The Official Review of the Year

2011 has been a funny old year. It's had some highs and some lows, much like most years really but the highs have been pretty high and some of the lows incredibly low.

new years day 2011

The year started in the way that 2010 had finished, a very early start with Fifi. I was up at 5am on New Years Day helping her put things into bags and take them out again. Fifi's lack of sleep has been a problem for most of her life but 2011 was the year that she relented a bit. Nowadays she sleeps til gone 6 most mornings and on occasion has made it til gone 7.

faster, faster, faster!!!

Fifi has grown up massively in the last 12 months, she's a proper little girl now and  almost 3. Her tastes in fashion (pink, stripes and spots), television (Peppa Pig, Dora the Explorer) and food (anything with "dip-dip") are very well defined now and she knows her mind. She's a speed demon on her microscooter and can hold her own in battles with bigger kids. She did spend about half the year doing a more than passable impression of her big brother though.

superheroes!

The boys year started off badly. He started nursery in January, after spending the Christmas break ever so excited about going. At that time he was still having some speech issues and when the nursery, cognisant of this, made him speak in front of the class in his first week, it didn't go down well.

It took an interminable age for him to settle at nursery and by the time he did, the morning sobbing stopping, the escape attempts ending, it was pretty much time for the summer holidays. We were lucky enough to have a "free" (it cost us about £300 in the end, as much as we'd spend on a normal holiday) trip to Lake Garda, courtesy of wifey's blogging endeavours in June. I've never seen so much rain in my life but it was fun for the kids, and they got their first trip on an airplane. Of course, just to be different it wasn't the boys first flight, oh no, he'd already been in the Goodyear Blimp by that point!

Come the summer, the school was at it again with it's very own PC non competitive sports day. I was gutted, all that practice at running away (from school) had proved useless to the lad.

Seagulls!

Still, we managed a UK beach holiday without the excitement of chicken pox which curtailed the previous years adventure. We did some seal spotting, some beach time and a lot of bird watching. The weather was predictably crap though, a theme of a lot of our holidays recently. In fact the last genuinely hot break we had was the ill fated chicken pox trip.

I got to take the boy to Camp Bestival, for a weekend of camping and music. The boy loved playing with Claire and Kat, and their kids but his probable highlight of the whole weekend was wee'ing into plastic bottles to save a long trip in the evening to the portaloos. Somewhere I have photographic evidence of a very proud 4 year old holding about a quarter of a litre of warm piss and looking very pleased with himself. I also got to meet and interview Jo Wiley whilst there, and it was as cringeworthy as you could imagine. She was lovely and did take pity on me mightily.

lost & found. In Italy

We had a nice, if tiring, trip to CenterParcs in October, which helped break the year up nicely.

In August I got nominated for a Gurgle parenting blog award, which was nice, but in the end I lost out to an outsider who'd only been blogging for 3 months and didn't appear to have a following on twitter or on his blog. Good to him though and I hope it helps progress his career as a professional journo. I got very very drunk at the awards ceremony but nowhere near as drunk as Jamie, who was having trouble standing up at various points.

The last few months have gone in a blur of readying for the new arrival. The recession finally hit us as wifey was made redundant from her museum job but we're looking on that in a more positive way now as museum services across the country are being made almost impossible to work in due to budgetary cuts. Wifey's been afforded some great freelancing work and has been involved in some great blogger outreach campaigns this year, so we're hopeful there will be more to come next year.

on holiday in Italy

Wifey and I even made it out ourselves on a few rare occasions. I remember back in January going to the Speckled Hen, courtesy of Radio Verulam, and talking about the third child we didn't have. Obviously after wifey reconciled herself to not having a third child, she shortly found herself with child and we had to reconcile ourselves to having a third child. Grown ups make life so complicated at times, don't we? Number 3 is due any day now, and we're almost ready for the arrival. I'm incredibly excited and the boy has even offered to get up and night and give the baby a bottle. We're hoping Fifi is more careful with the newcomer than she is with her dolly though. A spell of winter vomiting virus put the DIY behind for a week, which was a shame but typical really.

It's been a hard year though, we've had an awful lot to do in terms of work, freelance work, and work around the house. The kids have had big changes in their lives- the boys started school and Fifi has had to deal with the loss of her brother for big chunks of the day as a result of this. My big hope for 2012, is to spend more quality time with wifey. Even with a newborn, it's not a forlorn hope since the other two are getting old enough to go on sleep overs and who knows? Maybe number three will be that miraculous child that sleeps through from a couple of weeks and we can do some grown up stuff together.

