"Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us."

It doesn't happen all that often but every now and again you can find a gem when rummaging through the charity shops. Today i popped to the chemist in Ironbridge for a packet of wet wipes for my messy little boy. On the off chance i decided to pop in to the only charity shop on the high street, mainly to look through the books for Opeie as hes really starting to get into his books. I did find a Maisy book that he didn't have but the Gem was staring at me as i walked in amongst the naff board games and a pair of tatty roller skates.

I'm not a massive Transformers fan but Seth occasionally likes to watch the cartoon, what he does love though is masks and he doesn't really care what they are, the only specification is they cant be girly. In Seth's words today "i wish i had every mask in the world".

It was just me and Opeie that had gone to the shop so after we headed down to the park to Mrs M and Seth. Seth had gone on an adventure in the woods with auntie lotty so when he got back Mrs M told him that the Pirates had sent it express delivery to the park for being so good.  He was  a very excited little boy and it was by far the best £2 i had ever spent.

"There's a magical place, were on our way there"

When your a nerd like me its a great feeling when your children get into something that you love yourself. Myself and the boys have been through quite a few toy ranges over the last few years, playing with them until they have lost their appeal, but the Batman Imaginext range by Fisher Price is the one that has stood the test of time (so far). Seth has loved batman for about 2 years ever since i introduced him to the exploding shark...

This is definitely one of our most watched things on the TV which is great because we are no longer subjected to episode after episode of Ben 10 (Thankfully that phase passed pretty quick). Its always great as a child when you see a great film or series that there is a toy range to back it up even if it is not directly based on it. The Imaginext range does just that.

After buying Seth the Batcave a while back we have slowly been building our collection based solely on good behavior which luckily for him he has a never ending amount of. Today was no different, Seth had been exceptionally good with watching and playing with his little brother and impecable manners so off to Toys R us we went.

I'll leave you with Seth to tell this part of the story...

"Today we went to Toys R Us and on the way there i was hoping that we could buy the Batboat when we got there we went straight to the batman aisle. We looked for the Batboat but it wasn't there, so instead we looked for all the things that i don't have already. I was allowed a new toy because i have been a good boy, it made me happy. There was a Batcopter and a submarine there but i decided to get the superman figure that came with his dog and some krypt...something, oh i cant remember. Kryptonite (Seth proceeded to repeat Kryptonite about 10 times in different ways). 

We had a look round the rest of the shop and found some batman gloves and mask. I'm going to try and be very good so that i can ask Mommy, Pauly or the pirates for them. I like looking at the batman Lego to see what minifigures they have to go with the Jokers funhouse that pauly built for me.

 He made me a Mr Freeze figure out of my minifigures and it was pretty funny because it didn't have a proper head it just had a see through Lego bit that was round."

Well Superman met the gang and fit in very well (Seth was happy at the extra good guy as he has lots of villains and they keep taking over the batcave so the caped crusader could do with the extra help). The great thing about the DC Imaginext range is the variety, there are a great selection of different characters and vehicles. which has been great for educating the boys on the characters backgrounds etc. Also you know that you can safely leave your children to play with these toys as they are made by Fisher Price (which is great for the many worrying parents out there). The range is really well made too which you expect from Fisher Price. There's nothing worse than children's toys that fall apart and it can be very upsetting for them.

Toys R Us has been great for getting hold of the sets although Ive been a little disappointed that they haven't had the Jokers Fun House in as me and the boys really want to get hold of it. I wrote recently about the Two Face van and Mr Freeze Ice cave also purchased from our local Toys R Us during their 3 for 2 range which i took full advantage of. I find that Toys R Us tend to have much better offers on than any of our other local toy shops, and the staff are always really helpful.

Ive got some great memories of my parents taking me to the Oldbury store in Birmingham so Toys R Us has always been special to me and I'm glad i can now share it with my boys. Plus i once had a Christmas temp job at the branch in Chester when i was younger, it was only for 2 months but i was in my element surrounded by toys. Its not changed that much over the years too with Geoffrey popping up on the adverts.

One of the things that Seth really likes about these toys is that they go with Opeies Batman little people range, the colours used are the same on both collections which is great. They put their Batcave's together and it's really sweet. Seth also likes playing with them as he thinks their little fat bellies are cute.

I think its great that Fisher Price have released the batman ranges to appeal to 2 different age brackets and has worked out really well for us with Opeie, he doesn't feel left out when Seth is playing as he has the same characters. Anything that can get the boys playing together is great with us but they do love playing Batman together its so sweet to watch.

Playing with the toys aside, they have also been great for Seth's arty side, he really enjoys drawing his figures and because of that his drawing gets better and better each time he sits down to draw, Ive had some really great comments about Seth's sketches and we will soon start framing them for his room...

If your as passionate about your toys as we are or if you just love seeing that excited look on your child's face then Toys R Us is definitely the place to go, even if we don't find what were looking for we never come out of there empty handed and we are never disappointed, "There's toys in their millions, all under one roof".

"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!!

"choppy waters last night son!"

Just a very quick one as i have been messing about with the Lego (again). There's nothing that says i value you as a friend more than a piece of art work devoted to your dearest friends. Sadly i don't have time to draw at the moment and well i haven't touched the clay in quite some time so a ceramic bust is out of the question. So he for you, Chris and Michelle immortalized in Lego.

Sorry guys i only had one dog in my collection. For any of my other friends that wish to see themselves with a yellow head and ridiculous square legs please let me know and i will do my best.

"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.