Six Trips to School in One Day

August 22, 2012November 12, 2023 | patmcg

The (relatively) calm days of summer vacation are coming to a sudden close this week. Claire and Molly have been going to the same school this summer. Claire ends summer camp this week and starts first grade next week. Molly switches over to a new class at pre-school, right across the hall, but with brand new teachers and mostly new classmates.

This time of year is kind of crazy because of the confluence of summer-ending and school-starting events. This week had two PINs (Parent Information Nights) and a school open house to attend in three days. Plus the end-of-year parties and special events. The girls came home this week with copious amounts of art and other stuff they had produced over the summer (Claire) and over the last year (Molly). And of course, there are many handouts, checklists, and forms to deal with.

Meeting up at home on the last day of the school year — Meeting up at home after the last day of the school year. Claire is in her pajamas and water shoes, and the girls are surrounded by bags of their stuff from school.

But I think Wednesday best illustrated the zaniness of this time of year. Claire went to school late, wearing a swim suit, and come home early wearing pajamas, water shoes, and new glasses. Kit and I made a combined six trips to the girls’ school plus two doctor’s appointments in that one day. Kit was on vacation, and I was working a regular day. Here is how it worked out…

I took Molly to school at 8:00 am and came home to work as usual. (trips to school: 1)
Claire had to pick up her glasses today. Kit took Claire to get her glasses right when the optometrist opened at 9:30 am, and then took Claire to school/camp late but in time for swimming. (trips to school: 2)
Kit and I both went back to school at 11:30 to attend Molly’s year-end lunch-time celebration. (trips to school: 3)
Claire has lately been having some “tricky breathing” and coughing, perhaps an asthmatic reaction, and we set her up with an appointment at 4:10 this afternoon. Kit got Claire early from school (after Claire’s class had finished a summer-end movie screening of Happy Feet 2 in their pajamas) and took her to the doctor. (trips to school: 4)
In the mean time, I (sort of) finished work and went to pick Molly up at about 5:00 pm. (trips to school: 5)
We all met at home around 5:30, with Claire in her pajamas and wearing new glasses. I ate dinner quickly and headed back to school for Molly’s Parent Information Night (PIN) at 6:00 pm. In the mean time, Kit put the girls to bed. (trips to school: 6)

Kit’s night putting the girls to bed was definitely more work, while my time at the PIN was more boring and uncomfortable, sitting on the floor in a school room for 90+ minutes.

Spectacles

August 22, 2012November 12, 2023 | patmcg

Claire with her brand new glasses

Several months ago, Claire’s optometrist determined that Claire could sorta of, maybe use some vision correction. Claire could see pretty well, but not perfectly, so we might want to get her into some glasses to help with school. We thought it would be best to get her glasses before first grade starts instead of adjusting to them in the middle of school. Well, we got Claire her glasses just in the nick of time, with two business days to spare before school starts.

For her part, Claire has been very excited to get her first pair of glasses. These days, unlike when Kit and I were kids, glasses come in cool, fashionable styles and colors and look really good even on kids. In fact, Claire could not wait to get her glasses, and when she did have them, she wanted to wear them a lot and even sleep with them in her bed. I do not remember feeling that way about my glasses as a kid!

Claire looks good in her glasses, working a nice geek-chic look. She even looks a little bit like Tina Fey.

New Found Voice

August 16, 2012 | patmcg

For a few days, whenever we went out to the car to go to school in the morning, Molly would point at some bird poop on the front of the car. “That’s gross”, she would say. Sometime she would ask if I was going to clean it up. I would respond that yes, I would get around to it some time, but it’s not at the top of the list right now. Now Molly seems to have had enough waiting. Today she asked me to have it cleaned up by her nap time. I’m not kidding. She said sweetly, “Can you clean up that bird BM today?”, then adding, “Before my nap time?”

The bird poop is still on the car, but Molly’s request is probably a good sign. As noted earlier, Molly is now more prone to using calm words than crying or screaming or throwing a fit. Her ongoing speech therapy, which she just completed, encouraged her to use words instead of just getting frustrated and mad. Now she knows how to communicate her needs, aka ask for stuff, like cleaning the bird crap off your car before noon. (I suppose it is good make clear and specific requests!) Now that she has better words, Molly is apparently a lot more confident and less frustrated in school.