A lot has changed in the last year around the house. The biggest improvement has been the bathroom that has finally been refitted. Our house was built around 1968 and actually still had the original suite. When we moved in 5 and a half years ago, the power shower packed up and wifey said not to replace it as it would be a waste of money if we had the bathroom done. So we've done 5 years with one of those travel showers that fits over the taps. It's taken us a while to save up but wifey's blogging earnings have pretty much paid for a nice new bathroom- hurrah to her! Of course now that we've got a new suite and a power shower, Fifi fears to set foot in the room due to her terror at the power shower's ferocity. I've also finished lining the summer house and it now has a rug and furniture in it as well as a heater. A proper little home office where I intend to write my novel in 2012 (when I'm not being harassed endlessly by children of course).

The underlying theme of the year with our house though has been the Mess. Yes, it's reached the state of a proper noun and hence the capitalisation. I've lost count of the trips to the dump and we've even filled a skip but still the endless mess is there. The kids are too little to tidy up properly yet and they often leave stuff lying around. We spent a few hundred pounds on additional storage but there is still stuff everywhere all the time. It's driving wifey up the wall.

No review of the year is really complete without a no longer with us section and this year saw both wifey and me lose our last remaining grandparents. I also lost my long lost half brother unexpectedly as our family drew closer to a reconciliation with him. There was much sadness all around. I remember holidaying with my grandparents down in Peacehaven when I was little and my granddad was the very model of an eccentric inventor, he had a garage full of metal working tools, including a lathe and always put them to good if slightly peculiar use. Wifey's granddad was an equally fascinating man- he fought in WWII, was at Dunkirk, El Alamein, in North Africa with Monty, got shipwrecked in the Med before he helped liberate Sicily and was finally involved in the D-Day landings. After the war, he won a cafe in a game of cards and ran that for a few years.

udraw!

Looking back through the blogging archive, the world of blogging has been very kind to us this year. We've had tons of stuff to test out and review, we've even been lent a car for the weekend but my highlight has probably been my involvement in the Shell V Power Network of Champions. A group of 24 or so people from 4 different countries and, it must be said, mostly from a motor journalism background, were invited by Shell to a series of events to show how Shell V Power works. The highlight was obviously meeting so many wonderful people, both other champions and people like John Surtees, but our track day at Maranello came a close second. And our trip to the Belgian GP and our trip to Abu Dhabi. We even failed to have a steak twice. Samsung were kind enough to give me a camera to review, which was a step up on Panasonic who deigned to show me some tellies and then sent me home with a free t-shirt that was far to small! Not that I expected a free telly, but I was in full on gadget lust at that point. We've been asked to be on the Playologist scheme, I've been appointed a Butlins Ambassador, we're both on the Xbox Ambassadors scheme and I've kept my place on the highly thought of Cision Top 10 for Daddy bloggers. Although I've been blogging for a few years now, I've had a surge in followers and readership, and now get around 8,500 pageviews a month. Must be doing something right :)

I'd be lying if I said that the interest from PR agencies hasn't been nice but I am mindful of the reasons I started parent blogging in the first place, and that is to share my experiences as a Dad in a Mum-centric parenting world. Hopefully I've done that, just a little bit.

I think one of the best things I've had out of blogging this year has been the camaraderie though. I've been to several events, like CyberMummy and the Tots100 Christmas party and met loads of really nice people- at the Tots100 Christmas party I was the only chap out for dinner with 30 mums. The St Albans tweet ups has also been brilliant too, I've met so many lovely people at them it's been really encouraging.

So that was my 2011, what was yours like?

The force is strong in this one...

Despite the addition of some NERF guns to the boys armoury (thanks Mum), the nipper is still a keen adherent of the lightsaber, I suppose he still thinks it's not as random or as clumsy as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. Whatever goes through his 4 year old mind though, he quite often likes to have lightsaber battles.

Last night this occurred at a rather random juncture- just as he was supposed to be getting into the bath. He vanished and came back with his lightsaber, declaring himself Luke Skywalker and me Darth Maul (he hasn't quite got the continuity sorted just yet). All very well, I tell him but I need a lightsaber myself to be Darth Maul. This causes a moments pause for the lad- the only other vaguely lightsaberish thing in the house is downstairs and it's evident he can't be bothered going down there to get it. Still, necessity is the mother of invention and he dashes off to his bedroom to get something that I "can pretend is a lightsaber".

He's obviously in a little bit too much of a hurry because for the next 5 minutes I have to fend off his serious blows with this:

an elegant weapon for a more civilized age?

Let me tell you this, it's no easy task fending off some fairly enthusiastic sword play with a propeller from a model Spitfire. Still, it's reassuring to know that even at the tender age of 4, the boy is keen to load the dice in favour of the forces of good at the expense of the baddies. Somehow I don't think he'll grow into an evil mastermind...

