Gubodge

I found one invaluable for the short period of potty training when we couldn't make it down to Lordship Lane without needing a wee or poo NOW! (Her, not me.) But that phase was mercifully short and I know some people find it just as easy to carry a normal potty under their pushchair. But if you're not squeamish at the idea of a second hand potty then you can have our old one. PM me.

BB100 Wrote: > > Five year olds in Norwegian playgroups play with > fire, use sharp knives and tools, climb rocks and > trees, cook on open fires, whittle stick into > knives Presumably supervised, though! My five year old is an excellent cyclist and eminently sensible. I'd be very happy for her to walk alone to school, although she would be horrified by the idea. I would not be happy for her to cycle to school as it adds more variables into the system, (I'm a pretty good cylist myself, but have still had my commute to work buggered up by falls, close collisions and punctures.) and I think it selfish to have bikes on the already crowded pavement at school run time. (Just as I don't allow them to cycle on the pavements on Lordship Lane. There's no point as you can't travel at more than walking pace without clipping peoples ankles.) I have a younger daughter who is less sensible and I can imagine that when she is 5 that I would be unwilling to let the her make her way to school on her own. She will not be going with her big sister, unaccompanied by adults either as I think it unfair and unreasonable for the elder to be in loco parentis for a child not capable of making the journey on her own. So my questions for the Schonrocks would be: Can your 8 year old change a puncture and has he/she the tools to do it? Do you let your 5 year old ride to school on his/her own if the 8 year old is not at school? If the answers to both those are yes, then I have no problem with what you are doing. If the answer to either is no then I think you are irresponsible.

I'm getting my daughter one for her fouth birthday and have decided to go with a cheap adult camera rather than one designed for children. Friends (including one who got one for her daughter at about 2.5) have said the picture quality is usually much better and they handle being bashed around just fine.

I live just down from Goodrich and have two small children at the school and would agree with Nero that a zebra crossing is not necessary. The vast majority of cars allow the children to cross at the point where the pavements are widened and those that don't are unlikely to stop for a zebra crossing, either. What I would like to see is the zigzag parking restrictions continued to the corner of Dunstan's road. It is cars parking (currently legitimately) right on the Goodrich/Dunstans corner that seem to cause a lot of the congestion, and can also make it fairly hair-raising for anyone trying to cross the road at that junction. And now to my reason for coming to this thread! James, The speed humps on Dunstans road are now on their fourth iteration this year. New ones were put down as part of the resurfacing of the entire road. A couple of months later the bumps were dug up and (seemingly) identical ones put down. Last week the workmen were back, digging up and replacing again. It is possible this latest version is ever so slightly lower. Can you give me the reasons behind this? What was wrong with the other two new sets? Were there complaints? And is that it now, or can we expect the workmen back again? Thanks

If anyone has found an iPhone, dropped at about 7.45 tonight on Dunstans Road I would be incredibly grateful if they could return it.

I've never had a problem getting on at Denmark Hill as so many people get off for Kings. They carriages can get uncomfortably crowded further up the line though.

I second Fiona Foster. Very relaxed classes and parents can stay in the room and watch, which I think is not allowed by some teachers. It is ?5.50 well spent for entertainment purposes alone.

I'd Recommend getting your thyroid checked out. Symptoms can include carpel tunnel syndrome and muscle pain. Otherwise I'd say it might just be breastfeeding, particularly the exhaustion and the wrists. Feeding can really take it out of you and I found I used to get very sore wrists from where they were supporting the baby's head during feeds.

Sandi Toksvig was up by Goodrich last week.

Oliver was filmed in the Picture Gallery. I wondered if there had been some internal shots in the Horniman but the display cabinets seemed to be in the wrong positions so it may have been elsewhere.

Last year the settling in period was one week or less. The children's start days were staggered so a child starting on the Monday had 5 days of being picked up directly after lunch, but a child starting on Friday only had one short day. The 2nd week of term was straight to a 3.30 pick up for all the children. Whether it will be the same this year I don't know, and will presumably depend on how they think it worked last time round.

