Thursday, April 12, 2007

Times are a-changing

Today I bought these:



for her:


Well...my daughter is not five any more, but it is hard not to think of her like this at these life-changing moments. When I look at her sitting in the car she looks tiny.


Can she actually see over the steering wheel? Can she actually reach the pedals? Just barely! She is only starting the car for me to drive here. She has told me that it won't be possible for me to teach her to drive because when I get into 'teacher mode' I annoy her. I know that this is the point where our personalities are similar and, therefore, clash. If my Pete tries to tell me how I should do something I will immediatley ignore him and try to work it out for myself. He may be right in the end, but I will come to that conclusion alone, thank you very much! I wasn't offended that my daughter said this to me. Far from it. I was impressed that she could be so self-aware as to know that this was a trigger for conflict. I'm also happy to avoid the responsibility for teaching her to drive!

My beautiful, articulate son seems to have completely lost his ability to talk. He sounds like he only has half a tongue. What could have afflicted him so? He has become obsessed with Weebl and Bob. It is pretty funny and it suits his off-beat humour. All day today he has asked me questions which allowed him to respond to my answers with "make sure you are". (but say that like you have half a tongue) He has always laughed so easily. He finds delight and humour in all situations. He reminds our whole family of why it is a joy to be alive. This photo was taken by my sister six years ago. It is one of my favourite photos of my son and his cousin.


Finally I have been listening to this song quite a bit in the last few days while I have been quilting. It is a song that makes me very happy. It must do good things to me, because I am VERY happy with this client quilt that I finished with my brand new machine.








LIFE IS GOOD.

13 comments:

Stomper Girl said...

Gorgeous baby photos of your kids, thankyou for sharing them. And your quilt is fabulous.

I hope I don't have to be the one to teach my kids to drive too! I remember my mother sitting next to me with white knuckles during my L-plate days. I wish you all good luck with her driving. And I hope your son's tongue grows back SOON!!

Precious Pink Pumps said...

I can remember Ashleigh as flower girl at Suss's wedding. She was so tiny and angelic. And Pippy - the pic of him asleep on granddad's shoulder...I think that is how i always think of your kids, even though I know they are so much older. I remember Ashleigh a lot from uni days too..when Suss looked after her. And we would listen to The Breeders with her. We wanted her to grow up and be a great woman. And she is!

meggie said...

What a lovely post Tracey. Your children are obviously your pride & joy- and rightly so.
Wonderful quilting on the client quilt. I will bet you had fun doing it!

Tracey Petersen said...

stomper - like all of his obsessions, his tongue will be gone for a long time. sigh
jen - it made me cry to think that you guys held such aspirations for her when she was three. I hadn't realised, at that time, that you guys loved her so much.
meggie - such fun, you have no idea...now I wonder where my son gets his obsessive love of things???

Anonymous said...

LOVE the photos of the kids!! Is A any taller now than in the photo?? She's so pretty. And that photo of P is straight from Heaven.
You KNOW I love The Cure, don't you? There's just something about a man in mascara...

Michelle said...

That quilt is gorgeous!! Love the colours!
Love the photos of the L plates and your daughter. I can imagine it must be hard to see you children as old enough to drive!!

Waterfall Manor quilts said...

yo tracey, great quilt the work looks like a bought one..haha..seriously all your practice on the other machine has paid off big time, you are now a long arm quilter, congrats,I hope the next 400 go as smoothly..cheers Pat Dwyer
Waterfall Manor Quilts.

Jane Monk said...

Your quilting looks great - I like the look of the back too! Nice studio - love the space. I am waiting for Sue to deliver my Millennium - how exciting it must be for you to have stitch regulation. Cheers Jane

Sussanah said...

This is my happy place song, always makes me smile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kJD2N2gvqw

I wouldn't want you to teach me to drive either!

I say WOO HOO only 6 more months until Ashleigh can pick up all the kids!!!!!

caramaena said...

Love the photos of the kids :)

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

What a happy post! Beautiful photos -and obviously lovely memories.

It's an exciting (and scary) time - learning to drive. (I had a driving instructor who greeted me each lesson with "Could you please try not to kill me today?")

Your son obviously has an outstanding sense of humour (afterall he laughed at Major Bumsore..)

Anonymous said...

I'm so excited for our beautiful girl and so sad as well. Excited that she is becoming the wonderful woman she was always going to be but sad that the beautiful awe-inspiring baby will be gone forever...

Oh and looking forward to calling her and saying "Can you pick up Chelsea from dancing, take her to basketball and then babysit Joseph while I go and grab a frappe..." Peta

LBA said...

I love the pics - a Pooped Party Princess, and that B&W is *adorable* !

BUT, your girl looks taller than me in that car. I'm 5'2", probably the length of her legs ...