Kid TV -- We Are Helpless Against It!

We tried to wait as long as possible before letting Molly watch kid TV. It's all pretty much marketing to kids and really doesn't offer them much educationally, especially for kids as young as Molly. But Daddy is to blame for introducing Molly to her favorite show: "The Big Comfy Couch." It's a Canadian show (so it must be wholesome, right?) about Loonette the Clown and her doll, Molly. Not too hard to figure out the hook there for us. Anyway, Loonette lives in Clown Town with other clowns: Granny Garbanzo, Major Bedhead (the mailman), and her Auntie Macassar (har har - get it?). She and Molly tell stories, do stretches, visit friends, and always finish up their day with a 10-second tidy, to pick up all the mess they've made on their adventures. Our Molly loves the theme song, dancing and wiggling whenever it comes on. The show is no longer in production as far as we can tell. All the episodes we see are 10-12 years old. So hopefully, there aren't any product tie-ins we'll have to fight against! But I know it's only a matter of time before Dora the Explorer and Disney invade our house and take over our child's mind. But for now, we're happy to hang out with Loonette and Molly on the Big Comfy Couch.

Easter Morning

A little bunny visited us this weekend, leaving Chex Mix and raisins in little eggs for our kiddo. And a nice little cold, complete with a runny nose!

Special Family Heirloom

I got this message from my Aunt Susan the other week:

Dear C,
Some time ago I opened a box that came from your Grandfather Thompson's house on Mooresque in Pasadena after he died. The box had been stored, unopened in our closet for years. Inside the box I found three baby dresses which had been made for your Grandma Thompson. They were very yellowed, but otherwise in good condition. I took them to a hand laundry which kept them for nearly a year. The laundry did clean them (through several washings) and ironed them beautifully. Such a shame that the granddaughters never had a chance to wear them for Grandma T. But now at least Molly (and Lucy who is thin enough to have worn one for a photograph) have the chance to wear their great grandmother's dresses! And Katie does have a dress to treasure.

Yesterday I sent off Molly's dress which you should receive in a few days. I hope that she can fit into it for a photo.

Aloha, Aunt Susan

We did indeed receive the dress, which is very fragile and delicate. It's also too big for Molly right now, but that means she can wear it again in the future. Here are a couple of shots of her wearing a very old, very special dress from her great grandmother.

Easter Came a Little Early

We had a great, though brief, visit with Grandpa T. on Monday when he was in NY for a meeting. He came bearing an Easter basket with gifties great and small, including a beautiful sweater that Grandma T. knitted, and a doll she knitted and stuffed (you can see both in the photo). There was also a cute stuffed bunny and a funny rubber ducky that lights up and quacks. Molly couldn't put it down in the tub last night. Thanks Grandparents!

Molly's Little Bag of Tricks

No real breaking news to report, but I thought I'd just list a few of Molly's little tricks that are fun to see:

• She "blows" kisses now, if you blow some first to her. She'll respond by smacking her palm a few times against her mouth. Very cute!
• If I say "Pat your head!" she'll smack both palms into her head or eyes over and over. Of course, if I say "Pat your tummy!" she'll... smack both palms into her head or eyes over and over. So I guess she knows "pat" but not "head" or "tummy" - everything is "head" to her.
• She likes to boogie to music. She will often wiggle her tush back and forth in time to music, or rock back and forth if she's sitting down. We decided it was time to get out there and expose her to something more structured, so we signed up for "Music Together" classes. I have a suspicion it's all a big racket, but kids seem to really dig music and banging things together. I know she can do that at home, so really, the class fee is just an expensive way for us parents to meet each other! We start that in April.
• We're still working on more words -- we still have nothing further than "dah!" (duck) and "uh-oh!" No mama or dada yet.
  

Movin' on up

We got a letter in Molly's cubby at school yesterday that she's moving up from the Caterpillar Room to the Butterfly Room. (What, no Pupa Room?)

We're proud of our little lepidoptera, but we're also a bit sad that she's going to be leaving the teachers who have been taking such good care of her since she was just three months old. We love Miss Antonia! Molly's going to miss her and Miss Darlene and the Little Red-Haired Girl whose name we don't know.

We had expected that Molly would be in the infant room until she was walking, which, at the rate she's going, could still be a few more months. But they have an influx of babies apparently, including a set of twins, and Molly's the oldest in the room so she's next in line. It's hard to believe she's the oldest! It doesn't seem so long ago we were dropping her off and worrying that she was so so very young. It's been a big year, for Molly and for us.

Congraduations, kiddo.

We Love Free Stuff!

A few posts back I mentioned that I had won an online contest. Yesterday we received part of the package: a whole host of Method brand cleaning products. We got a lot of fancy stuff! You can check out the haul in the photo here. We are still eagerly awaiting the biggest part of the prize: The $500 gift certificate to Merry Maids. I can't wait to have someone else clean our home!

We're Calling It: First Word

For several weeks now, Molly's been chirping "Dah!" at us in the bath while holding her rubber ducky. We were pretty sure at first she was just imitating us saying the word, but now we know that she knows that the word duck is related to her little yellow ducky toy. We can ask her "Where's the duck?" and she picks the toy up out of a group of toys and shows it to us. We can also hold it in front of her and ask "What's this?" and she'll say "Dah!" without us having said it first. Today we brought the toy to her in the bed - an entirely new environment for her to be seeing her ducky toy in - and she grabbed it and said "Dah!" So, while she can't quite get the full pronunciation of the word, we're still gonna go ahead and give her full credit. First word: Duck!