"Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom."

The weather was awful this morning and after dropping Mrs M and Seth off we headed home. At Opeie's request we got back in to bed with a big stack of books (Opeie's favourite place). We ploughed through about 15 books and then had a snack. Opeie was clearly getting a bit bored and was desperate to leave the house. He started doing his little awkward dance and told me he needed a pooh (which means a wee), but decided to take care of both parts of his business at once (this is the first time he's done this, it's usually one or the other). Well on that note and feeling confident that he wasn't going to go for a while I thought we'd try and go out to make the most of his early toilet routine sorted.

We headed to the padded play area not far from ours. This is only the third time I've taken him, he loves going but both myself and Mrs M have issues with how clean these places are, but me and Opeie have been at home for the last three weeks though, not venturing out to far while he's potty training and i think we were both going a little stir crazy.

It may seem like this is turning Into another one of my recent potty training updates but I wanted to talk about soft play area politics, I mean what are the rules? Opeie was having a whale of a time running about and squealing excitably but the more excited he got the more children came over to see what was going on. To the point where we had about 7 children joining in with our game. Is this alright? I'm wary about taking pictures of Opeie while we're in there for obvious reasons but what are the rules with engaging with other people's children? I did keep looking into the seated area to see if I may have been upsetting any parents but nearly every one of them was sitting Staring at a mobile phone oblivious to what their children were actually doing. So I just carried on, Opeie was having a great time and I think the other children were happy getting some attention from an adult.

I'm always going to be the sort of dad that gets involved in everything they do and i always go in to play areas with them, especially Opeie for safety reasons. A couple of the children were smaller than Opeie and in there alone (am i part of a minority that thinks this isn't right?). Any way i got buried in balls, climbed on, wrestled and one girl even gave me a hug but being so paranoid about upsetting anyone i froze and it was really awkward. Should i have any reason to feel bad if their parents arnt making the effort?

Opeie loved every moment of it and i think its important for him to see me being friendly to other children as ignoring them sends the wrong signals and i want him to feel like he can approach other kids while were at these places. So why did i feel a little awkward is it just because of the way society is or is this a feeling that has been caused by the media etc? I'm not going to change, obviously. I'm just putting the thoughts and frustrations out there...

"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."

Today Mrs M had a lot of work to do at home and with Opeie in the house it's virtually impossible for her to get anything done. So I decided to take him out for a while to give her a bit of space to work. The weather was awful, freezing cold and pouring with rain so I decided to take him to an indoor padded play area down the road. It's the first time Opeie has been to one mainly because I don't really like them. They always seem dirty. They all have the same musty smell and you can pretty much guarantee that there will be some boisterous older children running about not watching what they are doing.

Mrs M rang ahead and it was the under two's session so I thought we should give it a try but not before Mrs M loaded us up with antibacterial hand wash. We're not freaks were just very wary about what the boys are putting their hands on. We got to the place and I was pleasantly surprised. The staff were lovely it seemed pretty clean and the £3 entrance fee even included a cup of tea, drink for opeie and a plate of biscuits. Doesn't get better than that.

Opeie's little face lit up when he saw the ball pit (he loves balls). We took our shoes off and headed for all the fun. 

We got straight into the ball pit and Opeie was a very excited little boy. It was really difficult getting a clear photo as he wouldn't stay still and who could blame him.

Seeing how excited he was I felt kind of guilty that we hadn't taken him before. Not only for the running about and rolling around in a ball pit but also for the interaction with other children. All the children there were around the same age group and Opeie clearly loved being around them squeaking with excitement.

I'm not sure if its Seth's muscle condiction but he wasn't very adventurous when he was younger, he would never climb in the play areas and was pretty scared at the thought of going up to the higher levels. Opeie is the exact opposite and is pretty fearless. He's always been a climber, it took him a long time to start walking but had no problems going upwards from a very young age and being there today this side really came out of him. I was genuinely shocked when he climbed up a padded ladder with very little help from me. At his age I didn't expect him to be so strong (I think he's going to be a tough cookie like daddy).

Well we had a great couple of hours, Opeie was so tired when we came out that i strapped him into his car seat and he fell asleep before i had even closed the car door... Adorable. When we got home we curled up on the sofa and he had a nice long nap so Mrs M got some extra quiet time to continue what she was doing.