Autumn Glow

“A single photo. No words. Capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember” -joining soulemama.

The Check-up

November 19, 2013 by Summer

Prompt 18/30 seeking solace

She was seeking solace in my shoulder-blade. Burying her head deep down into Mama’s sweater, capturing my familiar scent, to ease her anxieties that the doctor was producing with all of the pokes and prodding.

I talked her through the examination.

“She’s going to look in your ears now. Okay. All done.”

She grabbed onto my body even tighter though when the stethoscope was placed on her bare skin. Her anxieties building and Mama’s embrace no longer keeping her confident. Tears poured from her eyes when the nurse stuck her with the needle and I had to shush in her ear to calm her little body down. I put on my brave mother face for her. Quieted down my own quick heartbeat. Used an even tone. But secretly, I was seeking solace too. Away from these strong maternal emotions I was feeling to protect my little one. Her face beat red from crying. I held her with gentle stability. She held onto me and I held tight back. It’s so difficult to be so young and not understand the what’s and why’s. I brought her home and cuddled her close. Laughing again and smiling again, it was but an experience she hopefully will not hold onto. And another experience in my book of tough moments of motherhood.

– joining in the daily writing with Write Alm’s November Prompts and Heather’s Just Write!

Weekending!

November 18, 2013 by Summer

A friend’s first birthday party (the cat softie revealed in full) and Gramma and Grandpa over for burgers and playtime with Ellie, on Saturday. A Sunday in Ojai, visiting the farmers market, walking around the local parks and checking out the local bookstores. It was a nice, seemingly quick autumn weekend.

How was yours?

-joining Amanda over at The Habit.

Portrait Project

November 16, 2013 by Summer

46/52

eloise: there were so many great photos from this week it was very difficult to choose. I kept coming back to this happy close-up of you though and just knew I had to make it a portrait. You have a cold this week but it hasn’t slowed you down. You are getting into everything all of a sudden, drawers are being rummaged through, couches and chairs are being climbed and you want to be outside as often as you can to run around. You are keeping me on my toes!

* joining jodi with the (almost finished- I can’t believe it) 52 project!

{this moment}

November 15, 2013 by Summer

“A single photo. Capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember”. – joining Soulemama.

making + listening

November 14, 2013 by Summer

MAKING : Sneak Preview of a special softie that’s getting the final touches for a good friend’s daughter’s first birthday party this weekend.

We did some work with watercolors for the first time a few days ago for some lantern making to celebrate the seasons and light changing to colder and darker.

Normally I would never cut up children’s art work like I did with Ellie’s watercolor (that’s a whole other post about respecting children’s art, something I’ve studied and implemented in all of my classrooms when I taught preschool- I touched on it briefly here), but because we had set out to create lanterns and the fact that this was less of an art project and more of a craft project, my conscious didn’t feel as bad, cutting into the painting to create something else with it.

the finished product!

Add a LED light and we had ourselves a lantern!

We took a little walk the other day with the lantern in the dark right before bed and Ellie seemed to think the whole experience was pretty cool. She didn’t want to go inside! (If you want more information about celebrating Martinmas, and how you can make lanterns, you can find some great info here, here and here. We’re not quite sure if Martinmas and it’s religious aspects are something we necessarily want to practice celebrating, but I really like the idea of lighting the darkness and celebrating the seasonal aspect of welcoming autumn and winter).

LISTENING: We’ve been hearing a lot of banjo tunes around these parts these days, some by this guy, some oldies and mostly from Daddy. He’s getting pretty good.

-joining in with Dawn over at Simplethingsnotebook.

An Autumn Walk

November 14, 2013 by Summer

Despite today’s heat, it’s slowly cooling down around these parts. By evening time, the temperature outside requires a jacket and warm hat. It’s dry, the Santa Ana’s come and go and the leaves on many of the trees have changed to reds and browns. Autumn is subtle around these parts, this I know, but there is a definite change in the season. The light of the sun dips down low very early these days. Our nightly walks with the dogs have been interrupted by the cold and the dark and Jeff now takes them on his own with a flashlight. Ellie and I however, have been taking our own end of the day walks around the neighborhood. Usually we make it to the park. Sometimes it’s collecting leaves and pokey acorn balls on a walk around the block. Today… today we discovered a wish flower, in all it’s autumn glory.

* the dress top is an adorable find from the local antique market! It reminded me of a little dress I wore when I was little.

Mother/Daughter

November 13, 2013 by Summer

prompt 12/30

I saw my daughter in my face. I saw that smile that curled up and the twinkle in her eyes. Those same gappy front teeth.

She is me.

I am her.

I dreamt of her years before she was here. I thought of her with dark hair and ivory skin, yet, blond wisps are the reality. Darling, soft, blond, messy hair.

Hair that reminds me of my own Mother. Those same blond wisps my Mother hated for me to touch. “I don’t like my hair played with,” she’d announce. And just like my mother, my daughter throws up her hand, pushing me away when I brush those extra long pieces out of her eyes.

I on the other hand would allow anyone to touch and caress my hair.

I see my daughter. I see my mother. I see me.

The sing songy nature of her play.

The language all her own. One only a mother can understand.

I had the same language. My mother smiles and tells me, “you told us stories just in that way.”

This daughter of mine who loves Mama’s milk, who curls up to me at night but can be furiously independent during the day. I was that to my own mother once upon a time. I was hers and she was mine. And now I’m grown. And my mother and I, we’re kinfolk. Both of us, Mothers, along different parts of this journey. Mothers watching their daughters grow into Mothers, watching their daughters grow… a journey unlike any other.

-playing along with WriteAlm’s November Prompts.

Weekending!

November 11, 2013 by Summer

Jeff and Ellie were under the weather this weekend so we stayed close to home and rested most of the time (they rested, Mama cleaned and organized).

Ellie has been really into watching Jeff and I do our morning routines in the kitchen. She always wants sips of my tea or coffee. Instead of telling her “no” once again, I decided to make her a quick little felt tea bag of her own to pretend with. She seemed to like the idea and the tea bag came out rather nicely for a quick hand sew.

Lots of indoor play with corks and ramekins and a runner Ellie found in the closet.

I worked on new decorations for the holidays with a cup of freshly brewed coffee (Jeff and I are generally tea drinkers but we thought we’d try fresh brewed coffee this week).