Now that we are thoroughly into April, let's recap about what happened in February! Things that happened included a christening, some filming in the Isle of Man and plenty of re-adjusting to new a growing Orry. But first, the monthly pictures...
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| 3 months old |
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| 4 months old |
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| 40 months old (3 years and 4 months) |
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| 41 months old (3 years and 5 months) |
The first thing that was upon us in February was the Christening of Finn & Orry's cousin, Georgie. It meant a visit from Granny and then a rare trip out of London to Berkshire and Surrey, as well as, importantly, a good meet-up with the whole family. It also meant that we had an excuse to all get dressed up smart:
Thought that did present the difficulty of how to keep Finn (and us) clean during a pre-Christening play in the park:
It was great to meet up with everyone - especially Finn's England-based aunt, uncle and new cousin, who we see far too infrequently - but nothing for Finn could match meeting his Manx cousins. We were early to the church and happily taking some good family pictures, like these...
... but then Cousin Mob came in and Finn was immediately shouting and running around the church, which wasn't really in-keeping with the solemnity of the arrivals of most to the great austere church. And the boy-mob didn't help matters by improvising their own service in a side-chapel:
(Clearly the cousins are a little better brought up, to at least know what they're supposed to be doing... except for Jake, who seems to have the wrong religion...).
This trip out also included an extra-special treat for Finn - driving in a car! (not only a couple taxis to/from the hotel and church but also the ride from the church to his cousin's house, in Grandad's car and from there all the way home to London). Although Finn was loving every minute - Orry, not so much.
Babies, we all know, are supposed to love being in the car - the droning white noise, the vibrations etc. is supposed to send them happily to sleep. Not Orry. He screamed and screamed in the car. Screamed. We thought we could drive through it, but no, not so. On the long drive back to London we had to pull in so he could be fed and calmed down, at which point everyone sighed with relief and we let our ears lose some of the ringing in happy silence for a while. That is, until Orry was put back in his seat and he started up again! But at least he eventually got to sleep, just as we arrived at the house. Sigh...
Here is what he looked like in the first minute of being in the car though - pretty cute:
Back in London, we went on with the routine. A part of this, of course, is Dad's Club, which recently developed to include not just the couple of hour's of me & Finn at the Dads-only session of the local Children's Centre, but also a post-"Club" visit to the house of Finn's friend, Sølve. It is always a special treat to visit friends, and especially so for me, since I never get to hang out and chat about Parent Stuff with people. It is also a joy for Finn, as it means that he even gets to watch some Thomas the Tank Engine episodes there, about which he is always giddy with excitement!
February had the additional excitement of Orry joining us for the first time. I think that we were all rather apprehensive about how it would go - would Orry get upset?, would Finn get upset?, would I remember what to do with a baby on my own?! etc. But it went perfectly: Finn was mostly self-sufficient, Orry was happy watching people, then he just merrily fell asleep for hours, before waking up happily at Sølve's, where he merrily took his milk from the bottle (for the first time) - excellent!
This particular trip to Dad's Club was also marked by the return of Finn's good friend, Lily, who had been away for months in Taiwan. She and Finn were back to their old ways within minutes, roaring around Dad's Club and having lots of fun. This was extended in Sølve's house when we all went there, and even had a story read to them, in Norwegian:
As you might see from the picture, Finn is completely engrossed in the story, despite not understanding a word that is being said. He still adores books and stories. But perhaps it was Sølve's dad's excellent reading (and beautiful Norwegian) that did it for him!
Finn wasn't perfectly behaved at Sølve's, as he was using his sense of rightness as a means of effectively bullying others. So Sølve would do something that Finn saw as not allowed, at which point he would stop and jab a finger at him shouting "No, Sølve! No!" This normally antagonised Sølve, who would do whatever-it-was more, and especially so if Lily joined in with the righteousness. - A rather unpleasant mix of antagonism!
This has developed as one of Finn's most troublesome behavioural habits; using someone else's wrong as an excuse to be aggressive and bullying. But it is one which is very hard to stop, since, in Finn's head, it's the other person who has transgressed.
