April #2: Kitchen, hair-cut, river cruise & Hampstead photos

Picking up from the previous post for April, a special place for Orry's Trouble-Making is in the kitchen.
He now throws food less frequently than he used to, but he certainly still dumps it out at pretty much every meal (if we don't catch him first). The dumping-out is normally onto the table, which he will then swipe side-to-side with his spoon until it is all gone (onto the floor, walls, door, anyone close-by etc.). Or, if it is liquid, he will slap it with his hand, splashing everything within range.
One of the terrible new things he started doing in April was standing up in his chair. This he will do when he's finished in the meal, or just bored. Standing like that on his chair, two or three feet up in the air is incredibly dangerous, and so we have to be on our constant guard to leap to and take him down whenever it happens. Hence Finn's being able to capture this view:

This was a part of a sequence of pictures which Finn took with his camera, showing what the kitchen looks like from where he is at every meal:

Another annoying fad of Orry's in April - though only for a couple of days - was wanting to share Cori's chair. This was annoying for a great many reasons, not least of which was the mess that resulted, and the complete impracticality of it all!

Finn was not perfect at dinner either in April. He took to entering the kitchen and immediately whining that he didn't like that food and that he didn't want it. A very discouraging thing to hear having cooked under pressure from a hungry pack of kids for an hour!
Another picture of Orry in the kitchen is this one, which demonstrates more or Orry being annoying (in Finn's chair, drinking from Finn's cup, having bullied himself into having a biscuit!), and also his rediculous hair!

... which leads rather nicely into the story of Orry's first hair-cutting...
I was amazed to hear Cori say that she thought that it was time to cut Orry's hair. It clearly was time, but I was surprised that she saw it of a sudden, having let it slide for months. So I leapt upon it and we set to that evening in the bath. Sadly, Cori wouldn't let me do it, but then proceeded to do an equally bad job with Orry as I ever did with Finn - I felt vindicated:

Orry didn't really seem to care that much about the hair-chopping that was going on. He only really got bothered by it once we were trying to have him turn around to do the other side, at which point he put up a fight and that was the end of that. But we got the worst of it (though we had to admit defeat a few weeks later, in May, and go to the barbers):

I haven't spoken about Finn much so far, so here are a few outstanding Finn In April things...

After his spate of illnesses in March and before, he took to going into nursery claiming that he was still not well. He would show this with a great deal of dramatic coughing to order whenever anyone asked how he was. Very silly, and enjoyed very much by his nursery workers of a morning.

On that note, Finn's nursery workers are wonderful and evidently enjoy the children and their company a lot. But it is especially lovely to see some of them evidently pleased to have Finn's (and Orry's) company of a morning. Olive in particular is someone who enjoys having a little conversation with Finn when he comes in. This is mainly because of the strange things that Finn will say, and so Olive has learnt to test him on it, asking him what he thinks of her hair, or her clothes, or this or that. Without at all being intentional, he will often come out with something good to make her smile or laugh. - A lovely thing to see before I say goodbye and get on my bike off to work.

It was his nursery who asked Finn to get out a book about bugs from the library (which they knew he visited each week). It was a strange thing to ask, but perhaps it made sense in context. So we duly got out a couple of Bug Books and set about learning about bugs - everything from locusts and cockroaches through to praying mantises and dung beetles. I and he learnt a lot (not least that the Giant Water Beetle is the stuff of nightmares), and it was great to get something new for Finn to get stuck into. It is wonderful for him to come out knowing words like "camouflage" and knowing the idea of life-cycles, or being comfortable with speaking of 'male' and 'female' bugs. Bugs, and animals generally, are not his thing - he much prefers "machines" - but it is nice to expand his horizons a little.
Here is he looking very pleased by his favourite book of April (open at the Thorn Bug & Cicada page):

Talking of Finn's avid thirst to learn, Cori was very impressed by his powers of deduction as we were preparing to go on a rather unusual and special "Adventure", as she told it on Facebook:

Finn is too clever.
Today we're going on a "surprise adventure" and he watched me packing the bag. I chose two storybooks to take with us - 'Brilliant Boats' and 'The Tugboat'
He immediately shouted "Oh! Are we taking a boat trip on the River Thames!? Hooray!!"
There goes the "surprise"

The river trip was something which Cori got on special offer, which got us a reasonable priced meal, on a boat. Since we were thinking that we should treat Finn to a boat trip anyway, this sounded like a great plan. And it was - we all had a great time!

