"A lot of news is just entertainment masquerading as news."

 Ive been a lazy bugger this week with our blogging, the typical British weather and not getting to do the things i had planned destroyed my motivation for writing. Because of this, of an evening i have been found with my feet up catching up on movies i haven't got round to watching and having a cuddle with Mrs M (So not all bad). I was going to be Uber lazy and catch up with a series of pictures but i owe it to my readers to get on with it. So with that in mind....

Tonight on Pirates news...

What happens when a family is forced to boycott their plans when extreme weather hits shropshire? (ok maybe not extreme but this is the news so there needs to be some exaggeration!) Stay tuned and find out more throughout the show. 

But first, It seems that Batman has had to downsize his collection of vintage and antique motor vehicles. His new edition, a blue Vauxhall Corsa was seen in a carpark by Seth sparking excitement amongst the boys. Im not sure the Dark knight will be getting the respect he deserves since downsizing his iconic Batmobile.

In local news builders have been busy indoors early this week attempting to recreate the characters from the show Yo Gabba Gabba, the activity was organised to help out with the on going training of the youngest builder in the family. Plans have been put in to motion to completely integrate Lego in to his playtime within the next 6 months.

This Just In....

The streets of Norbury were buzzing with excitement this week when Mrs M, inappropriately dressed for British weather decided to make the most of Pauly's jumper , flipped it upside down and slid her legs in to it. Needless to say jumper and hoodie sales have sky rocketed throughout the county forcing many business' to shut their shops unable to keep up with the high demand.

There has been a sighting in Shropshire of the Loch Ness monster. After talks this week about Myths and Monsters with Seth (as it's his new favourite topic) and the introduction to Walking with Dinosaurs, River Monsters and Family-Ness for Opeie friendly viewing the Mythical Monster usually found in the Scottish Loch was seen enjoying the peaceful surroundings of Priorslee lake. Answering that age old question 'what have they been putting in the water in Shropshire'. Well even moster's need a holiday.

There was trouble in Cosford this week when Seth and Opeie discovered that 'Star Wars' wasn't as original as they had thought, while taking in the sights Seth noticed a name he knew all to well, Sadly there was no sign of Luke Skywalker anywhere...

...But they didn't let that spoil their day and neither did the torrential rain that started an hour in to their visit. The trip also spurred on another build.

Well that was today's Pirate news. More from the goings on in Shropshire to follow including 'what happens in the school holiday when the sun finally decides to come out'. Anyway until next time, thanks for stopping by.

"I think all great innovations are built on rejections."

 I think that it was only fair that i get Seth to write this review, the truth being that i really didn't enjoy playing with it. maybe i have become a bit of a building material snob but i just wasn't happy with anything that i made and i sat playing with Seth for quite some time. I'm the sort of builder that gets an image in my head of what i want the finished piece to look like and this was never going to happen with plus plus. I found only having one shape very restricting. It would have been unfair of me to write the review when it is aimed at children so i will hand you over to Seth who surprisingly didn't agree with me at all....

"Hi it's Seth, when we ordered the pirate dress up we were sent some Plus Plus too by the nice lady at The Toadstool. I had never seen it before and I was excited about playing with it. When I opened the box I thought it was good and I wanted to build lots of objects. I told Pauly I was broken and needed him to make a key to wind me up. I had fun making spaceships. I thought they connected really good. Then we made a pair if glasses which was funny.

Pauly made an Incredible Hulk and a Muno (from Yo Gabba Gabba). I wish they made curved bits so that I could make some different things. Opeie likes to empty them out all over the sofa and then we have to save the pieces from getting lost. I also wish there was gold and silver pieces. The pieces were really easy to connect together which was good because sometimes i find some building things hard to do. I will play with these loads."

"The less routine the more life."

It was one of those days today where it seemed that every room on the house was a complete mess. Mrs M had to work and I really didn't want her coming home to toys all over the house and a lounge that looked like it had been transformed into a craft/play room. I don't like days like this, not because I have cleaning to do on my own but because it means I can't give Opeie the attention he deserves (plus it means i don't get to concentrate on playing).

I find that when I hit a day like this and have lots of tidying and a child to entertain i have a certain routine which works out best. I set up something to do in each room to keep him occupied and it makes it easier for me to flit between rooms. I started with the lounge where I had got out some Yo Gabba Gabba colouring sheets that Mrs M had printed out yesterday. Opeie was happy colouring so it meant that I got to Hoover and sneak all the toys back into the boys room.

Then I moved us both in to the bedroom where I had got all the Star wars chunky figures out for Opeie to play with on the bed. Since collecting toys for Opeie I've worked out that it's really handy to have some toys that don't come out very often. I've had the Star Wars figures since before Opeie was born but I only get them out when me and Mrs M have things to do around the house as we know they will keep him entertained while we take care of jobs etc, (Seth's never even seen them) and today was no exception Opeie played quietly examining each figure.

