Claire has been absolutely wiped out since school started back up after the holidays. She even took her first nap in years!
sleep
No, it’s really just Molly
The girls tend to get worked up at night, reaching their peak of silliness and pure volume right before going to bed. We had always thought of this as the girls “working each other up”. However, this theory was accidentally put to the test this week when Claire was off to stay with Grammy & Grandaddy in Corpus Christi for a few days of winter break. As the evidence clearly demonstrates, it is not “the girls” who get worked up. Molly does it just fine all by herself. In fact, she may go crazier without Claire than with her.
Scared
Just in time for Halloween, poor Claire has suddenly developed an intense fear of, well, anything she can’t see, especially ghosts and the “Candy Man”. Claire is scared enough that she literally will not be left alone anywhere in the house. If she is upstairs with me, and I need to go downstairs for something, she comes with me, for fear of ghosts. She feels especially scared in our bathroom, with all of its mirrors. Supposedly the Candy Man lives behind mirrors. If you say his name three times (or is it five?), he will come out of the mirror and kill you. This is a real fear — on some level, she thinks it might actually happen, which is terrifying, if you think about it.
In particular, Claire has had trouble getting to sleep. When we tuck her in, she grasps onto us for protection, and although she tries to fight through the fear, she has ended up in tears and begs to stay in our room. She keeps coming out of her room all shaken up. We have talked with Claire about these fears and how they don’t really make sense, and Claire agrees, but it doesn’t make her fear go away. We joked about ghosts, too. Suppose they were real, which they aren’t. Would a ghost really be scary? They can’t do anything. They just float around like a cloud. We people are the big, scary ones with our big, muscular bodies. Also, Molly would scare a ghost because she is so loud and would easily scream them away, if they existed, which they don’t. Claire wondered if Muffin would protect her, and we said yes, if ghosts were real, Muffin would be scary since she has such big, sharp teeth and can bark. We showed Claire Muffin’s teeth, and she was impressed how scary our teddy bear of a dog can be. After all this discussion, Claire headed to bed feeling good and safe. Ten minutes later, she was up crying and desperate for the safety of our company. She also wakes up in the middle of the nights looking for protection and is very hard to get back to sleep. This is how the fear works.
Claire has apparently been spooked by her classmates, who are spreading rumors of ghosts and ghouls. The stories are probably in good nature, but they really spook Claire. After discussing it with Kit and me, Claire said she understood that ghosts are not real, and she even told one of her classmates she knew her stories were not real, but she would play along for fun. Still, Claire is just spooked. Fear is fear, and it doesn’t always make sense.
After several tricky nights of getting Claire to sleep in her room, we came up with a couple of ways to take the edge off of Claire’s feeling of terror. One night about two hours after putting Claire to bed, she was still awake and scared. She asked for a drawing pad to get her mind off of things. Sure enough, after about 45 minutes of drawing flowers and peace signs, she was asleep, pencil in hand. It did not work quite as quickly the next night. Finally, last night, we decided to let Claire use the secret weapon of falling asleep, at least for Kit and me: audio books. Nothing works quite like audio books to lull you to sleep. We set up an old iPod Nano with Ramona the Brave, narrated by Stockard Channing. In the story, Ramona, like Claire, also struggles with the fear of unknown scary things in her room at night, among other things. Claire and I have listened this audio book in the car many times, mostly on the way to pick up Molly from school. It did the trick tonight. Claire was asleep within minutes. She did wake up once in the middle of the night, though. But she was not scared. She just wanted to know how to adjust the volume on the story.
And this is how Claire got her very first iPod.
Molly’s big bed!
After the last weekend’s try at sleeping in a big bed, we decided to go for it today and move Molly out of her crib and into her toddler bed. Kit decided that it was time to give it a try. Molly was so excited when we explained this development in the morning, as was Claire. There was much jumping up and down and cheering from both kids. I’m not sure why Claire was so excited; she was just in a really good mood, this being a Saturday morning and all.
