January - normal life

January!
First up, the monthly photos side by side:

26 months (2 years 2 months) old

27 months (2 years 3 months) old

63 months (5 years 3 months) old

64 months (5 years 4 months) old

Now I know I often start with saying that not much happened during the month - but I think it might actually be true this month! So I've got a few little tid bits that aren't that interesting on their own but are a nice insight into what our normal day to day life is like.

One big thing did happen in January - James and I participated in the Arrane son Mannin - the song of Man. It is a competition to write and perform an original song in Manx. We wrote a lovely song together and were both shockingly nervous to sing it in public - but we did it! We didn't win (by a long shot) but we were both proud to accomplish something that truly pushed us outside of our comfort zones. It was a fun night as well, not only the competition songs but also lots of other performances with music and dancing and a raffle (an event is not an event in the Isle of Man without a raffle!). They didn't get my name quite right (well, at all) but we made it into the paper nonetheless!

But this blog isn't about me and James - it's about Orry and Finn. So back to them!
The two of them are really lovely to be around. Like all children, they have their moments and they have their quirks that rub us the wrong way - but for the most part they are really a joy to watch grow. They are very very different, but despite of that (or perhaps because of it) they get along really quite well (most of the time). Finn can be very sweet with Orry, helping him when he can't do something or 'reading' books to him. And Orry can be very sweet with Finn. Finn has a lot of fears and can really work himself up over small things (like going upstairs). But nearly everything can be fixed by not being on his own - so Orry will often help him out. If Finn needs the toilet upstairs, Orry will go up with him so he's not alone. If something is frightening Finn, Orry will hold his hand or put an arm around him. It's very sweet to see them looking out for each other.
They are both silly together as well, as does seem to feature nearly every month!
This month we have them wearing hats at dinner, getting silly with blankets and trying to look like James in glasses (which Orry is obsessed with - as you might have noticed with his monthly photo... he LOVES wearing glasses!)

How much do you love Orry's "cheese" face?!  Here's another one -

Orry has lots of loves - including, much to my disdain, the Teletubbies. I did was exercising every day and during that time Orry got to watch videos on the tablet. The Teletubbies were a favourite and would actually have him laughing out loud! So much as I hate it, I love how much he loves it. And when he saw this ride at the shopping centre, it was like spotting a celebrity!

His other loves are his toy Totoro and reindeer. Or, rather, FINN'S toys. Both of those were originally Finn's, and actually quite loved by Finn. But when it became clear that Orry really seriously loved them, rather than just liked them a bit, Finn let them sort of become 'Orry's.' Every now and then he does like to remind him that 'actually they are mine, Orry' but for the most part he has kindly let them exist as his. The 'actually' is something that Orry has picked up though. He really is a hilarious mimic and some of the things he latches on to should be annoying but instead just make you laugh. And included in that is his hilarious inflection on 'well actually I don't want to wear a coat' etc.

One of the things that Orry doesn't like though is getting his nappy changed. So to try and make it a bit more fun for him, we buy the cheap plain nappies (it also helps that they are truly dead cheap - they do tend to leak if we don't keep on top of it but it's worth it for the money savings!) and letting him choose what we draw on them. It's often easy (Thomas the Tank Engine is a favourite) but sometimes gets very complicated - "draw a bed that has five monkeys and my friend Evie and Evie's mum and totoro and reindeer dancing." And sometimes he turns it into a song... he turns lots of things into songs actually, which is hilarious. Here's him singing about the Thomas the Tank Engine on his nappy:
(words: Thomas the Tank Engine, on there. Mama drew a Thomas the Tank Engine, on there)

As mentioned before, one of Finn's biggest fears is being upstairs on his own. This includes being in his bed when he wakes up in the night. Various things like a tent and fairy lights help to make it a safe place, and things are getting slowly but surely better. His fear is quite real though - and it seems to be really focused on the windows. The curtains must be really tightly closed before he can walk past them at night. If not he starts imagining all sorts of things coming in through them and his imagination is truly amazing. Which is great when he's coming up with stories, but NOT when he's thinking about every little horrible thing that might happen...

We don't always stay indoors though. We take lots of trips out, in particular down to the sea. There are seals there at the moment and we all like going to have a look. It's an easy walk away - but more fun to take the bikes! Finn has been working on riding without his training wheels (stabilisers) and is doing really well!

They also still do their walks with James on a Saturday while I get on with things. Finn really enjoys them - but has declared that he doesn't want to do any more that have hills... fair enough :) They often take a pack lunch with them, which is often eaten in the car as it's a bit warmer!!

But if it's too cold to be outside, there is always the House of Manannan! Including some pretty excellent outfit choices...

And if it's not enough to have lots of lovely walks out and about, there's always fun to be had at home. We do like getting creative. Sometimes we just go mad with cardboard and create whatever we can - which invariably ends up being cars.

But sometimes there are requests. Finn saw an amazing video about how globes used to be made (Watch it yourself here!!) and wanted to make his own. So over the course of weeks (our flat is really damp, so I wanted to give every step a LONG time to dry!) we created the globe, then they painted it blue, and then I drew on (roughly!!) the continents to be painted green (with lots of my help). It was lots of fun and we are all quite proud of the results.

And lastly, we were having a conversation about photos and how people can use computers to make something look real even if they are not real. I was trying to explain it but figured it was easier to just show Finn - so we did the tractor one first, but then it became a fun thing to do so we did it a few more times! So I'll leave you with that - lots of hilarious pictures of Finn and Orry being silly!!!