Snow Day!

Part of Margaret starting school has been going through a number of rituals that I remember from my childhood.  It's been mostly good.  (Although -- and there will be a post on this later filled with RAGE-FILLED ALL CAPS and ranting -- suggesting that preschool children should bring HANDMADE valentines crosses over into insanity very quickly).  Last Thursday, as feet of snow fell on Missouri, Margaret's school was cancelled.  As, in fact, was mine, but I wasn't supposed to teach that day, which meant that it was a complete waste of a snow day.

Anyway, they gave her homework.

I'm going to let that sink in for a minute.

They gave her homework.  Of course, her homework was to go out and play in the snow, and pay attention to texture and depth and what-have-you.  And then come in and draw a picture of the snow.  I was game for this activity, except that this was what Margaret was wearing.

And while an adorable swimming costume, this is not appropriate wear for snowy excursions.  Also, both girls were still snotty, so we didn't go outside.

Which of course means that the first time one of my kids had homework, I blew it off.  Whoops.

I did, however, help Margaret complete an art project about the snow.  We talked about what her favorite things to do in the snow were, and -- Hallelujah! -- her mostest favoritest* one was building a snowman.

We can do that.  I was afraid it was going to be sledding or some other difficult-to-draw activity.

Anyway, we pulled out the scissors, and Margaret and I cut things.

And then we taped (well, Margaret taped, I just got her pieces of tape) circles that I cut out to a page of blue paper, and Margaret drew features for it.

I'm kind of proud of this.

In the meantime, Ellie used her almost-walking skills.

She saw a drawer.  She loves drawers.

She did what any decent baby would do, and climbed into the drawer.

And then, realizing her predicament, she got a little upset.

And we got her out.  It was a nice, warm, indoors sort of day.  Ellie climbed many more things, and -- as seen in the last series of pictures of Margaret -- Margaret eventually put some clothes on.

*This is me.  Margaret would never say something like that.

Baby's First Marginal Annotation

You know, there are milestones that everyone talks about, like baby's first step, and first tooth, and sleeping through the night, and walking and talking and all those things, but do you know what no one talks about?  When baby learns to read actively and take notes.*

Ellie's sick, and so I am skipping class tomorrow to stay at home with her, and that meant that I had to get my class prep done early, because I am currently at school at a parent conference night, and I needed to get my lesson materials on the desk for the sub tomorrow.  This meant that I needed to do some reading.  So since Ellie is the nicest baby in the world, she hung out and played around my feet while I read and underlined things in 1 Henry 4.

And when I was done, she wanted to play.

I can only imagine what will happen when she figures out how to take the cap off of the pen.  Anyway,  she thinks that the way to read is with a pen in your hand.  She was doing this to board books later on, which was completely adorable.  I like to think that she was jotting down possible corrections, because quite frankly Sandra Boynton needs a good editor. Or a bad editor.  Just some sort of editor.

*The reason for this, of course, might be that lots of kids don't know how to read actively as college students, but that is a blog post for another day, on another blog, with far more ranting in all-caps than is appropriate this venue.

Sad Panda

Ellie is sick again.  Not as badly as last time (and actually, the illness alluded to in that post was the antepenultimate illness.  The penultimate was a nasty stomach bug that Ellie got after her birthday party.   Which means that she may now have bad associations with chocolate cake.  I hope I haven't given her a lifelong complex.

She is so snotty that I think the snot is coming out her eyes.  And she has a fever.  And is -- when she refuses to take my advice and nap -- kind of miserable.  But ever-so snuggly, so we're giving her a pass.

But also pathetic.  (And actually, I took this photo because I was trying to see if she was asleep, and I couldn't see her face.  She wasn't, and she saw my phone, and decided that she Needed It Now, Thank You, Mommy, and the attempted naptime came to an abrupt end.  Humph.)

In the Ba-a-ath, in the Baaaaaaaaath

For those of you who are not familiar with the source material for my title, you may find enlightenment, or perhaps simply information, here.

It's the second track included there, but the first one is also funny, and will make you a better person if you listen to it.

Anyway, this morning, Margaret and Ellie found much simple pleasure in the bath.  They've* gotten big enough that I can give them a bath together, which is both more efficient and more work than bathing them separately.  Work that one out if you dare.

Anyway, they like it.

 Particularly Margaret, who was having so much fun that she demanded that I take a picture of her for Nana, because Nana would like to have a picture of Margaret mailed to her at 7 in the morning, said Margaret.  Forcefully.  So I took the picture.

Baths really are marvelous.  Ellie enjoyed hers too, not least because of the snot-loosening effects of warm steam.  She also, however, noted that it gave her some time to work on her basketball game.  With washcloths.

She was playing with washcloths, which is a kind of an odd choice, but she made it work.  Since she is, at this very moment, deeply into putting things into other things, and then taking them out and putting  them in again, the basketball hoop was a very, very exciting toy.  I had to pry her away from it (and for once I am not employing hyperbole) when her toes started to prune.  And that is why there is no picture of Ellie enjoying herself.  Well, that and the fact that she kept her pacifier glued to her jaws through the whole adventure.  Because heaven forbid that I be able to wash behind the binky.

Anyway, world peace, here we come.  In the bath.  In the bath.

*Ellie, mainly, but Margaret is also old enough to be a bit careful.