sunbob

If you have a particularly tall child then the ridgeback scoot is good. It's plenty high enough for our tall 3.5 yr old, and we haven't even used the extra/longer saddle post that came with it yet. It also comes in lots of colours.

I haven't noticed the pear tree you mention, but there is another one a few yards away on the corner of Friern and Peckham Rye. It's now inside the new school playground. There weren't any fruit this year, but its usually smothered. I wonder if the school will take an interest next time it fruits.

Don't know of a local place, but I got some spares from http://pumps4mums.co.uk/ The service was very quick and helpful (i forgot something, emailed and they added it to my order). It was also the only place I could find a new plug/adaptor for it. There are some bits available on Amazon too.

Aside from the technical descriptions, I think that what each means to your child is v important/useful aswell. When we had to move our daughter from nursery to preschool for financial reasons, it was extremely useful to be able to sell the move to her as a necessary and exciting progression now she was bigger to "preschool". Similarly, we were lucky enough to get a school nursery place and wanted to take it and luckily she was desperate to go to big school, so a nursery in a big school was very pleasing for her!

What a coincidence! I just bought one yesterday! Its the Bumprider and so far I think its fantastic. It sticks out far enough for daughter to stand behind the handle and with the buggy laying down. If I want to go fast I can hold the handle with one hand and walk to the side (so I don't knock my feet on the board). It seems to stear well and so far goes well over the bumpy ed pavements. I would def ask her to get off for kerbs that aren't dropped though. My daughter is 3.5 and a really good walker so I've only now got it (son 10 months). I'm hoping it will save us a bit on petrol as now I can walk to things a bit further away. The best price I saw online was about 55 pounds (amazon), but yesterday I just happened to be in the baby shop at this end of Peckham (Rye Lane) and they had it for 50 (and no postage of course).

If you're not too worried about possibly missing out then you could take a chance on there being something left later in the day. Back in the summer I had more or less given up on signing up my dd (because I did not want to queue). However, I just happened to be at the pool to go swimming, think it was about midday, and they were still giving out slots. So I took a number and got called up after 10ish mins and there just happened to be a slot that suited. Once you've started lessons there isn't anymore queueing (other than the usual waits at reception).

Thanks everyone, and those who pmd too. That gives me a good idea of the ball park.

Does anyone know how much a childminder charges? Is it less than double for two children?

Posted by dulwichgirl2 Today, 04:09PM Sunbob, I completely agree - taking children to a group or lunch and then ignoring them is not acceptable. Sorry not to be clear, that's not what I meant at all. I would never presume that anyone was ignoring a child and I would not judge or criticize anyone for their care/parenting style in any situation. Sorry for any offence caused to anyone reading this thread. I for one relish any little moments that I can get to myself at playgroups, grabbing the fabled sip of 'hot' tea on the rare occasions when both charges are happily ensconced:)

I think that taking a child to a group would only be easy if you then sit drinking tea and leave them to it. If I were to employ a nanny or childminder I would certainly want them to take my children to groups to have the stimulation of interaction with other children and adults. I don't think that going out to lunch with young kiddies could be described as easy either.

Thank you very much every one. It's lovely to hear so many positive and descriptive accounts. Looking forward to our visit later this term.

Where my parents live (South Hampshire) its all been means tested for years and is basically open to hardly anyone.

Edith is one of our 2009 born daughter's middle names.

Thanks minder. Any other thoughts?

It would be great to hear views on this school please. I like the idea of St Johns for our dc and have heard from some really happy parents with children there, but I have noticed that they have a 'Satisfactory' ofsted where almost all other ed schools have 'Good'.

Do most schools have badges you can just sew on? I'm truly hoping that will be an option wherever my little one ends up next Sept. Although, I suppose you could buy the official clothes the first year, then cut the logos off and use them again.

How about a gate of some sort on the door. If a stair gate is not quite right for the ambience, then maybe a nice rustic stable style door, that can be opened separately at the top and bottom. There may be time to investigate what's available in time for next summer.

There are lots of lovely free surestart activities in local children's centres. www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200246/activities_and_things_to_do/768/services_and_activities_for_under_fives Not sure I can get this link to work, anyway on the Southwark.gov.uk website (full site not mobile) go to children and families, things to do, under fives things to do to find pdfs to download of the activities for each area.

When our daughter was born I remember looking at her for the first time and saying 'oh, hello M'. We had chosen the name but said let's wait and see if it suits her, but as it turned out she just Was M! with our son it was more of a settling in process. We kept calling him mostly by his pet bump name and the real name we had chosen gradually got to suit him as we got used to it.

Micah.

That's promising, thank you

Another Olympics related query. Has anyone been to a morning session and is it really necessary to get there 2.5 hrs early? 7.30am, eek!

antantant Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The kids there get the run of the park. Very > out-doorsy ethos. Mini-Ant starts there in 6 > weeks. Hi ant. Do you mean the green right by the nursery, or do they also go across the road to the rest of the park too? Thanks.

We found a float suit plus armbands was great when our daughter got to that stage of wanting to swim off without being held. We needed to take out some of the floats straight away as she was a bit light for it, but you can estimate that within minutes of getting in the pool and get the right buoyancy for them. Each session she would have some time on her own with all the aids and some time more one on one with no armbands. As she progressed we gradually removed more and more of the floats. Now, a year or more later she's having lessons and is happy and confident in a normal swimsuit using a noodle (long bendy float you have under your armpits).

Why can't teenagers get Saturday jobs anymore?