19/52 - three little loves

Lily

My sweet girl. Oh, how I love her. 

Every day she surprises me as she flourishes, grows, unfurls. 

What an amazing young woman she is becoming. I feel like I am only just getting to know her!

Eli

Oh Eli. 

When I see your sweet and impish face, my heart swells and lines from a poem spring to mind...

How could I not - give you my heart?

How could I not - love you?

Indeed... 

Miles

My funny little mountain goat.

There we were, just chilling on my bed and this little dude decides to use me as a climbing frame. Oh yeah, just clambered right on up me, and used my shoulder as a platform on his way to checking out the view at the top of my bed head. Can you believe this kid?? I guess I should be glad he is not standing on my head?!

So funny! :) Managed to grab my phone and snap a pic (so grainy, so sorry, so iPhone 4) before he shimmied down and on to his next adventure.

It made me chuckle all day. 

Oh, my boy, the places you'll go!

PS As this is closest to a baby book you'll get, I should record here how verbal you are getting these days! You especially love impressing the crowds with your animal sounds, and calling 'took, took!' (chook, chook) whenever you hear or see the chookies :) Best of all is hearing you sing so sweetly in tune - even 'Let it go' has made it into your repertoire!

Mark

'Whatta man, whatta man, whatta man, what a mighty good man!'

(Can't go past a good Salt&Pepa shout out!)

Yes, not only does he bring home the bacon, but also the groceries. 

:)

Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2014.

More highlights from the week that was...

We are a 'Frozen' obsessed household now, after getting the DVD. Last week we snuggled in for a family movie night
and everyone loved it... including Dad! Here the kids use a mirror as a frozen lake. While they rapturously sing 'Let it Go' the dolls skate around on the ice. When the chorus came, Eli would release a 'snowfall' of cotton balls with precise choreography. 

If I ask him for a pic, he just stands and smiles. Like, just sunny as can be. Sigh. Sooooo cute!

Then of course he breaks out the Crazy face..... 

Followed by the 'Innocent/Coy Face'

Followed by the 'Oh brother, how do I even caption this face!?' face!!!! Seriously, kid!!! *melt*

.... and then he is off again.

Daddy put your beanie on backyards, but you didn't seem to mind the little peephole!

Lily: Mummy, take a photo of me with Miles!
Miles: How about I just pull your hair instead?

Ok, not a great shot of Lily but I can't go past Miles' eager, adoring face, just waiting for Lily to turn around and have a giggle with him. #siblinglove

Off to church, and of course she takes her purse 'cos she is a real lady,
don't ya know?!

'Mama, look at me combing Miles' cute little curls!'

Puzzles. They are the big thing these days. Eli in particular is obsessed with them. Obsessed, I say. I need to take some better pics because it's such a big part of his life right now. I'm glad I held onto quite a few puzzles even though they are a nightmare to store! I did get rid of a few because Lily was never interested when she was younger. Oops. Now she loves doing them too. They will now often go into their room for an hour and quietly do puzzles together - especially these gorgeous sturdy wooden Melissa and Doug ones. Needless to say, I now love puzzles too ;) They do the puzzle, then just flip it out and do it again!! It's interesting to see how children cycle in and out of their interests, and we have never really had a puzzle phase but now... it's Puzzlemania around here!! I need a puzzle library or something!?

This terribly blurry pic had to be included 'cos it's still so cute. The kids insisted on taking Miles on a family stroll around the house before bed. He loved it. You can see why he does not really feel the need to walk independently yet, living the life of a prince around here!! ;)

Even Spiderman likes to kick back for a little afternoon reading, Mask and all.

I was musing this week about how it sometimes seems like the third child almost has to raise themselves! Well, in lots of ways as the baby, Miles gets a *lot* of doting and attention but in other ways, he just has to amuse himself a whole lot more (and thankfully he is very content to do so!) as the household and other kids also require so much attention! It's not so easy to make time to just be present, observe and engage. You know, just sit around and marvel at them like you did with the first child ;) This week I felt compelled to make some time. When he crawled up to the fridge to play with the magnets, I decided to sit with him. For ten minutes or so, I just watched, commentated on his play, engaged when he sought me out and simply observed the myriad of ways he was naturally exploring, problem solving and learning.

All with one simple little house magnet. This thin, tricky little magnet for some reason became his source of fascination. It was not easy to remove, or hold or turn. But he worked so hard on getting those teeny nails under the magnet. Once he had it, he would gleefully throw it on the ground (testing the theory of gravity, no doubt). He would then hunt around for it, often moving to check if it was under him. Then pick it up, work out which way he needed to hold it to stick it back on. Once it was stuck, he would give it a successful little pat (well done, me) and then a little poke with that delicious chubby finger along with a stream of gibberish (I am sure he was outlining to me his scientific process).

It was charming, fascinating, endearing... as these things always are to a mother's eye! ;)

How good it felt to just sit and soak up the wonder that is this little man. He is flourishing, and there is simply no stopping him now!! 

 

Find the magnet, pick it up and work out which side will stick back on the fridge.

Now you stay there, cheeky little magnet!
Oh wait, I just want to grab you and throw you on the ground again!!

The school Mother's Day stall was coming up. The deal was that you donated a gift (for another Mum) to the stall, then your child could take in $2 to purchase a gift for their own mum (for a little school fundraising). Because I am a cruel, harsh mother, I happily donated a gift but suggested to Lily that if she wanted $2 to spend (on me!), it would be good for her to do an extra task around the house to earn the money. After her initial bewilderment at such a concept. she cheerfully and extremely diligently took it on, wiping down all the lower kitchen cabinets. I don't think they have ever sparkled so!

Lily and Miles having a little playtime together. They have such a sweet bond, and she always loves to ask for 'just a little play with Baby Miles by myself'

A morning walk to collect a basket of beautiful Autumn leaves...
pretty leaf collages to come!