Bellenden Belle

I put my little one's name down at a very popular community nursery when I was three months pregnant. I felt silly at the time but I'm very pleased I did it now.

To be honest I did a quick scan of their recent Ofsted report and it is still outstanding in the majority of areas - as far as I could see it was only in science teaching they were deemed to be underperforming.

http://www.piplingsnursery.com/ The Peckham branch has info here: http://piplingsnursery.com/6.html We went to see it before it opened. It's very lovely, in a very cosseted way.

Baby Booters at Jags Sports Club at 11am. ?3.50, brilliant fun - not paid by the term like other activities which I find helpful and will get both you and your little one running about.

Another big thumbs up for Pickle from me!

So I am in the process of moving jobs. I have just discovered, bizarrely, that it is company policy to provide no written response in request for references but instead to offer an informal chat on the telephone. This has been done with my departing colleagues, and has just happened with a freelance employer who alerted me to the rather odd procedure. Is this legal? Apparently it is being done on the advice of our chair, an intellectual property lawer. Edited to add that googling suggests it is legal. Oh well.

Bonfire2010 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think I am the only person > who doesn't rate Miguel at Rocks Hair, I was > really disappointed with the cut he gave me - > everyone else seems to think he's great though so > maybe just me! Nope - you're not alone. I've had three cuts with Miguel. The first was fab, second was awful but I blamed myself for picking the wrong style, but the third time I concluded it wasn't me, just a poor cut. It's quite a chaotic disorganised environment too - some might find that charming, I found it irritating.

Jeremy - no, the schools referred to are all in London boroughs. For example London Borough of Sutton. And no, grammar schools choose on ability not distance. Always been the case.

Mmmmm. You know what? I didn't find it that funny. It's lazy, perpetuates stereotypes and is part of a popular strand o journalism that encourages divisions, particularly amongst women. The majority of mums I meet out and about are a fantastic warm bunch and don't fit those categories. I've just finished reading The Hive which worked on a similar premise but actually explored those stereotypes with a tad more insight and nuance than I'm afraid that article did. I'm sure others may chuckle.

Just a smidge over your two-hour drive, we spent three nights camping this Bank Holiday at Swattesfield in North Suffolk. http://www.coolcamping.co.uk/campsites/uk/england/east-anglia/suffolk/534-swattesfield It was absolutely wonderful. Loads of space - other more seasoned campers remarked on how this campsite keeps numbers much lower than others - hot clean showers, wonderful woods to explore, a pub 20 minutes away, two cafes and a playground within walking distance and just oodles of space and loveliness.

http://www.artslondonnews.co.uk/20120117-reliant-magazine Is this still going? I saw a couple of issues and rather liked it, and it seemed to have quite a lot of support from local businesses. It felt very different to the glossy but pretty vacant SE22.

Is she a Londonder giggirl? I remember entertaining a teenager a few years back and people watching in Soho proved a highlight - she went back to Cheshire and wrote a book based on the area! Lunch at Duck and Waffle at the top of the Heron tower is also great fun - great views and a really fun menu. If she's a girly girl then I imagine a day of pampering and a visit to TopShop with someone as thoroughly glamourous as yourself would also be ace,

I'm bumping this for Mrs Lotte because I would also love to see any responses.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct07/vol65/num02/The-Perils-and-Promises-of-Praise.aspx There's an interesting theory posed by psychologist Carol Dweck about praise. To sum it up - it is better to praise the effort a child makes than the end result. If an educator praises a child when they have correctly finished something the child is less likely to tackle a harder task for fear of losing that praise if they struggle with it. I think the problem with the original article posted is that it suggests praise can devalue the activity - be it reading, eating vegetables,etc - I don't believe this to be true. But I do believe praise can put unnecessary emphasis on achieving, rather than doing.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845065220/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0JQV4X39Y6YSY6J8EZ62&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=418449247&pf_rd_i=468294 The very noisy night - gorgeous book about all the excuses we make to avoid going to sleep.

Mmmm, we tried it once. The substitutes were crazy. I seem to remember moxons sending us a load of sardines instead of a single fish. It's a great idea but the reality is the shops they use stock the very things like fish, meat and veg that you want to see and choose and because they are small indie shops they don't necessarily have the stock you order. Great in principle, not so great in practice.