This has even extended to Finn carrying that behaviour over to us: shouting negative things at us to things that he adopts the attitude of seeing as unfair: "No, Deedah! No!" Normally these are things like putting his shoes on, or going to the toilet before we leave the house etc.
These are seemingly Finn continuing to adapt to Orry being around - taking out his frustration at the situation and the lack of attention by aggressive negativity. But it is a tricky one, when the reaction to bad behaviour should be some form of chastisement, but the root of it has been a lack of affection.
Sigh.
It just means that we have been (and still are) weathering the storm rather, trying to make the best of it until we arrive at a new Normal. Sigh.
Often this weathering of the storm means waiting it out until Finn falls asleep. Daytime naps for Finn have reappeared now as a semi-regular occurrence. It is very much about "resetting" things and loosening his emotional tension a little. Regardless, it often comes as a blessing, as a different person awakes on the other end - normally a normal toddler, not the devil incarnate!
The transitionary sleep has come in a punishment - when I will put him (deliberately) on the comfy poof in his room on his own to sit quietly (i.e. cry loudly), and he just falls asleep - but more often it comes when he crawls into bed with Cori as she is putting Orry to sleep. Sometimes this makes for very cramped rests:
She was trapped like this for about 20 minutes, before she got away - or rather, changed positions.
It is a rare and short-lived thing for Orry to sleep out of her arms (or on her lap) - she was only really doing it in the bed in the knowledge that Finn would come in and peacefully regenerate through sleep!
You can hopefully make out in that second picture that the two different sheets are the bed and the cot (with a side taken off) up against it. This was the system that we were forced to with Finn after months or fighting him to stay asleep in the cot. This time round, with Orry, we knew that the fight wasn't worth it. He's been in the bed-add-on-cot since he moved up from the "Moses basket."
Sleep at night isn't great. In February it was bad (in March it got worse), but at least I was able to take him with Finn when we all (willingly or unwillingly!) got up at 6am or so. I would be able to play with Finn "with one hand," as Finn has taken into his phraseology ("Play with me, Deedah!", "Sorry, Finn, I've got to get Orry", "Play with me with one hand, Deedah!" etc.), while I hold Orry for an hour or so, and then I would be able to walk Orry around the living room for 10 minutes of screaming before he fell asleep and we could sit quietly for another 30 minutes or so. Sometimes the screaming woke Cori up, but sometimes it didn't (or she didn't admit it) and she got enough extra sleep to be human again on!
On the sleep topic, it's probably worth mentioning that Orry is a snorer, as well as being a snorter as he gets a feed. His cradle cap is also continuing and developing, so the folds in his sheets will accumulate a dusting of scalp flakes. Highly Eeew! inducing when you change the sheets.
Orry wears a lot of hats whenever we're out, his cradle cap is so bad. We have to admit to being very sorry that his baby-beauty is obviously marred by the flaky skin - it would be hard to deny it when people look a bit funny at him when his head is revealed. Though we are a little ashamed to admit that baby isn't perfect, and that we try and contrive to hide his head from people.
Accompanying this parent guilt is this picture, perfectly demonstrating both the dire appearance of the cradle cap and also the guilt-inducing perfect cuteness of Orry:
As a part of the recommended treatment, we have to brush off his scalp - to get off the crusty flakes - before a bath, which leaves a scene like this:
Please note that this is every day - not a build up over a week or so.
Not far behind in the unpleasant stakes is Finn, who remains a rather sweaty boy, as this picture of the aftermath of a 1-hour sleep demonstrates:
We were horrified to discover that his mattress was developing mould due to the dampness of his sweaty pillow during naps. The sweat-damp was seeping through and accumulating without air on the mattress under the pillow. Needless to say, we were thoroughly shocked and horrified to see this. We learnt very well that day that we need to sit up his pillow after eat sleep in order to air it out!
