Play date city

Another play date. C4 wanted J. to come over ... so I had her call. Her call wsan't perfectly smooth (the mom wasn't expecting a call from my daughter, I suppose) but we got the girl over. The playdate went well. All the girls got along. Q2 is surpising me in being able to keep up.

Although this isn't much to keep up with, I suppose. Enjoy the sillies!

Everybody knows

Since she's been able to talk C4 has been insistent that she isn't fond of dressing up. So this past Halloween she consented to doing the Halloween thing ... dressing up as an owner, and Q2 was the dog. So, not much of a costume, there, but totally acceptable for me.

One of the houses we visited belonged to Mr. J, a local busybody, dog owner, Hyattsville institution, and generally all-around good person.

He and his wife go ALL OUT for Halloween ... so my kids wanted to go see the lights, of course. But they hadn't counted on Mr. J and his wife being in costume themselves.

Yes, costumes. Big, black robes. Hoods. And masks. Yes, masks. C4 saw those robed, hooded, masked creatures and instantly sat down, and would not go any closer. This still across their driveway, maybe 25-30 feet from them. I understood, and so did Mr. J, who immediately took off his mask and hood and came over to give her a piece of candy.

However, to this day C4 is totally against Mr. J. She prefers to walk on the other side of the street, actually. If he comes up to see us, she hides her head in my leg if she is walking, or covers her eyes if she is in Big Blue. ***

Yesterday, we were walking to a local grocery to see if they had sour cream or yogurt so we could make blueberry scones. C4 asked me if we'd go by Mr. J's house on our way to the grocery. The answer was yes. So C4 turned around and walked to the corner and told me she wanted to walk on the other side of the street, even though they were icy and slippery.

I whined and cajoled, but gave in, since Q2 had also followed suit and walked back to cross the street at the corner.

We walked along ... and came upon Mr. J, who crossed the stree to say hi to use. Q2 waved and said hi, and when Mr. J came up she gave him a hug. C4? In my arms. Mr. J was cool, and waved it off and crossed back to his house. We kept walking.

A few minutes later ... he was back. With a BOX of chocolates. C4 practically flung herself at him, grabbed the box, and gave him a hug.

She still doesn't want to pass in front of his house, but I'm not opening those chocolates until she walks in front of his house and looks Mr. J in the eye again.

Correspondence

C4 got a letter thanking her for coming to a birthday party earlier this month. She was so excited she sat right down and wrote a return letter.

"Dear Z4, I loved you [sic] letter. Love, C4"

I addressed it and off it goes!

snow day

The girls woke up and the first thing C4 did was run into my room to tell me it was snowing. Then she ran to Q2 to tell her. Then Q2 found her stepstool so she could look out the window. Then C4 invited Q2 to her bedroom so they could sit on the big bed together to look out the window. Sweet.

Snow day activities:
1) Walk in the snow to deliver shoes.
2) Side trip down Kennedy to see kids we knew who were playing outside. Got rides on these incredible sleds ... kicksleds! C4 & Q2 were offered rides, and Q2 initially declined, but C4, in a reversal of her normal stand-offish-self-in-respect-to-physical-danger, hopped right on with the neighbor we didn't know that well. And once C4 did it Q2 gave it a try. I have to say, those neighbors are so sweet. C4 must have gotten 7 rides down the hill, and Q2 got one with S. and one extra-long one with G.
3) Back home, Q2 was cold, so we popped inside and C4 spent the next 20 minutes in the backyard by herself enjoying the snow.
4) All snow outfits were wet on top of the dirty, so I decided to wash them.
5) After snow bath.
6) Story-time at the library ... C4 had to wear the dreaded dalmation coat. Hahaha. This was not fun. She cried, and pouted, and lashed out. She wouldn't put her arms in the sleeves. But, she wore it as I directed, and put it on for the way home (although I had a hard time keeping it on b/c Q2 kept biting it, and it would slide off C4, since no arms were in the arm-holes).
7) While at the library I got the alert on my phone that my office was closing at noon. Since I go in at 1:00 on Tuesdays this was optimal timing.
8) Pancakes for lunch, and then C38 came home and took them outside. Since Q2 has been complaining about being cold, I put fleece pjs over her two pairs of pants and shirt & dress. And a jacket. She stayed out just about 10 minutes? 15 maybe? But C4 stayed out a long time. And helped C39 shovel.

snowflakes

We spent a large portion of the day making snowflakes with origami paper, making valentine's day cards for school friends, and looking at the intermittent snowflurries we had all day. Oh, and picking up scraps of paper.

We also had a playdate with new friends who C4 & Q2 had met on the street one day (C4 ran up and introduced herself ... "Hi, my name is C4, what is your name?") and then met again at a local restaurant on inauguration day. I sought out their mom on the local mom's group listserv and LO! I found her. So we met at the park to play. It was fun, but they were a bit late, and we were cold. So we didn't get enought playtime. But they all wanted to see each other again after, so, a success, I think.

Here is a video of how Q2 puts her coat on. C4 tried to upstage her, but Q2's conundrum at the end keeps it firmly her show, I think.

Bad

Q2: grabbed everything in sight in the grocery store. Including giant grab of twizzlers (and makes a break for it) then a box of My Little Pony Fruit Chews.
Q2: Licked grocery bagger's leg after licking the checkout counter line.
C4: Started the stupid licking thing over a year ago.
Q2: Threw in the air a fork which landed on C4's head.
C4: Started the day by pooping on bathroom floor and giggled at it.
Q2 and C4: threw every toy out of the bathtub all of which landed on C39's head and back.

I don't know what she was doing, exactly