Tag: kids

Break Time

Yesterday morning we went on a walk down the street–Liam on his scooter (with his helmet, of course), Clara in the front seat of the carriage and Maggie running alongside sniffing at smells that wafted her direction. It was quite a long even though we only went to the end of the street and back. By the time we got home, it was time to cool off and have a break. Liam wanted to take a break with his sippy cup of milk and his sandals close by. He also really wanted to be in the picture with Clara. He is a funny boy!

The picture of Clara by herself is the first time she held the sippy cup by herself. She was so proud of herself.

Her little personality is developing and it’s fun to watch the things she gets excited about, the places she randomly decides to stop and play, and her reactions to Liam. She’s learning to be patient with him when he takes the thing she’s playing with and Liam is learning how to have a toy ready to trade when he wants to take one away from her. Oh, the bumps and happy times of learning how to share!


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Clara grows up, Liam learns to use a camera

It’s been a little while, so here are some recent pictures of the kids and me. I’m happy to report that my relationship with Clara is really coming along. She and I have spent a lot more time together recently, and as she grows less dependent on Lisa for everything, I’m able to step in and enjoy her more. She is a smiley little girl with a really fun personality. She’s not a really snuggly baby like her brother Liam, but she does love to interact. She’s excited to see people she recognizes, and makes a jerky little waving movement with her arm that we think might be intentional. At least she seems to do it when she’s greeting someone. She also gurgles something that sounds like, ‘Hi.’ She learned to say ‘Mama’ while we were camping. She’s not quite to ‘Dada’ yet, but that’s not for lack of effort on my part. Liam might be her favorite person in the world. She loves to watch him run around, and is always laughing at even his simplest movements. Clara is a joy, and we continue to cherish every bit of her growth and progress.





Liam is starting to learn how to use a camera. He shows genuine interest in this. He has an old, used children’s book about how to use your 110 pocket camera (anyone remember those?). It’s narrated by a bear, and teaches about basic lighting and composition, complete with self-assignments. He’s still at the age where he loves to be read to, and doesn’t much care what we read. It’s very special. He has a summer recipe book that we read him, and he doesn’t seem to mind that it’s not narrative material.

The other day, Liam picked up my Pentax K-1000 camera, which is a 20- or 30-year old silver fully manual film camera. It’s a complicated thing to operate, even for an adult. And it’s heavy. But he loved using it, and now knows how to look through the viewfinder, click the shutter release, and wind the film to the next frame. The other night he was taking pictures of Clara, which they both really enjoyed. There was no film in the camera, but I think sooner or later we’ll have to try that part out, too.





Liam’s Photo shoot

Liam wanted me to take pictures of him today while we were waiting for a client (who never showed up). He directed the entire photo shoot, including the poses, props, location, my shooting position (knees, Daddy, knees!) and everything. It was so cute! I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures of Clara today, but she’s not old enough to demand her own photo shoot. What fun, and what a funny kid!