The other child problem reported last time - Orry's explosive excretions - continues unabated, numerous times each day. Here is the requisite picture of what we have to deal with constantly:
But, to try and counter the minuses so far, one plus was Orry lifting his head and being happy (for about 30 seconds) on his belly for the first time:
For Finn, like all first-time parents, we read a heap of Baby Development books. In contrast, for Orry, like all second-time parents, we've not read a single one. Therefore, we've done none of the "tummy time" things that one is supposed to do with their child. So we look back and see that Finn did things much sooner on than Orry has done or is doing. We sometimes feel like we should be gulity about this - not because we're not "developing" Orry enough, but because we're not so focussed on Orry (through his development) as we were on Finn. Sadly, that's always inevitable with "the second one," as the phrase is amongst our other parents-of-two-or-more friends.
Another plus-point is how good time with the two boys can be at times, and how lovely it can be. Every now and again, amongst all the aggravation and stress, you have to pinch yourself at how lovely and precious they both are and these times are.
(Please note that Finn can still get into that blue seat. Orry's thighs, even in this picture from February, mean that it is a squeeze to get him in at all!)
Although, having mention the magical parent moments, it is sometimes hard to see them when you're in these moments, such as when Finn wants a poo, as I am showering and Orry is momentarily happy to watch me as I am about to take a shower:
There is very little privacy in our household... We long for privacy... one day we'll get it back!
In that last picture Cori is inevitably about to start telling Finn a story as he poos. This developed in February from the generic, relatively fun, story-telling, into a story told about characters that Finn named. Inevitably, with a toddler, these were not very inventive characters.
So a great many stories have now been told about toilets, radiators, towels, doors, baths, showers, windows etc.
It was with the advent of the story-on-Finn's-characters that our hearts really sank at this story-on-the-loo regime. But some good stories have come out of it, such as this (slightly crass but in the context of being told to a three-year-old-who-is-mid-poo completely okay) story on Finn's characters:
But sometimes they don't work out, such as the time when Cori went to the toilet quickly and put Orry in the bouncy chair just to set him down - but even knowing that he can kick himself out of it she neglected to strap him in because she thought she'd be quick. But Orry starts kicking and Finn runs in to the bathroom saying "Mama! Orry's going to fall out of his chair!" and running off. After a few more shouts of "Mama! Mama!" he then came into the bathroom and calmly said - "It's ok Mama, I buckled him in so he won't fall off." At which point Cori speedily finished up and rushed to find this rather horrifying scene:
We were rather glad that she didn't take any longer - Orry was completely unphased by his position precariously close to being strangled! It was one of those parenting moments that everyone has where you are trying desperately to explain the seriousness of something to a child while trying very hard not to burst out in laughter!
You will note the blurred legs of Orry in that last picture. Orry is a jittery kicker. He can't be on his bouncy chair for a minute without having kicked about enough to get himself scooted down and onto the floor. The same kicking goes on when on his back and elsewhere. And, with his weight, it gets quite some momentum!
Bookending February was the Christening at one end and, at the other, filming in the Isle of Man. This was for the short film that I have written the script for over a year ago and which had won the competition to (be one of three films to) be produced. It ended up being a very long-winded process but, after months of disappointment and two failed schedules to shoot, the film was finally shot over a long weekend. The film was about five idiots trying to stage a re-enactment of a massive Viking battle - the Battle of Ronaldsway - which meant that there were some very long days for me down the other end of the Island hanging out with a bunch of film-makers and people in apparent Viking costume, which looked much like this:
(I can take no credit for these beautiful pictures, which are shamelessly stolen from the film's official photographer's collection).
