molly

Off to see Tut (and the grandparents!)

| patmcg

King Tut is visiting Houston, and we made a special family trip to see him, and perhaps even better, see my parents.

Due to Spring Break traffic and a severe downpour, it took us seven hours to get the kids and make it to Houston.  Usually it’s about a three-hour trip, but we spend a few extra hours stuck in traffic in torrential rain on Highway 71 and Interstate 10.  We made it to Houston a couple of hours past the girls’ bedtime, but everyone was in good spirits and happy to see Noni and Grandpa Phil.

King Tut Entrance
King Tut's jackal. No pictures inside!

Ostensibly, we made the trip to see Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs at the Museum of Fine Arts.  When we got the tickets a few weeks ago, Claire’s interest in ancient Egypt was at its peak.  Since then, her interest has waned some, mostly in favor of dolphins and puppies.  When we pulled up to the museum on Saturday morning, Claire said, in a joking tone, “I don’t know why we have to go see this King Tut thing.  You thought I was interested to see it, but really it’s Dad who’s interested.  I mean what’s the big deal?  He’s dead.”  This really cracked me up.

Once inside, we waited in line for the big show.  There was a short introductory movie narrated by Harrison Ford, and then the exhibit doors magically swung open.  The crowds slowly entered and began to examine the ancient treasures with quiet awe.  Within the first minute after entry, Molly had broken the near silence with loud crying and yelling.  She really wanted the museum sticker on my shirt, but I could not let her have it since it served as my proof of admission.  She got frustrated and began screaming.  So I headed with her to the exit, which was all the way through the large exhibit.  By the time we got to the exit, Molly was calmed down, and we did the exhibit in reverse.  There were some really cool things.  Some of Claire’s favorites were the ancient toilet seat used by the pharos, and the ancient cat coffin.  She also liked King Tut’s bed, a colossal state of him, a small decorative coffin used to preserve his stomach, and an equally disgusting reproduction of the Tut’s remains.  I am happy to say that Claire was pretty engrossed after all.  We have no pictures of the exhibit since they were strictly forbidden.

Girls and grandparents
The girls and their Houston grandparents

The main attraction for this trip was really the grandparents.  It had been a longtime since we had been to Houston as a family.  We mostly stayed around the house to maximize face time between the girls and their Noni and Phil.  Claire had woken up very early Sunday morning and went down to get Noni.  She and Claire drifted in and out of sleep until 7:00 or so and then got up and hung out until the rest of us got up.  This is Claire in her element… hanging out on a lazy weekend morning with a grandma.  As interesting as King Tut was, this kind of morning was probably even more fun for Claire (not to mention Kit and I, who got to sleep in a little).  We got home on Sunday afternoon, where our tired Claire fell asleep on the couch watching Finding Nemo, thus accomplishing her first nap in years.

One-Shoe Molly

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Molly sees no need to always wear both of her shoes. Wearing one is just as good — if not better — than two.

Sometimes one of Molly’s shoes comes off by accident, such as when getting out of her little toddler seat at the dining room table. In this case, there is no need to bother retrieving the lost shoe under the table and put it back on. That is a waste of time, people!

Other times — and this variation has yet to be fully explained — she specifically stops and sits down to take off one shoe. Sometimes she takes off the sock too, and sometimes she leaves it on. Then she gets back up and wanders off, proudly wearing a single shoe.

Molly makes this look so natural and purposeful. Could you image an adult walking up to you, wearing a solitary shoe, and just saying, “Hi, can I have a crayon?”, as Molly does. One time Molly had her pants on backwards too, which was a real sight.

Another variation, used mostly in the car, is to take off both shoes, and usually the socks too. This approach seems more sensible and mostly valid, I think. I think we all do this from time to time. The only issue here is the frequency. Some mornings, I have to put Molly’s shoes on three different times before school: once on the way out the door, again when we arrive at Claire’ school, and again when we arrive at Molly’s school.

Maybe Molly’s teachers will allow her to wear those easy-on, easy-off Crocs to school next year, so she can manage most of the repeated donning and doffing on her own.

A Better Valentine’s Day

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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!

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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.