toomuchchocolate

What a great thread. My OH is pretty good at taking on household chores, though does need to be asked....anything major and he does it unwillingly though. The kids and I were away Friday night and all Saturday so I asked him to do the housework: sadly neglected since baby 2 arrived in march. He has done all the housework and the house is looking fab....BUT....he's "tidied" the house by putting things in the loft, giving stuff away to our neighbours, moved furniture and filed away our sons toys (he can't bear the mess of toys everywhere). Now I just wish he hadn't done it, because I won't be able to find anything without hunting round the house for its "new place" which I find infuriating, much of the stuff put up in the loft will need to come down again and my son will spend the next few weeks asking me where x and y toys have gone!! I wouldn't mind but his own possessions still remain shoved into corners of each room...none of his stuff went into the loft or was given away!!

I am in tears of laughter...thanks yellowandyboy.

I thoroughly recommend Rebecca emmett. She sorted out some major issues with my, now former, employer.

I too would love to hear more about hollydale school. It's our closest primary and I've to start visiting schools soon as my son will start school in 2013...not as far away as it seems!

smurfs!

Congratulations on your newborn. The best entertainment for her for a long while will be looking at you...your smile, your eyes, your hair...nothing better than that for a new baby. When my son was a slightly older baby he loved having different pieces of coloured cloth waved over/across his head where he could catch the shadows and light...he wasn't hugely interested in all the nice toys we bought by Brio etc (as nice as they are) for quite some time. But, if you really want to make a nice purchase for baby play i'd suggest a playmat with about 3 brightly coloured, softly textured toys. I don't think she'll need much more than this for a while.....as much as all the magazines and society will tell you otherwise. Enjoy your cuddles.

Good to see this story gaining coverage in the Evening Standard. i really hope those people who are trying to force it's closure are taking heed of the support the nursery has, both locally in ED and FH, as well as London wide. It would be such a shame for such an outstanding childcare provider to be forced to close by a piece of property law designed for a whole different era of family life.

Have you fixed the lock on the door that contains the baby changing unit? Last time i was there it was broken, though that was a long time ago!

As a parent with a small child at Piplings in Forest Hill, i am absolutely horrified to learn that the anti-nursery neighbours are now harrassing parents. Today i have been told that one parent was approached by a neighbour who was filming him and his young child, without their consent, as he arrived to drop his son off to nursery, because he had parked outside his property, on the road, where he is legally permitted to park! Not only are they now harrassing parents, they are now frightening the children and starting to cross the boundaries of the law. I am sickened by this latest act and believe it's neither the first or only time it's happened.

My son attends Piplings. It is a detached house with an enclosed garden, unlike (as Monkey mentions) Mother Goose and many other nurseries in the area which are in Terraced houses. Piplings are permitted to have up to 24 children at the nursery, but I believe the owners have always chosen to run it under capacity to ensure they maintain the fantastic family environment they have achieved. Recognised by their outstanding Ofsted report as well as by the support they are receiving from parents with children at the nursery. I believe these members of TLERA have pursued the owners of Piplings as if it were a witch-hunt, carried away with their own single minded objective. In a desperate attempt to show a new nursery was not required in the area they contacted other nurseries and found they all had places available for their imaginary children within a week or two of calling...i would love to know which nurseries they called because when i was looking for a place for my one year old so i could return to work, all i found were long waiting lists or very poor quality childcare on a main road. Thankfully i found Piplings as they opened the doors. Piplings is a nursery that parents dream of finding, with a fantastic philosophy and a great environment for children to be in - a home from home for your most valuable little one that gives a parent the confidence to return to work, which most of us have to. Without the restrictive covenant TLERA residents main objections seem to be the extra noise of car doors being closed and the noise of children playing in the garden, which isn't 8-6pm as they (the objectors) would have everyone believe. I thought one of the joys of being alive was meant to be the sound of children playing - i guess not. TLERA residents have done a huge disservice to the local community - parents and non-parents. Piplings provides work for local residents. Piplings allows local parents to return to work with the confidence that our precious children are being well cared for in a safe environment. If they want to live in a silent world with no outside disturbances and no children nearby playing and laughing, why, oh why, are these people living in London? Sigh...

We were told to go home and stay home. We were told by a local landlord that groups of youth were heading to LL from Penge and Sydenham. He had already seen a lady on her knees in the street (i think he said on LL) who looked as if she had been assaulted. It seems Blackberry Messenger is being widely used by these youth to organise themselves. An example: my brother has just told me that a shop in Ealing which belongs to a small family business he works for is being lined up as a target for tonight.

