alieh

We had exactly this dilemma and found a good option this summer. Most of the other children were Dutch, German or Italian but most of them spoke English. It was called Belmonte Vacanze in Tuscany. Close to Pisa and Florence but we flew to Bologna as it was much cheaper

Thanks! Geography will probably be a pretty important consideration because our nanny doesn't drive. In terms of cost, we hadn't worked it out exactly. A sole charge full-time nanny usually costs around ?14-?15/hour including taxes. I imagined this arrangement coming in a bit less due to the limitations on hours. So perhaps in the region of ?12/hour? We could also be a bit flexible, if there were occasional days when care needed to extend beyond those hours as our nanny could probably juggle our 3 (school age) plus one other in a pinch. And similarly for occasional extra hours in school holidays.

The Devonshire Road Nature Reserve has a well-priced room. Harris Girls has a big gym with bouncy castle included for ?120 I think. Most church halls still come to around ?100 in my experience, and gets very pricey if you add entertainment on top of that.

We are trying to find ways that we can keep our AMAZING nanny on from September 2018 when all 3 of our children will be in school full-time. Our nanny has been with us for over 4 years and is seriously the best nanny out there - other parents and teachers at our children's school comment on how amazing she is. I am wondering if anyone would theoretically be interested in a nanny-share from 10:00 to 14:30 Mon-Fri during term-time? Could be at our house or yours, if it was easy enough for our nanny to then collect our children from school by 15:20 (we live near Dulwich Library and our children's school is near Honor Oak). Keen to understand if there is any market out there for this kind of arrangement!

Andrew came on very short notice to help with a bunch of jobs just before we moved into a new house - assembling Ikea units, hanging shelves, fitting a small worktop and cupboards in the kitchen. He has all the right tools, figured out what was needed, and sorted it all out with very little oversight needed. Highly recommend! His number is 07446280549.

Fairlawn Christmas Fair is Saturday December 2nd, 12-3 pm. Attaching the flyer! All welcome!

Seconding the recommendation from Anna M! This is a great activity for girls and boys from 5 and up.

Pizza Express at 4:30 pm, they should have known there would be loads of kids! Not like it's a Michelin-starred establishment. Incredibly rude of them. It's hard not to feel embarrassed, but in future I would try to ignore. I've had somewhat similar experiences with older people and I just smile in a sickly sweet way and say "Yes, funny how much times have changed since you were young!"

I'd like to recommend Sylvain and his team as amazing landscape gardeners. I'm including the before and after pics of our major back garden renovation, which they did all of. They tackled our very challenging project - on a huge hill, clay soil, etc. - with ease and show up every day and on time. They have some availability in the fall/winter, so do get in touch if you need hard landscaping or other garden renovation work. You can reach Sylvain on 07545 233 110.

Our friend Joyce is looking to build up her book of cleaning work again, having had to take some time off in recent years for health reasons. She is lovely and can do cleaning work, other housekeeping chores, and also has lots of experience as a carer/companion. Her number is 07939297412 (Joyce).

Just to add to the high recommendations for Dave from "Down the Drain". He came today on short notice, assessed that there wasn't a problem we needed to worry about, and didn't charge us a penny for his time. Plus left us his card for our housesitters in case a problem arises while we're away. Much appreciated!

There are some "big box" stores not too far in Sydenham (Bell Green). A big B&Q, Next, Currys, etc. I do a lot of shopping online however!

Help! Exactly the same age. Exactly the same problem. It's making me very cross and I ended up shouting last night. She hasn't napped at all for months, meaning she's now down to 10 or 10.5 hours sleep overnight and that's it. Still wakes up early, 6 or even earlier.

Adding to the recommendation for Nicholas from Nicholas Driving Academy. I passed my test the first time after a few months of lessons with Nick. He is very relaxed and easy going but really knows his stuff. He always shows up bang on time, very reliable. http://www.nicholasdrivingacademy.co.uk/our_driving_school.asp

I can recommend Nicholas Driving Academy. I just passed on my first go after a few months of lessons with Nick. http://www.nicholasdrivingacademy.co.uk/

I can recommend Milan on 07813 944601.

Thanks for the replies! I've had lots of interest and have now booked someone in.

Just to clarify, it has to be Mon May 8th only (or Sunday May 7th if anyone fancies working a Sunday!). Any later won't work.

If anyone has a day free, we need help cleaning up our garden before photographs are taken on Tuesday. Main job is pressure washing all of the paving and decking (we have a pressure washer). We thought we could do it ourselves but have run out of time! Happy to pay good rates! Near the Horniman Museum.

From my group of friends and acquaintances, there are absolutely loads of 5 year olds still in pull ups at night. I would save yourself the hassle and let her wear one at night! In the day, I think it is not that uncommon to have slightly damp knickers by the end of the day for 5 year olds. I would try not to worry, try to get her in the habit of trying to go a few times a day and hope it resolves. I think the GP would say they wouldn't take any other steps until closer to age 7?

Actually it looks like they have more structured pre-school classes too: http://southwarkgymnastics.co.uk/classes/pre-school/

Tiny Gym run by Southwark Gymnastics is brilliant: http://southwarkgymnastics.co.uk/classes/tiny-gym/ But it is unstructured - i.e. they set up the equipment and you just play.

If you do it today you might be okay with the 1-week fast track service?

There should be some kind of automatic warning that goes out to people with 4.5 year olds to remember to get a new passport! This happened to us but not as tight timing in our case so it was possible to sort it. There seem to be lots of threads on Mumsnet about this dilemma. I wouldn't give up hope yet!

Blossoms Montessori have done a monthly forest school component in the past. Not sure if they're continuing this, or perhaps just not in the winter.