"It's good to be nice to everyone"

"Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

The sun is out, the sky is blue (well at least it was on when I took the photos) and for us that means that the Micro Scooters are going to be hitting the streets. The scooters have always been a great distraction from any work we are doing at home and it's always fun to take our learning to the great outdoors, investigating an area or doing some sort of scavenger hunt. Today's hunt was to spot as many different flowers as we could, as we had downloaded a really interesting app called PlantNet where you can photograph plants and the app will tell you what you are looking at (Shazam for horticulture fans).

Considering we were only out scooting for an hour or so we managed to spot so many different varieties of flowers and it made for a really interesting Micro adventure.

"Learning how to learn is life's most important skill."

While I sat writing about Opeie losing his first tooth, I was thinking about how amazing it is becoming a parent and being there to experience all of their awesome milestones. Opeie's first words, steps, the first time I heard "I love you daddy", are all so special to me. I realised though, that although I've written about many of these over the years, I did miss a recent one out.

Opeie had never been interested in learning to ride his bike, Micro Scooters had pretty much dominated wheeled transportation for him and although there had been a BMX sitting in the shed, it was just there collecting dust. Two weeks before his 6th birthday though, he told me that he wanted to learn to ride his bike and he wanted to do it as a 5-year-old. It kind of came out of nowhere and the way he worded it really made me chuckle, but I loved the way he had set himself a challenge and was determined to learn this new skill. The bike came straight out and while all the kids were at school and our street was quiet we got on with it (I love the freedom of homeschooling). 

Seth had learned to ride his bike late on after a huge confidence knock when he ended up with a fractured arm but when he was 8 he decided to have a go and with a little patience, we got him riding within 2 hours which was a huge confidence boost for him. Knowing that this was how Seth did it was all the motivation that Opeie needed to get this new skill under his belt.

Day one was 1hr of trying to balance while I held him up, with tears from pure frustration but he was adamant that he could do it. Day two was a more confident half an hour of me holding him while he pedaled around and day three's hour and a half session completely took me by surprise when he held himself upright withing the first 5 minutes and I just let him go. Kids are AMAZING! I wish I could pick things up as quick as they do.

So our happy little 5-year-old had reached his goal in a few hours which was amazing. What I love most about all these new skills is the confidence that comes with it. To some people, these things may seem insignificant but I see the value in every little thing the boys pick up as they are developing. The more of these skills they acquire the more they realise, that anything is possible if they put their mind to it.

'Mind the Gap!'

Its been hanging on for dear life for weeks, but finally Opeie's first tooth has come out. Watching him trying to coax him out during that time took me right back to trying to get my own teeth out when I was younger. I'd sit there wobbling, pushing and even twisting to get that sucker out. Being woken up crazy early to give us the good news wasn't the most relaxing way to wake up but the huge gappy smile and glowing face was a fun start to our weekend.

As expected Opeie is proud of his new gap and has found that when having a chupa chup the stick fits tidily in the space. Another great thing to have come from the toothy event is that Opeie has been introduced to his own personal toothfairy Penelope sparklebottom, who wrote him a lovely letter letting him know that the tooth was very clean and that sometimes when she is tired she rides around on the back of a ladybird or bumblebee (a classy way to travel). Of course Opeie has a huge list of questions for her and has requested a photo, so watch this space (Or gap!).

"He's going to build a supernatural entourage"

The Yo-kai watch buzz is still going strong at chez Pirates. Since the boys started playing Yo-kai watch 2 Fleshy souls a few weeks back, Opeie's watch has been permanently attached to his wrist and he has taken to carrying a big bag of medals everywhere with him (I'm guessing in case he needs to do battle). Seth has even picked up a watch of his own too. It's great seeing the boys roleplaying together. The Yo-kai excitement has had Opeie asking whether we can get a Yo-kai pad from anywhere. After looking online it seems that you can only get them in Japanese, so I decided to give my phone a LEGO upgrade for his Yo-kai play with. I love those awesome bricks.