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You will obviously recognise that everyone there is sat on their aeroplane. Orry is also sporting his homemade hat, which we improvised from a piece of cardboard which was left over from something or other - a beautiful thing:
A trip made with grandad was to Castletown, where we saw the tin bath races (which were rather unremarkable) and looked around the castle:
But the highlight of the trip, certainly for grandad, was a walk around Peel Hill and back. It was really a pleasure to do the walk with Finn and Orry in good moods, walking all the way and happily chatting and playing all the way - a happy memory:
In September we downloaded a children's science podcast (from FunKids Radio), which Finn was immediately enamoured by, to such an extent that he would lie peacefully on the floor listening as Orry was left to amuse himself by leaping over him!
The 30-minute podcast is perfect for Finn, and it has since become the thing which we listen to on the drive to and from Orry's nursery each morning.
But, before Orry started at his nursery, Finn started his new year.
The first year at Finn's school is in a class of its own, then the next two years are in the same class. So, this year Finn became a part of the older half of his same class of last year. It was therefore an easy enough transition, only tinged by sadness about his friends who no longer shared his classroom. Regardless, it was an easy enough restart (tinged by Finn's typical sadness from his not quite connecting with other children - those he likes, who don't quite react to him or play with him in exactly the way he'd hoped):
It was in the same week that Orry started his first day at nursery on the Isle of Man. After a full year just at home with Cori, we came into free access to an amount of childcare each week (since Orry is now in his year before starting school). In keeping with our being a part of 'Manx circles' as Orry's granny might say, we opted to put Orry into the Manx language nursery. This was not the easiest option, as it is over in Braddan, effectively on the other side of the Island, 30 minutes' drive away. But, regardless, the nursery is excellent and Orry loves it there.
Here he is on day one, with the glasses he decided to wear that day:
After his first day, Orry asked if he could go back the next day, and it was the same again the next day. He loved it there, making friends immediately and really thriving on the activities which they have going on each day. Orry, of course, is amongst the older children there (it must accept children from 2 or so) and he's bright and chatty, so it shouldn't really have surprised us, but it did. And it delighted us too. - Clearly this is somewhere where he will thrive and really come into his own.
Having mentioned the podcasts before, and Orry's nursery being in Braddan, it is probably worth noting that the new normal regime is for me (James) to set off with Finn and Orry just before 8am, drop off Orry at his nursery when it opens at 8.30, and then drive back to St. John's in time for the 9am start of Finn's school. It is surprisingly easy enough to do and we've yet to fail to be on time so far for Finn's school, despite the frequent worries as we set off from Peel in a rush etc.
The timings are always tested also when we drop off Orry in his nursery, with Finn coming in too to check out the things they've laid out and to a chat with the staff there. Naturally, Finn would be happy spending the whole day with them there if he was able, so it's always a task to drag him away.
Orry is only in until 12.15, when the place closes for the day. It's not a full-time childcare place, so it means that each day Cori only really gets a few hours on her own with Oshin. What with feeding and cleaning up after Oshin, this generally means that she gets only an hour or so to herself with Oshin, but it is at least something. The drive, for both of us, is a drag each day though. This is especially so for Cori, as Oshin has taken to hating being in the car, and so screaming for the entire duration of the commute each way. Not a pleasant experience, and very much unlike my commute with everyone silently listening to the kids' science podcast!
Not quite leaving Orry's nursery behind, a week or so into the term, we arrived early and picked a sweetcorn from their garden area, to go into their creation for the Cronk y Voddy produce show. And a beautiful thing it was too:
It is lovely to have Orry a part of a nursery that is a part of the Manx community like this. And it was also nice to have this vegetable animal as an excuse to go along myself to the Show, which was lovely:
As is the way with this sort of thing, I ended up spending too much money at the evening's auction, but all for a good cause - both for where the money went, and for what I bought, and Finn agreed when we had toasted fruit bonnag for breakfast for the next couple of mornings, which Finn thought was 'the best food in the world for breakfast':
An alternative take on breakfast is that had by Cori and Oshin, who normally sleep longer in the morning (due to the fact that they are, either as cause or effect, up most of the night), and so get to eat on their own:
(You might note Cori's frothy coffee - a birthday present for me from Cori was various coffee-making accoutrements, including a frother!)