The perfect antidote to Christmas over indulgence

I've had so many pigs in blankets in the last few days I'm beginning to wonder whether I like bacon any more, which is something I thought I'd never ever say. Equally I've eaten more turkey than I've talked and am thoroughly sick of the sight of it. I know I'm not the only one too, wifey actually turned down the offer of some chocolate twenty minutes ago.

Well help was at hand. Completely and utterly fed up with grovelling on the floor and playing Batman Imaginext until my knees ached, wifey took pity and embarked on operation get the boy to cook lunch. The lad was given free rein on what to cook and he chose the old favourite of veggie pasta. And the wee lad cooked it all himself- right down from cutting the onion, to operating the garlic press (3 cloves if you wanted to know). Of course we supervised him closely to ensure that he retained all of his fingers and kept him clear of hot oil and sharp knives but he genuinely cooked the whole meal himself, right down to browning the onions and frying the garlic prior to adding the chopped tomatoes. He was also in charge of setting the table and dishing up. Unsurprisingly he got the largest portion but he did actually polish it off in its entirety. Wifey was very complimentary, actually saying it was nicer than her last attempt at pasta.

Cooking lunch kept the boy off the sofa for an hour or so and gave him  a real sense of achievement that watching the Neverending Story for the umpteenth time this holiday season. The shy smile of pride was incredibly cute on his chops.

What was best though, was getting the boy to clean up afterwards...

The Daddacool Christmas Message: beware the bread famine!

It's Christmas night and we've got the kids off to bed with only a minimal threat to Fifi of taking all her pressies back. Seasonal festive yuletide greetings to you all.

Whilst Christ put the Christ into Christmas (lets not forget him folks, at least tell your kids the nativity story once over the period), we could have done with his catering abilities at the supermarket yesterday. That's right, the annual bread famine has kicked off. Considering the supermarkets are shut for one whole day (and then only grudgingly), it's always baffled me that the shelves are stripped of bread by about 4pm on Christmas Eve. I popped in with Fifi at 3.30pm on the day before Christmas and was astonished to see the vultures hovering by the turkeys, waiting for the price reductions, but only moderately surprised to see every trolley with about 7 loaves of bread and 2 packets of rolls in it.

What do people do with all this bread? In my most wild flights of fantasy I imagine everyone in St Albans eating bread pudding after scoffing cheese on toast two or three times a day. The truth is probably more mundane but I'm blowed if I can figure it out.

And on that note, I'll wish you a merry Christmas.

Daddacool Show Xbox Live TV Special

Any excuse is a good enough excuse for me to whack my Xbox 360 on but when Xbox asked me to experience the new TV features that came in the winter update, I jumped at the chance. If you listen very carefully, you might just hear my old man's knees click during the feature presentation. 

The eagle eyed might notice I'm watching the football. Spurs dropped two points at home- hahahaahahaha...

Winter vomiting bug- the TMI post

If you are of a squeamish disposition, I suggest stopping now and maybe clicking this link instead. Carry on and you'll find my unexpurgated thoughts on a family of four with the winter vomiting virus this past week. You have been warned.  


As I said on twitter the other day, "New definition of violently sick: too much to come out of just your mouth at that speed, both nostrils decide to lend a hand. *horp*". And it doesn't get more unexpurgated than that does it? Yes we've had our annual run in with winter vomiting and this year it's hit all of us, starting with wifey, progressing to me and then on to poor old Fifi who was sick over 10 times during the course of Saturday night. In between all of that of course was the comedy moment I missed where the boy apparently projectile vomited over wifey who was in turn sick. Again.

I never remember getting winter vomiting when I was a kid, perhaps I did and just blotted it out of my memory, along with Gobots. Remember them? I certainly don't. It's a fact of life now though, and every winter we dread the period where we'll all puke our guts up endlessly. I've written about it before actually, in October 2009, January 2010 and it only gets worse when there are more of you believe me. My favourite titled post is The Vomit Marathon has Begun. Crumbs, you'd think I was obsessed with it wouldn't you?

Well perhaps you'd be obsessed with it if you had a night with 5 changes of bedding, 4 hair washes, and 12 sicks, ending up with a bile/mucus mixture that your littlest couldn't keep down even if there was nothing left to come up. The poor mite was clinging to me shaking until about 5.30 in the morning when she finally nodded off.

I was already a bit preoccupied with it all before Fifi kicked off though to be honest. I went from feeling fine to feeling not fine in about 20 minutes and an hour later I was so violently sick I cramped both my legs and pulled a muscle in my chest. I also used my nose in a way hope it never gets misused again. I'm sure it's a psychological thing but I swear I can still faintly smell the sick.

