Tea Room the Twelfth

[RacingSnake]

Come in, come in, to Tea Room the Twelfth! We now inhabit a rambling log cabin, surrounded by mysterious pine forests and mist-covered mountains (but also, strangely) easily accessible by regulars, new-comers and passing bishops, ferried in by Mellors driving the troika. All the usual rules apply and all are welcome!

blimey, you're up late MAdBad - not sleeping? Have a lovely soothing hot chocolate with a dash of Baileys (or other liqueur of your choice) and I hope you sleep well!

Mr Thumb has started his job now so we are getting used to it just being the two of us again. Not quite sure what to do with ourselves at the moment, so Happy Feet is on.

MiniTHumb has already outgrown children's TV at the age of 2.1 - he likes Pixar films and others of that ilk. I think we know all the script of Kung Fu Panda and all the Ice Age films now.

Hello all, may I please have some medicinal Merlot? Or any nicely chilled white that's going.

Gosh, I've missed a lot. Sorry . I hope Catita's chest gets better very soon and mistle's back and any other injuries/ illnesses.

Thanks to everyone who's posted on my immensely therapeutic "things you wish you could say in your professional life" thread . I had one of those days, starting off with a very smelly patient and needed to get it off my chest. Where else but on MN?

Jackbaby is currently completely addicted to anything with Mickey Mouse in it. So we have a multitude of Mickey Mouse DVDs which are currently playing unceasingly Chez Jack. I can sing the entire "Hot Dog Dance", if anyone is interested...

at JM and the Hot Dog Dance. MiniThumb is currently on a break from Pixar etc. with Tom & Jerry classics.

Haven't seen that thread, JM - have you got a link? [lazy emoticon]

Ooh, I might be going to meet another MNer when I get back to the UK - she's not that far from me and has lots of clothes that her DS has just grown out of and mine is about the right size for - hurrah! Should save me some money. Shame it's not a Tearoomer but never mind!

Things you would like to be able to say in your professional life but really, really can't

Very therapeutic

The medicinal merlot and twiglets were very good - as was the visit to the osteopath - feeling significantly better today (can walk without anticipating twinges at every step)

TW - its when they start quoting the next line, slightly before it arrives, in the right tone of voice, that you start thinking that, perhaps, they have watched that film - ooooh - about 10 times too many times...! Mistlechick watched Iceage 3 twice over the weekend as we borrowed it from my friend at work. Haven't seen iceage 2, but didn't seem to matter too much!!!

More snow forcast this evening/tomorrow...

I've killed your very good thread JM... Sorry

Just attempted a bit of CPR on jacksmama's thread!

Would anyone care for a late lunch? We have some more of Amber's Soup Surprise, with an allergy-free walnut ciabatta and (naturally) some lewd rolls.

Just listened to the forecast about more snow. Huge sigh of relief that MBBaby's new wellies just arrived - the last ones split during the depths of the previous snow. (Design fault, I think - wellies had a fancy design with stuck-on bits on the ankles but the plastic tore around them. Should wwrite to Clarks and complain, I s'pose).

MT - miniThumb is no prob in that respect (yet?), it's MrThumb who is the PITA with it! He finds a bit he likes and keeps repeating it over and over - GAH!

MadBad - given your excellent advice to TDWP re her dodgy toys, I think you should definitely do so! Not fit for purpose if they tear in the snow.

Late lunch sounds fab - I always get the munchies when I MN late at night, perhaps it's like doing some kind of mild stimulant drug!

I don't want it to snow again until I get there - my (almost) worst fear is that we'll get re-routed to Luton or Manchester or somewhere else not-Heathrow - that would be horrendous!

JM Kittenito went through a similar Mickey Mouse obsesssion. I could probably do the Hot Dog song too. Before that it was the music from Bob the Builder, and at moment it is Pocoyo, which of the three is my favourite. I strictly ration the said blue toddler (watched on You tUBE) to a couple of episodes before bed, or it quickly gets out of hand.

I'm getting a bit better, although the drug I am imbiding through the nebulizer three times a day is leaving me bit spaced out... Thanks for all the sympathy. Babies and toddlers tend to think their own woes more important.