Molly enjoys her new-found voice at home too, and she has a lot to say. Molly has asked me to pull the car over — immediately, as in right now — so that I can get one of her toys that fell to the floor. She has complained bitterly that the new decorative plate does not go on the new glass table. It was not there before, after all. She has recently accused our dog Muffin of taking and hiding some of her stuffed animals. Molly has stated earnestly that Claire’s old shiny, black shoes do in fact fit her, even as they fall off her feet while she stumbles around. Claire, for her part, has mostly escaped Molly’s new assertiveness so far, although the sisters did have a big argument over who got the pink plate for dinner the other night, and who got the purple one. Molly won the pink plate on a coin toss.

One area where we still have verbal deadlock is the “but I do/don’t want to” stalemate. Sometimes we ask Molly to do something like come upstairs for bedtime, and her response is, “But I don’t want to”, often said calmly, and as if that should settle the matter on the spot. We’ll repeat that it is time for bed, and she replies — again — that she does not want to. (I mean, these big, dopey grown-ups just don’t listen! Did they not hear me the first time?) Acknowledging that Molly does not want to go to bed sometimes helps, but not always. These situations still often lead to Molly crying and screaming. We’re making progress, but we’re not out of toddlerhood just yet.

Austin City Limits

August 10, 2012November 12, 2023 | patmcg

Claire has been going on a field trip every Friday for summer camp. She has hit the zoo, parks, museums, a restaurant kitchen, and even a recording studio. But all the parents were the most excited about this week’s field trip to the Austin City Limits theater, which in just the next few weeks will host the likes of Crosby Still & Nash, Tony Bennett, Norah Jones, and the Go-Go’s.

Claire took special interest in the Willy Nelson statue and enjoyed a picture of Arcade Fire, her favorite modern rock band (thanks to the music from the Hunger Games).

At the ACL theater, apparently the kids got a back-stage tour and a short performance by an unnamed guitarist who played a few silly songs, including a mixed up version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, like “Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you pizza.” And then all the kids wold roar that he got the words wrong. It sounded pretty funny.

Anyways, here are some pictures.

Noni’s birthday

August 4, 2012November 12, 2023 | patmcg

The girls’ paternal grandmother, aka Noni, aka my mom, is turning 70 this month. To celebrate, we took the girls for a weekend trip to Houston. My brother Tim and his wife Cindy fly in from Virginia. My mom seemed delighted to have everyone together in the same house, if only for one night.

We had about 24 hours together. All we did was hang out in the house and at the pool. There was lots of swimming. We topped it off with a great birthday feast at Harvest Grille. The girls had lots of fun swimming and playing with Noni’s special toys and crafts. Molly even enjoyed her new inflatable travel bed (no more Pak ‘n’ Play!). It really was great getting everyone together, and the car trip was not too bad this time around either.

Below are some pictures. One of Noni’s friends took some family pictures on Sunday morning, trying to beat in the August sunshine.

Want to watch TV? No? Really?

July 21, 2012November 12, 2023 | patmcg

I had a loose plan to record the girl’s favorite TV shows and movies every few months, thinking it would be fun and maybe silly to look back at what they used to watch. I am happy, I think, but a little confused, to say that there is not much to report.

Molly still has no interest in the TV. She just does not care to sit still and watch some silly show when there are so many things to mess with around the house. We have actually tried to get her to watch a little TV, with fairly disastrous results. Why would we want her to watch TV? We thought she would like Sesame Street, due to her fondness of Elmo, and maybe get some small educational value out of it. And yes, the idea of Molly sitting still, not messing with anything, for 30 straight minutes was appealing. But alas, she has outsmarted us and will not have any.

Even Claire’s once fine interest in TV has waned. She does not really watch TV shows, opting mainly for movies. So I guess she is a film snob. She will usually pick a movie and watch it over and over in bits and pieces. The first time, she is absorbed, if it is a good movie. The second time, still fairly absorbed. Then her interest fades but she keeps kind of watching until she just doesn’t care about it enough to watch any more. Sometimes we rent a movie at the RedBox when we want her to spend a little time on the couch settling down. Since she no longer naps, this is our best bet at something resembling real rest time for Claire during the day. But she has even turned up her nose at fresh rentals lately. We rented The Muppets (her choice) last weekend, and had to return it the next day unopened. Claire has even actively declined the use of her DVD player on the last two trips our of town.

Claire Pease Park splash pad — Claire doing something apparently more fun than watching TV.

Like Molly, I guess there is just too much more interesting stuff going on for Claire to sit down and watch a long movie. Still, Claire does watch some movies. She likes to have her current movie on briefly during breakfast before school. Sometimes I skip turing on the TV, and she usually does not say anything. And there is valuable little time in the evenings after school. Claire watches some TV (movies) on the weekend, but preferably if someone else will sit with her while she watches to talk about the movie or just act silly. She seems to be a social watcher.