I remember reading on twitter last week someone had overheard a mum saying she'd had a great day ice skating because she'd effectively sent her (literally) sick child to school instead of cancelling her trip and taking some parental responsibility. Perhaps that's why we're all sicker than we used to be when I was a nipper. I dunno it's just a thought, and a sick one at that.

LoveFilm on Xbox Live

I love watching films. Love watching them so much, I hardly watch any telly nowadays. Unfortunately most of my cinema excursions happened BC (Before Children) as by the time you've factored in baby sitters, a trip to the cinema now costs more than buying the film on blu ray. And the popcorn isn't as fresh.

So in recent years our film viewing has been done at home on our wall mounted widescreen telly. Films have been a mixture of purchased titles, rentals and stuff I've ripped from our inordinately huge collection of DVD's that are now lurking in the loft. Ripping a DVD to an ISO and streaming it over our home network is about as technical as I've managed to get but I must admit I'd never thought about streaming films online. Renting them through services like LoveFilm or Cinema Paradiso via their websites yes, streaming live, not so much.

So when we were asked to try LoveFilms new streaming service on XboxLive, I was initially quite sceptical. We use Virgin Cable rather than ADSL but only have a 10meg connection. I wasn't convinced this would be fast enough for seamless movie viewing.

Setting up an account with LoveFilm requires a computer- you can't do it all over the Xbox dashboard but you do get immediate sign up to a free 30 day trial, which is nice. Afterwards, a streaming only subscription is £4.99 a month with more comprehensive packages including Blu Ray postal hire costing more.

So on Wednesday night I decided to put the service to the test, and see whether Fran, the home hairdresser, could cut wifey's hair in the time it took me to watch a major motion picture. It was a battle- the finest Italian home visiting hairdresser versus Rhys Ifans as Howard Marks in Mr Nice. I settled down, can of Red Stripe in one hand, a Pizza Express pizza (slice by slice) in the other. Don't ask me how I worked the remote, the answer would probably revolt and fascinate you by turn.

You can browse the films by genre, alphabetically, look at new releases, or favourites and it was on the popular titles list I saw the "autobiographical" Mr Nice. Hitting play saw a very small pause for some initial buffering and then we were away.

I must say I was impressed by the quality of the streaming.It obviously wasn't up to a 1080p full HD Blu Ray or anything but it did look a lot better than a bog standard DVD. There must be some seriously clever compression going on to pipe this all down our cable connection without stuttering or buffering once. In fact half way through I forgot that it was even being streamed over the internet.

The film itself was great and notably faster than the hairdresser to boot :)

Hue HD Animation Studio review

Stop motion animation used to be the reserve of chaps like Ray Harryhausen before it got all popular again when Aardman Animation decided we all needed a Grand Day out. I've always had a soft spot for Harryhausen films, especially the Sinbad ones, so when I was offered the chance to borrow for a limited time the Hue HD Animation Studio, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Previously I'd looked into the whole brickmation scene, that is making stop motion films with Lego. There are a couple of freeware animation programmes around and a ton of (badly) written guides that tell you what cameras to use, how to set up the software and so on but to be honest setting up my computer properly to do it all was so time consuming I gave up. The software was really a hindrance to the creative process, and that's never ideal. I also missed out on the brief life span of Lego Studios too.

The funny thing with the Hue HD Animation Studio is that although it's ostensibly aimed at kids, it's a bit wasted on them really. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to finish my Stormtrooper house share comedy drama that's being worked on but I found the whole thing so easy to use from start to (not quite) finish. The set up is as easy as plug and playing since the camera is purpose designed to work in tandem with the software provided.

The software is dead easy to use as it's aimed at kids so you don't have to worry about technical issues getting in the way of how you use it. Having said that, it does have a proper timeline that anyone who's used grown up video editing software would recognise, so whilst it's dressed up as kid friendly, it does work properly. I would absolutely love to show you a clip of what I've made so far but it's too short and doesn't make sense out of context so you'll have to check back here in... about 4 years at the rate I'm going unfortunately (new baby on the way in January too!).

So what I can leave you with is a trailer for the kit itself. I was only lent the gear but I've decided to put in an order (it's £49.99 at Amazon) as my actual Christmas present.

Superdry t-shirts- guest post

I'm currently wearing a t shirt that my sister in law bought for me for Christmas about 6 or 7 years ago. It was trendy at the time, it shows a chap whacking an ironing board with a baseball bat. That's about as far out as I got at the time.

