From bath fear to bath obsessed, the story of one boys battle with being clean.

We've come a long way since Opeie's bath escapades. It's strange to think that he did everything he could to avoid bath time and the mere mention of the word bath or the sound of the taps running used to cause a storm or teary emotions. Strange because at 10am this morning Opeie had already had 2 baths. Mrs M was the first for the bath time company very early this morning and then when Seth had one, Opeie again didn't want to miss out on the fun.

While in the bath the boys and myself from the sideline did our best to make the most of the Nuby bath toys we have after doing the usual teaching Opeie his letters and numbers Seth decided that it would be a good idea to attach the letters and see if we could make boats so we got to it. The boats were happily sailing but then Opeie brought in the evil captain squid and he tipped the boats over (the tinker). 

Luckily super elephant the hero/coast guard was in the area and came to our aid squirting that naughty squid in the face. Needless to say they all became friends at the end and lived peacefully in the bath water. I've got a feeling this isn't Opeie's last bath of the day and I'm sure he will be be keeping me company in there tonight.

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."

Despite many failed attempts it finally seems that we have crossed the bath time hurdle with Opeie, it's been a long and frustrating process but we're now at the point (like this morning) where he is actually crying to get in the bath rather than out and seems more than happy to have his hair washed. Fingers crossed this is how things will stay. Thanks to Nuby he has more than enough things to keep him Occupied in the tub and as i write this Mrs M has just started coughing and spluttering because she yawned and Opeie shot her in the mouth with Squid the Squirter so thanks to Nuby also for my boy becoming quite the marksman.

This may have been a frustrating time but its only setting us up for the inevitable potty training saga which I'm sure is just around the corner (should be fun). Its great to know that he's in to a good routine now and enjoys being in the bath and brushing his teeth (even more so now with his new Spider-man toothbrush, thanks Nanny Roo and Grandad). He's really growing up fast and although Mrs M wanted her little baby to stay that way forever I'm really glad that he's now starting to understand things a bit more and is a lot more independent.

Congratulations Opeie on your latest victory me and mommy are very proud of you.

What's it really like when it's Snowingindoors?

Since writing for Nuby we've been given some really great things. But My favourite thing to have come out of the whole experience is new friendships. I've been chatting to a few great bloggers and today we we're lucky enough to get the chance to meet one of them or should I say three. Em, Annie and Ezra are the... Well I guess you can call them the stars of Snowingindoors. Both myself and Mrs M were drawn in to this blog from the start mainly because of the great pictures but also because Annie and Ezra looked like such happy children much like Seth and Opeie I guess.

After finding out they live near our beloved 'whole foods' we arranged the meet. So when we woke up this morning we were excited about our mini trip. Our high spirits were almost destroyed by motorway traffic but we eventually got through it and arrived only 10 minutes after we had arranged to meet. We were greeted by three very smiley people which is always nice. Annie very confidently introduced herself and told me how old she was and how old she will be next birthday which I thought was great. Seth is very confident around new people too its a really good trait for a child.

We sat and had a drink in the wholefoods cafe and had a nice chat. We've talked a fair bit online but it's so much nicer to meet people in person. And it's always nice to meet genuinely lovely people. Annie was great with Opeie and I think he was quite excited at the thought of a new friend. We told her all about the super heroes we love and in return she told us how much she liked Star Wars and that Luke was her favourite character. Gotta love our nerdy kids. 

 

We had decided prior to meeting that we would have lunch at Wholefoods, a perfect opportunity to use our Nuby products so we both turned up well armed. We all had a great lunch although Em forgot to eat hers as she was concentrating on the children, classic parenting move. The children were a delight. Ezra made us realise just how bad Opeie's eating is as he was happy munching down his food and Annie was making us laugh with some crazy talk, kids have great imaginations.

 After lunch Mrs M, Em and Ezra went to do a bit of shopping and i entertained Opeie and Annie at the play area outside of the supermarket. Annie is like a whippet and was running rings around me and Opeie. Opeie was really loving having an extra little person to run about with, he was really missing Seth as he does every day that he is at school. It made me realise how much i was looking forward to Opeie running about like that.

We had such a great time and i always appreciate new friends, were already planning our next meet up and apparently Annie is really looking forward to meeting Seth.

You can read more stories about Annie and Ezra at http://www.snowingindoors.com/

Also go to http://www.nuby-uk.com/ for a variety of baby and toddler tableware featured in this post.

"In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself."

Opeie is a book fiend, he is constantly handing us books throughout the day and we usually read him between 10-20 a day. He does have favourites which i think i will write a post about soon but today I'm going to write about just one. Mrs M is a big fan of sheep and a couple of years ago i brought her 'Beautiful Sheep: Portraits of champion breeds' by Kathryn Dun.

