the sweetest boy

Upon becoming mother to a son, I started to pay loads of attention to gentle and patient parenting articles. All I could remember from working at a daycare was the many feisty and fiery little boys who liked to fight and throw balls and wrestle. The saying "boys will be boys," played over and over again throughout the first year (and continues to do so). One of my hopes for my child has always been to treat them with with patience and respect, with hopes that they would learn that same patience and respect. Odin is only 20 months, but I feel like he is the sweetest boy and will continue to grow into an even sweeter boy. I'm definitely not saying that things are easy. He throws fits. Sometimes, he drops to the ground when things aren't going the way he thinks they should and he cries. He acts as any other toddler would, but only for a small portion of the time. For a large majority of the time he is sharing toys with strangers. Smiling and waving hello to each car that passes by while we sit outside. He kisses sticks and flowers and any animal he meets. He gives so many running hugs a day that I lose track of just how many. Recently he's grown attached to my dolls and that love has stemmed to loving other baby dolls. The way he wears his babies in the sling is a direct reflection of the way we wear him. We're wearing him a lot less now, but it's so beautiful that he remembers the kisses and the cuddles and the gentle hand grazes on the back of his neck. I can see his memories in the way he treats his dolls and it's truly beautiful.

I've convinced myself that if I continue to love Odin and practice as much patience as I possibly can (there are days where it's near impossible), that he'll continue to reflect these values and react with patience to situations that he may find frustrating. 

Papa's boy and his new table

Someone woke up very excitable. Excited about his new desk, excited about freshly picked raspberries, and then ridiculously excited about his papa coming home from work (you can see his surprise then sudden glee when he spots his papa out the window!). They were all too cute, I couldn't pick just one. <3

growth spurts

I hate growth spurts. This past week, Odin has been an absolute mess, wanting to be held constantly and whining at my ankles when he isn't. If I try to hand him off to someone else, he immediately cries and shouts "ma maaaa," in a way that makes me feel ridiculously guilty. I'm tired. I thought he may be sick at first but today, both Zak and I noticed him being obviously bigger. I remember the first growth spurt and how I woke up one morning looking down at my sleeping week or two old laying beside me and realizing that he had grown in the night. They grow so much during that first year. He's still hitting milestones and growth spurts and other things that change his behavior temporarily, but nowhere near as often as during that first year. 

These were some of the few peaceful moments this week, I'm thankful for little Paloma who always seems to be very good at distracting him, even if only for a very short while. He's recently started mimicking us to a T and paying more attention to the things he does. He's always been the destroyer of block towers and this week, he finally started helping me build them! I love little milestones like these. <3

A fresh look

Last night I doodled some in my sketchbook in order to make a new header and side bar for the blog. I've been separating a lot of my art posts and life posts into two separate blogs, which honestly is silly. I'm not an artist separately from a mother, I am both rolled into one. That is a realization I've just recently been able to come to and I'll write up a post in more detail about that soon.

 From now on, I'll be posting everything here and for those that are only interested in my art posts, there's a handy little button on the side of the blog that you can click and will guide you to all of my art posts specifically. I will keep my art blog up and update it from time to time, but it will be used as more of a portfolio space.

I hope everyone likes the (slightly) new look and and feedback is more than welcome.

summer solstice

Happy summer solstice!

This week has moved slowly and I can't quite recall any remarkable details. In fact, all of the days since our fantastic father's day are really quite fuzzy. I've paid no attention to anything other than Instagram, really (It should've been Jitterbug Perfume though, after finding it again). Odin's been feverish all week which I'm going to attribute to teething. We're working on his canines now and they are treating him much more poorly than his molars even. I feel so bad that I can't take his pain away, but with a mix of skin to skin, babywearing, and tons of mama milk, he is quickly mending. Today was our third day with fever (lower than the past few days though!) and the first day of summer. We attempted to play at the park, but Odin really was miserable. After a third nap we made it outside into the garden to play for a little bit before going on a short neighborhood walk wrapped in our sling. 

We'll properly celebrate the solstice this weekend and bask in early summer's glow. What did you do to celebrate? Hopefully not many of your bubs started their summer out teething like mine!

June so soon

2013 is flying by more quickly any other year, it seems. I'm trying to find quiet moments throughout the day to do some sort of meditative activity in an attempt to slow down time, which I'm aware is impossible. I've seen these beautiful mandalas on Instagram and many of them are made from plants. They're all so beautiful and I've been completely enraptured. It was surprising to me that #playingwithpetals was so calming. After a long day of playing with the babies, Odin played outside with his aunt while I made a little mandala at his table inside. It reminded me to give myself moments to catch up, moments to breathe. This year's been so busy (but in a very good way), I'm afraid I'll miss out on all the beauty. Odin is loving having a playmate throughout the day and having another child to interact with is teaching him so much. He's growing so smart and developing quite the little personality so quickly, it's nice to still have moments where he just wants to cuddle. Moments where he'd rather nap on my chest than curled up on his own. I cherish these moments more now than I did when he was much newer, I never realized time could be so fleeting. I know as time passes, the distance between these moments will grow larger. I also know that Odin will forever be my little boy. 

little walker

Officially my little big boy! He's a walker now. <3

papa's teachings

My dreamy little boy:

Papa's little boy:

wild

My wild boy, lover of outdoors. In the evening when it's time to come inside from a day of playing outside; he sits at the window while mama makes dinner and watches while the bees finish their work for the day, the birds sing their last songs until tomorrow, and the sun says night night. With the oncoming summer's warmth, we've been playing outside first thing in the morning and I'd like to think that Odin spends his nights dreaming of trees, garden beds, papa, and his mama.

summer's light

Sheets in the wash, warm summer light. 

It's getting warmer every day, this morning Odin played outside in just his nappy and he had the best time. I can't wait for a bare baby bottom to run around our yard and the beach all summer. <3