Usborne Books are the largest pre-school book publisher in the world and the only publisher that has continued to grow in the last 10 years. As an Usborne Book organiser i am available to host a childrens book party in your home, or at an event, including local play and childrens groups. Hosting your own party is a great way to build a collection of books since, as a host, you would be entitled to up to 20% in free books. Alternatively, if any of you are interested in seeing a selection of Usborne Books i am hosting a party this Wednesday afternoon. Please do PM me if you are interested in coming by. Usborne have a over 1800 titles covering newborns to teens. My LO already had a selection of Usborne books in his collection and i'll be happy to add more to his collection over the coming months and years. The Usborne range includes: That's not my.... Baby's very first (...) book Touchy feely range of books First words First picture books Noisy books My LO has recently shown big love for the noisy Old Macdonald book, which he has started carrying everywhere, and the wind up Fire Engine book (includes a wind up fire engine!). I also have to read him two of the classic Farmyard Tales books every night at bedtime - Tractor in Trouble and The Runaway Tractor. If you're interested please do PM me.

thank you. I've just applied for my family and also for my brother's family hoping it will encourage them to visit these here shores!

A Flock of Waxwings (about 30 or so) are feeding off the cotoneaster berries in my garden. The twitcher who we saw taking photos of our tree told us the birds are Waxwings. Apparently it is very unusual to see them this far inland - more usual in Scotland and East Anglia.

what a fantastic idea. Wish we'd had this for the in-laws before my LO was born an we may not have experienced sooooo many problems with them.

All these wonderful cleaners, but where are the recommendations? I desperately need a new cleaner as mine isn't even managing to maintain he cleanliness of our house and i simply don't have time. Please PM me with details if you can/will. thanks

vintage shmintage

Does anyone have any idea why Peckham Rye childrens park has been closed this weekend? My son loves going in there to play on the swings and climbing frame and at one year old knows where we are as soon as he sees the gate...so he was very upset when we could not gain access yesterday or today. We went to Goose Green but its just not the same.

- blind and curtain cords (shorten them) - radiators (when in use) - toilet seat (apparently nice to get your chops around when your know no better!) - doors (might slam on baby so get those things that wrap round door edge to prevent full closure) - heavy books that can be pulled off shelves and land on little toes (actually anything heavy..ditto) - freestanding lamps (that can be pulled over) - drawers (that can shut on fingers) - floorboards - make sure there are no little nails sticking out as that's not kind on little knees - lightweight furniture that might tip up/over when grabbed erm...pretty much the list is endless but since you can't keep baby in am empty room you just have to be there to teach baby what is safe and what is not and maybe after the 1000th time of saying he/she might just remember not to teeth on that wire!! best of luck, and just think how much more fun it will be when baby can reach up higher!

i've just read this too and am not at all surprised. i used to be a cyclist and now i ride a scooter - carefully and within the rules of the law. I have the same experience of white vans, coaches (including Clarkes) etc as cyclists. i've been tailgated (every day when i rode a slower scooter), i've been undertaken, overtaken within inches, had people deliberately swerve into my path (apparently that's funny??)....all usually because i haven't been riding fast enough for the drivers....then of course i would overtake them at the next lights! This would give me the opportunity to note the company name on the side of the vehicle...then i'd spend the rest of my journey desperately trying to remember the numberplate. It was great stress relief to phone each company and drop their dangerous drivers in the doo-doo with the bosses. One time i even had flowers, chocolates and a card apologising for the drivers behaviour - as well as assurance that he had been severely disciplined (i got the impression he was sacked)...but then the driver explicitly shouted at me that i hadn't been riding fast enough and if i didn't get out of his way he'd run me over and kill me. (nice). All things i'm sure my one year old son would appreciate.

i'm afraid they'll need a lot more than one washing up bowl of water each day. If they are big/old trees it may not be this years dry weather that has killed them. I'm told it takes a long time for trees to die, so they could have been dying since last year or even the year before. it's a great shame. Trees are great.

Pilates. Pilates Pilates - can't say it enough. Other than pushing baby around the park - sometimes for 1-2 hours in those early days of only sleeping in the pram. Walking and pilates is ALL the exercise i've done this past year. My body won't allow me to do much other exercise unfortunately. My stomach is almost as flat as it was before pregnancy and my hips and bottom are actually slimmer (please don't hate me!!). I haven't dieted at all since i don't believe in diets, however like most new mums i did have days when i would forget to eat until 4pm except for biscuits and cups of tea! But the pilates has made my core muscles strong and that has pulled in the flabby bits or something - i put on 4 stone in my pregnancy so i did have a lot of weight to lose.

(shiver) have closed all windows

I guess it's been hot. There seems to be an abundance of giant flying ants today. I think they're ants...they're big. Creepy.

I saw Heather from Eastenders driving down Kelvington Road last Friday morning.