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

David / This weekend David got to take home the class pet, Narni the narwhal. When he told me he was bringing home a narwhal I asked him where we were going to put the giant aquarium and his response let me know that I was no longer only dabbling in lame-mom humor.

David toted Narni around the house and everywhere we went. Everything was a tad more special because Narni was along. Seeing his delight for little things like this — EXCUSE ME WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN HAVING NARNI FOR THE WEEKEND??? — makes me think that being five is perhaps the best gig ever.

Mary Virginia / Inspired by my friend Robin, I got the kids a small artificial tree for the playroom. As soon as we unboxed it, they started making and hanging paper ornaments with zero direction from me. Christmas magic.

Thomas / This is Thomas in my bed like he owns the place. (Which, he does. He owns all the places.)

All year I resisted posting more than one photo of each child, but this time I can’t because just one photo does not tell the story. And also because sometimes I make rules like “only one photo of each child!” because I think it’ll push me to edit my content more tightly. But then I look at three pictures of my baby boy in bed and I realize I spend too much brainpower on self-imposed blog rules.

Sorry. Back on topic.

Thomas loves to pretend he’s sleeping. Only in real beds, with the covers pulled up. Usually he snuggles on his belly with his bottom popped in the air. This time he would say, “Ni-Ni!” and cover his eyes, wiggling.