Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

Around the traps in the 24th month, 9 April - 9 May, 2011

I'm just going to lie right here, the shopping can do itself without me. Thinking on it, that may be the only time she wore those sock-shoes on an excursion. I bought them in spring - they were too big then but she wouldn't let them near her. Now she'll accept them being put on but they're pretty much outgrown. Which is a shame as they're practical for the colder weather, but at the same time she's kind of outgrown the concept too. She thinks of them as socks, and keeps trying to put shoes on over them - the idea that they can be both is a little tricky for her.

A short walk down at the shops. Sparrow is enjoying an apple, I think, though it could have been a very late plum. She thinks it's such a treat to get her own piece of fruit from one of the many fruit-and-veg sellers, and isn't at all shy about telling us what she would like to have today. Some of the store staff will give her fruit for free too and she never turns them down.

Terrible photo, but my attempt to show the two kids in the car together for what might have been the first or second time. So much stuff and car seats. We no longer have a back seat to use for changing her nappy, so that's going to be fun when the weather turns cold in a couple of weeks!

Mali's birthday party down at Cherry Lake. Mali packed her own bag of stuff to take the party, and her mother says she just dumped the entire contents of her music drawer into it with only enough fiddling to make sure all of it got into the bag. And then she was given a huge box of more instruments as a present by an aunt and uncle. So there were lots of musical things to play with, and I got some great ideas about things that Sparrow would enjoy or be able to use and that I could live with. I want to do more with making music in this next year. This photo has Sparrow, Mali on the mat and Lily to the right, all from the mothers group.

This little drum, one of the ones where you swing the ball back and forth, was an object of intense curiosity for a few minutes.

To her delight, Sparrow managed to get a few notes on a harmonica. She seemed quite impressed. Her Grandad will probably be pleased too. I have added a harmonica to the list of instruments worth getting for her collection (so far the list consists of a kazoo, a xylophone and a new tambourine to replace the broken one).

The band gets going. There was a small amount of understanding of the idea of playing "music" together, but only a small amount. More like "If she's making noise then I'm going to make noise too!". Which I guess is where it starts, we can worry about the concept of order-in-the-noise later. My fantasy band-of-the-future now includes Mali as well as Sparrow's cousin Timothy and celebrity baby George Eagle (Brian Cox's son, who's roughly the same age as Sparrow).

Playing at the Frog Pond playground on a surprisingly sunny day. It had rained and rained the week I was in hospital but turned on nice weather again when I got out, which was nice for me. My contribution to playground excursions at this point was to sit on a bench and take photos from a distance. James got the job of encouraging the more physically active stunts.

Sparrow didn't want to go that far from Mummy though. That was pretty consistent for this week. I think she was a little concerned about my having been away so much - now that I was back she was going to keep an eye on me and make sure I was still with her. And besides, I was sitting at such a great picnic table, perfect for climbing on.

Out for a walk.

A stop at the playground in Altona. The little boy at the back was carrying this ball around and playing with his dad, and Sparrow was very keen on the ball. The little boy lost interest, so the dad threw it back and forth with Sparrow a few times (this is one of her throws).

I had the phone out while we were walking and *somebody* demanded to see the "picture of herself" on it (she says it differently but that's what she means). So I took one and showed it to her.

At the playground. This outfit just made her look so tall and people-like as she walked around and stood at things to play. And it was very stripy.

She looks so much like a young girl now, starting to get more child-like in appearance (as opposed to baby-like).

"Thomas! Thomas! Thomas there. In the, Thomas!" -much pointing ensues-

Time at the park in Newport. Somebody was having a birthday party there (themed "F", so the adults and kids were all wearing F outfits - a fly, a fairy, a froufrou etc) and the kids were tying balloons to the playground equipment. Sparrow was quite interested in the balloons so one of the kids tied one to her wrist. She rather enjoyed taking the balloon around with her I think, though it did eventually get left behind somewhere on the play equipment and then recombined back into the party decorations.