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.

Would it be ridiculous to say I am very proud of BabyScout and his good behavior and "go-with-the-flow" personality when he's only eight months old? He was such a good boy today considering we were out of the house and off his (abeit, very loose) routine for twelve hours. I love BabyScout!

I would love an aspidistra. It would def be known as Uncle though.

We went to the school uniform shop today. It was an exhausting process, but we did meet some other reception starters in there while waiting around. Then to my parents, who are more unwell than ever alas. Spent a few hours with them then returned home. Today involved too much sitting in the car really.

Where are you thinking of going A&O ?

And Hurray for BabyScout being so chilled about his day

ohhhh and news of teh day but very quiet, so I'll whisper.... dh had the all clear, I can get shot of a coil.

We are planning to go to Goa CMOT. Cheap but also well touristed, people can even go there on package holidays now. Also it is used to long term stays and so there are plenty of houses/apartments that can be rented for 6 months. There are also schools and kindergartens there for kids wintering in Goa. We have arranged to send LittleO to a lovely kindergarten. We think its for the best because he needs structure in his day and to play with other kids. And we love the idea of having mornings free ! We will be staying in a small beach town, with a bigger beach town just down the road. The bigger place has lots of restuarants, book shops etc. I'm nervous, but feel that if I don't do something like this now with everything in place to do so I never will.

How old is CMOTiddler? LittleO will be 4 in October but goes to school the following year.

UniS - All clear?

Scout - I love relaxed kids days, they are great!

Evening all. Who'd like some Bolly?

AandO - I don't want to overdo the advice but is Little O's school independent? If it's a state school, putting his name down without submitting a proper application from a confirmed address at the appointed time won't be enough, whatever some well-meaning bod at the school might tell you.

all clear - snip. test, re test, re test. At last we have the all clear.

If I go in reverse order I might get everyone in!

UniS - hurrah for all clear and loss of coil; lovely housewarming and aspidistra (frequently unkillable) plus extra alcohol - woohoo!

Small - bolly would be grand thank you

A&O - Goa - great! I have a friend who did that but her DC were older (can't remember how she squared it with their education though)
House-rental - good luck!
3yo tantrum - I always find the impact of chocolate to be over and above almost anything else, so good tactic there!

CMOTD - about parents and too long in car

Scout - hurrah that babyscout is so amenable - miniThumb is like that too. Makes life so much easier (although I think most babies are like that, tbh - tis the parents who don't like their routines to be messed with and their anxiety transmits to the baby)

Mary - hurrah for cheap books! They're very hard to find in Australia, sadly. They do have markets but the range of books is generally fairly poor

Amber - hurrah for lovely accommodation and wi-fi! Have a great holiday

Jealous of uniSbloke being snipped. I wish Jacksdaddy would get on with it, I really hate worrying about birth control.

As thumbwitch said , I struggle with multiple conversations, and scrolling back and forth is the only way I can reply to them!

I had a Mirena fitted. My PMT got so bad I felt suicidal just before a period. And the periods themselves were really really heavy, so I was glad when that all stopped!

just want to check something out

AHA! You'll never guess what - they've changed the format so that you can now bold and italicise entire sections just by putting the asterisks at each end of the section instead of around each word!

HURRAH!

well I never so they have!

Mornng all! Had a Full English Breakfast in the local eatery, which is very naughty. Glorious sunshine aplenty on the Suffolk borders.

thumb, well that explains my episode earlier on this page or last, in regards to the old university town story.

Yes, I agree it's usually parents or like the routine. Though babies do need a bit of routine and structure. I have always been "loose" with BabyScout's because I need him to be flexible and go-with-the-flow. We do enough travelling (to the inlaw's in Thames Valley, or away for the weekend) and Guiding events (in addition to weekly meetings) that if he too structured everything would melt down and grind to a halt. I know someone who had their DD into such a tight routine that if something wasn't hung in the right place at the right time she'd melt down (and this is when she was only 12-18 months). Yes, he didn't get his full lay-down nap/s during the day, but he slepted when he needed to and was smiley and happy and tried things and handled being touched and cooed over by strange girls and woman all day without a protest. He had one melt down, but I was already in the process of trying to avoid it by getting us inside again and once we were he stopped. Me, I smile at him and tell him all about the adventure we're about to have and what we're doing and seeing and whatever, and he just grins at me like "Yeah Mom, let's try it!"

(gushing Mommy moment over)

Happy 4th everyone!

Am at the thought of Amber eating in a very naughty eatery! Do they have lewd rolls there, I wonder?