I should note that we have never had strict time limits on Claire’s TV watching. In the past, when she used to watch more TV, we would occasionally encourage her to do something else if she had been watching for a long time. Not so much like, “Get off your lazy keyster and go do something productive!” but more like, “Do you want to help cook dinner?” Personally, I think strict time limits may backfire by making TV seem more alluring and valuable to kids. All I know for sure is that Claire does not especially value watching TV unless someone is sitting next to her cuddling and talking about it.

Anyways, Claire’s current favorite movie is Bye Bye Birdie, which she watches occasionally, thanks to her mom’s recording from Turner Classic Movies (Claire does tend to like the 1960’s musicals.) Claire especially likes to watch and giggle over the ads for the other movies at the end, especially the 1938 edition of Robin Hood. She roars and says that the guys look like babies when they are sword fighting.

Kit and I are hoping to get Claire into the upcoming Olympics, though. We have fond memories of watching curling on the 2006 Winter Olympics while cuddling with little baby Claire. Maybe that is how she got started on the whole social watching thing.

Pretty good new word

July 21, 2012 | patmcg

Over the last few months, Molly has made frequent use of the classic toddler’s favorite word: “No!” This word is usually given sharply and as a reflex, often without thought on what she is resisting. She has literally said no to eating cookies, being offered a toy (especially by her sister, who wants to play), and going for a fun outing. Molly has never said the exact following phrase, but I had started imagine it as her motto: “No! I don’t wanna, and I ain’t gonna!” The teachers at school had also, in a kind way, remarked on Molly’s toddlerish affinity for the pure negative word.

Moly Eating Raisins with two pants on — “Put my second layer of pants back on? Okaaaaay.”

I am happy to say that Molly has discovered a new word, one which is mature and says, “I can work with you. I may not like it, but let’s work this out.” Her new word is “Okaaaaaay”. This word is always said in the same slow, prolonged way. It has a calmly resigned sound to it, not irritated or upset. This word usually comes in response to a calm, brief discussion on why we are asking Molly to do (or more often, not do) something. More than any other single thing, the shift from the automatic “No!” to the thoughtful “Okaaaaaay” seems to illustrate Molly’s growing maturity.

Molly seems to have moved, at the moment, from rebelliousness to a constant state of distraction. It does get tiresome to ask Molly 6 different times to brush her teeth while she clambers up and down the foot stool yet again to grab something else for her little purse. But I will take that trade any day.

Off to Anacortes

July 15, 2012November 12, 2023 | patmcg

The girls took their big summer trip to Washington state this year, to visit Grammy and Granddaddy and their namesake boat, the Molly Claire, in Anacortes. I was all set to go on this trip, but ended up staying back in Austin at the last minute to make a big push on my secret project.

Claire was rightfully upset that I was not going, saying, “This is the worst plan in the world!” But we all knew she would end up having tons of fun up in Washington, exploring islands, riding on boats, escaping the Texas summer heat, and of course, seeing her grandparents. Molly is at that lucky age where she did not especially care (or understand?) that I was not going along.

Kit was brave enough to fly out there with both girls by herself. The trip out sounded like it went pretty well, but the trip back was a little tricky, including turbulence that kept Claire buckled into her seat and caused her first peeing accident since she was a baby. Yikes! The girls arrived back in Austin jet lagged and urine soaked but in very good spirits. They made quite a loud, happy racket in the airport when I greeted them, and I ended up with two girls hanging off of various limbs all the way to the car.

Since I did not go along, I can only post pictures of the trip. I am sure the MV Molly Claire blog will cover it, though! BTW, this is both of the girls’ first visit to Washington state.

While Kit and the girls were up galavanting around the islands, I took advantage of a huge amount of time — six full days — and got more work done on my project (80+ hours) than I had in about the last five months of working on Sunday afternoons. I missed everyone greatly, as did our dog Muffin, who seemed “off” and confused with the house so quiet. By the time the girls got back, I was pretty worn out from solitary working and definitely ready for the silliness, smiles, and yes, even all the yelling and stomping that comes with the girls.

Huddling with Grammy Tossing stones Climbing on the rocks Exploring the harbor on the dingyClaire sketching away on the ferry

Molly on the Molly Claire

Welcoming the girls back home — Greeting the girls at the airport

Bikes

Image | July 8, 2012November 12, 2023 | patmcg

I just took this picture of the girls’ bikes because I think they capture their personalities pretty well. Claire’s bike says, “I am a cute, dignified girl.” And Molly’s says, “I can do it too!”

McG Kids

Blogging my kids since 2007. Austin, Texas 📍