gift

Christmas 2011

| patmcg

This Christmas was a great dose of family, food, relaxing, and yes, presents.

This may have been the first Christmas that Molly was somewhat aware of.  She seemed to understand that the Christmas tree signified something, that the lights could be turned on and off with a little foot switch, and that the ornaments could be rearranged by her.  Molly’s style is to cluster many ornaments onto a single branch.  She understood that the presents were a surprise for different people and that they needed to stay wrapped and under the tree (after some gentle guidance from us) until some undisclosed date.  Molly also got to sign and help wrap her first present, which happened to be some wooden play food (pickle jar, salt shaker, etc.) for Claire.  Molly also received some presents, including a singing and dancing Elmo, a tiny indoor basketball hoop, a tiny tricycle, a pile of Elmo books (from Santa) and a little lamb stuffed animal (also from Santa) to match her class mascot.  Molly liked all the gifts, but mostly she loved having her grandparents around to lavish her with attention.

Molly proudly holding her gift to Claire.
Note her signature in the “from” area.

But it was not all good tidings for Molly.  She came down with an ear infection on Christmas eve.  She had been sort of grumpy and “off” for a while, and then she started to mess with her right ear and eventually said that the ear hurt.  Kit and I got her into an urgent care clinic one hour before they closed on Christmas eve.  Writing this a few days later, I can tell you that the prescribed antibiotic caused upset stomach, diarrhea, and possibly a rash.  The diarrhea continued with the next antibiotic prescribed later by her regular doctor, and the resulting diaper rash is only adding to Molly’s discomfort.  But Molly is hanging in there.

Molly took a late night (7 pm!) visit to the doctor in her pajamas.
She loved the adventure of being out in her PJs after bedtime.

Claire and Molly admiring Santa’s offerings,
with Grandpa Phil looking on.

For Claire, Santa produced a mini-trampoline and a purple monkey stuffed animal to match her own class mascot.  The trampoline seemed a little random, but Claire practiced on it for the next few days and ended up doing some super-high jumps with her dad’s help, nearly touching her head to the ceiling (really).  Leading up to Christmas, Claire had asked several times whether we thought Santa would bring her anything good, or only coal.  I think Claire was worried she had “been bad” lately, with her various mood and temper issues that have flared up since this summer.  We assured her that Santa would bring her something, and I am glad the big guy came through.  Claire also had a number of incisive questions about how Santa actually operates.  Does he ever deliver the presents to the wrong house?  Does he ever give a boy’s present (such as a “Batman toy”) to a girl?  How does he keep track of who is naughty and nice?  I suggested to Claire that it is almost like he is magical, but she said no, it’s not magic.  He is probably just really smart and well organized.  (At this stage in my life, I consider the two to be almost indistinguishable).

Claire and Grammy admiring
the Olivia 2-in-1 playhouse from Noni.
Claire and Noni doing a little Christmas drawing.
Claire received many fine gifts from her family as well, including a jewelry box from her mom, a foam rocket from me, a deluxe art set from Grammy, an Olivia 2-in-1 playhouse from Noni, and many others. (I like to write some of the presents down since I think it could be interesting later.)
Noni set us up with a great Christmas dinner featuring honey-baked ham and many sides, while Grammy and I pitched in some too.  It was a real team effort.  We have a pretty good system.  Grammy mostly handled Thanksgiving’s dinner and now Noni took on Christmas.  I usually pitch in a side and enjoy helping out with the unique spectacle of a real, slow, home-cooked feast.
There are many more details to include, but I don’t want this to get too long (or keep me up later), so I better wrap up.  (It is all a blur now anyways, writing this only a few days later.)  It was a fun Christmas, and as corny as it sounds, the girls really did seem to enjoy having all the grandparents around even more than their presents.  The weekend went by really quickly, and pretty soon it was Sunday night and time for another greuling work week.  Kit actually didn’t have any extra time off this Christmas, working until Friday evening, with Christmas being on Sunday, and then Kit being on call starting on Monday morning for a 7:30 am surgery (scheduled by the Grinch, I guess).