*Opeie today has taken an instant liking to a plastic tube and has been carrying it with him everywhere.... just in case you were wondering*

Today Opeie spotted it on the shelf and wanted to look at the pretty sheep. But before he could relax he had to go and find his cuddly sheep that sings old mcdonald from Nuby, well it would have been rude not to include him in the viewing.

Seth has really started enjoying reading to Opeie, which is great because it gives Seth even more chance to practice his reading and it's so cute how they sit together and read. I really hope that they are always like that. 

If you are looking for a book of sheep posing then this is the book for you, learn all about their backgrounds and vital statistics (i can't even take myself seriously writing that... its a book about sheep!!!).

 

In case you were all wondering (I'm sure it didn't even cross your mind) yes they do have a favourite its the Southdown ram shearling and the book very rightly describes it as a 'very compact sheep...'. With an intro like that how could you not carry on reading.

"You can plan a pretty picnic but you cant predict the weather"

I'm a sucker for collecting things, its a little obsessive and and extremely compulsive i cant help it Ive always been the same. Today we decided to take the boys to Dale End Park for a picnic. We haven't done our 'big shop' this week yet so i had to pop to Asda to get supplies.

While in there i found myself venturing down the baby aisle (again) and a new drinking vessel for Opeie caught my eye. I had been in last week and brought some items from the i monster Nuby range and hadn't noticed the 'No Spill Cup' that compliments the other items, so it made itself into my basket along with the Monster cutlery Set which to be honest was a bit of an impulse buy.

I returned home and we packed our food along with the other Nuby items and off we went. Probably wasn't the best day to be going for a picnic as the ground was still pretty wet so inevitably we all ended up with a soggy bum. The new cup of Opeie's thank fully didn't leave him soggy, weve brought no spill cups before and they haven't really lived up to the hype but this one was the real deal which is what we need with Opeie as he tends to catapult things all over the place.

It was nice to spend some time together in the park and Aunty Lotty joined us too which was a lovely surprise. Had a bit of drama when our frizbee broke in half though, Seth got rather upset but we managed to calm him down by telling him that Grandad Gary could weld it back together for him. He'll have a good chuckle when he's older and reads that back.

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

Every now and again in life someone does something really nice and it replenishes my faith in humanity. this morning i had a package that was sent by one of our readers. Mary is a mom to 2 daughters Abbi and Chloe and she wrote us a lovely letter telling me all about the troubles she has been having with her teething sweeties. I told her all about the Amber necklace that Opeie wears which we think has definitely helped.

After reading the recent post i wrote about opeies eating habits, Mary decided to send me a gift as i had mentioned about Opeie's back teeth coming through. I was genuinely touched, you really don't expect gifts from people you don't know but as she said in her letter "i love reading about what you all get up to and in a way i feel like we have been friends for many months" well we are certainly friends now. Opeie loves his present and it has certainly kept his attention off his teething for the moment.

I had mentioned in the post that i was interested in the Nuby teething ring that i had seen while looking about for suitable tableware for the little mess maker, so was quite excited to give it a try. We have tried Opeie with various different things but he's never seemed that bothered apart from Sophie the giraffe but this has worked great so far. Ive even given it a good chew myself on more than one occasion (well you have to see what the fuss is all about, i had Mrs M's milk in my tea and on cereal within a week of Opeie being born i guess intrigue just gets the better of me).

Well I'm very happy to have made a new friend and after the week we've had here its really put a smile on my face, couldn't have come at a better time. Mary has been thinking about starting a blog herself about the girls and life in general, I'm so glad i started this one as it will be something really great for the boys to look back on. So watch this space as i will be the first one writing about the blog and singing this kind readers praises.

Thank you Mary you have really made our week here and the teeth marks on each bead suggest a very preoccupied little boy.

"the beast lies somewhere in the stump, choose a passage"

After my post a few days back about Opeie's eating habits ("Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon." ). I decided to go out and buy a few of the products that we had found online in the hope of saving our poor Cream carpets. Asda have got one of their Parent and Baby events on at the moment and as if by chance many of the items from the Nuby I Monster range were included in this. Obviously it was meant to be so i added a few items to my basket.

After mentioning it in my last post i had to purchase the I Monster Snack Keeper (the one that made me think of the Woodbeast from Flash Gordon) and give it a try. Weve been having real difficulty over the last few weeks with feeding Opeie, brought on by his larger back teeth coming through. I know it's happened to all of us already but i cant even begin to imagine how uncomfortable it is for him, poor little thing.

He's really lost his appetite which has been stressing Mrs M out. I on the other hand am a little more laid back about it. One of the moms at the school once said to me "no one ever starved next to a full pot" which i guess is very true, the food is always there just at the moment he's not eating loads. Plus to be fair he's still feeding from Mrs M too so we know he's well fed in that sense.

Well lunch time came round and we unleashed the new tableware onto our unsuspected child. Our little Flash Gordon wasnt at all scared by the Woodbeast and shoved his hand straight in. Our snack of choice for the Monster Snack keeper was cheerios...