I have however managed to move away from wearing old tatty stuff and t shirts purchased in supermarkets. At the ripe old age of 36, you have to have some standards. Working out where to buy stuff from without feeling hopelessly out of my depth has been a bit of a struggle though. I've progressed as far as GAP which is about two steps away from M&S which my mum was putting me in all the time I was at school.

at last, a t shirt with my IQ. Oh...

Thankfully I've now been pointed at some other brands, including Superdry which apparently fuses design influences from Japanese graphics and vintage Americana, with the values of British tailoring. What this means in practical terms is the t shirts fit and are well made. They also don't make you look like a refugee from a time lost C&A store, which is also a bonus.

Playmobil Falcon Knights Castle Review

If you want to read a sensible well written review of this ace bit of Playmobil, read wifey's write up of the Playmobil Falcon Knights Castle.

If you want to see a big kid playing with it on video, watch my video review below :)

Manflu- the myths exploded!

Blokes get a hard time for struggling on when they have a cold or the flu, the phrase "manflu", concocted by some woman who obviously didn't like men very much, belittles our suffering a lot. We're seen as whining complainers, who take to our beds much quicker than women who soldier on regardless. Well, it's time ladies (and gents) to dispel some of these myths.

According to the Office of National Statistics, women have more sick days from work than men do.

read it and weep ladies

This is true going back over a ten year period, so it isn't something that's come about all of a sudden either.

On top of this there has been research over the last few years that would appear to indicate that men suffer from viral infections more than women:-

From the Telegraph recently:

But, according to a study, the fairer sex should not be so quick to accuse their partners of suffering from “man flu”, because women are far better at resisting bugs. Australian researchers found that female volunteers had a “much stronger immune response” to rhinoviruses — the bugs that usually cause the common cold — than men. The protection vanished after the menopause, suggesting it was regulated by female sex hormones. This would help explain why men are much more likely to fall ill when they get infected.

From the Telegraph back in 2010:

Men's ability to turn a sniffle into flu and a headache into a migraine has long been a source of irritation to wives and girlfriends.But the new research suggests that they are not faking it and that they suffer diseases more seriously and for longer. Scientists believe it is the male predilection for a "live fast, die young" lifestyle that means in evolutionary terms they have failed to build up their immune systems like females. That means that they not only catch more diseases but they tend to suffer more seriously, and for longer, from them.

From the Daily Mail (sorry) in 2009:

Dr Saleh said studies had shown that men are more susceptible than women to infection by bacteria, viruses, fungi and worms. It is thought the phenomenon has its roots deep in evolution, with healthy female bodies being key to reproduction. The researcher said: 'We think that nature devised this strategy to protect the reproductive role of the female body, to keep the human race going. It just dropped the mechanism from the male sex.'
 

The bodies that conducted this research were from Queensland University, Cambridge University and McGill University in Montreal respectively. The last one was even headed by a women, so you can't accuse her of gender bias.

So ladies, the next time you think about having a moan at your bloke for being ill, bear in mind it's not his fault, he is more susceptible to it than you, despite the fact he'll take less sick days than you. He's a real trooper!

Wanting to go to Butlins just a little too much

...and keep 'em coming

As the boy sat at the Bar Rosso's at Butlins Bognor Regis getting another refill of his kids cocktail, I thought about how much he and his little sister love the place. We've only been a few times now and most of them have been for blogging events- the launch of the Ocean Hotel, the MAD awards, or this time, the Tots100 Christmas Party but Butlins is now one of his most favourite holiday destinations.

He loves the soft play, the rides, the disco lifts, and the splash pool the best. Although given his cocktail loving, perhaps a reordering of priorities will occur.

Anyway, I didn't quite realise how much he desperately wanted to come to Butlins until we got home. Yes, we'd had the usual tears when it was time to leave but after his bath and bedtime story in our bed, the full depth of his dedication came clear. Beside his bed, and in it and to be honest over much of it, was a huge puddle of sick. Dried and welded on sick that took a spatula to scrape off and a good half hour with the carpet shampoo'er to shift the smell of. I'm currently washing both the duvets, the throw, the bottom sheet, the mattress protector, and the waterproof undersheet. How he didn't get any on his PJ's or his bunny's is beyond me but it may explain why a lad who normally sleeps until 8am crept into our room at 5.50am on Saturday morning and then rushed to get himself dressed later on.

Cross examination between bleaching everything in sight has confirmed my suspicions; he was worried we'd cancel the trip so dragged himself around pretending to be okay so we'd still go to Butlins. I must admit we thought he looked a bit pale on Saturday but put that down to a late night and an early start. He even said he might have a nap when we got to Bognor, which didn't materialise but was unlike him anyway.