There was not just excitement "in town", but also at home. One Saturday morning, between 10 and 11am a party burst into action outside our flat's main door. A heap of people buzzing around, dancing, chatting, clapping, as a drummer and a piper made a heap of joyous noise. A wedding, we discovered, as the bride appeared. It was a great thing to see, and we were delighted to take it all in, though Orry was asleep throughout, and Finn could only muster a minute's interest before wandering off again. It was a beautiful thing, and one worth recording here as a marker for how wonderful and exciting London can be, even on your own doorstep, and also as a marker of how much we love this city of ours:

There is the great Hampstead photo session to finish with, but we have a few other little things before we get there, such as the new thing for April of Orry walking off to action as soon as he hears the key word. So, if you're in the lounge and the word "breakfast" is mentioned, he will immediately be on his feet and will patter off at a pace to the kitchen to try and climb into his seat. The same for other things, like 'Mama' or 'bath' or 'Finn'. Of course, this can be when we're talking about something else entirely and just happen to land on one of the key words. And also, needless to say, this is not when it is something that he is not interested in or does not like - 'nappy', for instance, will tend to send him out of the room away from you rather than attract him to the changing mat!

Here's Orry in Finn's sunglasses, looking as cool outwardly as he always is inside:

Orry is very good at picking things up and impersonating others doing something. This is especially the case when it is his brother who he is impersonating. We were delighted when he picked up the dance which Finn brought home to show us from nursery - sitting down and joining in when Finn taught Cori the moves, and then happily launching into it frequently of his own accord thereafter. He's very good at it...

Here are some pictures of the boys in silly head-wear - why not:

Here is one of my favourite pictures of me and my mate Orry from April, evidently taken at some point early in the morning!

Finn carries off handfuls of toys from the lounge to hoard in his room daily, which have to be moved back as a part of the tidy-up as they're sleeping each night. (Either that or leave piles of toys precariously building up on the top of Finn's cabinets and wardrobe out of Orry's reach!). When I went through one evening I was humoured to see the trains in the doll's house (which he now doesn't use at all as a doll's house, as far as I have seen of late):

And where had all the doll's materials gone to? - I am delighted to report that Finn's true nature was in evidence in that they had all been packed into convoy of vehicles and was evidently in the process of being shipped off somewhere else to make way for the so-much-more-important trains!

So, after all of that, we're left with just the Hampstead photos. There are a lot of them. Brace yourselves!

We went there to have lunch...

And also to fly the kite...

To look good...

To have fun...

And to achieve that holy grail of all families, the perfect family photo...

It isn't perfect, but it's as close as we can hope for. Such is life.

April #1: Georgie trip, annoying Orry and Museum sketching

April is a long time ago as I write this (in mid-June!), so I fear that some of the detail is now lost. Apologies. But let's plug on regardless, beginning with "this" month's pictures...

17 months old

18 months old

54 months (4 years 6 months) old

55 months (4 years 7 months) old

The very first thing to happen in April was another part of the Manx cousin's England trip - a trip down to see Finn & Orry's cousin, Georgie.
We rarely see them, as they don't come into London as a family, and it is some way to see them, etc. But the Manx cousin's being over was a good impetus for us to make the trip. This was especially helped by Finn's granddad coming down to give us a lift in his car. It is unclear what Finn was most excited about: the Manx cousins, the trip to Georgie's (and her toys), or a trip in the car. Regardless, Finn had a great time, as we all did.

Georgie and Orry are only months apart (with Georgie the older), so it was lovely to see them together and getting on. Their interactions, however, were rather influenced by the presence of the bigger boys and other strangers to the house, who Georgie was very conscious of. Lots of perfectly understandable hiding behind her parents' legs etc. Orry wasn't so fussed though - he quite happily pushed past the older boys to get to the toys once he'd spied them upon entering!
Here are Finn's pictures, including his Children's Table colleague for the lunch, Jake:

On the way back we filmed a video out the window of the train (Granddad was going on to other places, and so couldn't Return Trip us). Since it was mostly of a train, it was watched about ten times daily for the next fortnight and then regularly from then on. Whenever we found Finn taking a long time on the toilet, or quietly sat on his own in his room, we could go in and find him watching this on his camera:

There are quite a few pictures without stories, and stories without pictures, so I might leap in and give these unaccounted-fors...