Cori was able to get Oshin off her lap (at least for a few minutes) at mealtimes from September onwards, thanks to our buying a new chair in which he could sit happily as we ate:
As the second pictures also show, the chair is also useful for being dragged around into the kitchen when we need to do stuff with Oshin awake.
Most of the time though, of course, Oshin will not go down, and we (i.e. Cori) have to do everything with him upon us, such as fixing Finn's school trousers days before he started his new year:
Since there are a stack of them, here are a scutch of photos of Oshin sleeping in some for or other (or somewhere where he should be sleeping):
It might not be the prettiest thing, but the mobile over Oshin's cot in the lounge is one thing that he will be engaged with, watching it intensely lain on his back there. This can buy Cori enough time to rush to the toilet, or perhaps make a cup of tea, without a baby crying at her! He has even been known to fall asleep here in the cot with the mobile on, but perhaps that was only the once!
But, of course, if we actually want him to stay asleep, he has to be held by someone:
On about the 9th or so, we felt confident enough in what Oshin was doing to call it a smile and take pictures. It certainly looks like a smile:
A time when Oshin, and certainly Cori, are not smiling is at the swimming pool. Orry started swimming lessons, for the first time, in September. He loves them. As for his nursery, he is smart and mature for his age, and loves getting stuck into something, so the swimming class situation was perfect for him. He was a year or so on the side, watching Finn in his lessons, so he's probably been harbouring the desire to join swimming also. So he dived in head first with his own lessons... not literally though...!
However, Orry's class begins straight after his nursery, so Cori drives straight from Braddan to the pool, and then goes straight and gets Finn from school, taking him back to the pool for his lesson. It is an all-round misery for Cori, with all the driving (with Oshin crying throughout) and the ins and outs of the muggy hot pool area etc. It can end up looking like this:
As a light interlude, here is Orry playing a rubbish version of Hide & Seek. It was unclear whether he was playing with anyone at this point, but the choice of singing along to his drum was certainly a very dubious tactic if he didn't want to be found...
Perhaps also on the play theme, here is Finn & Orry in various states of play...
It's not play, but a thing the boys really enjoyed doing one weekend was working with me to 'surprise' Cori with an apple crumble, using the apples which granny had given us from her garden. It was indeed a surprisingly enjoyable afternoon, with everyone enjoying their own piece in the making process:
A couple of boys in Finn's school are very good cyclists, taking part in the Island-wide cycling events etc. Finn has a desire to be the best at things, which is not the most attractive attribute but probably true to most 6-year-olds, so he decided that he needed to learn to cycle (in order to be as good as everyone else immediately!). We've not taught Finn to cycle yet, because it's not a part of our lives, and so there doesn't ever seem a point in learning at the moment (since he would never get a chance to use the skill anyway). But we were very happy to take the idea and take Finn down to the promenade to learn:
He did very well, and by the end of our 30-60 minutes was cycling half the length of the promenade. Another time out and he'd have the cycling-in-a-straight-line perfected, ready to learn how to turn corners and start from standing etc.
However, we've failed to find the time to take him out since. Never mind. It's unlikely to affect us at all, until the next children's cycling party!
Whilst on the promenade, Finn also showed off his climbing skills (which he holds to be second to none), of which he's very proud and which make him happy to show off:
Part of the reason why Finn didn't get a second go out was because Orry was jealous of him and so demanded that he be taken out the next time. So it was the week or two later I took him out, on his balance bike. The trip was a lot less successful, which Orry not really getting the whole balancing thing and not really caring. It was a very long and drawn-out trip to one and of the prom and back!
But he did look great though:
I had been hoping to finish September in just the one post, but it's got too long, so I'll leave the rest over for a second post, even though this is hardly the perfect place to break...
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