Spring Project, 2017

For this year's spring project, the girls planted seeds we had hanging around the house in jam jars with wet paper towels, rather than dirt.  The lack of dirt makes the roots much easier to observe and monitor.  Frances did most of the work; Chandler drank her bottle and twiddled her hair.  

Frances's innovation was labeling everything, because she's a nerd.

It was one of the few projects that didn't end with me saying, "How do I underestimate the potential for mess every time?"  So far we've learned that wet seeds not exposed to the sun will rot.  The jam jars must be rotated.  Live and learn.  We may start the project again, but the seeds on the sunny sides of the jars are doing really well.  We'll see.

Happy First Day of Spring!

Isn't it obvious?

Chandler/Elsa

The small child has made a definite girly turn lately.  She puts on our knock-off Elsa dress every chance she gets and wants to be called "Elsa."

I can handle the name change and the dress, even if it's too long and has to be tied up before she can wear it around town.  But she wants to Grow Out Her Hair.  Oh, the horror!  I do not want to have two knotty heads to ignore each morning.  See, Frances's knots are her business - at least, I'm trying very hard to make them her business and not my problem.  But two sets of knots?  One of those sets on a four year-old who I probably can't expect to know better?  I'm hoping to stem this terrible tide by bribing her with our salon's lollipops.  This strategy has worked so far, but I feel it's hold on Chandler weakening.  This is tragic.

(No, I'm not over-reacting.)

Snow Day Number Four?

I think that's right; I'm pretty sure it was Number Four.  Mark was home and we survived.  Those parts I remember clearly.  The girls' motives are less clear.  They've got a thing for the Statue of Liberty, so this is how we started the day.

The first thirty seconds over, we moved on to making our own Nutella.  The girls had eaten an entire tub of Nutella at Mimi's house (Mimi worries about their weight, or lack thereof; they also ate Ritz, bacon and ice cream.  Feel free to tell Mimi how not-emaciated they look any chance you get.).  We tried our hand at making our own.

It was delicious.  Don't let the girls' faces fool you.  The concerned look on Chandler's face had to do with the Nutella's escaping down her chin, rather than its taste.

And then Frances was just copying Chandler.

Not our finest snow day, I must say.  Temperatures hovered right around freezing and the whole world was a slushy mess by afternoon.  The girls were inside all day and I was relieved to go dig after a bit.  That gives some clue to their mood.  We had one more snow day (Number Five), but I think we are done with snow days for the year, which means school ends a few days before July starts.  Boo.

Forty-Nine Months of Preschooler Chandler

 Another day at the Boston Nature Center, this time talking about dirt and examining worms.

The Chandler explains.

A little painting with mud and pine cone.

Chandler never entirely warmed to the activity.

Forty-Nine Months Fun Fact

• Disposition:  Chandler has been Challenging lately.  It is Tiresome.  Lots of "I am the Boss!"  I don't know where this is coming from, but I wish it would go back.  I thought bossiness was the three year-old's purview.  Lordy.  Maybe it won't be so awful when she goes to school?  Except I'm sure it will.

Eighty-Eight Months of First Grader Frances

Eighty-Eight Months Fun Fact

• Maturing: It continues!  Lately she's done things like help me make my bed, rather than climb on it mid-make.  And she'll go get a lovey for Chandler if she hurts herself.  Miracles, miracles.
• Not Maturing:  It continues, as well!  The child can start sobbing at the drop of a hat, if she doesn't get her way.  We are trying to encourage other ways to communicate disappointment.  I do not want her to be the kind of college student who expects crying in professors' offices to improve her paper grades.  I understand disappointment can be hard to take, but she needs to try out some of the other tools in her toolbox as well.

I like blue...

...and these girls.

No one seemed to mind Frances's rather broad take on the dress code.

Just Another Saturday at the Ranch

She wanted to be sure everyone saw the dog.  See the dog.

I'm trying to improve the girls sleeping adaptability.  Specifically, I'd like them to be able to fall asleep in the same room, so Chandler has been sleeping in Frances's room on weekends.  She also likes to just hang out on her mattress and "read" about giraffes.

Completely normal Saturday.