Thumb, I forgot to say thanks for the berry tip. While those don't seem to be available, we do have a overwhelming supply of citrus fruit and pomegranetes (they are in season at the mo). So I'm partaking liberally.
I always (sad deprived chiildhood emoticon) though that pomegranates were an exotic fruit (but not so here obviously), so thought perhaps they might be a "superfood" too?**I mean that all "superfoods" seem to be exotic. Your common or garden apple doesn't seem to make the grade.

blueberries are a superfood, I don't think they're exotic are they? And apparently goji berries grow wild in the UK (not much use to you, I'll grant you!)

I posted about the acerola because it is supposed to grow in Mexico - perhaps not where you are though. It has about 20 times the amount of vit C that other citrus fruits do, iirc. Shame you can't get hold of it but pomegranates are a good option - carry on with those! (I always thought they were pretty exotic too when I was a child - but then I am Fairly Old and the supermarkets didn't have the abundance of weird and wonderful exotic fruits they do now! I still remember my first sighting of a physallis - I was about 23 and so impressed with them!)

Catita, I don't know if you watch Pocoyo in Spanish or English, but in English it is narrated by Steven Fry, which adds a lot. In Spanish it is OK, but the voice is rather non-descript. I loved Pocoyo in either language and rather miss it now.

We also enjoy Ice Age 3 in French (Amazon.fr is making a fortune out of us), but DH says that the jokes don't work as well in French as in English.

Catita (again), I heard a program on Radio 4 (so it must be true) where they said that all the very exotic superfoods are a bit of a con (sorry Thumb, I am just repeating what they said, not endorsing it) and that there were perfectly good common-or-garden (literally) English foods which were just as good; blue berries, as mentioned, blackberries, plums, tomatoes, kiwis, etc, all with differnt properties, and that the important thing was to eat as many different colours of food as possible. I think beetroot are supposed to be pretty good for certain properties as well, and my sister (alternative therapist type), says that nasturtium leaves have antibiotic properties and are very good for colds etc - also delicious in sandwiches. Not that most of these are available in January in the UK. Probably why we have so many colds.

Hmm, blueberries not exotic exactly, but not abundant in my neck of the woods when I was growing up. In fact, I first tasted them a couple of years ago [deprived life emoticon]. But, you are right Thumb, I have no understanding of the "super"ness or not of foods. Basically, if it's not past event, well it just passes me by.

Racing We watch Pocoyo in English, Peninsular Spanish and LA Spanish [showing off emoticon]. The English are best, because of Fry who has such an expressive voice. However, I quite like the Spanish guy. It's the Mexican I find a bit wimpish.

Now feel deprived because I have never heard the Mexican.

Had a very long day, culminating in a two-hour visit by the ed psych to assess Wriggle at home, after which we were both quite exhausted. I had promised Wriggle a treat for behaving, as she did, so we went out to buy an ice cream afterwards, in the icy wind and fog. Just got her nearly asleep, reading Handa's sprise for the third time dreamily ... when the phone rang. Have just rounded up an exhausted and hyperactive Wriggle who was racing up and down stairs being Kipper and am starting again ...

Have you had any feedback yet for wriggle? (Do you mind me asking why you had the assesment, if you do, please ignore question). Have regularly thought this year that if Mistlechick was in a more 'standard' school such as the ones that we'd most likely have got Mistlechick into, we'd have had the ed. psych in for him. Luckily I think we've probably staved that off, at least for the moment. And I think that, with more challenges, he'll start moving more in the right direction too.

We are, however, really lucky in that Mistlechick's always been good at going to bed (bar the first 4mo that is) he has his bath (very excited normally), clean teeth, story (if he's been good), a couple of short songs, then light out and going to sleep to Radio 3 for an hour or so....

I also understood that it was best to eat a variety of fruit inc lots of colours.

Hope you continue to improve Catita

The reason we had the assessment is that we want to have her entry to school deferred for a year (so that she starts when she would have done had she not been premature, not when, at her uncorrected age, she would still be 3). The LEA sent an ed psych to the house within a couple of weeks, which was a great suprise since at school we have to wait many many months to get a child seen. No report yet, of course, but while she was doing the games/tests, he said that she was doing very well in all the tests about sorting, categorising etc, but low on language skills (since he was testing her in English).

Why do you think MistleChick would need to be ed psyched in a more mainstream setting? If you don't mind me asking. The only thing I have gleaned from your description is that he is a very early reader and can't sit still. But he's only four!

