Month: May 2013

Hard (and Funny) Landing

Video | | patmcg

Claire’s first grade class had an end-of-the-year party this afternoon.  The entire two hours was all about the gigantic inflatable water slide in her classmate’s yard.  The kids came up with just about every possible variation on sliding down short, steep a water slide.  Eventually they got too creative, and some of us parents had to ban head-first slides, etc.

I just happened to catch this gem on video.  Everyone was okay.  It was one of many, many collisions, and it went largely unnoticed even by Claire and that poor boy.  But it sure was hilarious to watch over and over later at home on the big TV with the whole family.

BTW, Claire says that the boy she rammed into with her bottom had earlier told Claire that her face was beautiful.  And this is how Claire re-pays him!

Claire the babysitter

| patmcg
Claire reading to Molly
Claire reading to Molly, in a shot posed by Claire 🙂

Tonight, Claire volunteered to put Molly to sleep.  Claire was not just talking about reading a book to Molly and tucking her in.  Claire insisted that she would help get Molly completely ready for bed: get her dressed in her night gown, help her brush her teeth, read her a story, etc.  Claire said that way I could go work while she took care of Molly.  (I am always trying to find time to get things done around here, and Claire has picked up on this.)

Molly loved the idea.  Claire and Molly were a good team.  Bedtime went surprisingly well.  It only took a little bit of prodding to keep them on track.  And I actually did get some work done while Claire took care of Molly, which meant I was not up quite as late working.  Thank you, Claire!

The next night, Claire volunteered to put Molly down again.  It was a bath night, which is much trickier.  But Claire insisted.  That night did not go quite as well as the previous night.  After 45 minutes, they were both still in the bath, and Molly was really worked up, jumping, giggling, laughing, etc.  This is pretty normal for bedtime, but it was one notch even more than usual.  Eventually the screams of joy from down the hall got to be too much to take; I was not getting any work done that night.  I had to go in and break it up.  Kit and I split up the kids and got things nearly back on track.  The girls were nearly in a frenzy.  How many times have I said it… bath nights are tricky!

Claire did not volunteer to put Molly to bed the next night.

Mother’s Day / Dance Recital

| patmcg

Today was Mother’s Day, and the day of Molly’s long-awaited dance recital.  Kit’s Uncle Bob and my parents came to visit for the recital (and Mother’s Day).

We all went to Mozart’s on Sunday morning to celebrate Mother’s Day.  It was perfect weather, and everyone was put into a good mood.  Claire, who had been a little grumpy, even noted that it made her feel better to get out to good ol’ Mozart’s.

Molly’s dance recital was crazy.  We didn’t know what we were getting into when we signed her up.  The theme was “Broadway Lullabies”, which was 90 minutes of inspired dance routines, featuring troupes of kids ages 3 (ie, Molly) to maybe 13, all dressed in pretty fancy dance outfits.  This was Molly’s first dance recital.  She did her pliés and twirls admirably, always watching to the side of the stage where her instructor was doing the routine.  Sorry, photography and video shooting was “strictly prohibited” in the performance.  You can buy a DVD if you want to.

Hot tub!

| patmcg

We went to a friend’s house to let Claire and Molly play with their own kids, a little younger than Claire and Molly, respectively.  After a rowdy lunch, including multiple spilled drinks, screaming, and food on the floor, we all decided to give their pool a try.  The pool water turned out to be too cold, of all things, so we put everyone in the hot tub.

I did not think the girls would go for the hot tub.  After all, Molly cries and screams at a bath that is even slightly warmer than room temperature.  And Claire doesn’t like her baths much warmer than that.  This would be their first time in a hot tub.  But it turned out to be no problem!  In fact, they loved it.  Molly swam around in the tub, and Claire put on some floaties and put down some apple juice.  Ah, the life!

Hot tubbing!
Claire gets into the hot tub lifestyle

Throw Away Bottle

| patmcg

This terse note came home from school with Molly today. When asked about it, Molly offered only an earnest, “I dunno.” when prompted why she put her bottle in the trash.

Molly cup
“Molly threw her water bottle in the trash today. She said she did it on purpose.”

Molly Reads a Word

| patmcg

While driving Molly and Claire home from school this afternoon, Molly was looking at a picture book, as she often likes to do.  She tends to sort of babble about the pictures while she reads, and we don’t always listen very carefully to her.  About five minutes into examining the book today, though, Molly said, “That word is ‘Luke'”.  At a stop light, I asked her to show me the word, and sure enough, she pointed right at the word “Luke” in the story.

So that is officially the first word that Molly has read (that I know of) besides her own name.  Molly must have recognized the word from a friend’s name, but still… preschool literacy is working for Molly!