September was an exciting month: Orry started crawling, bike trips, and much more. When I started writing this, I thought that it wouldn't take too long, but now that I soon ran into a post much too long for one reading, so I've split it into two: this time it happens to be mostly Orry, and the next one will be more of Finn (it wasn't planned that way - it was just written thus unthinkingly).
But first, the monthly pics:
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| 10 months old |
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| 11 months old |
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| 47 months old |
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| 48 months old (4 years old!!) |
Orry has added some new words to his vocabulary: "Deedah!" and "Hiya!"
The former generally comes as a part of a game where Cori will ask where I've gone to, Orry will look up as if perplexed, perhaps throw out his arms in a I-don't-know gesture, and then point at me with a big smile and say something very close to "Deedah!" This is, of course, the the name that Finn gave to me, somehow failing to say "Daddy" and reversing the sounds completely. I rather like it, so we're sticking to it with Orry.
Cori is rather annoyed about his happily saying "Deedah" - he responds to her suggestions of "Mama!" with a blank stare. But perhaps that is because he's never away from her and so has no need to call for her with anything but a crying wail when she leaves!
"Hiya!" is hardly the most elegant ways of greeting someone, but it is just something that he says in the "Hello!" situation. It's not something that we've taught him, and he's not been around anyone else to pick it up, so it is just him starting to say it instead of "Hello." We now encourage it, as we quite enjoy it from him.
Yet again it seems that we don't have any video of Orry saying these words - sorry, Orry! But we do have a video of him doing one of his favourite soundings: "Shhh!" This is a great game for Orry: watching us say "Shhh" and they repeating it back to us, vaguely putting his finger on, or near, or in his mouth as he does so. This is also often preceeded by his putting his finger to our mouth, hoping that we'll shhh to it as well.
Just in case it needs to be pointed out, it should be explained that, although this "Shhh!" game is lovely during the day, it can be rather annoying at night when we want to quiet him or lull him back to sleep. "Shhh" we'll say in our best parental calm, there is then a short silence, and then a "shhh" from Orry in response. This is then normally followed by a hearty sigh from us...
Bikes
We live at the top of our block of flats. The top of the winding stairwell leaves a great empty space perfect for locking up our bikes against the railings of the stairs - perfectly out of everyone's way and just outside the flat (and safe etc.). Islington Homes, the managers of the flats, however, disagree and have been hounding everyone to get everything out of the stairwell spaces for months. Luckily this coincided with some of the sheds on the estate becoming available and we leapt in to get one as a store for the bikes. It is not an insignificant cost, but it pays for itself in the saved bus fares when I get to use the bike.
In shifting all the bikes and scooters etc. into the shed, Finn surprised us all in asking to use the balance bike that he'd refused to ride outside for months until we'd given up trying to make him (as it meant taking it out and then having to carry it on our shoulder on the journey after the first five yards out the front door!). We were delighted about that and he successfully managed to step it down the road to the library. (Admittedly, other children glide their balance bikes, but Finn only just got onto it, so it's kind of understandable!). Here he is looking fantastic:
Note the attractive elbow and knee pads. These were selected by Finn at Halfords, where Cori had taken him to get his new helmet, since he had grown out of his last one. He is in a curiously female/girly mood these days in his tastes; hence the pink cup-cake themed pads. They are as good as useless, but they were cheap and they were only really an encouragement for him to go on the balance bike, which they certainly are.
We were half-thinking of getting him a real bike for his birthday, but we realised that he would probably choose the pinkest one in the shop, complete with doll baby basket and tassels. This would have tested even our openness to gender freedom!
The impetus for our replacing Finn's too-small-helmet was so that it could be passed onto Orry and we could get him on the bike. Once everything was in place, we tried him in it and he seemed quite happy about it (except when I cycled, but only because it meant that he was too far from his mum!):
Orry enjoyed it, but he was certainly a lot less in awe of the experience as Finn was when he first started. Unlike, Finn, who would sit silently staring at everything wide-eyed, Orry will watch things in his usual way and then try to find a way to bat at Cori's legs or grab at and otherwise get in the way of her arms or fiddle with any bike bits he could reach. By the end of the journey home after our first outing, it was clear that Orry was very relaxed on the bike (and Cori had a very long test of her skills as a one-handed cyclist, getting all the way from Mare Street, through Dalston, home with a sleeping Orry to support!):
Of course, Orry being in Finn's old seat meant that we had to get a new seat for Finn. As he is at the limit for the front-seat, we had to get one to go behind, as is normal for children's seats. It is horrible, unbalancing and, for us anyway, rather frightening and dangerous. Cori refuses to use it (though Orry gives her no choice), and I have to pretend not to be frightened for our safety as I wobble off into the road. Horrible. I have no idea how other people do it - I am no new-comer to this cycling thing, having been cycling in London since I was a student, but having a seat on the back is awful and I find it very hard to enjoy taking Finn out in it. But, at least people can see our lack of stability and do take account of it, noticeable giving us more space and time, which is very much appreciated!
