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.

Longboat racing?!?

In the moat?

With the Bishops??!

Oh my!

Donki, I suffer from an absence of allergies to hay, though I'm allergic to Neopolitan Ice Cream. No, I don't know why.

Aw! Am not convinced the bishops are man enough for the job, they're used to attending functions and eating lots, and strutting their stuff in the mitres, but I've yet to see a fit bishop!

I've found one Viking who looks like he might be quite handy... viking

Am not feeling well myself, sneezing, achy/shivery, v hot, splitting headache... think I am succumbing to the kids illness... look what the heat from my head did to my boat! hot stuff

Thumb, ((((hugs)))

Tea, I cannot believe that a parent would behave like that! On what grounds should Milk not be at that school? Is she RC/not RC/out of catchment/green and furry? I am so glad that she is as yet unaware of the situation and agree that talking to the teacher (very carefully) is probably the best route. Could you also invite Nice Child to play? Remind me how old Milk is now - four? Still at an age I think when friendships can be manipulated. Remember, I want her for Wriggle's friend!

Re: Boden/toast/joules brochure - was there ever a house featured in the brochure where the birds come in to collect dog hair from the drifts around the furniture? Or where there was, admittedly, a rather personable if greying male model, a cute but grubby child model (tick, tick) and .. a wrinkled crone with a missing tooth?

I must admit to failing totally on discipline when Wriggle really puts her mind to winning - this morning we had another round of The Battle Of The Shoes. In quick succession and with a totally angelic expression, Wriggle put on my shoes, DH's shoes, her doll's shoes, a bracelet around her foot and a glove. I left the room shrieking murmuring in measured tones that there would be trouble if when I came back her shoes weren't on. I returned and the shoes were missing from their shelf. She had indeed put them on - on the handles of her tricycle.

Donki, I think you were wise. Small Donkey won't be small for long and you know that no means of transport can be trusted. I'm sorry if it's making you resort to the Priest Hole though - is it because you need the money or is it because you are unhappy in your present job or is it that you are really missing teaching?

Ox-eye, I wish I was clever enough to work out who your DH is and envy you and CMOT Womad.

CMOT, AP is happy (in a way) to have a blue badge but would never never never use a mobility scooter, even tough that would mean that she could actually get out to see things . She would feel too self conscious. I so hope that I am more sensible when I get there.

I think your AP is in the same place as my dad Racing - theres so much he could do with a scooter, but too proud. OTOH, he saw the huge advantage of having the temporary disabled parking permit when he was having his warfrin established, so practicality was triumphing there. I'd just like to be able for DS to enjoy having grandparents while they are around - and I know that mobility isn't everything for that (my grandmother used a wheelchair outside the house for most of her life), but atm, they can't go anywhere with DS that involves walking more than 100m or standing for more than a couple of minutes. Which is limiting with a v active small child.

Haven't booked WOMAD Oxeye, but was checking it this afternoon, and will do so. When is OxBloke off next ? And for how long this time ?

CMOT, AP manages to look after Wriggle for us when I'm at work (supervising while sitting outside, watching CBeebies, reading, baking) but can never go out with us.

Hello all,

To be very honest with you all of my loved ones who are no longer with us have always disappeared quickly and terribly violently so far. My experience of discussing morphine are zero. I have learnt lots from the discussion today. To be honest I think the word morphine would have scared me too.

Thanks for ALL your support re Milk. Today she was playing with Eccles and I had my shower as I was dressing I heard a SCREEEAM so ran through to the livingroom to find Milk was holding Eccles quite firmly and basically growling at her these words - "Do as I say or a big snake will come out of your bum."

I said it was a horrible thing to say and that I was very angry to hear such awful words. Milk said "I was just playing that I was HM's dd!!!"

So we sat down and had a chat about it. Turns out when HM's dd said these exact words Milk said "No not a snake. That is not possible! Stop!" I suggested it is a good idea to let an adult know if someone says something so bad again and that in the case of HM's dd she seems to be a bit like that so it is best if she simply plays with someone-else.

