Winter Wonderland of Fun

I'm a little late posting these pictures from Molly's actual first birthday last Monday. We celebrated with a play date with Ethan and Adam, a cupcake, and some grouchy pants (which thankfully got put back in the closet after her morning nap).
I think Molly's not so sure about this whole "one year" thing...


but if it involves cupcakes, she's game to try it.

This past week also brought a lot of snow, playtime with Grammy so that I could actually Christmas shop, Molly's one year trip to the pediatrician (she remains tall at 31 inches but, despite her pot belly, is leveling off with her weight at almost 22 lbs), some additional hair on top of her head, Christmas parties, new animal sounds (duck and snake have been added the repertoire. I think John taught her the sound for snake because of the snake that Harry caught and deposited in our dining room. Guess where I was after I found the snake? That's right, on top of a chair) and lots more walking. Today, she made it all the way across the kitchen and out into the living room while only stopping for a knee once.

Navigating some difficult terrain in the kitchen -- sippy cups and maracas offer unprecedented dangers.


Watching the snow start on Friday... and it hasn't stopped yet. We are lucky, however, because we were one of the few areas not to experience any power outages from last week's ice storm. I think our friends the Shippees hold the record at 10 days without power... Good thing they are hearty New Hampshire-ites.


Still snowing at bedtime...



Despite some chilly temps, we got outside to play in the snow for awhile yesterday.

Hit Parade

We rocked out the Gypsy Kings today. In addition to them, Molly's play list includes Michael Buble, Ellis Paul, Brandy (as you know), Christmas Music, her musical chair and...

this fish. This girl loves to dance and will groove to almost any song she can get her mitts on. She's even more excited when someone else dances with her and today, we had three little ones all bouncing around together. It was a pretty funny sight.

Let's Eat

When John and I registered for wedding presents several years ago, one of his contributions was the inclusion of a chef's hat on our registry. I'm not sure how many times that has seen the light of day but I might have to break it out more so that Molly and I can bake together. Liz gave her this snazzy outfit for Christmas and she does enjoy being in the kitchen with me so we may have a little baker or chef on our hands. Given how much she likes to make loud noises with her vocal cords, however, I wonder if she might be a little Gordon Ramsey-esque in the kitchen. Yikes.

Let's Celebrate!

Molly's first birthday is Monday but we celebrated her one year milestone with a few folks on Saturday. She went through two party dresses, one piece of cake, and lots of games of "uh-oh" where she "accidentally" dropped her cup, food, toys, etc. off her chair and looks around for someone to pick them up.

She got great presents from everyone and has happily played with her musical chair, hugged her new gorilla, pulled her alligator, read her new books, rocked on her ducky, tried out her new shoes, eaten with her fork and spoon, slept with her lamb, waved a crazy footed monster around, thrown Cookie Monster on the dishwasher, cuddled with her quilt, listened to Horton, dreamed of a trip to Venice and has generally been very excited by birthdays and present-getting. She still enjoys her early-birthday presents and toodles around the house with her push cart and her goldfish keep her company at her little table.

The little wacky character continues to have more personality than we know what to do with sometimes. She's getting toothier with her three remaining molars coming through and is getting progressively steadier on her feet. She has maxed out at 15 steps and still prefers to crawl but every day, she goes a little further with a little more confidence. You might think 15 steps would get you across the house but in little person measurements, it's only from one end of the couch to the other.

Cousins, friends, grandparents, aunts and uncles helped Molly out with some birthday cake. Ethan was very patient waiting for his piece.

Despite first trying to eat the plate that the cake came on, she eventually found out that cake tastes much better.

The chow monster was true to form. Please note the curl of hair in the back... it's a mullet for now but someday, maybe, there will be hair on top of her head. Or perhaps she is showing her preference for hockey and has decided that hockey hair is back in (actually, was it ever in?).

Oh Christmas Tree

We picked out our tree and got it all decorated this weekend. This will give us plenty of time to enjoy it before we leave for Seattle for the big day. Molly didn't really care about the tree picking out process and snoozed in the car as we drove from tree place to tree place looking for a farm that wasn't a complete zoo. She takes good care of the tree and helped put some of her ornaments on the tree:



She'd much rather, however, take ornaments OFF. She has a cadre of favorites that she removes several times a day, usually accompanied by "uh oh" as she drops them on the floor.

Dance Dance Dance

Tree is up, lights are on, house is decorated (although it doesn't look like someone threw up Christmas decorations this year. Molly's sticky fingers would mean most things would end up on the floor anyway. I think the less is more concept isn't so bad in our house). Before we get to the tree trimming, though, we caught Molly dancing up a storm this weekend despite ear infections and croup and it was pretty humorous. I think she got her dancing shoes from her mom (John is much more talented) -- if she threw a little more elbow into it, some might agree that it would be perfect form.

Wheels

Molly's new cart got out of the shop this week and it's now tip-proof and being used for all sorts of things. Panda bear got a few rides in it:




Before being unceremoniously dumped by the side of the road/Harry's litter box.


Molly also got herself taken for a few spins around the kitchen. John was nice, though, and didn't subject her to Panda's same fate.




Regarding my earlier mention of Molly's affinity for Brandy -- guess who was on the Today show this morning? I looked over and someone was just dancing away in awe of who was in front of her eyes.

Sitting Up Straight

Molly has gotten some early birthday presents from her grandparents. Her new walker from Grammy and Grampy is currently in the shop getting some upgrades (some fins, new rims, and flames on the side) but here is a picture of her new little table from Nana and Grandpa. She enjoyed a snack at it this weekend and didn't even fall off her chair.

