last Sunday's Pictures

Molly does some sidewalk painting with Oscar across the street; Molly practices nose picking; Molly's family walking in the redwoods; Molly.

choo-choo!

We had a great time on the steam trains last weekend. Molly was a little serious during the ride, but clearly loved it and cracked a smile every now and then, and even said "chooo chooo!" (with hand motions) when the train let off some steam.

Slip-Slidin' Away

A few weeks ago my boss very kindly passed along a slide that her kids are done with. Molly has been totally delighted with it. She sends the balls down the slide. She sends the plastic turtle down the slide. And she sends herself down the slide. Over and over and over again. What a hit!

And even better is that the slide was actually given to her by a former coworker (who just happens to be the person that I taught with last spring). This slide has had many many lives and made many many kids happy.

(press "Refresh" to play it again)

Watering the Kid

Actually, we really were just watering Molly. That's our secret trick to get her to grow nicely.

It was pretty fun - first we'd run the water over to the side, and then we'd "splash" Molly with it. She loved it - as you can see in the "during" and "after" photos here. Once she got really into it we just went ahead and watered her directly (see previous post for pictures).

Singin' in the Rain!

Since it's nearly unheard of for it to rain here in September, we had to make our own in order to test the new rain gear. Molly forgot her boots, but she clearly had fun anyway! And I don't think the lawn minded getting a little drink while we were at it.

Rain Gear Photo Shoot

Nona and Molly did a photo shoot today with the new raingear. (Later we'll show you what they did to test the rain gear).

pine cone

Chairs, Skies, and Mooses

We've been enjoying Nona's visit. Molly in particular is really enjoying Nona. She even specifically requested that Nona read "Big Dog Little Dog" to her before bed tonight. (requests like this are made pretty directly - she took the book, handed it to Nona, and said, in no uncertain terms, "Oh-Na!").


Molly hard at work at Mission Control - face painting courtesy of Paz; Molly & Paz look at the 'ky! 'ky! 'ky!; Molly in her chair; Molly dances in the sandbox lid while Paz and the chickens look on (through a foggy lens); Molly in her chair again (she likes the chair!); Silly Molly's moose is left behind, but only for a minute.

i know i know

a picture (and story) from the archives:

There was a period of time, way back when (in June), when Molly would say "I know I know I know" whenever she was upset, or hurt herself. It took us a while to first figure out what she was saying, and then figure out why.

At first, it just sounded like "ah-no ah-no ah-no". Then Zach realized that whenever he was doing something unpleasant - but necessary - with Molly (like changing her diaper, wiping her face, etc.) he would say "I know, I know, it's no fun", or something along those lines. And thus, she picked up on the "I know" part of that, and used that phrase to express her frustration.

She no longer uses that phrase. Now she just cries. Or screams. Or hits. But usually, she's pretty easily distracted.

i waaaaant

kidd-o

look ma! less hair!

hair at last

So, it finally happened. Molly went from hairy beast:





to sassy "bob":




We've been talking about it for a few weeks, but I was reluctant. I know it was superficial, but I like her hair - I like that it's unusual for a baby to have so much, and there's always that joke about someone's hair being their strength (or, in the case of my childhood friends that were Sikh, not so much of a joke). And then there was the technical question: who would cut her hair? Would we take her to one of those kid hair cutting places? It seems a little silly to pay so much money for "baby's first hair cut", but then again, would I trust myself with scissors near her head? Maybe it did make sense to pay someone with a little more hair cutting experience than myself.

And then on Monday night I did the weekly hair wash/brush event. Molly's never been super keen on the whole hair washing and brushing thing, but it's only gotten more difficult as the volume of hair increased. Even in the best of scenarios, with gobs and gobs of detangling-leave-in-conditioner, and the other parent busily distracting the girl (where's your nose/chin/bellybutton/knee/armpit/toes?) the brushing is brutal. And this is why we limit these events to no more than once a week.

As I watched Molly turn bright red in the bathtub from her vocal protests of the hair washing, I began to think, it's really time to stop this madness. And as I gingerly tried to de-matt the rats nest on the back of her head, I thought, who am I fooling? Molly has no desire to keep this mess of hair. I'm keeping it for purely vain reasons. So I started mapping out the hair cutting process. I might be able to handle this - and heck, in the worst case scenario it's a little uneven, but I doubt the other kids at the park will notice. But her hair would need to be wet, I'd need scissors, and a comb. And a video. I had heard somewhere that's how they do it in the kid-salons: plop the kid in front of a video, work fast, and no one gets hurt.

Zach provided the scissors, the choo-choo videos, and the support. I found the comb and the guts, and chop! away the hair went. I just did one clean cut across the back, and her volumes of hair did the rest.

Now, we have the debate: do we keep a curl? or is that creepy?

Here's the official before & after shots (don't worry, she still has curls!):



The more I see her with the "bob" the more I like it and wonder why I was so worried. It's super cute, and seems much more comfortable for Molly.

The only problem is now you'll all know when I post old pictures. I have a lot of them, too.