Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

Grandma (Sandra) comes to visit, 7-10 July, 2009

Good morning cuddles on Mum's first day here. Sparrow looks a little like an acorn, or maybe a Gumnut Baby, in this outfit.

Pausing a heavy schedule of non-stop conversation for a lunch break on the beanbag. Sparrow is starting to join in on the talking and had been making noises at Grandma quite clearly, though with no guarantee of deliberateness yet. She will sometimes make eye contact as she makes the noises though, or look for eye contact. Sort of. It's a bit erratic, enough so to not be sure how much is accidental, but it's still very cute when it happens.

It was a wonderfully sunny afternoon, so Mum and I went out to sit in the garden with a cup of tea. Being Wednesday, it was James' afternoon off so he came home shortly afterwards and brought his lunch out to join us. Somehow we managed to get the Spud wonderfully illuminated in these shots but not the rest of us. Perhaps she is practising generating radiance.

Mum suggested that her most important job for helping us in this short trip was to mind Sparrow for a couple of hours and let James and I have time on our own. We didn't really know what to do with the time, though it sounded like a great idea. We ended up going to the Williamstown foreshore and leaving Mum and Sparrow there enjoying the sunshine and people while James and I took a walk up the main street, then coming back and taking Sparrow while Mum did some clothes shopping. There are some very nice boutiques and interesting shops in Williamstown, and Mum's found nice clothes there before. So it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon, though the wind was icy cold as Melbourne winter can be. This photo is at the change-over. Sparrow is well bundled against the wind. The bridge in the background is the West Gate Bridge, which looks very small from here. The photo is looking towards the city, but you can't see the skyscrapers as they're behind James.

And after all that, it was time for a rest.

Thursday morning's errand was for Mum and I to take Sparrow for her first shots in the vaccination schedule. One oral vaccine and an injection in both legs. This is her in the car on the way there, looking so wonderfully peaceful and sleepy. She has no idea what's about to happen to her and how much she won't enjoy it. When we took her home afterwards she also looked a lot like this - she went to sleep fairly soon after the shots, and stayed drowsy and relatively content until mid afternoon.

Because she'd settled down so well, I had no hesitation continuing on with Thursday's main event - a special trip by train into the city to go to...

...High Tea at Parliament House. This was from 2:30 to 4, precisely, and at exactly 2:25 as we left Parliament Station, climbed up all the steps and went through the security screening, Sparrow started to wake up. By the time we reached Strangers' Corridor and sat down, she was beginning a full-blown inconsolable "why does everything HURT?" howl. After about twenty or thirty minutes of walking her up and down, attempting to feed her, changing her nappy and anything else we could try while my half-eaten elegantly presented cucumber sandwich slowly dried on my plate, I gave in and gave her a dose of baby Panadol to help lower her heat and aches. This photo is taken about twenty minutes after that, when she'd finally fallen asleep over Mum's shoulder. You can see the ambience, though - wood panelling, leather and velvet seats, starched white linens, quiet cups of tea. Very old-worlde-English.

After we'd finished the tea she was still asleep, and we were in time for the last tour of Parliament House for the day. So we went on it. It was a bit shortened, but great.

This photo is a bit fuzzy, but I had to include it. Sparrow and I are sitting in the Speaker's chair, in the Lower House of the Victorian Parliament. For those not familiar with the Westminster system, the Lower House is where laws are put forward and made, and where the reigning Government and Opposition have their main stoushes. The person in charge of the Lower House (and all the quarrels therein) is the Speaker. Sparrow is sitting with the microphone in front of her face. I conside this the first part of her training schedule to become ruler of the world.

Looking upwards in the Red Room, which houses the Upper House or Senate (the house of review).

On the steps of Parliament House afterwards, in thelate afternoon light. We finished the day with a walk through the city and a slow and delayed train trip home. Sparrow continued to sleep through this, rousing only when the train stayed stopped between stations for a long period due to a broken switchpoint (love peak hour malfunctions).

The second and last evening, hanging around and enjoying cups of tea after dinner.

On the blanket that Coral crocheted and Mum brought over. The center of attention, much.

A little before heading to the airport, time for a last rock and cuddle in the first light of midwinter sunrise. I don't enjoy the sun coming up so late but it does encourage her to sleep a little longer in the mornings. The arm in motion here is in the middle of making a food sign at Grandma. She seems able to tell when it's not my breast she's snuggled up against now, but will still try making food signs at any adult present if she's hungry.

In the car capsule, ready to take Grandma to the airport. The hat Clara gave us goes so well with Coral's blanket.

One final dose of cuteness. I think she looks a lot like her second second cousin Timothy in this shot, but maybe I'm imagining it.