Molly is 3

       We have made a concerted effort this summer to stop calling Molly “baby” because she is certainly not anymore.  She is a very opinionated and independent little girl with lots of ideas, flair and ambition.  She knows the perfect outfit for every occasion—which often means changing several times a day.  If I want her to wear anything besides her tutu and pink cowboy boots, I have to hide the tutu.  However, her pink-heart-hoodie-dress and princess dress are close runners up.  She loves to accessorize with nail polish so that she can be like her preschool teacher.  She came home from school last week and said, “Miss Pam loves me!” 

She has a memory like a steel trap and is very difficult to distract.  If her mind is set on something… watch out, world!  Her preschool teacher wondered the other day how to make Molly apologize to another child in the class--apparently a 2 and a half minute time out hadn’t done the trick.  What a surprise (just joking).  This summer at the pool, it took 45 minutes by the side of the pool in time out until she was ready to apologize to her cousin.  This fall it took her eight hours to apologize to her brother (granted in this latter situation, we were traveling so our abilities to enforce were compromised though we did the best we could….)

When you ask Molly how old she is, you will get a different answer each time.  Sometimes she is three, but she is just as often seven or eleven.  She is quite clear that she used to be 2 and that Tucker is 6. She loves her name and is very pleased that she got a nameplate for her door and a mirror that says Molly on it for her birthday.  

Tucker loves our dog Clarence and devolves into baby talk to him several times a day.  Molly on the other hand mostly thinks Clarence is good for ordering around.  She likes most other dogs except him. Tucker didn’t like riding in strollers after he started walking—Molly still loves the stroller and gladly rides in it to the bus stop and back twice a day or when I go running. 

Molly is also very organized when she wants to be and has a strong sense of how things ought to be.  She takes off her shoes and places them carefully together under the Sunday School table in her class (they are not asked to remove their shoes…) and is so convincing, occasionally other kids do the same as well. She takes pleasure in organizing lots of little pieces, and sorting is right up her alley.  She is meticulous at coloring and will whip through eight 12-piece puzzles in a row at her grandparent’s house.  Maybe she is an engineer in training because her puzzle ability is off the charts.

I love you, Molly!

Quote of the Day

Molly: Where is my purple bus?

Me: I don’t know.

Molly: Up in the sky?  Where can I find it?

[Note: Molly does not have a purple bus, nor has she ever seen a purple bus to my knowledge.]

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Walking into our house holding a pumpkin someone had just given us.

Molly: Where’s the Christmas tree?

Me: It’s not Christmas time.

Molly [very disappointed]: Oh.

[Not sure why the pumpkin made her think it was Christmas time….]

Second Cousin Time

…was also fun!

 

 

Cousin Time in Vermont

…was fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Tucker!

Tucker turned six a week ago, and this is the only picture I took at his party.  It wasn’t mere oversight: it turns out have lots of five and six year-old boys indoors for a party on a rainy day is a bad idea!  No one got hurt or lost, thankfully, and Tucker had a fabulous time.  And as for the adults--well, it was memorable. 

Tucker is loving school, especially gym, recess and lunch.  (I hear a lot about lunch especially.)  He enjoys the other kids in his class and is making lots of friends.  He says it’s even better than preschool.  He isn’t as tired as I’d imagined he’d be when he gets home in the afternoon.  And he isn’t as bitter as Austin used to be about how much school cuts into his free time.  He is making great strides with swimming and riding his bike and his favorite things to do these days are to construct elaborate forts and make paper airplanes.  Fishing and playing soccer are also high on his list.  He and Austin are reading through the Swallows and Amazons series now which he loves (lots of sailing, camping and adventures!).   

At the beginning of the school year, his teacher asked parents to share some of their child’s strengths and weaknesses with her.  Tucker’s strengths are his enthusiasm, his kindness and what a long attention span he has.  This little boy can focus!  (I was reminded of this at the party last week… so many other little boys could not focus!)  He has such a sweet spirit, too.  He was telling me the other day how he and his friend Gray will hold hands from when the bus drops them off to walk back to their classroom together.  Awwww….

I love you, Tucker!

Quotes of the Day

The school bus comes into view, to pick Tucker up.

Me: Can I give you a kiss?

Tucker: Yes, this is a good time.  You can’t kiss in school.

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Yesterday, Molly picked out my skirt to match hers.  She was disappointed that I didn’t have a pink flamingo on it like she did, but she settled for the fact that both of our skirts were green.  She paired her green-and-pink skirt with a yellow, white and orange flower shirt, and pink cowboy boots.  I selected a plain white shirt and light blue cardigan to go with my green skirt.

Molly: Mommy, you not match.

Hmmmm….

Quote of the Day

Molly and Tucker were playing hide-and-seek yesterday.

Tucker finds Molly hiding behind a tree.  “I found you!” he says.

“I found YOU!”  Molly replies.  “Hug!”

And they hug in the middle of the yard to cap off their game. 

Tucker's Thoughts on Faith - Summer 2013

Tucker has a camera that will also record video.  He sometimes plays around making videos of himself during rest time.  Sometimes they are very sweet.

Quote of the Day

Tucker is a big fan of Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world.  He and I were watching a tape of the world championships from Saturday.

Tucker: I think Satan Bolt has already run.

Me: Who?

Tucker: Satan Bolt.

Don’t worry, we’ve clarified that his hero is NOT named Satan.

Quote of the Day

I was helping Tucker comb his hair for school yesterday when I noticed some dried on gunk. 

Me: When’s the last time you washed your hair?

Tucker: Ummmmm….

Me: You know, when you take a shower, do you ever use shampoo?

Tucker: No.

Me: Can you remember the last time you washed your hair?

Tucker: Ummmm, three weeks ago?

[Tucker has no sense of time, so this was a pretty funny answer that mostly indicated he thinks he probably washed it sometime this year.  I did confirm later that Austin had helped Tucker wash his hair within the past two weeks.  So that was a little consolation--but I think we’ll be teaching shampooing skills in the shower now that he prefers that to baths.]

Quote of the Day

Molly: I married.

Me: To whom?

Molly: Henny’s church.

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Molly: I married.

Me: To whom?

Molly: To me.

 

She has a different answer each time she tells us she’s married—I’ll let you know if she marries anything else interesting.

Tucker’s First Day of Kindergarten

Tucker’s first day of kindergarten was yesterday and he loved it.  He says it was better than the Kindergarten camp the schools held this summer, and better than preschool too.  Apparently, he got off the bus this afternoon and ran around to Austin’s truck where he got in and said “I liked it!” and then paused for a moment and said, “okay, I loved it!”  (Or something to that effect.)  Other highlights included drinking chocolate milk at lunch (he has decided to buy lunch every day) and making cookies in his class.  He seemed a little disappointed that gym class didn’t like up to his expectation yet because they didn’t play REAL sports there. He also mentioned that the kindergarten classes eat in the cafeteria together, but without any of the older students, “the graders.” He was also looking forward to not having rest time like at home, and getting to play on the playground both of which he did end up enjoying.

He didn’t seem that nervous, just marched right up on that bus and sat down in the first seat.  After school, he explained to me like an old pro that he sits in the first row by the window on the bus and made a new friend who sat next to him.  He said they picked a few more kids up on the way to school, but we lucked out with our pick up time—7:34 as opposed to 7:13 for the other girl in Tucker’s class that rides bus #8.

As soon as he got on the bus and I watched it go out of sight, I started crying, of course.  I feel like I have a glimmer of understanding now of why some parents homeschool—his life is now going to be as much or more out of our home than in it during the school year.