"a portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2016."

Stella: You conquered some major fears and learned to touch bugs this week. And you think they're pretty cool, though you do still instinctively reach out and try to protect your brother when he attempts to touch one.

Hugo: We've been waiting for you to catch the chicken pox virus your cousin had. And it looks like, just towards the end of the week, you've finally come down with the pox.

It was a pretty good week, this one. Well, with the exception of several crazy early morning wake-ups, and a mid-night vom fest care of our champion non-sleeper first-born. Nannie came back from Bali and that was pretty exciting for everyone. Her return to Jakarta coincided with a solar eclipse, which was keenly anticipated by our favourite insomniac. She was so excited about these two events that she had a nervous tummy all night, and was awake well before the sun even had a chance to peep over the horizon.

The sleep thing, while often painful, at least doesn't drive me so crazy any more. I've really come to terms with the fact that one of my kids has a super power, basically, which is the ability to function on much less sleep than I thought humanly possible. So, bright side?

11/52