Wanhope

I am conceding defeat in trying to teach my 6 1/2 year-old to ride his bike without stabilisers and will now happily pay someone else to do it. Does anyone have any local instructors/ companies they would recommend? Have looked at one that operates from Catford (Pedal Project), but it's booked up till Jan. Many thanks in advance.

Hello, I'm looking to find a local photographer I can work with on an occasional basis for interior styling shoots. Some experience would be helpful, but what's more important is a good eye/ aesthetic -- so I'm also happy to talk to anyone currently/recently studying, perhaps, who wants to build on their portfolio experience? As ever, I would also like to offer the work to a local parent if possible :) Pls PM if you'd like to discuss further. Thanks.

Hello, I'm looking to find a local photographer I can work with on an occasional basis for interior styling shoots. Some experience would be helpful, but what's more important is a good eye -- so I'm also happy to talk to anyone still studying, perhaps, who wants to build on their portfolio experience? Pls PM if you'd like to discuss further. Thanks.

Hello lovely local parents, I just wanted to let you know about a new children's interior design service that I'm setting up -- see: www.oddsockoddshoe.co.uk. I'm a local parent and very happy to offer a discount to other local parents as I build up my portfolio. Please take a look at my website if you're interested and feel free to contact me if you'd like to have a chat -- whether for a full room installation or something more simple like an online mood board and linked shopping list. Thanks :)

Hello, I'm looking for a carpenter -- or even just a general handy-person with some basic carpentry skills -- to take on a very small job for us (building simple base for a child's bed) in next week or so. Great for someone who's in between larger jobs perhaps? Please contact me by PM if you're able to help or if you can recommend someone who might be able to you who you've worked with before. Thanks

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I'm starting up a business and need some initial help with brand design and business cards (not a website yet). Does anyone have any recommendations for someone local with a fairly modern aesthetic approach? Would love to be able to work with a local freelancing parent, perhaps? Many thanks in advance.

I stopped going to the little clipper not because of prices, or the cuts, but service -- I found it surly & indifferent the last time I went. We now go to Tom at Blue Tit in Peckham Rye -- it's not the cheapest option, but my son gets a great cut & we're treated well :)

I have one you're welcome to borrow -- pls let me know if you're interested :)

Thanks all -- really helpful recommendations.

A slightly unusual request maybe, but can anyone recommend a local artist who does pencil drawings of children? Would love to have a pencil-drawn head and shoulders portrait of my daughter 😊. Many thanks in advance.

My son has just had his hair cut by Tom at Blue Tit near PR park & we were v happy with it -- similar price to little clipper in North cross rd, but (in my opinion) much better service & style!

Hi all, Apologies in advance for what is really a very dull question, but has anyone ever used the services of a weather-proofing-type company? We have double-glazed windows, which have always been very effective, but we've just noticed moisture beginning to form round the edges of the inside windows so are worried they're now no longer properly sealed. Has anyone struck that problem before? And who should we contact to help -- would it be a specialist glazing company or is it a more general weather-proofing assessment, as above, that we'd need? Any tips/recommendations gratefully received 😊

We, like a lot of parents, use this car park every day when we drop off and pick up our son from nursery at Oakfield, given the severe lack of other parking space nearby. Today I got back to my car to find that someone had prised open my windows somehow and stolen a bag from the car -- something I found particularly shocking given I'd been gone for no more than 15 minutes tops and there were loads of other cars/ people about. I reported it to police and the bag (actually my baby's change bag) wasn't greatly valuable, but it is concerning that this space now seems to be a target for thieves. Do please be vigilant if you use this space too!

Great -- thanks so much for the responses; really helpful.

Just wondering whether any local crafty mums might do this as a sideline? Have some lovely fabric and could take it into a commercial producer of some sort, but just wanted to check first whether anyone can/ is able to make fabric blinds on a work-from-home/ sideline sewing basis? It doesn't seem like a massively complicated thing to produce, though sadly beyond my own very meagre sewing abilities!

