Jay and Henry

Jat and Henry
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

My brother Jay with Henry in late December. Note Jay's suave mock turtle. Henry has one just like it in Navy blue.

Daddy's Boys II

Daddy's Boys II
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

Here's Nat, Henry and me, on Boxing Day (the day of Fulham's ignomious 2-2 draw at Charlton). Note that Nat is wearing his Christmas jumper. Henry has not, in fact, acquired laser vision in his right eye. iPhoto couldn't figure out how to kill the red eye. For comparison's sake, click here.

Deirdre and Henry

Deirdre and Henry
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

Here's Deirdre and Henry (at 8 weeks and 2 days old, on December 24). Henry has good head control and waves his arms around a lot. Like Nat, he hates being on his tummy. He actually does seem to enjoy smiling at people* (unlike Nat at this age, who was very reluctant to smile), and is fairly talkative with the cooing and other vocalizations.

*other than Daddy, who did not consistently receive a legitimate, clearly non-gas-related, smile from the son who he delivered with his own hands, until shortly before this picture was posted in early January.

Bonanza

Bonanza
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

Nat, in his Christmas PJs, surveys his Christmas loot. Santa (see below) brought a farm set with various animals (in wildly varying scales) and farmers and outbuildings. While he was pretty chuffed, within a week, the barn would be converted into a tunnel for the railway, and the cowshed into an engine shed. Some of the baby lambs were later found surprisingly high up in the Christmas tree.

Thanks to the anatomical accuracy of the animals, we now know which animals have milk, and which are, um, like Nat, Henry and Daddy.

Night Before Christmas

Night Before Christmas
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

At bedtime on Christmas Eve we read Twas the Night Before Christmas, in pop-up book format. That made it a hit with Nat. (Henry is still looking on). The copy is one from Deirdre's childhood, but the life-expectancy of pop-up books in our household is not high, so it is strictly a season book despite Nat's frequent request for "Christmas Book".

I am ambivalent about Santa as there is really nothing even remotely sensible about his operations, but Deirdre is keen, so I'm outvoted.

Eyes

Eyes
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

On Christmas Eve, we took a trip to the London Eye. (You can see my brother Jay sticking his nose into the shot). Nat liked it a lot because you could see Charing Cross station from above with lots of trains going over the bridge. I believe he was also interested in the barges going downriver. What was really unusual was that Deirdre and Henry came along. Deirdre absolutely hates heights, so she spent much of the ride on the centre bench, although some observers claimed to see her stand up once for a view of the city.

Nat and Grandma

Nat and Grandma
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

My mom and brother came to visit us here in London this Christmas. Here's Nat and Grandma shortly after Christmas Day. See this link for a fun comparison.

Christmas Inspector

Christmas Inspector
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

Here's Nat, inpecting the tree. was pretty interested in it this year, and really enjoyed the lights (though he was bitterly disappointed that there were no flashing lights, this will be rectified next year). When we took it down, we only found a couple of "ornaments" that had been tossed into the tree: some farm animals.

Sick

Sick
Originally uploaded by dyrlac.

Apologies for the long delay. Shortly after the last batch was posted, Nat came down with a chest infection that immediately went to work on his lungs. After a night of shallow breathing, I took Nat to Chelsea & Westminster (our friends!), where they eventually diagnosed him with a reaction to broncialitis in the asthmatic spectrum. So Nat got to spend three days in the pediatric ward on supplemental oxygen and steroids. I took the night shift from 2000 to 0800. Deirdre and Henry took the day shift.

Essentially, this mean we will have to give Nat an inhaler whenever he gets a cold. A colleague of mine says both of his kids had this but grew out of it by age 6 or so. He blames it on London's lovely air quality.