Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

Oma (Maggie) comes to visit, 2-8 August, 2009

Oma gets a spuddlecuddle with the CuddleSpuddle.
Sparrow's cousin Mimi will be born soon, and Maggie came over for a brief visit before her daughter produces the next of her grandchildren and keeps both Maggie and Gordon busy for a few months over in Perth. She took several of the photos on this page.

Maggie brought this little giraffe puppet with her, and produced it during the first nappy change. Sparrow loves watching it dangle and dance. She is pretty good about nappy changes generally anyway, but is always happy to look at moving things (and it's orange!). It became a favourite toy during this week. I like playing with it too - you can make it move quite effectively, wiggling its tail, dancing, galloping and pacing (being a tracking geek, I was attempting to mimic its correct gaits).
Me to Sparrow: "Can you say biomechanical advantage?"
Maggie: "Of course I can, with my eyes closed and standing on my head she says, but I'm not going to right now."

We haven't been trying Sparrow on bottle feeding as often as we should. Sunday morning I left James and Maggie with the bottle and went into the other room to sew. It was not terribly successful - Sparrow won't have a bar of this substitute thing. But we will persist, because this is what will let James take her to the football without me, or look after her at night while I stay asleep (now there's a cheerful thought).

Maggie's first day here we went to the zoo, and our first stop was the butterfly house. Sparrow loved it just as much this time as the first time. No butterflies on her this time, but I got one -smile-.

Sparrow sees her first elephant.

It was as we were leaving the elephant enclosure that Maggie backtracked on her reluctance to agree with James that Sparrow liked going outdoors and said "Well, that's why she likes coming to the zoo, she's seen it before, it's familiar." And we both said, well, no. This photo is proof that you always see something new at the zoo... -grin- To be honest, the hand gesture she's making is a new thing and not necessarily related to the elephant. She doesn't really understand how to work her hands yet, but they can grab things. Like the other hand. Then they get stuck together because she doesn't know how to make them let go, and both fists get stuck in her mouth...

The fashion parade starts. Maggie brought with her a whole bunch of clothing that she or friends had knitted. Sparrow's not fond of trying on clothing, but over the course of a few days and several changes we got photos of her in most of it. Here's the yellow jumper, still a little big but it'll fit her quite soon at the rate she's growing. In the background are two German books that used to belong to James. One has lots of words for all the things I talk to Sparrow about, and the other has words and music for some simple songs which I started playing on the pennywhistle that's sitting there.

Like this. Maggie sang them while I played, and I tried to memorise her pronunciation. A bit like being back in the HarmonyUs choir.

Next outfit in the parade: the green hoodie. Also quite big; but very soft and fluffy.

Maggie had brought two pairs of knitted-extra-wide pants, and they fit really well. But pants and shirts tend to give us an exposed little belly, especially if she grabs the shirt and pulls it up to her mouth (a frequent occurrence). I said that I'd thought about braces, and in a trice Maggie had knitted a pair. These are just adorable. The shirt is the one the hospital gave me on Mother's Day when I was in there just after Sparrow was born.

The braces from behind. We call this the "pooping position", because if ther's anything blocked up it all seems to come through when she's like this. She likes the position, it's apparently quite comfortable. You can see on the back of her head where she has rubbed a bald spot and thinner strip from thrashing her head back and forth in her sleep (or when hungry).

The multi-coloured jacket, which I think is just lovely. The hat matches it, though you can't see it so well from here. Maggie's taking this photo, along with several others on this page.

There's a better view of the hat. We've paused on our way out to grab the laundry in or out, one of the two. August is the hardest month in Melbourne for working around rain. Midwinter is always so much drier.

And last in this week's fashion parade: the stripey green cardigan. I love the colouring on this one. And Sparrow was cheerful once it was on and she was back in Daddy's lap "dancing".

Sparrow was grizzly, and Maggie rocked her over her knee to see if it helped. Sometimes it does help and moves the wind one way or the other, and sometimes it's just something that weirds the Spud out for long enough that she forgets she's grizzling.

James took a day off work, and we all went to the Queen Victoria Markets. Here we are having lunch in the food court before James and I left for the weekly council mothers' group meeting.

James and Sparrow outside one of the food court stalls.

On Wednesday, James' half day, we went for a walk along the Merri Creek and around CERES. James and Sparrow are standing on the bluestone lookout that used to be part of one of the many quarries.

The rubbish trap and sculpture just south of Blyth St.

Maggie, James and Sparrow by the totem pole at the Kingfisher entrance to CERES. We had hot chocolates at the cafe and a short walk around. I got to point out a few of my projects, which is fun to look back on.

On Wednesday night we went out for dinner at a restaurant in Altona that James and I have been to a couple of times - Creme. The food there is always good, and they have a little bakery down the back that sells exquisite tiny tarts. Some cafes I put her on the table, but this is one of the places that have tiny tables and huge plates. However, they do have bench seats. We laid Sparrow on the bench between James and I, where she happily gurgled and talked at us while looking at the ceiling.

Bath time. Sparrow loves the bath, and it's a rare treat for us to have both parents there plus a camera wielder. I can wash her without having to also hold her head out of the water, James can play with her in the bath, we both can manage the process of getting her from the water into a towel without dropping baby or towel into the bath. And all of it on camera.

James is saying "And now, Sparrow, this is how you hold your mouth open wide when in the water", and I'm trying to tell her not to listen to him. She has started holding her mouth open a lot, and I'm starting to think of the things I need to show her before she starts swimming lessons next term. Like closing your mouth when water is getting splashed around instead of trying to drink it with a big excited goofy grin.

The last morning, Sparrow was ready to go to sleep on someone's lap. Oma volunteered -smile-. So we have a sleepy Spud, watched over intently by an orange giraffe.