Today when she came out of school Milk played with her new fioncé. She seems to have a new love each week. His Mum invited her to play at their house another day. On the metro on the way home she said "HM's dd was still being horrid. So I said "You are not my friend" and played with xxxxx (another girl)instead."

I told her that I am very proud of how she is handling a quite tricky situation and later on suggested she choose a different friend from school, who we don't usually see out of school, to invite to go out with somewhere.

I think I used the wrong word in an earlier post. It wasn't a letter I was sending it was a note in the home-school book that all French schools have because there is less intimacy between teachers and parents so lots of what is said is said in this book. It is my book that goes into school and is sent back and it is usefully on its last page! So it is a letter I keep.

Even so I was careful in what I wrote and have also arranged a meeting for tomorrow.

Blimeys, Tea, it's an awful situation. Will be thinking about you tomorrow. Yay for Milk's expert handling of her situation too.

Not very well so off at home, and seem to be on the internet. At least yesterday's meeting went extremely well, which is a huge relief.

RS, I suspect we're all in all of the tea room sports events in the build-up to the Viking World Cup in Summer (which, it being the Tea Room, will turn out to be a Cup of Tea rather than anything to do with football). Or possibly a large flagon of Bolly.

ohhhh, boat race... can I be in Ambers boat- shes got rowing kit!!! so must have half an idea which way round the boat goes... I used to canoe so might be able to wield an oar...

Please Amber, Please, pick meeeeeee.

Perhaps I'd better be on the bank, shouting encouragement

Who's for a slice of choc cake?

• ha to UniS - I used to be a rower and a cox as well.

Anyone else want to be in my boat? RS - it's up to you to pick boats, not t'other way round - so of course you're in! If you want to be that is.

amber - hope you have dried out are feeling better now

more hurrahs for Milk here - glad that she seems to have sorted the situation with HM's DD by herself, now I just hope that other mums leave things alone.

i'm going with Thumb - I used to row, but only ever coxed for very unlucky veteran crews at our club regatta when all the juniors were pressed into service.

Hurray for Milk - she is dealing with it really well.

Am definatly sticking near Amber if shes got cake as well as rowing kit...

I seem to have misplaced my camera in the house move which is annoying. Was wanting to take another picture of a digger for the village website... I can feel a series coming on.

Bottoms up, what ho to mead on this chilly evening. Make mine a large one.

Aren't we a fabulously skilled lot - all this rowing ontop of all the horse riding so many people really do! I am impressed!

The meeting with teacher went very well. School backing me and Milk 100%. Without going into too much detail (tis the interweb afterall) they have been having their own problems that relate to ours and even went so far as to asked me to back a staff member up on something too. It was a massive "Me too" moment.

Well, I think Milk is going to be the New Ambassador, or possibly turf William Hague out of his Foreign Sec post, she's a bit of a triumph isn't she?

Nasty day for me. Got home today to find Oxboy had been "taken to one side" at Nursery for playing "guns" and "killing" with his best friend. Apparently, the other children and staff are very upset. OxPoppins was quetsioned as to whether he watched suitable television and was told it was "not suitable" behaviour and we had to stop it.

FFS firstly why didn't they speak to me I drop him off every morning and can be phoned any time

Also, who doesn't have a gun and killing phase of some sort. Apparently bananas are involved. Part of me wants to award prize for imaginative play with fruit this is a child who finds Postman Pat a bit racy sometimes nobody seems to have spoken to him about it. He says he was playing a lovely game with his friend. I had a talk about moderating his behaviour in social situations and that we are lovers not fighters. I am a bit cross

Calm me down tea people, am I overreacting?!?!?

Yippee for Milk and Tea!

As for OxBoy's gun-toting. Hmm. I think it' pretty universal that nurseries that a Dim View of playing with pretend guns or wreaking pretend violence eon one's little chums. But the OxNursery seem to have made ridiculously heavy weather of it. At SmallGirl's pre-school I think they would probably have just confiscated the offensive banana weapon and said "we don't play st shooting here". Being taken aside and the later interrogation of OxPoppins to ensure OxBoy isn't a junior psychopath does sound excessive. But I suspect you've just got to turn the other cheek, because if you go and flatten the nursery panjandrums with your handbag (which would probably be my first instinct) you'd be playing into their prissy and over-sensitive hands. Forgive me asking, but isn't this the sort of nursery where many of the daddies spend the weekends huntin', shootin' and fishin'?

