mima08

Snappy snaps on Rye Lane are really good with babies - although I did end up with a mega grumpy one at the time... oh well, just another 2.5years to go with that pic ;)

I think the next one is either next week or the week after -we're at Dulwich but I believe they are in synch. As for time on the day, it seems to vary: one time turned up at 10am and got in no problem, next time huge queue at 8am (I changed locations thus couldn't renew early). Best be early, I guess. Mx

I did powerpramming for a while, it was good fun, it's on thurs in Dulwich Park (http://www.powerpramming.co.uk/class-directory.html). Plus the leisure centre has a creche that will take kids from 6months on if you wanted to use the gym or classes/swimming. good luck mx

Agree with the points about quick fix, but no good for longer/ heavy use. If it's for longer, no matter what you chose, invest in good underlay - otherwise even expensive laminate will wear badly. We actually have bamboo flooring in our house - looks lovely like wood and extremely hard wearing. Cost around ?15/m2, but no good for a bathroom. There are many different types - pm me, if you want to know more, happy to share findings of my research (and no, am not on commission ;) ) mx

Cold water tablets are great - as I said, you can get them in/ with special plastic bags you can easily use anywhere - and we reused the bags on multiple occasions (with new tablets, of course). All the things Ortuke said, plus, get a UV suit for the baby - makes life a lot easier in the sun! My vote for a long-haul would be Caribbean, 8-10 hrs, but of course that depends on the time of the year you are going...

Hiya we also used the disposable sterile bottles and took sterilisation bags for when we got there- you just add water and can leave things to sterilise in them for several hours. I seem to remember getting everything from Amazon. mx

Ha - snap! My 2.5yr old ate everything when little - we did baby led weaning and I remember feeling smug, but that's come back to haunt me! My childminder says he eats quite a variety of foods, but I have not seen it for months. The one thing I can 100% rely on are quiches - any flavour and content, he will eat all any veg as long as it's in a quiche... And rice with prawns (plus other things smuggled in)...

Hiya - my sympathy, you must be knackered! (and congratulations on imminent arrival!). One thing that works sometimes with us (i.e. more often than not but not 100%) is to build up to whatever I want LO to do over the course of time. E.g. Bedtime I will start mentioning that it is time for a bath & bed about 1hr before I actually want him to go, and repeat it in various scenarios every 5min. Yes, it is repetitive. I'll say things like "in x time it's time for a bath, then stories & bed", "we have y time left before bath, then bedtime". The key seems to be to repeat, repeat, repeat... hope some of this is useful

Ah, brilliant - yes, that was one of them! Silly me - I kept searching "public transport" with lots of variations on "days out" but not train, dhu!

Thanks for the tips, SF - and agree, people probably thought someone else will pitch in :) There are some really great threads on here - I had some time ago copied links into an off-line document for inspiration, but with a recent software change I managed to lose a number of documents, including that one (annoying!). Most trips out of London appear to be by car - which I guess is partly why it takes so long to get anywhere: just getting out of SE is a nightmare. As my son is not a good traveller, I prefer going by pt, though. As for staying overnight ... costs mean more planning is needed - I guess an indication of lack of organisation on my part. Will look up Bournemouth as well - for the staycation holiday days!

Thanks for the tip about Eynesford! I did think there were threads on this subject and had done a good bit of search before posting. There are some great threads on days out - I've taken notes for future inspiration - just could not find ones on PT only, hence my question.

Hi - nope, no replies: seems not many ideas about days out by PT (does that say something about public transport?). In any case, we ended up going to Brighton by train: Overground from Peckham Rye to Clapham Junction, then train. If you can get to PR without having to go up the stairs & change platforms, it's step free... A lot of fun was had!

Ohhhh, and over my head, completely *goes and hangs head in shame, promising to park high-horse at the back in the future*.

Hi Sillywoman, the prospect of all this debt is very scary... to help reducing the debt burden, the best thing my step-daughter did (aside from getting a great degree, I should say) is doing a TEFL course (teaching English as a foreign language)as an aside - it gave her the means to teach in language schools in her summer holidays and earn some serious money. Every summer she had a pretty well-paid job at a local language school, teaching foreign students English, and being very good with money, she financed a lot of her uni time with that money. The course itself is about ?500, but the investment was very much worth it. And yes, definitely agree it is a very sad state of affairs, and will likely cost the UK dearly...

