20 months

Growth spurt. Words! From Mama, Dadda, 'no' and 'uh!', to a whole string of words.

doo-doo! (bird)
beach
nee (me)
hello / hi
die! (bye)
m-m-m (milk)
ta
dirt
ant
bee
kick
sweep
boo (boo, and blue)
doodle (noodle)
dee-dee (CD)
um (!)
ages (!!)
yah

You may find me in the comments, adding words that escaped my recall. So interesting to watch your path to language flourish so differently from your brother's.

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

16/52

Sunset light on an uncharacteristically slow weekend for us.

We spent a long, leisurely weekend.  In between visits to the beach, we pottered at home and in the garden. The weather has been divine: warm days, gentle breezes, cool nights. 

Usually we'd be spending most of our weekends travelling to the city (six hours one way) and rushing from appointment to supermarket to wholefoods store to here, there, and everywhere else in between. And home again, whereupon we launch into The Great Unpacking. 

This fortnight we stayed home. It means a month-long stretch on our little corner of island paradise. A drive to the boat for a fruit and veg delivery. And a weekend of rest and domesticity. Just what I've been craving. I really want to simplify this life remote. I think this alternate fortnight at home thing provides the perfect balance.

This week's portrait was taken on the sandblow behind our house. Before he took charge of Daddy's 'cwam-ewa'. He is really into the whole camera thing. Little child of ours. I am really starting to see us both in him. In his looks, interests and personality.

And yes, his fringe is growing long! Little windswept beach boy. The weeks and days to two are becoming few!

15/52

Climbing! A new thing...

After an impromptu wander along a bush track, we played in a shady patch of grass around around an old munitions store. The island was a military vantage point during World War II, so there are quite a few relics from this time. We had a lovely morning. But I was lost when he asked about the interpretive sign which had a picture of soldiers mustered behind an artillery weapon.

And... it was only a matter of time before I caved on the one image rule. This talented lady sold me on the diptych concept, and well, I just couldn't choose one over the other. I like them as a series. To me, they are stronger together. I began this project wanting to be quite 'flow' about it. So I'm going with my gut on this. Instinct over rules, I say!

14/52

Post-swim, post-pelican-chasing, dreamy sea-gazing

 
We arrived home this morning after three days in the city for our monthly provisioning / appointment-ing / working-from-office / car servicing / playing with Nana / playground-ing, this time with a small friend. It is always lots of must-dos packed into the tightest possible timeframe, albeit cushioned with coffee from the real world. It exhausts us. And takes most of our weekend.

So after the big unpacking, this afternoon we headed to the beach. The only time I had my camera out all week. The weather is definitely cooling now, but the boys still swam. We had a particularly blissful afternoon. The sea was gentle and dreamy. A pelican waddled over to us, quite close. Ellery ran at it, exclaiming "pat, pat, cuddle, cuddle"! And we discovered a small shelter, made from driftwood and seagrass, the perfect beach cubby. 

The boy still grows in leaps and bounds. New: his first four molars (with a fever to boot), and now the canines. Counting to ten in French. Running. Like a gangly giraffe, but running. And singing! 

Joining in with Jodi.

You can see the whole series of portraits here.  

As soon as I find the time, I will post some out-takes. As much as I love that this project is helping me to capture a few better-than-my-usual shots each week, I am finding it increasingly difficult to choose just one, and leave behind other moments which tell an equally important story of this sweet boy's life!

13/52

First wander amongst the mangroves.

 
Another week where it was so very hard to choose an image. The curious gaze, the piercing eyes or the heart-melting smelling of a wildflower? (The curious gaze won the day.) This shot was taken on a day out to a part of our island home we don't often get to. A place where the tides are big, and there's plenty to explore at low tide.

I love that his understanding about the world is being shaped by where we live. His language is of mangroves and soldier crabs, sand dunes and pandanus, the sunset and the moonrise. He knows the night-time song of the curlews. What the gnarls of the banksia trunk feel like when he hugs it good morning. And he can smell a campfire at the drop of a bushman's hat.

Joining in with Jodi.

You can see the whole series of portraits here.

Happy Easter! We'll be having a quiet one, as K works and E and I recover from a fairly sleepless teething night. Made good with spelt sourdough buns with green ginger wine soaked fruit!

12/52

Little merman, eyes to the sea.

When weather permits, we mostly spend our afternoons at the beach. Lately he has become a little merman, unruffled by the sea, launching himself into its arms. He flings himself here and there in a game of giggles and bravery. So much seawater swallowed. He loves salt! It is high time for swimming lessons.

I loved this little mischief maker from last week.

Joining in with Jodi.

You can see the whole series of portraits here.