I'd be useless in a rowing boat except as ballast, but am willing to contribute to the occasion by oiling Mellors' torso, if he hasn't accepted a government position as Minister for Sport, Grass-cutting and Massage by then.

Late night Bolly on the table for anyone in need,.

ta for the bolly
no, we don't hunt and shoot much (except Oxboy of course) and believe me I take a pretty dim view of the whole "gun toting you're dead" sort of thing... but there seems more hysteria concern than when another child bit Oxboy very badly on the cheek. That was just "children will be children" whereas this,,,, banana thing is .....what exactly ?!?!?!?

Don't worry. I left the mortar at home, it's why I'm ranting here

No, Oxeye, I didn't think that you were the huntin' shootin' fishin' sort, but I had wondered (obviously wrongly) whether that was the sort of catchment for your nursery!

In my many years' observation, it does seem to me that virtually every little boy goes through a phase of using sundry sticks/lego assemblages/fruit as a pretend gun. Which is why I'm that the OxNursery seems to have reacted as if this was the Worst Thing That Any Child Has Done, Ever.

Nighty night!

Night night!
To be honest, Small Bunch, I don't know if our fellow Nursery Folk are Huntin' Shootin'. I don't think so. The nursery is very small and rather local, most folk are here all weekend, so unless they are taking pot shots at the pigeons and squirrels (always possible) there's not too much of that Rich Country Life going on....

Certainly I would notice if any of the garden squares were corralled off for big game hunting

Whereas I suspect Racing and her lot wring the necks of chickens with their bare toes

Night all and Howdy Partners

OXEYE!!!!!

Tis normal behaviour. Esp. for a boy! Odd odd over reaction from staff.

In my younger days I had this thing with this skater boy who as I was walking away from him would go "'eeeey" and then when I turned my head he would kiss his own index and middle finger twice then lift his thumb up so his hand looked like a gun and mock shooting the kisses at me while making a double clicking noise with his mouth. It sounds stupid but at the time I found it very cool... actually I still do . - Actually often sometimes I do it to Milk.

HEY oxeye - I soooooooo dare you to start doing it to oxboy on der skoowl gaaayt!!!!

OxBoy Rides Again

Heh BUNCH! How did you find that picture of OxBoy?

Tea, I am loving the smoking pistol thing perhaps you can teach Eccles to roll over "dead" when you do it

Guys, you have made me feel a whole lot better

Tea - thank you for sharing your early romance. I feel sooooo much better

I must confess to being the sort of person who would divert the attention of said small boy to a proper and serious study of arms and munitions throughout the ages, with particular reference to tactics in the Great Battles and re-enactments involving war paint and full sized tanks on the lawn. All in a very non-violent, way of course. No real people are shot! May I take some war re-enactors along to said nursery to give them a demo? Perhaps some cavalry charging up and down the drive, waving cutlasses? Then they can compare to a small boy waving a banana and calm down a bit.

LOL Amber, what you suggest sounds far more interesting than Barbie! As a child I loved playing with one of my brother's toys. It was a tank that fired matchsticks (used ones, we weren't given a box of matches to play with). I used to fire it at my brother's soldiers, and occasionally at my brother too!

My two have never been bought a gun, but they find all sorts of things to play fight with, including bananas. Garden canes make great light sabres apparently (which is when we gave in and bought them plastic ones).

Still sick, have a thumping headache, am about to return to bed, now the kids have gone to school...

Since DS finds watching Cars 'too scary', he watches no even vaguely unsuitable television or films. But he is still going through a phase of 'shooting' things - I think this has come from boys with older siblings who therefore get to watch cartoons.

Nursery just distract from it, and I point out that we (apart from the cats) don't kill things.

Therefore, I think Oxboys nursery are overreacting a tad to say the least.

DS can explain exactly how a trebuchet works, and had his first go at firing longbows the other weekend - was v sweet.