After the previous blog on the Isle of Man part of the start of 2016, this is the London half, full of developments and adventures...
Upon returning to London, we were glad to find that the magic of the Christmas presents didn't wear off in transit. For example, Orry's balls for Finn's castle-thing made a great (though rather wet-spreading) addition to the boys' bath:
Also, it was great to have the weekend Orry-naps in which to settle down with Finn and get stuck into some of the things that would be impossible to work on with his younger brother about. One of these was the new Lego that he got (Finn is pictured here with his building assistant):
This Lego-building will take between 30 minutes and an hour to make, with lots of good patience and good team-work to get it done. Once it is complete, it is immediately the most precious thing he owns and it is put up on a high shelf so that there is no way that Orry will be able to even see it, let alone get it!
This high-selfing of stuff is a regular part of Finn's daily routine. We have to go around and put back in their places an assortment of rather random things at the end of the weekend - often normal toy cars or even Orry toys that Finn had been playing with and so it was inconceivable that Orry could touch them at all!
Another favourite of the Orry nap-time activities is the body replica complete with sticky rubber internal organs. Although we're both rather creeped out by it, Finn loves to get out the tweezers and pull out the organs, position them on the accompanying sheet, and then read about them in the little book. - It's also good for us too to get to understand things like what the liver does etc. - We're very pleased about this one, as gruesome as it is:
This body interest in Finn has also meant that we've been working through his lift-up-the-flap body books, reading a page every night. Combined with the gutsy replica person, he should be quite the expert by now... or, rather, he would be if he didn't take the analogies for excitable illustrations of bacteria too literally and get himself in a bit of a muddle about monsters in our body etc.!
Since there were pictures of a bath just now, here is a video from January - of the boys being treated to bubbles in the bath. This should demonstrate Orry's excitement about the things, and also his mastering of his expressing it all in the one word: "Bubbles!"
Upon returning to London, we were glad to find that the magic of the Christmas presents didn't wear off in transit. For example, Orry's balls for Finn's castle-thing made a great (though rather wet-spreading) addition to the boys' bath:
Also, it was great to have the weekend Orry-naps in which to settle down with Finn and get stuck into some of the things that would be impossible to work on with his younger brother about. One of these was the new Lego that he got (Finn is pictured here with his building assistant):
This Lego-building will take between 30 minutes and an hour to make, with lots of good patience and good team-work to get it done. Once it is complete, it is immediately the most precious thing he owns and it is put up on a high shelf so that there is no way that Orry will be able to even see it, let alone get it!
This high-selfing of stuff is a regular part of Finn's daily routine. We have to go around and put back in their places an assortment of rather random things at the end of the weekend - often normal toy cars or even Orry toys that Finn had been playing with and so it was inconceivable that Orry could touch them at all!
Another favourite of the Orry nap-time activities is the body replica complete with sticky rubber internal organs. Although we're both rather creeped out by it, Finn loves to get out the tweezers and pull out the organs, position them on the accompanying sheet, and then read about them in the little book. - It's also good for us too to get to understand things like what the liver does etc. - We're very pleased about this one, as gruesome as it is:
This body interest in Finn has also meant that we've been working through his lift-up-the-flap body books, reading a page every night. Combined with the gutsy replica person, he should be quite the expert by now... or, rather, he would be if he didn't take the analogies for excitable illustrations of bacteria too literally and get himself in a bit of a muddle about monsters in our body etc.!
Since there were pictures of a bath just now, here is a video from January - of the boys being treated to bubbles in the bath. This should demonstrate Orry's excitement about the things, and also his mastering of his expressing it all in the one word: "Bubbles!"
Although Orry is very good at "bubbles," he often uses the word for balls of any description, balloons, or droplets of water, or even sometimes as just an expression of excitement.
He know where the bubbles are kept (on top of a bookshelf, opposite the bathroom and close to the kitchen), so he will sometimes interrupt conversation in the corridor with an outstretching pointing finger and a shout of "Bubbles! - liable to be repeated until someone acknowledges that there are indeed bubbles within sight.