Luckily I had cleaned the kitchen before dropping Mrs M off so we had a break to play and I ended up playing for the rest of the time she was at work, oops. When Mrs M got back from work I decided to tackle the boys room while she was relaxing in the bath and again Opeie was happy playing on the floor with his most recent favourite toy, the Lego Joker ice-cream parlour we had built, he loves putting all the minifigures in the jail cell.

I didn't get to do nearly as much cleaning as I would have liked but the house didn't look terrible and Opeie had a smile on his face so I was happy. Mrs M was just pleased that the lounge looked like a grown ups room again. It's strange the routines you get in to as a parent but its a way for us to make certain situations easier and to keep a smile on the boys faces.

Follow the Lego brick road

Opeie's really been getting in to the Duplo recently which is great because its building him up to the inevitable Lego building that goes on in our house and i'm really looking forward to him building with me and his big brother. Opeie loves playing with mini figures and will sit quietly changing the heads and hats etc but he's not been to interested in the bricks (yet). He has started putting coloured bricks in to sequence and is now starting to understand the colours a little more. a couple of days back he was putting the two shades of green brick in a pattern so i thought we could build a yo gabba gabba character together. As he was using the green's we made brobee. although the larger bricks make i harder to make an exact replica i think we did an alright job. Opeie was happy with it anyway...

"A tree skirt, a tree skirt. A tree skirt on the Christmas tree"

The boys have had some great things from Santa this year, clearly they must have been very good. It's great having new things to play with and handy when trying to keep the boys entertained over the Christmas holiday. Both boys have their favourites and Opeie was very excited when he opened a few of his presents. Santa brought him some Yo Gabba Gabba Mega Bloks sets and they have been the most played with toy so far.

Were huge Gabba fans in our house, its such a great programme and is so much better than many of the other children's TV shows. Ive had problems finding toys from the show for Opeie as they are all released in the US so i was really happy that Santa had been so thoughtful. Mrs M loves playing with these which is great as she does everything she can to avoid Lego play.

The boombox plays songs and on Christmas morning Opeie sat for about an hour and a half pressing the same button over and over while dancing. The dancing was very cute but the continuous Gabba noise started to annoy us after 20mins but as long as the boys are happy then that's all that matters.

There are a few other sets that you can get and were missing Toodee so I'm going to have to get on tracking them down over the next month or so ready for Opeie's birthday. I'm not usually a fan of Mega Bloks but these are great and i love playing with them with Opeie. Their a great first step for getting him into the world of Lego that he's not really going to be able to get away from.

"Technology has to be invented or adopted."

Mrs M is getting her hair cut today so me and Opeie are again sitting in the car waiting. We just had to wake him up from his nap because we needed to go out so he was a little grumpy but he's ok now thanks to 'The Aquabats Super Show'. He's loving the show and so am I. I don't think it's aimed at children but the boys think its great.

I'd be lost without our iPad at times like this, makes me think how dependent we have become on technology (he says writing this post on his phone). I seem to see a lot of articles written regarding tv, computers, games consoles and children and they are all generally negative. Is it really that bad though as long as your children us these things on moderation? The boys have access to all of these things but they are not just shoved in front of them and left.

Seth has a stand in frame for physio to help straighten his back because of his muscle condition and we let him play Xbox while he is in there (gives me an excuse to play Lego Batman too, he needs a sidekick after all), it helps to keep him motivated to do his physio. The iPad comes in handy when we are out and about for opeie as he doesn't like being in the car to much. I used to hate long car journeys when I was younger and got irritable very quickly, its boring for passengers. an iPad back then would have been a godsend for both me and my parents.

If your the sort of parent that makes time to sit down and play with your child, do some craft and generally give them the attention they deserve then the occasional use of these items isn't bad at all plus the use of a computer will prepare them better at school, I was terrible at IT and have only started picking things up in the last few years

Well that's me done from the drivers seat again, i love getting the chance to write these short post's. Ill leave you now with a picture of Opeie with his new dummy looking like a proper English gentleman.

'The peugeot entertainment centre'

Again I am sitting in the car waiting, but this time I feel very privileged as Opeie is awake and sitting on my lap with a big smile on his face. Mrs M has had to go somewhere briefly, work related and myself and the little prince are waiting patiently.

We did try and get him down for a sleep but he was having none of it. Thankfully

I remembered to pick up the iPad and were watching Yo Gabba Gabba and having a sing and a dance. Hooray for modern technology. I used to watch a TV in the car when I was little and waiting for my mom to come out of work, only a portable TV back then was black and white and the size and shape of a Dr Martens boot box. Also most of the TV viewing was spent trying to angle the ariel in awkward positions to get the best reception (happy days).

Well Mrs M came back and we headed off although it wasn't long till i was waiting again and this time the little angel had gone to sleep so I think it's time for me to read some comics or play my DSH. I hope i don't sound negative about being in the car waiting. It does give me a chance to do the things I enjoy for a short period of time in nice quiet surroundings. I also love looking back into the mirror and seeing that beautiful boy of mine sleepy and peaceful, I'm a very lucky daddy.

"A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love."