Although all of the family (including Granny, aunt and cousins) came down to see the filming a short while on one of the days, I otherwise hardly saw anyone during the days I was on set; from an hour before sunrise until an hour or so after sunset, an hour away from the flat, at the other end of the Island. This meant that Cori was left to entertain Finn and Orry, but this was made a lot easier by having lots of new things to entertain the boys with in the flat:
Finn even achieved moments of high-bliss - with the combination of new toys, books and then food - such as this:
Whilst we're on the topic of playing in the Manx flat, it's probably appropriate to put in a picture that we took of a game that Finn got on with quietly by himself. It was taking off all of the blocks from the counting thing and arranging them into coloured pairs lain out on the floor, he then used these like pontoons and set out his series of cars across them perfectly. - It was a very strange activity to come in and find him silently engaged in:
But, inevitably, the novelty of new toys wears off quickly. It was a good thing that the cousins and family were around:
February had the additional excitement of Orry joining us for the first time. I think that we were all rather apprehensive about how it would go - would Orry get upset?, would Finn get upset?, would I remember what to do with a baby on my own?! etc. But it went perfectly: Finn was mostly self-sufficient, Orry was happy watching people, then he just merrily fell asleep for hours, before waking up happily at Sølve's, where he merrily took his milk from the bottle (for the first time) - excellent!
This particular trip to Dad's Club was also marked by the return of Finn's good friend, Lily, who had been away for months in Taiwan. She and Finn were back to their old ways within minutes, roaring around Dad's Club and having lots of fun. This was extended in Sølve's house when we all went there, and even had a story read to them, in Norwegian:
As you might see from the picture, Finn is completely engrossed in the story, despite not understanding a word that is being said. He still adores books and stories. But perhaps it was Sølve's dad's excellent reading (and beautiful Norwegian) that did it for him!
Finn wasn't perfectly behaved at Sølve's, as he was using his sense of rightness as a means of effectively bullying others. So Sølve would do something that Finn saw as not allowed, at which point he would stop and jab a finger at him shouting "No, Sølve! No!" This normally antagonised Sølve, who would do whatever-it-was more, and especially so if Lily joined in with the righteousness. - A rather unpleasant mix of antagonism!
This has developed as one of Finn's most troublesome behavioural habits; using someone else's wrong as an excuse to be aggressive and bullying. But it is one which is very hard to stop, since, in Finn's head, it's the other person who has transgressed.
This has even extended to Finn carrying that behaviour over to us: shouting negative things at us to things that he adopts the attitude of seeing as unfair: "No, Deedah! No!" Normally these are things like putting his shoes on, or going to the toilet before we leave the house etc.
These are seemingly Finn continuing to adapt to Orry being around - taking out his frustration at the situation and the lack of attention by aggressive negativity. But it is a tricky one, when the reaction to bad behaviour should be some form of chastisement, but the root of it has been a lack of affection.
Sigh.
It just means that we have been (and still are) weathering the storm rather, trying to make the best of it until we arrive at a new Normal. Sigh.
Often this weathering of the storm means waiting it out until Finn falls asleep. Daytime naps for Finn have reappeared now as a semi-regular occurrence. It is very much about "resetting" things and loosening his emotional tension a little. Regardless, it often comes as a blessing, as a different person awakes on the other end - normally a normal toddler, not the devil incarnate!
The transitionary sleep has come in a punishment - when I will put him (deliberately) on the comfy poof in his room on his own to sit quietly (i.e. cry loudly), and he just falls asleep - but more often it comes when he crawls into bed with Cori as she is putting Orry to sleep. Sometimes this makes for very cramped rests:
She was trapped like this for about 20 minutes, before she got away - or rather, changed positions.
It is a rare and short-lived thing for Orry to sleep out of her arms (or on her lap) - she was only really doing it in the bed in the knowledge that Finn would come in and peacefully regenerate through sleep!
You can hopefully make out in that second picture that the two different sheets are the bed and the cot (with a side taken off) up against it. This was the system that we were forced to with Finn after months or fighting him to stay asleep in the cot. This time round, with Orry, we knew that the fight wasn't worth it. He's been in the bed-add-on-cot since he moved up from the "Moses basket."