This happens most frequently as we are trying to leave for nursery of a morning. This is possible as the departure is always delayed by Finn having to "hide" behind the doors to the coat closet at the end of the corridor. He will stand behind the doors (he can't get into the closet, so the doors are barely closed), and we all have to erupt into a "Where's Finn?!" chorus, with exaggerated outstretched arms of wonder (often imitated by Orry also), with Cori looking behind one door and then then other without finding him, before he bursts out smiling and we all have to show shock and surprise... All of which is normally too long-winded for my Let's-Get-Out-The-Door-We're-Late grump of a morning, but I manage to grin and endure it...!
Before talking about the other exciting stuff that we got up to in January, we're best say something about Orry's developments.
Firstly, inevitably, there is the teeth update: having been hard at it from the go, Orry is now onto working on a full set of teeth: 8 top and 8 bottom. The final pairs of molars at the back (the 'two year' molars - hah!) is shaping up to be hard hard work: sleepless nights, drooling, and full-hand-in-the-mouth in order to reach the back of his mouth. All-in-all a misery, but here's to hoping that we can soon settle in for an easy ride from here on in...!
Secondly, and the big news for Orry, is that he is now a well-established shouter, thrower and rule-breaker. Perhaps the easiest way of showing it is in a video, such as this one:
Note the throwing, the tipping up and dumping of the table mat (going where his plate and cutlery had gone not long before), and his standing in the chair. In case you need it, here are some key bullet points about features of Orry's behaviour:
Back in December there was a lovely moment when Orry crawled over to the bookshelf and was about to pull off the books.files. I called out "No," good and stern as you're supposed to. Orry stopped looked at me, shook his head, touched the books/files, watched my shaking of the head, shook his head again, and ambled off. Success!
However, that was almost the only time it has happened. Now he barely acknowledges it when we do give him our sternest "No." We are rather at a loss of what we're supposed to do about it all. Sometimes it even goes backwards. When he hits he gets a stern "No" as we grab his hands, then a calmer 'gentle.' But he seemed to just learn to connect the word 'gentle' with hitting. So if you happened to be near Orry when you mentioned the word in conversation he would get excited and gleefully hit you in the face, proud that he knew what 'gentle' meant.
He's so unlike Finn in this respect - who was always very good at listening to our "no"s. It is good to see him developing into his very distinct and very different self, but we are growing rather worried about not being about to handle him very soon...
Orry is also a climber. This presents its own problems, especially when we are, occasionally during our otherwise 24-hour watching, called away for a moment and we return to find the previously quietly reading-a-book-on-the-floor child much like this:
There was another moment when Cori left him in the kitchen as she went for a wee and came back to find him in his highchair - having somehow scaled it up and over the top. Granted, he was sitting in it backwards and rather stuck, but still an impressive (if dangerous) achievement that we're all a bit baffled as to how he actually managed it!
One of the highlights of the month for Cori - and Finn, probably - was "Lumiere London".
Put very simply, this was a light show thing across a few sites in central London. However, it was a very good one, done in very inventive ways, and it was a very special experience for Finn, and for Cori to be there with him. - As Cori noted in Facebook...
These pictures include: an interactive light display in Trafalgar Square, a beautiful and traffic-stopping light art work over Oxford Circus, and a lit-up fish-tank inside a phonebox in Kensington. Unpictured are the ones of the moving elephant over Admiralty Arch on Regent's Street, the people clambering over a building at King's Cross, the giant light-fish swimming down Oxford Street, and much else.
Cori's report of it was of how breath-taking the whole experience was, and how excited Finn was by it all, and made all the more so by its being a special "night-time adventure."
Although it was evidently a magical experience for the both of them, Finn sometimes rather under-delivers on how he reports things and what he speaks of. So we were unsurprised to hear his report of what he was looking forward to telling his nursery friends most the next day. "The pigeon that poo-ed on our window," he said, matter-of-factly, pointing at the window with a speck of white on. Humph.
Before going on to speak about the more conventional "adventures," I should first give a couple of pictures and stories which don't fit elsewhere...
A picture of Orry after swimming, trying to find a way out of the "pen" in the women's changing room, where Cori can park him as she quickly dries & dresses herself... I just find the picture rather silly:
The adventures for the month include a new Museum for us - the Air Force Museum in North London. We went there with Cori's former work-mates and had a great time, especially at the interactive bit (my favourite bit of which was the air-blower meant to keep a ball in the air (but often used as a producer of humour at children's expense)):
Another good day was our "Roman Adventure Day."
