Sisters

I dropped the camera about a week ago (why do they make those little things so slippery?!!!!) and now the lens doesn't tuck in right when it's turned off... so, no camera in purse means no photos, which means I have no idea what we've been doing.

We signed the P&S on the house this week, though I'm not sure yet if the buyers signed -- some logistical stuff of getting everybody's signatures on the same papers. The inspection is done, though, and our agent says that's usually the biggest hurdle.

Oh, we started the weekly parent-child class at the church we can almost see from our house. It's pretty good. The kids are mostly on the older side of preschool age, which is ideal. I think Kate's the youngest one and Molly's not the oldest. Many of the families are homeschoolers but some, like us, are not. It's more crowded and a little rowdier than the (oddly quiet) Waldorf classes at Molly's old school. It feels like a good fit. Molly's been shy and mostly hangs out with Kate or the teachers, though she tells me she has talked a few times to a girl named Lily who's just two months older than she is.

It's so odd to me, actually, to see the change in Molly since the move. At the old house she was obsessed with "playing with kids," any kids and would drive me nuts begging to play with Teddy or whoever happened to walk by on the sidewalk even after a full morning of preschool.

Since we moved all she talks about are the aunties and Oma and Grandpa and Grandma. She never begs to play with other kids anymore. Ever. What a complete change!

Kate is much more of a playmate, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

 

Kate is going through a wonderful language burst. She comes up with words unprompted, like "rain" or "Daddy home?"

She seems to have two modes, stunned with a blank stare or super giggly/super frustrated toddler. She's really into snuggling stuffed animals (as in laying her whole body on top of them and wriggling around in a vaguely inappropriate way). She's also so much more involved in what's happening around her, even when she doesn't say much. The other day Molly was crying about something and Kate quietly walked over with Molly's "heavy baby" doll and handed it to her, apparently trying to comfort her. I didn't even notice until Molly pointed it out. She's done it several times since. So sweet!

Happy "Thanks Mothers Day"

Molly just informed me that today is "Thanks Mothers Day"
I expressed my happiness, to which she replied, "Do you even know what Thanks Mothers Day is?
No.
"It's the day after Mothers Day, when mothers say thank you for doing all their chores. There's cake and ice cream."

Airport

Now that school's in session, I've been trying to talk Molly into going to fun kid places -- children's museum, zoo, etc. She's not into it. All she wants to do is ride a city bus. She's excited because there are bus stops near our house. All I can imagine is getting stuck in some scary part of the city with a crying toddler and being unable to get off the bus for another hour.

So while I think some more about how to make that dream come true for her, I decided to indulge her other request, which was to go see airplanes.

Molly's idea was that we would maybe hop on one, just to ride, and then get right back on another plane and fly home. I talked her down into just driving to the airport and hoping maybe we'd see a plane or two fly over before getting kicked out by security.

We were not prepared for how fantastic the Rochester airport is. They have this observatory area outside all the security areas, full of chairs (many child-sized) and a snack bar and floor to ceiling windows looking out on the runway. We caught several landings and take-offs, big planes and small. Molly had all sorts of questions about the fuel trucks, the hangars, whether planes crash into towers (?!?), whether helicopters land on the runways, too.

We got to talking about the difference between how airplanes land vs. helicopters, which Molly then felt compelled to experience. Here she is doing an airplane landing, then a helicopter landing.

Last night, right before she fell asleep she said, "Mommy, I feel like I want to go to the airport every day."

Kate was a good sport, too. She spent most of the time chewing on my checkbook and climbing onto tables. We'll definitely be back.

Offer

Good news! We just accepted an offer on our house!

Now we are just holding our breath hoping that everything goes through. Closing would be Oct. 31 ... and we don't even have to be in Massachusetts for it, which is a bonus because we've been really looking forward to trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood. :)

Speaking of the neighborhood, we had the cousins out for a visit this weekend. Aren't they cute?

Joyful girls

Molly has rediscovered the joy of matching outfits with Kate.

She's also reveling in the joys of playing with family...

And playing in the rain.

And playing with her camera.