SLad

My daughter utterly loves her little table and chairs set for her room as it's just the perfect size for her and her friend to sit at to do their lego and drawing. It was also wonderfully cheap from Ikea (I can't find it on the website but it's white plastic with wood edge) - it's really easy to customise just for him so he feels like a big grown up boy with his own things. Otherwise we also got her an indoor circus tent from Ikea which she absolutely loves mostly to trap her daddy in! Again, this was super cheap.

We spent a fabulous Christmas day lunch at Rocca in Dulwich Village followed by a cocktail in Bel air House, both with our 6 month old daughter in tow. Was really worried about the meal as thought it might be a bit miserable not to be at home but it was so much fun because the staff in Rocca were so fabulous and the meal was great. Lovely atmosphere and very reasonable. Would definitely do it again but off to the in laws this year!

As the immensely proud mum of a 17 month old who today signed and said please twice when asking for her bedtime book I thought it was about time I sang the praises of Trish Cumming's local Sing and Sign group. http://www.singandsign.com/classes/classes-near-you/southwark-and-lambeth Although a termly course it is exceptionally good value at ?80 and has really played a huge role in getting my daughter communicating well with us which in turn seems to help her manage her frustrations at life really well (so we think anyway). We go to the classes in Herne Hill but I know there are classes at All Fired Up too. One big recommendation is to get at least 1 of the DVDs too. Our daughter is mesmerised by Jessie the Cat and it's a great and very easy for you to get a quiet few minutes to relax and/or help you learn the signs too. X

Hi there, Sorry to hear you're off to a funeral, my condolences for your loss. I bought my wedding sari in Leicester but had to have my blouse made down here and went to the row of sari shops on the main road in Thornton Heath to get the work done. They were great and much more like Leicester prices than the shops in Tooting. Some were too small to carry too much ready made stock but they were very reasonable and I didn't feel too much like I was out of my depth. Otherwise any of the shops in Tooting will be fine and very helpful, I'm sure. Come what may, I would definitely avoid buying anything online because the fit is so much smaller for Indian women's clothes than for English clothes. At 5ft 8 and blessed in the boob department most of the clothes looked like I was trying on my daughter's clothes for fun! Good luck. S

Family out in rain. Work to do. Reading this instead.

As before most of the engineers uses Glass' guide values for pre-accident values. You might be able to get some idea of the value off their website.

The insurance company will send an assessor to view the car and produce a brief report giving pre-accident market value mostly based on Glasses (I think) and cost of repairs. BTW i'm not sure the insurer would accept the retail value of the car as they'd probably be looking at trade value as the true representation of price. If the cost of repairs are more than a certain percentage of the market value (I can't remember what it is but remember thinking it was low) then the car will be a category C or D write off (again, I think). You will then be offered the pre-accident value of the vehicle minus your excess minus any deemed salvage value and the car should then be yours to dispose of as you wish or repair knowing that it has a category write off against it's name. I don't know what the category does to your insurance premium when it comes time to renew and/or whether you can renew so it would be worth checking that out via the internet before doing anything else. Having said all that, I would also check your insurance policy terms and conditions to see whether you have to report the damage to them as there is a requirement of utmost good faith in all first party insurance contracts so if there is something material you're supposed to tell an insurer during the insurance period and you don't they can, if it's sufficiently material that they would have done something differently, use it to not pay out on any claim. Good luck.

I am almost floating after a blinking amazing hot stone massage in my bedroom from the wonderful Suki of Blissful Thinking www.blissful-thinking.co.uk 07887 381 529. Hubby found her when our little one was 6 weeks old . He took daughter to pub in a sling whilst Suki treated me to a 1 hr deep tissue massage = one very happy family. I've been having Suki's massages every few months or so since and they are never short of wonderful. She's also good company and does nails, facials, waxing too. The full shebang. What's more she's a local mum of 2 and she does at home pregnancy massage too. Definitely worth giving her a try. I'm just hoping I don't end up doing myself out of being able to get evening massages!

Robofish is my niece's toy of choice for Christmas. And mine craft. Always bloody Mine craft.

The THHotel (stuck in the past with the Tavern bit) is open already though the official launch night is tomorrow. Looks nice from the outside and might be nice spot to park relatives until the Dog reopens as a through the nose expensive hotel in 2028.

