So today I get off easy with putting a post together for Molly because I'm just going to steal the little update that Molly's teachers sent around about what they were up to this morning! Before that, I'll just briefly say that Molly seems to be really enjoying her new daycare. Everyday she comes home so chatty and happy! And she always comes home covered in something they've been playing with that day and often having gone through many changes of clothes. Her teachers always say that they like to get "down and dirty" in the classroom. Yesterday, she literally went through four pairs of pant and three shirts! Most often the culprit is playing in muddy puddles, the sprinkler, the sand box, ooblek, marker or paint. The email we got today came complete with pictures that'll give you a little insight into Molly's day to day at OSU's daycare!
Daily Activities... Early
this morning, we continued exploring sand in our sensory table using toy cars
and tractors. We also did a collaborative crayon drawing on the table (some of
the crayon may have made it on to the walls as well…oops!). We spent the better
part of the morning outside. We set up a pastel painting idea on the easel that
also turned in to a body painting idea. Then, we rinsed off by running through
the sprinkler and stomping in puddles! Before lunch, we sang songs together as
a group and read some of our favorite books. Have a great day!
This past weekend was quite a festive one with a kid's birthday party Saturday morning, a friend's BBQ on Saturday night and daddy/Jeremy's birthday on Sunday! Of course, Molly was most excited about dada's birthday!
Dada's birthday started off with a yummy breakfast at Katalina's Cafe.
Afterwards we headed to the topiary park in downtown Columbus. The park is a topiary interpretation of George Seurat’s famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte. Some of you (like me!) might know this painting best as the painting in Ferris' Bueller's Day Off that Cameron stared into at the Art Institute. It was a pretty cool little park, actually! Here are a few pictures. Hopefully you can see some of the topiaries in the background.
After the topiary park, it was off to the water fountain park in the heart of downtown Columbus along the Scoito River walk. Molly had a blast! We didn't come totally prepared, i.e. we didn't have her bathing suit & it was still a little cool, so she only lasted about 15 minutes or so before she started to get cold. But she loved it! Can't wait to go back. Here are a few pictures & a little video clip.
We ended the day with some Jeni's ice cream. Who needs birthday cake when you can get cantaloupe ice cream! While it didn't compare with daddy's homemade cantaloupe milkshakes, it was still pretty good. Overall, hopefully a good birthday celebration for dada!
It just occurred to me that there are a few toys of Molly's that have been meant for when she's walking that she's only explored really before she started walking. For example, she has a very cute little wooden alligator from mom mom & pop pop Brooks that's a pull toy for kids to pull along side them when they walk. She's really only played with it by pushing it back and forth while she's sitting down. So of course when I showed her she could now hold the string and pull it around with her when she walks, she picked it up right away. But as with many new experiences, Molly took it very seriously and once again, proceeded to pace the floor practicing pulling along her alligator. She had the most serious expression on her face the entire time! Hopefully with more practice she'll see it as a fun activity rather than a task she has to perfect. Funny child!
What do you think... is she ready to walk a dog?? ;) The second really short clip captures her expression a bit better.
Not sure if it's vanity or just pure amusement, but Molly enjoys checking herself out in mirrors! I think often she's watching herself doing something new. For example, she's started to realize that she can walk backwards and as with most new things, she likes to practice over and over. The cutest thing about her learning to walk backwards is that she can now backup into your lap, often with a book in hand and the expectation that you'll read to her!
Here are two clips of Molly monkey shining and walking backwards in front of the mirror at the base of our steps.
Molly loves to "help" dada in the garden, especially with the tomatoes! Helping usually involves moving the rocks around, but also picking the grape tomatoes ripe or unripe. Grape tomatoes are a favorite of Molly's. Our larger, heirloom tomatoes are also now in full production, so of course Molly has to help dada harvest them. Unfortunately Molly hasn't been able to taste many of them yet, but hopefully soon. She had a bit of a sour stomach for a few days last week & although she's feeling better, we're staying clear of citrus for another day or two. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Molly the gardener...
We feel like Molly's vocabulary is really starting to explode lately. Sure most of it is only understandable by Jeremy and me, but still, it's fun to watch Molly learn how to tell us about her world! Her list of words include: dada, mama, bird, dog, Neko, ball, milk, more and a handful of others I can't think of. Not sure if they count as words, but she definitely knows what a lot of animals say..."mooo", "meow", "woof", "blub, blub" (for a fish), "neigh", "baa baa", "quack", and "clackity-clack", which sounds nothing like clackity-clack but it's her sound for a train as described in her Tomas book.