We were having a look at Finn's globe one time and he interrupted my pointing out whatever it was that we were looking at it for (probably locating some country or other which had come up in conversation). He pointed to the rim around the middle of the globe where the two plastic halves had been bound together.
"Is that the blood of Jesus?" he asked.
I was not a little surprised to hear the question, but I was pleased that he should remember something so well from four months previous. The question was coming from the Christingle Church Service which we'd been to in the Isle of Man at Christmas, where "the blood of Christ" is represented by a red band around an orange. - Another good example of Finn's surprising excellent memory at times. It is also a good case of how such a memory and good question-asking might catch people out if they don't know him well!
"No," I said, "it's where they stuck the two halves of the globe together."
"Oh, I see!"
And that was the end of that.

We continue to go to Dad's Club. Having been there since Finn was around one, I am the longest-attending father, and Finn is the oldest child there. He is always greeted with glee and friendship from the people who run it - "Alright, Finn!" / "It's my mate, Finn!" etc. Finn, of course, takes it in his stride, and reponds with a "Hi, Simon" and proceeds to tell them about whatever it is that is the burning issue of that moment (such as a cat he'd seen on the way, or the shirt he has on that day etc.). It fills me with happiness to see.
The thing which changed in April was that Orry "graduated" out of the baby's area. This is the section laid out with baby-toys, with crawlers crawling and little to no standing going on. Lots of relaxed fathers sat down chatting over their babies. But, now that Orry is absolutely a walker, and distinctly more interested in the bigger children things - like cars, or trains, or just the bigger children - he now is utterly uninterested in the babies' corner. Rather, he can sit with Finn at the cars for an hour, or ruckus about on the outdoor play area for an hour, or wander about seeing what's going on. It is great to see such exploration and engagement with things by Orry. Such great independence. I am sometimes now only really needed to help him do something dangerous, like climb up on the windowsill (he's going to do it either way, so he might as well do it with safety!).
The only real problem with this great independence and discovery is that it can be entirely interrupted by the cooked breakfast. This has been known to occupy Orry for 45-60 minutes. This far outstretches Finn's patience, as he often is too busy playing to even bother having anything. It is also much longer than I could eat for, and much longer than anyone else eats for. It is just Orry, slowly working his way through his beans, and sausages, and toast etc. It is nice for me though as it is just me sitting down and having a chat to a succession of dads who come and go to eat around us before going on. And, of course, they all comment on what good cutlery skills Orry has - which is very true - and how big he is - which is also true.
It is strange to see Orry move on from the baby area. It means that we leave behind the dads and babies who we'd got to know there, and start making new friends with new dads and their children. And, of course, Orry, and I, will never really go back to the babies' area. It is strange to graduate so, especially the second time around. It makes you realise that each period of Orry's childhood will only be with us for a while, and that period is now done with and put away. Sigh.

[In case you can't tell, this is Orry trying to do here what Finn was doing with the train - one of Orry's favourite occupations is copying Finn!]

A story which I like very much relates to Finn's good memory, his dogged inquisitiveness, and his desire to understand things.
At the swimming pool Finn was with Cori in the changing room and was quite surprised when he caught a glimpse of "blood in your knickers, Mama!" He very much wanted to know what it was and why it was there. Cori answered by saying that they were in a hurry and that she'd explain it to him later. The hope was, of course, that he would forget and not ask again. Finn, being Finn, however, did ask again, and again, days later and more. Finn was obviously not going to stop asking, and so Cori had to explain it to him. She did a great job and explained it simply along these lines: "When babies are inside their mummy's belly, they need blood to help them grow. But if a mummy doesn't have a baby in her belly, then the blood isn't needed, and so it comes out." Finn was satisfied by this, and went quietly off without any further questions - job done!
However, when collecting Finn from nursery the next day, Cori was met with congratulations by the staff there for her evident excellent explanation to Finn, and also with praise for Finn's memory and understanding as he had apparently been explaining to all the other children about women "losing blood" in a straight-forward and clear way. Cori was delighted though somewhat embarrassed, as the staff had been earlier when they overheard Finn doing the explaining!