I would agree that Clare's advice is likely to be better than your GP's. Breasts and breastfeeding have been her focus and specialism for years, the vast majority of GPs know very little about the subject. But you should aim to keep your nipples dry; thrush thrives in warm moist conditions. If it did happen to be mastitis, as liznkg says, it is the baby's lower jaw that gives the strongest suck, so try and ensure the chin is pointed to the area of blockage. It can result in some interesting breastfeeding postitions, but is worth trying. But without an area of soreness on the breast, rather than the nipple itself, I'm not sure why mastitis is being diagnosed.

I worked to 38 weeks with both of mine, wanting as long as possible with them afterwards. They were both late, as expected, and I think I would have gone out of my mind with boredom if I'd had any longer than the 5 weeks off before #1's birth. I had extrememly easy pregnancies though and was crawling under scramble nets at 40 weeks, riding bikes at 42 and walking from Landells Road to Kings at nearly 43, so could happily have physically carried on with the commute and work at well beyond my due dates. Most people aren't as lucky.

Make sure they give you medication for the small's mouth as well as for your nipples, otherwise you'll keep re-infecting. Oh and change your towels and bras daily and wash them at 60 degrees. Not that you've got anything better to do. So glad the feeding's going well.

Tongue-tied or not, you could try feeding in the bath. It relaxes them, and can make things a lot easier.

I have to declare an interest as I know the person who runs the site, but www.loveitloveitloveit.co.uk has some gorgeous stuff.

The only things I gave up to get pregnant were contraception and sobriety.

We went with Key Camp to Camping de la Baie, near Trinite-sur-Mer on the south coast of Brittany when our two were around 18 months and 3. It was perfect. They loved the ferry over and we only had a two hour car journey the other side. The campsite is ideal for small ones with a wide sandy beach just across the lane, a small playground and a swimming pool and toddler pool. We were lucky enough to be right at the far end of the site, in a sort of cul-de-sac which meant our kids and the ones in the neighbouring caravans could charge about in a little gang without us worrying about the (few, slow) cars coming in and out of the site. Best of all was the playground right next to the bar, so the parents could relax with an evening drink and watch the sunset whilst the smalls got rid of the last of their energy before bedtime. My husband was horrified at the thought of a caravan park holiday, but even he accepts that it was a great holiday.

I'm allergic to oilatum, so bear that in mind. Oilatum never helped my small much but she now has emulsiderm in her bath, which is a great improvement. GPs can be quite nervous of prescribing strong enough steroids, and don't have the experience of the range of different emollients and bath oils that you may need to go through before you find one that is effective for you. Even now our GP doesn't like to do repeat prescriptions of the high strength steroids that my daughter needs, even though they are what the 'experts' at Kings have said are needed, and are the only things that work. Our GP is great, but he is a generalist and can't be expected to have the same level of knowledge as a specialist dermatologist.

I think the skin prick tests are less effective in smalls as their sensitivities fluctuate when they are very young. So what shows up as an allergy on week may show no reaction the next and vice versa. But I have no idea when it all starts to settle down.

And next time he has a suggestion as foolish as having a two year old help with varnishing, tell him to do it himself, if he's so keen. 'Insisting' you do it and then blaming you for the resulting mess? Completely out of order.

Homebase in Penge, too.

They might not be able to escape a tied-on hat, but mine used to give pretty good impressions of strangling themselves in the frantic attempts to tear them off. Sometimes I'm very glad I'm past that stage, they're usually slightly more sensible now.

I'm afraid I have less good news. My daughter developed eczema at a few weeks old. She was eventually referred by the Dulwich Medical Centre to the dermatolgy clinic at Burbage road where they were helpful but there was no great improvement in her skin. It wasn't until they referred us on to Kings that we were prescribed Elocon (a steroid cream) which allowed her to sleep through for the first time ever (at about 2 3/4 years old). She still has eczema, but it is under control now and hugely improved for the majority of the time. She has also had skin-prick tests as part of the Leap study into peanut allergies, which we guinea pigged her for. Those showed up various food and other allergies, but although we avoid the problem foods and try and minimize her exposure to other allergens it still doesn't cure her eczema, just reduces it. I would advise pushing for a dermatolgy appointment though; as for us neither GPs nor Burbage road were willing to prescribe strong enough steroids. But don't expect a miracle. Have you tried self-referal?

Dammit! We were up there having a picnic lunch of our own. Happy Birthday, Twins!