30/52

Ellery: digger obsessed

Aubrey: next steps, hills

Last portrait as a three-year-old. So naturally, there are two. In the thick of three, it has been difficult at times to see the good, but there is so much good in him.

Aubrey, mastering tricky terrain (and delighting in peeing everywhere).

28/52

Ellery: like a watercolour

Aubrey: toddler-dom

Major heart pangs this week. 

The sun sets on three // The feisty toddler blooms. 

The babies are gone.

27/52

Ellery: portrait of the artist at work

Aubrey: dabbled in watercolours, prefers sitting at the big table

Love the Winter light in this front room in our city house - it feels just like a studio space.

Also, first non-beach portraits this Winter!

26/52

Ellery: our original Storm Boy

Aubrey: spotting 'tweet tweets'

Ellery, you are energy itself. An amazing composition of a boy. Loud and wild and dramatic, and also prone to quiet, thoughtful bookishness. You're full of spellbinding wordsmith-ery far beyond your (almost four!) years. Highly resistant to change, you shun affection and yet crave it, it soothes you. You're becoming so long and lean. You've recently learned to skip, and you've almost got whistling down. It's your last month of being three.

Aubrey, you are such a sweet, sweet child. You kiss and cuddle your teddies, animals in books, and us. You insist on rounds upon rounds of kisses when saying goodbye. Your dimpled smiles and cheeky looks melt us all. You are mad for pretend drives in Daddy's ranger car, real drives in Daddy's tractor, dinosaurs, birds and balls. And you've started to sit still for books!

24/52

Ellery: little merman

Aubrey: chasing seagulls

A big week, filled with lots of little memories and milestones.

Rainbow star making, outdoor orchestra playing, road network building, whole body mud squelching, cubby making, bed jumping, make believe games of billy goats and angry trolls ... the smallest's first chocolate cake and first paintings ... the big kid learning to skip.

And gems like "You're my favourite brother in all the world!".

And no illness! Hurrah!

23/52

Ellery: wild and wonderful

Aubrey: delightful little imp

These portraits. Gosh. They pretty much sum up my relationship with each of these kids.

Ellery, at a distance, hard to pin down, let alone photograph. And so. much. energy.

Aubrey, the face says it all. Cheeky and delightful, he likes most of all just to be with me.

And yes, a wintry beach. My forever favourite.

21/52

Ellery: the boy and the sea

Aubrey: small boy, big sky

So much to say about life right now.

It will have to wait. 

Because life speaks for itself. Loudly, relentlessly. 

20/52

Ellery: moody

Aubrey: walking

So much growing around these parts.

Ellery, you are more self aware, more independent. You're doing so much testing. And screaming, hitting, rejecting. Exhibit one: 'You're not my mother!'. Exhibit two: 'I want to buy a new Daddy!'.

Aubrey, you are walking! And becoming more audacious in your climbing.

19/52

Ellery: he has wings to fly

Aubrey: seedpod finding

Ellery, we're keeping tantrums in check with more stimulation ... new audio books ... your appetite for them is insatiable ... you disappear for a very long time into their magical lands. As a consequence, you've been confronting me with requests like this: "Let's pretend I'm a statue made of cheese!"

Aubrey, you've learnt to say no with a shake of your head, and it's your answer to everything, even when the answer is yes! You're on the cusp of walking, it's becoming very fluid for you. You're a snuggly one, volunteering lots of kisses and back patting. Super divine. May it never change.

18/52

Ellery: asking me to tell him jokes

Aubrey: sandpit is a splashpool

A week of big, big rain.

And illness - this time the littlest feller. 

Still much three-and-a-half year old behaviour ... and then quite suddenly, a couple of golden days. Bliss.

17/52

Ellery: riding the Daddy horse

Aubrey: walking! with concentration tongue!

Horsing around on the beach, with a ponytail (!), pre-throat infection.

And walking (!) on the beach, onset throat infection.

The here come the winter lurgies edition...

16/52

Ellery: he is the music man

Aubrey: trying out big brother's beanbag chair

No camera photos this week. Because three-and-a-half. I've been crying into my wine at night. But also, you do an impeccable impersonation of Piglet.

And the week of the ball obsession. This kid can throw straighter than anyone in his immediate bloodlines. Also, fourteen months ... sheesh. And first steps!

15/52

Ellery: throwing a frisby

Aubrey: new tricks

Oh, what a week.

Tantrums are at a crescendo, and I am copping the brunt. A more conscious effort to carve out time just for you.

A fringe trim and a developmental leap, and here comes the toddler! Standing, climbing, riding his wheely bug and pushing a block trolley (that belonged to my brother!).

14/52

Ellery: conversations on the kitchen bench

Aubrey: banana

I have much more poetic photos on my phone.

But these are a lot closer to reality. Unabashedly domestic and cluttered.

You were both very high need this week (let's hope it is just this week!). Developmental blips (walking! soon!) and extreme behaviour (hitting, throwing, headbutting your brother, screaming fits of the burst-your-eardrum variety that last a mofo eternity). 

Also the week I paid five bucks for a download of consoling parenting wisdom about how three-and-a-half is the nadir of humanity.

Sigh. And Wine. And caffeine. And chocolate. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

13/52

Ellery: energy for days

Aubrey: he sells sea shells

Three-and-a-half: syllables, you intrinsically understand syllables. Because words and rhythm are you.

One: walks with hands held. And can hear the fridge opening two rooms away.

12/52

Ellery: shell creature spying

Aubrey: laps of the beach

In five years, I won't remember the week you barked like a seal and vomited copious solidified milk lumps down my shirt in the middle of the night. I'll have forgotten how bloody EPIC your tantrums were, how you kept hitting me and screaming at me to go away, to come back. And how I lost my shizzle at you, again. I'll vaguely recall how clingy the smallest was. How tired and foggy I was.

But I will remember how we seized the day anyway. Despite the effort, the tears, the sandflies and the wet sand EVERYWHERE. To choose beauty. To make these our memories that stick.

11/52

Ellery: singing me the cheeky monkey song

Aubrey: slumbering delight (with paws)

Three and a half: the meltdowns, the defiance, the wanton moods, the middle of the night wakefulness, the questions about everything, the undoing the thing you just did so he can redo it, the excitement about life, the bookish-ness. 

One: the raspberries (ohmygoodness he blows a mean fart on my shoulder!), the coy smile, the singsong call of 'Dad-dah', the climbing everything, the seat-bopping, the offering up the floor crud that just went in his mouth, the hand clenching to indicate want, the screaming frustration when he doesn't get his way, the absolute disinterest in books. 

10/52

Ellery: marches to the beat of his own drum
Aubrey: sunlight in his hair

The week that teething - and a crazy full moon southerly buster - stole our sleep.

9/52

Ellery: stacking, unstacking

Aubrey: cheeks and rolls

Matching one-year-old and three-and-a-half year old vaccinations. The smallest's first fringe trim. And a new (borrowed) car!

8/52

Ellery: daydreaming under the pandanus

Aubrey: ascending

The week my baby turned one.

The week we had ex-tropical cyclone Marcia pass through.

Cabin fever. Cake. And climbing.

(Mind the big cloth-nappied bum.)