Wednesday

The Many Positions of Sparrow

As you may recall, my nearly six month old grandson spends Wednesday mornings here, at the farmhouse. Today I told myself that he deserves his moment by the farmhouse Christmas tree! But how to photograph this? I mean, he can sort of sit. Helped if propped up a bit. But it's no guarantee!

As I think about how to do this, it strikes me what a delightfully challenging time this is in an infant's first year! It's not all about lying down anymore, but nor has he moved into complete independence yet. And so you will see from this morning the many ways in which Sparrow is experimenting with positioning himself in this world.


The arrival of the winter bunny...






My first attempt at sitting Sparrow by the tree... flopped.






How about if you lean forward, Sparrow?






Or, sit you up in a chair? Well, you can't see the tree from here...






On your tummy then. Not bad!






Let's have a better look at Sparrow!






Alright. Breakfast time.
Ed, can you stand him on the table?
How do I do that?
Just stand him on the table!






It's not easy. He slides!






We eat. Well, some of us eat.






And now he is upright, stable, and happy about it. He looks like he's jogging. He will be. Soon enough.






The Dancing Christmas Snowdrop

Can you teach patience? Maybe not, but you can certainly introduce the idea of it at an early age.

When Snowdrop comes to the farmhouse after school, she immediately spots the one present under the tree. Wrapped and ready for Christmas. "To Snowdrop," it reads.

Can I open it?
Not until Christmas.
Look! There are penguins on the paper! Does Santa know about penguins?






There is no good way to answer that question, so I offer her a piece of pineapple instead.






But you can't hide things from Ms Beady Eyes. Soon after, she finds the roll of paper I used to wrap her gift.
Gaga! This was your paper!

One more bit of the Christmas puzzle that she has now to mull over.


We don't have a great amount of time to play. It's dance class day.

Do we have time to read a book?
Just one!






Ready?






I give myself time to get her there on schedule, but once again there is an issue on the highway and once again we are a few minutes late. No matter. Snowdrop jumps right in without pause or hesitation.






The story for the day is Lion King.






She makes a fine roaring cub.






... who can jump hoops to get, well, wherever she needs to go.






I stand back and exhale. My grandkids are all well and growing in leaps and bounds. The lights are twinkling. Our homes are warm.

How good is that!