Tea Room the Fifteenth - The Viking Hall

[amberlight]

Here we are in the 15th instalment of the Tea Room for the One Child Family board. All are welcome, whether parents of a single splendid offspring or any other number.
We are this time in a Viking Long Hall tearoom, complete with optional helmets, roaring log fires (in case of chilly spring evenings), rugs aplenty, and all the usual mod cons of life as well.
Our Viking tea room contains Mellors the gardener/handyperson with a talent for relaxing massage (amongst a variety of other characters including Bishops, camels, bison, horses, guinea pigs, dogs, etc etc for reasons that would take too long to explain but you're welcome to read the other Tea Room threads and prepare to have your mind thoroughly boggled). Plenty of tea/coffee/cake/virtual bolly always on offer.
Join us, relax, chat, enjoy.

[amberlight]

We were getting very close to the limit so thought I'd better quickly do this one...hope that's ok

[thumbwitch]

OOh amber! Lovely Long Hall you built there - I'm practising with my pigtails at the mo so pass us a nice horned helmet to go with. And a shiny breastplate - ta.

Just thought - are the bison now for hunting? Or do we just eat whole wild boar, as in the Asterix comics? (OK, they're Gauls, not Vikings but still - they wear horned helmets)

[MindySimmons]

Mooooorrrrrrrrnnnnnnnniiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggggg (in Mindy's best soprano trill) What a great journey here today, thanks to a bare chested and oiled Mellors on the oars of the long boat - watching his biceps flex to the beat of the drum was really rather exhilirating (Mindy collapses onto the rug and fans herself with her plaits)

[AandO]

I missed nearly all of tea room the 14th !!

Thank you Amber for the viking hall. I can imagine it being lovely in the evenings, with the fire and rugs, but will it be a bit dark in the daytime? Could we put in some french doors (is that what they are called?)or would that look totally out of place !

[AandO]

Oh, I just wanted to add something.I spent the last few days in the town I grew up in, my sister is pregnant with her second and my best friend is pregnant with her 4th, plus I met a good friends 6 week old baby...and I didn't feel a single twinge of broodiness, instead I thought, I'm glad I'm not pregnant!

This thought was a revelation to me!!! I shocked myself. I'm delighted as broodiness is such a pain sometimes.

[MindySimmons]

AandO - isn't it a relief? Starting to feel exactly the same, I only have to slap myself when dd looks a little bored and I have the 'oh perhaps she needs someone to play with' thought then remember that very few families I know have siblings that occupy each other anyway! And that I should a) get off my arse and go play, b) remember that the ability to occupy yourself is an important skill or c) get a friend round!

[MaryBS]

So long as you only slap yourself and not DD when she looks a little bored, Mindy!

I have to admit I am impressed by the banqueting table - is it too soon to enjoy its delights? I just hope the Bishops, camels, bison, horses, guinea pigs, dogs, etc don't end up roasting on that fire!

Son and Cubs seems to have settled down a bit, which is good news

[amberlight]

With the magic of the Viking Tea Room, there is of course a retractable roof and fully extending side doors, revealing a rugged but attractive landscape: Oh, that's actually Mellors doing the gardening with his shirt off .

I've had a word with the Bison and they say that if there's any hint of them being hunted and cooked, they're contacting their Union and going on strike. Seems fair enough

Hooray re those left unmoved by the larger numbers of children in other households, and hooray also for your ds, Mary!!

Who's for soup and lewd rolls?

[mistlethrush]

Earl Grey and Lady Grey have made it here safely - there actually seems to be rather an all-mod-cons field shelter for them just in case it still gets a bit chilly of a night in their field out the back. Mellors is just giving Earl Grey a bit of a rub down after his gallop here.... I know who's welcome to be slung across the back of my saddle....

We borrowed a Roomster for 3 or 4 days - every time mistlechick got in he adjusted the ceiling blinds - mainly to open them then close them again. However, I'm glad that I've now got my car - was a bit that only managed 50 to the gallon on the way down, but car is clearly running in and improving and managed 56 on the way home. And I'm not the slowest driver in the world either.Although I did have to stick to 50 for a long bit of specs on the M1.

Mary - what age is cubs from and do they join something before that - need to investigate for mistlechick.