Am feeling a bit ugh, managed to lose DS TWICE this morning. First time, playing in the portaloo which is temporarily outside church (feels sick at the thought - its been there for the beerfest which has gone on the past 3 days...) - being Dr Who! THEN we walked to the shop, and he left the shop without me and walked back to the church, so I was scrabbling around looking for him! Still, no harm done!

Full English breakfasts while on holiday are never naughty, amber. They are de rigeur in fact. It's only if you cook one yourself, or have it every day on the way to work, that it counts as naughty

Mary - I feel your pain - especially playing Dr Who in a portaloo after a 3day beerfest - YUK! Has your DS no sense of smell??

Yeah! Whoo!

Good Morning!

Hey, it does work. Good job figuring that out TW! Much more convenient.

I forgot to comment last night but good a good chortle out of Scout's story about her colleagues thinking she was Canadian because she was too nice to be American

Reminds me of backpacking in Europe after university and finding out that a lot of American backpackers put Canadian flags on their backpacks because Americans were rather unpopular at the time (sorry Scout)... we used to attack their backpacks and rip the Canadian flags off

(To clarify - I have nothing against Americans. Went to school in Texas for 6 years and would have stayed if 9/11 hadn't happened and visas hadn't been rescinded. Have very dear friends in OK, MI and TX. I think the world of Obama. George Bush, or rather, both Georges,on the other hand, were a boil on the butt of humanity.)

I'm meeting unknown woman tomorrow morning for coffee at her house. Should I take something along?

why not, even a pack of half way posh biscuits ( think foxes ginger creams rather than custard creams) looks kind and generous.

HAppy 4th of july to you. Root beer all round and never mind the taste of germolene, in the tea room it tastes nice.

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I havn't worked out how to wave it, but there you go, a stars and stripes for the tea room .

ummm, that didn;t come out quite teh right shape, sorry. Its DID have 50 stars when it left here, seems that round* confuses things

Thanks UniS! (I see the flag, honest!)

The morning coffee thing is a bit like the money conversation thing I don't know what's proper ettiquitte over here!! I know with good friends sometimes I take things and sometimes I don't, but we're really good friends and it doesn't seem to matter. But with a stranger I'm just not sure!!

Don't worry, Jacks, I know we (Americans, that is) have a crap reputation in Europe (and most of the world, to be honest). DH and I have travelled to a few different cities on the continent and like to play "Spot the American" wherever we are. So sad, really! I'm the token foreigner where I live, but there are loads in old university town near where I live. Sometimes I HATE going because inevidibly I run into a very typical American that just makes me cringe. At my previous job (on the outskirts of old university town), everyone was shocked to discover I was American (and relatively fresh off the plane, too) and a lot of people told me that I dispelled their image of the loud, rude, crass American. But then another American joined the team who was like that and rubbed everyone the wrong way (me included) and all of my "hard work" was unravled....

Amber -- I agree, Full English Breakfasts on holiday are required. It's the only time I ever eat them.

Oh Mary, Dr Who in the port-a-loo. I hope he didn't smell too much.

Anyone fancy something cold?

I have had two long chatty posts deleted gave up last night, panting with frustration tonight

Love the flag, UniS, and Happy birthday to you and happy 4th to Scout

JM, where were you in Texas? I spent some time at a small private school there, used to be big in football until it got banned os that a clue?

Now, re meetingup. I think it is fated since these are the posts that get deleted ... I have tried to set up CAT but can't so have opened a hotmail account.

My user name @ hotxxxl dot co dot uk. Does that make sense?

(1) Next sat I think it's CMOT yes, Small anxious yes later on in the day and 99% of Tea any others?

(2) I am deffo up for the parcel idea! How shall we swing it? Random names in a hat? A cap on cost? done in a circle? Done all at once? Am very excited!

(3) Racing, I have looked up Wilton - 3 hours drive from London (apparently) or 90 minutes on train and 15 minutes on bus - are fares horrendous? Thinking about a date, I basically am meant to work all week so would have to swing a day off - it's Monday, Tues and Thurs you are around, non?

Other news, AandO posted lots about Goa. Basically - sounds great

Amber - cooked breakfast on holiday is the whole point isn't it?!?

Mary shock about boy, so worrying. Oxboy has taken to hiding, quiet as a mouse, sending me bonkers with worry - luckily only inhouse so far!

Thumb- how is your infernal cold?

Scout, boy sounds perfect!

Eeek. Oxeye is really going to make this meet-up happen, isn't she?

I have also opened a Hmail account - as per Oxeye's, except (of course) I am SmallBunch. I will send Oxeye a message now, as a test.

Will be back soon.