't allowed up to the next room at his pre-school (where he needed to be, developmentally) until he was dry - cue months of nightmare potty training. Ridiculous.

Renata, out of interest, why is that? I thought the reception year was optional, so presumably (though I know in this country it's unusual) if you choose to keep your child out of any education until Year One, you are perfectly entitled to do so? Is it simply to ensure that if a parent does want their child in education at this age, that they have made some provision to do so?

actually, I'm talking rubbish. We never did pull ups in the day, went straight from nappies to pants, so never had this confusion - we just said she's in pants now, and that was that.

I had a very long early labour at home (over 2 days) and then my contractions stopped. I was exhausted by this point and as I'd had group B strep we knew that if my waters had broken we had to go in (they weren't letting us go to Kings at this point). So we trotted off to the Maternal Assessment Unit, and after a 2 hour wait, were told that yes indeed, my waters had broken (I didn't realize!) and that I had to go and be induced right away. 'Right now?!' we cried. 'But we haven't had lunch yet!' Also, I was zoomed into theatre part way through, but by the time Mr Oi rocked up (after clearing the room) the crisis was over and everyone in theatre was arguing over who had changed the radio station - 'This isn't Magic!'

I hope so, I rang the noise team last night at about 11.15 (think it was probably the Rye Lane one I could hear) and she was rather lackadaisical about it, said they knew about it, they had known about it since 6pm, but they weren't able to act until 11, but that the noise team were dealing with an incident in Camberwell. All a bit feeble.

in our nursery we supply the pull-ups, and each time we tried potty training (3 attempts in total, a week each time, final successful attempt we achieved over the christmas hols) we told them she was in pants, not pull-ups, so that's what happened at nursery too. No idea how often they took her, we did as you say your nursery did, just asked her or took her with me, didn't ever 'put' her on the potty. Usually put 3 or 4 changes in her bag each day. Just speak to them. Do they think she's ready? I know our nursery had been taking Miss Oi to the loos with other children for quite a while before I attempted training her. I don't think it's the end of the world for her to go into pull ups once but ask what their policy is.

I found it wasn't the music as much as the screaming, ranting DJ! Sounded like he was about to do himself an injury.