The moving castle tea room touches down for the 29th time

[UniS]

Welcome to the tea room. Open to those with one child and those with more and maybe some with none ( hi dave the trucker).

This time we are heading to the mists and mellow fruitfulness of Autumn in a moving castle with a mind of its own. The roaring fire is maintained by magic and Mellors the gardener handles wine and spirits along with massage duties.

The first rule of the tea room is this
No fisticuffs.
The second is this
Put the kettle on for and help yourself to a

For the second time Wriggle came home from school saying, "X said he doesn't like me and we don't need her and then he went away with my friend to play with him." (She had been playing with that friend.) I have not whipped WRiggle out of school or dug a deep hole to bury X; I have allowed him to be invited to our house to play (I didn't actually ask him, though!). Am I a grown up or what???

She is finding school a bit hard - had to hide away for half an hour this morning to cry with her rabbit - but is still accepting having to go.

Serpent - my heart went out to poor Wriggle when I read your post. Something that helped a friend's DS (and the YD) at that stage was being able to take something to school, hidden in a pocket which reminded them that their Mum loved them and would be coming to collect them at the end of the day...... the YD held it secretly in times of need.

Poor Wriggle.

Yes, Serpent, you are being a grown up. Well done. It is such early days and this too will (I think) pass.

Would you like a freshly-baked coconut and nutella muffin?

Suggestions for tomorrow's activities? Tots in the morning, Messy Tots in the afternoon or both?

I'd probably do both if there was time and we both had the energy. I always took The Girl to something in the morning (the joy of an urban area is that there are so many groups and something to do virtually every day) and would have gone to an organised group in the afternoon if there was one. As there wasn't, we sometimes went to the mayhem that is softplay.

Yes, I'm leaning towards both as well. We do two things on Mondays sometimes and can do two on Wednesdays. Won't stay the full two hours at Tots, though, so TS can have lunch & a sleep before MessyTots. We haven't been to MessyTots before (only MessyBabies but that group only goes up to 18 months). Thursdays we don't have any groups to go to. Fridays are only morning things (then have to choose so try to rotate). Oh, and Tuesdays I leave it with just swimming in the afternoon though today we went to the soft play space after swimming (all in the same leisure center) to have our drink/snack with friends who were up there with their kids (and I let Toddler have a splash about in the ball pit).

I'm tired thinking about it!

Do you think Mellors will do the washing up for me?

Mellors is always willing to help with any unappealing domestic chore, Scout. He's tying on his butler's apron and will be with you in seconds!

Scout - I would do both! I so miss the days of lunchtime sleeps...

Serpent - I feel so sorry for Wriggle, that is hard but it sounds as if you are doing the right thing. I agree with Donki though - is there anything that she can secrete at the bottom of her bag/pocket just to remind her of you/home?

I hate washing up. Would rather scrub the toilet.

bean, funny, I find the lunchtime sleeps slightly frustrating as groups either run into the start of nap or start while he's still sleeping. And I never know when to feed him lunch -- today he ate at 10:45-11:15 then went down around 11:30. If I wait until after nap he doesn't eat much then snacks all afternoon which throws off dinner. Oh well. I'm happy/lucky he still naps. I love nap time.

Just popping in to say hello. There´s not much happenning here in Hatitalandia; still awaiting news on the job applicantions. Beavering away on my sabbatical (I promised to write a book; what was I thinking...)

HELLO!

Lasagna in the slow cooker. My first attempt at it. Fingers crossed.

Hey Cat! Hope you are well, good to hear from you.

Maud I wish that was the joy of this urban area. There are almost no toddler activities other than Mum and Baby/Toddler groups. The only reading times at the library etc are on days LCT is at nursery. I have no idea what we are going to do on our Tuesdays and Thursdays once we move. Lots of time running around the back garden, I guess!

Scout has been randomly dropping his nap. It's killing me!

I have about 6 tons of work today. So of course I'm having another . Who wants?

