ryedalema

Transport Museum is fab (loads to clim on and do, and the 176 all the way there almost) The Planetarium at Greenwich Observatory (plus the Maritime Museum so a double whammy. Also - the Imperial war museum (on the number 12 at Lambeth North)????

Yes I have - I went on a day's course at Cakes 4 Fun in Putney and have made quite a few lots since. Are great fun and dead easy once you get the hang of it. They require quite a few 'sticking them in the fridge to set' sessions tho - so not to be done after a big shop! Also a great way of using up old cake (not much of a problem in our house tho). In brief... (you'll need a big bit of polystyrene, sticks, old cake and buttercream,chocolate for melting, empty fridge, decorating stuff, accurate scales) 1. Get old cake and buttercream (Victoria sponge and vanilla buttercream or Choc cake and choc ganache) - mix it together so it 'sticks', and roll into small balls. Magic number here is 30 grams! Each ball should be thirty grams for optimum 'not falling apart-ability' 2. Stick your stick into each ball until 2/3s of the way down - then take it out. Put all balls with holes in the fridge to set (stops them splitting when you put the sticks in for real). 3. Melt chocolate (can also buy all sorts of coloured fake-choc buttons that work really well and melt easier) 4. Take balls from fridge, dip stick into melted choc. When all done, put balls with sticks back in fridge to set. 5. After 10 mins or so - take balls out and dip into more choc (all over) and decorate with sprinkles/sugarpaste etc (there's loads of books on this) 6. Stick them back into the fridge - the other way up - so ideally a big bit of polystyrene or oasis that will hold the sticks upright. 7. You're done - clear up sticky messes :) Hope that helps xx

Don't let anyone make you feel bad/useless/unworthy if you do something differently from how they did it. As long as your child is warm, fed, pain free and safe - most other things are open to interpretation. xx

Mine would be: - not to buy so many clothes in the small sizes - as they grow out of them in seconds! - not to bother buying a cot, neither of ours spent any time in it - not to sweat potty training, when they are ready it won't take long to master - and not to buy a video baby monitor - the house just aint that big that we can't hear what's going on :) other than that pretty happy with how it's turned out xx

I think the 'at home' parties are definitely the best. I know I'm guilty of this, but it's much easier to chuck a load of money at birthday parties rather than spend time making it special. Home made cakes ALWAYS taste better! You could make a load of cupcakes and have little tubs of sweets/cherries etc to decorate them with. And those balloons sound fab - I'd definitely be up for one of those (even as a semi-grown up!) If you do have a little money I think the best thing you could invest it on would be - someone to help you clean it up afterwards!!! Good luck xxx

Morning EDFers - apologies for the grumpy thread title. Much as I love DMC I've had another day of pressing non-stop redial since 8am on the dot - only to be told when I did get through that there were no more emergency appointments. Sigh! Can anyone recommend a practice in SE22 that doesn't have such a huge patient list? Or that has a better appointment/getting seen on the day track record? Really appreciate this xxxx

Yes absolutely - our littlest had a tongue-tie and I think there's quite a thread on this if you look using the search function. It's really easy to sort - they have wonderful ladies at Kings (which is a tongue-tie centre for the South East I believe). I'd be happy to chat more if you want to pm - but just get your little one looked at, and persevere if you don't get referred to Kings - I think some docs aren't as good at reading the signs as some..

We make porridge every morning and second what Pickle does (which does make it really yummy), but also put the porridge on very first thing (microwave two minutes) and then leave it to cool with a topping of fresh milk to stop it turning into a flapjack. Then it's only a 15 second zap when you need it. Sadly our previously healthy bananas, dates, sultanas, cinnamon and other fruit toppings have been abused by maple syrup, golden syrup, honey, sprinkles, whipped cream. Not all at the same time I hasten to add. Best start to the morning! Oh, and coconut milk is wonderful on it - but dead fattening if you need to watch lbs as I do :(

Seriously glad we don't have to travel anywhere today - we've had a fab time sledging up at the Hornimann! Do you think the schools/nurseries will be open tomorrow, or should we prepare for the worst?

Only just got back (and have still left OH and eldest out there) and it's heaving with kids (big and small) up at Horniman. Snow's nicely compacted now so it's getting faster (was a bit boring first thing getting stuck in the freshly driven stuff). Not many staff on at the cafe though - they won't know what's hit them come the lunchtime rush. Now about to stoke up the barby (OH is Aussie so mid winter bbqs are a regular, if insane, thing) for toasted marshmallows. Yummmmmmm.

I think - given that both girls are nutella-ed up and have pulled him indoors out of his pit to see the fox tracks in the back garden - that it won't be long until we're up there :) Will report back...