London Fields
Our first trip on the bike was out to London Fields, east of us in Hackney. It is a wonderful park for children, and we don't go there enough as it is a bit of a hassle to get to - except for on a bike, when it is quite easy. So it was a pleasant (though fearfully wobbly) trip out there on a pleasant weekend day for a picnic:
We also got to play on the brilliant playground, including the massive slides. However, I was surprised to set Finn up at the top of the massive slide (initially just at his willingness to go on it!) and to rush down to the bottom to collect him, only to have him go down letting himself down an inch at a time by adeptly gripping the side. All the grown-ups there had a good laugh as Finn confidently let himself down singing to himself and taking in the views, while I laughed and called for him to get a move on, with a mob of kids eager to get going at the top there. All brilliant Finn. Hot work though:
Orry enjoyed himself too - being around kids, and Finn - what more could be wished for?!
Well, what he would have wished for is to not have to leave his mum, at all - not even for the time it takes for a photo to be taken...
Orry's attachment
Orry's need to be with Cori constantly reached new heights as the month drew on. This meant that even my hour or so with him and Finn in the morning as Cori caught up on sleep began to fall away as Orry began to cry too much to be able to carry it off. Cori's sleep suffered!
This is the same throughout the day: I cannot keep him from wailing in agony when she leaves the room - even if just for the space of time it takes to put something in the oven or even just to go to the toilet. It is very draining on her, and rather disheartening for me. (For my own part, it is a bit miserable that Orry would seemingly cry at the same pitch if I was there holding him and trying to distract him as if I wasn't there at all and he was left alone in the room - it's not very nice to realise that).
This is partly, we imagine, just a phase, but it would not be unconnected to the new nursery settling that was taking place towards the end of the month (more of that in a separate post). It is going to make things very tricky, especially since Orry is even more attached to her than Finn was. It is hard to imagine how we're going to cope over the coming month, but, I guess, we'll have to work something out.
Orry does love his mum though, very much.
Ok, that picture was actually of our humour at their being in stripes at the same time, which he didn't enjoy, but it is still funny. The better example of them enjoying each other's company is this little video:
Bikes
We live at the top of our block of flats. The top of the winding stairwell leaves a great empty space perfect for locking up our bikes against the railings of the stairs - perfectly out of everyone's way and just outside the flat (and safe etc.). Islington Homes, the managers of the flats, however, disagree and have been hounding everyone to get everything out of the stairwell spaces for months. Luckily this coincided with some of the sheds on the estate becoming available and we leapt in to get one as a store for the bikes. It is not an insignificant cost, but it pays for itself in the saved bus fares when I get to use the bike.
In shifting all the bikes and scooters etc. into the shed, Finn surprised us all in asking to use the balance bike that he'd refused to ride outside for months until we'd given up trying to make him (as it meant taking it out and then having to carry it on our shoulder on the journey after the first five yards out the front door!). We were delighted about that and he successfully managed to step it down the road to the library. (Admittedly, other children glide their balance bikes, but Finn only just got onto it, so it's kind of understandable!). Here he is looking fantastic:
Note the attractive elbow and knee pads. These were selected by Finn at Halfords, where Cori had taken him to get his new helmet, since he had grown out of his last one. He is in a curiously female/girly mood these days in his tastes; hence the pink cup-cake themed pads. They are as good as useless, but they were cheap and they were only really an encouragement for him to go on the balance bike, which they certainly are.
We were half-thinking of getting him a real bike for his birthday, but we realised that he would probably choose the pinkest one in the shop, complete with doll baby basket and tassels. This would have tested even our openness to gender freedom!
