nunheadmum

Not sure if there is a clear cut better option - both have pros and cons. Just go for what you think will work for you and don't worry about others. The kids will come and have fun whatever. And the parents will be grateful to have their kids entertained for a couple of hours. I know what you mean about getting worried about the organising. But the kids won't mind if the food isn't out bang on time or you don't have time to fit in that game of musical statues etc, etc. Kids love parties, whatever you do. That said, lists are the way to keep yourself sane in the run up but on the day, try and find 5 mins to enjoy watching the kids having fun. It's over oh so quickly. And pack a bottle of something bubbly for the adults.....makes it feel marginally more civilised even if it is drunk from peppa pig / princess / fairy paper cups.

33 points......what luxury!! Although I guess having lost 7 a day, it doesn't feel like it to you, Grotty. Another week of 'null points' for me too on the weight loss. (Although do want to know how you managed to eat 7 pieces of cake and not gain.....I feel like I only have to look at one!!) Had lost a pound mid-week but somehow it crept back on. Have tried mixing up breakfasts, varying exercise, allowing a few more points from my weekly allowance....but not achieved what I'd hoped. On the plus side, have had a few folk asking if I've lost weight and some of my clothes are definitely feeling more generous than they once were, so at least it feels like I'm getting somewhere, even if the scales are telling me different!

Thanks Renata. So does anyone know what is on? We really need a Rafts and Rascals or some kind of general swim in the little pool to keep both kids happy.

Anyone know if the pool has an alternative timetable for bank holidays? I'm looking for a general / kids session in the small pool but it seems very limited if swim school etc is on. Nothing I can find on their website of course.

If you want a day away, Bailiffscourt Hotel and Spa at Climping (south coast, near Littlehampton) is nice - you can get to it by train from Victoria, so a non-drive option. It's by the coast so you can go for a walk by the sea. The spa treatments are lovely. And there's an outdoor pool as well as an indoor one. The hotel is nice too with a good restaurant so a good one for a real break from the kids. http://www.hshotels.co.uk/index.php?id=12

Think there's one at Ivydale Primary - possibly on a Monday.

Well done Pickles and Pebbles for getting out in that rain. I went out on Friday and got caught but found too that I really liked it! Helps keep me cooler and you feel doubly virtuous for being out there! Would have been tempted this morning except that I'm on my own with kids. I will keep at it.....thanks for the encouragement and tips. It's possible I was a bit too harsh on the food last week and eating lightly rather than healthily. (It doesn't help that I've got a bee in my bonnet about not eating 'low fat/cal' versions of things where they substitute thickeners and artificial sweetner for the real stuff - so some of my choices gobble up more points than perhaps they could if I gave in.) I'm with you Pebbles on the extra points = alcohol points!!! And I'll try the breakfast tip....may stop me gettng totally sick of shredded wheat! Another week, another 26 points.....let's see how it goes! Good luck everyone!

Started WW 3 weeks ago after realising that simply eating healthily and running weren't shifting the 3 years on baby weight and something more drastic was needed. Lost 2lb first week, 3lb next week then this week, despite going only 3 or 4 points into my weekly allowance and racking up 19 activity points with walking to and from work and a 5+km run yesterday, I find today on weighing myself that I have lost not a jot! I'm well peeved (to put it mildly!). Also wondering whether, after losing the weight (presuming I do somehow manage to do so without having to cut down to sub-26 points a week), I'll ever manage to eat anything mildly naughty again without having to immediately counteract it by going into diet mode or see the pounds loading on again. At 4'10'' I suspect the scope for naughtiness will be VERY limited. Baa-humbug!

LucyA - any advice on how you encourage a child to practice? My daughter (age 6) doesn't like not being able to do things straight off and while she does quickly improve when she does practice (short 10 mins...I don't push my luck!), getting her to do it is a constant source of stress. Other than yet another reward chart (which I think she's getting a bit wise to!), I'm a bit stuck as to what to do. What age do they start to get that practice helps them and want try to improve or achieve things?

There's a great event at the Southbank (RFH), Funharmonics concerts. There's a classical concert aimed at kids (so it's fine to wriggle, hand out munchies etc). But before and after they have loads of opportunities around the centre to try out different instruments. I'm gutted as we've got 4 tickets but now the school Fun Run is the same day (13th May) and we can't go!

SG88 - not sure when the next OFSTED is due but I get the feeling that they think it may not be that far off, particularly as they only had 'satisfactory' last time and the new thinking on that category. I know they did do a 'mock' inspection last term. I think unfortunately the new approach of OFSTED is going to mean that the schools need to jump through the hoops or they stand to loose all freedom. I think the good teaching lower down the school will, in time, pay rewards that the kids don't need to be so intensively coached to achieve the decent results required to pass SATS at the levels needed for a decent OFSTED. In the meantime, the teachers at the top end have to do all they can to try and ensure they get the results needed to keep all the special things about Ivydale that we love. To me, it seems that running a successful school - and turning around a school that was all but failing not so long ago - is a complex business. Ray started that process really successfully turning it into a school people wanted to come to and now Helen needs support from everyone (teachers, parents, kids) to help maintain what's good that we all love while developing the weaker bits (hard academic results in standard tests) which seems to be what the Government want. (And lets face it, we all want kids who achieve their potential academically as well as in arts, sports etc). We don't want just a SATS machine but we can't ignore that side either, unfortunately!