Finn has been interested in Roman Britain since he'd found the pictures of it in one of his books, This was helped with a open-the-flap London history book at Christmas, which had a Londinium page. So, putting these together, we thought that we'd mount our Roman Adventure Day. This consisted in: Museum of London Roman gallery (including a pot dug up from outside my work), the remains of the Roman London City Wall (i.e. "London Wall"), Guildhall Yard (the home of the amphitheatre), and the Guildhall Yard gallery with a section preserved from when it was excavated not long ago.
The pics...
Admittedly, this was kind of rubbish in the telling, and probably in Finn's experience also. Finn was done with it by the end of the day, and he's not really spoken about the Romans too much since, but it was good to have done, and to hopefully have had some impact on Finn's understanding of history and London.
But, after that highfalutin London-Parent bit, here's a picture of Orry in ear-muffs to send you off happy:
He know where the bubbles are kept (on top of a bookshelf, opposite the bathroom and close to the kitchen), so he will sometimes interrupt conversation in the corridor with an outstretching pointing finger and a shout of "Bubbles! - liable to be repeated until someone acknowledges that there are indeed bubbles within sight.
This happens most frequently as we are trying to leave for nursery of a morning. This is possible as the departure is always delayed by Finn having to "hide" behind the doors to the coat closet at the end of the corridor. He will stand behind the doors (he can't get into the closet, so the doors are barely closed), and we all have to erupt into a "Where's Finn?!" chorus, with exaggerated outstretched arms of wonder (often imitated by Orry also), with Cori looking behind one door and then then other without finding him, before he bursts out smiling and we all have to show shock and surprise... All of which is normally too long-winded for my Let's-Get-Out-The-Door-We're-Late grump of a morning, but I manage to grin and endure it...!
Before talking about the other exciting stuff that we got up to in January, we're best say something about Orry's developments.
Firstly, inevitably, there is the teeth update: having been hard at it from the go, Orry is now onto working on a full set of teeth: 8 top and 8 bottom. The final pairs of molars at the back (the 'two year' molars - hah!) is shaping up to be hard hard work: sleepless nights, drooling, and full-hand-in-the-mouth in order to reach the back of his mouth. All-in-all a misery, but here's to hoping that we can soon settle in for an easy ride from here on in...!
Secondly, and the big news for Orry, is that he is now a well-established shouter, thrower and rule-breaker. Perhaps the easiest way of showing it is in a video, such as this one:
Note the throwing, the tipping up and dumping of the table mat (going where his plate and cutlery had gone not long before), and his standing in the chair. In case you need it, here are some key bullet points about features of Orry's behaviour:
- Almost immediate tipping-over or dumping-out of his plate or bowl. The best way to avoid this is to deliver it with good food in. Alternatively, give it to him empty, and pick it up off the floor before putting the food in.
- Throwing things, often very dangerous things, like toys, especially cars or trains. These are liable to hit anyone within range.
- Throwing food. Luckily this only happens towards the end of Orry's eating, when he's bored of eating and would prefer to throw the food. This makes it easy to deal with - just in quick and take away the plate! Finn gets the worst of it, sitting opposite him at the table. Sometimes this can be funny, as he has to dodge being pelted with a lump of chicken whilst eating, or merrily continues eating away something nice as Orry adds to it from across the table. Sometimes though it's not funny, such as when he throws a masticated lump of something into our water. Luckily he's not into throwing cutlery - which is a minor blessing.
- Hitting people with things. We are now having to warn Finn about getting out of Orry's way when things look in danger. This will generally be when Orry has something in his hands weapon-like. Drum sticks are a favourite, but also the longer trucks or train-tracks. Thankfully we can see when he's about to do it - as he raises his arm and pauses before hitting anyone - so we can leap in and avert the disaster.
Back in December there was a lovely moment when Orry crawled over to the bookshelf and was about to pull off the books.files. I called out "No," good and stern as you're supposed to. Orry stopped looked at me, shook his head, touched the books/files, watched my shaking of the head, shook his head again, and ambled off. Success!
