Texts to Daddy

While we were on our trip to Chicago over the weekend, Aaron had to venture down to Texas on a business trip. While we were sitting on the train, I was sending a text to Uncle Paul, letting him know what time we were going to arrive.

“Mommy, I want to send Daddy a message.”

“Ok, Molly, want do you want to tell Daddy?”

“Oh, I’ll type it…”

You proceed to type: “Mollydadmom,” then hand the phone back to me and say, “I tell you what else I want to say and you can type it.”

So here’s what you dictated, exactly word-for-word:

Dear Daddy, I hope you come back from Texas soon. I’m having a good time in Chicago. I love you so much that I’m almost going to cry. Love, Molly.

During the return trip on Sunday, the texter strikes again. “Mommy, I want to send Daddy another text.” Again, as dictated to me: Dead Daddy, How are you feeling? We’re coming home on the train. I can see mommy’s work. Love you – bye! Love, Molly.

Yes, you absolutely melted Daddy's heart in 160 characters or less. And yes, the pony is on order.

Our Chicago Adventure - Part 2

On Saturday, our plan was to visit the Field Museum to see Sue the T. Rex.

(Before our trip, I asked you if you would be afraid of the dinosaur. Your reply was, "Mom, it's not a real dinosaur. It's just the bones. Dinosaurs are dead." Thanks, little palaeontologist...)

When we woke up, Chicago had a light blanket of snow covering the streets. Luckily, it was about two to four inches instead of the six to eight that was predicted -- but it was still C O L D. And windy. And COOOOOOOOOOOLD.

Grandma called from the hotel - she wasn't feeling well. (Came down with a case of intestinal unpleasantness.) So that left Uncle Paul and me to herd Ellie (12), Morgan (8), Lindsey, and you (both 4-1/2) to and through the museum. Uncle Paul decided that he should take Grandma some medicine, so he volunteered me to walk you girls to the hotel and meet him there.

Awesome.

So we bundled up, buddied up, and started walking.

Now, you REALLY don't like wind 0 so as soon as I opened the door to the outside, you started yelling, "I want to go back in!!!" Being the sensitive, loving, gentle mother that I am, I picked you up and hauled you outside. In the eight or so block walk to the hotel, you and Lindsey yelled, "This is the worst day EVER!" no less than 3,000 times. But we made it, delivered love and medicine to Grandma, then grabbed a cab to take us the rest of the way.

Did we have a great time? I'll let the photos tell the story...

Hamming it up with Sue for Aunt Vicki...

Elephants! No one told us there would be elephants. HOORAY!

(No wonder we call her Peanut - she's the size of one compared to them.)

More hamming it up... and Eleanore getting annoyed with Aunt Vicki's requests to "Look like it's chasing you!"

Now the Triceratops... it's chasing you, too!

After all the fun at the museum - and lunch too - we returned to Uncle Paul's for nap time. After nap, we ventured out again in the cold - this time for swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's hotel.(Luckily, Grandma was feeling better.)

Then, I cooked my famous Parmesan Chicken for all nine of us -- and Morgan declared, "That when everyone is done, they will cry that there is no more of this wonderful chicken left!" We ate cookies and brownies and crawled off to bed... with plans for American Girl Place awaiting us on Sunday...

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our Chicago Adventure!

Happy Valentine's Day - Part Deux

Our Chicago Adventure - Part I

Early in January, Daddy found some cheap airfares to Chicago, where your Uncle Paul lives. "Might be a nice weekend trip for you girls while I'm out of town." Nice thought, but then I started thinking about flying by myself with you... dealing with security, airport delays, shuttle buses, etc. and got thought, "Yeah, I'll pass."

Later that week, Uncle Paul passed along a deal from Amtrak. Round trip, you and me - $60. Sold. Grandma and Grandpa could come over for the weekend, too, and it would be a nice little family gathering.

I really didn't think through the "Chicago in February" part... but other than that, we had a FANTASTIC time. And it was a trip filled with lots of firsts.

First #1 - Amtrak ride! The Amtrak was great. Nice and relaxing with no traffic to worry about. Ellie's Grandma Lil dropped us off, so we didn't have to worry about parking or anything. We walked in, checked our bag, and waited to board. The very nice lady behind the counter gave you a Pinocchio coloring page (why Pinocchio? I don't know... it's what they had on the counter) and some crayons.

We boarded and were seated on the top level, which you thought was amazing. You spent a lot of time just looking out the window, which was so sweet.

Next, the conductor announced that the dining car was open. Dining car! How cool! So we ate pizza on the train as we watched the countryside roll by...

You took a little nap after lunch and, before we knew it, we arrived at Union Station. Grandma and Grandpa met us there to help me with the luggage (and you!) and escort us to Uncle Paul's apartment. We made dinner and greeted Uncle Paul and Ellie as they arrived from Milwaukee... then Uncle's Paul's girlfriend Julie and her two girls.

Grandma and Grandpa headed off to their hotel as we settled in for bed, making plans for Saturday... Day one of our Chicago Adventure was a success - and the fun hadn't even started yet!

Tomorrow: the next part of our Chicago visit, including the trip to see Sue the T. Rex!

A Vigil for Jade

About a week ago, one of Molly's favorite elephants at the zoo -- the two year-old Jade -- was diagnosed with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). This is a very serious virus for elephants -- most of them who contract it die soon after contracting it. And reports of Jade's illness were all over the local news.

Aaron looked at me and said, "We have to tell Molly."

