JS33

Mobile recycling van scheduled to be at the Plough today from 10 am to 1 pm. On my way over with various broken electrical devices . . .

Even if you can't paint the walls you might be able to put on some wall decals http://www.pinterest.com/butlerverna/kids-bedroom-ideas/. Quite a few are specifically marketed as non-permanent and reusable, meaning you should be able to peel them off when you move. (Warning, though, that how well that works depends on how good the paint job underneath is -- we have some and I noticed when I originally put them up and was rearranging them a bit that they sometimes take a few flakes of paint off, especially if I didn't peel them carefully.)

We've done a lot of long-haul flights with our daughter over the years and at that age I'm fairly certain that I survived in part by doling out an endless stream of new, small, time-consuming snacks (oranges that she could peel herself, small tubs of raisins/dry cereal/various things that needed to be eaten one at a time, cut up sandwiches, etc), along with the other things people have mentioned. Up until she was old enough to have the attention span to watch movies/play games on an iPad, whenever she started fussing I'd bring out a new "snack activity." She's never much liked airplane food, so I'd generally try to give her a combination of things that, taken together, would approximate what she'd need to eat over the course of the day. I also recommend bringing a sippy cup or some other sort of closeable drink container for the flight attendants to pour water/milk/juice/whatever into, because those tiny plastic cups tip over if a toddler just looks at them.

I saw this parked in front of the Plough last week but unfortunately couldn't get back that day with various items I'd been holding for recycling. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/10070/recycling/2534/mobile_recycling_centre. However, it will be up at Peckham Library later this week and back at the Plough at various times over the summer. The van will take small electronics, textiles, small wooden objects, batteries, cardboard and various other things that don't get picked up with the regular recycling. Fantastic for anyone who, like us, doesn't have a car and therefore can't easily get to the main recycling centre to drop off broken electronic items.

I'm going to echo this. When I gave birth I didn't know very much about the potential of donated cord blood. I now have a friend with a very serious form of leukemia for which stem cell therapy, based on cord blood, was one of the possible treatment options. Her doctors advised her to take a different course, which hopefully will be successful and allow her to see her young son grow up, but I'll always regret not having done something so simple as help turn something that otherwise would be treated as medical waste into something that might save someone's life. (I am on the bone marrow registry and would encourage others to do that as well, although being a bone marrow donor requires much more of a person than donating cord blood or placenta, so it isn't to be done quite as lightly). Of the local hospitals, it looks like Kings is the only one that's participating in the program, and I very much hope they're making information about the program easily available to any woman planning on giving birth there.

I wanted to second (or third) the thanks for posting this. I was worried that there wasn't going to be enough there that would be interesting for my 5 year-old, but we spent 3 hours there on Saturday and could have stayed hours longer.

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I agree -- the class sizes/relatively small amount of actual swimming time is the reason we stopped signing up for classes there. It was a pity, because the instructors are very good.

I chose St. Thomas' five years ago because I was worried about Kings' being too stretched (both getting turned away on the day and also because at the time there were rumours that the overextended midwife staff wasn't as kind/handholding as one might like, although I now know loads of people who had terrific care during births there). I was impressed by the nicer facilities at St. Thomas' and think I received very good care there despite a difficult birth. And, if you are lucky enough, there certainly couldn't be a nicer place to spend one's first night with a baby than in one of the home from home rooms (which I got even though I ended up giving birth on the medical side, because all the regular post-partum rooms were full). That said, the thing that I didn't realise when I made my choice is how much that would affect the months before the birth -- instead of being able to see the midwife at my local surgery for antenatal care, I had to trek up to Camberwell for all of my antenatal appointments, which was a bit of a pain without a car. There were other little administrative inconveniences as a result of crossing jurisdictions, so to speak (for instance, I'm fairly certain that the reason I was never scheduled to see a consultant while I was pregnant was because that fell between the cracks of the two systems, and I didn't know to ask). I have no idea if all this is still the case, but if you're at all concerned you might want to speak to the midwife at your local surgery to see how different the months to come will look if you sign up for St. Thomas'. In the end, though, I agree with all the other posters that both hospitals are excellent, so you won't go too far wrong either way. Best of luck to you!

This isn't a sure thing, but TK Maxx in Brixton often has terrific costumes at a significant markdown. Sainsbury's also usually carries a few.

Thanks! Both looked very helpful and produced a successful rainy day plan for today. If anyone else has suggestions, please feel free to add . . . .

Where do people look for information about things happening around London, aside from TimeOut? In particular I'm wondering if anyone does a good job centralising information on occasional or on-off events around the city.

Not necessarily E.D. specific, but there's an art/frame shop in Brixton Village that features S. London-based prints and posters. I know I've seen ones for South Norwood and Brockwell Park at least. They're contemporary, but done in a vintage/Art Deco-y style.

I had persistent issues with plugged ducts (those painful lumps) until I started taking a dose of soy lecithin every day. http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/lecithin/. I still got them every once in a while, but much less frequently. (I also ended up taking a fair amount of fenugreek to boost milk production, which worked better than the prescription medication my doctor prescribed, but that's a different set of issues.) Good luck with it all!

My five-year-old got two brilliant games for her birthday -- Dobble and Qwirkle. (Qwirkle is showing as eye-wateringly expensive at the moment, but I'm sure I've seen it for less so hopefully just a holiday blip http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asmodee-ASMDOBB01EN-Dobble-Card-Game/dp/B0031QBHMA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387273356&sr=8-1&keywords=dobble and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Board-Games-M32016-Qwirkle/dp/1933054395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387273396&sr=8-1&keywords=qwirkle). Both of these are the versions advertised for slightly older children, but can easily be adapted to play with younger children so I wouldn't bother buying the versions they market for younger children. Dobble is a speed matching game and Qwirkle is sort of like a non-verbal version of Scrabble. These are the first two games that we've actually enjoyed playing as much as she does, and the bonus is that each stores in a fairly small container.