messy

Making Slime (and Tacos!)

Video | | patmcg

Claire has been trying for a few weeks to make the perfect homemade slime.  We’ve used Borax, Elmer’s glue, sprinkle glue, acrylic paint, and anything else you can think of that is slimy.  Today Claire filmed a time-lapse video of her slime experiment while I cooked dinner and Molly played Rayman Legends on the PlayStation 4 in the background.  At the very end of the video, you can see a taco appear in front of Claire, which was the sign for the slime experiment to end and for dinner to begin!

In the video, I used the song Pink Slime by La Luz.  I found the song from the NPR Music’s Austin 100 playlist for SXSW 2015.

Messy

| patmcg

Here is a good snapshot of how dinner often turns out with Molly.  Her yogurt has been removed since most of it ended up smeared on the table.  Molly’s pushed away her own beans and flauta in protest.  She could not be convinced to eat the flauta, despite Claire’s enthusiasm for them and reluctance to give one up for Molly.  Molly has drained her milk and eaten half of a tortilla, which are consistent favorites.

Molly making a mess at dinner
Molly making a mess at dinner

Molly sees the doctor

| patmcg
Today Molly was at the doctor for a weight check and sort of a very basic check-up.  This was at 11:00 am, after I had dropped Claire off at school, dropped Molly off at her school, squeezed in a little work, and then picked Molly up to go to the doctor.  Molly was covered in a layer of sticky orange goop when I picked her up at school.  I might have asked the teachers what it was, but was in a hurry, and frankly, I didn’t think much of it since she is often covered in something or other anyways.

These magazines were entirely too well organized.

By the time we arrived at the doctor’s office, Molly had removed both shoes and socks, as she likes to do, and produced a pretty smelly BM (“byem!”) in her diaper.  The check-in nurse thought it was funny that Molly was covered in orange goop and asked what it was.  I shrugged and said I didn’t know, and she thought that was even funnier, I guess since it implied that was just the norm with her.  I cleaned Molly up as we waited.  Two face wipes, six diaper wipes, and two diapers later, she was passably clean with just a few hardened bits of orange goop left on her face.  For the next few minutes, Molly climbed on the waiting benches and rearranged the magazines as we waited.


The weight check showed the same slight weight gain as usual, despite trying to stuff Molly full of calories for the last couple of months.  Besides the weight check, Dr. Miller wanted to get a general feel for Molly’s development.  She asked Molly some questions to get a feel for her verbal development.  Where is your ear?  Where is your foot?  Am I holding up one finger or two?  Molly answered all questions enthusiastically and appropriately.  Then Dr. Miller asked about her family.  Who is your sister?  “Caire”, Molly replied, still skipping the tricky “L” sound a bit.  The next question seemed tough to me: Where is your sister?  I was thinking… How could Molly possibly know where her sister is?  Does she even remember us dropping Claire off at school this morning?  Does she know that is a school?  Does she have any idea what Claire is doing there?  Would she assume Claire is still there?  Molly’s answer amazed me, not only because it showed her perception, but also because it showed she can say a pretty tricky word I had not heard her say before: “kindergarten”.  Yep, Molly nailed it.  These little ones really do know more than you think.

We hurried Molly back to school, rushing to arrive in time for her nap.  For lunch, Molly ate a peanut butter sandwich and some cheese in the car.  By the time we got to school, Molly’s her face had a fresh coat of peanut butter and jelly spread on top of the remaining orange goop, all on top of a contented smile.  She had also removed one shoe and sock, as per the normal protocol.  We arrived just as the teachers were quietly putting the kids down to sleep for their nap, and I didn’t have chance to ask what the heck that orange goop was.  Perhaps we will never know.

Seriously, what is that orange stuff?

Miss Polite

| patmcg

Tonight I noticed a pile of Claire’s toys piled at the top of the stairs leading up to our bedroom.  When I approached Claire about the mess, I was expecting some sort of fight, or maybe a look of shame or guilt.  But her response surprised me.  We had the following conversation, almost verbatim, and without a hint of sarcasm from Claire.

  • Pat: “Hey Claire, there are a lot of toys on the stairs.  That is pretty dangerous.  Somebody could slip on them.”
  • Claire: “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have put them there.”
  • Pat: “That’s okay.  I just wanted to let you know.”
  • Claire: “Okay.  I shouldn’t have put those toys there.  I really should have asked you.”

I don’t normally have conversations that civil with mature adults!  I should savor this moment.  I am sure we will be back to somewhat less mature exchanges again tomorrow.

Pomodoro Prank

| patmcg

Tonight we all went out to eat at Artuzi’s, which is a quick Italian place nearby. I ordered Claire her own kid-sized penne with pomodoro sauce, because she had enjoyed that in the past when Claire and I ate here with my parents. I could tell Kit was somewhat skeptical about this potentially messy choice, but she did not veto it.

Sitting in the booth next to Kit, Claire initially tried to eat her penne with a fork. But after having the pasta slip off her fork a few times, Claire resorted to using her hands, which quickly became coated in the deep red, oily tomato sauce. At this point, Kit become nervous of Claire ruining her nice sweater shirt, which she was still wearing from work, so she sent Claire to sit next to me across the table from her.

Claire’s messy hands did not bother me, especially since I was not wearing anything fancy, just a t-shirt. This disinterest ended suddenly when Claire reached over and grabbed my white t-shirt with her left hand, leaving five little red dots on my right sleeve, one for each finger. As I recoiled from this intrusion, Claire reached quickly to my front with her right hand, to complete the hugging motion (or pincer movement, depending on how you look at it), leaving five more little red dots on the front of my t-shirt.

At this point, I was a little amused and agitated at the same time. Kit was just laughing. I did manage to lean away from Claire just far enough to keep out of reach of any further tomato sauce attacks. Claire thought it was funny that I was just out of reach and started swinging for me with her little hands, giggling the whole time through her sauce-coated face. “I want to hug Daddy! Hug Daddy! Huuuug!” she said, with a goofy smile on her face. At this point, it was clear that Claire was just having fun and had managed to make a genuine joke out of the situation.

The only real victim of this whole story was, of course, my t-shirt. But don’t worry about the shirt. It made an amazing recovery thanks to some quick on-the-scene dabbing, as directed by Kit, and some liberal use of stain stick later at home.