Let's see, what else is she up to... her new favorite word is "Whoa". Everything that gets dropped on the ground (on purpose 99.9% of the time) gets an "Uh oh". She's started getting irate if people don't respond to her entreaties of "Hi" in the grocery store, at the doctor's office, or anywhere out in public. She likes the new Brandy song a lot and dances whenever she hears it (thanks to my cousin Abby) and she's still doling out hugs and kisses. We'll keep you posted as she approaches her one year birthday!

Thanks and Yum!

As expected, the little cookie monster was a big fan of Thanksgiving and all the eating that took place. She especially liked the the stuffing, squash soup, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. We all enjoyed a few days on the Cape, witnessing dramatic hair cuts, working off good food with walks on the beach and going a few rounds on the Wii (who knew you could sweat that much inside or that playing the viola was perfect preparation for strumming some Weezer?). I woke up sore after giving Greg a serious drubbing in boxing but I stunk up the joint at Guitar Hero while John rocked out, as usual.

Thanks to the Dudleys for hosting us and it was great to be with family. Molly enjoyed it so much that she just didn't want to sleep. We're home, happily stuffed and looking forward to seeing more family soon!




Molly's pre-Thanksgiving black eye. It didn't interfere with the hand eye coordination required for food shoveling.


My dad and I may have shared similar fates of getting booed off stage on Guitar Hero but he was one mullet wig short of a rock revolution.


Molly patiently eyed the food while we snapped her first Thanksgiving picture.

If You're Happy And You Know It...

Someone is proud as punch of herself. Okay, maybe we encouraged it...

We started celebrating Thanksgiving a little early this year (which may prove to be Molly's favorite holiday because of the vast amounts of food available for consumption) and had some friends over this weekend to be thankful and start some noshing.

Lots of cute kids with lots of cute outfits but Oliver took it to a whole new level with his BYOPH attire (Bring Your Own Pilgrim Hat).

Somehow we managed to get 12 adults and 7 kids squeezed into our dining room.




Molly is thankful for her panda bear (or nanana) bear. She was giving it lots of hugs this morning.

Talk Like This

Chatty Kathy has gotten the hang of the phone (which I think is weird because we don't have a home phone and our cell phones don't really look like the below phone. Actually, my first cell phone, aka "the brick", did). She says "hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii", which is one of her favorite words. She likes saying hi to her friends, to her grandparents, and will ham it up to most any stranger on the street. Let's just say that she likes positive reinforcement.

Hugs and Kisses

This is a little dark and grainy, our apologies, but Molly likes showing affection right now so we figure we'd capture it before she becomes a teenager and hates our guts.

She's also just gotten her first molar. Too bad Halloween already happened because she could have gone as a molar bear. Hee hee hee. That one was for my uncle.

Stand and Deliver

Molly likes to watch her older friends race around on two feet like the crazy animals that they are. She is getting ready to move into bipedalism and watched her pal Hannah (when the two weren't coming to blows) take a lot of steps this past weekend. She isn't taking any steps on her own yet but is slowly working her way towards them. She stands on her own now and can do some mean squats (I should probably try and do some with her. On the other hand, she's got a pretty big booty so maybe not...) to get at her toys. She also still likes to put anything and everything (including pool water) into her mouth.

Alternative Energy

Although Molly did use her water table for more traditional games the other day, apparently it also came in handy to use as...

a water trough

a push toy

and, my personal favorite, a ballet bar

Change is in the Hair

I guess Flowbees DO work!



Yes, we have some wigs around here. Yes, I think it's funny to put them on Molly. Yes, she hates it until someone starts laughing and then she starts laughing like it was her idea in the first place. This wig is from my clown days in high school. Another relic from my parents' basement. I sure wish I had been as good a clown as my brother but I couldn't juggle and well, I just really wasn't very good. But, I did have a good costume and I am glad that it has come to take up residence in our house because I plan on breaking it out for someone's birthday (maybe Liz's, I know she loves clowns) or anniversary or first dance recital.

Oh What a Night...

Molly looks forward to when John comes home from work at night (that makes two of us!). She gets an extra burst of energy, which is usually matched by her dad. She likes horsing around on the couch lately and tosses herself all around like a little pinball. Yet again, she cracks herself up like there's no tomorrow.








I won't comment much on the election because I can't do it all justice. I will say, however, that I wasn't voting just for myself today. I was voting for the little person above who I hope will enjoy some of the much needed change that will result from this election. I hope she enjoys it until the day that she herself is old enough to be part of a force for change and goodwill. That, to me, is a legacy worth living.

Heirloom

When I was little, my grandpa made me this little goose rocker. Cleaning out my parents' basement with my mom recently, we came across it and I brought it back for Molly to enjoy. I guess sometimes it does pay to be a pack rat. I think my grandpa would have loved Molly and all her antics so it's nice she gets to enjoy a little piece of his handiwork.

Happy Halloween

Molly got all dressed up for Halloween and visited with her ghost and goblin friends (more like ladybug and pumpkins and monkeys) . She went to a friend's house for a little party and then we went downtown to walk around and see all the other kids' costumes.







The little ones wouldn't sit for on their own for a picture but when they were strapped in their strollers it was only Molly who tried to make a run for it. She wiggled and wiggled trying to get herself out and free... in the end, though, she consented to a picture with her buddies.