Hairstyles and Attitudes

I've been meaning to post this photo for a while, but Daddy has been so good about updating the blog that I didn't want to step on top of his posts. A few weeks ago we got Molly's hair cut for the first "official" time. We did the whole bit - went to a kid's place in the mall. It was all very adorable. She sat in a pink car and got to watch a Dora video while the nice lady cut off about five strands of hair. Well, a bit more than that, but it is true that Molly has very little hair to speak of. We just wanted to get it evened out and then we plan to cut it ourselves for the foreseeable future. Molly had fun and didn't seem to notice much of anything unusual going on.

She's been a pretty good kid these days. She's been loving her swim classes as the local YMCA, where she learned to jump into the pool (into Daddy's arms, of course) and practiced kicking, blowing bubbles, and even dunking her head underwater.

She has also been very insistent on wearing dresses a lot. She is apparently quite the fashionista at daycare, always checking out what the other kids are wearing. She and another girl always show off their dresses to each other in the morning, and twirl around and announce that they are ballerinas.

In other behaviorial updates, we are still plugging away at the potty training. She's pretty darn good at pooping on the potty and does so 95% of the time. But peeing is still a challenge. She really doesn't show much interest in that at all, so we're definitely still in diapers for the time being. Oddly enough, that seems to be the reverse of everyone else's experience - all the books and guides and other parents say that kids learn to pee on the potty first and that poop takes longer. Who knows. Anyway, we've got a sticker chart and she is starting to ask for underwear, so we hope that the lightbulb will turn on soon in her brain. It would be great to have her out of diapers by the time her baby brother or sister arrives in three months and we have to be doing those diapers.

Speaking of baby siblings, we are happy that Molly seems excited at the idea of a baby coming to live with us. Her new favorite toy is a plastic baby doll that she loves to wrap up in a blanket and put to sleep and all sorts of other motherly things. Although, she does sometimes casually toss the doll aside, clobbering its poor plastic head on the furniture in the process. It'll be a while before Molly gets to take care of the real baby!

Exerting authority

This is Two.
Two is bad.
That's why Two is in the corner.
Two is in timeout.

Molly can be a tough disciplinarian with her toys. Recently Thelonius Monkey was sentenced to a whole day in timeout!

The other day Molly put her pinky finger in timeout. The infraction? Pinky Finger bit Molly.

Yeah, that's right. Her finger bit her.

The monster under the bed

After months of Molly peacefully falling asleep (and staying asleep) after we say goodnight and tuck her in, she is now going through a bad sleeping phase.

It started a month ago. We'd put Molly to bed (she's graduated out of her crib and into a toddler bed) and had come back downstairs to settle into watching TV. Suddenly, and simultaneously, we both noticed some subtle movement in the darkened dining room and found Molly standing there under the table silently staring at us. Lemme tell you, the first time was really spooky.

Since then we've had a nightly struggle to get Molly to sleep. After several nights of her creeping down the stairs, we wised up and started putting a baby gate up in her door.

It turns out that part of the trouble is that Molly is having nightmares. The object of her nightly frights? Why, it's a creature so horrifying, so panic-inducing, so terribly terrifying, it's ...

Swiper the fox, from the "Dora the Explorer" TV show.

The funny cute thing about it is that Swiper is just about the least-malevolent antagonist imaginable. In every episode, see, Dora and her pal Boots the Monkey are accosted by Swiper, but his larcenous intentions are deftly parried by the utterance of "Swiper, no swiping!"

Swiper dejectedly says, "Oh, man!" and skulks away.

Molly's convinced lately that Swiper is hiding in her room, and when she wakes up in the middle of the night wailing, we have to do security sweeps under her bed and in the closet to assure her that she's safe from Swiper.

I can empathize, though. I can clearly remember being terrified that Darth Vader lived in our attic when I was a lot older than Molly is now.

Grandpa T. sent along this funny cartoon which rings true of Molly's bedtime stall tactics.

Screaming for Attention

So, here's a pretty typical part of our daily routine. Mommy and Molly pick up Daddy at the train station.

"Hi Molly! <kiss> How was your day?"
"Daa-dee!"
<We drive.>

"Daddy!"
"Yes, Molly?"
"Daddy!!"
"Yes, Molly?"
"Daddy!!!"
"Yes, Molly?"
<The grown-ups begin to talk amongst themsleves about grown up things.>

"LISTEN TO ME, GUYS!!!"
"What, Molly?" we say in unison.
<Silence.>

It's tough being a little kid with a lot to say, I guess.

Summertime Fun

Well, we've had a couple of nice weekends in a row recently. I, of course, only managed to get photos of one of them. A few weeks ago we went to our local county zoo. It's a great place for kids - just the right size to see everything and get tired out, all in a couple of hours. We enjoyed the day with some friends who have a little girl just a few months older than Molly. The two of them are great friends. They both had fun with new experiences, like riding a pony for the first time and enjoying the zoo's aviary, where visitors can feed free-flying canaries with little birdseed sticks (something that unnerved the wee ones but was still very fun. Here are shots from the zoo:





Last weekend was 4th of July, and the weather could not have been better. Daddy and Molly marched in the 4th of July parade in the nearby town, where Daddy is a member of the local adult school board. Molly was a trooper, cooperating fully in the parade by sleeping through most of it. We all enjoyed free cake in the park afterwards, then an afternoon BBQ with our same friends from zoo weekend. Molly and their daughter Izzy had a great time playing with Izzy's new backyard playhouse, before their general frenzy and tiredness got the better of them. When the meltdowns outnumber the giggles, it's time to pack it in.

The next day we enjoyed the birthday BBQ tradition thrown by another set of friends with a son who was born on the 5th of July. There were tons of kids, and though most of them are a couple years older than Molly, she eventually found her footing and enjoyed rooting around in the sandbox and hitting the dinosaur pinata. Alas, no photos of either the parade or parties. Trust me, I wish I'd gotten one of the birthday boy relieving himself on the tree in the backyard!

All in all, it was a great couple of weekends and really made us feel like summer had finally arrived after weeks of rain.

Photos from the Grandparent Visit

Here are some nice shots that Grandpa T. sent along!