As you will see, Oshin has mastered the art of the cute smile:
It's a lot easier to deal with his not sleeping when he smiles like that!
The one place he can be put down for a bit of a sleep is in his pram-bed thingy. He won't last very long in here, but a snatched 30 minutes is all-important when you don't get any other time!
However, things are looking bad as it will not last him very much longer at all:
Also cute is Orry in the onesie he wanted for his birthday - a monkey one. It arrived after his birthday but was greatly adored by us all when it did arrive, for obvious reasons. Good choice, Orry!
Although the Peel Bonfire Night happened at the end of October, we still enjoyed a bonfire on the 5th of November as our friends' 'inviting a few friends round' as they burnt the debris on their farm ended up being a large-scale event, with food, drink, hoards of children, fireworks & fire. It was quite something, and great fun (especially so since the occasional haywire firework shot into the crowd missed our children!)
Hot on the heels of 5 November was Oshin's first trip to the theatre. Though, to be fair to him, he didn't pay too much attention to the show itself:
Our friend was in a play, so Cori wanted to go and see it, so she thought she'd daringly try the headphones on him. It worked perfectly, with him sleeping through it all, despite the fear of men all around!
We took a walk down Dhoon Glen, which was lovely. Also lovely was how Orry chose to dress himself...
A part of our going on that walk was to try and find a particular place I (James) had read of in a book. We found it and it was pretty impressive:
Inevitably, the long walk back from the beach was too long for Orry, and it took all of Cori's motherly powers of patience and persuasion to get him back up the hill without a fight. Which is perhaps not something you would be able to tell from the pictures!
There were a couple of hospital trips, for Orry to Noble's, where he continued to be his usual funny self:
And Finn had to go off to Liverpool for the day for an appointment, with me going with him on the very early flight, with this sort of a sunrise:
Orry and Oshin had a fun day in Onchan Park, having to return there after leaving Orry's beloved 'Noodle' there the day before and having to return to retrieve him. We were very relieved that he'd been handed in!
They got ice cream, including Orry with his beloved dairy-free option, now in a range of flavours in the shop in Peel:
You will note Finn's two missing front teeth - quite the look!
This is how Finn will often be found in the morning at the moment - awake and out of bed, reading to himself quietly in the book nook:
What a lovely way to spend the first half hour or hour of your day!
November also saw the closing of the Island's sites for the year, so we took one last trip into Peel Castle for 2018:
Whilst out that way we found a dog fish, which the boys were excited by, as you do!
(Note Noodle still very much with Orry here - we were glad to have retrieved him from Onchan!)
November also saw the shock rare occurrence of Orry falling asleep whilst playing. It was a lovely thing to see - a thing of his younger years which no longer happens, so a lovely reminder of how he used to be not so long ago:
Christmas is getting closer, as is always so obvious when the Peel Christmas lights are stored down our little alley over the days in which they are getting them up. Indeed, it was directly outside our door this year, which was quite the sight to come home to:
Christmas coming also meant that I finally got out the project I'd been working on for a long time - my first production of a book at work (not that I had much to do with it other than the admin) - a beautiful thing I am very proud of:
But, of course, before Christmas in our half-American household comes Thanksgiving. This year we broke from previous tradition by not having an individual set of people round, but instead had a bit event with friends. Inspired by a friend's suggestion, we hired a hall in Peel and we all brought food (which Cori dished the recipes out for, to ensure that they were as American as they had to be!). We sat on big tables, with the kids running wild and having fun. And it was, indeed, great fun - a winner which we're already looking forward to repeating next year.
A lovely time, and a lovely month!
