3/52

Ellery: embracing the (messy) top knot

Aubrey: dig, dig, dig

2/52

Ellery: usual scenes

Aubrey: following in big brother's footsteps (literally)

1/52

 Ellery: usually moving at speed (as a reindeer or a super hornet)

Aubrey: the best playground (in the first shot, he is saying 'ha-yo' to the driftwood horse

51/52

Ellery: absorbed in play

Aubrey: birdspotting

50/52

Ellery: wild as the wind, with dirt

Aubrey: rockpool running

47/52

one golden afternoon : joining the dots between the spaces : two little mermen, crabhunters, handfuls, heartbreakers. but that protective hand.

43/52

Ellery: fistful of starfish

Aubrey: monkey see

A stay-at-home holiday. A trek to the western beach. You wanted to throw them back in. So we stopped.

42/52

Ellery: perpetual motion

Aubrey: bed hair, golden light

41/52

Ellery: rainbow at his heels, friend in sight

Aubrey: boy and the ball

Somewhere along the line I've fudged the weeks. Two kids, two houses, a job and lighthouse logistics are getting the better of me.

The weather is sublime right now. We're booking a mini staycation.

Portraits from a week we had friends stay, a total rarity. And Ellery has been all sorts of gorgeousness, save his newly acquired whine, completing the big kid feel. 

39/52

Ellery: proud of your new chair

Aubrey: pudgy fingers and blueberry mouse whiskers

You both seem so much more grown up all of a sudden. It is breaking my heart a little.

This week you both got new chairs - in the hope it would make table time, whether eating or playing - a bit more focused. Tick.

38/52

Ellery: we played trains under the kitchen table while his brother napped

Aubrey: down the back steps

E: The past couple of weeks with him have been bliss. Tantrums at an all-time minimum. We are loved up, and my goodness it makes life infinitely better.

A: A nice knock on the chin where he fell into a table. And a fractured bone in his foot means we are back to crawling everywhere. Hashtag toddler lyf! Also, first haircut, over several nights whilst sleeping. It could still use a bit more choppity chop.

37/52

Ellery: intense focus

Aubrey: joyous jumping

36/52

Ellery: full steam

Aubrey: gotcha

Bubble play in the backyard. With a snippet of bus.

fathers day 2015

We waited for Daddy to get home from work.

We made biscuits for him on your request, given in a jar with loveheart stickers stuck by you.

We wrote love notes, along the lines of, 'I love you because you are very tricky to find when we play hide and seek'.

The smallest and I picked flowers.

When Daddy got home, we made him bacon and eggs in your cafe.

And we beached til the sun went down.

35/52

Ellery: unleashing your energy

Aubrey: new tricks

So. Much. Wild. So. Many. Questions.

I have a wonderful shot of you both sitting on the kitchen bench, post paddle pool. Ellery with a scowl, probably complaining to me about something. Aubrey with his new camera smile (eyes closed, channeling Ellery). It's a nudie shot, so cutting room floor, but is SO descriptive of you both right now.

34/52

Ellery: homemade mango ice cream on the step

Aubrey: prefers dandelions

Simple homespun delights this week. Thanks be to the freezer gods and our summer laden mango tree. And dandelions, everywhere.

18 months

One and a half ... you are the sunshine in our lives. From the way you say hello to ants and willy wagtails, the way you pucker your lips for kisses. You love music and dancing and being outdoors, but the quickest way to your heart is a game of peekaboo. Or a plate of olives. Or a ride in Daddy's work car. You adore your big brother (even if he can be a bit intense for your liking sometimes) and love to copy whatever he does. You're a bit of a funny guy, with a talent for blowing raspberries and walking backwards. From your doe eyes to your dimples, to your brachiosaurus roar, we are so very grateful you chose us.

33/52

Ellery: cinders and ashes

Aubrey: mini-me

'Cinders and ashes!', his new childish expletive (but from where?). Eyes asparkle, cheek coal dusted from some real firefighting, in Daddy's helmet and goggles.

And speaking of goggles, I give you mini-me.