Did I forget to share this?

Last week C4 got up very early one morning. Much too early. Before 5 am early.

So, by the time school rolled around, I guess she was tired, because about 15 minutes after I got to work I got call from Mrs. M telling us that C4 had fallen asleep about 10 minutes after getting to school. She had just put her head down on the table (in the green play-dough?) and fell asleep. C4 woke when they touched her, but they were a little worried about her, even though she didn't seem to have a fever.

I assuaged their fears, since I myself would have enjoyed to put MY head down on MY desk and fallen asleep at that point.

C4 later just told me she was taking a break. Yeah. I know. Sometimes I just rest my eyes during a long car trip.

Cheé-WOW-wa

Turns out a 90 minute movie was juuuuuuuust right.

C4 learned how to say Chihuahua with the correct W sound, instead of yah sound ... and we'd promised to bring her to Beverly Hills Chihuahua when she could say it. And she can. She'd doing great. Saying water instead of yah-ter, where instead of yearh, winter instead of yinter. And so forth.

So, the movie was cute. Not spectacular, but nice for kids and not hideous for adults. Probably it would have been better for kids a bit older than ours; C4 had some moments when she was scared (when Chloé fell down a deep hole --or when Chloé jumped off a train-- I believe C4 jumped a foot into C39's arms). And Q2 was a bit leary of the whole experience at first -- the dark, the huge screen, the noise! But she watched about 3/5 of the movie before getting antsy, then another 1/5 before we had to leave. So, pretty good. I won't be taking Q2 back to the movies anytime soon, but C4 ... should be able to handle a G-rated movie!

New Nicknames

For a long time I have been called mumma dog by C4. She calls C39 daddy dog.

Q2 has started calling me Perdita. And C39 Pongo. And C4 Roly or Freckles. And herself ... Lucky.

Guilty as charged

You say you'll never do it ... But you do.

My best friend from high school, K., used to babysit for my brother occssionally. And he really disliked her. I don't know why, exactly. But he had this thing against her. Until she brought him a chocolate bar. One tiny little chocolate bar. And they've been friends ever since.

So. Q2 was having a hard time transitioning to nursery school. Not a big deal, but not liking the idea of going to school, getting clingy when we get there, and then crying when I dropped her off. Part of the problem is that she only goes Thursday & Friday mornings, so the transition is d-r-a-w-n o-u-t.

Friday I decided to try it. Bribery. I offered her a chocolate if she wouldn't cry when she left me. That perked her right up. And there were no tears. A bit of pouty, but whenever I mentioned chocolate ... she smiled, perked up, and was ready to go.

That's it. I'm guilty of bribery.

Finally

For the longest longest longest time, C4 has insisted that she "is not fond of dressing up."

This covers wearing masks, hats, dress up clothes, and halloween costumes. Even dogs. Even just dog ears and dog tails. Even just dog paws. Even black dog spots on a white outfit. Anything. Because she isn't fond of dressing up. But I guess the last few months of getting pictures of dogs on her face changed her mind.

This morning C4 & Q2 found the face paint and somehow I suggested that Q2 get a full face picture. She chose a lion:



And C4 ... after getting 2 small dogs, saw the lion and I suggested she could have a ... golden retriever on her face. The whole face. And she went for it:



Maybe not the best of dog faces, but she loved it.

The last visit of the weekend

D, R, and R6 came over. We decided rather than just hang out we'd take them down to the Mall. It took 2 cars, but we got them to the Mall. After a few parking issues, Me, C4, Q2, D, and R6 got dropped off at the Museum of Natural History and the Sant Ocean Hall. We stayec there for maybe 20 minutes?30 minutes? then to the Mammal Hall, that they love, and eventually into the short film about Morgey's Family Reunion. They LOOOVE that movie. Probably just because it is a movie.

They stopped to see a model of Morgey:


and we went out, petted some dogs, and had a snack before riding the carousel:


I love this photo of D:



And I tried to take a family photo of them:


Then onto the National Museum of the American Indian. We passed the fountain/pools wher the ducks were not swimming. Q2 wanted to go in, but I told her we couldn't because it was for the ducks. But she noted that they had flown away so we could go in.


A the museum we didn't find much on D's tribes, but we did find a display case of dogs, in front of which C4 had to get her photo taken:


By now we were all tired and D & I took the kids to buy ice cream and we sent the guys to get the cars, which were almost a mile away. On the ride home Q2 fell asleep within about 30 seconds of getting in the car.

Big day.

Another weekend post

Also this weekend ... Aunt C. was visiting. She had a conference to go to in Takoma Park, so she was staying with us to save some money. Fine by us, C4 & Q2 loooooooove her. We didn't see enough of her, but every morning and evening the kids got to see and kiss and color with her. So that was fun.

Saturday was another festival of the building arts at the National Building Museum. Another fun fun fun day!

Q2 was a little grumpy at first, and definitely didn't like the blacksmithing outside. So we breezed by that and went inside, where we split up.

Q2 didn't want her yellow hard hat; she wanted a blue one. She cried at the wood chipping. She cried at the stone carving. She didn't want to wear safety glasses so she could hammer nails. She didn't want to create a nuts & bolts sculpture. But we got to spackling ... and we had found our activity.



I only dragged her away from that activity after somebody came by and said there would be dancing outside. People and machines. Called "Pas de Dirt" by the Liz Lerman Dance Exhange, and set to the music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. So we went out, got good lawn seats and watched the dancing. It made me laugh. It made me cry. I was glad when it was over.

We'd hooked back up with C4 & C39 at this point, and found that C4 had gotten a permit and made a great townhouse:



Q2 saw that and decided the city needed a fountain:



We made some "colorforms" stained glass windows, colored some pictures, and pounded some big big wood:



Then we dragged them away kicking and screaming back to the car and home for lunch and quiet time. That the same as always: not quiet.

So I took them to the park where we met BatQ2: