snss75

Rach, out of the schools nearby you/us, Bellenden Primary, Oliver Goldsmith & Lyndhurst are all rated good by Ofsted. Dog Kennel Hill is rated satisfactory. Bellenden is lovely & small and I can definitely recommend it. I got really frustrated in trying to deal with Lyndhurst's office staff but that's just me... Oliver Goldsmith is huge but a friend of mine is a teacher there and says it's a nice school. If I was you I'd see what the closest schools are on the direct gov site and look at the close ones if possible. Don't try to get into the ED schools as there is a very little chance of getting a place in them from where you live.

Rach, we live on Lyndhurst Way and our closest school is Bellenden. My son went to nursery there and now started reception and he's been very happy there. I guess it depends on which part of Lyndhurst Grove you on but Dog Kennel Hill might be quite close to you as well? Do a search by your postcode on http://schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk/.

supergolden, here's the Which? review text, it got a Which score 80%. (Sorry, couldn't figure out a way to get the test results etc. here but can e-mail them to you if you want to pm me your e-mail address.) The Oyster travel system from Babystyle has a reversible seat and is a Which? Best Buy. It gives a smooth ride on a wide range of surfaces, and benefits from a large shopping basket that is easy to access ? even when the seat is fully reclined. It?s heavy and bulky when folded, however, so you might have trouble fitting it in the boot of a very small car. The seat reclines to three different positions, with a maximum angle of 143 degrees. Though this is suitable from birth according to British law, it?s not the recline of 150 degrees or more that is best for newborn babies. If you?re keen to use the Oyster with a newborn, it might be worth buying the optional carry cot, which costs around ?90 and will allow your baby to lie completely flat. The Oyster is sold with a rain cover, foot muff and hood, which has a viewing window. If you want to use the pushchair as a travel system you?ll need to buy a compatible car seat such as the Oyster LB321, or Which? Best Buys the Maxi-Cosi Cabrio Fix or the Britax Baby Safe. The Oyster manoeuvres well and scored high marks in our public transport assessment as it?s narrow enough to push down a bus gangway and turns corners with ease. The pushchair can be easily folded or unfolded no matter which direction the chair is facing. If you use escalators a lot you should bear in mind that this pushchair is front heavy, so it pulls forward when you?re balancing it on the rear wheels. It requires some force to keep it in place when travelling up an escalator. You?ll need to assemble this pushchair yourself ? it took our lab experts four minutes to assemble the Oyster using the instructions provided ? and you won?t need to use any tools. The only slight problem we encountered when assembling this pushchair were that the instructions for unfolding it were folded inside the seat, which made them difficult to find. This pushchair complies with the relevant British Standards for safety, strength and stability. The fabric is very easy to clean, though it took a while to dry once it was wet. The Oyster weighs a heavy 11.3kg and there?s no carry handle. It measures 62x55x85cm (290 litres) when folded, which is quite large. However, it does fit into the boot of a Ford Fiesta when the seat unit and main chassis are separated. Pros: Reversible seat, smooth and comfortable ride, three-position recline, great on public transport Cons: Heavy, no carry handle

maybe one of the au pairs working locally that are free during the day?

Little Kickers do classes for 5-7 years (called Mega Kickers) on Saturdays at the community centre on Darrell Road. This group is on from 12.30 until 13.15ish, the coaches tend to go on for a bit :)). My son has been doing Little Kickers since he was 3 and thorougly enjoys it. The coaches in ED are really nice and good with kids. Good thing also is that Little Kickers play all year round (not just term time) and during the winter they practice inside. In the summer and/or when the weather permits they play outside. Check out http://www.littlekickers.co.uk/signupdetails.aspx?venue=East%20Dulwich&Fran=27&area=Southwark&day=7.

Christmas in Finland is always a good idea!!! I may be a bit biased though as I'm from Finland :)). In all seriousness, a trip to Lapland and Santa's village is definitely an experience even if the kids no longer believe in Santa. There are number of other things to do & see, such as husky rides etc. as well. Hope you have a lovely time if you decide to go!

I don't know if Ikea is what your after but their Mammut colorful children furniture is defintely fun & won't break the bank. Ikea also do some other, maybe more tasteful, stuff like the Leksvik, have a look if you haven't already: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/18767/

dulwichquine, a while back I was looking for someone to make my son's birthday cake as well and got quite a few recommendations here on the Forum, see this thread: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,494641,497790#msg-497790. I ended up ordering ours from Newell Occasions and it turned out really great but all the others seemed good as well. Jennifer from bespokecakeslondon in particular was really helpful but she, just like Ceri, was going for a holiday around the time we needed the cake. Good luck!

I think if your child is still quite young then the footmuff is really good for the chilly fall/cold winter weather. It does also help keep the buggy clean as you can just take it off and throw it in the machine. Personally I thought a footmuff (which turns in to a seat liner if you zip of the top part) was really good although didn't work that well for ours when he got a bit older and refused to keep his legs in there and wanted to jump on/off the buggy all the time :) The again, at that point he kept himself warm so didn't have to worry about that anymore!

Really strange! My son's nursery were forever telling me about his friends and even named a boy that is his "best friend" in my son's end of year report as apparently they are inseparable. I did the exact same thing as you when it came to inviting his friends to his birthday party and the nursery were more than happy to name the children he mostly spends time with and the parents were equally excited when I spoke to them about the party, especially since most of the kids now start reception and will be going to different schools. Both the nursery and the parents were keen to foster their friendship, just like kristymac said. If you are wanting to limit the number of children you invite, maybe you could do un-named invites and ask the nursery to hand them to the children they feel your child spends most time with? Or like nunheadmum and berryberry said, limit it to your daughter's age group? I feel for you, I'd be pretty pi..ed off if my son't nursery refused to tell me who his friends are!

