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.

Molly Being Molly

I paused for a moment from, well, doing nothing, to rumage through some photographs and found this one of Molly last April. I took this photography last April after work one evening. She and I were playing on the floor.



It reminds me to take more photographs of while she is just being herself. The "dress up" photos are fun, but these are the ones I love.

A Between Moment

Nearly two weeks post surgery, I got the notion to open up the digital lightroom. It will be another month before I can pick up a camera, so I have some time to clean up my files, do some editing, and picking out my favorites from 2010.

I came across this one from a in-home studio shoot with Molly in October. I have several images with her sitting sweetly with a teddy bear and/or a book, which show her personality. This one caught my eye for some reason. It's not perfect, but seems to have captured her in between sitting and whatever is next, which is usually the case at her age and business. It is also gave me a reason to try some editing with my left hand.

First Winter Adventure

The climatic little girl (La Nina) brought us some early cold weather and snow. High temperature yesterday was 25 yesterday - COLD for Seattle...rather pleasant really compared to the 40 and raining last week.

We bundled up Molly and took her outside for her first snow adventure. We are happy that she has recently started allowing hats to stay on her head.

Knowing that it is much, much colder in Idaho, where we will be for Thanksgiving, Trina and I made a run to REI for some boots an mittens. Molly got real excited when we put the new boots on her feet.

We played in the yard for a bit, and then Molly wanted to walk across the street.

We walked down the street, where Cooper, the big german shepard licked her face clean. She ran all the way back.