Trolly Day

Black Friday felt like my first day off in two years! Molly, Lucy and Freddy stayed with Daddy, Oma and the guys while we went out shopping ALL DAY. We spent hours in JoAnn's and not once did I have to ask anybody to put the monkey appliques back on the rack or to stop playing with the bias tape packets.

I missed Molly terribly by the end, but she had a good day, too. She played with Grandpa's train...

And got lots of quality cousin time.


We all got to see lots of family this week. Here's Molly dancing with Beppe on Thanksgiving morning.

Hair cut

Our big girl had her first professional hair cut yesterday. I think she really enjoyed it.

She did so well that I let the hair dresser give her a little lollipop afterward. Molly was so innocent. She carried it around for a while not knowing what it was until I told her to taste it. Then she asked "what this?" quite a few times and practiced the word "lollipop" -- just in case she needs that word again. ;)

Here she is with long bangs before the hair cut.


Here are the nice, straight bangs afterward.

Yay!

We've had a lot of excitement in the past week, including a visit from Oma and Grandpa and a trip to VT to see our friends (see photos here). Now the count-down is on for Thanksgiving. We're all very excited.

The bunny trainer

We were down in the basement this morning chasing the bunny around (yes, it's not even 6 a.m. as I write this) and it reminded me about the new and unusual bond between Molly and the bunny.

This little critter, who leaves droppings everywhere and is barely potty trained himself, seems to be teaching Molly to use her potty. It's like magic. She sees him hop into his litter pan, and she stops what she's doing to sit on her potty. She doesn't come tell me, I don' t have to remind her. She just does it. We had our longest stretch yet without a diaper the other day -- three or four hours -- thanks to that bunny.

She also likes to "read" to the bunny, just like we read to her on the potty. She sits next to the litter pan with a book, usually upside down, and tells him about Elmo's play day or something from some other book she's had in the bathroom that day. Sometimes the bunny pokes his nose at the book and it looks like he's following along.

When I ask Molly if she needs to use the potty, usually I get a big toddler "No!" But Snowplow? All he has to do is hop over to the corner and she wants to be just like him.

Of course, this desire to emulate the bunny also causes her to hop around the basement in circles, stuff her mouth with raisins and lick her feet and legs.

It's a price I'm willing to pay.

Great Brook Farm State Park

A couple of pictures from our trip to Great Brook Farm State Park in Carlisle. It was a beautiful day if a bit brisk, and after our hike we got to see some rabbits, goats, sheep, and cows.

Warning

The following images may be considered too cute to be legal in some states: