Tea room 16 welcome to Shangri-la

[UniS]

Shangri-la = a hidden valley with beautiful views and crystal streams of course, and some inter-far eastern type of chalet things set around a Serene Courtyard with ever-blooming Japanese cherry trees, lots of refreshing fragrant teas, silk cushions, tinkling tiny waterfalls and bonsai trees, Gardens of Tranquillity etc.

Home to teh 16th Tea room, a haven for those with one or more or less children who like cake, tea, talking nonsense and oggling Mellors ( our handyman/ butler). If its your first vist, pull up a cushion .Mind out for the guinea pigs and other pets and do take care not to squash the teeny tiny naked mowhawk babies ( nmbs
, no longer naked and now toilet trained you will glad to hear)as they go about their duties helping Mellors.

Confused... come on, jump in and have a hot chocolate.

Hiya, UniS. Dare I ask for a fuller description of the comedy carrot moment?

turns the quiet serenity of the tea room into a 70s disco

Scout, if you omit the rainwear, we will have a deluge number of short sharp showers, which would be great. I love sitting outside undercover watching summer rain. I mean, of course, proper summer rain, which is tepid and smells of damp earth, not icy drizzle like last year.

Parcels - I love them! My sister occasionally sends wonderful parcels. MIL sends quite frequent parcels, mostly, as is right and proper, destined for Wriggle and M.Snake, but never forgetting me. Sometimes, like the last parcel, it is something really personal, like a hand-made skirt to match a piece of clothing she knows I have; sometimes something absolutely barking, like last Christmas's tea towel with a hole. She is a lovely lady who has had a harder life than she deserves with GrandpereSnake.

I have had a parcel from CMOT - she does a very good parcel! Ditto Tea. Incidentally, Tea, the Charlie and Lola books are back!!!!

I have a very clear idea of what a good parcel should contain: something beautiful, something daft (holey tea towel?), something useful, something specially thought out, something to read, even if only a newspaper cutting, something to eat .

I am hatching a hazy plan whereby we CAT each other and compile parcels, which are sent out, one to each of us, rather in the manner of Friends' Secret Santas. My niece is coming to stay tomorrow for three weeks - lots of Friends will be watched.

Daisy, I didn't respond to your Wilton House idea. I have a season ticket - let's do it! Could it be Monday, Tuesday or Thursday? I will change absolutely any arrangement except (unfortunately) work. Is anyone else near enough?

Tea, M.Snake is in the process of teaching Wriggle to look the wrong way when crossing the road. 'Now, Wriggle, hold Papa's hand and always look left before crossing.'

I shall skip the rainwear. Like I said, I have BabyScout's stroller cover and I don't care if I get wet. I have enough crap stuff to take as it is.

Ooohhh, Secret Santas. Can we do Christmas in July?!

RS -- but, but, it is left!

Good night, Ladies!

Secret santa sounds fun, can I do it too?

Lots of tantrums from LittleO today. He is going through a very defiant stage at the mo, it's hard.

Oh now I am so of you all getting to meet up! Never mind - if any of you make it out to Australia I shall positively insist on meeting up with you!

I'm still waiting for my sister to send a parcel that I requested back in April (could even have been March) - it had to be split into two so that they both weigh less than 2kg otherwise the postage is extortionate!

Love the idea of bullbars on the pushchair - that would be fab!

A&O - Amber said you didn't upset her, don't worry. Also it was a starting point for amber and mary to put their side across which was good to know.

I LOVE the parcel idea!!!!

Today, for a treat, as it was the last day of term (whoooop whooop) I took a Charlie and Lola dvd for a group of French children who speak very good English to watch.

I took a photo of them.... look...

!!!!!

Ha ha ha!!!!

Milk and I are quite a bit sad because we asked a very good question to Lauren Child on her MN Q&A session and we were... (does a Lola sob) completely and really actually snubbed!!!! Our queston was "Do you like pink Milk?" (From Milkfortwo aged 4). Interestingly enough there was another 4 year old who said "Do you like tomatoes?" which could have been answered in the same sentence!

We are going to be at my parent's place soon. Perhaps you can post the Charlie and Lola books there RS - I want to have a big reading summer to prepare Milk for her extra curriculum English lit class [pushy parent emoton] and I feel a deep set urge to beat the postal system!?! I must admit I do feel the urge to send something bookish for Wriggle... may I?

oo tea, I wonder if Lauren Child has a touch of the Enid Blytons there? I remember reading somewhere that she didn't really like children.

I know Thumb, but I was just worried she was only saying that to make me feel better. I should have been more thoughtful. I have no idea what was going through my mind.

So I just posted on the disobedient child thread. I am going to copy my post in case any of you ladies have any advise on how to deal with LittleO. Ok, here is my post:

Tell me what I did wrong:

Today I was in the supermarket with ds (3.5) getting just a few items for a picnic in the park. He decided he wanted to hold one side of the basket, and walk backwards. It was busy in the shop and was hard to do and I was just concentrating on getting the things and not tripping over him. He kept on moaning that I wasn't doing it right. After a bit I got down on his level and told him he needed just to walk properly, that it was too busy. He then pinched me and shouted at me! I said if he didn't stop that behaviour right away we would go leave the shop without the picnic. He did it again. I had to carry him out of the shop kicking and screaming and hitting with everyone staring at me. I put him in the car and sat in the front seat myself. He was completely hysterical, saying he wanted to go back into the shop, he wanted the picnic. I remained calm, I told him that wasn't going to happen because of his behaviour in the shop, and that I was going to sit quietly in the car until he was ready to calm down, and get into his car seat to go home. After some screaming and he even pulled my hair he then got into his seat and told me he was ready. I strapped him in and we went home.