I knew he was right. Molly was bound to see this sooner or later. Or, if Jade were to *gulp* pass on, and we didn't tell Molly, our next trip to the zoo would NOT be pleasant.

So, we told Molly as we were getting ready for bed that Jade was sick. She has a really bad cold and the doctors at the zoo have her in the elephant hospital and are taking really good care of her.

Her lip quivered. "Is she going to die?"

"We don't know, sweetie. But the doctors are doing everything they can for her."

With that, she searched through her pile of stuffed elephants to find her Jade -- and has been carrying her around ever since.

The next morning, Molly announced (as she was giving Stuffed Jade her medicine), "I want to make a card for Jade. And send it to her at the elephant hospital."

"That's a great idea, sweetheart."

So, that afternoon after school, this is what she created:

On the inside, this is what Molly dictated that I write:

Dear Jade,

How are you feeling? I want to come see you in summer so I hope you feel better soon. I have a stuffed elephant named Jade, after you - and I'm taking care of her just like your doctors are taking care of you.

I love you!

Love, Molly

And she also taped inside the card a picture of her from last Halloween in her elephant costume.

So we're saying a nightly prayer for Jade - a plucky, tough little elephant who is loved very much by a plucky, tough little girl.

American Idol - Season 8

Ok, so I should have posted this at the end of Hollywood week, when Molly made her pick... because now it seems a little anti-climatic. But Molly did pick her winner for American Idol Season 8: Danny Gokey!

She's been a fan since he sang, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" in Kansas City. Of course, Molly is a big annoyed at the judges for not putting his best friend Jamar through... but we're working through it.

Molly also loves Anoop Desai. She was calling him "Anoop Dog" all night. And she called that Alexis Grace would make it through too (but, then again, who didn't?)

Her favorite surprise of the night - the Michael Johns and Carley Smithson duet!

We'll see how we fair next week with Molly's picks...

Happy Valentine's Day

My sweetest Molly,

You had quite the pre-Valentine's Day yesterday. You had your party at school and came home with a shoebox FULL of candy.

After nap, we baked heart-shaped cupcakes -- and you did a fantastic job of helping pour the batter into the little cups! I kept reminding myself to let you try it by yourself... and you really did a great job. And you were so proud of yourself, too.

Then Daddy came home from work. He called you outside, so I knew you two were up to something. You came back in together with a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of pink roses, cheering "Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy!" Daddy told me that the flowers were all your idea -- that the other night, you whispered in his ear, "Let's get Mommy flowers for Valentine's Day. She'll love them!" That made Daddy and I both tear up. Your thoughtfulness and caring amaze us every day. We only hope we can continue to foster these beautiful traits and that they never leave you.

We love you so much, Peanut. Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

Mommy

Molly-isms

So, it seems that kids have a language all their own... and it's up to the parents to serve as linguists and figure out what the heck they are talking about. Then, we serve as interpreters so the rest of the world knows what the heck they are talking about. Perfect example, when a friend's son asked her to make hobo toast (which is quite delicious, by the way).

Here now are some recent Molly-isms:

- Coaches:
Example - "Mommy, I want to wear a shirt with coaches on the sleeves."
Translation - This one was fairly easy since Molly helped explain it. "You know, sleeves like Cinderella's coach." Ok, so short, poofy sleeves.

- Ballet Bows:
Example - (as I was tying her new tennis shoes, her first pair of tie shoes) "No, Mommy. I want you to tie them like Ballet Bows."
Translation - This one took awhile. I kept saying, "But these are bows." And each time the reply was, "No, BALLET bows." Luckily, Super Aunt Lois was in town and stepped in. "I can tie ballet bows." She simply double-tied them and voila -- Molly looked at me and said, "See, Mommy, THESE are ballet bows."

- Fluffed-Up Pony:
Example - "Mommy, can you make my pony fluffed up this morning for ballet?"
Translation - Make my pony tail as curly and fluffy as you can. Luckily, with Molly's hair, this is an extremely easy request.

Sleeping Beauties...

Molly,

Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day... an early peak at spring weather. And we soaked all of it in.

We had a fantastic morning -- first stop, the bagel store. Then a trip to Home Depot for the Kids' Workshop (and all your Home Depot associate friends greeting you by name!) with Ellie. And then a trip to your favorite park.

That's when you girls decided to play Sleeping Beauty. You were so sweet and earnest about it -- I was honored to be the handsome prince!

Molly -

It's hard to believe we're only one month into 2009. You had enough fun in January to fill three months! Let's recap:

- You had 2.75 sleepovers... Ellie slept at our house... you slept at Abby's house... then you almost slept at Ellie's house...twice. Almost. Maybe "third time's a charm" on that.

- On the same day that Ellie spent the night, we had Home Depot day (and built football bookends) AND went to Build-A-Bear. You girls played in the play area at the mall and had lunch at the food court. Seriously, could that day have been any better?

- Celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day... you actually learned who he is!

- Celebrated the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

- Went to see Mo Willems and his reading of Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed.

- Snow day spent at Jake's house

- SNOW!!!

And behind the scenes, Mommy signed you up for Cinderella Ballet Camp for this summer, tee-ball for the spring, planned an Amtrak trip to Chicago for next month (complete with lunch at American Girl), and Daddy and I registered you for Kindergarten on Friday. (More on that later.)

Wow - I think we got our money's worth out of January! Can't wait to see what February (and the rest of the year) has in store for us.

Love you, peanut.
Mommy