"What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest?"

I had big plans for getting out and doing something this morning with Opeie but as i dragged our wheelie bins down the path before getting in the car to take Seth to school i buttoned up my coat and watched the steam come from my mouth as it hit the cold air, it was freezing. Winter is well and truly here. We loaded the troops into the car and as i looked back in the mirror before heading off i saw snot running down Opeie's face almost reaching his lips, ewww! it was clear that we weren't going anywhere today. We did our usual rounds and when we got home i asked Opeie what he wanted to do? "Picnic with my toys!". A boy that knows exactly what he wants, nice and easy for me.

I went hunting for our parasol that has been in the cupboard under the stairs since the warm weather upped and left, i thought I'd go for a sunny day kind of picnic, we didn't want the make believe sunshine melting our Haba cheese after all. Opeie loves role playing with his play food and he loves feeding his toys. I guess he sees me helping him all the time with things and then wants to recreate that with his favourite characters.

As always there were no shortage of guests and on the menu Haba's finest cuts of meat, fruit and vegetables and a cheese selection that was worthy of the finest imaginary crackers, all courtesy of The Toadstool. Opeie likes to be the head chef, Waiter and Host and as he served up the food he made idle chit chat with his guests.

I really love how much Opeie loves role playing and it is so good for his development. Its great for his speech and his confidence and its so nice to play with him and listen to all of the things he has picked up from us, the books he is read and the programmes he loves. His love of play food is what has been the driving force for his Christmas present this year. Since receiving these from The Toadstool they have become one of the firm favourites during play time and i cant recommend them enough. If you are stuck for something to buy your toddler then look no further than this great site that has a huge selection on offer. These are perfect as stocking fillers. Word got round about what was being served and toys were queuing around the block.

Play food isn't all about the roleplaying, as a toy and as a learning tool it can be very versatile. Finding coloured plates and then organising the food on to the correct plates by colour is a favourite game of Opeie's and with the smaller items like the cheese and meats you can make fun counting games. Its one of the great things about playing with your child, whatever you are doing they are always learning, taking everything in.

It didnt get any warmer outside but with warm food in their bellies and endless cuddles from a very loving host the toys and Opeie continued to have fun throughout the afternoon.

For a great selection of soft play food perfect for your role playing children visit thetoadstool.co.uk

"The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most."

I generally try and pick one thing a day to concentrate on with Opeie's learning. Some days it letters others its numbers but over the last few days me and Mrs M have been working on his colours which is going really well. While doing her usual window shopping on amazon Mrs M spotted some colour flash cards that were perfect for Opeie and and great for us too.

Both being quite arty and coming from a creative background we have both used pantone referencing in the past so these pantone flash cards are great. On the one side of the card is solid colour with the colour name and reference code and in the other side is cute drawings relevant to colour and description (very cute).

  

These have been stuck all around the house and we ask Opeie throughout the day what each colour is. He's getting a lot better at knowing his colours now which were really pleased about. I love watching Opeie develop and he seems to have changed so much over the last few weeks with his speech. Its great to know everything is moving in the right direction and he's not struggling to much with anything.

"It's a genuine daisy! I've seen them quite often in fields growing wild. But never before on the head of a child. Now what in the world ever made this thing sprout? I have no idea. But I'm going to find out!"

Despite a couple of little accidents Opeie  seems to have got in to quite a good routine with his potty training. We've been pottering around the house for the last week and a half but after dropping Mrs M at work today (and knowing that Opeie had taken care of business a few times today) we headed over to the lake to feed the ducks. We hadn't been to feed the ducks for a few weeks and were concerned that warburtons may go in to liquidation though the lack of our bread buying. Opeie was really excited and was clutching his bag of bread like some crazy duck enthusiast.

Opeie got the ducks all riled up by hovering his bagels over the railings but not throwing any in. I wasn't sure what he was up to but when an army of ducks arrived i just put it down to the fact that he wanted a feathery free for all. He finally decided to share his bread with the ducks and then cackled as they started biting each other to get at their lunch like some evil overlord.

After feeding the ducks we had some time to kill before picking Seth up from school so we went for a trek around the lake. Opeie started pointing out "pretty flowers" so as we have been learning about colours today at home i used the nice selection to get him practising again which he seemed to find fun.

Our little game was going lovely until Opeie spotted a Dandelion to blow and then the rest of the walk back was taken up by Opeie picking every one he saw and blowing raspberries at them, very cute. Opeie loves flowers especially daisies after the first time we read Daisy-head Mayzie (great story by the way). Its nice to be out and about again, i think i will start venturing out further now he's in a bit of a routine (armed with our potty of course).

Ho! Ho! Ho.....ld on a minute that's a Gnome not Santa.

When i was younger there seemed to be Gnomes everywhere, people would proudly show them off on their front gardens and although some of them were a touch creepy they always gave the garden character. I'm not sure if not seeing them about much is because they are not seen as 'cool' anymore or more likely a sign of how our world is these days. People seem to pinch or break anything if you leave it out.

Despite the lack of them on gardens we can be sure that recently they are making a comeback in our local Asda, giant ones. Opeie loves them and always says "Ho! Ho! Ho!" as he thinks they are Santa.

 While we were in there a few days back Mrs M noticed a paint your own Gnome and she picked one up for me and the boys to paint while she was at work. The boys were really excited about getting stuck in. It seems that painting a Gnome is far more entertaining than the rocks we had painted a few days back. But luckily because of our previous craft session we had all the acrylic paints that we needed.

I usually find when painting things with the boys the finished item ends up an all over greeny brown colour as Opeie seems to dislike washing the brush off between colours. This time though the boys took their time and did their best not to go over the parts they had already painted. It kept us occupied for an hour which was great because the boys lose interest in things not long after that (unless it's Lego of course). When Mrs M came home from work she was greeted by our new friend proudly flaunting his amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I'm not sure how well he will hold up in the garden through British weather conditions but either way Mrs M was very impressed. I'm determined now to buy a few more and let the Gnomes make a comeback in our garden.