[thumbwitch]

It's the Beavers, MT. Age 6-8 apparently, according to wiki, although some will take them as young as 5. Cubs can start at 7.
Careful how you Google it, if you decide to - Beaver Scouts should be safe enough.

Glad your new car is going well!

Mary, glad your DS has settled down a bit.

Wild boar it is then - the bison are Safe.

[MaryBS]

LOL thumbwitch at being careful at googling beavers

Yes, Beavers are from 6-8, Cubs are from 8-10.5. Its worth checking out whether local troops have a waiting list - I know ours does, both for beavers AND cubs! Daughter is 10.5 and has just joined scouts (she is doing brownies for 1 more term, but there isn't a local guide group - they shut last year)

[amberlight]

Oooo, I see what you mean, Mary!

[MaryBS]

Oh Amber you haven't have you? (googled beaver?)

[ASmallBunchOfFlowers]

This is lovely, Amber, well done.

[drivingmisscrazy]

hello all - trying to get a sense of new surroundings!

We just moved C into her new room and it really isn't going very well so far...she's tired and normally goes to sleep relatively quickly by just gone 7. But she's crying and crying (DP gone up to settle her lest you think that I am THAT cruel) and really isn't impressed. We have to ride it out really as there's no option of moving her back at this point...feel terribly guilty, even though it makes sense in every way. But she doesn't know that, does she?

[drivingmisscrazy]

still going...

[ASmallBunchOfFlowers]

[drivingmisscrazy]

thanks gratefully received and much needed...probably not helped by a bit of teething and her starting to take her first steps the last couple of days. I feel so mean

[ASmallBunchOfFlowers]

More gin, Drivingmisscrazy?

Remember - this too will pass. And probably within a day or two (although the teething may go on longer).

[drivingmisscrazy]

I'm sure you're right - we just had such a good routine going that I can't believe that we deliberately went out of our way to mess it up. She's normally so easy - but she's old enough to be very conscious of her surrounding, but too young for us to explain what's happening. Stupid, stupid, stupid - should have done it months ago, but we have DP's cousin coming for 10 days next week and we need to have somewhere for her to sleep

[AandO]

Hey guys, had such a fight with LittleO today, I'm still upset over it.

There was screaming and shouting and crying and kicking and hitting for almost two hours. And I smacked him, twice . I never ever smack him. I feel awful. Esp since he always lashes out when upset and I always tell him that he should never ever hit even when he is very angry.

I'm really angry at myself now. I really lost my temper, I totally lost it . I actually scared myself. I reminded me of my dad and his temper when I was a child. I used to have a temper as a teenager but am so calm now on the whole. I scared myself by feeling that angry.

[drivingmisscrazy]

AandO - oh you poor things - sometimes things just get too much and you do something that you wouldn't normally do. If it was a problem in an ongoing way, you wouldn't be on here beating yourself up about it. Tell him that you're sorry - it will be fine, he will be fine, and you will be super vigilant from now on. You're a great mum - I also don't really know (yet) how testing a toddler can really be. I hope you are OK

[drivingmisscrazy]

also, nothing to do with vikings

DD is just learning to walk, finally and has decided that the best way of doing this is to carry around her large, squishy toy orangutan (yes, I know, I know) in front of her, take a few steps and then fall onto it, thus ensuring that she doesn't hurt herself. I am very very proud of her capacity for reasoning and lateral thinking...silly I know, but just wanted to share it, really

[ASmallBunchOfFlowers]

Wise words from Drivingmisscrazy. The time to worry would be if it happened every day and you were not bothered by it. If it came as a shock as LittleO, he might now have a better understanding of why you are upset when he lashes out at you.

Don't beat yourself up. Screaming and shouting for two hours would send anyone a bit loopy. It's done now and tomorrow is another day. You can make a fresh start.

Would gin help?

[CMOTdibbler]

Gin always helps. In my experience anyway.

What a lovely longhouse (looks nervously around for Grendels, and stuffs several pairs of socks down her breastplate in a desperate hope of having a Wagnerian shape)

V impressed with DMCs DDs lateral thought

Just popping in from my holiday, which has been mostly lovely, although added to by a late night visit to the minor injuries unit when DS fell out of bed and split his chin