Chicken ala Molly

Molly's play has reached a new level in the past few weeks. She now, after playing with Emma and Bea for a weekend, offers a plate of imaginary candy and pretends to feed pieces to other people, the cat and her toy animals. I suggested I might like some broccoli instead and she smiled a really big smile, and now offers candy (which she has never had, except for a couple of bank lollipops) alternately with broccoli (one of her favorite foods).

Lately, she has been taking the "head" pieces off of her stacking wood animal train pull-toy, and using them as phones. Elephant talks to Zebra, Zebra talks to Giraffe, and Mommy pretends to have conversations with each of them, "Well hello Zebra, you looked terrific Tuesday when we saw you at the Omaha Zoo, what is it like to share a pen with Emu? Great. I'm so glad you get along so well together. Say hey to Emu for me. Bye-bye!" This delights Molly as much as the idea that I can call Uncle Tommy or Grandma and Grandpa, Anne and Doug etc etc.

Today, I asked Molly what she wanted for supper and she said mushrooms, further prompted she asked for onions and chicken. Surprised, I nevertheless set about making some crockpot concoction involving chicken, onions and mushrooms (a little broth, a little wine vinegar, a little pepper, some thyme and voila, dinner du jour ala Molly. While I was cooking, she found her old toothbrush, a small pail bathtub toy and her sippy cup of milk. She shook the sippy over the pail, then mixed around the imaginary meal. Then added more milk, more stirring. Finally, I asked her what she was making. She looked at me and said, "Milk" in a geewhiz, isn't it obvious voice with her eyebrows upturned. Clever clever child.

Last weekend I volunteered at a neighborhood parade, my last task was to drive a golf cart with Phyllis and a large plastic bucket asking for donations to support the parade. Earlier in the day a clown had given me a whistle which I blew every time someone put money in the bucket. (How great is my life, by the way? I got to drive a golf cart around the neighborhood on a Saturday with my pal Phyllis and a big bucket of money and candy. Des Moines rocks!) Afterwards, I gave Molly the whistle and Phyllis joked that she was slightly deaf because someone had been blowing a whistle in her ear all morning. Molly proceeded, then, to try to put the whistle in her ear. Is this a sign of intelligence? I'm not sure, but she sure was listening to the gist of the adult conversation...

Speaking of which, her vocabulary is getting enormous lately and she surprises us almost every day with words we didn't know she knew. She surprises strangers with her statements, too. Still no real sentences (other than "No, Mom")

Milestones:

- Climbs on and off kitchen counter height stools
- Wakes up in the night and calls "Mama" or "Milk" instead of crying
- Sleeps under a blanket on a pillow (and likes to straighten the blanket out over herself)
- Memorized the onomonopoetic (?) sounds, in order, in a library book called "Little Monkey Says Goodnight" - between Thursday noontime and Tuesday evening.
- Tells a real joke. We ask her "What did the Chicken say when she crossed the road?" She says "Brock Brock Brock." (This is important for Beggars Night in Des Moines, and she is going to be dressed as a Chicken, her favorite animal)

Dad's home and Molly just woke up. Time for Chicken ala Molly!

Cheryl