McG Kids

This weblog tracks my kids’ early years. Each entry is a snapshot from their childhood.

Please pardon any type-o’s, misstatements, or factual irregularities. This blog is written by an often dazed dad, normally after 11 pm when he should really be in bed if he had any sense. Even the basic quick edit is not a regular practice here.

Happy Birthday, America!

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Happy 4th of July!Independence Day fell on a Wednesday this year, and we all had the day off from school and work.  Having a holiday on Wednesday threw everyone off a bit.  I though it was Saturday and started sprinkling the yard in the morning, Saturday being the only day we can legally use the sprinkler in Austin.  Five minutes later, I realized it was Wednesday and had to run out and shut off the water.

Kit also thought it was Saturday, which is odd when you think about it, since she will be flying out of town with the girls on Saturday, to go visit Grammy and Granddaddy in Washington state.  If it really were Saturday, then Kit would have been scrambling pretty hard to make the plane.  It was that kind of day.

Claire thought it was the weekend too and was a bit surprised that she had to go to school for the next two days.

At dinner, we discussed how it would be cool of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln could have met each other, and they probably would have liked each other a lot.  George and Abe are subjects of two of Claire’s favorite books lately: Young George Washington: America’s First President and Young Abe Lincoln: The Log Cabin President.  Claire likes when young Abe leaves footprints on the ceiling of the log cabin, as a joke on his step mother.  These gentlemen are also subjects of my occasional outbursts of admiration around the house, especially when reading a history book on the topic.  Boy, did those guys have trouble, and boy, did they take care of business.

For her part, Molly was also excited about the Fourth of July.  At dinner, Molly chimed in loudly, “Happy birthday, America!  Way to go!  Flag!!!”  Then she smiled proudly at the rest of the family as we laughed at her “flag” comment.

It was a good day, and although the fireworks were too late for the girls to see, we did enjoy a nice, slow day all together, even if half of it involved dragging the girls around on errands the big trip to Washington, which they are super excited about.  We even finished off the day with steak, watermelon, and an evening walk.  Way to go!  Flag!

BFF in Beaulieu-sur-Mer

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Today’s mail included a postcard addressed to Claire, from Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France.  It is a note from her kindergarten friend Juliet, on vacation in the South of France, enjoining Claire not to forget her “BFF”.  I was actually hoping to set Claire up with a play date with Juliet, but I’m not sure we can afford to fly her over to France.

Postcard

Postcard from Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France

Formal request for food

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Today after school, Claire was really hungry.  This is always a struggle.  She is always starving right after school and really wants to eat, but it is also almost time for dinner.  So she has to sit around while her tummy rumbles in pain while I cook (or rather, “prepare”) dinner.  Sometimes she has a little bit of popcorn or something, but I always enjoin her not to spoil her appetite right before dinner.  The timing is tricky here, and this can be one of the more difficult aspects of the weekday routine.

Anyways, after some discussion with Claire on the topic, Claire disappeared and, a minute later, she handed me this note.

I need foodI need food

You can tell from the handwriting that her blood sugar is low, and she has the shakes. 😉  Claire usually puts more care into notes like these, such as this one I found that she wrote to Molly.

You are a helper. You are a helper. Love, Big Sissy.

Molly the Astronaut

Video | | patmcg

Claire got out her space suit today for fun.  Molly, of course, wanted to give it a shot too, although the costume was way too big for her.  Luckily, we caught the silliness on video.

The best part is near the end, when Molly trips, but she is okay.

Molly’s big bed!

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Molly and Dad removing her crib
Molly and Dad removing her crib

After the last weekend’s try at sleeping in a big bed, we decided to go for it today and move Molly out of her crib and into her toddler bed.  Kit decided that it was time to give it a try.  Molly was so excited when we explained this development in the morning, as was Claire.  There was much jumping up and down and cheering from both kids.  I’m not sure why Claire was so excited; she was just in a really good mood, this being a Saturday morning and all.

We had saved Claire’s old toddler bed in the outdoor storage closet.  Before we could bring in the new bed, we had to find it, clean it  off, and re-assemble it.  Then we had to disassemble Molly’s crib to get it out of the girls’ room.  This was my job, and once I unscrewed and pulled off the first major part of the crib, Molly said, “Daddy’s breaking my crib!”  She may have been joking; she did not seem very upset.  Finally, we set up the new crib, and Kit put on the nice sheets and comforter that go with it.  Molly was thrilled.

Molly sleeping in her new big bed
Molly sleeping in her new big bed

One part of this transition, that Kit had set up, was that “we don’t use a pacifier in a big bed.”  This had been repeated to Molly many times, and she was ready to give up her pacifier to get a fancy, big girl bed.  Molly’s nap went fine, even without her pacifier; luckily she naps at school every day without a pacifier.  There were no attempts on Molly’s part even to get out of bed.  She just went right to sleep.  Molly is a real napper!

Bedtime that night even went fine, with only a minor disruption from Claire walking across the room to check on Molly, who was sitting up in bed.  Claire was concerned that Molly was sitting up and was trying to sooth Molly to sleep.  I told Claire that it was okay, and Molly would fall asleep on her own.  I think Claire had been excited about Molly’s new bed partially because she know she would have better access to her sister, and Claire has always been one to look for distractions at bedtime.  This same transition, when we took the side off of Claire’s bed to turn it into sort of a “big bed”, had been pretty tough with Claire a few years ago.  This episode involved Claire coming out of her room repeatedly and us walking her back to bed for several hours straight before she succumbed to sleep.  At the time we were going out of our minds trying to get Claire to sleep and wondered whether this was normal.  Now we see the other side of the coin.  Molly may have her own set of challenges, but going to definitely sleep is definitely not one of them.

