Another Easter in the Basket

"Mommy!  I got a little Chloe!"

That was the first thing Clara said this morning and Fans, it's true: the Easter Bunny was here, and he brought Clara a little Chloe.  Little Chloe goes by Little Chloe; together with Chloe, they are the Chloes.  The Easter Bunny left two Easter baskets on the dining room table in which they bambini found bathing suits and swim goggles, some Cars cars (Ramone and Mater) and color-your-own puzzles and stickers, some markers and glue sticks, Little Chloe, and, for Joe, a helicopter-fire-truck-some-other-vehicle-too Lego set.  He also left eggs filled with chocolate  all over the place.  That Easter Bunny.  He's some bunny.

We're not sure what time the bambini got up, but we can report that they were both pretty tired at Easter mass.  As Joe said at lunch, "All the singing made me exhausted."  (He's recently learned the word exhausted and has been trying it out.)  Earlier, on the way home from mass, he'd commented that he was "over bored" of all those songs.  Over bored is, of course, not a word, which, when pointed out, prompted Joe to say, "Let's think of words that rhyme with fish!  Dish!"  He quickly moved into words that rhyme, but are not words, which kicked off a round of Clara chirping out a litany of words that are words, which is how she contributes to the rhyming game: "Tree's a word.  Houses is a word."  

As it turns out, Joe wasn't the only one who was exhausted by all that singing.  After Clara had done Julie's hair "fancy," the Birds fell asleep on the couch.  Julie, at least, woke up when Joe screamed "IT'S TIME FOR LUNCH!" when it was time for lunch, and after a while, she managed to rouse Clara Jane.  That cat nap was, of course, Clara's nap.  The Easter miracle was the resurrection, so we suppose it's fitting.

The Chloes, and the Birds.

Of Rain and Rain Boots (Or Galoshes)

For the past two days, cloudy mornings have given way to sunny days that are fighting to be warm.  Yesterday morning, there was an honest to God thunderstorm, with lightening and everything.  After Ted went down, the bambini made their way up.  Julie had asked Ted to send them up so they could listen to the rain on the roof, too.  As Longtime Readers know, laying on the big bed, listening to the rain on the roof, was how Julie and Clara spent many a morning or afternoon of Clara's first weeks.

Prior to those days, it is fair to say that Julie had a rather poor opinion of rain generally, though she would admit to liking a summer storm and singin' Singin' In the Rain.  She equated rain with mud; and damp, chill--downright cold!--days; umbrellas that don't seem to work unless one is walking though a sprinkle and then, who needs an umbrella?  No matter what, one's hair is bound to look a mess.  Rain, rain go away indeed.

Since the days and weeks following Birdie's arrival, however, she has come to appreciate the rain and all the other things it might mean: a cleansing, a renewal, and besides these more weighty things: rain boots (although it's more fun to say galoshes in her opinion).  In fact, Julie has just finished ordering Joe yellow galoshes with fire trucks on them; Clara, pink galoshes with strawberries on them; and herself, deep red galoshes.  (Ted doesn't seem like a galoshes kinda guy.  He seems like a I've-got-snow-boots-and-I'll-bet-they'll-work-in-the-rain-too kinda guy.)

So we will soon be set for some proper puddle walks and wishing for rain.

Adventures in a Dairy Land Galaxy

They've been celebrating reading at the KinderCare this month by asking families to complete weekly reading logs for prizes.  Julie has fond, fond memories of "Book It!" a program in which one recorded the books one read in exchange for pizza at Pizza Hut.  At the time, Julie thought Pizza Hut pizza tasted good and didn't really register that the name of the "restaurant" contained the word "hut," which means it probably has to work a little harder than other restaurants.  Still, it will probably not surprise many of y'all to know that she was in "Book It!" mainly for the thrill of reading and cataloging.  (At the same time, she loathed the reading program in which you read stories on cards that were colored, each color corresponding to a level.  Those cards were the worst.)

We Raleigh Housers are readers so we've been all about these reading logs even though, as you know, Fans, we've ended up eating dinner at Qdoba because of them.  Another week's completed reading logs meant that tonight, we dined at Dairy Queen.  The bambini wanted chocolate ice cream cones for dessert.  Ted tried to muddle this choice with excessive confirmation, but it didn't work.  He was pretty stressed out watching the two of them try to tame the cones.

Now, one would think the proper way to eat an ice cream cone would be obvious, but as it turns out, not so much.  Things went more smoothly with some helpful hints doled out along the way--also once the paper at the bottom of the cones was removed (MUCH time was spent asking after its removal).  Of course,  once they'd been doled out, Joe repeated them like he was God come down from on high.

In fact, when Julie repeated one of the key ice cream cone eating directives (eat it from top to bottom), Joe looked at her and said, "I already know that."

Julie commented to Ted, "And the Jedi becomes the master."

And Joe said, "I know what a Jedi is."

May the force be with us.

Movin' On Up

We have also been meaning to report that Clara's move from the "Twos" room where she has been since she was about 18 months old to the Pre-C room is imminent.  She will begin the transition next week.  Our Longtime Readers may recall that the pre-school gauntlet at our KinderCare proceeds illogically thusly: Pre-C, to Pre-A, to Pre-B.  Current enrollment does not actually support having Pre
-A open, so the order is Pre-C to Pre-B.  Longtime Readers may also recall that one's child passes through the Pre-C room, in which the focus is potty training, even if one's child is potty trained.  Longtime Readers may also recall that when Joe moved to Pre-C, the room was manned by one teacher and assorted "floats" and given that the focus was potty training, it seemed that if it didn't happen to be your child's 10 minutes in the bathroom, he or she was running about like a banshee.

We might harbor some bad memories of the pre-school room gauntlet and, in particular, the preschool-C room.

But, it is now staffed by two teachers, the lead of which, Ms. Jenny, has been there for a while now, and seems to be good people.  To be fair, she's been set up for success better than her predecessor who was trying to manage potty training for multiple children as well as execute curriculum such that parents like us weren't making appointments with management to inquire what exactly our children were doing since the daily doings board, for example, hadn't been updated in days?

So we have high hopes that all will be well.  Clara of course, has been using the potty with aplomb for months and months now.  She has, also, for two weekends in a row now, on both Saturday and Sunday, woken up after her nap dry--!!!!!  (She has been doing this at school practically since she first started using the potty, but her naps at home are longer and so she would often have an accident.)  Clara is excited to make the move because she will be reunited with her pals, Daphne and Silvia.  AND, there is this: Joe's room will be her drop-off and pick-up room--!!!!!  The dynamic duo will begin and end their school days together--until the fall.  (Until the fall--!!!!!)

Bedtime Piggyback Express

We have been meaning to report that lately, Joe and Clara have been taking piggyback rides into bed.  They both have to be reminded to hang on, but Clara also has to be reminded not to inadvertently choke her mother.  Clara's always been terribly good at hugs and squeezes and snuggles.  Her natural propensity is to hang on tight--a lovely, lovely thing to be sure.  It's just that right now, the length of her arms is such that when she clasps them around Julie's neck, and catches her hands up, the knot of her hands rests right against Julie's larynx.  So we're working on the subtleties.