We bring the boys up to be as open minded as we can, well Opeie doesn't really understand but we try our hardest with Seth. Unfortunately outside influences are damaging our good work. Last week while we were in Toys R Us Opeie picked up a Toy Story Barbie doll and Seth said those words i hoped i would never hear come from his mouth 'Opeie you cant play with that, those are for girls'. That's what starting school does to you i guess, Seth instantly became that little more Macho. I took Opeie to Toys R Us about 6 months ago and he picked a doll to take home which personally i thought was really nice. There's loads of action figures in our house and for him to choose a doll over his beloved Spider-man was really sweet and showed us that he's not growing up to quickly (which I'm sure makes Mrs M very happy).

Changing the subject completely, although we will come back to where i started, Opeie has become a nightmare with his feeding. He's going through an 'i don't want to eat, bath or brush my teeth phase' everything seems to just send him into floods of tears so we thought we would change around his plates and bowls etc to see if that might spur on some proper eating. I was so impressed with the I Monster range from Nuby when i wrote my last post about Opeie's eating habits that i decided to give the flower child range a try, this was also spurred on by Seth's macho comment (told you I'd find my way back to the start).

The great thing about this range for us is that as you know if you've been reading the blog a while Opeie loves Yo Gabba Gabba, in fact we all like it and the range looks a little like Foofa which Opeie loves. She's a flower child herself...

 The plates went down great. He didn't eat loads but the fact that he ate some if his food today was a bonus and means Mrs M can rest that little bit easier. It can be a little worrying when he just refuses to eat anything but he is still milking Mrs M dry so at least we know he's getting his nutrients. 

I did actually prefer this range over the I Monster range, first and foremost because I'm a sucker for anything pink, but also because of the soft rubber around the base. When eating with the I monster range if Opeie was in an excitable mood meal time would turn into a mini game of air hockey.

Thank fully we didn't hear a peep out of Seth about them being girly`and hopefully after me talking to him we wont hear anything like that for a while at least. I think its really important to let your children play with what they want in terms of colour etc. There's no need for macho behaviour when it comes to your toddler, their going to go for things that are bright and colourful, i still do myself. If Opeie wants to play with dolls, wear mommy's shoes, push a pushchair around or have a tea party with his toys then obviously I'm going to join in with him

We tried the Flower child feeder too as i loved the monster one that we had brought. It had lost the Flash Gordon feel (if you remember my previous post) but Opeie loved it just as much. I think that anything that he has to push his hand in to find out whats inside is going to be a winner.

Im really impressed with the whole range and would definitely advise people to give them a try. I still looking for some tableware with suckers on the bottom to try so i will be keeping them peeled for them. If you have any idea's then please let me know. I'm sure there will be many more post's about Opeie's eating. He's now starting to use cutlery more so I'm sure thats a post ill be writing soon.

Now its time for me to try and get Seth wearing something pink...

"It sounds like something on a very trite T-shirt, but life is what happens."

Last week i was accused of only putting Opeie in Super Hero T-Shirts, now I'm not going to deny this, but it is usually me that dresses both the boys in the mornings and obviously if the choice in their drawers is between a plain smart polo shirt or an awesome top with the Avengers on then clearly its not a difficult choice to make.

I see the boys as an extension of myself. They love the things that i love and they want to be showing that off as much as i love showing them off. I am a doting father after all, that's what we do. I could think of much worse things that people put their kids in but that just boils down to a matter of taste. Their boys, they should be in tops covered in Super Heroes.

I was hanging the washing out last week and i realised that much of the space on the line had been monopolised by super hero attire so with this in mind and the spurring on of Mrs M's comment i decided to write this post.

If your local and see me out and about then you will know that most days i will also be wearing a Captain America top or something else childish and nerdy. I am a big kid that loves colourful clothing. The boys love it and sometimes we wear matching character tops, its cute.

 

Now Opeie has got a little older and is starting to understand things if he see's a top lying about that he fancies wearing he will let us know about it by holding it above his head. this will usually be one of his many Spider-Man tops or more recently his T-shirt to his Hulk PJ's. But also if hes wearing a top that he likes and he gets food down it or makes a mess he will do everything he can to stop us from taking it off him. He's wearing his Spider-Man PJ's at the moment, he would happily keep them on all the time.

 

Despite Mrs M's earlier comment, she mentioned to me today that she wishes she had brought a female spider-man T-Shirt that we had seen at universal studios when we had been away earlier in the year. so shes obviously not that bothered about all the super hero clothing, i think secretly she's just desperate to join in, and who could blame her were the cool kids, as Seth says.

Well the boys will continue to be covered in Super hero print but i will do my best to even it out a bit...honest. Today though everything is clean and fresh off the line so i have my pick of the fun T-shirts so it would be rude not to take advantage of that. Which do you think he should wear?

*Update*

After visiting Chris and Michelle last weekend Opeie came away with another two great super hero T-shirts. He wore the Ironman one for the first time yesterday and it looked great on him, hes a proper little crime fighter. The Spider-Man T-shirt is for when hes a little older even though he's desperate to wear it now. Thank you so much guys we really appreciate your lovely gifts.