Sleep at night isn't great. In February it was bad (in March it got worse), but at least I was able to take him with Finn when we all (willingly or unwillingly!) got up at 6am or so. I would be able to play with Finn "with one hand," as Finn has taken into his phraseology ("Play with me, Deedah!", "Sorry, Finn, I've got to get Orry", "Play with me with one hand, Deedah!" etc.), while I hold Orry for an hour or so, and then I would be able to walk Orry around the living room for 10 minutes of screaming before he fell asleep and we could sit quietly for another 30 minutes or so. Sometimes the screaming woke Cori up, but sometimes it didn't (or she didn't admit it) and she got enough extra sleep to be human again on!
On the sleep topic, it's probably worth mentioning that Orry is a snorer, as well as being a snorter as he gets a feed. His cradle cap is also continuing and developing, so the folds in his sheets will accumulate a dusting of scalp flakes. Highly Eeew! inducing when you change the sheets.
Orry wears a lot of hats whenever we're out, his cradle cap is so bad. We have to admit to being very sorry that his baby-beauty is obviously marred by the flaky skin - it would be hard to deny it when people look a bit funny at him when his head is revealed. Though we are a little ashamed to admit that baby isn't perfect, and that we try and contrive to hide his head from people.
Accompanying this parent guilt is this picture, perfectly demonstrating both the dire appearance of the cradle cap and also the guilt-inducing perfect cuteness of Orry:
As a part of the recommended treatment, we have to brush off his scalp - to get off the crusty flakes - before a bath, which leaves a scene like this:
Please note that this is every day - not a build up over a week or so.
Not far behind in the unpleasant stakes is Finn, who remains a rather sweaty boy, as this picture of the aftermath of a 1-hour sleep demonstrates:
We were horrified to discover that his mattress was developing mould due to the dampness of his sweaty pillow during naps. The sweat-damp was seeping through and accumulating without air on the mattress under the pillow. Needless to say, we were thoroughly shocked and horrified to see this. We learnt very well that day that we need to sit up his pillow after eat sleep in order to air it out!
The other child problem reported last time - Orry's explosive excretions - continues unabated, numerous times each day. Here is the requisite picture of what we have to deal with constantly:
But, to try and counter the minuses so far, one plus was Orry lifting his head and being happy (for about 30 seconds) on his belly for the first time:
For Finn, like all first-time parents, we read a heap of Baby Development books. In contrast, for Orry, like all second-time parents, we've not read a single one. Therefore, we've done none of the "tummy time" things that one is supposed to do with their child. So we look back and see that Finn did things much sooner on than Orry has done or is doing. We sometimes feel like we should be gulity about this - not because we're not "developing" Orry enough, but because we're not so focussed on Orry (through his development) as we were on Finn. Sadly, that's always inevitable with "the second one," as the phrase is amongst our other parents-of-two-or-more friends.
Another plus-point is how good time with the two boys can be at times, and how lovely it can be. Every now and again, amongst all the aggravation and stress, you have to pinch yourself at how lovely and precious they both are and these times are.
(Please note that Finn can still get into that blue seat. Orry's thighs, even in this picture from February, mean that it is a squeeze to get him in at all!)
Although, having mention the magical parent moments, it is sometimes hard to see them when you're in these moments, such as when Finn wants a poo, as I am showering and Orry is momentarily happy to watch me as I am about to take a shower:
There is very little privacy in our household... We long for privacy... one day we'll get it back!
In that last picture Cori is inevitably about to start telling Finn a story as he poos. This developed in February from the generic, relatively fun, story-telling, into a story told about characters that Finn named. Inevitably, with a toddler, these were not very inventive characters.
So a great many stories have now been told about toilets, radiators, towels, doors, baths, showers, windows etc.
It was with the advent of the story-on-Finn's-characters that our hearts really sank at this story-on-the-loo regime. But some good stories have come out of it, such as this (slightly crass but in the context of being told to a three-year-old-who-is-mid-poo completely okay) story on Finn's characters:
The Toilet and the TrousersIn February Finn was getting more into the swing of life with Orry. This is not to say he liked it, which he did not. Although he completely accepts Orry as apart of the family - his brother and our baby - which means that he would never want to suggest our getting rid of him (as other children often do apparently), Finn will constantly ask us to put Orry down, or to give him to whichever of us is in the other room. But, at least, Finn is now begrudgingly in the rhythm of our not putting Orry down or otherwise palming him off on someone else far away from Finn. This means that we can ask Finn to carry out small and helpful tasks to help with Orry. They are pretty much symbolic, but meaningful and encouraging nonetheless.
