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"!

my amazing hubby

today matt and i celebrated four wonderful years of marriage. it's hard to believe it's already been four years, yet in some sense, it's easy to see. we've gone from renting to home ownership to now, selling our home. we've been blessed with a wonderful, beautiful daughter who constantly brings us joy and keeps us on our toes. we've traveled a few places and had a lot of fun together.

when i set out looking for a husband, i knew i wanted to find one that would love me for who i was and am and most importantly, love God. i found him. who else, but my dear matt would want me to be as comfortable as possible and wear basketball shorts and t-shirt anytime i pleased. my dad always told me i might have to put on a dress and get a little more girly to find the right guy...nope, i wasn't going to do it. somehow i knew God would provide the man for me that would accept me basketball shorts and all!

matt is an amazing husband. he's willing to do anything for me shows he cares in the little things. for example, while i cook dinner he takes molly outside to play so i'm not interrupted. this is a huge relief since she likes to be a "big helper". matt keeps things fun and interesting with a weird dance or imitation. he's always making me laugh! :) when we had molly we were in a position where we didn't want to send her to a sitter and his job was in limbo so he quit and was a stay-at-home dad for almost 9 months. this was a great eye opener for him and now he understands that being a stay-at-home parent is a full time job and appreciates me even more! i loved that he stayed home with molly. they have a great bond and it saved both of us the stress of a babysitter. now, he's back at work, making an hour and fifteen minute drive both ways, so i can stay at home and take care of molly. his sacrifice to make the drive so we can survive on only one income means so much to me as i only desired to be at home.

there's so much more i could say but i'll save it for later. so with four years behind us, who knows what the future holds but one thing i know, there's many more to come!! i love you honey! ;)

making of a great reader

being a teacher, it's ingrained in me to constantly teach. reading was my favorite subject to teach and so i read to molly all the time. she loves to listen to books and she's already doing things that good readers do at 15 months! one of my favorite things to teach my students about reading was making connections. i loved helping them relate what they were reading to themselves, the world around them and other books they had read. molly does an excellent job of making connections. while we read she will connect things in the book to things in her immediate surroundings and even beyond. for example, if there is a broom in the picture, she points over to the kitchen where i keep the broom. tonight she pointed outside when we talked about the birds. she points to the cats when there is a cat. we talked about watering a garden with a watering can and she pointed outside where matt's garden is. molly also recognizes that other people aren't at our house and points outside. if we talk about grandpa and grandma she shrugs her shoulders and like she doesn't know where they are then points outside because she knows they're not at our house. while i may miss the classroom at times, i know i've got the most important student to teach right in my living room and i wouldn't change it for the world! :)

summer happenings

PLAY DOUGH FUN!

summer is a great time to try new things and have all sorts of fun. molly's at a great age to do this also. i'm a big fan of experimenting with things that may not be age appropriate according to package directions such as play dough. molly was going through a box with some of my school things and found play dough. i was curious to see how she would respond to the texture and such and well, she loved it! we play with it daily (all four colors at once) and make bracelets and blocks, dinosaurs and pigs. she loves to put it in and out of the containers and squish her hands in it. occasionally she goes for a small taste and rediscovers that she does not like it!

SPLISH SPLASH POOL FUN!

in one of my latter posts i wrote about molly's need for a swimming pool and my desire to get her the one with the whale slide. she got it! daddy gave in with a little prodding from me of course. but molly does love her pool. she swims a lot, well, i should say she squats a lot. this girl's going to have incredible leg muscles because she doesn't really like to sit in the pool. she has 2 ducks, a whale and a cup to play with along with the slide. it's great fun to watch the ducks and whale slide down the slide too! at first she was a little hesitant of the slide, but now, she's an old pro and loves splashing in the water. we also take molly to the public pool in our town. it's free at 7:30 which is a huge perk for us and 30 minutes is a great amount of time for molly. the pool is fantastic with zero depth entry 2 large water fountains plus two smaller ones and a frog slide. we bought her some sinking squids to play with and she loves them. they slide down the frog's tongue first and then she follows after. i'm going to miss the pool when it closes.

(frog slide at public pool)

OTHER FUN THINGS!
among swimming and play dough, molly loves going to the library. story time for toddlers has ended but i still take her weekly to check out books. she finished the summer reading program by reading 746 pages. we turned in her log on saturday and she received a number of prizes. she picked out a book dinosaur train, a toy train, and got a certificate, free personal pan pizza, free drink at the cider mill and gets to attend the pool party on july 31st. we went and used her free pizza coupon today and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

the moms club is something else i've been getting involved in because i think it's important for molly to have social interaction with kids her own age. she's been to the park to play with kids, in fact, we're going tomorrow, and starting in august there's a weekly play date for babies 18 months and under that she will attend.

painting, coloring with markers, and stickers are another favorite. molly's very artsy and loves to paint with water. she's a regular picasso! stickers are a newly discovered fun thing. fortunately i saved all my stickers from teaching because i knew they'd come in handy. i'm thinking i'm going to run out sooner than expected. this girl loves stickers and will use at least 10 a day.