I started this baby blog in late May, 2006, just before Henry was born - nearly nine years ago. After Esti was born in September 2009, we kept right on blogging. But now the babies are nearly grown up. They can read and write, so I think they've both crossed the line from objects to subjects. Esti draws amazing pictures. Henry is a decent writer and ukulele player. They are no longer Ken's and my property, cute additions for us to show pictures of, tell you about the exciting or concerning things they've said or done, or publicly share my anxieties about. One sign of that is that they don't like having their pictures taken so much anymore - they are liable to duck or squint from candids, unless it was their idea to pose. Instead they like to make their own art, take their own photos, tell their own stories. The rationale for a mommmy blog is much harder to see. That's one reason I've been posting less over the last year or two; another is that blogger suddenly became hard to use with Picasa. (Though ironically, I'm skipping Picasa today and it's being wonderfully smooth.)
For this closing post, I've guiltily skipped over a lot of good photos I know must be stored on various cameras and hard drives and phones -- last summer's amazing shed-raising project and its results (will have to make a photo book of that one!), last summer's gardening/traveling/African drumming adventures, Esti's "new" school, our epic Christmas drive out to Wisconsin, and Esti's incredible ten-day trip to Nevis with my parents (without her parents) last month (material for another photo book there). Sometimes you just have to admit what you haven't done and move on. Instead I'm signing off with Henry's pottery: bowls, cups, and a couple of plates he made this semester at his first wheel-throwing class. Then I'll add one more entry below it, with a few of Esti's recent drawings, and be done.
But guess what? You aren't through with us yet. We are going to Sweden in June, for a whole year. Summer in Stockholm, then nine months in Uppsala. Probably some side trips here and there. Surely there will be a travel blog, once we get it together. The kids will be contributors (with distinct author identities), not objects. It will be an experiment. Stay tuned.
I don't even know who reads this anymore, besides our tireless parents, but thank you. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have.
