The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.

A couple of months back Opeie lost his first tooth and he was so excited about putting the lovely sparkly tooth under his pillow. There were a lot of questions being asked about the tooth fairy that day, so you can probably imagine his excitement when he woke up the following morning and found not only a cash settlement for his central incisor but also a very special note from his own personal tooth fairy, in very small handwriting...

Finding out that his toothfairy rides on a bumble bee or a ladybird when she is tired got that brain of Opeie's ticking and he had so many questions to ask. So, Opeie set about writing a note to put under his pillow for the next time he lost a tooth (which wasn't going to be too far away as he had another wobbly one). Last week while Seth was sitting wiggling one of his own wobbly teeth they both got into a 'mines going to come out first' heated conversation and before I knew it both boys were holding a tooth in their hand (never underestimate the true power of sibling rivalry). It was time to put Opeie's plan into action, but would he get the photo that he wanted?

It turns out that Penelope Sparkelbottom was more than happy to oblige and was excited that someone had seen past the money and wanted to get to know her. It made me wish I had taken more of an interest in my toothfairy all those years ago. I didn't think for one second that she would send Opeie a picture of herself, Toothfairies are very secretive right? That gappy little cherub of ours was so happy with the picture that she had sent, she really does have a dazzling smile!

I'm intrigued by the next line of questioning and Opeie is already trying to work out which tooth will be the next wobbly one.

Sending love to all those hard working Tooth fairies working those unsociable hours! x

'Mind the Gap!'

Its been hanging on for dear life for weeks, but finally Opeie's first tooth has come out. Watching him trying to coax him out during that time took me right back to trying to get my own teeth out when I was younger. I'd sit there wobbling, pushing and even twisting to get that sucker out. Being woken up crazy early to give us the good news wasn't the most relaxing way to wake up but the huge gappy smile and glowing face was a fun start to our weekend.

As expected Opeie is proud of his new gap and has found that when having a chupa chup the stick fits tidily in the space. Another great thing to have come from the toothy event is that Opeie has been introduced to his own personal toothfairy Penelope sparklebottom, who wrote him a lovely letter letting him know that the tooth was very clean and that sometimes when she is tired she rides around on the back of a ladybird or bumblebee (a classy way to travel). Of course Opeie has a huge list of questions for her and has requested a photo, so watch this space (Or gap!).

"Then toads and beetles, bees and bugs, Brother snails and sister slugs, Uncle ant and earwig aunt Clap and cheer and chant this chant."

If your children have a keen sense of adventure and curiosity and you are creative in your parenting then you can find all the fun you need on your doorstep or rather in your garden. It was another glorious day in sunny Shropshire and a chance discovery of a magnifying glass we thought we had lost a while back kick started an afternoon of discovery and learning.

I asked Opeie what he wanted to go searching for and he said 'bugs', so with magnifying glass in hand we began our investigation into the greener areas of our lovely garden. It really is amazing what you can find when you are really looking and with every different species found there was more excitement from our little adventurer.

When it comes to creepy crawlies Seth is pretty much frightened of everything but Opeie is so different, he thinks everything is 'cute' and if I catch spiders in glasses in the house he has to kiss the glass before saying his goodbyes and setting them free, so as you can imagine our bug hunt this afternoon was lots of fun.

We searched the ground, found webs high up, a colony of worker ants in one of the compost bins and some big fat slugs in the other compost bin that Opeie calls the 'smelly bin'. And with most of the things we found Opeie either picked them up or was happy to have them running over his hands. I don't want Opeie to be frightened of anything so i try and treat all bugs and spiders as friends.

Opeie was fascinated by the snails and we lay on our tummies and watched them for ages before Opeie picked them up to have a closer look. Our garden seems to be some sort of meeting ground for all of Shropshires snail community I've never seen so many hiding under all our bushes and plants.

We even spotted a very rare breed of snail too later in the day...

I try and get Opeie to do some sort of writing during each day and i try to keep the theme of the words relevant to keep him motivated, so in keeping with our mornings fun I wrote down some of the things we had found for Opeie to write also while I hung out the washing to dry. He was so proud of himself when he had finished and called me over to show off his work. His handwriting is coming along great and we 're so proud of the way he is progressing.

When mommy got home from work we continued our day of Entomology (thanks Google, hahaha) with some relevant literature. Superworm and The Hungry Caterpillar were part of today's reading, read beautifully by mommy. A fitting end to a creepy crawly yet creatively cute day of fun learning.

Review: A night out at Ben & Hollys Little Kingdom Live Stage Tour

We've not had a great week this week with a lot of family stress and plenty of worry but we got to spend an evening at the theatre with the boys to take our minds off it all. We had tickets to go and see Ben & Holly Live and if I'm honest me and Mrs M were just as excited as the boys. It was a bit of a rush to make our 4.30 showing in Shrewsbury after picking Seth up from school and then Mrs M from work but we managed to get there with just enough time to pop to the loo.

I really didn't know what to expect of a theatre production of the show and if I'm completely honest, after taking Seth the year before last to see Batman Live (which really wasn't cheap) and being quite disappointed I wasn't expecting to much. I shouldn't have been so pessimistic though it was a great show for children and although I thought Seth may have felt he was a bit to much of a big boy for it both boys were hooked. Opeie, being a big fan of the show was in his element. What I loved about the show (unlike batman live) was there were no cringe worthy bits where they tried to do some special effects, it was a small stage and they used what they had in the way of props and stage set excellently making the most of every bit of space.

The first half seemed to go really quick but that was great as I needed the loo and Opeie had spotted a Gaston the ladybird toy and Seth a Ben elf horn which they were desperate to get from the gift stall. After buying our souvenirs we headed back in for the second half, Mrs M was exhausted from work bless her. I loved that there was lots of audience participation and because it was a small venue it had a really nice atmosphere filled with excited children and a few even more excited parents. I wasn't sure Opeie would sit through it without getting fidgety but there was no need to worry he was great and really enjoyed it all.

The show was on for approximately an hour which flew by so I was a little disappointed but after a long day of school for Seth, a busy work shift for Mrs M and a day in the sun playing for Opeie I think the timing worked out quite well (according to Mrs M all i do all day is spend my time high fiving Opeie, so i was fine). Seth asked me what my favourite part was and it had to be the Gaston they were using, whenever he needed to do something the cast pushed him along which I thought was cute (he kind of reminded me of a cuter K9 from Dr. Who). Seth loved the flying scene, Mrs M loved the way the fairy wings fluttered and Opeie, well I'd say he would find it difficult to chose one thing as he was completely in awe of the entire show.

On the way out we bumped in to Seth's teacher who was there with her Niece so that was a nice way to end the evening. We had a great time with has got us looking at other up and coming shows like the 'In the night garden' show and the new 'Peppa Pig tour'. We would definitely recommend this show to anyone who loves the show or for children that enjoy going to the theatre.