Fuschia

Not tomorrow, but possibly Weds or Thurs?

We had a very well built run and used to let ours out for a scratch about in the garden when we were nearby but turned my back for a minute and the chickens were never seen again...

This afternoon we are having a little birthday picnic for our twins who are 2, from 2.30 so if you are in the vicinity and fancy a bit of cake etc.. come and find us. We'll have a cow patterned picnic blanket and an orange one or two... or pm me and exchange mobile numbers.

Saila Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > i'm trying to do everything secondhand to save $$$ You can store frozen cubes in freezer bags or save small pots from pasta sauces etc if you buy them...

d pk cafe will be open and p rye but otherwise.. wetherspoons pub by kings college Rye Hotel Dulwich Woodhouse pub Cafe at the horniman if still open

Sanne Panne Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > I have a naclaren techno xlr and have used it > from > > birth with baby nO1 and then with No2. just lay > it > > flat then they can sit in it. > > Can you use a buggyboard on it when it's in the > lie flat position? I would think so. The back of the seat top would possible stick out slightly into the space between the handles where the older child stands but I doubt it would be too intrusive. The mclaren is the best buggy to go with a buggy board, IMO, due to the two separate handles.

Well it looks like it was in January, and not exactly in this area. Schools do get circulated if there is an issue locally that staff or parents should be aware of, but TBH this doesn't look particularly pertinent... and the advice stays the same anyway, if your children walk to school by themselves, make sure they know not to speak to strangers.

James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Hi Fuschia, > I'm curious which local authority didn't face any > issues by losing 1,000 staff for a few days and > when your experience related to. Personally I feel > this proposition is unrealistic for Southwark. We > have someting like 2,000 back office staff. Duting > the last 12 months we've drstically reduced > duplications by merging over 40 smaller office > into one office on Tooley Street. So we have many > hundreds fewer officers than ever before. > Admissions are part of that back office. They have > been expanded. But losing half of all back office > people elections related activities will mean > skeleton operations for many services. 1000 was my gross overestimate... my experience was of 2 or 3 staff at each polling station and only a few hundred at the count.. and the pool of staff this was drawn from included staff across many depts ands those who had retired (admittedly was a few years ago I last worked on an election but doubt it is that similar) Would be interesting to know a) How many staff Southwak is using for the election b) How many of these are from the admissions team (if any) c) Why they didn't just refuse to release any admissions staff (this is a voluntary additional activity and not all those who opt to work on the election get selected) d) Why this problem has affected only one Borough in the whole of London!

We are great fans of primark fleecy babygrows, ?1.99

b&B, I think a cut IS needed, so the forceps can get to the baby's head . I had a second degree tear and a small no of stitches with baby no 1, and it was about a year before I could no longer detect a slightly puckered tender spot.

no, its the arboretum, fenced off area with grass and trees, middle of the park

Not sure if w ecan this week, but next week if it holds good...

James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The delay was decied back in Autumn 2009. I was > initially fuming. The explanation is that the > officers who would respond to the queires that > will result from primary school place > announcements are needed to help run the > elections. The expectation was that Gordon Brown > would plump for local and national elections on > the same day Thursday 6 May. So from 7am-10pm over > 100 polling stations across Southwark will be open > each taking several council officers at any point > in time to run each one. Then all the ballot boxes > have to be verified and then counted. This will > take a number of hours that night for the > parliamentary elections and finish sometime after > 3am. Then everyone goes home for some sleep and > returns to then count local elections ballot boxes > throughout Friday 7 May from 11am. I should point > out that the all officers involved in the > elections process will receive training, briefings > and typically be experienced which all involves > time during pre election days. > > With such huge numbers of experienced council > officers diverted to running these elections means > no resources left to answer queries if primary > school places released 29 April. Hence the delay > until Monday 10 May. > > Clearly Southwark Council could employ temps for a > period of time to allow 29 April release but what > would we cut to cover this avoidable extra > expense? Equally, we don;t want inexperienced > temps dealing with queries about school places. I've worked in local government for many years and been deployed to work at polling stations and on the count.. but the number of council staff involved is not that huge, and the Council doesn't have to release staff from key sections like school admissions, if it's a critical time. Even if there were 5 staff at each polling station and another 500 at the count, that would be just 1000 individuals from Southwark's workforce

I have collected lots of mums numbers over the years.. and made a very good friend of a mum I accosted while she was brestfeeding her daughter in sainsburys cafe.. now she is godmother to my twins! It's nice to make friends, but it can be a bit difficult. Maybe we should have a mum-friend matchmaking thread. Would like to meet, mum with a high tolerance of over exuberant 7 year old boys, must like eating cake.

Re clothes and a baby, someone told me that a baby needs one more layer than we're wearing on any given day.. however that would indicate they wear a vest even in the middle of summer... (it works quite well as a rule of thumb most of the time though) With child no 1 I didn't understand the point of vests and didn't buy any and he never wore them. My sister was a bit shocked! For the twins I grasped the idea a bit better and they wore vests and babygrows most of the time for the first year (saves getting them dressed in the morning/changed at bedtime and you can add a pretty cadi if you wnat them to look nice!) Anyway, child no 1 survived this shocking maternal neglect in the vest department.

helena handbasket Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- , I found the bit stating > that babies can't be taught a bit odd.......... > really? Are they not being taught every second of > the day? I think of it as they learn when they are ready. A newborn can't feed itself, use the toilet or get itself off to sleep but as they grow and develop the time comes when we help them learn to eat solids, self-feed, toilet train and get themselves to sleep without much help from us...

But DEF don't start giving juice just because he's not keen in water. Once you do that, the battle to get him on to water will be lost! Just offer water and the time will come when he takes it

We were at the Horniman this morning! Hopefully get together lat next week?

The 176 to London Transport museum was good for us on Sunday with our two 2 yos and 7 yo

siobhanleighhunt Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > wow - "the days are long but the years are short". > that felt bang on! I know, I try to remember that when I'm having a hard time!!

I think one tip would be to keep an open mind. Often I've found I had a plan and it made me feel better, but in the end other factors intervened and we never went with what we first planned. So perhaps get her name down for a couple of nurseries, and look around for a good minder or a nanny share, and think seriously about flexible working.. then review it all in the Autumn...

Ruth: babies have shorter sleep cycles, hence often wake from naps after 45 mins or so.. IME this gradually stretches out, or you can resettle if they wake crying.

It will be 15h free from this year, from the term after your chidl turning 3. Is there any possibility of you doing flexible working? Eg you start work very early, and end early, so your daughter needs just a half day nursery place... or do three long days perhaps - 8am-6pm sort of thing? TBH your commute sounds too long to manage it 5 days p/w.. if moving near your parents wou;d reduce your journey and givwe you childcare, that does have its appeal!

I don't think it's total laissez faire anything goes baby is King vs leave 'em on their own to cry... of coure you need a balance and just as the baby will develop as it gorws, so there ae times the parent has less to give. Even proponents of the "family bed" recognise that the time comes when the mother needs her night times back!http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/a-helping-hand-my-baby-wont/ I might have posted it before...