Def the Hornimamn!But watch out for the empty paddling pool/whatever it is at the bottom. Always end up in there. Not sure there's enough snow - but see you there... And yes the DIY store around the corner from us (Dunstans/Forest Hill Road) has sledges (and saw shovels in Sainsburgers) - not sure if DIY store is open today - there's always t-trays

Can't we all salt our own drives/paths etc? We bought huge 10 kilo sacks of NaCl from last time (pennies) - and have them outside the front door. We'd be really happy (and i think the girls would think it a lot of fun) if we came and salted anyone's drives etc who couldn't do it themselves. If you'd like us to come round please just pm - payment only a smile and a ta! :))

Ah brilliant - can feel some serious holiday 'beat the grey day' research coming on! Thanks all! Oh and btw - watersports is absolutely right, the more the merrier! (Used to be a diving instructor before reality set in) :)

Afternoon edfers - I can't find anything that covers this topic so massive apologies if this has been discussed to death :) Can anyone recommend any holiday resorts/firms/places that would have day and/or evening childcare available? We're looking for somewhere in the uk and abroad (with a bit of luck we might be able to afford two holidays - I can only hope!) that has plenty to do if you want it, and basking potential if not. And much as we adore our two girls (2 and 4) it'd be lovely if we could also spend some time just him indoors and me. Other must-ish haves would I guess include: Safety - can't really book a hut on stilts sadly Nice food Not too many people and/or some semblance of privacy if we want to sunbask in the back garden etc Water - the big/warm/tidal/sandy kind - oh dear me yes!! And would love to haves include: Fishes below that water - but not too many massive man/child eating ones (back to the boring safety thing) Sports to do on that water Culture's good (even if we only think about it while getting through our kindle back catalogue) Night life would also be lovely ((but again pretty aspirational without childcare) Not too demanding me??!! :) Have you any recommendations anyhow? All advice really really welcome - January is such a long month!!!

Yep - gave us the opportunity to re sync our dodgy auto-updating clocks :)

We just bought our daughter one for her second birthday - our eldest likewise got one for her second b'day and she's 4.5 now, and gives hers a daily pounding. So yes they last really well - only thing I would say though is mark yours so it's easily identifiable. ED is scooter capital of south london :) Oh, and the other thing... my OH (who I believe knows a lot more than me on this topic) says that the two wheels at the front, one at the back is the safest/ sturdiest option for turning and general not falling off. Don't know if he's right or not but he took yonks researching scooters before we got our first. Happy hunting!

Ah ha - will def ask then. Would make life much easier/clearer than hoping that the very frequent newsletters make it from school to home via the play yard/after school club assault course :)

Ah brilliant - thanks P! Thankfully we had childcare sorted already for youngest nightmare who also goes back on Thursday. Da*n newsletters - wish they did Parentmail (email system) like littlest's nursery do. Expect it's expensive tho :(

Hi all - does anyone know when Goodrich goes back for Spring term? We were confident that our biggest nightmare was going back on Wednesday - but have just met some parents in the park who say we've missed a newsletter and they go back on Thursday. Website says back Wednesday...Voicemail says nada! Anyone the wiser??? xxx

Both my daughters went/go to the Greendale Mother Goose - one transferred from a city nursery at 2 and was welcomed with open arms (she's just left for 'big school' with KristyMac's little lady). Our youngest started at 4 months (now 2), is still there and loves it to bits. All the good stuff about the place I'd echo wholeheartedly - some of the admin does seem a little 'encouraging' when you first start, but I think it's better that they have a proper handle on their paperwork than some I've experienced, that were a little flaky and gave us the run around. They really are a wonderful bunch of staff and extremely accommodating to personal wishes. PM me if you want more info. Good luck xxx

Have to say Locale was fab! We were an hour late (kids - tsk!!) but they weren't cross at all. Food was pretty normal fare but well cooked - the cocktails yumm! And the girls wore off their ice cream sugar high in the playground afterwards. Will def go there again - always forget about Locale being over there...

Fab suggestions - thank you so much!! I love Hisar and Si Mangia - but think we might plump for Locale...somewhere we don't ordinarily go to, so more of an occasion (hopefully) :) Plus there's the playground if we get really desperate for diversion tactics :) If we survive (the girls, not the food/wine) we'll let you know xxxx

Morning It's our wedding anniversary this weekend and having failed to get a babysitter in time we're looking at taking the girls (2 & 4) to a family friendly early dinner tonight in ED (ish). Has anyone any good ideas? They're pretty well behaved (we're really strict on table manners) but ideally we'd like somewhere with space and a chilled out atmosphere - but also it's a celebration so something a bit nice... OH has an irrational dislike of the Herne unfortunately - don't know why (total pain as it's at the end of our road). We were thinking of Mr. Liu's but do you know anywhere better? Thanks so much xxxx

I'm up for this - I'll negotiate with him indoors. I've had sucvh a cr**py time at work recently it'd be fab to see some friendly faces. Feels like yonks since I saw anyone :)