 ...as Opeie loves them. Their slightly sticky and when thrown off the high chair can end up as a permanent fixture to the rug. This item completely stopped that (i did the probably typical dad thing and threw it about a little to really test its worth and i wasn't disappointed). The rubber teeth are soft enough for your child's hand to easily get to the snack yet firm enough to not let anything get out when dropped. I will be testing this with maybe raspberries tomorrow to see how that goes.

Opeie really loved this bowl and at one point was even trying to feed him some fresh fruit (obviously concerned that the little monster wasnt getting his 5 a day.

The second item i picked up in the supermarket was the I Monster Toddler Feeding Bowl i was instantly drawn in by the very high sides which obviously is great for the prevention of any unwanted spillages. It resembles a free standing roll top bath. Mrs M made a comment about bathing our new baby bunnies in there for fun... I had to resist the temptation of a cute photo opportunity (our boy will be eating out of it after all). It is a great sturdy plastic bowl and it really put a smile on Opeies face.

The third item i brought was the I Monster Toddler Feeding Plate and to be honest i brought this mainly on the fact it looked so fun. We already have some low sided plastic feeding bowls that are roughly the same size and shape but i really loved the design on this and it was nice to go with the set. Plus one of Opeie's favourite words at the moment is 'teeth' and there's plenty of those to point at.

Opeie ate loads better during this meal and i honestly believe that it was because of the bowls especially the Monster Snack Keeper as he was excitedly putting his hand in and then was eating eating his find quickly so that he could shove his hand back in again. Were really hoping that it continues so that Mrs M can relax a little.

On the whole the range is great the only way i could improve on the design myself would be to add a sucker to the base as although the high sides lessened the spillages Opeie was still able to pick the bowls up and move them about which as we know as parents can sometimes end in food being catapulted across the room.

Well it turns out that rather than being scary the woodbeast instead caused excitement and intrigue and our poor teething boy finally having a full tummy, Thanks Nuby.

"Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon."

Opeie enjoying his FIRST ever beans and chips- stolen from his big brothers plate....

 Opeie has always been a messy eater. I guess you cant really expect great table etiquette from a 17month old, but lately it seems to have gotten a whole lot messier.... to the point where the beautiful cream carpets Mrs M prides herself over are starting to look like the aftermath of a zombie apolocalypse. Part of this is due to Opeie being adamant that he is going to eat beans, spaghetti and pasta with his hands, 1 piece at a time.

Because we mostly feed the boys fruit and veg, those stains are the hardest to get out... so we've started looking for some really inventive and fun solutions to what we are currently using for their daily dining.... 

I'd love to stick with Super Hero themed cups and bowls etc but lets be honest they never make these items to a high standard and i don't think they ever truly have children's habits in mind, they are more about cosmetic element. Its becoming ever more apparent that we need to bring in the big guns and move to using companies and products that specialize in the eating habits of children.

Opeie enjoying a rare treat.... Dairy Egg Soya free Cake!!!!

We've been using our fun Spider-man bowls up until now, but we really could do with something that has Spider-man's webbing on the bottom to glue it to the high chair tray as Opeie has a habit of catapulting any plates or bowls from high up... any ideas on how to find something like this..... ? Anyway, it's come to my attention (after Mrs M constantly hoovering Cherrio's and picking up fruit that we need to put the spidey bowls and cups away until Opeie is a little bit wiser in regards to the direction of which way he puts his food....

I started looking about when deciding to write this post and found these cool and bright baby feeders and also a cool teether that Opeie so desperately needs as he has two of the nastiest teeth coming through (His gums are looking a lovely shade of Hellboy red) and doesn't Mrs M know about it going to work on 30mins sleep this Saturday! (Poor Mrs M!) 

Standard Feeders and Teether's aside i stumbled upon this great item by Nuby UK, it's a monster design storage pot that your little superhero can put their hand in and grab fun nibbles (for us I'm sure it would be cheerio's,Raisins or grapes etc) feeling brave that they got past the monsters nashers! Kind of reminds me of that scene from Flash Gordon...

(We've tried number 2 by Ikea and they were rubbish for Opeies age, as were the cups (no 3) they leak terribly! Plus Opeie prefers to drink through a straw these days! I am going to pop to boots this week and get him one of the Nuby beakers (number 6) because they are indestructable.. we took one to Florida and it was great (Not really sure what happened to it)!

I will always love Paperchase though for their designs, because Mrs M bought me some goodies from there when we first met... so cute. I love the tray in the picture above (no1) would come in handy for picnics (British weather permitting)!

I'm hoping to find some really handy plates that suction to the table.... does anyone out there have kids that are extremely messy eaters if so any ideas would be most appreciated? 

 Opeie cant keep looking like an extra from the walking dead!!