Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

Eighth month part 2: random moments, 9 December 2009 to 9 January 2010

A sleepy afternoon. They were both tired, and both needed a nap, and they just looked so cute in the bed together that I had to take a picture.

About to have dinner. We tried a few different bib styles this month - this is just an old shirt of James'. It works fairly well, is easy to get on and off, but somehow none of the bibs we've tried have made a noticeable difference to how much food gets on her clothes. We just end up with one extra thing to wash. She also went from eating food whenever and not being too serious about it to needing to eat at least one solid meal a day, preferably more. We introduced all the remaining plant foods (including potential allergens) with no obvious reactions, and got her onto vegetable proteins like split pea and refried beans. She thought beans and pea soup were pretty good, and so do I even though they do mash really well into everything she wears. So she's set up to be a good little vegan at the moment. We'll introduce meat next month, and dairy the month after that.

We had a special visitor. Jim is a very old friend of my cousin Sean, both in Denver, and he was wandering by on a random travel moment and stopped in to deliver a couple of odds and ends from Sean. So Sparrow and I now have an alphabet book called "Pigs over Colorado Past", with great colourful pictures and rhymes telling all about Colorado's history from prehistoric times through to the 20th century. Cousin Sean and Aunt Janet are in it, too, under the letter U for Uranium Processing Plant (though you have to know the story to know it's them).

Christmas carols in the park at Altona! I loved Carols by Candlelight as a child, but it's changed a bit. This is the candle you get now, battery operated and very safe. It even gives a flickering light. While it was still light it seemed a bit tacky, but it was fun once it finally got dark enough to see everyone holding their candles. Unfortunately it was a very cold night with a very brisk wind blowing off the ocean, so we didn't stay long past dark. There were a lot of acts and not much of the crowd singing, and it was a small crowd spaced out a bit and all singing more softly than the wind. You didn't really get to hear the whole group singing together and that was what I always found magical about it. So we went home, but will try again next year and hopefully it won't be quite so freezing.

This is Thomas Catullus, son of Alison Katerina and a current resident of our home. Thomas moved in with us after we came back from our first jaunt to WA. He and Sparrow are managing to get along reasonably well - she watches him jump and play with giggles, and a certain amount of curious jealousy. Our baby may learn to move from a cat. If I drag a pen or ribbon or walk my fingers back and forth, they both want to try and grab it. So she may also start to get a sense of competition. She has once or twice given her daddy a jealous look when he picked up the kitten instead of her.

Well, she *could* eat the grapes, but the plate is more interesting. Grapes are new and therefore a little suspicious - or just beyond notice when there's such a great plate to play with. This was one of our warm days, you might notice that she's in a nappy but not a cover. I did this a bit between our WA trips, partly so I could keep track of what her weeing patterns were changing to and partly because it was just so much cooler for her that way. The nappies don't leak. The moisture will eventually wick to the surface, where either I notice it and change her or it evaporates off and keeps the nappy cool. Either works.

Another hot day strategy. I had this space set up for her to roll around in, and she wasn't getting too far from the towel yet. So here we are in the coolest part of the house by several degrees, enjoying some air time. I'd say breeze, but the breeze hadn't come up yet. She's got her water bottle and a few toys handy plus the Pigs book to read with me, her parents have home-made jelly icy poles, and we're all set.

More hot day time. She likes to play with a wet flannel. We don't leave her in wet stuff as that would make her body heat jump up to compensate, but seeing what she does when you put a flannel on her head can be entertaining. Right now she's forgotten about it though because it is More Important To Eat Those Toes. Watching her stretch and strain forward to try and reach them was funny. It tickles a lot, too.

Time to prepare for a summer trip to Perth, and I discovered that she really had outgrown several of the more suitable clothes we had. So, into the boxes we went to see what was there and what might work for her travels. This little dress was a handmedown from Clara, as were the overalls behind her, and the shirt there was a gift from someone but embarrassingly I can't remember who. They all fit, so they went in the travel bag. Sparrow was not entirely convinced that all this clothes trying on was necessary.

Here's the t-shirt and overalls. The overalls were a slight problem in that she could easily undo the strap catches and chew on them. Metal just is fascinating, apparently. So they didn't stay on that well. The other overalls we have that are button-based work better.

Hello, what are you doing? And is it going to involve picking me up or giving me something? I am yet to decide whether you are still interesting.

Actually, what I was doing was babyproofing the book room for a mobile infant. There was a good chance she would be crawling by the time we returned from WA, and I wanted to have one space where on the day we returned, when we were in post-trip stupor and she was full of beans, I could put her down and not be too panicky. So I didn't do much packing, but I did get the room into a great state for our return.

So here we are, returned safe and well two weeks later. Sparrow is making friends with some toys she hasn't seen for a while.

And here's all the toys I emptied out of her bag. Some are Christmas presents, some are old favourites we took with us, some are recycled from the farm toybox. And all of them got cleaned thoroughly post-trip before she got to play with them again. I have now split her toys into two lots, only one of which is out at a time and the other of which is stashed away. Just so that we can keep up the variety.

Modelling her next sunhat. The scientist in me is amused that I somehow managed to get a hat with an atom symbol on it.

During our trip away we realised she was pretty close to outgrowing the car seat in infant-position. So now we're back in Melbourne, and the car seat has been turned around to be forward facing. This is Sparrow's first trip in it this way up. She is taking it with her usual stoic sense of "Parents, you'll never understand them, why stress over trying?". I miss being able to look over my shoulder and see her looking up at me, that was especially nice while we were away and had some long drives. But it's nice to know she can see us easily now.

We went to the Royal Botanic Gardens to catch up with Lily. Lily gave us a souvenir book she'd got at the Sydney Aquarium. Sparrow found it fascinating and worth devouring. The gardens themselves were lovely, I think she and I will have to go back there a few times. She seemed awed by the trees overhead, which is funny after just coming back from the farm and having had plenty of that.