A very nice toilet is lonely in a town in which no one lives, in an empty street, in a house that is no one’s home.
There is a boy who has no home, but only has a car. One day, when driving through the town, he discovers that he really needs a poo, so he must get out and find a toilet.
He goes to house, finds it open. Goes to the loo. He takes off trousers, sits down and poos. The toilet is very happy and so says “hello” to the boy, but the boy is surprised to hear the toilet speaking to him and he rushes off, leaving his trousers behind.
The trousers and toilet are now both sad to not have the boy.
The boy drives on to next town & again needs the loo. But when he gets out of the car without any trousers on no one lets him in to poo or wee anywhere. They just laugh at him and send him away.
He is forced to return to the house, where he finds the trousers and goes to the toilet again. The toilet and the boy have a nice chat, and the boy determines to stay with the toilet and trousers forever more.
But sometimes they don't work out, such as the time when Cori went to the toilet quickly and put Orry in the bouncy chair just to set him down - but even knowing that he can kick himself out of it she neglected to strap him in because she thought she'd be quick. But Orry starts kicking and Finn runs in to the bathroom saying "Mama! Orry's going to fall out of his chair!" and running off. After a few more shouts of "Mama! Mama!" he then came into the bathroom and calmly said - "It's ok Mama, I buckled him in so he won't fall off." At which point Cori speedily finished up and rushed to find this rather horrifying scene:
We were rather glad that she didn't take any longer - Orry was completely unphased by his position precariously close to being strangled! It was one of those parenting moments that everyone has where you are trying desperately to explain the seriousness of something to a child while trying very hard not to burst out in laughter!
You will note the blurred legs of Orry in that last picture. Orry is a jittery kicker. He can't be on his bouncy chair for a minute without having kicked about enough to get himself scooted down and onto the floor. The same kicking goes on when on his back and elsewhere. And, with his weight, it gets quite some momentum!
Bookending February was the Christening at one end and, at the other, filming in the Isle of Man. This was for the short film that I have written the script for over a year ago and which had won the competition to (be one of three films to) be produced. It ended up being a very long-winded process but, after months of disappointment and two failed schedules to shoot, the film was finally shot over a long weekend. The film was about five idiots trying to stage a re-enactment of a massive Viking battle - the Battle of Ronaldsway - which meant that there were some very long days for me down the other end of the Island hanging out with a bunch of film-makers and people in apparent Viking costume, which looked much like this:
(I can take no credit for these beautiful pictures, which are shamelessly stolen from the film's official photographer's collection).
Although all of the family (including Granny, aunt and cousins) came down to see the filming a short while on one of the days, I otherwise hardly saw anyone during the days I was on set; from an hour before sunrise until an hour or so after sunset, an hour away from the flat, at the other end of the Island. This meant that Cori was left to entertain Finn and Orry, but this was made a lot easier by having lots of new things to entertain the boys with in the flat:
Finn even achieved moments of high-bliss - with the combination of new toys, books and then food - such as this:
Whilst we're on the topic of playing in the Manx flat, it's probably appropriate to put in a picture that we took of a game that Finn got on with quietly by himself. It was taking off all of the blocks from the counting thing and arranging them into coloured pairs lain out on the floor, he then used these like pontoons and set out his series of cars across them perfectly. - It was a very strange activity to come in and find him silently engaged in:
But, inevitably, the novelty of new toys wears off quickly. It was a good thing that the cousins and family were around:
These last couple of photos gave cause to Finn, miraculously, being interested in holding his brother. We took a picture quickly before he realised that he wasn't interested in it in the slightest and chased off shouting after his cousins again!
