Alternate universes

“Someday, when you’re big, you’ll be a woman just like Mummy,” I told Molly.

“Yes, and then YOU’LL be a firetruck!” said Molly in reply.

This, from the little girl whose vocational plan is to either be a princess or a unicorn.

Firsts for the preschooling set

Molly got her first “report card” last week. It was all gush and glow: they declare her charming, bright, creative and good natured. She always comes into the room with a smile and a hug for everyone (true enough) and she spends most of her days at the art table.

In the next stage, her teachers say: “we’re going to work on turn-taking and sharing, without adult direction.”  Poor Molly!

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Molly went on her first field trip on Tuesday. It was just to a playplace, but it was her first ride on a schoolbus, and her first…well, her first field trip. She was SO excited. For the four days preceding the adventure, she walked around the house, announcing: “I’m going to JellyBeenz! But not you Daddy. And not you Mummy! Not you Jamie. Not you, Tess! Just Molly.  Just me.”

I think she was almost as excited about that – the list of family members not coming on the adventure – as she was about the outing itself.

When you’re 2 years old with two big sibs, you have to hold on to what’s uniquely yours.

A few Jamie bits

I’m declaring Jamie bilingual: as of today, he can now tell potty jokes in two official languages.

It’s wonderful listening to him talk these days. It’s more Frenglish or franglais than anything; he switches back and forth rapidly between the two languages. When he’s trying to express an idea, he goes with whichever language the words come him first to him first in. It’s astounding to watch.
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Jamie is loving Beavers.  He counts down how many sleeps until the next event.  This was Week Three, and he was beside himself with excitement because they were doing Space this time.  Planets and stuff.

He came home with a spectacular model of the planetary system, but when I asked how the evening went, he was quite blasé about the whole affair.

Turns out he thought he was going to GO into outer space.  Like in a rocket ship.

So I can see how a foam model of the solar system seems a little ho-hum by comparison.

Toilet malfunction

Molly, staring with confusion at her potty: “Mummy?  It’s not working!  My potty broken!”

Her potty was fine, it turns out.  Molly merely ascribes magical attributes to her potty: she sits on it, she pees!  This time, though, when she looked in her potty after sitting, there was no pee…

We’ve got a ways to go yet, before Molly figures out it’s she who controls when the peeing does and does not happen!

Animal noises

“Molly, what does a bunny say?”

[Molly, starting to hop up and down] “Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!”

And no, we’ve never corrected her. It makes me smile, every time.

On Molly’s Christmas List:

As we were driving down to meet friends for a playdate, Molly joyfully chimed out: “HEY! Let’s buy a reindeer!”

This is why Mummy didn’t ask Molly for a Christmas wish-list this year.

Her Royal Highness, Princess Moo

I asked Molly if she was looking forward to our day at home together tomorrow.

“Yes,” she said. “I want to go to a castle to see the Queen.”

Somehow, I suspect our scheduled playdate in the basement is going to be a royal disappointment.

The anatomy of a mum

I could see on Jamie’s face that he wasn’t planning on obeying me. So when he stepped out of the room and I heard the tell-tale tinkle of the forbidden toy, I said in my you’re-in-trouble-voice: “Jamie! Put the toy down.”

He came back into the room, looking astonished. “How many eyes do you have, Mummy?”

On the Eve of Advent, the curtain falls on Halloween

Fifteen minutes of unlimited candy consumption this evening, and then the rest is garbage. This seems a happy compromise. As Tess says: “The sad bit is, the candy is gone after tonight. The great bit is we can eat as much as we want!”

They each have taken a very different approach. Jamie ate four, and stopped, saying: “I’m done. I don’t want anymore!” Tess lined up all her choices and is methodically working her way through them, although her pace is slowing.

Astonishingly, perhaps because she’s talking the least, it’s Molly who is consuming the most. She wipes her hands between each treat, and then diligently shoves the next candy in.

This could backfire on me in some pretty obvious ways. On the other hand, there is a real sense of childhood wonder at the thought of unlimited candy. And, it’s a painfree way of getting rid of the rest of the tooth-rotting stash.

Pieces of Peace

Just set the time for 10 minutes, and told everyone that I didn’t want any requests or interruptions until the timer went off. I got my peace and quiet, but it only lasted 4 minutes and 31 seconds.