I’ve decided to start a portrait project for the year. Every week, I’m going to sit down and observe Charlotte playing and document it through pictures and maybe voice recordings or written observations. I love watching how her imagination unfolds and relates to things happening in our daily lives. I will play along with her if she asks me to, but otherwise, I’ll just watch.
Week 1
My mom sent me this slip for Charlotte that belonged to me when I was little. Every Sunday after church, my sisters and I used to strip down to our slips and play dolls, or jump on the bed while my parents napped. Sometimes we would fall asleep as well. This Sunday was lazy and rainy and reminded me of those days. Charlotte put on this slip and just wanted to twirl and twirl. And then of course she needed to grab her baby doll to twirl around, the one she refers to as her “big baby.” Soon the two of them were getting strapped into an airplane at the end of the bed, and I was being summoned to come pick them up from the airport. I got buckled in with them, and we all went “up to the sky” together. Before I knew it, I was being shoved under the fitted sheet that had become our home because it was raining outside. From in our home, we looked in the mirror (which was a hole in the sheet–I know, gross), so Charlotte could show me her blackeye. After we changed the baby’s diaper, it was nap time, for real.
The airport has been a major theme in play lately as we traveled on a plane for our Thanksgiving trip and have recently been dropping off and picking up several people from the airport. I think Charlotte pretending to have a black eye is her way of trying to feel better about the fact that she gave her dad a black eye when she kicked him in the face one morning not long ago.
All Mountains and Molehills 
Love these. Such beautiful images.
Thank you so much, Ashley!
This is awesome! I love the different angles of the shots, not just of her face. It makes me feel like I am really there playing with you guys (:
Thanks! I wish you were here playing with us!
Oh goodness. I just spent an hour reading through these archives. Makes me miss you so much! This project is so beautiful and wonderful and your photographs are so stunning and your girls are pure magic and you as a mother has got to be one of the coolest things going on in the world right now. Love you!!
Oh wow, Adriel. Your words mean so much to me. Thank you. This project has taught me more than I could have imagined. I miss your sweet soul, and I must see that boy of yours. Love you, darling. Thanks for the kind words.