However, that was almost the only time it has happened. Now he barely acknowledges it when we do give him our sternest "No." We are rather at a loss of what we're supposed to do about it all. Sometimes it even goes backwards. When he hits he gets a stern "No" as we grab his hands, then a calmer 'gentle.' But he seemed to just learn to connect the word 'gentle' with hitting. So if you happened to be near Orry when you mentioned the word in conversation he would get excited and gleefully hit you in the face, proud that he knew what 'gentle' meant.
He's so unlike Finn in this respect - who was always very good at listening to our "no"s. It is good to see him developing into his very distinct and very different self, but we are growing rather worried about not being about to handle him very soon...
Orry is also a climber. This presents its own problems, especially when we are, occasionally during our otherwise 24-hour watching, called away for a moment and we return to find the previously quietly reading-a-book-on-the-floor child much like this:
There was another moment when Cori left him in the kitchen as she went for a wee and came back to find him in his highchair - having somehow scaled it up and over the top. Granted, he was sitting in it backwards and rather stuck, but still an impressive (if dangerous) achievement that we're all a bit baffled as to how he actually managed it!
One of the highlights of the month for Cori - and Finn, probably - was "Lumiere London".
Put very simply, this was a light show thing across a few sites in central London. However, it was a very good one, done in very inventive ways, and it was a very special experience for Finn, and for Cori to be there with him. - As Cori noted in Facebook...
Some of my favorite childhood memories are getting ready for bed after dinner only to be surprised with a trip out somewhere (usually ice cream). Tonight I shared that joy. After getting Finn in his pajamas (double layered because it is COLD) we set off into the city to have a 'nighttime adventure' and see Lumiere London. It's not often Finn and I get to hang out just the two of us and it was really really lovely. I hope he's old enough to remember the magic but if not, I'll remind him - I'm not likely to forget it any time soon.It was something that Cori was keen to do, and it was something that I wasn't bothered about - it just sounded cold and a lot of effort to me - so we decided that it would be easiest if she went off with Finn on their own adventure, and I stayed home with Orry. We were both happy with that; I stayed warm and relaxed (after 15 minutes of tears and screaming), and she got to go and see this...
These pictures include: an interactive light display in Trafalgar Square, a beautiful and traffic-stopping light art work over Oxford Circus, and a lit-up fish-tank inside a phonebox in Kensington. Unpictured are the ones of the moving elephant over Admiralty Arch on Regent's Street, the people clambering over a building at King's Cross, the giant light-fish swimming down Oxford Street, and much else.
Cori's report of it was of how breath-taking the whole experience was, and how excited Finn was by it all, and made all the more so by its being a special "night-time adventure."
Although it was evidently a magical experience for the both of them, Finn sometimes rather under-delivers on how he reports things and what he speaks of. So we were unsurprised to hear his report of what he was looking forward to telling his nursery friends most the next day. "The pigeon that poo-ed on our window," he said, matter-of-factly, pointing at the window with a speck of white on. Humph.
Before going on to speak about the more conventional "adventures," I should first give a couple of pictures and stories which don't fit elsewhere...
A picture of Orry after swimming, trying to find a way out of the "pen" in the women's changing room, where Cori can park him as she quickly dries & dresses herself... I just find the picture rather silly:
The adventures for the month include a new Museum for us - the Air Force Museum in North London. We went there with Cori's former work-mates and had a great time, especially at the interactive bit (my favourite bit of which was the air-blower meant to keep a ball in the air (but often used as a producer of humour at children's expense)):
Another good day was our "Roman Adventure Day."
Finn has been interested in Roman Britain since he'd found the pictures of it in one of his books, This was helped with a open-the-flap London history book at Christmas, which had a Londinium page. So, putting these together, we thought that we'd mount our Roman Adventure Day. This consisted in: Museum of London Roman gallery (including a pot dug up from outside my work), the remains of the Roman London City Wall (i.e. "London Wall"), Guildhall Yard (the home of the amphitheatre), and the Guildhall Yard gallery with a section preserved from when it was excavated not long ago.
The pics...
Admittedly, this was kind of rubbish in the telling, and probably in Finn's experience also. Finn was done with it by the end of the day, and he's not really spoken about the Romans too much since, but it was good to have done, and to hopefully have had some impact on Finn's understanding of history and London.
But, after that highfalutin London-Parent bit, here's a picture of Orry in ear-muffs to send you off happy:
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