> 1 The Earl Ferrers, Streatham > 2 The Railway, Tulse Hill > 3 The Montpellier, Peckham > 4 Beer rebellion, Peckham Should definitely add: 2a. The White Hart, Tulse Hill 2b. The Tulse Hill Tavern, Tulse Hill Both now eminently fine boozers after each have been subject to cracking refurbs.

Even cheaper than the ritzy is the Peckham pulse under 1s cinema which is about ?4. You can get chatting to other mums or just have a nice solo w at h of the film. I used to put my daughter in her sling and she'd usually have a reallly good sleep through something horrifically inappropriate. And do a big poo. Always the big poo.

The Rosendale has a great outdoor play area and is very family friendly inside with proper food for the kids, colouring in sheets and games.

I love this thread. It's where all the devilish people hang out.

I'm forever battling my niece and nephews obsessions with screens so can share your pain. My nephew loved getting a box of magic tricks for his birthday when he was 5.5 and I think that was the year we got him and his twin sister a telescope as well but that's probably a better present for rural Lincolnshire than for ED. This year he's asked for a Robo-fish. I don't know even what that is yet. I always find the Science Museum's online shop very good for inspiring me for boys presents....

Beautiful silk lined hats by a Camberwell based company. www.chidora.co.uk

I would recommend reaching out to any of the local yoga studios and having a conversation with them about what class they would suggest for you and what equipment you should take with you. I don't know the studios in east Dulwich but there's the shala in w Norwood and yoga haven (mostly hot yoga) in Clapham. Most yogis are really warm and open people who are delighted to help people who are just starting out so I'm sure you'll get a really warm reception. Luckily, yoga is practised totally on your own mat for and within your own limitations without judgment so you don't need to worry about being 'stiff' or 'bad'. There's no such thing. In my limited experience the most important thing is finding a space to practice in with a teacher you really connect with who helps you develop safely. Yoga for me has been a brilliant journey and I really hope you give it a go and have a great experience. If you're interested in private tuition I can recommend a lovely Brazilian teacher who is very experienced with brand new yogis, just pm me for details. Good luck!

Think of the poor penguins!

Gosh it's such a big change for everyone but you're doing really fab. We did baby led all the way and never pureed a thing (much to our nanny's great shock) so repeated the old mantra of food is fun before you're one to ourselves and bought a big sheet of plastic tablecloth to go under our daughter's highchair. Then we all sat down together for as many meals as possible and left her to play with whatever she had in front of her. As reluctant as she was at first eventually natural curiosity took over and she started picking up the food (and dropping it) and then trying it in her mouth. We tried to let her take as much time with food as possible and not to rush or scold if nothing went in because she was quite happy getting loads of breastmilk as well. Whatever you do try to keep as calm as possible because she will eat when she's hungry and when the change has stopped feeling so overwhelming. O, and I did read in the BLW book (I think) that some babies are very wary of food which is mixed up and will end up rejecting stuff if there's one thing in it they don't like so maybe single veg purees (carrot / sweet potato are nice and sweet) might be a good idea until she gets the hang of it a bit more. X

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Would you object to paying to see a concert in a > park? Having never paid for one I guess that means I would.

Hey intexasatthe moment, Thanks for your input. Maybe a moment of quiet reflection required next time before you jump in to defend someone who has posted something off topic on a sensitive thread. Yours vertiginously, S

Rah rah rah, I wouldn't read too much into that. I saw a stabbing on a bus in East London in 2012 and spent days looking for a news report about it because I was so worried about the victim and had no way of knowing what had happened to him (poor kid) but nothing ever appeared on any online media. Fingers crossed you're right though and there was no stabbing. If not, my heart goes out to the victim and their family.

Really? So is it really appropriate to use a thread about a tragic local incident to make some general criticism of the police's approach to crime scenes. If you ask me (and I appreciate you didn't), that speaks of a degree of selfishness which is really repugnant, even for some of the lows of this lovely forum. Also, even putting to one side the fact that Minder's comments about traffic disruption were piggy-backed onto a thread about a stabbing (you know, with a knife where someone's sister/brother/mother/father gets cut open deliberately by someone else), I work with the consequences of accidents and I would hope the general public could be a bit more forgiving about the need for the police to investigate them thoroughly or clean up properly before allowing traffic to continue (particularly as important skidmarks and other detritus on the road might need to be investigated by an experienced police collision investigator rather than a local Lewisham bobby). But yeah, probably a bit harsh.

Brilliant link david_carnell. Made my morning that did.

Brilliant. I'm now following Lynda Snell on Twitter. All thanks to this thread. +1 for humanity.