move on over, it's my turn!

molly is addicted to massages. i know there's all sorts of research about baby massages and while she got them as a baby i don't think it was a frequent as it is now. it's definitely a great relaxation technique! you can't even mention the word without her expecting one! here's a few examples. last night matt was telling me that he would give me a back massage after molly went to bed. upon hearing the word she walked up to matt, put her hands on her shoulders and started grunting. hence, wanting her massage. so she got one. then, matt was giving me a massage and after a few minutes, molly walked up to us and said "done". then proceeded to ask and get hers! tonight was much of the same. matt was rubbing my neck and as soon as molly observed this she grabbed matt's hand and then walked to the exact spot on the floor she sat last night for her massage and patted the floor for matt to sit down. she's very particular but that's a whole other story to come at a later date. she also loves for us to run our hands down her arms, legs, back, belly, through her hair, on her hands and feet. she lets us know where by moving our hand to the correct spot. spoiled? i think so, but in a good way - full of love! :) now, we just can't wait until she's strong enough to give us a massage!

an important discovery and a song

molly made quite the discovery tonight - daddy has leg, foot and toe hair and mommy does not. she was so intrigued looking at matt's feet. i can't believe she hadn't noticed before tonight. she kept pulling on it then coming over to me and looking and then we'd ask if she had hair on her toes, feet, and legs. all came with her little "nooo". she went back and forth for sometime before moving on to other things.

molly also sang her first song - rock-a-bye baby. it's the cutest thing. it sounds more like ock a baby. (that's all she sings) she sings while rocking her babies. i tried to video but of course she wouldn't perform. i'll keep trying and eventually you all will be able to hear the sweet serenade to her little babies. however, another good thing came from this - she now says baby and it sounds like baby. for the longest time she made some random noise but was always consistent when talking about or saying baby. now it's the real thing!

the size of the crayon really does matter....

before i quit teaching last year the ot (occupational therapist) told me not to throw away any of my broken crayons but to give them to molly to color with instead of buying her brand new ones. why you ask? well, she told me that when little kids use the bigger crayons they often hold them in a cave-man-like manner - wrapping their entire hand around them. but when using broken pieces that are smaller, they are forced to grip them more like a pencil thus improving their writing ability. when they are learning to hold a pencil it will be much more natural.

molly colors all the time and i really hadn't given it much thought until we started having a lot of broken crayons. i kept them and now notice a huge difference in the way she holds the crayons. her coloring doesn't change but her finger placement sure does.

she's a sneaky one...we're in trouble

molly has already started sneaking around - i hate to think what it will be like when she gets older. yesterday's sneaking was however a good thing. she was eating dinner and really didn't like anything except her veggies (frozen peas and carrots) so she would eat them and ask for more. on her fourth spoonful she took a bite and then asked for more. we told her to finish the veggies on her plate first so she would pick a few up, pretend to put them in her mouth and then drop them into her bib. amazingly, she "finished" her peas and carrots on her plate! i gave her a few more just to humor her and matt and i as we were thoroughly enjoying this little act she was putting on. turns out she was finished and didn't want anymore after all. i can't imagine what she'll come up with to hide her food when she's a bit older. i think she's going to outsmart my peas in the napkin routine....yikes! :)

the making of a chatter box

for the longest time i didn't think molly would ever talk. i never worried about her hearing or her intellectual ability because she understood everything we told her but there were no words. then one day she said "no" and then "dog" and finally, not until june did she say "ma ma" and "da da". since then she's gaining quite the vocabulary and i'm so excited about it. i love hearing her talk and try out new words. she surprises me too - some words i work on but others she's just said. matt and i joke that she has a bit of a french accent when saying words like chair, shoe, and turn. they all sound the same at times but she puts this funny little accent on them that makes us laugh.

molly's vocabulary includes the following (in no particular order): no, dog, kitty, ma ma, da da, pa (grandpa), ma (grandma), i (alex), na na (anna), drive, shoe, sock, shirt, chair, turn, house, moo, baa, oink, cheese, hi, baby (although it doesn't sound at all like baby - but she's consistent), cock-a-doodle-doo (this is really funny!), ice, bath, hat, hot, swing, duck, big, and horse. there may be more and i just can't think of them right off the bat.

