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Superstar Sampants!

Blog: Norfolk Single Dad
Posted by: Eddie2sox Sunday 30th December 2007, 9:13am
Last edited 30/12/2007 9:13am by Eddie2sox

A fantastic couple of days (yes you read that right….”couple”) with my little boy….

What a FANBLOODYTASTIC couple of days. Sam’s mummy was nice to let me pick up Sam at 0930 on Friday, until 1800 on Saturday. TWO DAYS! Rock on….

So, straight from cleaning The Woolpack it was off to collect Sampants, and he was very excited about the whole thing. He brought his new submarine with him to show me at bathtime, and off we zoomed.

So, what did we do? We did playtime. Almost non-stop, for 32 ½ hours, what a daft question!

The ongoing scrap between Sam’s Goodies and Daddy’s Baddies is growing ever bigger, and after Christmas the sides have grown further. Sam has another eight knights plus a king and queen, whereas I have five more pirates (including Captain Hook AND Long John Silver), plus four more monsters. And with the addition of the BlackCastle and SkullIsland , the game is now an adventure playground for Sam’s imagination. He loves thinking up little scenarios for the game, and nearly all the toy figures have their own name and personality (yes, really). From the tough super-hero knight, down to the wimp-like, clumsy monster. If it gets his brain into overdrive in the name of playing, then I’m all for it.

The new Lego harbour is a definite winner with Sam, and he kept going back to it for more fun, exclaiming “Lego Harbour! Part….Six!” etc. It’s added a new dimension to Sam’s Lego games, along with the police van - which used to contain a burglar. As you’d expect, the burglar soon escaped and has been causing all sorts of trouble at the harbour. Well, all over the flat actually. What a naughty chap he is! He even stole the Doctor’s medical equipment, which had been hidden in a secret compartment on the CargoShip.

We also watched a little bit of Dads & Lads TV, Hider In The House is still a favourite, but the highlight was The Weakest Link - it was the “puppet” show. Some of Sam’s current faves like Nev the bear and Jelly & Jackson, and some of Daddy’s old memories such as Sage & Onion (the leprechauns from Live & Kicking) and Roland Rat. It was a rait funny show, well done Beeb.

On Friday afternoon we made an expedition to Peterborough, with Sam’s Christmas money. Nana was really poorly for two weeks before Christmas, and was so sorry that she hadn’t bought Sam a present. It doesn’t matter Mum, we both love you LOTS AND LOTS anyway. So, to Toys R Us and it’s literally a winter wonderland for a 4-year-old with some money burning a hole in Dad’s pocket. We were there for about a hour, and it was flipping brilliant. There are just so many aisles, all stuffed with every toy you could ever imagine. I told Sam that he didn’t “have” to spend any of his money if he didn’t find something he really liked, and that message must have sunk in. Sam chose to treat himself to a Spiderman Car that fires Web Rockets - it cost half of his fund but he was happy to save the rest for later. I’ve been working hard with Sam on the whole saving up theme, for all of the last year actually, so it was nice that Sam put that into action - on his own choice.

Then it was home for more playing and tea - turkey curry! Sam scoffed the curry as much as he could, but I gave both of us way too much. No clean plates, but not the fault of the diners.

On to bathtime. We didn’t use bubble bath because we tried out Sam’s submarine. What a cool toy. It submerges and surfaces when you tell it to, and zooms around the bath, fantastic. Bath over we had a quiet few minutes watching the Dad’s Army film (why is it called Dad’s Army Daddy?), then to bed. Sam had a bit of a bad dream so I put him into my bed, and he was there all night. We eventually got up at about 7a.m. and Sam had a good sleep.

Saturday dawned and we discussed going to the banger racing in the afternoon. The programme looked fantastic, the TSR bangers Team event, PLUS a caravan race. We checked the weather forecast. We wondered if we’d prefer to stay at home and play. The upshot was that we DIDN’T go. Mainly because the wind was forecast to be an average of 25 mph, directly into the grandstand where we sit. That would freeze us both to death, even with the added insulation of the lovely burgers you can get at the NorfolkArena.

Instead we chose to pop into town to see if there was anything that took Sam’s eye in the toy sales. Sam decided to go on his bike, and with the wind in our faces through The Walks we were freezing when we reached town. Sam locked his bike up and we dashed into Bitson’s chippy (TOP chip shop!) for a cone of chips each, to warm the cockles.

It seems that Sam has inherited the (surely female) shopping gene from his Daddy, and he browsed and browsed and browsed in every toy outlet in town. I really enjoyed following him round, watching him trying out some toys, looking really closely at others, and eventually he decided. Uh-oh. Sam chose a model battering ram! Made by the same company that made the catapult that we brought home from Lincoln Castle, it’s a nice toy, Sam has good taste!

Back home and Sam’s new battering ram was straight into action, skittling the bad guys all over the place. A fantastic plan was hatched by the 3-Headed-Dragon (Boss of the baddies). The Minotaur was told to eat baked beans, mushy peas, and a vegetable curry, then sneak around the back of Skull Island and let out the biggest trump he could manage. While all the knights were looking around to see what the noise was, Daddy’s Baddies would sneak in and claim the fortress! As you might expect, the plan didn’t work. Minotaur did his job perfectly, and farted like a brass band tuning up before a performance. What Captain Hook hadn’t told his troops was that the portcullis would still be down, and they wouldn’t be able to get in anyway, DOH! Therefore there was a crowd of pirates and monsters outside Skull Island, which Spiderman took great pleasure in web-blasting from his new car.

For tea we had sausage casserole, lovingly prepared by Daddy the night before, and Sam thought it was yummy. No clean plates, so no treats (bad Dad!). After that we only had a little time left, so I started dropping in little things like mummy was looking forward to giving Sam a big hug, Fudge the guinea pig couldn’t wait, etc. As a guaranteed winner we played banger racing. Not the table top version, the head to head “crash bang wallop” version. Sam uses the Action Man dune buggy for his vehicle. I have to use an old Talk And Learn tractor. But we had a LOT of fun, and this was no exception. I like to use a variety of “secret weapons” on the front of my banger, which has previously included shoes, balloons, you name it. This time it was different. It’s very exciting as Sam crouches at the far end of the hallway while I wheel out my latest “fiendish” weapon. The first secret weapon was The Mashed Potato Of Doom (MPOD). We charged, crashed, the MPOD flew straight onto Sam’s car, and he ate it! The next weapon was The Banana Of Marmalisation (TBOM). Once again, after the cars crashed, Sam ate my secret weapon. GRRRRR! The final item was the TOTOUC (The Tin Of Tomatoes Of Ultimate Chaos). Let’s see you eat these son. He didn’t of course

Too soon it was time to take Sam back to the other place. It never gets easier for Dadpants though, and I hope it never does - that would mean I care less about my little boy. Love you Sam, see you on Tuesday xx

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