We had saved Claire’s old toddler bed in the outdoor storage closet. Before we could bring in the new bed, we had to find it, clean it off, and re-assemble it. Then we had to disassemble Molly’s crib to get it out of the girls’ room. This was my job, and once I unscrewed and pulled off the first major part of the crib, Molly said, “Daddy’s breaking my crib!” She may have been joking; she did not seem very upset. Finally, we set up the new crib, and Kit put on the nice sheets and comforter that go with it. Molly was thrilled.
One part of this transition, that Kit had set up, was that “we don’t use a pacifier in a big bed.” This had been repeated to Molly many times, and she was ready to give up her pacifier to get a fancy, big girl bed. Molly’s nap went fine, even without her pacifier; luckily she naps at school every day without a pacifier. There were no attempts on Molly’s part even to get out of bed. She just went right to sleep. Molly is a real napper!
Bedtime that night even went fine, with only a minor disruption from Claire walking across the room to check on Molly, who was sitting up in bed. Claire was concerned that Molly was sitting up and was trying to sooth Molly to sleep. I told Claire that it was okay, and Molly would fall asleep on her own. I think Claire had been excited about Molly’s new bed partially because she know she would have better access to her sister, and Claire has always been one to look for distractions at bedtime. This same transition, when we took the side off of Claire’s bed to turn it into sort of a “big bed”, had been pretty tough with Claire a few years ago. This episode involved Claire coming out of her room repeatedly and us walking her back to bed for several hours straight before she succumbed to sleep. At the time we were going out of our minds trying to get Claire to sleep and wondered whether this was normal. Now we see the other side of the coin. Molly may have her own set of challenges, but going to definitely sleep is definitely not one of them.
Tryin’ a Big Bed
Today after lunch, right before nap time, Molly wandered upstairs by herself without a word. We figured she went up to the girls’ room to study her books, as she does from time to time. When I went to get Molly 20 minutes later, she was laying in Claire’s bed with her lovie and pacifier, apparently preparing to take a nap. Yes, Molly had decided it was nap time and did not want to wait around for her ever-distracted mom and dad to make it happen, so she took matters into her own hands. Molly just loves her naps (unlike her sister).
As I changed Molly’s diaper and prepared to put her down for her “real” nap, both Molly and Claire lobbied pretty hard to let Moly nap in Claire’s bed for real. Why not? Really, why not? Hmm. This would be Molly’s first time to sleep in a big bed (i.e., not a crib), but we’ve been thinking of moving her to a big bed for a while, and this was the perfect opportunity to try it out. As I read a nap-time story to Molly, Claire carefully arranged blankets and stuffed animals on her bed to maximize Molly’s comfort. Then Claire and I tucked Molly into bed and headed downstairs. We mentioned the new arrangement to Kit, who would be inheriting this situation since I was due to head off to work shortly. On Kit’s suggestion, I went back up to the gils’ room to make sure all those stuffed animals would not smother Molly, and to place some pillows on the floor beside Claire’s bed in case Molly fell off.
The experiment worked out fine. Molly had a god nap. As predicted, I am told, Molly requested to sleep in Claire’s bed for night time too, but we had already warned her earlier that was not going to happen. Kit did promise Molly that we would get her bed-girl set up pretty soon, though, but Molly would have to give up her pacifier in exchange. Pacifiers are not allowed in big-girl beds. It’s like a law, Kit says.
Morning Routine
Over the course of Claire’s kindergarten year, we have polished the morning, off-to-school routine. The challenge is to always get Molly and Claire dressed, fed, packed, and in the car by no later than 7:30 every school day. Before kindergarten, we were spoiled by a completely flexible morning schedule. The only time constraint was for me to get back home in time for any morning meetings, and those rarely started before 9:00 am. It also a general matter of time being precious and me wanted to get the day going. With kindergarten, we have no such flexibility. We always have a 7:30 am deadline!