Jah Lush Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Bellenden Road area accepted. I'm specifically > talking about Rye Lane. You wouldn't purchase your > meat from there now would you DC? Actually we regularly buy our lamb from United Meats, which is directly opposite Peckham Library. We buy lamb only because of animal welfare reasons but we certainly don't have a problem purchasing meat on the grounds of health or hygiene reasons. Similarly we would be unlikely to buy any meat other than lamb from a supermarket for the same reasons.

> > Don't shop in Peckham? Why? Even if you are > suggesting that Rye Lane's excellent value produce > doesn't appeal, Bellenden Road now has a top > quality butcher; the General Store selling > provisons, deli goods and fresh fruit and veg; > Andersons which stocks the best bread in London; > and a great Payless for run-of-the-mill bits and > bobs. > > I rarely bother shopping in ED anymore tbh. It's > your own prejudices and leaps of judgement that > are in error here. And that's before you consider Persepolis and Wing-Tai for ingredients that you just can't find on Lordship Lane (or at least not for a reasonable price) and then hopping to our other nearby neighbourhead, Nunhead, for fish at Sopers, coffee and provisions at Bambuni, and another excellent old-school greengrocer.

Louisa - it's already opened!

MikeP - I think the Bussey Building is doing a brilliant job of being an arts / community venue which actually reflects the community it is based in. Instead of looking at ONE event held there, have a look at the overall programme: http://www.clfartcafe.org/ Afro-bass fusion, deep house and bass, bump 'n' grind - there are loads of events that are in your words "representative of Peckham". And rightly so... I think the theatre programme at the Bussey Building is one of the most impressive examples of audience development and community engagement I have seen. A partnership with the Royal Court has brought some of the most exciting work from young playwrights - black and white - to Peckham. The Royal Court's own audience is predominantly white and yet their seasons at the Bussey have attracted a noticeably more diverse audience. What I love about what the CLF is doing is that it is able to balance these partnerships and collaborations without changing the overall identity of the organisation. Before Kerb, how many times had you been to the Bussey Building MikeP? I'm going to stick my neck out and hazzard a guess that actually, like myself, probably not that many. How ironic that whilst you are talking about the building needing to do more marketing, I think they are probably doing an extraordinarily clever job of getting a new audience in. It's just that actually for the Bussey Building, you and I are probably the targeted minority group that they are trying to attract. Because maybe a few of the people who went to Kerb and enjoyed it will look at what else is on at the building....and there the seeds of change are sewn and the demographics of an audience slowly shift.

There is a lovely small garden at Anderson & Co on Bellenden Road that is open for dinner on a Friday and Saturday. Steak is their speciality, I think.

Activity is probably a little too, erm, active a word at that age. Our one spent a little bit of time in a rocking chair, and a little bit lying under a rainforest gym. Or just being cuddled and adored by visitors. His absolute all time favourite activity was lying on our bed looking at the tree outside our house or - at about six weeks when there was a heat wave in April - lying under a tree. One thing the book emphasises and I personally found a useful tip is dont over stimulate them - the world around them is ample. If he was awake for about twenty mins/ half an hour (including a nappy change) I'd be happy and then he would be tired enough to drift off in his Moses basket/ pram. We used all his sleep cues at that stage - swaddling, white noise, dummy, shush/ patting. I copied a friend and would gently stroke his cheek to wake him if he looked drowsy during a feed. People often recommend that for the early days just so they actually have sufficient milk.

I have been blessed with in-laws close by BUT we have also used babysitters from around four months. We have very good friends in the area who babysat in return for wine and dinner. However, Baby Belle never woke up once he went down and we made sure we a) went out after he went down and b) we stayed local and came back after a few hours. The courage to leave him to be put to bed by someone other than granny only came this month at seventeen months. For that I used a local nanny recommended through the forum. I wanted someone experienced to do it - and didnt want to put my friends in that position if it was difficult. I'd met her previously and liked her instantly. I think its important for parents to have a break sometimes and children are more resilient than we like to think. Choose people you trust, take small steps at a time - even a drink at a local - and don't beat yourself up.

I'd recommend having a read of the Baby Whisperer. It doesn't give you times but it does give you an idea of establishing a routine. In other words - Eat, Awake, Sleep (and then adds a Y for You on the end for marketing purposes!). I followed that mantra almost from the very beginning - it was a useful pattern and stopped me doing things like feeding the baby to sleep - but it meant I didn't get hung up on timings. I introduced timings (from the book Baby Secrets) at around 12 weeks.

On hot days Brockwell lido is lovely. Opens at 8am - quite a few babies / toddlers in the shallow end this week.