It's beginning to take on the form of a nostalgic look back rather than a pseudo-live summary as I write up the details of Gregory's life in autumn 2018 some three years later, in September 2021 (in which it is a different world indeed). We have yet to reach the leaf-sweeping phase at least: we're still in the overgrown green garden phase. Because of the unrelenting nature of leaf droppage, it's useful to employ a couple of helpers, likely displaying varying degrees of enthusiasm. They don't appear to be exactly hard at it right now, but let's at least appreciate the different colours of leaves that have fallen upon the driveway.
For everyone, but children in particular, there needs to be a balance of work and play, and Gregory is no exception to this. With the usually foliage-heavy tree shorn of most of its leaves, the young boy finds the opportunity to climb amongst its branches, not to mention giving me a part-cheeky, part-smug smile.
It was a regular occurrence for me to give Gregory a list of sums to do - on his request rather than being anything I would foist upon him (although I might have given him something to do if he had shown no interest) - but less common for Gregory to turn the tables and set me some challenging (or so he perhaps thought) puzzlers. I even had to decipher a backwards 6 (see question D) as part of my problem solving. I particularly like the "What is this /QuestioN/?" title. No, I don't know what the lines are for either.
But it's not me who needs any more education (who am I kidding?). Let's switch back to The Boy, who was awarded a Good Behaviour certificate by Miss Eva. What is particularly good to know as a parent is that he is displaying "'role model' behaviour all day, every day", which sounds pretty exhausting but obviously comes reasonably naturally to him. There's definitely a suspicion that recognising Gregory like this is used as a way of trying to show the other children the benefits of behaving better. Which is fair enough, I suppose.
A sunny Saturday in October features some familiar scenes: Gregory playing football and Daisy practising riding a bike.
It's all pretty exhausting stuff, of course, and thus deserving of some liquid refreshments - no doubt some "orange on the rocks"-style concoctions.
On the Sunday, Gregory had been invited to his best friend Dylan's party, which prompted some bouncing on an, um, bouncy castle. I have a vague recollection that once most of the children had been collected by their parents, me and Dylan's dad (Nick) joined them on there for a short spurt of frivolity.
You have to say that he looks pretty chuffed to be five years of age. It's not the best angle but I'm guessing that this is a Lego man cake, perhaps reinforced by the Ninjago T-shirt.
There follows some classic games. First up, musical statues...
...followed by musical chairs. The art is making sure everyone gets a bit of winning action whilst pretending not to watch from the stereo.
Talking of music, Daisy had recently (probably) started learning the guitar, and was keen to play Gregory some tunes.
Gregory was then keen to have a go himself. ("It's not as easy as it looks, is it?")
Well, here we must be crashing into the end of October with unstoppable force, as it is time to create some pumpkin lanterns. I had no part in this, but I expect that the one on the left is Daisy's self-crafted effort, whilst the symmetry of the right suggests that Lynne gave Gregory some assistance. They both look a bit angry, which is how is should be.
Actually, the above photo was taken a couple of days after Halloween, rather belatedly by me, but let's rewind to the day itself, for which it seems that Lynne took Daisy and Gregory round to her friend Nic's (or possibly her friend Nic's mum & dad's). Gregory has gone for the skeleton-wearing-a-witch's-hat look.
Ah, that classic Halloween snack: a gigantic breadstick with onion ring crisps on.
Nic's mum appears to think that Gregory has been possessed by the devil, giving him some breadstick horns to go with his sweetie ring.
The Boy sure knows how to chillax in the evening.
Then, on the 5th of November, we got the sparklers out. Daisy was happy to swish them around in the back garden but Gregory was less keen on the concept, although I think as much as anything else this was based on the noisy fireworks than the concept of a sparkler.
Gregory and I joined forces to make this Lego super-construction. It's amazing what you can do when you have time to spare (and a child to look after).
We spin forward a couple of weeks and find ourselves in the Woodside pub/restaurant near Boothstown, with the occasion being Aunty Katie's (um) 32nd birthday. Wow, she grows up quickly, eh? I remember when she was a little titch and... [snip, not the right thread - Ed].
It looks like we headed back to Aunty Katie's afterwards, where local strongman Matthew Allen (aka Uncle Matt) showed his special skill of lifting two children at a time whilst gurning.
A
late-November trip to Manchester Rd Park, and they share the big swing with
varying levels of enthusiasm, it seems.
They opt for very different strategies on the gigantic skateboard. Gregory is either looking to steer or is lacking some confidence in his balance.
It's hard to know what he makes of this playground, er, attraction. I think the aim of it is to rock back and forth but it's not that most exciting.
Of course, all that hard work leads to thirst, and our thirst takes us to the Hinds Head pub for drinks and crisps.
Gregory gets into his artwork, inspired by Super Mario Brothers.
Presumably Gregory is happy to have a new T-shirt. Either that or crazy hair.
Guess which month it is! Gregory is clearly THRILLED to have an advent calendar that is bigger than he is.
He looks a bit cheerier here, although it does look a bit forced if I am honest. Daisy joins the shoot this time, with a palpable lack of enthusiasm.
School can be tiring, so occasionally it's nice to snuggle under a blanket with your sibling and watch TV.
I have tended to do separate Christmas pages, although I think that has fallen rather by the wayside. Here, then, is at least one Christmas-related photo for you to enjoy. Gregory keeps his wish list pretty simple, which is a wise approach.
We leap forward to Christmas Eve, somewhere in Edinburgh I would guess, probably watching a film. I am at the end of a row of four children. Perhaps we were on duty that day while the Christmas food was being prepped.
We leap forward to New Year's Eve Eve (i.e. the 30th), where Gregory demonstrates his proficiency at Lego (although I probably helped with the tricky bits). I think Uncle Matt got him these and so this photo was a demonstration of the present being played with fairly early in the post-Christmas proceedings (particularly as he won't have received these presents until a little after Christmas since we weren't at home for a few days.
New Year's Eve is very much next in line, and it's time for a trip to the Stockport Plaza...
...to watch Sleeping Beauty. I don't think we were allowed to take a shot of any of the performance (perhaps understandably) so this is about all we can get. Note the organist centre stage (albeit facing the other way).
The happiest in this photo is clearly Lynne, showing the benefits of being able to walk to Stockport and order a pint of beer. Daisy looks a bit crestfallen, whilst Gregory is looking to the heavens.
We do know, however, that Gregory loves a good pizza. And this one looks enormous. I am guessing that we went to Zizzi's afterwards, given its proximity.
With the kids not starting school until the fairly late date of Monday 7th January, we utilised the facilities of Nana Sue, who was looking after them for the day. They were evidently in the nearby Moorings for their evening meal. And why not.
Into 2019 now and Gregory conscientiously helps out with the thankless, if cathartic, task of dismantling the Christmas tree.
First, the painstaking removal of the baubles, trying to break one in five of them at the most.
Once shorn of decoration, the plastic tree can then be separated into pieces.
And finally, the vacuuming, which is needed despite it being a plastic tree. Somehow all Christmas trees shed something each year.
Later that day, we went round to Suze's for some post-Christmas action. It seems to be ice pops all round, as Gregory chills with Daisy, Evie and others.
Later on, he tries to make Nic's young boy laugh by aping around...
...before sitting down and concentrating on his new Lego set.
The next day, we headed to Platt Fields for the South Manchester Junior Parkrun. This was their second effort and they seemed pretty energetic at the warm-up stage (Gregory being too energetic for the camera).
Here they wait patiently at the start as the announcements were made and the course route described ("go round the lake... twice").
And that's the end of that quarter. For more Gregory action, head here.
Back to the Secret Portal.