In assembling the pictures on hand for November, I see that there are a lot of Orry's art. So comes this separate post, dedicated to Orry (& Finn & our) odd creativity, starting with a lovely picture of Oshin, which he corrected to have the true length of legs...!
And here it is, next to Oshin, to show its absolute resemblance:
Orry decided to create these things sat inside a box that morning. No idea why:
He made a series of the tiny portraits, all of which were ace:
Meanwhile, Finn made Lego (Finn pretty much made Lego constantly throughout November!):
In case you thought that Orry's blood-like creatures were sinister, here is a picture which Orry reported was of a person sad because all the ghosts were coming to get him!
You'll note Orry's writing of his own name in the corner. He's recently started to get the letters the wrong way round, despite not really doing this when he first began writing. It's sporadic though, so it's certainly not anything that we are concerned about or the like.
His writing is still very impressive, even if his un-helped writings are distinctively true to his four-year-old silliness:
(If you can't make that out, it says: "(Finn) Finn's butt farted"!)
Rather more pleasant is Orry's draw-around portrait of his beloved (and rather fuzzy) Noodle:
Cori discovered a fun app on her phone which gave them all a very fun entertainment for 20 minutes on afternoon, which caused the boys no end of hilarity:
This phone art was something that Orry returned to afterwards, when allowed, to 'improve' a picture of Oshin, much to his delight!
Original:
Orry's 'improvements':
Oshin as a snowman and as a snowball were things that Orry was very pleased with. But, as is true to Orry, unlike Finn, he didn't give them another thought after they were done and moved on to something else (not at all demanding that they be kept forever).
Orry's energy for such artistic creativity is impressive, and it's certainly something which makes us feel guilty for not allowing him to indulge more as he enjoys it so.
At the start of November we went out to Traie Fagog, a beach up the coast from Peel to take some good-looking pictures of us all. Nothing special - we were just making the effort to take some 'proper' pictures now that everyone was 3 months, 4 years and 7 years old.
Here is a jolly Orry (with his beloved 'Noodle'):
And Finn, with a new-found favourite stick:
Three silly boys:
The family:
Lovely!
This also allowed us to make the continuation of their year-by-year photos:
After the excitement of Legoland, the first excitement back on the Isle of Man was Cori finally getting her British Citizenship.
In a rather odd ceremony in the government building, Cori, I and Oshin joined about 15 or so other people who listened to a few speeches before someone handed out the certificates on the behalf of the Lieutenant Governor (who is himself the representative of the Queen on the Isle of Man). It looked much like this:
We then stuck around for a cup of tea (there was one going so we treated ourselves!), and a pose on the balcony. Oshin was delighted at the momentous event:
It was something of a ridiculous event (though I don't know how it couldn't be), but it was still a very serious thing to be over at last. Having been fighting with the system over it, and bleeding money over it, for years, it is quite amazing to be at the end of it so. Cori put it perfectly on her Facebook post at the time:
Today was the end of a long road. Anyone who says "but you're married, doesn't that make it easy?" to an international couple deserves the glare they get (I blame generic film plots).
After epic amounts of paperwork, literally thousands of pounds (probably nearing on £8000+ over the years), an actual test, and ever so many hoops and red tape just to get permission to stay in the same country as my family, I'm now, as of today, 12 years after I first arrived, officially allowed to stay forever as a British citizen.
And the worst part is knowing that the restrictions were easier when I first applied to come to the UK as James' wife. If we were to start the process with immigration laws as they are today, I would have been refused at the very first step - and life would have turned out very different. People just starting this process have an even harder fight now, regardless of being married or even having children.
But for me, my epic journey is over* - and to any other international couples still going through it, I feel you. It's a long road and it's anything but "easy."
But there's always a light at the end of the tunnel - along with my certificate I also got some nice coasters - so, totally worth it!
*unless we ever decide to move to America... Then it starts all over again...
And those coasters were indeed very nice:
The next big event is Orry's birthday, but before that there are a few little things, such as Oshin's continuing in the fine tradition his brothers started, of not sleeping easily. Here is Cori being wiser than trying to take him out of the bouncer-seat when he evidently slipped into his nighttime sleep without warning - take the opportunity whilst you can, don't spoil it!
He is a cute one though - it's easy to forgive him for the tiredness when he smiles like this in the bath:
Oshin loves a bath, and he shows it by kicking madly and flailing about with his hand too. It's amazing to see as he doesn't do this at all any other time (but for flailing his legs when he's getting changed and is between nappies):
Relatively early on in October (the 19th, to be precise), Finn had his school Hop tu Naa disco. We never enjoy going, and Finn didn't last year, for all the scary costumes that others were in. But we weren't going to question his wanting to be there, in case it threw him off into fear. But once we got there and Finn saw the costumes on people, even outside the hall, he didn't want to go in. He was then caught between not wanting to miss out, and not wanting to go in and be around people covered in fake blood or with fangs etc. We went in and ate a packet of crisps in the corner quietly, as Finn avoided speaking to anyone, and then we left. Finn and I were relieved, to be away from the frightening people, and to be free of a none-event. Orry was just pleased to have a packet of crisps!