I gave warnings, listed consequences, then followed through. I always do this, yet this behaviour occured! I am at a loss! What am I doing wrong?

Jacqueline Wilson in contrast answered my question on mn, that I asked on a work related issue, so well it made one of my students cry!

I did of course explain that sometimes I go on literary forums to justify how I go the information!!!!

On writing heros. I just finished reading this -

www.amazon.co.uk/My-Year-Roald-Dahl/dp/0224036475

and I know it will stay with me for the rest of my life! Lovely!

Night night - enjoy your day Thumb! xxx

AandO I will post on your thread tomorrow when I am more awake.

x

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!

I'm off to bed too.

Night night

Night all! I'll go and look at your thread as well, A&O and give it a squizz - but tbh I don't think you did do anything wrong, they're just like that sometimes.

Tea, e-mail me your parents' address and I'll put it in the post (again!) Of course we would love something bookish for Wriggle, but we really should get Milk's books to her - unless you have totally and completely and absolutely gone off Lauren Child's oeuvres.

AandO, it doesn't sound as if you are doing anything wrong. I think the technique sounds fine, but it will take time - considerable time if LittleO is of a determined character. However, I am not sure if going home and forfeiting the whole picnic would have been always be necessary. Could you have taken him outside when the trouble started to cool off on the convenient bench most supermarkets have outside, then gone back in to carry on shopping? I often find that if we get to that stage, I have got as wound up as Wriggle.

It was going in that direction yesterday while I was trying to buy myself shoes. Luckily Wriggle decided that she needed a wee and we had to retire to a cafe, where she begged to sit down for a drink and a biscuit. We had a break and - voila - peace broke out.

I find that having a reward at the end of the supermarket shop helps; I can persuad Wriggle to help me buy reminding her that we are buying an Art Attack magazine at the very end (even if it is after we have queued and paid and we have to get it at the cigarette kiosk).

However, Wriggle is extremely badly behaved on a regular basis when we all go out together. Negotiations only seem to work when we are a deux.

Shall we do the parcel scheme???? Shall we, shall we?

Splendid accom here on hol, after many hours in the M25 Car Park. And wi-fi! Yay!
I need very large cup of something to celebrate.

Personally I think its great that AandO voiced it, so that both Amber and I could have the opportunity to "put paid to that lie". It hurts us far more if people just believe this stuff without asking us, HONESTLY!

Much of what Amber does mostly, and me to a lesser extent, is try to dispel some of the myths around the condition, and educate.

And YAY to Amber having somewhere nice for her holiday!

I've just been to the school fete, having bought huge quantities of paperbacks (10p each!!!) and a few hardbacks (20p!!!). There were STACKS of books for the 3-6 age group, its a shame they're not all going!

Evening everyone.

Thank you Amber and Mary .

I'm exhausted today. Really trying to get the push on with sorting out the house. Did I tell you that we are trying to rent out the house? My job ends on the 31st of July and so we want someone else in the house by then to cover the mortgage (or at least part of it). We will then go and stay in my parents house (that they no longer live in) and dh will continue working whatever shifts he can get. Then in October, all going well, we will go away for 6 months!! See, I will be unemployed and has just finished uni, and LittleO doesn't start primary school until Sept 2011, so we have a free academic year. We will go in Oct, come back in April, move into new house with time to settle into the new area before school starts in Sept, and dh and I will start phds at that point too. That's the plan anyway, I'm terrified to be honest!!!

RC - I missed out a step when writing out the supermarket trauma. I did take him outside the shop, I got down on his level and said that if he calmed down and promised to walk properly in the shop we could go back in. He shouted no, I'm going to walk backwards and then pinched me again. So I said we had to go home.

The exact same thing nearly happened again today. This time I said that if he didn't walk properly around the shop that when we got to the picnic he wouldn't be able to have a choccie biscuit. He then stopped his messing around!! All the same there have been lots and lots of spats today. He seems to be going through a really defiant stage.

How did the day go for everyone else?

RS -- No rainwear and no rain! GLORIOUS day here in East Anglia and perfect day for a major Guiding County Centenary Event.

Hello to all! Anyone fancy some Girl Scout cookies?

Aand O - don;t want to rain on your 6 months away thing BUT, have you checked out how and when you apply for little Os school place? You may need to have a plan in place for that to be done at correct time and may need an address.

Evening all. I am now proud owner of an Aspidistra in RL. we had a fab house warming come birthday party, lots of village friends came and lots of them brought us plants or cake and alcohol. BLISS.

IS it just the way it is with a party- the host provides foods and soft and drinks and a modest amount of alcohol and is left with less food and soft drinks and a larger amount of alcohol?? or is it coz it was a tea party, LOts of cups of tea were drunk.

I thought of you as I exclaimed happily over teh aspidistra, but I did refrain from saying" I'll just pop it in teh window next to George.

Loving the aspidistra news UniS! That sounds like a great day. Is your new house in the same village as the old house?

LittleO's name is already down for school. I am regular contact with the school. In fact the reason we are moving across the country is for the school. I will let them know I'll be out of the country for six months though just to be on the safe side, good thinking, I hadn't thought of that.