I heard that R4 programme about the superness (or not) of foods. But I've been trying for a long time to eat a rainbow selection of foods (hence incurring MBBloke's very mild disapproval for buying red grapes when we already have green grapes in the house).

Actually, some of those grapes seem to have turned into a rather nice Chablis. Would anyone like to share?

They must be here somewhere!!!!

RS - the easy thing would be to tell me which local authority you were in, then I could tell you what to look at!!!

Grabs a glass of wine. Back ache. Not good when no source of pain killing apart from alcolhol....

And Mistlechick - well, lets say, he's not particularly easy to handle...

He is very strong willed and knows his own mind (can't think where he got that from.... oh, me, dh, dmum, ddad, dmil, dfil, dgmil, dgfil, dgf, dgm..... )
He puts up a good argument - and, at some times, decides that he is right and no end of discussion will get him to back down (tickling is the best course of action here!!!).
He has a very extensive vocabulary and its not restricted to age-appropriate words - and he'll ask about the meaning of words he doesn't understand.
I think that the thing that would have resulted in seeing an ed.psych would have been his inability to stay still. Even eating breakfast is a struggle - not only is there the fact that he's had 12 hours of sleep where he hasn't been able to speak so has a back-log to catch up with, but he cannot stay still - either a leg is sticking out on one side, or an arm is over the back of the chair, or he is stretching or a leg is up on the chair, or the chair is pushed out - and anything on the table is there, apparently, to be fiddled with - sometimes it feels as though everything hsa to be moved from his side of the table.
Its very similar at school - his teacher says that he has got a lot better this term than he started yesterday, but when he's talking to her she said she really needed monkey bars for him to swing from. And initially there were big problems because he'd sit on the mat with the others and push a foot out (and kick someone accidentally) or swing an arm out (and hit someone) or take his tie off and swing it round and round etc etc...
Doing 1 to 1 it is possible to get him to concentrate for considerable periods of time. He can do a 50 piece puzzle entirely on his own when he wants to. He can now read fairly well as long as he takes the time to look at the word rather than guess(!) If he gets to play on the computer, he can be absorbed, on his own, quite happily. He can make great models with Connex, lego, duplo, etc... He's also great at helping with cooking and gardening. And walked 7 miles in the summer term half term.
When people who don't know him meet him, they think he's a smallish 6 or 7yo. Then he goes and acts like a 4.5yo (actually now 4.75yo!) and they think he is acting childishly even though he's actually acting his age.
Oh - and his hearing doesn't help matters - did I tell you that his teacher said that he was completely uncoordinated in PE and couldn't do anything that she asked - just ran round in circles? I asked him if he could hear what she was saying (boomy hall) and he said no (perforated ear drum one side, glue ear the other ) and I said that he should ask her quietly once she'd finished what she had said... he now appears to be remarkably coordinated compared to the level she thought he was on!!!

Sorry, bit of a rant there..

Big glass of wine for anyone that got here - and I've found some twiglets left over - they're still cripsy so presumably OK!

Chablis would be lovely. Am MNetting from exotic Watford tonight

Travel lodge or do you stretch to something a bit better? (we get lumped wiht travel lodge unless doing an Inquiry when the client has to pay for somewhere that the solicitor/barrister/both would be prepared to stay in so we get bumped up!

Watford? C'est vraiment chic!

Actually, I don't think I've ever been to Watford. What have I missed?

Nothing but the best - it's a Premier Inn. Bed a bit odd, but clean and not too noisy.

I don't know what is in Watford, I must admit - it's just handy for the hospital - which is shabby chic, former sanitorium, lovely grounds but a beggar to park at

I'm gonna ache in the morning. Mellors, may I have your expert assistance at the massage table please. Shoulders plese, upper arms... not sure what else, tell you when I wake up.
snore

I think R4 might have gone a bit off the rails there - unless they were responding to crass advertising for superfood extracts at extreme prices - because there is no "con" about it. Most nutritional types will always recommend a wide variety and colour of fruit and veg, including our own indigenous fruits/veg. However there are a few fruits (more often) that have an impressive array/amount of health-beneficial compounds and we would all benefit from having at least some of them in our diet. I can't see where the "con" part is (not having listened to it, not allowed to in Australia) unless it is people trying to make extortionate amounts of money out of extracts rather than just letting people eat the fruit.

Chablis you say - I'll have some, ta very much! I do love a good Chablis - and the place too!