crystal7

Dry cleaners on Lship Lane next to the post office are also very good at this sort of thing!

Love the Bee plus! Really light and easy to steer and my son had most of his naps in it. I wish I'd had it for baby 1, much easier in public transport than the cameleon. My son was a winter baby too.

How about book making? The easiest way is to fold a long strip of paper like a concertina then write/draw on each section. Or fold a4 paper in half and staple or sew in the middle. You could print photos of Lego men on various scenes stick them in the book and write a sentence underneath each one. Or create something similar explaining the operation. He could take it in and show it to his class once he's back at school. Open several umbrellas and turn them upside down. Throw soft play type balls at them, 1 point for a ball in the closest, 2 for the next one etc. Baking/ cooking is great. He could also write/draw a menu for you/T? Placemats? Mine love doing really messy cooking like pizza dough, fish cakes or chicken nuggets. It takes ages and them there's the clearing up! x

Thanks for all the advice, bizarrely his skin is much much better today?! Will make another Dr appointment and push for steroid cream for flare ups. I've got some bath stuff that I've never used so should try that too.

Just wondering if anyone had any further recommendations for dry, scaly and flaky skin on a 2 year old's face? I think the sun has made it worse. Gp reluctant to prescribe steroid cream, perhaps because whenever I take him for an appointment it's never that bad! Doesn't seem to bother him at all. I've tried lots of things: aveeno, e45, double base, diprobase, papaya cream... Many thanks!

I think there's a bus from Camberwell that goes all the way, 345 or something? I would get the bus to Blackfriars then district line to Ken High Street, almost step free and pretty quick.

Kittysailing we are doing the same! Night pull ups are often dry now or hardly wet. I can't bear the thought of waking my daughter up, I know some sleep through it though.

Boob vest tops are great. Useful to wear under a shirt or dress with buttons. Tricky on warmer weather. I just got hot with the old best top under t shirt trick I think. Though I've never had a newborn in the summer.

I also do loads of walking and use public transport regularly. We replaced our Bee with a Maclaren Quest. It's not as nice to push as the Bee and harder to steer 1 handed but my son sleeps well in it and it is very lightweight and narrow so perfect for buses/trains/lugging up steps.

I really rate the Forest Hill Road Practice, particularly Dr Greaves Dr Main and Dr Scorer. Bit of a trek from Abbotswood Rd though.

We've got a Miele, it's very good. We also have a handheld Dyson which is handy for vacuuming kids crumbs and the stairs.

Jodie at The Little Clipper cut my son's curly hair really well last week!

Friday evening, otherwise your weekend gets eaten into. We usually bath the kids, into pjs and leave around 6.00. It's about 1.5 hours to the M4 though we go through town. You might be able to transfer kids to bed without them waking up, except for the little one! Good luck!

Love a food thread! SE22mum I also have no idea how to cook meat. I'm vegetarian but fish and seafood and chn and husband like meat so I make it for them. Would also love a chicken pie recipe! Also my children are quite fussy. My 5 year old is slowly improving but still not keen on wet/mixed up food. Any suggestions that aren't totally plain (which she is happy to eat but I'd love her to try new things...) ??

Agree with hello sailor! We were given one and it's been used about twice. My 2 were confident on the micro scooter from about 2/2.5

My 2 love The Discover Story Centre, it's. Bit of a trek but the ride on the overground is part of the fun. The Cutty Sark was a hit as well this summer and there's a lovely playground in Greenwich park too.

I had various rabbits as a child and would echo everything scareyt says! Dreading my children asking for pets!

Ole, I am a primary school teacher and use a childminder or provide wrap around care until 5.30. I work 3 days per week.

Boden? They have good sales and similar ish to Jo Jo, they seem to be made for tall children too. M&S (especially the Autograph range) have some nice bits too.

Enjoying reading this thread. Another vote for Laura Mercier products, the tinted moisturiser is brilliant as is the illuminating primer. You can wear both or either depending on how made up you want to look. I also really like Cliniques chubby sticks for lips, they seems to provide more colour than other lip glosses and aren't shiny or sticky. I think they do one for eyes too... The last time I saw you you looked great, absolutely not 10 years older!

As the parent of an October born son I'm reading this with trepidation! Definitely don't blame yourself, sounds like you are doing some lovely activities with your son! I work 3 days and find it difficult to fill the 2 I have with my 2 year old. I'm trying to catch up on bits and pieces around the house, run errands and provide the boy with endless exciting stimulating activities. My daughter is in Reception and has only just started entertaining herself for any length of time. I think some children take longer to do pretend play/role play type games. I found it quite useful to play certain things with her so she had an idea of what to do if you see what I mean. So when she got a doctors set last year we got all the teddies out, used the stethoscope on them, bandaged them etc. This gave her an idea of how a game of doctors might progress. My son on the other hand plays on his own all the time, he's been pushing cars around saying vroom since he could crawl! Good luck, I found last year tricky. There's a definite shortage of activities for 4 year olds and school nursery is often incompatible with work!

I carried my huge baby, who was around 16lbs at 3 months, in a moby wrap and then an Ergo from about 4 months. Both great and I still carry him now in the Ergo on my back.

My daughter is 5 next week. She's having a party with her friends in a few weeks time but We'd like to take her for some sort of treat this weekend as her grandparents are visiting. I've suggested museums or soft play but she doesn't seem keen. Has anyone done anything recently that's been a big hit with a similar aged child? Even if it's just somewhere nice to have lunch near a great playground (although the weather's supposed to be awful!). We will have her 2 year old brother with us. Thanks!

This was the reason we didn't put our daughter into school nursery. We probably would have gone for a childminder who drops off and picks up. Many charge for the full day though (understandably). Holiday care isn't an issue for us as I'm a teacher. In some ways it's a good idea to find a childminder for nursery and beyond since they still before and after school care in Reception...

Evening all! I'm in need of a lovely childminder to look after my 2 year old 3 days per week. I've posted in the classified section of the forum several times since October but haven't managed to find the right person/setting, actually I've not had that many responses at all. My current childminders are wonderful but for various reasons we need to find someone else in the next month. My older child is in Reception at Heber and is dropped of/picked up by a childminder close to the school, unfortunately she cannot also have my son (and my son's childminder can't do wrap around care for my daughter). We both need to be at work as early as we can post drop off so I would really like to find someone in East Dulwich nearish to Heber so my husband could drop off both children before work. Peckham Rye might work too. This seems to be impossible however! If anyone knows of anyone lovely, who goes out and about a lot (boy is very active) please let me know! I would also welcome any advice about finding childminders or the best way to make childcare work with 1 child at school and 1 not! Admin, I hope this post is allowed! Thanks in advance, I'm beginning to panic!