"lizard hat"

Mia's wearing her gnome hat and Burke is wearing her lizard hat. (wizard) Both of these were made by a good friend.

reading

These two have been so sweet together the past few days, even more than usual. this is how they were for about 10 minutes straight while I was cleaning in the kitchen. yesterday and today there have been long stretches of time were they are quietly playing side-by-side, easily sharing toys. Mostly Amelia does the sharing, but Burke does understand too. I have seen him watch her playing with something, then go back to his toy, but go get her toy when she gets up to do something else. Of course it's not always like that, they often tries to grab from each other, and yesterday while they were playing together on the couch, Mia leaned over and bit Burke's finger, hard. I don't know why, but I think she was just happy to be with him and his fingers looked so plump and juicy...

In other news, I attended a birth last week. In the fall, I took a doula training course, and attended my first birth in January. Now this was my second one. A doula is a labour support person, and extra coach for the mother, but also a support for the father (or partner etc.). A doula doesn't do any medical work, but is experienced in birht and can reassure the mother and help support her birth plan and help make sure that she is satisfied with her birth experience. I was more relaxed with my second client than my first, the first time, I had a hard time not thinking all about me and what I was doing and evaluating myself. In most new jobs, the first little while I would ask for feedback from the people I was working with to make sure I was doing things right. But that doesn't work in a birth experience. The last thing the labouring mother needs is to worry about reassuring her doula. But this time was better, I felt more at home with offering advise, helping the mother cope with the contractions and communicating with the father. I have got potentially another birth in June, and that mother is planning a home birth, which I am looking orward to. I think that many people planning births with midwifes tend not to get doulas because they feel that they are already getting that extra 'woman support'. In order to become a certified doula, I need to have attended 3 births. It looks like I will have met that requirement sooner than I had expected (I haven't started putting my name out there yet).

sharing

And here's a sequence of Burke passing blocks to Mia. I wish you could hear the little "here you are" noises he was making each time too.

Crafting

I made these little messenger bags a while ago for two birthday boys. I was quite pleased with the way they turned out, and I want to make more. First I have to do the dishes. And the laundry. And clean the bathroom. But once that is finally done, I will. they're nice because they're small enough that I can easily use all kinds of bits of fabric for the stripes and sides. I appliqued the stripes on these, and I won't do that again, especially not denim on denim...and I have to use something better than ribbon for the straps.

I put this whole post up because I noticed that you put me on your blog, Amanda, and I thought that I'd better do a little more posting than I have been! Thank you for the motivation.

in the garden

One of the things I imagined when we moved here was the children playing in the backyard while I cook or clean. I can see into the backyard from the kitchen as well. this week, they've done that a few times, and I'm so happy about it that I spend half the time sneaking around with the camera rather than doing the chores. They love it, often they're sitting side-by-side. Burke has got little scratches all over his face from crawling through the salal (the greenery in the front left of the bottom picture, it's everywhere). That won't last long, he has just started taking a few steps.