Devils' Den

Our second day in Arkansas, we spent with Mark's parents and the third day we went hiking in Devils' Den with Mim and Linda.  It was hot, even for Arkansas.

That's Mom, Mim, Chandler, Frances and Linda.

No, Chandler doesn't have a shirt on, because it was hot.

 Chandler made touching the waterfall look like such fun, Frances decided to give it a try.  This is a familiar pattern with these girls.

The aunties were very good sports.  Linda even gave Chandler a shoulder ride when she got whiney (it was uncomfortably warm for the Massachusetts girls).  It was such good fun.  Almost enough fun to make me wish we lived there (but did I mention it was hot?).

We Went to Arkansas!

And Mimi took a lot of pictures.  Our first full day was spent at Linda's, riding trusty Count.

Chandler was thrilled to get on, but then looked a little skeptical.

She cheered up.

Then Frances' turn.

My new favoritest picture:

And Chandler, again.

And Frances, again.

The girls could have gone on all afternoon.  Once they had worn out one (admittedly elderly) horse, Chandler tried to talk Linda into putting her on another horse.  The other horse was bred for racing and trained for hunting.  Linda gave Chandler a firm "no," but we had to admire Chandler's determination and grit.

Another Wednesday

We started our Wednesday with folding laundry, or, in Chandler's case, pretending to read while I folded laundry.

Then we went to the Boston Nature Center, so Chandler could roll around in the snow with a bunch of kiddos.  There was a more formal activity planned, but the kids were happy literally rolling around in the snow.

After the adults got cold, we headed inside for some snow ice cream.  We even made it chocolate-flavored, but it wasn't a big hit with Chandler.

I guess that's not terribly surprising since she's not a super fan of the real stuff.   That's alright.  It let me check off an item on the list of stuff I mean to do but never get around to actually doing.  Thank you, Boston Nature Center!  And, man, am I ever going to miss this phase when Chandler starts school.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mark got the girls chocolates for Valentine's Day (thank you, Mark; I did nothing) and the girls turned  the chocolate eating into a picnic.

What would we do without Daddy?!

Oh, food!

Chandler was crying and crying at church.  Really unusual for her.  We stopped in at our new Eataly and fed her.  Lo and behold, she perked right up!

Could she say the words, "I'm hungry"?  No, apparently not.  But it was a joy to see her eat heartily.  Her pediatrician said at the thirteenth percentile for weight, Chandler was "solidly on the chart" and seemed completely happy with that.  Thank God, since I have no control of my kids' weights.

A Snow Day, Or Three

School was called off, so the girls colored their faces.

When the snow stopped, it was time to dig.  I didn't want the girls inside all day (instant recipe for insanity) so I bundled them up and took them out in all their gear.  Chandler had on four head coverings.  Both girls had on proper ski pants.

They messed about for a bit, then Frances actually helped me dig!  Minor miracle.  Then they got hot and started stripping off layers.  If you'd have told me, as a child in Arkansas, that I would one day have children that got hot in 17 degree weather, I'd have laughed long and hard.  But then again, I too got hot in 17 degree weather.  Major miracle.

Evil Spawn

The small child has been dressing herself more, which is great, don't get me wrong.  But it means some days, we pick up Frances from school in ballet tutus, like so:

Frances's school friends love the tutus, of course, and swarm around Chandler, who then hides under my jacket.  Oh, well.

Chandler is interesting, I'll give her that.  She seems perfectly comfortable wearing blue and chatting about Spider-Man one day, and then dressing in three kinds of pink the next.  Versatile, we'll call it. As our arachnid friend Charlotte says, Chandler "can turn with ease from one thing to another."

Eighty-Seven Months of First Grader Frances

Eighty-Seven Months Fun Fact

• Maturing:  I think!  She's bursting into tears a little less frequently.  She's somewhat more willing to help out (not without whining, but still).  She's taunting her sister slightly less.  Surely just a phase that will be replaced with some other phase, but hopefully it won't all fall away.  The taunting, in particular, I don't miss At All.

Forty-Eight Months of Preschooler Chandler

We finally made it to Chandler's actual birthday, after a lot of preamble.  It was a Tuesday and Frances had school, so we didn't have too much time to work with, but I did want to do something.  So we went to the local ice cream shop and we brought along our 4 candle.