The impetus for our replacing Finn's too-small-helmet was so that it could be passed onto Orry and we could get him on the bike. Once everything was in place, we tried him in it and he seemed quite happy about it (except when I cycled, but only because it meant that he was too far from his mum!):
Orry enjoyed it, but he was certainly a lot less in awe of the experience as Finn was when he first started. Unlike, Finn, who would sit silently staring at everything wide-eyed, Orry will watch things in his usual way and then try to find a way to bat at Cori's legs or grab at and otherwise get in the way of her arms or fiddle with any bike bits he could reach. By the end of the journey home after our first outing, it was clear that Orry was very relaxed on the bike (and Cori had a very long test of her skills as a one-handed cyclist, getting all the way from Mare Street, through Dalston, home with a sleeping Orry to support!):
Of course, Orry being in Finn's old seat meant that we had to get a new seat for Finn. As he is at the limit for the front-seat, we had to get one to go behind, as is normal for children's seats. It is horrible, unbalancing and, for us anyway, rather frightening and dangerous. Cori refuses to use it (though Orry gives her no choice), and I have to pretend not to be frightened for our safety as I wobble off into the road. Horrible. I have no idea how other people do it - I am no new-comer to this cycling thing, having been cycling in London since I was a student, but having a seat on the back is awful and I find it very hard to enjoy taking Finn out in it. But, at least people can see our lack of stability and do take account of it, noticeable giving us more space and time, which is very much appreciated!
London Fields
Our first trip on the bike was out to London Fields, east of us in Hackney. It is a wonderful park for children, and we don't go there enough as it is a bit of a hassle to get to - except for on a bike, when it is quite easy. So it was a pleasant (though fearfully wobbly) trip out there on a pleasant weekend day for a picnic:
We also got to play on the brilliant playground, including the massive slides. However, I was surprised to set Finn up at the top of the massive slide (initially just at his willingness to go on it!) and to rush down to the bottom to collect him, only to have him go down letting himself down an inch at a time by adeptly gripping the side. All the grown-ups there had a good laugh as Finn confidently let himself down singing to himself and taking in the views, while I laughed and called for him to get a move on, with a mob of kids eager to get going at the top there. All brilliant Finn. Hot work though:
Orry enjoyed himself too - being around kids, and Finn - what more could be wished for?!
Well, what he would have wished for is to not have to leave his mum, at all - not even for the time it takes for a photo to be taken...
Orry's attachment
Orry's need to be with Cori constantly reached new heights as the month drew on. This meant that even my hour or so with him and Finn in the morning as Cori caught up on sleep began to fall away as Orry began to cry too much to be able to carry it off. Cori's sleep suffered!
This is the same throughout the day: I cannot keep him from wailing in agony when she leaves the room - even if just for the space of time it takes to put something in the oven or even just to go to the toilet. It is very draining on her, and rather disheartening for me. (For my own part, it is a bit miserable that Orry would seemingly cry at the same pitch if I was there holding him and trying to distract him as if I wasn't there at all and he was left alone in the room - it's not very nice to realise that).
This is partly, we imagine, just a phase, but it would not be unconnected to the new nursery settling that was taking place towards the end of the month (more of that in a separate post). It is going to make things very tricky, especially since Orry is even more attached to her than Finn was. It is hard to imagine how we're going to cope over the coming month, but, I guess, we'll have to work something out.
Orry does love his mum though, very much.
Ok, that picture was actually of our humour at their being in stripes at the same time, which he didn't enjoy, but it is still funny. The better example of them enjoying each other's company is this little video:
Orry's mobility
Orry is now crawling quite well. He can get from one side of the room to the other, and he can get himself to whatever he needs, but he certainly isn't one to just go crawling off. No, Orry is one to stay very close to his grown-up (i.e. Cori!) - why would be ever dream of moving more than a crawl's length away from them?! Indeed, I would even argue that when he first started crawling, at the start of the month, he crawled more than he did at the end, by which time he had got over the novelty of it all and wasn't that fussed about it.
Regardless, here is a video of Orry fresh into that crawling game, and doing a great zombie-like lurch of a crawl across the living room:
There is little doubt that walking is a long way off. But Orry is getting better at standing. There was a couple of weeks in September where he would really enjoy practising walking around with our holding him up, but he isn't so interested in it now - he either wants to be transported quicker, or else he doesn't want to shift at all!
Here is a video of him doing some great practice walking:
Orry "the lumper"
Perhaps a part of Orry's slowness is connected to the fact that he's massive. Here is the plot on the development chart that Orry received towards the start of the month, which showed him to be back well into the 99th percentile, having dropped away from that only a month or so ago.