Here's a little clip of Molly's "neigh" when we we turned the Olympics on to find the horse jumping competition going on. Yes, we recognize that she's standing way too close to the TV & we are working on that. However, Molly actually barely watches any TV & if it's on, she has very little interest in it.
Her signs are expanding too... new to the repertoire are "help" and "diaper change". It was pretty amazing how quickly she picked up "diaper change" once they started using it at her new daycare. She'll show us the sign if we say diaper change or refer to anything about bodily functions (i.e. She showed me the sign when I told her I was going upstairs to go "potty"). We're curious to see whether she eventually shows us the sign when she actually needs a diaper change, i.e. has a wet diaper or a BM. Apparently signing diaper change with kids helps when it comes to potty training, but we'll see!
Probably the cutest part of Molly's growing language is her expression and hand gesture when she's curious or confused about something. Below is a picture of Molly asking me where our friend Kris went who had stayed with us overnight last week... Molly definitely seems to remain true to be a super curious and observant child!
Last week, Molly was very lucky to get to spend a lot of quality time with mom mom Brooks! I was away doing research at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, GA. So mom mom came to give Jeremy a hand with Molly. From the sounds of it, they had a great time! Mom mom took Molly on walks, to the park, to COSI, read books, played with her toys, etc.
One of Molly's new favorite books is a Thomas the Train book that she got as a hand me down. Molly's been really interested in the story line in contrast to just looking at the pictures. She anxiously awaits the part about the cow "moo'ing" so she can "moo" along. Here's a little clip of mom mom reading Thomas the Train to Molly...
Last week, Molly started at OSU's child care center on campus. We had been on the waitlist for a year and a half (yes, we got on the waitlist before Molly was even born!), so we were very excited when we got the email that a spot had become available for Molly. We really liked Molly's two teachers at her other daycare, but she was due to transition up to a new classroom and we weren't particularly impressed with the teachers. And truthfully, we had never been particularly impressed with the daycare and director as a whole. Molly's two teachers, Cherie and Merita, were the main reason we kept Molly there. They were so loving and nurturing with the kids, which at the infant age, seemed to be most important.
Molly grew really attached to one teacher in particular, Ms. Cherie (AKA. "Mimi") and Ms. Cherie grew particularly attached to Molly. Cherie often commented on how Molly reminded her of one of her daughters. I'm sure because of that, Molly got a bit of extra attention. The other teachers would also frequently comment on how attached the two of them were to each other. So it was really sad to have to say good bye to Cherie, in particular. She's become like a 3rd grandmother to Molly and we really hope we're able to keep her in Molly's life even though we are no longer at that daycare.
It was hard to get a good picture with Molly & Cherie and unfortunately, Ms. Merita had left for the day, but here are a few of our dear "mimi"...
Last week we spent a week with the entire Brooks' clan at Mountain Springs Lake Resort in the Poconos. Jeremy's family has been going to this lake since he was a little boy. Molly had a great time on the trip! I don't have all the pictures from the trip, but here are a few to wet your whistle...
Molly started off the vacation with a tray of Mum Mum's homemade spaghetti and meatballs, which she had for another 4 dinners because she LOVED it!
Bath time with cousin Hunter!
Watching the sunrise on the pier the next morning. Each cabin had it's own pier and row boat. We took Molly out on the boat once, but she wasn't too happy about it. I think she didn't like having to wear the life vest.
A morning walk down to Mum Mum & Pop Pop's cabin... They look so small!
We spent every day at the beach! Molly got to show off her mad swimming skills, but also loved playing in the sand. "Dig, dig, dig"...
Our little cabin in the woods! Well not really "little", rather a three bedroom cottage, each room with it's own bathroom!
Molly, Hunter & Libby enjoyed playing in the ship at the playground. Hunter's faithfully steering the ship!
Molly definitely loved the added attention with family around! Here's Molly being cute and blowing kisses and saying "hi" to Uncle Chris.
We bought a used backpack carrier off of Craigslist & finally got a chance to try it out! While we were pretty excited about the carrier, Molly wasn't particularly thrilled with it. Kind of surprised us, but hopefully she'll like it more over time.
Probably Molly's favorite part of the trip was any time she spent with cousin Libby! Molly was enamored with her and Libby was super sweet and patient with Molly.
Here's a little clip of Molly giving hugs & cuddles to cousin Libby! Like I said, Molly was really taken with Libby!