Jixipix 2011

| patmcg

I love the jixipix software.  It lets you turn a regular photograph into art.  To me, it makes things look sort of magical and is a reminder that maybe life is more beautiful and serene that it seems when you are sprinting through it.

Anyways, one of our presents to the kids’ grandparents (aka, our parents) this year was a calendar featuring jixipix of the girls for each month.  Here are a few samples.  Many more pictures, including lots left out of the final calendars, are located on shutterfly.

A Book About Molly, For Molly

| patmcg

As her present for Molly’s second birthday, Claire made a book for about Molly for Molly.  This was done with inspiration and the help of gramma Noni, who assembled the book, while Claire came up with all the words and pictures.  There is one thing about Molly per page, with an illustration for each.  The book reads:

    Molly likes vanilla yogurt.
    Molly likes her snuggy bear.
    Molly is giggling.
    Molly is funny.  She is having a crazy hair day.
    Molly is cute.
    I love Molly.

Here are a few sample illustrations.

Molly is funny.
She is having a crazy hair day.

Molly is cute.

I love Molly.

Merry Christmas 2010!

| patmcg
The girls hang out with trusty Grammy as we head off for some errands

Merry Christmas 2010! As usual with a big event like this, a quick summary is going to have to suffice, or I will be here typing all day. There was a lot going on this Christmas, but this account is focused on the girls from my perspective.

Molly is still too young to grasp what all these decorations, music, and gift-wrapped items are all about. She was just happy to have all her grandparents in town again to celebrate whatever this is! And she even got a few presents out of the deal, mostly plastic sorting toys that make crazy sounds. This Christmas thing may be something to keep an eye out for in the future.
Molly wanted to show off for her grandparents and continued to take great strides in her standing and walking. She took a couple of steps several different times over the weekend. She’s not quite walking as such, but she is getting mighty close, and all the grandparents (and parents) were so proud!
Claire wraps herself up as a gift

Big sister Claire is now an old Christmas pro. Like Molly, Claire was also thrilled to have all four grandparents in town again, less than a month after her big birthday party. She had been anticipating Christmas for a couple of weeks, and was especially eager to find out what would show up in her stocking on Christmas morning. She did end up receiving a much anticipated candy cane, as well as a Magic School Bus chapter book called The Search for the Missing Bones. This book has a lot more works and and a lot fewer pictures than any of her books so far. Apparently Santa thinks Claire is getting close to reading age. Everyone received a different “Mr. Men” or “Little Miss” book, such as Mr. Funny or Mr. Loud (perhaps to fit our personalities?), which all we generally donated to Claire for further reading.

The new bike, compliments of Santa

 I don’t think Claire 100% realized that she should expect a big actual present from Saint Nick too. Well, the good man came through and brought Claire a beautiful pink bike — a real, heavy, rubber and metal bike with training wheels. Claire has officially outgrown the Big Wheel, although I am sure Molly will happily inherit it soon enough. We went outside into the blustery cold to try out the bike. Claire gave it some spins back and forth on the side patio. After getting used to the pedal brakes, she was off and rolling pretty well. Molly watched eagerly from the door window. Soon Claire requested that we try it out on the front street where she would have more room to open things up a bit more. Kit and I headed out there with her to the street. After one ride of maybe 30 feet, she hopped off her bike quickly. I thought wanted to she turn it around and come back, but instead she sprinted for the front door saying, “It’s toooo coooold!” That was it for the bike until a warmer day.

Molly meets Astronaut Claire 

Among other highlights, Claire also received a microphone for her singing, a Barbie (her first), a Leapster 2 educational game system, Melody Harp from me and Kit (which she summarily ignored without opening the box, but which I believe she will one day enjoy), and a full astronaut suit from her Uncle Tim. Pretty soon Claire was exploring around the house pretending it was outer space, and everyone had a turn trying on the crazy helmet.