Dear all, Thanks so much for all of your responses to my post the other day -- I really appreciate your help. I think we are going to ditch the ranitidine as all it's resulted in is constipation (great; another problem!) and we weren't advised to stick with it for any specific length of time to gauge its effect before trying something else. So I'll trudge back to GP tomorrow to try to get omeprazole instead and will see how that goes before deciding whether we need to ultimately switch to neocate(which I suspect we will). None of that's ideal, but I do feel a bit obliged to stick with the reflux meds route first given that that's what we've been persuaded to try ... Patt1980, I totally get what you mean about wanting to continue BFing if possible -- after our experience with our son, the idea of having a fat, contented, happily BF baby was one of the things that kept me going through all of my various pregnancy woes (hyperemesis etc.) second time round, so I'd also be really sad to stop if we had to move on to neocate as well. That said, I also don't want to continue at all costs because of a sentimental view of how I'd wanted it to be :( Anyway, will post again if/when there's a positive update to report!

Sorry to resurrect this thread again, but I was hoping for a bit of advice from some of the reflux veterans I know are out there ... Sadly for us, our four week-old daughter looks to have reflux, just like her older brother (maybe) did before her. In my son's case we went through the familiar route of trying all the various reflux meds, ending at omeprazole, before ultimately moving from BF to neocate, which either worked or just coincided with the point when his digestive system matured and things came right of their own accord. We never really figured out what the problem was, but a temporary cow's milk protein intolerance (CMPI) seemed the most likely problem. Anyway, after a real deterioration in our daughter's feeding, we ended up at King's A&E yesterday where I was desperate to shortcut all the trial and error and wasted time and and just stop BF and move to neocate then and there. I recognise all of my daughter's symptoms from my son at the same age and so it seemed logical to conclude that the root problem would be CMPI, not reflux. Anyway, we were talked round by the consultant we saw, who persuaded us to persevere with BF while attempting to treat the problem as reflux first. We've been prescribed ranitidine as a starting point and I'm sceptical. There's been no obvious improvement yet (in fact, we've seen the reverse) and I'm just wondering whether others think there is likely to be soon or whether we should instead press to switch to omeprazole now? That way, if the full gamut of reflux meds prove not to work for us, we can hopefully just move on to neocate in the next week or so ... as opposed to months down the track. What do others think? Should we stick with ranitidine for a bit first and, if so, how long? Has it worked for anyone else? Very, very grateful for any advice on this as (without wishing to sound too self-indulgent) very upset it's all happening again. Many thanks in advance.

Hello, I don't do Facebook, but just wanted to quickly note that I'll also try to make this Sunday -- looking forward to hopefully meeting some of you :)

Hi there, I'd be keen & could do 1 Dec. Brunch sounds good -- maybe somewhere toddler-friendly like Duck Egg Cafe or Dish & Spoon?

Hello all, Just wondering -- for those who don't do facebook (like me), will details of next meet-up still be posted here? Is something still planned for this Sunday, 27th? Thanks.

Another one who won't be able to make it this time, sorry (we have family visiting). Will hopefully be able to join you all next time!

Hi, That time/date works for me too, so count me in. Eagleeyeddi, we've booked in for Ariadna's second timer's refresher course too -- nice to hear others in this group have as well :)

Hello all, I'm expecting my second on 2 Feb too -- so not quite Spring, but heading in that general direction ... My son will be close to three by that stage, so interested (actually, nervous!) to see how the transition goes! Also keen to meet up with others at some stage :)

We got ours from Affordable Shutters, which provided the cheapest quote by far and which also didn't seem to involve any obvious cost-cutting (ie, use of MDF, rather than wood as offered by some other companies). All of our quotes were also significantly cheaper than the ones you seem to have received so far Anna27 (for two bay windows. upstairs and down). Re colours, generally you should be able to opt for whatever colour you prefer. That pale pistachio colour you mention does seem very popular, but it's also possible to get plain, crisp white (which we did).