three weeks old

Harry meets his family

Harry is here

Harry is here. Born 4 September. Very beautiful. Much loved. Used to noise.

my boy

My boy is asleep in his pushchair next to me as I'm writing. He fell asleep as we walked back from school. He'd got up at 5.15.

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He was a little bit quiet when we dropped Ella at school. He loves having her about all day to mess about with.

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He's two and so lovely. Leans close in to his Dad at the dinner table, head cocked to the side, and asks: "Daddy - 'appy?" "Happy.""Checks with everyone: "Ella - 'appy? Mummy - 'appy?"

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Goes for some big tantrums. "Nooo!" Not this shirt, not those shoes. I WILL lie on the ground and kick my feet and howl.

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Loves cars (dar) and trams (bam). "Mummy! Loooo! Dar!"

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Golden brown ringlet curls. Hair that's never been cut.

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Big brown eyes. Long lashes.

six

Ella turned six last week. There'd been a lot of ongoing discussions about her party (a whole year's worth) but on Thursday we sat down together and had a bit of a planning session about what we'd do. How I love these discussions - a girl after my own heart - a fairy corner, a royal court, a night sky (I found a note she had written on the topic: "moor stuf - wot ubat wee can mac a nyt skuy").

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I suggested some crafty and maybe a few dress-ups, and she came up with the genius suggestion that the kids could make masks and then get dressed up for a Samba parade "like at Womad". Brilliant. And then we thought we'd have a wishing tree - where Ella could attach leaves for each of her party friends and they could attach leaves for her. We did a lot of thoroughly enjoyable preparation - painted party bags, drew a tree, cut and painted leaves, picked glitter and lanterns.

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All of this pretty much worked out - this short sentence underlying a fair amount of activity and chaos and joy and excitement. I thought they might have lost interest, but the kids insisted on a Samba Parade up the street with flags, drums and tinsel. They wanted to go further, but the grown-ups were flagging. Of course I didn't get one photo - too busy banging the drum and tying elastic on masks.

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What a joy to be six.

first day of school

My little big girl, all ready for first day of school. Messing around on the step. Excited and nervous.

you spin me round round

Here is Ella at Kinder for the last time. So beautiful - dressed up to the nines - spinning a full circle on the trapeze and yelling to her friend Felicity to 'leap onto me!'

one of each

I am going to school

Orange hat, green hoody, lime dress, rainbow leggings, pink socks, red boots - tall little girl full of anticipation. We went to Ella's first school orientation visit - she was so keen and nervous and shy.

And just a moment ago:

my little brother Jamie

Ella says: I took this photo by myself and it's one of my favourite photos. I like it because he's got wide eyes and the way he's shaped his lips. And he's staring at the camera. I was standing right next to Jamie.

under my desk as I work

Wait for me!

sharks are friends

Ella's started a campaign against shark-finning and is learning about sharks ("Sharks are good people"). At the aquarium she could identify the shark species we saw - Port Jackson, Leopard, Carpet and Grey Nurse. We stood among the Grey Nurse sharks, stingrays and large fish in the walk-through tank. She stands proud in her defense of sharks - sees them as beautiful and good, deserving of sympathy and respect, and rejects the popular view of sharks as killers. I heard her telling a boy at the aquarium that they only bite humans "by accident sometimes."

boy in motion

a box full of chatters

Ella's chatting away, chat chat chat, as I'm putting her to bed so I say:

"Chat, chat, chat - do you ever stop chatting? Stop chatting now - it's time to go to sleep."

And she says:

"I am a chatterbox. Yes I am just a box full of chatters."

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our dad is the best dad

where the boy?

At the Pirate Park.

how to paint

Another rainy afternoon, so what about a bit of painting for everyone? This was the first time our boy got into painting and I think the pictures can tell the story. We are talking Max Mess of paint and water for both small painters, plus a very large range of large and small brushes plus various painting tools: spot-maker, line-maker, wedge-thing - all pressed busily into lots of squishy paints. So much for limiting the number of tools out at once. Everything was out, everything being squished and mixed and sloshed about. Pure painting happiness. Sadly Jamie's masterpiece could not be saved - by the end it was a puddle. But Ella's has been remade into a book cover as part of my new book-binding project - will try and get some photos up soon.

so beautiful

I love this picture. Ella's arm wrapped around me, cuddled tight, a quiet moment. And how the camera can deceive - in real life Ella is hanging on to me for dear life - about to go for a crazy, noisy ride on the Mummy racing car.

Have wings, be sparkly, wear red shoes