Reading “A Butterfly Christmas”

Of course, we all wanted Claire to understand that giving is an important part of the whole gift exchange too. Claire (and Grammy) gave me and mom beautifully framed pictures of her and Molly, which Claire designed decorated herself. I remembered about two days before Christmas that Claire should give something special to her grandparents too, so in a panic I picked up a you-decorate-a-butterfly kit at Target with three butterflies. Late on Christmas eve, had to drag a grumpy Claire upstairs to begrudgingly decorate these butterflies. This was going to be the worst, most uninspired kid present ever! But Claire rallied under the promise that she could keep one of the butterflies, and before long we had three nicely decorated butterflies: a blue one and a pink one for the sets of grandparents, and a purple one for Claire to keep. They were named Butterfly, Pretty Butterfly, and Pretty Pretty Pretty Butterfly, I think. Then I asked if she could do a picture or a story or something — anything — to go with the butterflies. She started out slowly but then worked into a groove. She dictated a story of three butterflies — a blue one, a pink one, and a purple one — while she drew an illustration of the story. We eventually ran out of room on both sides of the paper, so I re-typed it on the computer where it would actually fit and be more legible. We called the story “A Butterfly Christmas”.  With Kit’s inspired wrapping, we ended up with a good present just in the nick of time.

Among other presents, Claire and/or Molly also gave at least one grandparent as well as me and Kit the customary gift of a nasty cold. This is price we pay for togetherness, I suppose.
Whew! So much more happened, but I don’t want to prattle on much more for your sake and mine. One a side note, Kit spent most of Christmas week bogged down in an insanely busy week at work while also dealing with negotiations related to her company being sold. I cannot say much more, but she was mostly gone or asleep right up until Christmas eve, and she was exhausted through the weekend. Personally, I am feeling exhausted too, partly from work and normal life, but also from having hosted three big events within the last month: Claire’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas.
Claire for her part is excited about the next big holiday after Christmas. I was thinking it was New Year’s Day, but Claire tells me it is Kwanzaa, which starts the day after Christmas.

(Well, so much for a quick summary, but this was the best I could do.)

A Butterfly Christmas

| patmcg
Claire dreamed up this story for her grandparents as part of Christmas 2010…

A Butterfly Christmas

by Claire M

Once there was a large oak tree with a hummingbird in it.  There was one pink butterfly who flew past the hummingbird. And then the butterfly saw the hummingbird and said, “Will you please help me get around this oak tree because there are many hills around it?  Will you help me find somebody strong to cut down this oak tree?”  The hummingbird nodded.

Then a purple butterfly flew past the pink one.  And the purple butterfly said, “May I please fly past you so I can get the cherries in the large oak tree for my gramma?”  And the pink butterfly said, “I’m so sorry, but I am stuck between the hills and the oak tree and am in a miserable maze.  I cannot let you through.”

And then a giant grumpy two-headed troll stomped past the butterflies!

And then a blue butterfly flew past the purple butterfly and said, “May I please get past you?”  The pink butterfly said, “Well, I guess it’s time to go to my house.”  And the purple one said, “My house!”  And the blue one said, “My house!”  And then the pink and blue butterflies agreed to go to the purple butterfly’s house for Christmas because the other two were grandparents, and she was the youngest. 

At the purple one’s house, they sang Christmas carols and had cookies and Dr. Pepper and watched their favorite DVD and exchanged presents and had a great time.

Shark Towel

| patmcg

Uncle Tim recently sent Claire a crazy towel as a gift in the mail. Here is a picture of it and an email conversation with Tim.

From: Pat
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 1:11 PM
To: Tim
Subject: Dinosaur towel

Hey sucker, I thought you might enjoy this picture of Claire sporting her new dinosaur towel (or, as she says, her shark towel). She insists on taking it to school twice a week for “splash day”.

From: Tim
Subject: RE: Dinosaur towel
Date: June 16, 2010 2:24:19 PM CDT
To: Pat

That’s awesome! When we saw the “shark towel” (TM) we immediately thought of Claire. I think this picture is, in fact, exactly what we immediately though of.