molly's well on her way to becoming a chatter box and i can't wait! i think it's adorable when kids talk a lot - maybe i won't be saying this when i have to live with all the time but i think i will...

daddy time

molly loves her daddy time. in fact, when she doesn't get it she turns into a big grump. take for example yesterday. she was great all day for me - matt woke up, played with her for about an hour and then had to go to work - then the grumpiness hit! she was a full fledged monster at times...today, matt did not go into work early and she was a happy-go-lucky little girl. molly absolutely adores matt and when he is awake and home she always wants him to be on the floor playing with her. she takes him by the hand and directs him in what to do and where to go. matt bought a bike trailer to take her on rides in the evening. this has proved to be lots of fun for molly. they go to the park or to the square several times a week to play. i like that they have a special bonding time away from me...i think it's important! (not to mention i get a break!)
thank goodness for daddy! i'm so lucky to have a husband who sees the importance of playing with his daughter and giving her attention and showing her that he loves her. i know he's developing a life-long habit that will only foster his relationship with molly and the rest of our future children!

summers not over yet...

as i read various facebook posts from friends and think about this time of year summer usually is coming to an end because it's the start of a new school year. i'm excited this year because my summer does not end sunday night when i go to bed. i'll wake up monday morning and it will be a normal summer day as it's been all summer long. why? because i don't have to go back to work! it's such a blessing and relief to be able to stay home with molly. leaving her last year to work was so tough. thankfully she was with daddy most of the nine months. so while many are preparing to start teaching and sit in meetings (what i won't miss at all!) i'll be making finger paints and taking molly swimming in the back yard.


we haven't been swimming much lately. thanks to this so called global warming and the wonderful weather we've had in july swimming just wasn't in the books a whole lot and so the pool got nasty, especially after the rains. the heat is back and so tonight molly and i cleaned up the pool, reinflated it and it's ready to fill tomorrow morning. i would have done it tonight but i think there's a chance of rain. it's covered so hopefully it will stay clean.


since i haven't updated in awhile here's a glimpse of what's been going on:



wonderscope - wonderscope is an amazing place to take kids (14-15 months and up). it's an old school converted into this neat little place for kids to explore, discover, and just be kids. they have an art room, water room, grocery room with cute little carts that are the perfect size for little ones, a racing room, and so much more. molly had so much fun. i plan to take her again in september or october.

molly shopping with cousin emily

we took molly to the miami county fair to look at the animals. she loved seeing the animals and petted a cow, some pigs, sheep, and a goat. she shared her first funnel cake with mom and dad and loved it, but really only wanted the pieces with lots of powdered sugar! she was too little for the rides so she did the duck pond. that was fun but a bit overwhelming as she didn't know which duck to pick up because there were so many. her prize, a cheap plastic trumpet that makes an awful noise. molly loves it!

as most of you know molly was involved in the summer reading program at the library. she met her goal and earned her ticket to the summer pool party. this was held on a very chilly night (it was like 70 degrees) but we went anyway (mostly because i didn't want her to miss out and i wanted pictures). she had a great time - shivered through most of it but never wanted to leave. we stayed for about 35 minutes and after her lips were purple and her arms were sticking straight out, fist clenched we made her get out. she had some lemonade and warmed up in her towel before going home. her friend brock was there who she calls "ba".

most recently i took molly to kaleidoscope at crown center. she had a blast there too. she's quite the artist and loves to color and paint. she kept me moving all around the place and tried to get away numerous times. molly made many art projects and they are proudly displayed on a bulletin board in her room. she loves to admire her work!

molly also has a fasination with trains so we went and ate at fritz's after kaleidoscope. fritz's is a train restaurant and your food is delivered on a little train. it's such a neat place to eat. molly loved watching the trains go around as she was eating and paused often to give a good "choo choo"!