toomuchchocolate

I've used dunstans for both of mine and found it immensely helpful. I'm still finding it useful second time around with my now almost 5 month old.

We travelled from new cross gate to shadwell on the air conditioned east London line then changed to the DLR to custom house. The journey wasn't too crowded at all. Leaving excel was quite busy but still only took about 10 mins to escape.

Burgess park fountains were on today. My son had a great time playing in them in between applications of factor 50. Be aware that the children's play area offers absolutely no shade during play...a real shame since it's a great play space. (the BBQ area is, however, in the shade of trees!!)

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I had intended to stick with my single buggy for my almost 3 year old (hopinghecwoud soon start walking everywhere) and put the baby in a sling....well this years weather put pay to that! A couple of disastrous attempts at going out meant tht After about 6 weeks of barely leaving the hOuse I bought a phil and teds vibe. I'm glad I did as life is much easier with the double.

Check out ohdeedoh.com. It's fab for ideas of how to make lovely kids rooms. I love it and am a bit addicted ...and found it really hard to decide how to decorate my little ones rooms as it has so many good ideas.

Not sure I would have been quite so polite. Well done you for confronting her.

Thanks renata. To be honest it's not just the water feature in that new play area that makes it horrid... The lack of fence means it is a dog toilet for many dogs and the area around and under the saucer swing is a mud bath (99% of the time so far this year) despite the rubber matting. I've also seen a fair amount of broken glass round the climbing frame. I'm sure the new children's centre will provide a more comprehensive service than the existing club, but they must leave the same amount of outside space, as the children's centres I've been to seem to have very small, if any, outside play space.

Thanks renata. I'm sure it will take more than a few weeks to knock down the last pow hut and build a new centre. I only hope the footprint of the new building won't be any bigger as it would be a shame to lose the good sized outdoor space the club currently has for the outdoor toys. I heard it will close in the next 3 months. It's a central gov decision. Oh, and the ladies who currently run it will be out of jobs as the centre will mean they cannot work part time!

What a great thread. My OH is pretty good at taking on household chores, though does need to be asked....anything major and he does it unwillingly though. The kids and I were away Friday night and all Saturday so I asked him to do the housework: sadly neglected since baby 2 arrived in march. He has done all the housework and the house is looking fab....BUT....he's "tidied" the house by putting things in the loft, giving stuff away to our neighbours, moved furniture and filed away our sons toys (he can't bear the mess of toys everywhere). Now I just wish he hadn't done it, because I won't be able to find anything without hunting round the house for its "new place" which I find infuriating, much of the stuff put up in the loft will need to come down again and my son will spend the next few weeks asking me where x and y toys have gone!! I wouldn't mind but his own possessions still remain shoved into corners of each room...none of his stuff went into the loft or was given away!!

I am in tears of laughter...thanks yellowandyboy.

I thoroughly recommend Rebecca emmett. She sorted out some major issues with my, now former, employer.

I too would love to hear more about hollydale school. It's our closest primary and I've to start visiting schools soon as my son will start school in 2013...not as far away as it seems!

smurfs!

Congratulations on your newborn. The best entertainment for her for a long while will be looking at you...your smile, your eyes, your hair...nothing better than that for a new baby. When my son was a slightly older baby he loved having different pieces of coloured cloth waved over/across his head where he could catch the shadows and light...he wasn't hugely interested in all the nice toys we bought by Brio etc (as nice as they are) for quite some time. But, if you really want to make a nice purchase for baby play i'd suggest a playmat with about 3 brightly coloured, softly textured toys. I don't think she'll need much more than this for a while.....as much as all the magazines and society will tell you otherwise. Enjoy your cuddles.

Good to see this story gaining coverage in the Evening Standard. i really hope those people who are trying to force it's closure are taking heed of the support the nursery has, both locally in ED and FH, as well as London wide. It would be such a shame for such an outstanding childcare provider to be forced to close by a piece of property law designed for a whole different era of family life.

Have you fixed the lock on the door that contains the baby changing unit? Last time i was there it was broken, though that was a long time ago!