Orry had stopped having two naps a day by April. Instead, he was down to just one a day, which normally fell after lunch. However, whenever we go out of a weekend, he will have a snooze in the carrier or push chair as we're on the way to the place (and then inevitably miss the post-lunch nap in the excitement, before having a one-the-way-home snooze). This presents us with the question of whether we mooch around the flat for the morning, and then get forced to stay in as Orry naps in the afternoon, much to our lazy happiness (but parental guilt), or, alternatively, go out and do something exciting, but be on your feet for 6 hours, with a lump of baby attached to you... A hard choice!

On the sleep theme, Orry does a great yawn in response to the question of whether he's tired or not. We have no idea where it comes from - perhaps from us or the nursery workers doing the impression to explain the meaning of the question - but it is very funny, and a great example of Orry's impressive aping skills:

Also related to Orry's sleeping is the fact that he now wakes from his afternoon nap without crying or shouting. When he's awake and ready to be so, he will sit up, rub his eyes a bit, then clamber sleepily off the bed and totter through to where we are, generally in the living room. Here he will wobble in sleepily and flop into our lap, where he will rub his eyes a bit and acclimatise to being awake.
It is all very lovely, but also incredibly surprising and unsettling if you're not expecting it and you look up and see a baby there stood over you!

Also on the theme of Orry's sleep, here is a cute picture of Orry sleeping with all the teddies within ready reach in our household. Orry sometimes gets things into his head which he has to do, and for one nap time he decided that he absolutely had to have both of these teddies clutched to him and on top of him. Odd:

Finn also has a sleep update in that it was only in April that he began to sleep from bedtime through to the morning. It was not that he has woken crying for a long time, but just that he always woke us up to take him to the loo at 3am or so. But since April, much to my joy (as Cori was always up with Orry anyway), he now does not need anyone to get up with him in the night at all. One of the differences was his going to the toilet after getting into bed and readying stories, but just before the lights go out - I don't know if this is the explanation, but the result is certainly felt.

Orry still has allergies. Lots of them. He has to visit the allergy clinic at the UCLH Hospital on Euston Road regularly, to test for the level of his allergy to this and that. In April they tested Baked Egg, which he failed and was poorly from for the next few hours. At least he got to hang out on the 11th floor by the window on a ward of other people and with a telly on the arm off the wall!

Here is evidence of what an Outbreak can look like. I don't recall where this outbreak came from, or what the story is behind the picture, but perhaps just that says something about Orry and allergies. Though, having said that, they are now happening a lot less frequently than previously, which is a good thing.

Finn did some great creative stuff in April, such as these great creations:

This castle thing was entirely made by Finn, which really impressed us - it's great balancing, and a lot of concentration must have gone into it. - He sometimes surprises us by quietly getting on with a thing like this as we're dealing with Orry, and when we next turn round he's created a thing like this - great! Not so great is then dealing with Finn's desire to keep it perfectly as it is forever, pitched against Orry's immediate desire to destroy it! At last now with Finn's camera we can pacify Finn with keeping at least a picture of it forever!

These were fine things which Finn returned from nursery with. And this is the Great Wall of China, or "The Great China Wall" as Finn insists on calling it. We had a good long game with that one morning as Cori caught up on sleep, with the Mongols attacking and the Chinese repelling them etc. until they all became friends and lived together happily ever after:

But all of these do not compare to a special art trip which we took to the British Museum. We were surprised that Finn accepted the idea, but he agreed merrily to our suggestion of going to the British Museum to draw pictures of some of the statues that were there. And, again, much to our surprise, he was only too happy to sit down when we get there in the main atrium and get out his notebook to draw a picture of a Roman horseman, with brilliant results!

He was very pleased with this, as were the tourists who went past smiling at Finn intensely doing his drawing. It is probably a good thing that he was so intense about it, as he was oblivious to the occasional East Asian tourist taking a picture of him. (It has been some time since that last happened, so it was good to be back into the swing of London tourist things!). Finn repeated the great drawing again up in the main Roman section, where he got stuck in brilliantly:

These were the results:

And, inevitably, once he woke up from his in-carrier nap, Orry had a great time investigating everything:

It is also worth recording that Cori also did some great creativity in April. A quilt, but made the proper way, with intricate plans and a process of creation which required ordered sequences of material, a bucket of dye and a stop-watch. And a lot of time. And, since it was a rare treat of creativity (and time!) for her, and since it turned out impressive, it probably deserves a couple of pictures...