Hi - I seem to remember a great thread with lots of suggestions for family day trips by public transport - or was I dreaming? We would like to get out of London for the day on Sat, with our 2.5yrs old, trying to avoid a car journey... Any suggestions? mx

Yes, the distraction technique works - up to a point. Thanks again, all for your suggestion - will buy gingernuts & tablets and put them to a test on Saturday on a day trip... travel potette at the ready :)

yes - I agree it must be frustrating. And hearing his "have to", "have to" all the time makes me realise how much I probably use it - have to find better words! ps: my post about above referred to the youtube vids: very funny - not the stalin behaviour :)

OMG - that is the funniest thing I have seen this year!

Depends on which aspects of martial arts are taught. Agree that the "fighting" elements shouldn't be taught too early - I believe it sends the wrong message. I used to teach at a Kung Fu school where classes for kids that young were really all about fun exercise, teaching basic patterns and things like respect for others, etc. including spending a fair bit of time on how violence is never a good thing etc. Any form of contact fighting for competitions etc was only taught to adult members. Plus, although some martial arts styles have set standards in terms of curriculum, grading etc, schools vary hugely depending on the teachers.

Haha - I like the revenge tactic! (Un)fortunately, mine hasn't started on the "why / why not" yet, but am sure to wreak that revenge when it comes! As for the expectation management: I have considered recording my voice on the phone, as I get rather bored saying the same thing every few min. And I must have gone wrong somewhere, because if I threaten "shall I get you", he thinks I am proposing a game of catch, giggles and runs away (sometimes even in the direction I want him to go). It breaks the mood, though, so I am sticking with it for the mo...

Thanks bizzylizzy, that is very helpful. I've been humming and hawing about whether to go down the tablet route (and will definitely try ginger nuts for short trips), but at the same time we (and him) don't want to miss out (or be miserable) when going on holidays, family visits or event just popping to the museums. The idea of travel potette is great - will try this as it comes with us everywhere at the moment, anyway. With the joyrides does your daughter still get sick if she looks at books, watches a video etc in the car? If we visit family in Devon, the trips can be pretty long (and boring) and it would be nice if he had some entertainment other than our singing... I remember myself talking an over-the-counter travel pill bought in Oz before going on boat trip, and it was amazing: I could read, sleep, play cards - whereas in the past I would have held on to a bag for the whole trip. Unfortunately, I can't remember name or ingredients (and am sure they were for adults, anyway)

yep, all as you say, naatm, except that I believe the lessons are now ?62 (or ?65 even - there was a muddle the last time I signed up). But the lessons are really brilliant - favourite class in our house!

hahaha - yes, it does remind me of my history studies (Russia under Stalin...). We have a lot of "have to" as in "you have to read to me", "you have to give me" etc. My son also throws in the archtypal behaviour of someone in a foreign country: if I don't comprehend / comply immediately, he keeps saying the same thing just louder and louder.... I try to pick my battles. The only thing that has some limited success is long-winded expectation management: i.e. about 30min before I want him to do something (like putting on his shoes), I start saying "we will do xyz now and then put on our shoes to go to the park/playground/shop Hope it's a phase - but it's been lasting fairly long already....

Thanks all for your replies - it's a bit disheartening to see it getting worse, rather than him "growing out of it" as others told me... Plus, I am a poor traveller, so maybe it can be inherited? No idea. Will get the Travella tablets for the next longer trip, thanks nunheadmum. Has anyone tried something called joyride? I know they are from 3yrs up, so maybe something for the future (Btw; what a name of a kiddie's tablet!). LVWT - do you mean the normal biscuits? Any brand ok? SJ - yep, it's the inconsistency that really throws me, too: sometimes its perfectly fine (incl. about whirly carousels that would make me sick), other times it's after a few minutes on the bus! it's a puzzle... thanks mx

Karen teaches on Thursday mornings at Peckham Pulse - she is ace.