Hanna's Home

Our Finale

Day 30 -- Well folks, I did it! I snuck one more picture in... only because dad entertained her with throwing snowballs into the air. YAY!

I tried in the morning and it didn't go as well...

"GO AWAY MAMA! I'm busy drawing GRASS!"

As you can probably tell, I LOVED this little 30-day journey.  Something so simple yet so profound. Life is in the noticing.

AND if we build habits that we do daily to notice life up close, our life becomes richer. It is amazing how much more I know about Hanna's little spirit just from the simple act of having to capture a photo a day.

Thank you for being a captive audience!

Mama and Miss Hanna

NO MORE PiCTURES!

Day 29 -- That's it! Hanna put her foot down and hand up, declaring no more pictures. What can I say? She knows what she wants and doesn't want and has no problem articulating that quite clearly.

I plan to sneak one in for our finale tomorrow! Stay tuned!

I Miss My Dad

Day 28 -- Brad was gone for a few days, which left Hanna quite sad. "I miss my dad!" she said to me during our pillow talk yesterday.

The picture says it all. They have a great connection -- something I truly admire in a father-daughter relationship.

Hanna & Co.

Day 27 -- Here's Hanna with her friends. It's a wonder that she finds a place to sleep in her bed. Don't worry... they know who's boss. In fact, Hanna tried this line on me lately, "YOU"RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! I"M THE BOSS!"

Where she learned this concept, I do not know. All I know is that we took a moment, right then and there to talk about who's boss. Not in a threatening kind of way, but in a way that said, "You listen to me, and I'll listen to you."

Oh to be two and a half and think you OWN the world...

P.S. She purposely wouldn't look at the camera in this picture. Whenever she can, she shows me who's the boss!

Yogi

Day 26 -- After a million laps around the living room dancing to one of her favourite CDs, Hanna decided it was time to stretch. She has so much unbridled energy. I watch in amazement. Even the Valentine's Day balloon is losing its steam, but not Hanna.

Enrolling a friend

Day 25 -- Seems the little artist found a friend. She's good at enrolling her dad to join the fun!

Body like art

Day 24 - I snuggled Hanna in her towel under the blankets after a warm bath.  But she insisted on uncovering herself.  The human body is beautiful art. I love watching Hanna without clothes. She looks so free and confident. I wonder how differently we'd all feel about ourselves if we realized that our bodies are like art -- to be sculpted, nurtured and brought to life with compassionate attention.

Self portrait

Day 23 -- Did I honestly think that in the process of taking pictures of Hanna each day she wasn't going to figure out how to use this camera???

Silly me.

She even said, "Say cheeeeeze" as she snapped the self-portrait. Ouch, that must have hurt the eyes with the camera so close. Sorry for the over-exposure, but I just had to share!

Three wishes

I just couldn't do it anymore... I couldn't handle listening to the news at dinner time. This person got shot, this store was robbed, these politicians are bickering, these countries are fighting over God knows what... all of this I'm ingesting along with my food. So I made a new rule.

No TV at dinner.

Now we sit down to eat. Hanna runs to shut the TV off. And we light three candles... one for Hanna, one for mom and one for dad.

And instead of listening to the world's noise, we engage in rich conversation. I love it!  The first day I tried it, Hanna asked to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake.

Hanna's favourite part? When we're done, we make three wishes and blow out the candles.

Yesterday we wished for happiness, a home on the water and a million dollars. It was adorable listening to her recite these three wishes. The word 'million' isn't an easy one for her to say!

Day 22. It's a beautiful day.

Fireside chats

Day 21 -- This was yesterday afternoon, sitting by the fire, eating Ripple Chips from the yellow bowl, we enjoyed the warm sun that greeted us on Family Day.   We were all fairly low energy from a head cold that has swept through our family, and so a fireside chat seemed like the perfect thing to do. I took this picture to show Brad just how much Hanna mirrors us.

If you don't think your children are mirroring your actions, words and vibration, think again...

Hanna is often a perfect mirror. And keeps great company around the fire.