"The little things made me who I am today"

Day 13:

Just a random robin sitting in a tree as we were out for our daily hour walk. It did a pooh while we were watching it which made Opeie chuckle. It's the little things that really matter these days.

"Read enough about the dung beetle, and a picture of its character emerges: patient, optimistic, uncomplaining."

Home educating Opeie has really helped me embrace our day to day adventures and I couldn't be happier with how it's turning out. Over the last few years I have been regularly reminded that you never know what is around the corner and some of our home ed days out have taken some pretty amazing and surprising turns. Last week we ended up on an unexpected trip to Oxford, as our friend Charlotte was dropping off some of her amazing work at the Ashmoleon. The plan was to have a look around the museum, visit the natural history museum and then the Pitt rivers museum too (pretty awesome day out I thought, little did we know where the day would take us).

The Ashmoleon was fab and was a great help for Opeie's current Egypt project. We spent a good couple of hours taking it all in. Opeie was pretty eager to get to the natural history museum though and who could blame him, our last visit had been such a great day out and Opeie and his friends had found it fascinating. We'd only been in the museum 5 minutes when we noticed a chap with a tray of beetles, as expected Opeie was super excited so we went over for a chat. Darren had us completely mesmerised from the moment he started talking. An expert in all things 'Dung beetle' and so passionate about his field, I think we could have sat and listened to him all day. I love a 'come on! lets sit on the floor and chat' kind of person too.

Darren had me and Charlotte standing in the middle of the museum pretending to be trees as he explained why dung beetles were so important and Opeie loved every minute of it. I asked him where the best place would be to go and see a large Coleoptera collection and he said 'Here!' then continued to explain just how many beetles they had behind the scenes. Thats when he said 'Meet me at the main doors in 20 minutes and I'll take you backstage and show you some beetles', well it was like Christmas from that point. Opeie was so excited, I was trying to stay calm but was doing cartwheels inside and Charlotte had picked up on us nerdy boys getting into it and was loving it all too.

Darren took us to his office and showed Opeie some beetles under his pretty impressive microscope and even had Opeie help him identify some of the beetles that had been sent to him using an extensive collection of books on dung beetles from around he world. This is the sort of thing that would never haver happened so organically had it not have been for home ed, and being in the museum midweek. It was lovely to take a step back and watch Darren really take the time to talk to Opeie and explain in detail what it was that he does and how he got to where he was, with stories from his own childhood and his interest in beetles.

One of the things that really stuck out for me was when Darren told Opeie that he hadn't really done very well at uni but his passion for Dung beetles got him to where he was. From a home ed point of view that really summed up how I feel about Opeie's education. Ive always said from day one that if theres one thing that I want Opeie to come away with from this, its a passion for something, whatever it is. When I left school I had no passion or motivation for anything because not a single thing had inspired me.

After identifying some interesting beetles Darren took is further into the backstage area of the museum to where there were an insane amount of cabinets full of beetles. From the always impressive Goliath beetle to a beetle that was the size of a pinhead, it was fascinating and I would love an afternoon there going through each and every cabinet looking at each tray of beetles. This for me was the Most perfect (and unexpected) home ed day.

As we left, Darren gave Opeie his card and said that if he ever wanted to chat about beetles or if he was struggling to identify one then we could email, which I thought was so kind. After such an amazing visit to the museum we wanted to do something to say thank you. Opeie wanted to write a letter and Charlotte (absolutely loving being a part of a home ed adventure) asked Opeie to draw a beetle picture so that she could print it onto a travel mug at her studio to send to Darren as a surprise.

A gift from us wouldn't be a gift without immortalising the awesome chap in LEGO, a full on team effort by the three of us. Complete with a dung beetle and ball of pooh to roll around. I'm not sure that all of Darren's talk of rummaging through pooh has got Opeie to that point in his beetle loving adventure yet, but his passion and excitement has definitely pushed him that little bit further.

"Sit on the toilet, here he comes Squeeze and tween your festive buns!"

We hadn't even reached December when Opeie decided that he knew exactly what he wanted to get Mrs M for Christmas. I love it when the boys are really passionate about something and for Opeie, Knowing how frequently Mrs M uses emoji's (especially this one), this gift was going to show his beautiful doting mom exactly how he feels about her....

I think it complimented the reindeer shaped washing up brush he also chose nicely.

I hope you all had an amazing day.

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"

  Just a quick one, the burdens of the fly lifestyle...

 LEGO Series 14 minifigures Monsters

"If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts."

Being a parent to two boys it's crazy how sometimes the little daily tasks that you do can become a big issue. Today I was reminded that I take these things for granted, take having a pooh for example. I don't mean to be so blunt but it paints a picture. Laura was working in London today and me and the boys went to Madam Tussauds and then spent some time adventuring on the tube. We popped back at lunch time to meet Mrs M and grab some suitable food for Mr Allergy as she was at a vegan show.

Mrs M queued for almost an hour for the food and when it arrived i wasn't sure what it was and Mrs M looked as confused as i was as she took her first bite. It was repulsive! (I'm kicking myself now for not taking a photo), Seth enjoyed what he had which was lucky but i was really hungry, it was healthy and so I just ate it anyway. Mrs M found it so horrible that she got our money back, go Mrs M. After lunch (if that's what you can call it) Mrs M went back to work and we hopped on a train to continue our adventuring. This was when some very odd noises began emanating from my stomach, uh oh.

Within 20 minutes I was in agony and would have been doubled up had it not been for the fact that Opeie was sitting on my knee while I also held the pushchair against the Side of my chair with my foot. The train was packed and honestly I feared the worse (a complete loss of my bodily functions). Thankfully we made it off the train accident free. 

Have you ever tried to squeeze into a public toilet cubicle with two children with a really upset stomach? No? me neither and today wasn't going to be my first attempt. I'm sure there are many parents out there that have done it but I like privacy during this very private time and I didn't need two spectators that would have been practically on top of me taking it all in. That sort of image could stay with them forever. It was touch and go for the next hour, jumping from train to tube to train, carrying a pushchair up and down the stairs and making sure the boys were okay but we made it through. In the end we found a slanted ramp like wall and we sat there chatting until the pain had passed. It's amazing the things you sacrifice sometimes as a parent (not that the boys would ever know) and it made me realise how much I take Mrs M being there for granted sometimes.

Sacrifices were made and it was a lucky escape but maybe I won't be so fortunate next time.

Daily bathroom duties and the dirty side of parenting

Within the first few weeks of meeting Seth I was faced with the 'I need a pooh scenario' while alone with him. It's funny when I think about it now as I found the whole thing a little daunting. I had never had to deal with children's bathroom activities before and I found myself at a quandary. What is the protocol for this kind of situation? 'Right I need to just get on with it' I thought so I took him by the hand and attempted to lead him to the bathroom but Seth stood firm looked up and said 'on the potty', so now I was faced with having to wipe someone else's bottom for the first time (which was scary enough) but had the added extra of transporting it through the house too like some sort of dirty courier. Needless to say it all went fine and thus began my ongoing bathroom duties as a dad.

As a parent you end up going through all manner of (what would seem to most people) gross situations. It may just be me being clumsy but I can guarantee that at least every other day I poke a finger into the contents of Opeie's nappy while changing him. Yesterday while me and Opeie were in the bath together I was having a lovely relaxing time when I saw a bath toy I've never seen before float past me, delightful. But again it didn't bother me in the slightest. It got me wondering when did i become so relaxed about dealing with this sort of thing?

Apologies for there not being any photo's in this short post but under the circumstances...