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Sunday Mornings

After a busy work week (and school week for Molly) and usually a full Saturday, we look forward to Sunday mornings, which start a little slower. But when you are 2 years old, even then it all can be hard to handle. But that is what Mom's are for. They make us feel better, even when we don't have much of a reason to be upset, and give us the hugs and love we need.

We are grateful for that, and we hug them back.

Once all is settled, we can continue with breakfast, and english muffin on this Sunday.

We took our time eating.

Eventually breakfast was over and it was time to wash our faces get out of the pajamas.

"Sit there."

While I am making dinner, Molly often likes to sit on a stook at the kitchen island while I work. When she wants to be at the island she asks "Sit there?" and points at the stool. I will place her on the stook, where she will stay for quite a while. She will ask for some apple juice and perhaps some banana, Pirates Booty, cheese, or the occasional cracker. She will play with playdough, color with crayons, or paint with water colors.

There are usually requests for "more apple juice", "cheese please", "I want 'booty'", and most recently M&Ms (thanks to her grandfather).

We spend many evenings like this, enjoying each other's company at the kitchen island.

Going Potty on the Potty

Molly has started potty training herself, much to our delight. She frequently tell us she wants to go potty, so we take her to the bathroom, help her undress, and she does the rest, including flushing the toilet (which by no means are we allowed to do for her) and washing her hands.

To my surprise she grabbed an issue of Men's Health magazine before having a seat on her miniature throne ; a chip off the ol' block...

Although this has reduced the number of wet diapers, she it will be a while before she is running around diaper free. We will let her take her time with it.

After going potty it was bath time. She played in the water, colored on the walls of the tub, squirted water around, and delightfully splashed me. I scrubbed her down and washed her hair just before it was time to end the bath. I said "clean up", and she helped put away the toys. I pulled the plug once all the toys were put away and stepped away to get her pajamas while the tub drained, and on my return Molly was saying "Icky! Icky!" and pointing toward the drain at a surprisingly large tootsie roll that she made in her bath.

"Icky!" was the understatement of the day. I can't help but wonder if she had more work to do on the throne and I should have let her peruse through Men's Health for a while longer.

Go Away

On the way to gymnastics class this morning, the sun was shining through the window of the truck directly into Molly's eyes. She never likes it and was even having a toddler tantrum about it in the back seat. We weren't sure what her problem was, especially since nearly everything resulted in a tantrum today. Eventually she cried out: "Go away light, go away!!!" in her two-foot tall voice. We were now laughing in what had been an unenjoyable moment.

This was her second gymnastics session at Northwest Arials. It is more free-for-all than structured, and gets the toddlers out running around where everything is padded, inflatable slides to play on, and tramplines to bounce on. In her first session she was a bit hesitant; this time she knew exactly what she wanted to do and it was up to Mom and Dad to keep up.

Rambunctious

Molly has hit a new energy level. One of her favorite ways to burn off energy is to jump from automan to chair, or from automan to daddy, or from the fireplace hearth on to mommy.

She also likes to play "bonk", where she stoops her head down walk into you so that her head collides with the top of your head. When she does this she says "Bonk!" in her two-foot tall voice.

Laughter always follows "bonk", jumping on things, and most other activities.

Eyebrows

Molly's latest talent is to raise her eyebrows. Just say the word, and she'll do it, and say "Eyebrows!" in her 2-foot tall voice.

She's also picked up the term "fancy", which is how she described herself in her tutu pajamas, and then spun around a few times.

Flowers, suckers, and trikes, oh my!

After more than two months, I finally was able to take some photos. Although I barely have enough strength to reach my eyebrows, I can support the camera and some of the weight of the right arm with my left arm. Hooraah! as Molly would say.

With this renewed freedom, instead of sitting idle through the first half of the Superbowl, we set up the studio in the basement and had some fun. Molly loved it since she got to wear a shirt with Zoe from Sesame Street on it, a tutu to spin around in, gerbera daisies to disassemble, a tricycle to hop on, and a sucker large enough to keep her entire daycare center on a sugar high for a week.

She could barely lift the sucker. Priceless.