13/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (20 months) - Florence (left) and Anna (right)

Florence your little hands have always seemed to grown up for you, your thumbs rather mature looking on these chubby baby paws. I stare at them often, these grown-up baby hands. Marvelling at the way you hold a tiny object, precisely and decidedly, or the way you open a jar (you love to open pretty much any container that can be opened), or even the way you hold a piece of toast in your hands as we set off for our evening walk in the garden. The same baby hands that hold mine tightly (you say handa, handa when you want to hold hands), the same baby hands that grip your binky, your pillow (pi), and any other item of comfort that may have crossed your path (you have been known to fall asleep clutching an umbrella). Your grown up baby hands like to be full and busy and put to use - one of the phrases I hear most often from you is "ho'em (hold them/hou, perhaps from the Afrikaans?), I think these grown up baby hands give me a glimpse into the person you are to grow into, the person you will be when the hands seem less too-grown-up, and more just-right.