7/52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

Pink cheeks from exploring the Sculpture Garden at a cracking pace on a balmy, colour saturated evening.

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

13 (and a bit) months

13 (and a bit) months and the Little One...
...no longer walks, she runs
...has settled into a blissful daytime nap routine (for now!)
...sings along to 5 Little Ducks (wack, wack, wack, wack), 10 in the Bed (wol o wa, wol o wa), Fish and Mice (barks out little sounds when the children repeat the words Holly sings)
...is right into lids (on, off, on, off), her new tea set, the yellow Fisher Price bus, Teddy Oswald (teddor), the hose or watering can, listening to her two cds (this and this), and of course, the camera
...dances, oh she dances (every time Dada walks through the door we've started doing a little jig)
...loves scrambled eggs, happy cow cheese, yakult (sugar and mini bottle = what a combo!), and steamed broccoli (finally, a win)
...met her Uncle Rich for the first time and charmed the pants off him

...thinks jumping is the funniest. thing. ever.
...delights and amuses her parents every day

*I hope you can see the little animated photo at the bottom? I just love the look she gives in the third photo of the sequence...I'm not a technical person at all, but that was super easy to do. Watch out! I'm addicted!
**The perfectionist in me wants to point out that a (retrospective) 12 month post is coming soon!

Cheese

It's the first thing she looks for when she comes upstairs in the morning. It hangs on the tea trolley so she tugs at the strap then swings it over her head. Her camera, a birthday gift from her little best friend, goes everywhere with us at the moment. Bumping around on that belly.

JanMa's garden

This was the garden I played in as a child. I know where the pavers become bumpy near the shed, where the spiders love to spin webs, where garden sculptures rest. And I love that Saskia is now discovering this little backyard world.

We spent the weekend outdoors: planting seedling baskets and herb pots at home, and here, amongst the shade in JanMa's garden. The Little One delighted in running down the grassy hill as fast as her little legs would carry her and I would scoop her up and swirl her around just before she'd reach the hedge. It was all a bit Huggies commercial but I couldn't resist. We ate mini gelato cones (Sassy insisting on tucking into hers cone first), slipped down the slide, hunted for strawberries and patted the family of (stone) wombats by front path. The kind of spring afternoon that you'd look back on and remember how blissfully happy and content you were.

How was your weekend? Did you spend it outdoors?

6/52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

Watering the fow wa (her favourite word)...oh, that belly.

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

5/52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

A rare moment of stillness.

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

Tick

I'm hoping to get a few things ticked off the list for November:
...weeding the courtyard garden and planting herbs and nasturtiums in the balcony boxes
...organise (and rethink) our memorykeeping system
...complete a secret collaborative project, after weeks of hunting and collecting, and help launch another (more on these later...)
...send thank you cards for the Little One's birthday (I bought a few packs of these cute little guys because I'm being realistic, and if I make my own, they might just not happen....)

What projects are on your list for the month ahead?

*The blow up pool - a $1 garage sale find - proved priceless with this burst of muggy weather yesterday. Little friends, chubby legs,  pink cheeks, paparazzi mamas...

4/52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

Let's go walking, walking, walking. 

Let's go walking up and down the path...

(That one arm up kills me)

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

La grande fete

I love fete season. And I think Sassy might too.

La grande fete is more extravagant than the usual (sideshow rides!) and a little fancy (I had a French red with my vegetarian paella, and the most divine mille feuille as a sneaky treat). Norma, the little vintage caravan, also made an appearance (we love her). We scored some great secondhand books, watched the spinning tea cups and maypole dancing (the Little One joining in with her own special jig on the sidelines), and I wandered about the familiar grounds thinking of my days teaching at this lovely bilingual school.

K speaks to Saskia in Portuguese (when he remembers), and we've always agreed about how important this is to us. We'd love her to grow up knowing another language and attend a bilingual school. Do your little ones know another language? Do they attend a bilingual school? I'd love to know how others have approached this. We found out about this great organisation at the fete and I'm keen to know more. Hoping my (very limited!) Portuguese will improve at the same time.....