ClaireClaire

Hello all, Just a quick note to say that it was lovely to meet you both last Tuesday, sanity girl and bee74. I know you won't be able to make it next week, but Cinzia and I will still plan to be there in case any one else would like to come along. Hopefully we can make it a regular thing. So that's Horniman conservatory at 3pm next Tuesday. I should point out to any one else who's interested in coming along that we weren't very successful in getting the kids to speak in Italian to each other! They just raced around totally ignoring us, as they usually do... :-) But hey, it's work in progress. And great to get the info about the scuola materna near Stockwell. Thanks sanity girl and gigglesworthy. Claire

Hi Snowboarder, I feel your pain. Our daughter (now nearly 4) was an early riser as well, and I did everything I could think of to try to get her waking up later. Nothing worked. In the end we just brought her into bed with us where sometimes she would doze off; and even if not, we could get another half hour or so of semi-sleep while she just played with a toy in the bed or something. But you know, I think some kids are just like that; certainly, nothing that I tried worked, and I tried hard. It was only after she turned 2, and dropped her midday nap, and it was winter so dark in the mornings, that AT LONG LAST she started sleeping to around 7am. Good luck, I really sympathise. I am going through it all again with our second one (14m), but usually I just plonk him in front of the TV until 6am when I consider it an acceptable time for a human being to get out of bed :-)

Oh dear, so sorry everyone, I don't know what month I am in! Yes, I mean today = Tueday 14th September. hope to see some of you there and sorry again per la confusione Claire x

Hello again, Time changed to 3pm as that seems to suit people better! So we will be in the Horniman conservatory this Tuesday 10th August at 3pm. Not sure how it will all work out - when my friends and I have tried to get our kids to play games or do little activities in Italian, they usually just laugh in our faces and chase each other round the house. We thought that if we could change environment, and introduce some new people, they might be more likely to pay attention .... we'll see!! We shouldn't have too high expectations though. Worst case scenario we get to have a coffee and make some new friends :-) Claire

Hello sanity girl and bee74, great to hear from you both. Sanity girl, we will look out for you on Tuesday, and assume you will be easy to spot! Bee74 - I am not sure about starting later... I'll pm you about this. Would love to meet both of you even if you're not able to come this Tuesday. We're also thinking about some other child-friendly activities in Italian, e.g. an Italian storytime session on a Saturday morning .... will let you know more as and when! Btw, I am not Italian myself, really just a wannabe :-) But I lived in Bologna for a few years and speak ok, and am trying to speak it to my kids in the hope that they can eventually speak it to a reasonable level as a second language. But I'm in touch with quite a few other mums who are native speakers. I'll pm you both as well Claire

Hello, just wondering if there are any other families locally trying to raise their children bilingual English + Italian. There are a few of us trying to get a little group together and are looking for others to join! We would like to start a very informal Italian-speaking playgroup for children of pre-school age. We would aim to start by doing just a very short organised activity with the kids (10 mins - and that's ambitious!), and then let them play while we have a coffee (!), and then finish up with a song or two. We're going to meet at the Horniman in the conservatory next Tuesday at 2pm, and any Italian-speaking mums or dads are very welcome to come along with kids/babies to join us. Feel free to drop in, and/or pm me to chat more. Thanks Claire

Hello knowledgeable people of EDF I would like to know what the catchment distances turned out to be for the 2010 primary schools admissions. Most interested in Southwark, but also Lewisham and Lambeth... Have these been published now? Haven't been able to find them yet, would be grateful for any pointers in the right direction! Thanks Claire

I also have dry hands with too much handwashing! All these creams sound great - where do I get the cotton gloves, though? thanks!

Hi jency Yes, I was the same as you the first time around, totally paranoid every time I gave dd anything solid, and would whip her out of her chair and start whacking her on the back anytime she started gagging! But actually, as other people have already said above, the babies are surprisingly clever and just learn to cope with it themselves. Now with number 2, I am much more relaxed, and when he starts gagging on food, I'm able to just stand there and wait while he deals with it. (Btw, for me it was reassuring to realise that you never hear in the news about a baby dying because they've choked on their own finger food!) But despite knowing all this, it is still hard the first time round, and all the anxiety will add grey hairs to your head! Good luck Claire x

It is 1 mile! almost exactly

Yes, a plane!! (De plane, de plane!!) Some people must be really rejoicing right now after being stuck in the airports for so long.