Nicole, definitely! We got one for our son when he quite small and mastered it in no time. The mini micro is sooo much better for balancing than the others on the market as it has two wheels in the front as opposed to two in the back. We've now moved on to the Maxi, "big boy" version of the mini which is brilliant. We're going for a holiday and it's definitely coming with us :))

Imke, you'll be REALLY close to the Bellenden school. My son went to the Nursery there and will now start Reception there in September as well which we're very pleased about. It's a small school and the staff are very caring; I'd definitely give them a call. They are taking half the class on in September and another half in January so it may work out for you if you get on the waiting list. In the meantime, you could contact the Nursery Teacher directly to enquire about a nursery place for the fall term. Eunice, the Nursery Teacher is really lovely, you can call the school and ask for her on 0207 732 7107 (+44 207 732 7107 if calling from abroad). You can find more general info on the school & nursery places on the Southwark Council website http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/100005/education_and_learning.

My son didn't used to take his calpol or any other medicine, vitamines etc. at all! Tried mixing with milk, juice, water, yoghurt and anything I could think of but he'd see right through it. The only way we got him to take his antiobiotics was by using syringe and force (yes, it took two people...). If you're finding it difficult get the suppositories from GP, they are perfect for babies & small children, where I come from they are the standard form of pain/fever relief for the little ones and available as Panadol suppositories without prescription. Much less hassle & heartache and at least you can be sure they go in! Now that he's 4 he can luckily be bribed into taking his medicine :))

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll give these ones a try!

Can anyone recommend somebody else besides Ceri? Unfortunately she's on a holiday at the time of our son's birthday :( and cannot help us. I'm not inclined to go for a cake store cake as I'd like something other than regular sponge which I can make myself...

I got the labels that you just iron on from here: http://www.gbnametapes.co.uk/ So far they've stayed on and we've had no problems with them. Somehow sewing name tags on all of my sons clothes was not a particularly attractive prospect for me... ;-)

Mazuki Taekwon-Do classes are great. At Goodrich school on Tuesdays/Thursdays 6.30-7.30pm for 6-12 year olds. See http://www.mazuki.com/venues.html.

Our lovely Finnish au pair is looking to meet new people and hopefully make new friends. She's only just arrived in London so she'd be thrilled to find other young people to hang out and explore London with in the evenings & weekends. She looks after our 4.5 year old son and they'd be up for play dates in the afternoons or during the holidays as well if there are any other au pairs/nannies in the area looking after children around the same age. If anyone is interested please PM me for her contact details and/or send me yours.

On the internet: Micro-Scooters http://www.micro-scooters.co.uk/category/mini-micro-scooter/, they do all the lovely accessories as well :)) or John Lewis http://www.johnlewis.com/230407860/Product.aspx?s_kwcid=TC.

Going a bit off topic but I just have to break the golden rule and admit to living in SE15 :)) We've lived in the Bellenden area for 4 years now and I love it! Bellenden Road is lovely, Peckham shops are just minutes away as is the train station & buses and ED is just around the corner. Also very convenient for the baby groups in SE15, SE22 and SE5, all walking distance. It also seems that we've had less trouble with the primary school places than SE22. Just thought I'd put in a good word for SE15 in case you find yourself with a lovely house on the "wrong side of the tracks" so to speak :)

Our son has the minnen bed, as do a son of a friend of ours, and as Aisling says they are very good and not at all squeaky. We've both had ours for about 4 years now. My son was under a year old when we moved him into this bed and he's loved it ever since (he refused to sleep in the cot after 10 months...) I think minnen works just as well for boys as it does for girls :)) We started off with the 3 piece mattress as well but as we extended the bed to its full length (not because it was necessary yet for a 4 year old but because we wanted to) we bought a nice thick Ikea sprung mattress for it and now it's comfier than ever! Definitely good value for money!

All Saints Church play group has always been very friendly: http://www.allsaintspeckham.org.uk/whatson/youngsaints/ and the Camberwell Salvation Army playgroup is lovely: http://www.netmums.com/listings/PLACES/southwark/15/Salvation_Army_Parents_and_Toddlers_Group/1001/19659/. Peckham soft play is ok, staff are friendly and they have a separate area for babies. See netmums for listings for various play groups, soft play areas and activities: http://www.netmums.com/places//southwark/

Chantelle, my son has been in the Bellenden school nursery since he was 3 and was now given a place in reception and I'm really happy! What I like about Bellenden is that is small, the staff are very caring and really seem to take an interest in the development of the little ones. It may have not had the most glowing Ofsted reports; if I remember correctly it was good but from experience in delaing with the staff I'm more than happy to send my son there.

Check out http://www.pramworld.co.uk/category/422/iCandy_Cherry. They say they can't sell bugaboo or icandy online but that you should contact their sales team via phone. Maybe they can take telephone orders?

I found the same thing when my son turned 3; seemed like he was a bit "too old" for the playgroups :). Have you considered applying for the school nurseries to have your son there half day (am or pm) each day? That's what I did with my son when he was 3 and few months and he's been really happy. Now I have to come up with activities for the afternoons only!