So, Finn is still no better with costumes and the like. If only everyone didn't dress as none-threateningly as he and Orry:
(Note the fine missing tooth in Finn's mouth there).
Orry had been doing a hairdressing activity at his nursery, which inspired Cori to offer up her own hair to the boys to play at hairdressers with. They were delighted, Orry especially, and the outcome was really quite something...
The wizard's hat on Oshin was a tip find, which Orry adored for a few days, wearing it happily around the house as he went about his day:
Tip finds are a highlight of the boy's week, as they leap to help our trips to the tip to get rid of the recycling, so that they can trawl through the toys and other junk left out for others to take. Here is the result of one fine trip in mid-October:
Without reason, other than its being cute, here is an Oshin sneeze:
We're a lot less good at it than we were with Finn, but we've been trying to use cloth nappies with Oshin. We don't have our lives in order enough to do it properly, but it is good to have him in them whenever we're able:
Whilst we're on the subject of Oshin, here are two pictures of him and his (somewhat unwashed, early-morning) dad:
Talking of Oshin & washin' (which is a rhyme used a lot in our family sing-songs as we're going about doing things about the house), Oshin has his bouts of flaky scalp still, though that is normally just because we've neglected to wash him for too long! A bit of the flake can be seen here - from which you'll see that it's just conventional baby flaking and nothing like Orry's allergy-induced miseries of his youth:
Towards the end of October brought the a couple of dancing commitments, the second of which was Hop tu Naa and the first of which was the Food & Drink Festival at the Villa Marina. The amazing thing from this event was that Orry danced for the first time... albeit for only about 10 seconds. After the initial excitement of joining in (with another dance group who invited people up to join in), he suddenly got nervous when the dance had him turn and see the audience. He dashed back to my lap and refused to look at anyone again, let alone get up and join in! There is one blurred picture of Orry dashing for safety, which isn't worth sharing. Better is this one of everyone happy again, with their mate looking epic (and some random photo-bomber behind!):
The far end of October, of course, brings Orry's birthday, which was lovely:
As you'll guess from these few pictures, Orry is still very much into his craft-relating things. The painting things was given to him to his delight and our dedication to allowing him the messy indulgence of his great interest more.
The cake was his idea and it was Cori's gloriously odd creation, and much loved by Orry (though he was always going to enjoy any cake that he could eat!)
We stayed true to our not having a big thing for Orry after Legoland, and we happily avoided a party for him. Though we did have a day which was definietly his.
Orry's birthday itself was timed to the visit of cousin Georgie, which is always a joy for everyone.
In fact, this final picture, taken on our trip to Milntown (where they gave out lollies - hence the kids' smiles here!) was on Orry's birthday itself. So this is what someone precisely 4 years old looks like:
Cousin Georgie's trip was timed for Hop tu Naa, which saw a fine costume for Oshin...
In fact, Cori was so inspired by Oshin's new look, that she decided to team up:
Preparations were also going on in the turnip-carving, as Uncle Andrew had won of the family's moots last year, so I was determined to do better this year. As it turned out, I probably put too much effort into it, though it was a beautiful thing:
Orry and Finn also made beautiful things, with varying amounts of help from their dad:
As for Finn's turnip (the back of which reads 'Finn'), Orry's turnip was done by me on the front, but the back was entirely his work. In this case it was done in the few minutes he was unwatched at the moot with his knife!
The kids' turnips were done at Cregneash, as usual, where we danced, as per last year:
The first picture of dancing here shows Orry involved. Hurrah! However, that lasted only about 20 seconds, before he lost his nerve and dashed from the dancers back to me, to cower frightened. - But, like the Food & Drink Festival, at least he was up there, even if for a moment. Hopefully he'll be able to get up there again, for longer next time!
Again, as per last year, we were impressed by Finn's confidence to get up and sing in front of everyone, with the offer of a sweet for his efforts - admire the fearless singer!
Early on we were looking out for planes overhead, as that was the moment that Georgie was arriving (the event being held the weekend before the 31st). Straight from their flight, granny brought them down to the mayhem, which was a lovely way to arrive on the Isle of Man from a flight from London!
A few days after this we were into Hop tu Naa, proper, which was spend at Maughold, where the usual singing and dancing went on:
Of course, Oshin's costume and my turnip were victorious in the competitions, as were the boys for various things:
The final piece of October, due to where the weekend fell, saw the Peel bonfire night, which was also lovely. Falling on a different day to Ramsey and Maughold, it meant that all the cousins could join us to wrap up warm and join the crowds streaming through the streets of Peel to the beach to be burnt by the heat of the fire before watching the fireworks and then wandering sleepily home again:
As you'll see, Cori's bright idea of headphones were enormously successful, in allowing Orry to enjoy the evening, and Oshin to be present, peacefully sleeping his way through it.
And thus ended October 2019!