Me please - I also have a pile of work to do today, so any excuse...

I suppose that we were in a different situation to some extent at least as we have a dog - which meant, come what may and whatever the weather, we always took the dog out. And what was a 45min walk round the park with the buggy (with a nice steep push at the end!) turned into at least a 2h 'walk' when mc was toddling, and that was if we didn't stop for a cup of tea. Fridays, which I had off when he was little, were always a rush as I had to get everything squashed into the day - so dog walk was early, then music or when that wasn't running, the coffee morning (sometimes squeezed most of that in as well, depending on timing of music), then lunch and nap and out to swimming in the afternoon. Becuase of the dog walk I think we went to soft play perhaps twice in 5 years apart from birthday parties

Hi Cat, I hope you make good progress with your sabbatical book today.

Poor little Wriggle, that is rotten for her. She sounds like she is being so brave and Serpent I think you are very very grown-up for allowing the play date. I hope it serves to smooth things over a little. I drew some kisses on a tissue for Littlestick, he keeps it in his pocket and seems to find it comforting.

All the talk of toddler groups and snuggly afternoon naps makes me rather nostalgic and Littlestick has only been at school for 4 weeks! I sometimes used to have a little sleep alongside him, they look so angelic when asleep- happy, happy memories.

Tee, sorry to hear there is not much available in your area other than toddler groups. At risk of offering advice where it is not needed / wanted: have you looked in local papers, leisure centres, libraries, council website, netmums ?

Littlestick seems to have only a mild dose of HFM, he has not got any worse which is great.

Stick, I have looked everywhere. In fact, I am the Tsarina for Belfast for MNHQ and have had nothing to put on our local page! Which reminds me I need to email HQ and let them know why it's so empty...and here was me thinking the former Tsarinas were crap. They weren't. There's just nothing for children in this town!!

YAY -- my (replacement) Brio Train Engine for TS arrived today. I wasn't expecting it so quickly.

Yay Scout!

Tee, that is a real shame. I found toddler groups a bit difficult and preferred things with some sort of activity as the theme- they were somehow less awkward. Sounds like you have had a thorough and fruitless search. Sounds like there might be a business opportunity in your home town?!

I find toddler groups a challenge, too, and primarily utilize our local SureStart/Children's Center activities. They are themed/age grouped. Today I went to a community tots group held in the village hall where I do Guides, run by a team of volunteers. Other than two of the volunteers I don't know anyone there (since I don't live in the village) and no one ever speaks to me. I go, though, because being in a village hall they have room for ride on toys, which TS loves and the SS activities don't have (except at the active one Monday afternoons). This morning, though, it was so loud there were two kids (one quite young and one a proper toddler) who kept taking turns screaming for no reason. The screeches echoed/bounced around and really made my head ring. The mother of the older one didn't flinch, even when other adults went running thinking someone had gotten hurt. ARGH! Think I'll let Toddler sleep another 15-20 minutes before getting him up, changing him and going to try MessyTots.

Serp- Has wiggle been indoctrinated in to the school kid club yet? Rule 1 is - say nothing positive about your day to parents . I believe the advanced members of the club just grunt.

I did have that chat in the park today, a mum of new reception kid, me and mum of a yr 3. we assured Yr R mum that being told they did nothing and played with nobody was normal.

Skatepark is OPEN... at last. the fence was taken down at about 4.30 this afternoon, so it probably over run with teenagers by now.

Wahoo for the skatepark. Will you have your name emblazoned graffiti-stylee on it, UniS?

::realises she may have lived in sarf London a bit too long::

probably not- unless young kyle gets in into his head to spray
" dinner ladies are wonkers" all the way across it.

Just need to sort a sign and a bin and get them installed and cross fingers hope teh grass grows, as currently teh nice shiny new concrete humps are surrounded by a sea of mud.

So whos gonna join me on teh ramps in teh castle courtyard, I feel some hard core hanging out coming on.