afternoon tea

A dear friend shared a while back on her blog about having afternoon tea with her little girl, and it has inspired me to start doing the same thing. We are not very regular about it, but Rilla and I both enjoy it a lot when we have a chance to sit down to tea together. I couldn't help snapping some pictures of her this afternoon as we sat at the sun-lit table in her bedroom and shared some hibiscus tea and banana bread.

And then one of us had to take a break partway through in order to nurse a needy baby.

Oh, it wasn't me. My baby slept through the teatime. No, it was Rilla's panda bear... the bear that is almost as big as she is.

But after the addition of a nursing cover...

...everything was decent, and we were able to carry on just fine.

Sorry if there is anyone who reads this and thinks it's weird that my daughter nurses her toys. Like I've said before, it was a little embarrassing at first. But this is how she nurtures them. It still makes us laugh - like this morning when she was oh-so-seriously rocking, swaddling, shhhing, and nursing a monster-truck-like toy car - but it is such a fitting expression of the gentle, loving nature of this dear girl.

I love her so much.