He had a lovely time though, as did the rest of us, and I can genuinely say hand on heart that for once I definitely wasn't glad to get home!

Xbox LIVE Ambassadors Campaign

The rather exciting Xbox LIVE Ambassadors Campaign is about to kick off and I'm one of the lucky 30 Brits taking part in it!

I've always been an avid gamer and have had an Xbox 360 for over 5 years now. My normal entertainment comes from a mixture of beat em ups like the Dead or Alive series, racing games like Forza Motorsport or football games like the magnificent FIFA series. There've been many evenings where I've bunged FIFA on and played random matches against people from all over the world. When the Boy was a new born, I used to keep him down stairs into the small hours asleep in his moses basket playing FIFA whilst wifey got some well earned kip upstairs. I remember well a series of matches against a softly spoken Spanish Barca fan who didn't speak any English and me not a word of Spanish. The language of football triumphed though and we must has spent hours playing against each other. The online aspect is brilliant, so much better conceived and implemented than any other rival offering.

Xbox Live has now moved on to the next level though. The recent winter dashboard update has turned the Xbox 360 into a multimedia powerhouse. Live Sky TV, 4OD, Demand 5 and Lovefilm have all come to Xbox Live amongst other things, with BBC iPlayer to join shortly. (iPlayer is so ubiquitous now I'm sure it's only a matter of time until my pocket calculator can pick it up).

If you want to read up a bit more about what's happening, have a look at the xbox.com release on the new media hub properties that Microsoft have introduced to the Xbox 360. Over the next 5 weeks I'm going to be talking about my experiences using all of the exciting new features on Xbox Live in my role as an ambassador, which should hopefully give you a good idea whether they'd be up your street too. If you have any questions though, ask and I'll pass them along to the clever boffins over at Xbox LIVE. My big worry? Where am I going to find the time for gaming???

If you're the sort of person that wants to give helpful feedback and be in with a chance of winning some FAB prizes, there is a survey you can fill in here to help.

If you don't already follow me on twitter, I'm Daddacool there, and as you can see below, my Gamertag is also Daddacool. Feel free to friend me on Xbox Live, we can have some fun!

The school run is like waiting for a train

Getting a train at St Albans station is fun, ask anyone, ask Muddling Along Mum, she has fun with First Capital Connect all the time. Over crowded trains, people not moving along and general rudeness from passengers and staff alike aren't what gets me though. What I resent is that no matter where I stand on the platform, if my toes aren't literally over the edge of the platform, someone will without fail come and stand directly in front of me. If they think they're position is too precarious, they'll then shuffle backwards into me. Buffoons.

This is a feeling that the school run mums managed to recreate for me today in pretty epic fashion. I don't normally do the school run at either end of the day on account of being at work but today happened to be the late run of the school nativity play*. So at quarter past six I was ten minutes early to pick the boy up this evening. I was the third parent there, standing a little bit back from the doors so as not to crowd any of the children coming out. Ten minutes later about 15 mums had pushed in front of me. I even had a few dirty looks as I stoutly refused to move the pushchair backwards to accommodate them.

I know wifey has had some proper school playground antics from some of the mums, ranging from "adults" turning their back on her when she's arrived, to people treating her entirely differently depending on what coat she's worn (Joules vs Verbudet) and I just think it's pathetic. There are some really nice families there but some that obviously have a bit of a superiority complex. What it did remind me of was a bit of Dylan Moran stand up. He was railing against his kids because when they used their juvenile and immature judgement to make friends they inevitably made poor decisions, which lead to Dylan having to be friends with their parents, who were almost always terrible people.

Maybe I'm odd but when we were told we'd make some of the best friends we'd ever have at ante natal classes, I didn't believe it and was proved right. At the end of the day people at ante natal classes or the school gates only have one thing in common with you, and that's being in the same place as you. There's more to making friends than that isn't there?

Dadda’s Cool And Exciting Toys of 2011 Sponsored Guest post

Picking the right toy for your children just might make the difference between having a Merry Christmas or an horrendous one. Pick the wrong present and you might have to deal with a howling child for the entire festive break. Pick the right one and you are not just the coolest father imaginable, but you can also delight in the fact that you and your wife have a wonderfully relaxing season, while your children play all day with their toys. A mistake Father’s often make is to buy a toy in the wrong age group of their child. So your first task is making sure that the toy is suitable. Making it too advanced for the child and they won’t enjoy the toy at all, make it too facile and you could discover that your child becomes bored of too quickly. Getting it just right will keep you happy and your child also. So make sure you read the information that comes with the toy.