This routine evolved over time, but here is what we ended out with by the end of the school year. This is partially interesting because a couple of minutes literally can make or break the routine. It is hard to recover from a 5-minute distraction, and Kit will attest that I do not take well to any unexpected deviation from the routine.
6:20 My alarm goes off
6:25 I get up, get dressed, brush teeth, hopefully shave
6:35 I wake Claire up, carry her downstairs (still half asleep), and put her on the sofa. This is her alarm + snooze time. I try not to wake up Molly just yet. I get her some breakfast, normally cereal and milk, maybe some bacon and/or fruit as well on a good day. Also, usually a Claratin. We turn on a TV show to help wake Claire up.
6:40 I put food in Muffin’s bowl and top off her water. While Claire is eating breakfast, I go back upstairs, give Muffin her incontinence pill, and let (or, force) her out.
6:45 Back downstairs to check on Claire and get Molly’s breakfast ready. Molly always has a whole grain mini-bagel with cream cheese, whole milk, and Jimmy Dean sausage crumbles. Plus maybe some bacon and/or fruit as well on a good day.
6:55 Back upstairs to let Muffin back in, who by now is scratching on the back door. Then I get Molly up, a new diaper, and dressed. Then downstairs together.
7:05 Start Molly on breakfast. I like to have breakfast ready before she comes down so I can put her straight in her eating chair. Otherwise she tends to get distracted by something and won’t focus on eating. Tell Claire it’s time to get dressed.
7:10 Ice Claire’s lunch bag and grab Molly’s lunch box (Molly can use a refrigerator at school; Claire cannot). Get lunches and any other random school items for the day (paperwork, swim suits, diaper refills, library books, etc.) together and hopefully out to the car.
7:15 Put shoes on Molly, give her her nose spray, and do her hair. Usually Kit does Molly’s hair. Let Molly keep eating.
7:20 Make sure Claire is dressed (usually she is, but sometimes needs a gentle reminder). Make sure Claire has on her shoes and has brushed her hair too. Also reminder her, if necessary, to take her dishes into the kitchen. She likes to save these tasks for the very last minute.
7:25 Move everyone towards the car. If we start at 7:25, we are usually pulling out of the driveway by 7:30.
The first bell at Claire’s school is at 7:40. This gives us just enough time to get there, park, and walk to the room. If we run behind on time, we have to do “Circle Drive” drop off to make up time, which means Claire hops out of the car and goes into school by herself. She really prefers for Molly and I to walk in with her, so Circle Drive is an ever-present incentive to get going on time.
This routine took some work to get in place early in the year, and some occasional nagging to keep on track throughout the year, but mostly it ran on autopilot once established. This is such an engrained routine that Claire wakes up at 6:30 or earlier even on the weekends unless she’s completely exhausted, in which case she might sleep in until 6:45 or 7:00 at the latest. I keep telling her to sleep in, but 7:00 is the very best she can do. She always wants to get up and hang out before everyone else wakes up!
Mucus and Ketchup
We had gone out to Poke-e-Jo’s Barbecue for dinner, where Molly enjoyed chicken tenders with ketchup — lots of ketchup, as always. She also had a runny nose, and by the time we drove home, her face was covered in both mucus and ketchup. Even Molly thought it was gross and funny. I did not get a picture of her face at the time, since I was busy wiping it down, but here is Molly reviewing the day with us at bedtime.
Speaking of ketchup, Molly is still crazy about it. It helps almost any food go down. Apples? Yes. Raisins? Yes. Cheerios? Of course. And why not dip your macaroni and cheese in it? That last one almost made even me gag. But it gets the food down, and Molly is growing, so she gets to figure out later that this is gross.
How Did You Sleep?
After waking Molly up from her nap today, Kit asked her, “How did you sleep?” Molly’s response was to say, “Like this!” and fold her hands together beside her head, like a pillow, pretending to sleep. Yes, Molly is right, she did sleep that way, didn’t she. I mean, how else would she sleep?
Off to see Tut (and the grandparents!)
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.
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.
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.
McG Kids 