molly
Dalmation Donation
Molly has been using her words really well lately. Her vocabulary and speech make it possible to have something like a normal conversation with her most of the time. Still, sometimes the conversation is a little last than 100%, like this interaction between Kit and Molly today.
Kit: “We got a donation from Molly. She’s going to give away this toy cart.”
Molly: “Dalmation?”
Kit: “Donation.”
Molly: “Donation? What is a dalmation?”
Kit: “You said you would donate this cart.”
Molly: “Oh.”
Then Molly, dressed in a kitty ballerina outfit, shrugged and returned to playing with her other toys. Molly probably has no idea we are going to give her toy cart to someone else.
Pre-School Report Card
Molly got a report card from her pre-school today. It is basically a checklist of core skills for a 3-4 year old. She did well overall, and this report is the latest indication that Molly has officially “pulled herself together”, as Kit and I like to say. On the math front, Molly can sort things, group things, count to 23, and identify all the basic shapes except for octagons. She got all check marks in fine motor for things like cutting with scissors, drawing, doing puzzles (her speciality), and even pouring water from a pitcher. Language was good too, with good skills in telling stories, asking questions, and generally using words. She is really thriving in her pre-school!
In fact, Molly only missed one area on the whole checklist. Her only negative feedback was sort of funny, actually. Molly did not get full marks for “Solves conflicts verbally and usually without violence or need of teacher.” We’ll give her a few more years on that.
Molly Dance Recital #2
Today, Molly had her dance recital for her second year of ballet/tap class. The theme of the show was “Circe de Dance”. Molly’s class got a five-minute spot in the middle of the hourlong show. At this point, the kids basically watch the teachers in the wings of the stage and do what she does. The big trip right now is to do a slow twirl, and maybe a little ump.
Grammy and Granddaddy got to see the big show before heading out to the Pacific Northwest for the summer.
Kit and I were luke-warm on the overly cute (and overly expensive) costume, but Molly seemed to enjoy the whole thing. Claire has wanted to do a dance recital and get a cool costume of her own for a while, but in the end she has decided that actually taking the dance class for several months leading up to the recital is not worth the reward.
Working It
Molly may be at her most adorable age right now, four and a half years old. A year ago, she was a dopey toddler. In another year, she will be a hearty five year old kid. Right now she is in the middle, no longer a babyish mess but not yet a big kid. Here is a snapshot of what makes Molly adorable right now…
Molly sleeps in a ladybug tent at night. The tent is filled with stuffed animals and about 80 magazines.
Molly vaguely resembles Mike Wazowski. Luckily, though, Molly does have two eyes.
Molly calls peanuts “peanut butter nuts”.
Molly often wears her “M” cape with a princess costume and a tiara. She calls this “Super Molly”.
Molly sincerely believes that her “M” cape makes her go faster.
Molly will only wear dresses that twirl properly.
Molly plays along with Dora the Explorer when the show prompts you for an answer. We often hear her loudly yelling things like “Purple!” at the computer.
Molly judges things primarily by their color, with pink and purple being the best colors. Luckily, this approach does not apply to people.
Molly says “No fair!” a lot.
Molly clambers a lot. She clambers into her dining chair, onto her bed, etc. (Clamber: to climb, move, or get in or out of something in an awkward and laborious way, typically using both hands and feet.)
Molly believes that the Disney princesses are real. She was initially confused by the idea of Disney World and Disney Land. Which one do the real princesses live at? Then she figured it out: “Disney World has the real people, and Disney Land has puppets.”
You will commonly find Molly wandering the house wearing nothing but skivvies and sparkly shoes, and sometimes only the shoes.
Molly always says her sister’s name as two syllables, “Cla-aire”.
Molly loves her big sister. They spend a lot of time playing and hanging out on the weekends. Yesterday, Claire went off for a playdate for a couple of hours. Molly quickly got bored without Claire around and said, sadly, “What am I supposed to do now?” Molly later stated that she really likes being with Claire.
Molly always smells good, even when she is hot and sweaty. Well, not always; she is sometimes gassy — then look out!
The Cat in the Hat
Kit took Molly to see a live performance of The Cat in the Hat at the Zach Theater. I took Claire to a birthday party at the same time. It sounds like The Cat in the Hat was very cool. They acted out all the crazy balancing of objects, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the whole nine yards. Molly loved it and got to meet the cast afterwards. Here are some photos.
1914 Style
Our neighborhood recently turned 100 years old. To celebrate, there was a neighborhood picnic and parade. Everyone was encouraged to wear 1914-inspired clothes. We did our best on a limited time budget and ended up with something vaguely old fashioned but probably more inspired by the roaring 20’s. Claire invited her friend Susie over, and they all had a great time being in the parade plus a horse carriage ride, crafts, face painting, and just enjoying being out in the late spring weather.
Tiny Mountain Climbing
Kit was out of town for a funeral, and I had the girls this weekend for a series of birthday parties and classes. While Claire was in Crenshaw’s for a party, Molly bitterly complained that she could not go too. But I took Molly to a school park right next door. It turned out to be really fun, with the usual playground but also an outcropping of rocks that was perfect for Molly to climb over. Plus an abandoned lacrosse stick and ball and a big bouncy ball. This was all easily enough to fill up and hour and a half while we waited for Claire’s party to end. Molly showed a lot of enthusiasm for the rock climbing in particular.
Frozen
The movie Frozen is a pretty big deal, at least with little girls. The movie was released in theaters five months ago and seems to have only picked up steam since. It probably helps that it’s now on iTunes and DVD. Anyways, this movie definitely ranks as a favorite — no, the favorite — movie for both Claire and Molly.
We have had endless discussions about “Who do you like better, Anna or Elsa?” or “What’s your favorite song in Frozen?” or “What character do you think I am in Frozen?” On the drive back from Corpus Christi this weekend, Claire and Molly watched Frozen in the car. When they weren’t watching Frozen, Molly was singing it. “The snow glows white on the mountain tonight…” she always starts quietly. Molly seems to know most of the words. Claire started a series of family votes on who were our favorite characters (Anna won overall), favorite songs, etc. At first, Molly thought Elsa was a “bad guy”, but Claire has slowly convinced her that Elsa is not bad, she has a good heart but she just has a problem to deal with. Molly doesn’t understand that, but she believes Claire.
We had a babysitter last weekend, and she told us that every single girl under the age of 13 who she sits has been singing Frozen songs, mostly Let It Go. She says it’s a “phenomenon”. I found myself at an after-school dinner for Molly’s school, sitting with Claire, Molly, and another dad from Molly’s class. He went on about Frozen, complete with trivia (the main character names came from the name “Hans Christian Andersen”, etc.)
There is also a backlash. At a second grade roller skating party, the skating rink played the song Let It Go, and all the girls sang along. But all the boys apparently took of their roller-skates, slid around on their socks, and screamed in protest. There is also Let It Go Goes With Everything, which shows just how generic (but still lovely) that song is.
Claire seems to enjoy my personal take on Anna vs. Elsa, which is that Anna is a true optimist and person of action who is always trying to make things better, while Elsa just runs to the nearest mountain to sing a song about how sad and misunderstood she is. Boo hiss, Elsa! 😉 Claire thinks it is funny that Elsa sings on three separate occasions the words “Conceal, don’t feel…” Okay, we shouldn’t be too hard on the cursed, orphaned ice queen. I’m just saying we get it, already, Elsa. It’s time to move on!
Anyways, Frozen is the only thing to really break through the My Little Pony stranglehold for Claire in the past several months, and that is really saying something. I mean, occasionally Claire likes to watch Frozen, although MLP still forms the core of her entertainment universe.
McG Kids 