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Giggle Bear - on the mangrove path. I love her expression and her pudgy, sandy hands. She hates to be carried now, and is determined to walk, but she can never quite keep up with her free ranging siblings.

Adventure Boy - Eating breakfast sitting on the table in morning light. I'm trying to go Iron Age for a week (writing research - this is not a diet I can imagine loosing weight on) - so my Beloved fried up a huge amount of bacon which the Adventure Boy heartily approved off. I love seeing that his rounded cheeks are still so childish.

The Extravaganza - with Wolfie on the beach. Wolfie is gradually, gradually calming down and learning that rounding up the kids doesn't win him any brownie points. (Although he's still firmly convinced he needs to keep a good eye on Adventure Boy, but then, so are the rest of us.) The Extravaganza remains... sparky... in the lead up to - gulp - her fifth birthday.

Joining with Jodi for a portrait of my little ones once a week, every week, in 2015. 

A World Full of Firsts (And Birds)

We took the long and winding road up and around and into the hinterlands, and then dared the steep, steep driveway down (me mostly with my eyes shut and clutching the seat) and reached the Maleny Botanical Gardens and Bird Park.

Sprawling down the hillside, looking across to breath-taking views of the Glasshouse mountains, gardens and ornamental lakes form a perfect playground for children to run, and it's easy to see why it's such a popular spot for weddings. But of course, the highlight was the petting area and the aviary.

It was the first time Giggle-Bear had ever seen an alpaca, or a goat, a sheep or a guinea fowl. She spent the whole time pointing furiously and then looking back at me for confirmation. "Eh! Eh! Eh! Mother have you seen this creature!"

By the time we went into the aviary, where birds swoop down in a spectacular fall of light and colour to land on your shoulder or head, she was almost too awed to take it all in.

I adore birds - my first world was duck, as we had pet ducks at the time, and at various times I've had chickens and ducks and an injured, free ranging (and very destructive cockatoo.) I am used to the cheeky intelligence of a parrot and, when the keepers told me their penchant for stealing jewellery I sighed in memory as well and laughed. Watching one particular parrot busily take the buttons off my Beloved's shirt also made me giggle.

This toddling, new-to-everything age is so much fun, and it's such an honour to witness and such a pleasure to seek new things out, to see the world afresh through  eyes just learning the shape of the world, and first learning of the vastness and diversity.

"Eh! Eh! Eh! Mother! Have you seen, it is amazing!" 

Between the Woods and Sea (Walk with a White Wolf)

As a child one of my favourite fairytales was called The White Wolf  (I think it was in either the Red or Orange Fairy Book by Lang), and now, with our own white wolf I love how romantic he looks. (I try to forget the way he drinks from the toilet bowl and steals any cheese or butter I'm foolish enough to leave on the bench-top.)

With the older kids at school and kindy, my Beloved and I took the two little ones on a favourite walk along the mangroves by the shore. Wolfie loved the freedom to run along the dog beach - he found a friendly Border Collie to play with - and Giggle-bear loved playing with the sticks and seeds she found.

I loved the liminality of it, the way it seemed like a place apart from everywhere else. It seemed so wild and so close to something magic. Walking it with my toddler who sees the world with new eyes and believes everything is interesting, and with Wolfie, who sniffs a world of scent and takes such delight in stretching his legs, made it seem like stepping within a fairytale.

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Giggle-bear - with Wolfie. My babies tend to have their naps together. (Wolfie is still not yet six months old...)

The Extravaganza - telling me all about it. "Mummy, no more photos!" We're just about to (finally!) tile the kitchen splashback so everything on the kitchen bench has been carted over to the table.

Adventure Boy - looking over at the sunset on a twilight walk through the mangroves along the shore. You can just see the glimmer of white that is Wolfie in the distance.

Joining with Jodi for a portrait of my little ones once a week, every week, in 2015.

Sometimes you just want to curl up on the couch with a book...