The older boys were good with Orry though. Especially when it beat the other options - at one point when Cori had all the boys but needed to leave soon she told them they had the choice - either to help hang out the wet laundry to dry or to keep Orry from crying while she did it. Needless to say they all choose the second option. But the best part was how seriously they took it! She returned to find them all lain out attentively by him trying various toys to keep his attention - a very touching sight (even if Finn couldn't care less!):
But the most impressive thing that happened with Finn on the Island was his riding a bike, with stabilisers (US translation: training wheels) on of course.
It is not something that we've ever done with Finn, and so he has never had the opportunity to ride a bike and cycle pedals anywhere. But granny appeared with the mob of boys and with an extra bike. Finn fearlessly got on and was soon into the swing of it. At first he had to work out really how to do it and he wasn't very good, but he was soon doing it himself, and then he was racing around and refused to get off. It was amazing!
The only real problems were that he would often lose attention of what he was doing and he would look around and veer off in the direction of where he was looking rather than keep dead ahead. And also he was a bit too fast to be easily kept up with, especially with an Orry attached to you. These combined for some nerve-racking moments along the narrow pavement towards the boys' school, and also along the harbour with an unprotected drop into the water were he to go over (!!), but out on the promenade it was wonderful. So much so that Cori was even able to get the camera out to take a picture at last!
(For those not from the Isle of Man, it will probably be interesting to know that the regular pattern of squares on the pavement marks where they filled in the holes for the pillars that held up the barbed wire of the internment camp that was here during WWII).
We also got in a few big outings, including one to the inevitably very windy Point of Ayre:
And also to the treasure hunt around the old house, Milntown (which we had to re-name as the "Discovering Adventure" after Finn declared abstinently that he absolutely did not want to go on a "treasure hunt", even though he had no idea what a treasure hunt was!):
I also got the opportunity to have a very lovely Finn & I trip out to Maughold, where I was very proud of Finn for walking all the way up from the village, through the graveyard, up the road, and then up the steep hill of Maughold Head. It was a very long way, but perhaps it was the promise of the packed lunch that got him up there:
It was nice being there. It felt like I was sharing the Isle of Man with Finn; allowing him to claim something that is important to me as his own also.
It was just a shame that Orry, and Cori, was/were not there also. But they still got lots of Manx loveliness, even from just out the window:
Actually, it was very nice having Orry there on the Island, as it gave me an excuse to get out and walk with him for an hour or so around to town to get him to sleep a little out of Cori's arms. It was nice to stroll around the harbour and out around the park with him - I haven't had the opportunity just to wander around enjoying the place since Finn has been around. But it did wear me out...
A great time was had by all in the Isle of Man:
It only remains to put in here at the end two things that didn't make it in anywhere else before...
Cori's lovely improvised toys of two phones made from toilet rolls. A genius idea which was a lot of fun to play with. But it did rather shock us at the modernity of modernity when one of the key things Finn did with his phone was to take pictures with it (and insist that a button was added to allow him to do so)!
Also, you might have noted the occasional stretch on Orry's clothing on some of these pictures. He continues to grow at a pace. For Finn we were always baffled at why baby clothes were made so long and so baggy; but with Orry there has never seemingly been any bagginess whatsoever. We have had to leap through the sizes to keep Orry from bursting at the seams. In February, at only three or so months old, he was bursting at the seams (quite literally) in clothes marked as for 3-6 month olds. We moved him up into 6-9 month clothes but they fit him quite comfortably and aren't likely to last for long! Here was the photo that made us realise it was time to move up a size!
And, finally, for those that were observant, you probably asking how Orry coped in the Isle of Man, where one has to drive all the time. Well, the answer is: terribly. It is probably all this London life of public transport or in the carrier/wrap. He screamed with heart and soul for pretty much all of the car journeys. Even when he did sleep it was only after an enormous fight. And, when he did nod off, there was certainly a very loud and relieved sigh from all else involved!
End of February/ beginning of March brought American visitors, but more of that next time...
End of February/ beginning of March brought American visitors, but more of that next time...
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