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.

President Claire

| patmcg

Claire’s class has been learning about America and the presidents recently.  One assignment was for each kid to write what they would do if they were president.  Claire’s, as usual, focuses on being nice:

"If I were president, I would help mean people be better."

This assignment was posted outside the classroom.  Almost every kid in the class said something about helping other people, especially people in need.  Prospective presidents would “help kids go to school”, “help people that don’t have food”, “help people who were really hurt”, “help homeless people”, “give the people clothes”, and even “give the people money.”  This is basically the opposite of what we hear in the current Republican presidential debates, the theme of which is largely not helping people. I’d vote for the kindergarten kids.  There was one loose cannon in the class, though, who promised to “go into a war” as president.  Claire thought maybe he was confused when he wrote that.

Here is Claire’s other America-relate assignment, which also came out pretty sweet.

"I love my country because there is lots of loving people."

A Better Valentine’s Day

| patmcg

While we were all enjoying our family Valentine’s dinner tonight, we were trying to remember last years’ Valentines. After a minute, I remembered that it was such as disaster that I had blogged it as an example of how ridiculous things can sometimes be. We were dealing mostly with Molly’s screaming last year, and hoping that she would “pull it together” for next year’s Valentines dinner. Well, our little Molly has really stepped up. Thanks to a maturing Molly, things were much more peaceful and enjoyable for all…

Thanks to my working from home while everyone else is off, I was able to (hurriedly) deck out the dining room in Valentines decorations. And thanks to a new semi-regular babysitter, Nesi, I was able to prepare a proper dinner of linguini, green beans, sale, and rolls (mostly pre-made from Whole Foods) for everyone in relative peace. Claire was very impressed and excited with all the Valentines decorations. We even put on some special harp, flute, and cello music to make things seem extra fancy. Claire’s only complaint was that the food itself wasn’t very “Valentinesy”. I assured her that dessert would be fully Valentines-compliant, and sure enough, everyone enjoyed the tiny Valentines cupcakes.

There was no screaming this year. The only time things got loud at all was when Claire and Molly got silly with each other, which can be bit much at tomes. Still, I like the direction this is going.

Pull my finger

Aside | | patmcg

When I was about to unpack Molly from the car today when she looked at me and said with a smile, “Pull my finger!”  her little index finger was outstretched, waiting for me.  Like a sucker, I pulled her finger.  She just smiled, no fart sound or anything.  But she did get me in a sense… Her finger was all slimy and greasy from snot or something.  And within a few days, I was sick.  So I guess the laugh was on me. 🙂

I’m not a toddler!

| patmcg
That is no baby there, brushing her own teeth.

It has come up in conversations around the house recently that Molly is a toddler. Usually Claire brings up the topic out of pride for her growing sister. When it is said by anyone that Molly is a toddler, however, Molly takes great exception to this assertion. “I’m not a todd-el-ler,” she says, looking confused. “I’m a baby!” she insists, poking at her own chest for emphasis, as if it were self explanatory. This is not a sad, “I’m just a little baby” type of reaction. Molly seems proud to be a baby. Baby pride! Still, Molly may be small, but she is clearly no longer a baby, with all her walking and running and talking and brushing her teeth and big talk of using the potty.

Like I always say: If you can say you’re a baby, then you’re not a baby.

Time for pull-ups!

| patmcg

Molly has gotten very interested in ditching her diapers for the more grown-up and mature pull-up.  This is basically just a diaper, but she can pull it on and off by herself.  Many of the kids in her class are doing it, so it may be some positive peer pressure leading Molly to the pull-up.  So we are sending Molly yo school with pull-ups now.  Bye bye diapers!

Molly often calls her pull-ups “underwear” and seems to think they are real underwear.  She is somewhat interested in using the toilet, and sometimes even sits on her little started toilet, but to date we have not had to clean it out.

Molly begs to wear her pulls to bed at night, but that is the one time we are still requiring diapers.  We have a vague sense that a pull-up might not be as thick and durable as a diaper and might not last a whole night.  One step at a time, people!

These books don’t work!

| patmcg
"Something is wrong with these Elmo books!"

Molly still does not really watch TV. She just isn’t interested. I guess there are too many other things to do, like explore, mold some playdough, or browse books or magazines. This preference was well illustrated recently when we got out a few old Elmo video tapes we had inherited from a friend. Molly still loves Elmo and was very excited to see the tapes. We put them in the VCR and started playing a Sesame Street show featuring Elmo. Molly did not like this development. These were supposed to be books, like everything else about that size with Elmo on it! Molly asked us to get the tape out of the VCR so she could see it. After taking the tape in and out a few more times, and trying some other tapes, Molly was still not satisfied. These were not very good books! They don’t even have pages!

I think Molly is an Elmo purist. She doesn’t like his sell-out TV stuff.

Culinarily Creative

| patmcg
That is not caramel dip.

Molly has been eating pretty well lately, and she has even gotten more adventurous in her food choices.  She is no longer sticking so aggressively to her old familiar foods like yogurt, bread, and cheese.  She is branching out… sometimes way out.  The other night for dinner, we had boiled shrimp, apple slices, and corn.  We also gave Molly a little side of cocktail sauce since she always loves her condiments.  Molly enjoyed her shrimp, which is great, but oddly enough, she preferred it plain.  Turns out she was saving her cocktail sauce for the apples.  Yum!  Why not top your juicy apple slices with a little horseradish, ketchup, and lemon juice?  I have to admin, I was almost tempted to try it, but I was still feeling burned from a long time ago when Kit and Claire convinced me to try some jalapeño vinegar on my watermelon.  I did not like it, but we might try it on Molly.

Pease Park

| patmcg

Claire continues to love going to the park, and the king of the parks is Pease Park.  She asks every weekend to go to the park.  Sometimes she wants to go more than once in a day (although we pretty much can never do that).  Claire almost always ends up making a friend like this random girl.

Sometimes Molly stays back home with Kit and naps, but sometimes she comes along.  Molly is not quite old enough to make friends, and for the moment she likes to hold back and observe from a distance.