As a parent with a small child at Piplings in Forest Hill, i am absolutely horrified to learn that the anti-nursery neighbours are now harrassing parents. Today i have been told that one parent was approached by a neighbour who was filming him and his young child, without their consent, as he arrived to drop his son off to nursery, because he had parked outside his property, on the road, where he is legally permitted to park! Not only are they now harrassing parents, they are now frightening the children and starting to cross the boundaries of the law. I am sickened by this latest act and believe it's neither the first or only time it's happened.

My son attends Piplings. It is a detached house with an enclosed garden, unlike (as Monkey mentions) Mother Goose and many other nurseries in the area which are in Terraced houses. Piplings are permitted to have up to 24 children at the nursery, but I believe the owners have always chosen to run it under capacity to ensure they maintain the fantastic family environment they have achieved. Recognised by their outstanding Ofsted report as well as by the support they are receiving from parents with children at the nursery. I believe these members of TLERA have pursued the owners of Piplings as if it were a witch-hunt, carried away with their own single minded objective. In a desperate attempt to show a new nursery was not required in the area they contacted other nurseries and found they all had places available for their imaginary children within a week or two of calling...i would love to know which nurseries they called because when i was looking for a place for my one year old so i could return to work, all i found were long waiting lists or very poor quality childcare on a main road. Thankfully i found Piplings as they opened the doors. Piplings is a nursery that parents dream of finding, with a fantastic philosophy and a great environment for children to be in - a home from home for your most valuable little one that gives a parent the confidence to return to work, which most of us have to. Without the restrictive covenant TLERA residents main objections seem to be the extra noise of car doors being closed and the noise of children playing in the garden, which isn't 8-6pm as they (the objectors) would have everyone believe. I thought one of the joys of being alive was meant to be the sound of children playing - i guess not. TLERA residents have done a huge disservice to the local community - parents and non-parents. Piplings provides work for local residents. Piplings allows local parents to return to work with the confidence that our precious children are being well cared for in a safe environment. If they want to live in a silent world with no outside disturbances and no children nearby playing and laughing, why, oh why, are these people living in London? Sigh...

We were told to go home and stay home. We were told by a local landlord that groups of youth were heading to LL from Penge and Sydenham. He had already seen a lady on her knees in the street (i think he said on LL) who looked as if she had been assaulted. It seems Blackberry Messenger is being widely used by these youth to organise themselves. An example: my brother has just told me that a shop in Ealing which belongs to a small family business he works for is being lined up as a target for tonight.

Usborne Books are the largest pre-school book publisher in the world and the only publisher that has continued to grow in the last 10 years. As an Usborne Book organiser i am available to host a childrens book party in your home, or at an event, including local play and childrens groups. Hosting your own party is a great way to build a collection of books since, as a host, you would be entitled to up to 20% in free books. Alternatively, if any of you are interested in seeing a selection of Usborne Books i am hosting a party this Wednesday afternoon. Please do PM me if you are interested in coming by. Usborne have a over 1800 titles covering newborns to teens. My LO already had a selection of Usborne books in his collection and i'll be happy to add more to his collection over the coming months and years. The Usborne range includes: That's not my.... Baby's very first (...) book Touchy feely range of books First words First picture books Noisy books My LO has recently shown big love for the noisy Old Macdonald book, which he has started carrying everywhere, and the wind up Fire Engine book (includes a wind up fire engine!). I also have to read him two of the classic Farmyard Tales books every night at bedtime - Tractor in Trouble and The Runaway Tractor. If you're interested please do PM me.

thank you. I've just applied for my family and also for my brother's family hoping it will encourage them to visit these here shores!

A Flock of Waxwings (about 30 or so) are feeding off the cotoneaster berries in my garden. The twitcher who we saw taking photos of our tree told us the birds are Waxwings. Apparently it is very unusual to see them this far inland - more usual in Scotland and East Anglia.

what a fantastic idea. Wish we'd had this for the in-laws before my LO was born an we may not have experienced sooooo many problems with them.

All these wonderful cleaners, but where are the recommendations? I desperately need a new cleaner as mine isn't even managing to maintain he cleanliness of our house and i simply don't have time. Please PM me with details if you can/will. thanks