The best way to discover the hot toys of 2011 is to do your research. Walking around a toy shop might actually make the process of buying a new toy harder, because you are simple bombarded with options. Many toys are released in conjunction with films, T.V. shows, video games and even books, so pay attention to your children’s interests because it will pay dividends when it comes to choosing the right present. There are active toys that get your children off their backsides and doing a little exercise, such as dancing and singing. And for the younger child you might have noticed that they’ve taken an interest in adult chores, such as cooking and cleaning, so buying them their own mini kitchen could be the best thing for them. They might also be able to help with cooking the Christmas lunch – they’ll probably be better than your drunken uncle!

Sometimes children are very happy to be left to their own devices, and toys which allow them to use their own imagination can be the perfect gift. There are many interactive games that let them build fabulous new habitats as well as beautiful landscapes. Of course your child might simply want a water-pistol with which to blast the bully who lives next door!

One of the most important obstacles for last minute daddy shoppers is availability. Just when you have thought of the perfect present to buy your daughter, you could suddenly discover that it has completely sold out! Horror! That’s why it is important to get organized and shop early, but also you must consider shopping online, where you can find a vast array of toys at a much reduced price. Groupon voucher deals, for instance, can save you as much as 70 per cent off the usual cost! That means that you can save an absolute fortune on the coolest toys in town with deals in London and around the UK then have them delivered straight to your door!

Letters and Sounds

The boy wont be 5 until April but is already making great progress with his reading. It must be said a lot of this is being done at home, he gets "homework" every night in the form of a pack of laminated cards with words on that he has to spell out, say and then practice writing. Quite why we're doing this at home when they actively watch Cbeebies at reception, I don't know.

Scandalous? Maybe. What is scandalous though is the fight we had to get the school to give him the tools to do his letters and sounds. The school, like most I suspect, is set up to deal with the middle of the row kids, and has trouble dealing with the high performers and those lagging behind a bit. For some reason they'd decided the boy was lagging behind so he got to do his letters and sounds with the nursery kids. Since he's taught by 3 teachers and a couple of teaching assistants, (the other class, for reasons best known to them only has one teacher) they couldn't possibly know him well enough to know that he adapts to his surroundings. Put in with studious kids, he'll work hard, put in with trouble makers he'll wiggle his bottom at anybody and blow raspberries with the best of them.

So in the three weeks since the school deigned to let him have his purple letters and sounds book, his writing has come on in leaps and bounds and his reading has materialised from nowhere. If he's not too tired now after school he can read simple 3 or 4 letter word books aided by the pictures. It's just a shame that school doesn't seem to want to teach them to read isn't it?

I think his troubles are mirrored by his friend, who is a child genius. She's his age but already demanding to read the bedtime story to her younger siblings. So obviously the school are trying to send her home with picture books to read and stopping her reading anything more advanced as her comprehension apparently isn't up to it. Considering the boy can laugh and explain jokes in Roald Dahl books we read to him, I suspect once more they have this entirely wrong.

Coming home from work and seeing the boy kneeling on a dining room chair at the kitchen worktop, studiously spelling out words and writing them in his book that is already adorned with a couple of gold stars, I'm enormously proud of what he's achieving already, despite the schools best efforts.

Coming back to life

For various reasons I've felt quite down recently. Not that it shows of course, often the worse I feel the more bouncy and happy I come across. I'm perverse like that. But I feel like I've turned a corner now, even though I'm getting up in the dark and walking home in the dark, I feel more positive than I have in ages.

I've always had mood swings, sometimes I'm full of energy and can do anything, sometimes walking to the bathroom seems futile and a waste of time and effort. And it's always much worse when it's dark and miserable out. I doubt I'm different from most people in that respect. Recently though I've got myself into a downward spiral of negativity, which is never helpful. But I'm out of it on the other side now and back to being a genuine happy bunny.

So I'm sorry if you were waiting for anything from me, it's undoubtedly late now but I seem to have my energy back so I'll get right on to it.

Finally, can I leave you with some Pink Floyd lyrics, from their song Coming Back to Life from their last studio album, the Division Bell? Yes? Good, here you go:

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
And I headed straight..into the shining sun.

Idealo.co.uk and our stocking filler challenge

With Christmas less than a month away (PANIC!) one of the best ways of saving a few quid is to go to a price comparison website and that's where you'll find Idealo quite handy. You'll find loads of great bargains on there for example this Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy which can be found on the web from £15 to £32.99. I'd be really annoyed if I hadn't looked at Idealo to find the cheaper price!

