Meu nome e

We always loved your name, Saskia.

It was a clear favourite. Lots of other girls names were bandied around, written against our two last names, added to the list, but it was always to be...Saskia Rose.

I had once read an article about a talented and beautiful florist in a Dumbo Feather magazine (Issue 20), and mentally scribbled her name on my list of favourites. I thought of a dark haired little girl.

It's funny how quickly the conversation turns to names when you discover that you're pregnant. There were so many breakfasts, lunches, dinners at our dining table spent discussing names. My Mum, a primary school teacher, told me she taught a lovely little girl called Saskia and I was immediately reminded of that sweet name.

Your middle name, Rose, is in memory of your Great Grandmother, my Granny. I always think about how she would adore you. Just adore you.

If we talk about names, we also have to talk about nicknames (that was always my favourite page in my baby book)...

Sassy
Sassy Lassie
Sasky
Lassie
Chu-chuka or chuka or Tu-tuka (Papa's special names for you...there's a little song that goes along with it - and you always give it a bit of 'crazy head')
The Sass (Aunty Meas and Uncle Rich)
Kiki or Kikkies
Sax
Cracker/Firecracker 
Little One
Schnoster
Spangle dangs
Schnoggle bog (the last three being Grandfather's work)

*My blog name actually comes from my father's nickname for me as a young child - Oscar Lucinda. There's some debate as to where the Oscar came from (Lucinda is my middle name)...it's either that I was a bit of an actress as a little one or a big old grouch. Some say both. Rude, I know. 

**Saskia's Christmas ornament from the always beautiful Paper Boat Press

Magic basket

The magic basket is indeed that. Magic. The contents fascinate and puzzle Saskia. She ponders, investigates, peruses, experiments. She turns an object over, and turns it back, turns it over, turns it back. With those sweet sausage fingers. So delicate and clumsy all at once.

We've been bringing it out once a day when she is happy and well rested. She likes to pull out most of the items and switches between objects quickly. She keeps coming back to a favoured few: the whisk, the avocado stone (!), a small cylindrical cardboard box, the strainer and a small wooden heart decoration. All of them are inspected from every angle, tested in the mouth, waved about in the air.

I sit and watch, sometimes naming objects, offering occasional words of encouragement. Mostly I just watch and marvel. I let her explore her 'treasures' in her own time, her own way. I wish I knew what she was thinking.

She has sat and played happily with her basket for up to 50 minutes at a time. Concentrating hard for most of that time. Pretty magic, no?

*For more information on magic/treasure baskets and heuristic play see this article, and check out the blog posts from some lovely Mamas, I previously mentioned, here and here.

One for the baby book

Little One woke up yesterday morning with the tip of a little white tooth peeking through her bottom gums. I just caught a glimpse as she laughed. She's kept it well hidden since, but both Mama and Papa have felt the little ridges. Her first tooth!

There haven't been any red cheeks or much crankiness at all. Just super long naps during the day. For the moment...

*Photo taken on our visit to Norma. On a rare moment that she'll eat in 'public' (it always helps that someone other than Mama does the feeding). Since the little tooth has appeared though, her appetite has disappeared. Hmmmmm...

The knitted dress

Your Mama wore this knitted dress when she was a baby, Saskia. And she was photographed on that bed, in that very same room. The beautiful dress was lovingly made by her Granny, your great-grandmother. She would have adored you.

Happy Mothers Day beautiful Mamas, Mamas-to-be and Mamas one-day-to-be x

Ps. The lovely Bron at Baby Space did a similar post here.

7 months

7 months and the Little One...
...has graduated from eating books to listening to them being read (Where is the Green Sheep, My Dad and Goodnight Moon are clear favourites)
...entertains us by making music with her bottom lip and doing the 'asylum rock'
...is only interested in grazing on her purees and porridges (her favourite is apple and berry bircher muesli)
...stands up by holding onto the side of the toy basket, wobbling around with a big grin and cheeky giggles
...is mesmerised by older children, especially her 3 cousins and her little friends Iris and Sofia
...has new rides - a black Safe and Sound compaq in the Golf and a hot red one in JanMa's little Fiat
...loves a good roly poly on the bed
...said farewell to her little 'village' neighbour, Remy, but promised to visit him in Melbourne sometime soon
...makes her mama and papa giddy with happiness every day

Play

An orange from the fruit bowl. Wormie. My Elk beads. iPhone. Rice in a small container*. Crocheted teether. Fluff from the Flokati rug. Wooden coaster. Sophie. Mama's hair. The wooden rattle with beads and a bell ($4 from the local oppie).

These are a few of your favourite things.

I've been thinking a lot about play and toys lately. Heuristic Play and Treasure Baskets. Inspired by a post I read a while ago and bookmarked, and also this lady's recent post. Looking at Saskia's preferred playthings, more than half are everyday objects and only a handful are 'toys'. So I'm sure there's something to this.

Now that she has been comfortably sitting up for a while I think it'd be a great time to introduce a Treasure Basket. I'm actually a wee bit excited about the treasure hunt for objects too.

...oh, and speaking of toys and playthings, how sweet are these little guys in Ms Milky's new Etsy shop?

*ok, it's a unused specimen jar!

Lately

There's a lovely gentle pattern to our days lately. The kind that I dreamed about in the first few months. And as a result the last two months have felt playful and fun.

Saskia has been having two big sleeps a day (most days, certainly not every day) so we plan lunchtime outings. Perfect for the onset of crisp mornings and sunny Autumn days.

We picnic with our two favourite ladies in the Sculpture garden, take walks around the suburb and plot all the parks in our memory for future adventures (who knew there were so many in a 1km radius?), stroll down to the local shops for a coffee and a peek in the oppie, take a little look at art, grocery shop with the seniors during the week (you are a real hit), and head over to JanMa's and Grandfather's for a slip down the slide. I'm not sure who has more fun, Little One, you or I?

We've been looking forward to this weekend as K will be by our sides. Lately he's been busy dealing with sadness, and the work that comes with packing up a lifetime of memories and things. This weekend we are spending our outings as a family of 3. And the sun is playing along.

Today we are going back to a new coffee shop in a nearby suburb, with a shiny red coffee machine and fresh flowers on the tables. Tomorrow I am beyond excited about meeting Norma. Tell me she isn't the most darling thing you've seen?

*Latest children's exhibition at the NGA. Worth hunting down the tucked-away space to see the blingin' Liberace installation and the Miro prints (my picks).