Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of.... Raspberries?

Yesterday was our first day of the summer holiday with Seth because of him being away. Mrs M woke up and came in to us in the morning and mentioned going to Essington farm for some PYO fun. We went a few weeks back but Seth wasn't with us and missed out on the fun, plus they didn't have much in season. Mrs M had completely run out of her beloved beets and I was low on greens for juicing so we got ready and headed out.

It was a sunny morning but as soon as we pulled away in the car it started to rain, typical. We debated turning around but Mrs M was in a positive mood and said 'let's just go', luckily when we arrived at Essington the rain was just coming to a halt and the sun had definitely got his hat on (hip hip hip hooray). There was plenty more in season this time round so after filling a basket with beets we moved on to the onion field (yummy). Seth doesn't like onions but as long as he got to pull something out of the ground or rip something off a tree he was in his element.

We soon moved over to the raspberry field and Mrs M turned in to a gannet. Stuffing her face like they were going out of fashion, that was until PC Seth pointed out that she needed to pay for those before consumption. This was followed by Mrs M shiftily sneaking them every time Seth wasn't looking (never underestimate Shropshires finest I wouldn't put a citizens arrest past him).

Me and Opeie walked off up the field and I spotted what I thought was a grasshopper jumping through the grass but when I bent down to have a closer look i realised it was the smallest little frog I had ever seen. He was adorable, Opeie was excited and kept repeating 'Ribbit' and Seth told us he wanted a pet frog. Mrs M offered to pitch him a tent up there so he could live there but he thankfully declined.

We spent a good hour or so picking and our baskets were full of raspberries, onions, beet root, gooseberries and peas it was a good little haul and should keep us covered for the next few days at least. We do go through so much veg though that I'm sure we will need to visit again soon.

Its great having Seth with us during the week, we always feel a little guilty when were out doing things and he's cooped up in school. we will certainly do our best to make sure he has a fun holiday while he's with us. As for me and Opeie, well were always joined at the hip but he's clearly a much happier boy now that his big brother is here to look after him.

"I think I may have failed at many things in my life, but the two things i do well and am proud of is being a partner and being a dad"

Today i was lucky enough to spend some quality time just me and Opeie, that may sound like i was glad Seth and Mrs M were out the way but its not that at all. I get to spend every evening just me and Mrs M which i love and Seth gets a lot more 1 to 1 playtime with me because of building Lego etc. So it was a really nice change for it to just be us two while Mrs M went to work for a few hours.

Opeie decided to fall asleep on the way to dropping Mrs M off, so after we had dropped her off i drove to our local park and parked up, i take my DS pretty much everywhere with me because Opeie has a habit of dropping off in the car and rather than wake him up i just sit and let him sleep (gave me a great reason to crack on with Lego Batman 2). The heavens decided to open about 10 minutes before he woke up so it was clear there would be no fun on the swings for us so we headed home.

Opeie woke up as i pulled up outside the house which was great timing so with the weather being the way it was we went inside to play. The first thing Opeie did was to grab a pair of Seth's goggles (which we use when were playing with the Nerf guns).

I wanted to keep Opeie entertained because he gets really bored in the house so i decided to get down some toys that he had never played with, the Toxic Crusaders, I tend not to play with these much since Seth launched the helicopter across the room a year ago and broke it (i could have cried). 

Well they lost their appeal after about 30 minutes and Opeie was obviously bored of Seth's room too so he decided to crawl into the lounge with daddy trailing behind wondering what to entertain him with next. I decided to get the Mr Potato head box out (which thinking about it i should really write a post about soon).

Opeie loves playing with the Mr Potato heads but this afternoon it was all about the box, he loves sitting in the washing basket too? so i put him in and put the toys back in on top of him and he happily sat there playing with me for almost an hour. I was thinking i was like Hugh Grants character in 'about a boy' dividing my day into short activites, only for me it is to entertain my little prince.

Opeie at the moment has gone Rod Campbell crazy and he loves Dear Zoo, so far he has remembered the snake, lion, and Giraffe noises and has made the monkey noise twice its so cute. As he wouldn't get out of his box we read some books while he was in there. Seth used to love these books so its so cute that Opeie does too plus it means Seth can read them to him as well.

Well after we had read about 8 books it was time for a spot of lunch, Opeie is going through a really clingy faze at the moment, usually its Mrs M he wants and ill be honest it makes me a little jealous but today with mommy at work its all about Dada and i was loving every minute of it. I couldn't leave the lounge to go in to the kitchen so i took Opeie's high chair in with me. I think the kitchen is overlooked for one of the fun places to hang out. Opeie loves banging ladle's onto pots, he was loving the bear shaped silicone ice cube tray and various plastic cookie cookers and we even did some spelling on the fridge.

When it comes to food time finding new things that Opeie can eat can sometimes be a bit of a nightmare. Unfortunately he is allergic to Dairy, Eggs and Soya which makes things a little awkward, Weve only found one type of bread for him that actually tastes any good, Soya seems to be in everything. Poor little thing has nowhere near as much variety in his meals as we do.

He's only 17 months old so obviously we make him things that are easy to pick up although he insists on eating baked beans 1 at a time and wont be fed them via spoon, he's very independent and knows what he wants, he is definitely like his mom.

While we were waiting for lunch to cook i gave Opeie a piece of lemon to keep him occupied hoping in a selfish way id get a fun photo out of it but it didn't really seem to bother him, saying that though Seth would happily sit and eat a whole one.

A lot of Opeie's meals are an odd mix of tastes, today he had Broccoli, Carrots, Aubergines, Tomatoes, Linda McCartney sausage and raw red onion (which he has loved ever since he helped himself to a piece off Mrs M's plate a while back). And for desert rasberries, Grapes, Raisins, Kiwi fruit and more lemon seeing as it went down a treat. I only wish i could put a little yogurt on there for him.

Well Lunch went down well but he was so fixated on Peppa Pig that i don't think he was paying any attention to what he was putting in his mouth, that's fine with me though as it meant he ate well. Well as soon as lunch was over it was back to the toys (i did manage to get a little food for myself).

If you read the blog often then you know there's no shortage of toys in our home and i think we have had most of them out today. If i was a young child living in our house i wouldnt be able to make up my mind what to play with either.

I'm really looking forward to Opeie being a little older so that he understands who it is he is playing with. Its going to take a long time though there's quite a few collections to go through. Well we had a fun afternoon, Batman, Marvel, Star Wars they all got the attention they deserved, its so satisfying watching your child interact with the things you love yourself, hopefully itll be like this for many years before their 'to big for toys' and i become 'that oddball dad that likes action figures and comics'.

Ok so ive probably gone a bit overboard with the pictures on this post and i don't generally waffle on for so long but ive had a great day with my little angel. Despite Opeie clinging to me for the day (which i loved) when we got in the car at 3 to go and pick up Mrs M its was clear what Opeie was craving most. As soon as Mrs M was in the car he went straight for her hair which he loves to stroke.

I unfortunately am not blessed with a full head of hair and sadly my beard just doesnt cut it. It was a fun day but we missed Mrs M very much and an hour later seth returned too so everything was back to normal in the house. I wanted a nice picture of myself and Opeie for the end of the post but when i picked him up for a cuddle he just cried for his mom. I guess its true what they say, all little boys just want their mommy.