There is a reason for me picking Idealo as a suggested price comparison site as they challenged me to spend £75 of their cash finding the best stocking filler toys for my kids. Apparently a few years ago the average spend on Christmas presents was £75 per child. With toys getting ever more complicated and expensive, getting a good range of products for this price was a real challenge, even with the help of a price comparison site. A lot of retailers are now getting stingy on free delivery, which can suddenly make things uncompetitive.

This is what I chose in the end:

Fisher Price Noah's Ark

We've recently got Fifi a Playmobil Noah's Ark, so we thought it would be good to get another one for her little baby brother who is due around Christmas. One of the ways of her welcoming the new baby into the house is going to be giving it a Christmas present!

Hot Wheels Mega Garage

The boy is a massive Hot Wheels fan, but until now he's had to put his toy cars down a Little People garage ramp, because that's all we've had. He is going to be enormously pleased with this on Christmas Day.

Peppa Pig Sticker Fun sheets

As a final filler, I got Fifi some Peppa Pig sticker sheets. She absolutely loves stickering things, people, furniture, toys, anything that doesn't protest too much really. I can honestly say I'll happily endure Christmas plastered if it will make her happy.

Peppa Pig Secret Tower playset

We've got a lot of Character TV themed playsets, ranging from Postman Pat to Fireman Sam and a couple of Peppa Pig ones too. The best thing is they're all to the same scale, so there is often interactivity across the brands. Like most two year old girls, Fifi is an enormous Peppa Pig fan, even though I find it slightly condescending towards Dads (Daddy Pig is the worlds most useless idiot isn't he?)

Two Ben10 Ultimate Alien play figures

Power Rangers and Ben10, Action Man, G.I. Joe all fight and have adventures together in our house. If only Ben10 wouldn't change into so many pesky aliens, we'd probably not have the endless demands for additional aliens. Occasionally they go on the rampage against Peppa Pig but small girls appear to be a lot more ruthless than boys, so this usually ends in tears.

Not bad for under seventy five quid eh? I'm really pleased with this little lot and I think the kids stockings will be bulging.

Looking around without using Idealo gave me an idea of how much of a nightmare it can actually be getting a good deal. Some retailers were selling at RRP, some at a big discount but with hidden postage costs or no actual stock in. Running it all through a price comparison site, that covers a large number of reputable retailers is a real time saving.

Idealo.co.uk don't just act as a price comparison site for toys, you can find pretty much everything on there including fashion and electrical stuff. I'm on the hunt for a decent priced media streamer, I have been keeping an eye on the site with a view to getting a pre-Christmas bargain. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And for wifey who undoubtedly will have to put up with the cursing and swearing I go through to get it to work.

Many thanks to Idealo, their generous gift has really helped us this Christmas and I am sure there are two small people who will be thrilled come the big day!

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on Blu Ray

I have a confession to make: I've never read a Harry Potter book. I have however seen all the films up to date, and so when I was offered an early chance to get my mitts on the final film on Blu Ray, I jumped at the chance. I mean who wouldn't? Since kids, we've not made it to the cinema as often as we used to (ie not at all really aside from Kids Club on a Saturday morning), Blu Ray is the best way we can really watch films that aren't suitable for kids.

I actually have a further confession to make, two weeks ago on a long haul flight, I opted to watch The Goonies rather than Deathly Hallows Part 2. This was because I knew we had a copy on the way. The person sitting next to me was watching it though and I did keep getting glimpses out of the corner of my eye. With no sound and only the occasional glimpse, it very much seemed like it should have been renamed "Harry Potter & the People Standing Around Looking Vexed". Fortunately the addition of sound also added some sense and drama to it and I'm happy to say (as a viewer of the films at least) it's a good finale to the series.

I don't want to give the plot away too much ( who would watch this film without having seen the preceding 7 anyway?) but the whole film is pretty much the Battle of Hogwarts, leading up to the inevitable final battle between Harry and Voldemort. Despite the subject, the film does manage to vary it's pace and drama though, and has time for some excellent comic relief, I particularly liked Neville Longbottom's bridge defence, it had me chuckling out loud. The climatic battle isn't too much of an anticlimax either, which is a massive achievement for something that's been built up for donkey's years. The epilogue wasn't too saccharin sweet either.

Some of the earlier Harry Potter films were a little too evidently cut down into film from huge tomes but this problem of condensing a massive book into a couple of hours on screen hasn't affected both parts of the Deathly Hallows so much from a cinematic perspective. Perhaps it's the doubled running time or the nature of the story, it just seems to flow better.

An overall opinion is pretty pointless- I imagine most of you will have seen this at the cinema and got it on preorder but just in case you haven't, it's great and it's £12.72 at Amazon at the moment on triple play Blu Ray!