sweet

Second Grade Thanksgiving Musical

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Claire on stage.

The second grade put on a fabulous Thanksgiving show today.  They played a half-hour musical to a cafeteria packed with parents.    The performance involved a Thanksgiving crisis as the turkeys decided to go on strike this year.  The arbiters and mediators tried to hammer out a solution.  The cranberries and squash fought for a new place in the middle of the table.  In the end, they kids all sang “It’s not about turkey, it’s not about Thursday, it’s not about the big game.  We call it Thanksgiving because it’s thanks that we’re giving…”  It was a great message and extremely cute.

Claire was cast as “a public”.  So she got to dress as an adult and sing as part of the general public.  She was a little bummed about the less-than-glamorous role, but she did get to appear and sing a little.  The next day, Claire asked me what my second favorite part of the play was.  Obviously my favorite part was Claire’s bit, but what did I like after that?  I told her it was the singing cranberries.  Claire said she liked them too.

If there is anything more adorable than a second grade Thanksgiving musical, then I can’t think of it, not even a cute little baby.  Babies drool and puke.  Second graders sing their hearts out and try to make you smile.

Claire the babysitter

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Claire reading to Molly
Claire reading to Molly, in a shot posed by Claire 🙂

Tonight, Claire volunteered to put Molly to sleep.  Claire was not just talking about reading a book to Molly and tucking her in.  Claire insisted that she would help get Molly completely ready for bed: get her dressed in her night gown, help her brush her teeth, read her a story, etc.  Claire said that way I could go work while she took care of Molly.  (I am always trying to find time to get things done around here, and Claire has picked up on this.)

Molly loved the idea.  Claire and Molly were a good team.  Bedtime went surprisingly well.  It only took a little bit of prodding to keep them on track.  And I actually did get some work done while Claire took care of Molly, which meant I was not up quite as late working.  Thank you, Claire!

The next night, Claire volunteered to put Molly down again.  It was a bath night, which is much trickier.  But Claire insisted.  That night did not go quite as well as the previous night.  After 45 minutes, they were both still in the bath, and Molly was really worked up, jumping, giggling, laughing, etc.  This is pretty normal for bedtime, but it was one notch even more than usual.  Eventually the screams of joy from down the hall got to be too much to take; I was not getting any work done that night.  I had to go in and break it up.  Kit and I split up the kids and got things nearly back on track.  The girls were nearly in a frenzy.  How many times have I said it… bath nights are tricky!

Claire did not volunteer to put Molly to bed the next night.

How Easter Began

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Claire had Friday off and, as usual, she spent most of her day working on a project.  Lately, she is particularly interested in making seasonal or holiday-related pictures, cards, gifts, etc.  This Easter, she has taken this idea to new a level.  On Friday and Saturday, Claire planned and prepared her first play, a performance about how Easter began.  She assigned each member of the family a character.  Claire was the Easter Bunny, Molly was a chick, Kit was a bumble bee, and I was a butterfly.  Claire then made costumes for each character.  She taped paper and stickers to dresses for her and Molly, a similar idea for Kit, and we agreed on an outrageous orange outfit for my monarch butterfly.  Claire wrote a script, which I dictated on the computer so we could print out a copy for everyone.  Claire picked some music so we could do a dance in the middle.  She created a set and put out chairs for the audience.

This whole play was a surprise for Grammy and Grandaddy, who were staying with us and served as our audience.  Claire made sure they did not see the costumes or other preparations before it was time for the performance on Sunday morning!  Claire was super excited about her play, and he excitement was contagious for the rest of us.  Well, except for Molly, who refused to take part in the dress rehearsal, but who came around when it was time to actually do the play for a real audience.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “How Easter Began”…

Bedtime Helper

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Last night at bedtime, Molly asked if Claire could give Molly her bath and get her ready for bed.  So we went downstairs and asked Claire, who immediately said yes.  Claire took care of Molly’s entire bedtime routine, including bath, getting dressed in pajamas, brushing teeth, reading a story, and getting tucked into bed.  The only help she needed was a little bit of guidance on shampooing Molly’s hair, which does tend to be dicey at time.

Here is a video of story time.  (It’s chopped in the middle to keep it shorter.)

Claire Has a Dream

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For Martin Luther King Day, Claire’s class had an assignment write their own dream.  They had to fill complete the sentence, “I have a dream to…” with their own writing.  Claire’s used her hard-earned writing and phonics skills to come up with this:

“I have a dream to help others when they are hurt.”

Nice touch, Claire.

Monkey Mail

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Claire’s kindergarten class now has an internal mail system up and running.  The kids can send each other notes in the classroom’s mailbox.  So far, Claire has received several letters from her classmates, and they all say, “You are a great friend.”

I was talking about Monkey Mail with some of Claire’s classmates’ parents, and they said their kids all get the same message, “You are a great friend.”  And they always have a picture of the two kids standing next to each other.  It is very sweet.  Here is a perfect example.

Help From a Little Friend

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Molly has shown a very sweet, empathetic side lately.  Her sister is still having some occasional jitters from kindergarten, coming hope grumpy and sometimes very sad.  Tonight, Claire had an especially hard time and was standing in the living room sobbing about something we didn’t understand.  Kit and I were trying to comfort her, without much success, when Molly decided to give it a try too.  Molly patted Claire on the back a bit, and then she ran into the play room to grab a teddy bear.  She handed the bear to Claire, and in fact sort of insisted that she take it.  Then Molly clapped her hands and ran off to get some more stuffed animals to deliver to her poor sister.  Eventually Claire was completely covered by stuffed animals, compliments of Molly.  And right about then, Claire finally cracked a tiny smile, also compliments of Molly.  Not long after, the two girls were off playing together.  Kit and I could never cheer Claire up like that!

Molly’s teacher tells us that she has done this routine before for one of her classmates, Lexi, who was sad after being dropped off at school.  Molly patted her on the back until she stopped crying, brought her a toy, and eventually led to her into the room to play.  Molly has this down pat!

A Book About Molly, For Molly

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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.