Movin' Up

On Thursday Molly starts her second year at Via Nova - as a Lion Cub (see "Still Molly"). Here are pictures from the "Moving Up" ceremony they held for the Belugas. It was really cute: after taking turns singing songs (!) one by one Lupe presented them with a binder of their artwork, and an old Lion Cub presented them with a Lion Cub necklace in the Lion Cub room. In the third picture you can see that Molly got so excited while waiting for her turn that she could barely contain herself. Yes, she's putting her fist in her mouth to try to keep herself from running up before her name was called.

They also made the t-shirts - Molly tells me hers is a picture of a fire. The colors are great. And, in case you can't quite make out the words on the poster, Molly wants to be a Lion Cub "Because then I will be bigger than a Beluga."

Nona's visiting....more to come......

Still Molly

Today was Molly's last day as a Beluga (2-3 year olds class) at Via Nova (her preschool). When she returns to school in September she will be a Lion Cub (the 3-4 year olds class).

So, there's been lots of discussion about what this transition means.

S: This is your last day as a Beluga!
M: Will I be a Lion Cub?
S: Yes, after today you will be a Lion Cub.
M: Will I still be Molly?
S: Yes, you will still be Molly. You will be Lion Cub Molly.

It's good to check in on these matters.

Creekside Molly

These days the car has become one of the few places where Clara will reliably sleep. It's a far cry (da-dum) from the early days where the car was one of the places where Clara would reliably cry. But, I seem to frequently end up in the car with Clara asleep and Molly getting restless. After many hours sitting on the curb eating a snack with Molly while we wait for Clara to wake up (Clara's sleep is still too tenuous to risk moving her) I finally remembered the cute "creek" that runs along a street in Temescal. Perfect for fun on hot days.

The crazy thing, though, was that Molly also remembers this creek from her visit a year ago with Paz... ( http://tuchus.blogspot.com/2007/09/keeping-cool.html ). As we pulled up she said "This is the park where I went with Nate and Paz". It's crazy what kids remember.

This also happens to be a park that my friend Barnali had a hand in creating. She can correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that the "creek" is in the approximate location of a real creek that once ran here, but now it's below ground. Some of the water is pumped to the surface and flows through this area to create a creek experience. Except in the winter when they turn it off. Then it's a dry creek bed. That makes sense from the park-management and park-user perspective: we want water for our kids to play in during the summer, but don't want to deal with the maintenance in the winter. But it doesn't make sense from an environmental education perspective: we have a "Mediterranean" climate here, which means it rains in the winter and it's dry in the summer, so the cycle is reversed.

Boyd-DeWitt Visit

From Boyd-DeWitt visit

We had a lovely visit with my college room mates, Stacy & Jesse, and their 2 1/2 year old son, Charlie a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, my camera took an unexpected tumble in the redwoods, so we'll have to wait until a little later to see the pictures from the other parts of the adventure (Santa Cruz, Pier 39, Golden Gate Park, etc.). But, if you click above you'll get a taste of our fun, including the trip to Big Basin Redwoods State Park where we enjoyed the luxurious tent cabins.

It's wonderful that we can keep in touch even though they're so far away, but having them here with us was a reminder of how lovely my college friends are and how I miss them.

sistering/mothering

Molly has been taking an increasing interest in both sistering her sister and mothering her "baby" (a stuffed bunny named "Pillow"). She has elaborate stories of what she's doing to take care of Pillow - changing diapers, nursing, putting to bed, reading books, etc. It's a sweet reflection on what we're doing around the house. There's also the not-so-sweet parts, like when she talks about how much Pillow is crying. But even then it's sweet because she sings to her, nurses her, etc. Here's a picture of her in the makeshift Ergo (baby carrier) that we made so she could walk Pillow to sleep since Pillow was having difficulty sleeping.

The sistering is also mostly sweet. We're trying to find that balance of letting them play and letting them find their own limits, but also protecting Clara (Molly, when she cries that means she doesn't like what you're doing).

Canfornus, of course

molly, playing with legos: "look at my canfornus!"
sofia: "what's a canfornus?"
molly: "it's what I built, in two parts."


later, molly provided the following additional detail: "a canfornus is a basement with no house on top."

Ferry Fun!

We had a lot of fun taking the Ferry to SF & back today. Thanks Zach!

Echo Lake

From Echo Lake

At last, we have pictures from our trip to Echo Lake. Click on the link above to see the rest of them.

A Perfect Ten!

Happy ten months, Clara!

You're a real hoot these days. You've become quite proficient at crawling, pulling up to standing, and getting folks' attention.

The crawling is really funny, but I can see already that you're going to be a handful. You get this really determined look and start heading somewhere and nothing's gonna stop you. Well, nothing except me picking you up. Molly's a suitably worried big sister, though, so maybe she'll be able to keep you in line. The other day when I asked her to keep an eye on you while I met with the roof engineer she just laid on top of you to keep you in place. And she has a growing mental list of all the things you can and can't have and is really good at making sure you don't touch the things that are off-limits for you.

You're also really starting to communicate. Back in May you started with the clapping. Then there was the waving. Then you started blowing kisses to the teachers at Via Nova. Yesterday you very clearly signed "cat", for Angus the kitty cat whom you adore (Angus is Oscar's cat, he's visiting us while Oscar & family travel the world for a few weeks).

Your sounds are becoming more like words, too. You almost said "kitty cat" when you signed it, and you've almost said "bye-bye" a couple of times while waving bye to someone. And I might be able to say you said "hi", except it's really an almost also. Zach likes to say he doesn't believe in "first words". I don't totally disagree with that - talking is such a continuum. But there are moments when you realize something was done very clearly and that sticks in your mind.

Anyhow, you've also been getting four (!) teeth on top, all at once. I have somewhat mixed feelings about how much Tylenol we've been giving you. It's not that we actually give you large quantities, or frequent doses. It's just that tonight was the first night in a while that you've gone to sleep without Tylenol. There was a while there where you would only sleep with the Tylenol and then you'd only sleep for four hours. (We'll see how tonight goes, but so far so good, right?) On the one hand, that worries me, but on the other hand I think, well, if you're in pain, why not give you something to make it better? And you were clearly in pain. There were four swollen, purple welts on your upper gums!

Alright, super crawler. Here's to watching you crawl after your big sister as fast as you can! You get a perfect ten, even if they don't give out perfect tens in gymnastics anymore. :)

Happy Birthday Nona!

from all of us, with lots of love.