52 Project - 18.52

Her mannerisms are becoming softer, more gentle and feminine, like laying her hands in her lap like this. A very pretty princess dress always accentuates her sweet girliness. 

Ice. Whether it's first thing in the morning or last thing at night, he wants cup after cup of crushed ice. Even though our cool change has come, and his little hands are chilled, still he wants more and more ice.  

There are sweet little moments throughout every one of our days, where one will reach the other. Usually, it's him and usually she shrugs him off which ends in a little scuffle that is less love-filled. But in quiet moments like this, they settle into it and my heart grows bigger again. 

52 Project - 17.52

She's such a daddy's girl. Especially when she is determined to get her own way, she knows he'll almost always say yes to her. 

He's such a little boy now, he has moments of babyhood 'around the edges', but he's firmly in the realm of childhood now. So bittersweet for me. 

He calls out to her now when he wants to get down from his chair. They love this little interaction, both with joy-filled grins across their faces, as though they're so grown up and are proud that they don't need us for this little piece of their lives. She, especially is proud of being 'the big sister'. I adore them. 

52 Project - 16.52

My darlings. I couldn't commit to one photograph of them each this week, and I'm not sure I can commit words to these photographs. We had 'one of those weeks', but through that, these two are shining little stars of joy. There isn't a day that goes by when I'm not tired, short tempered or overwhelmed and these guys can break my bad mood with one word, cheeky smile or touch of their still-soft little hands. So blessed. 

Oh. My heart.  

52 Project - 15.52

I thought I'd attempt a portrait of both the kids this week ... One out of two ain't bad ;)  

This week also culminates in a little piece of the digital workflow clicking for me. Film well and truly has my heart, but for some work - and projects like this - it's really not practical. Finding a way for my digital work to look and feel a teensy bit more like my film work has been a welcome moment. 

She is a little bit more of a mama's girl again this week - I love it. She is crazy for practicing letters, asking endless questions about lots of little details and helping out as much as possible. She has also been asking for two little sisters ... 

He has been sleeping more soundly, but still waking as frequently. The more restful sleep seems to have mellowed him out through the days and he's easier to wrangle. A little - the cheekiness has remained. He and his sister are playing kindly together, but like any proper little brother he takes any opportunity to chase her, or spray her with water ;) 

52 Project - 14.52

As she grows older she's becoming increasingly interested in what I'm interested in.  I ordered some beautiful Carla Coulson books that I was missing from my collection and attempted to sneak a quiet moment at the table with a cup of hot tea.  She was up onto my lap, asking me about the photographs she was looking at, carefully turning pages so as not to damage the book and telling me her own stories about what I was seeing.  I told her, in language she could understand at four years old, about dream chasing, beautiful photography and the importance of documenting life.  That morning, my heart overflowed.

That grin full of cheekiness melts me every time.  He has the world's best belly laugh and we go to great lengths to draw it out of him, but today, he's looking at his sister.  She can coax that outrageous belly laugh more easily than we do, and we all adore it.  He is pure delight.  Or delightfully mischievous.  Right now, he is in limbo between toddlerhood and childhood ... that laugh-childhood ... those soft, rounded cheeks-toddlerhood ... adventure and thrill seeking-childhood ... waking me up with kisses and rolling over to cuddle in while he wakes-toddlerhood.  He has my heart.  

Project 52 - 13.52

She's adoring colouring and drawing at the moment.  We chucked out all of the old, broken and worn out textas, crayons and pencils and replaced them with a pile of new ones.  She's in heaven.  When she's deep in concentration like this, I can watch her - unposed - and the enormity of this little life that I helped create overwhelms me in the best possible way.

He's a monkey - that's his current nick name too.  He loves to laugh and to make others laugh.  He's watching every move his sister makes and mimics her.  He's more daring and fearless than she though, and throws himself head first into anything that looks remotely adventurous.  I have my hands delightfully full with my little man.   

And, when you least expect it, quiet, harmonious play time together.  These little snippets in our days (for they are brief!) bring me such joy and reassurance, that under all the sibling warring they engage in lies a best-friendship to last a lifetime.

52 Project - 12.52

A Saturday morning movie in his new favourite pjs.  He's moving back and forth between toddlerhood and childhood right now.  He'll still pull his toes up to his chest when he's laying down, still so easy for him to curl up.  And the next minute, he's surprising us with something new he can do. 

She is starting to play make believe all the time.  It's wonderful.  I adore it so much.  She sets the scene for us, assigns us our roles, sources any props required and then off we go (our acting constantly corrected).  This dead palm frond became the perfect horse for Rapunzel to ride up and down the castle.  I only shot three frames before she noticed me and pointed out my horse. 

They fluctuate between mad crazy love for each other, having so-much-fun together that I am careful not to disturb them ... and full blown sibling rivalry.  They both want what the other has, they both want to help in the kitchen, they both want to go in the car with dada, they both want to pile onto my lap at the same time, elbows digging into each other.  They are so loving and so frustrated with each other a million times a day.

52 Project - 11.52

She seems so grown up lately, but I still see glimpses of my little girl in moments like this. Deep in concentration and chubby cheeks on show.  

He's Mister independent lately. busy in all that he does, and he can do it all without any help. Little monkey x 

They're in the depths of sibling wars most days, but there are still moments like these. Side by side, gentle, happily playing together. 

52 Project - 10.52

We spent the morning outside painting, she was patient and took her time, she carefully considered every dip into the paint, every stroke of the brush and it's position on the canvas. She knew when she was done and asked for another canvas. 

He pushed and swirled the paint around the plate before haphazardly scribbling the brush around on the canvas in any white space he could find. When he was done (and it was over in a flash for him) he painted the palm of his hand and his forearm, so we signed his artwork with a handprint. 

52 Project - 9.52

All of a sudden she seems to have grown up, again. She is using more mature turns of phrase and chastising her brother with hands on hips (clearly mimicking me ;)  She is stubborn, feisty and sweet-as-pie. My beautiful girl. 

"ah-ba. ah-ba. ah-ba." Abracadabra!  A little more independent each day. Learning more and more from his big sister, he watches her like a hawk. He adores her. 

The best thing about this photo? - I didn't ask them to hold hands. They were walking all by themselves from me to the bend in the path and back again. She would hold her hand out to him saying "come and walk with me buddy" and off they went. 

Oh my heart.