We did 12 of them at home on a rainy day and it went pretty well....no major damage and didn't feel totally over-run. They were a lovely bunch! An option maybe if Harris not available.

Unfortunately while being creative and chaotic Ivydale was only rated 'Satisfactory' by Ofsted. Now the powers that be in schools, are saying that schools can't stay 'Satisfactory', they need to improve to 'Good' or risk special measures which would curtail a lot of the freedom to do things that make Ivydale the school it is. So if the school doesn't focus more on improvement in the things that Ofsted mark - which unfortunately means SATS results, attendance etc - it risks losing the freedom to do all the other bits that everyone thinks are brilliant. I'm really hoping that Helen, the Headteacher, can get the balance right. The latest results seems to show that they're moving in the right direction while also maintaining and broadening out the range of 'other' activities on offer.

Wow, that's close for Heber! Guess that's the effect of the Bulge class 2 years ago!

I think the fact that she's with Daddy is probably part of the problem....she always plays up more with him. But she also does tend to get concepts into her head and can be a stubborn one to move, so the refusal isn't only his fault. I'll try having a chat with her once she's back home tomorrow and see if we can take the grown up approach (agree with the bribery....although after Easter, it's bad timing to bribe with chocolate!). She seems to be getting through the night without it or with as much as Daddy can get into her. I think he's using it after she's dropped back off so she probably isn't getting a full dose but some is better than none. She just seems to have a bad patch around 1-2am and then drops back off till morning. She's not in critical need of it though (fingers crossed!) - it's more it would make her more comfortable if she did take it (and help everyone else sleep better!).

Thanks. Have passed the suggestions onto Nunheaddad and will see how he gets on.

We did get a spacer but she freaks when you pump the canister into it. I guess you can't really pump it away from her then bring it up to her face - tho may be better than nothing. Could try with the dollies and maybe get her to pump it. A few lost doses shouldn't matter as hope we don't need it for long.

Ballet not that baby-ish at all....unless she's used to proper ballet performances. It just cuts out the longer story-telling bits (that frankly, I get lost at usually!) and focuses on the main, juicy story bits where there's more to see. The narration helps to explain the hand gestures and how they and the dancing tell the story. If interested, it's coming to Bromley too, in May I think.

Mango Landing on Brixton Water Lane is quite nice for kids - roomy inside and a decking area outside with kids toys. Sometimes got a small jazz group playing on a Sunday too. I've been told that the food is nice.

If she's into ballet, Sadlers Wells are doing 'My First Sleeping Beauty' at the Peacock Theatre till the 13th with 2 shows a day. We went at the weekend and it was a lovely show, narrated to help understand the movements. And not too long. Places nearby too for a nice lunch afterwards.

Any seasoned parents out there got tips on how to get a canny almost 4 year old to use an inhaler? She's had a bad croupy cough the past 2 nights and doctor has given us an inhaler. But as we suspected (and our eldest did too when she needed it when young) she got freaked out by the puff of the little cannister. Any fun ways to get her to take it? Or sneeky ways would work in the middle of the night. Nunheaddad has taken them down to his mum's so he's having to cope on his own.

With my second, we introduced a bottle early on then, as she was taking it fine, didn't worry too much about doing it again as I wasn't great at expressing. Come trying it around the 4 month mark, she totally refused. We tried every bottle on the market and she still wouldn't do it. We were advised to keep trying it at every single feed, before giving the boob. (We used formula rather than expressed so no worries about chucking it away.) I think the idea is to make them realise that it's going to be part of life. My LO refused it for near on a month or more....even the 'supernanny' we'd been working with on it had given up on her. Then one day we were out in the park and, not sure if she was just distracted and forgot to resist, but she took almost a full bottle. I couldn't believe my luck! From there on, I did a lot of feeding in the park!! (I was heading back to work so needed her to take the bottle.) We were never advised to miss a feed or let her get distressed. I think that's the hard-line approach when you need a baby to change quickly. But if you're only doing it at one feed, I suspect the baby would do as yours is - hold out and then wake up later and get what it wants. It's really tough trying to do it when their minds are set against it. It feels a little like having to prove that your will is greater than theirs! Good luck!

It all depends how good your kids are in the car and whether you can factor in some sleep time. We're lucky that our two do tend to enjoy a bit of sitting, staring into space so we could probably manage a long one if we wanted to. I think the issue is more a safety one for us - trying to drive for all that time if they are playing up and getting on your nerves, just seems unsafe to me. For us last time there was a risk of a crying toddler so it was a no-no but maybe now they're bigger, it could be do-able.

Thanks everyone for the recommendation - just had a brilliant day out at Coram Fields. Weather was brilliant, kids were well behaved and we all had a lovely time. Just one word of warning re the cafe - we'd to wait AGES for food and it wasn't THAT busy. Maybe just an off day - the guy doing it seemed a bit like a Germanic Basil Faulty. But worth taking your own or ordering before the kids are starving. That said, the sausages were lovely and the hot chocolate hit the spot!

We find kids songs CD's a godsend on long drives....'wheels on the bus' type ones. Can drive us a bit mad but Monkey Music ones have earned their money for us. Having driven to Scotland (8-10hrs depending on the traffic) both in one go and with a split, I'd advise stopping off if you can. But try and break the back of the journey on the first day if you can.