Don't believe it? Take a closer look!
Here he is in his full chubby glory (helped by a good mood and the good post-rain sunset light!):
This rate of growth means that he's going through clothes sizes and other sizes much quicker than Finn did, and quicker than we had expected. It becomes increasingly hard to tell their clothes apart (or perhaps that's just me!). But at least it makes us very conscious of things that we know he will be too big to do before long, such as enjoying baths in the sink.
The little things
Another explanation (i.e. excuse) that we've been give for Orry's later development of the "gross motor skills" of walking and talking, is his relative proficiency at "fine motor skills." I.e. he's pretty good at his hands.
It is not really something that we reflect on or remark on - since it's just how he is - but we sometimes remember to look, and see, that some of what Orry is up to with his hands and feet is actually quite impressive. It might not sound like a lot, but it is apparently remarkable that at this age he's quite adept at turning the pages of books:
He enjoys books, though perhaps not as avidly as Finn did at this stage. It is a shame that we are not able to read to him more than we do, but this would always be the case with two children, I fear. Orry tends to like roughly the same sorts of books as Finn did (because they are better books!), with interesting variances. For us, it is hard to understand that he might like different books to what Finn did, because obviously those would be the ones that all babies should like. But we are unlearning things from Finn to relearn for Orry daily.
Some of his favourite toys are those from Finn's wooden train set. Orry loves to turn over the small signs in his hands, or bat the wheels of the trains, or, especially, buzz round the propellers of Harold the Helicopter (one of Orry's favourite toys). Admittedly, Finn and I only contrived to put him in the box (and briefly try to drive him around until we realised that he was too heavy to make light work of it!) and fill him in with toys only for the sake of this picture, but what a picture!
Another game that he picked up towards the end of the month is throwing things. Not in an aggressive way or even in a disruptive way (mostly); just in the way of an excellent thrower. If you sit in the right place a few yards away from him, you will be able to have a game of throwing the ball back and forth indefinitely. He will consistently throw the ball to you, laughing with happiness as he does so. The only thing that tends to end the game is Orry getting too excited and crawling towards you to retrieve the ball, and ending up directly in front of you and not nearly far enough away to throw!
We need to get a video of the great throwing game, but in the meantime here is a picture of Orry with balls in hand, ready for action:
This is also the picture (annoyingly slightly out of focus) that has Orry in Cori's favourite pose he often takes us - with his legs crossed. It is very cute.
Talking of Orry's legs, if you think all that stuff with his hands was impressive, you should hear him with his feet!
Outings
Cori is to start work mid-October, and so the count-down has begun to the end of freedom. So too were Finn and Orry to start nursery at the end of the month (more of that in another post). So Cori was keen to make the most of her time off, and so was going through her list of things to do and see. By mid-September, she had pretty much done it all, which was both great and also rather surprising to be able to get through it. Two of the final things were going to the aquarium and going on a canal trip. The latter will come later, but the former is easily told...
Cori went when I was in work, so it was just her and Finn and Orry. It was a very successful trip in that Finn and Orry were really into all the fish and they all had a great time. The only drawback for Cori was having to hold Orry up for so long to look at everything, but at least there was some very good below-the-floor tanks and also some good ones for them to sit and admire the stuff in. Excuse the pictures, taken in entirely dark settings!
They went to the aquarium on the Southbank, opposite the Houses of Parliament. It was raining, so they ate their lunch before going in...
On the way out Finn had this picture taken of him for my benefit, because he wanted me to be scared in thinking that the fish was eating him. He also had another picture taken of him smiling and stood up, just to show that he was "only teasing."
Although not really on Cori's Great To Do List, since it was where she used to work, we took a trip to the Museum of London Docklands. This is a well-known and well-liked place for Finn, and Orry, though it is hard for any of us to put our hearts into seeing it all and making the most of it when you know the place as well as we all do. But at least we always have fun there, and it is nice for Finn, and Orry, to feel at home in a place like the Museum. We went there for their Christina Broom photography exhibition, which explains this silly collage picture of us all taking our turn in the picture board thingy.
Whilst we're at it, here's Finn and Orry getting on well in a barrel... it's the sort of thing you get to do as kids in the Museum of London!
Two boys in a barrel? What could be a better place to stop? Nothing! - Second part coming soon...
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