Days 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 | January photo a day project

Day 25:
Pete’s 38th Birthday.

Day 26: Australia day. A rare moment to run outside on what was really a day of rain.
Anouk in particular often climbs the hills hoist clothes line.  An Australian icon & a childhood memory for many Aussie’s.
They both climbed it & curiously looked over the fences into the neighbours yards.
My Grandmother likes to tell a story about the time when my dad & his brothers were young boys. She looked out the window & saw that the boys had put their baby sister in a cardboard box & attached it to the hills hoist clothes line with pegs & were swinging it round & round to give the baby a ride.
When she saw what her sons were doing she raced out into the yard to save the baby, shouting & waving ‘the jam spoon’ at them.
Sometimes the kids worry me when I look out my window and see them at the top of the clothes line, but then again at least they are not babies…. swinging in a box held up by pegs.

Day 27:
Ava….
Eight.
Right now you like….
The dolphin tale movie
Dreaming of swimming with dolphins
Designing things & making them
Swimming
Eating cucumber
Music
Singing
Writing songs
Talking about getting a pet bunny
Watching anything about biblical archaeology & historical evidence
Roald Dahl stories
Watching MI High
Pretending to be a secret spy agent
Doing magic tricks
Maths
Asking me to tell you stories from when I was little
You are clever & determined & fun & brave & sensitive & kind & shy
I did take a standard portrait of you & but this moment where you laughed & turned your face away from the camera.
This really feels like you.

Day 28:

Back to school.
First day of Grade 3.
First day of Primary school.
A new playground.
A new teacher.
You were put into a class with only one friend you’ve had before, but you were OK with that.
You seem to be learning to adapt well in the face of change & that will serve you well.

Day 29:
Anouk…
Five.
Today you went to the school for your ‘best start interview’ with a teacher before starting school next week.
You haven’t started school yet and you can read. You read stories to yourself.
We don’t even really know how you learned to read by the time you were 4.
Just by being read to I suppose.
I’m told that the teacher who interviewed you today was impressed.

You like…
Reading
Singing
Being a helper
Carrying the shopping list
Carrying little toys under your arm
Playing card games with someone
Drawing
Strumming your guitar
Anything that involves tapping a beat
Doing concerts in the lounge room
Bedtime stories & snuggling
Picking flowers for people
You are cuddly & kind & clever & confident & cheeky & funny & playful

These are our last few days together before you go off to school. I have loved every one of our “mummy Anouk days” as you have called them.
Every single one.