 

Molly's last morning to wake up in a crib, with a pacifier
Molly's last morning to wake up in a crib, with a pacifier

Tryin’ a Big Bed

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Molly napping in Claire's bed

Today after lunch, right before nap time, Molly wandered upstairs by herself without a word.  We figured she went up to the girls’  room to study her books, as she does from time to time.  When I went to get Molly 20 minutes later, she was laying in Claire’s bed with her lovie and pacifier, apparently preparing to take a nap.  Yes, Molly had decided it was nap time and did not want to wait around for her ever-distracted mom and dad to make it happen, so she took matters into her own hands.  Molly just loves her naps (unlike her sister).

As I changed Molly’s diaper and prepared to put her down for her “real” nap, both Molly and Claire lobbied pretty hard to let Moly nap in Claire’s bed for real.  Why not?  Really, why not?  Hmm.  This would be Molly’s first time to sleep in a big bed (i.e., not a crib), but we’ve been thinking of moving her to a big bed for a while, and this was the perfect opportunity to try it out.  As I read a nap-time story to Molly, Claire carefully arranged blankets and stuffed animals on her bed to maximize Molly’s comfort.  Then Claire and I tucked Molly into bed and headed downstairs.  We mentioned the new arrangement to Kit, who would be inheriting this situation since I was due to head off to work shortly.  On Kit’s suggestion, I went back up to the gils’ room to make sure all those stuffed animals would not smother Molly, and to place some pillows on the floor beside Claire’s bed in case Molly fell off.

The experiment worked out fine.  Molly had a god nap.  As predicted, I am told, Molly requested to sleep in Claire’s bed for night time too, but we had already warned her earlier that was not going to happen.  Kit did promise Molly that we would get her bed-girl set up pretty soon, though, but Molly would have to give up her pacifier in exchange.  Pacifiers are  not allowed in big-girl beds.  It’s like a law, Kit says.

Claire Interview #3

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The ongoing series of interviews with Claire has been neglected for a while.  For for first time in months, I finally got back to a real Q&A session with Claire.  We pulled a few random cards from Table Topics, Family Edition…

When was it most difficult to persevere when you wanted to quit?

(After some thought…) Monkey bars

What one thing would you like to know about the future?

Will I live to be 100 years old

What do you admire most about your parents?

(Pass.  Too hard.)

What are your favorite kinds of books to read?

Pinkalicious

(Then I said they question was about kinds of books, not a specific book.  So Claire changed her answer to…)

Books about pink cupcakes. (Pinkalicious is mostly about pink cupcakes)

What’s your favorite ride at an amusement park?

Zilker train

(I was surprised she did not mention the roll coaster at Sea World.)

 

Budding Vegetarian?

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Claire contemplating dinner (this one just happens to be vegetarian)

Claire has been on a bit of a vegetarian kick lately.  It started two days ago, when she was recalling a fun part of Kindergarten.  A couple of months ago, the class had adopted several chicken eggs, which eventually hatched into live chicks in the classroom.  It was a really exciting development for the kids, and the chicks came out super cute.  They were tiny little fuzzy friends, and each of them received a name.  Claire’s favorite was Coco.

After recalling this fond memory about the cute little chicks, Claire concluded, “Then they send the chicks back to the farm.  Then the chicks grow up into chickens.  Then they roast the chickens into chicken.”  A little bit of anger has creeped into Claire’s face, and she proclaims, “Which is why I’ll never eat chicken!”

Claire is also now offended by hunting and trapping.  Yesterday at Claire’s summer camp, apparently some girls were trying to create a squirrel trap on the playground out of blocks.  I asked Claire if they were just making a pretend trap, and she said no, they really wanted to catch a squirrel.  I asked if they would let the squirrel go if they caught it, and she said no, they would keep it and maybe eat it.  This really angered Claire, and she said she did not like those girls, and they should leave squirrels alone.

This immediately reminded Claire of hunters.  She  launched into how much she hates hunters.  They are “dumb and boring and stupid and mean”, she said.  Finally, she said she was not going to eat meat.  She wanted to be “one of those people who only eat lettuce.  And artichokes and stuff.”   Vegetarians, I gather.  I helped her come up with a few other non-meat choices to eat.  Pasta, beans, rice, bread.  We agreed even milk was okay since it didn’t hurt the cow.  She did not seem too excited about the list, and so far Claire’s heart-felt vegetarian stance is only rhetorical.  Last night, Claire ordered pancakes with eggs and bacon at IHOP.  I’m sure she didn’t think about where the bacon and eggs came from.  If she did, she would have had second thoughts.  And before long, she may realize that we are just as bad egg thieves as the pigs in Angry Birds!

The Molly Claire

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Grammy and Granddaddy have a new boat in Anacortes, Washington.  They have been sailing there for years and recently got a new boat which is apparently friendlier for kids, etc.

They have now officially christened their boat after their grand girls!  The boat is called the “Molly Claire”.  It turns out that “Molly Claire” just sounds better than “Claire Molly”.  The girls will get a chance to sail on their namesake in July.