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.

Hello, I have a few things to donate. Is there any chance that there's a local business out there that would be willing to hold a collection box for you for people to drop things off? I unfortunately don't have a car but would hate to make you come to us for just a few things.

I'm posting this in hopes that it will be a useful reminder for people starting (or finishing!) their holiday shopping. You can make a free and easy donation to Goodrich, or many other worthwhile causes, almost every time you shop online by signing up with www.easyfundraising.org.uk. It only takes a few minutes to sign up (for Goodrich, select "Friends of Goodrich Primary School - London"). And, if you sign up and shop on a computer instead of a smartphone or tablet, you can use the "find and remind" function, which automatically alerts you when you go to a participating retailer's website. The size of the retailers' contributions vary, but it's often something like 1-4% of what you spend, which isn't necessarily a small amount of money this time of the year! I've discovered that almost everyone I regularly buy online from is on the site -- Amazon, Argos, Ebay, Next, M&S, Tesco, Ocado, John Lewis, Vertbaudet. etc -- and am annoyed that it's taken me so long to sign up. The donations are free money for the school (or whatever cause you choose to support), since you are only buying things you'd planned to buy anyways and the donations come out of the retailer's pocket. If they're out there giving away money, you may as well make sure it goes to an organisation you care about.

We have this one -- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Onaroo-Nightlight-Sleep-Trainer-Clock/dp/B002RNKOM2. Sadly we weren't able to convince our daughter to at least play in her room until the "ok to wake!" light came on, but I've heard that that feature has worked for others. She does love the clock, though.

FYI, although I also haven't bought a sofa bed from them, I've been pretty impressed with Made's designs and customer service in the past, and it's possibly helpful that they've also opened a showroom in town (we visited and very nearly bought a sofa we don't really need, because it looked even better in person). If you aren't set on piece of furniture, you could also consider a good quality airbed that you could shove under a bed/into a cupboard when it isn't being used. I'm very partial to the Aero brand -- http://www.johnlewis.com/aerobed-super-mattress-light-grey-single/p230643232?kpid=230643232&s_kenid=452f637d-9b61-fa88-7a47-00007417cf0b&s_kwcid=ppc_pla&tmad=c&tmcampid=73. We've had one for years that we slept on for several months when we first moved, and then used for guests for years and I'd say it's as comfortable as a real bed. (We also have two child-sized ones with built in sleeping bags that we use for sleepovers and when we travel.) The one warning is that the air in the mattress stays quite cold and makes the mattress itself cold to sleep on in the winter, so it helps if you put an extra blanket or duvet under the sheet to keep your guests from freezing.

I also have a skinny daughter and so far the best for us have been from John Lewis (M&S fit possibly better, but she claimed they were itchy and would only wear them inside out).

We got an Early Rider for our daughter when she was three, mostly b/c my husband fell in love with how it looked. It did the job -- she rode it for a year and a half and this summer graduated to a proper pedal bike almost instantly, but in retrospect I think we should have gotten a lighter metal bike (I didn't know about the Decathlon ones, but Strider and Islabike both do them, although I'm sure they're much more expensive). I'd say the most important factors are fit, in that you want one she can use for a while and weight, bc you will probably end up carrying it more than you would like. I'm not convinced this is something that's worth spending more money on, as long as the bike works reasonably well, because balance bikes just aren't that complicated, and would instead recommend saving your money for a Islabike or Frog as a first pedal bike, bc they are so much lighter and easier to use. I've now had several friends who have gotten rid of cheap, heavy first bikes that their children wouldn't use and shelled out for a second, more expensive lighter one. We bought a secondhand Islabike, although they unfortunately don't sell for much less used.

I haven't used them or gone to any of their parties, but found out about Whippersnappers' party packages when I was researching my daughter's party and also considering a disco -- http://whippersnappers.org/child-youth-services/birthday-parties/birthady-parties-over-5s/. I've heard their Dulwich Park location is a bit small for a party, but think the space at Brockwell Lido is much bigger.

Mulberry Centre at Myatt's Field (where the One O'Clock club is) is a lovely space if you were planning to have quite a large party. Some toys inside, a separate baby room, use of kitchen and a fenced outdoor space with some ride-on toys. It's a adjacent to what I think is one of the best playgrounds in the area, although it might be a little advanced for two year olds. Good if there were going to be any older siblings, though. Nothing special to entertain adults, unfortunately, but at least there is enough space so the noise wouldn't be too maddening!

I saw this thread while looking for a Kodaly-based music class for my daughter a year ago, although we weren't able to find anything convenient/age appropriate at the time. I'm reviving the thread now because I've been speaking with a teacher in the ED area who is considering setting up one or more small classes for children in the Reception/Year 1 age range. Here is a link to her classified post, in case anyone else is interested. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?25,1168315,1168315#msg-1168315

My daughter and I would love to come as well. I can't remember where I read/heard this, but I'm fairly certain they're staying through lunch the first week, with pickup straight after.