Chandler isn't actually an ice cream fiend, but she humored us.

The Four Year-Old Interview

• What is your name? " C-h-a-n-d-l-e-r."  [She spelled it!]
• How old are you?  "I'm four."
• Who do you live with?  "I live with Frances, Morgan, Dada."
• What is your favorite color?  "My favorite color is purple." [After saying this, she looked at me, hard.  She knows my favorite color is purple.]
• Who do you like to spend time with? "Uh, Dad. Hmmm, and, what's next?"  [She wasn't really enjoying this experience.]
• What do you like to do with your family?  "I like to play in my room.  I like to go where they want to go with my family.  I like to go to Toys-R-Us and that's it."
• Where do you like to go? "I like to go to Toys-R-Us and buy stuff."  [The girls got very generous gift certificates from their Uncle Eric at Christmas.  It has taken a couple trips to Toys-R-Us to spend them.]
• What makes you sad?  "Sad?  Who screams at me.  Who's mad at me." [She gets really upset when she thinks people are mad at me.  She's taken to wailing, "Everyone is mad at me!"  Luckily, these bouts of wide-reaching calamity are short lived.]
• What is your favorite toy?  "My favorite toy is my big red car."  [It goes with a doll house.  It doubles as a picnic table.  It is actually cool.]
• What is your favorite fruit?  "Fruit? Frances."  [I guess I need to try harder.  Poor kid.  She ate a pound of strawberries recently.  It's not like she's never seen a fruit.  She just can't identify it.]
• What is your favorite TV show?  "My favorite tv show is new movies."
• What is your favorite vegetable?  "Grapes." [Closer!]
• What is your favorite lunch?  "My favorite lunch is spisacios." [Known to the rest of us as "pistachios."]
• What are your favorite clothes?  "My favorite clothes is Elsa dress."  [Also what she happened to be wearing when she was asked the question.] 
• What is your favorite game? "My favorite game is How to Train Your Dragon II."  [Chandler and Frances run around hissing at each other, as dragons are wont to do.  I won't pretend to love it, but I know it could be so much worse.]
• What is your favorite snack?   "My favorite snack is peanut butter."  
• What is your favorite animal?  "My favorite animal is anything."
• What is your favorite song?  "My favorite song is No One Knows How Far I Go." [That's Chandler's take on the Moana song."
• What is your favorite book?  "My favorite book is any book, any book from the library [laughter]."  [The laughter seemed to indicate that the library stipulation should be obvious.]
• Who is your best friend?  "My best friend is Peanut."
• What is your favorite sport?  "My favorite sport...I don't know what sport means."
• What is your favorite thing to do outside? "My favorite thing is run around in the flesh air."
• What is your favorite drink?  "My favorite drink is apple juice."
• What is your favorite holiday?  "My favorite holiday is watching movie."  [Maybe I should have given examples.]
• What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  "I take anything i want to sleep with for five days and five nights and seven days and five nights."
• What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? "My favorite thing is noodles."  [She gets the meal names confused.] 
• What is your favorite dinner?  "My fav...I'm getting tired."  [She also rarely eats dinner.]
• What do you want to be when you grow up?  "I want to be...I want to go back to my fort."  [She was pretending to be asleep in a pillow fort when I roused her to ask these questions.  Too many questions for a sleepy four year-old, clearly.]
• What is your daddy's name?  "Mark."
• What is your mommy's name? "Morgan."
• What is sister's name?  "Frances."
• Where do you live?  "We live in a big house."

Yes, more birthday

On the Sunday before Chandler's birthday, we took her to the movies to see Moana.  Frances and I had actually seen it already, but we sorta love it (the sailing!), and Chandler wants to do anything Big Sister does.

Before the movie started, we opened a couple presents.  Chandler has asked me over and over to buy her a Spider-Man Pez dispenser from the grocery store.  My sister Lindsay finally obliged her.

She liked it.  We got a bunch of popcorn and candy.  Our friends Michele and Sophia joined us.  And we had a great time at the movies.  Chandler talks about Moana and Maui sort of incessantly now, but I really don't mind.  I cannot believe I'm saying that about a Disney movie, but there it is.  The sailing's fantastic and the women aren't twigs.  Halleluia.