Disconnect

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good

She was very, very good

But when she was bad

She was horrid!

Clara's recent parent-teacher conference was barely underway before I began to doubt whether we were truly discussing our middle child.

"Clara is phenomenal!" exclaimed Miss Luci, and just stopped, as if that closed the book on our entire discussion.

As I struggled to reconcile the Clara we see at home with School Clara, she must have seen the surprise on my face, and began to enumerate the many, many things she does well at school.

While Home Clara is, in many ways, more like a taciturn, crotchety ninety year-old man suffering from dementia than a three year-old little girl, School Clara is apparently a model citizen. Home Clara acts like she's being imprisoned in her own home against her will, asks the same questions repeatedly (most notably, "Am I still three and a half?"), insists on performing tasks her own way ("I do it myself!!!"), delights in pushing her caregiver's buttons, and infuriates her fellow inmates with lies and half-truths.

School Clara could not be a more different creature. Known as the "Little Mother," she is helpful, compassionate, and caring, often assisting two particular classmates when they get frustrated with puzzles, art projects, or building. Out of her class of 12, she's the only one who has never cried when being dropped off, and in fact, she apparently has a routine that involves sneaking into the class, walking to the middle of the room, and then announcing dramatically, "I'm here!!" She plays well, listens well, and is "remarkably" creative and cooperative with her play.

I felt the need to note that Clara has been much more of a challenge at home than she is at school, and you could tell that Miss Luci frankly didn't believe me.

She paused for a moment, trying to summon up a negative thing to say about the Little Mother.

"Well," she said finally. "The only thing that she could improve on here is cleaning up. Just last week, we realized that Clara always decides to go to the restroom when it's time to clean up."

Now that sounded familiar.

Easter Outtakes

Trying to capture a picture of three kids decked out in their Easter finery this year resulted in lots of howling, scowling and general anarchy. We managed just this one shot of all three, and I almost deleted it, before realizing that it perfectly sums up all the imperfections of life with three squirmy little people.

We ended up with a lot of photos from Easter Sunday that aren't picture-perfect, but do capture just how richly blessed we are with these silly, crazy, tempermental characters.

Running around in the rain in the wee hours of the morning, looking for eggs, and consuming chocolate before breakfast maaaay have contributed to the silliness in the above photos.

Happy Easter!

The Lost Boys

The Cecchin cousins all convened at our house on Tuesday afternoon for a little lunch, playtime, and jockeying for the best pirate attire from the dress-up basket.

All those extra layers came off a little later. With these guns and six-packs to show off, why wouldn't all the boys choose to be shirtless?

Inching Closer to a Year

At eleven months old, Molly is rapidly adding to her resume. Here's her latest:

• She's cutting teeth left and right, most recently her "cleft tooth," which is coming in a little crooked and wonky, and has her more feverish and out-of-sorts than her four other teeth combined.
• She loves her newfound ability to crawl, and I love walking into another room, only to have her shuffle after me in hot pursuit. Is there anything cuter than a sweet, smiling little baby poking her head around the corner and waving at you?
• On that note, waving might be her signature move right now.
• And saying 'hi'!
• Even better? Doing both while jumping in the Jumperoo!
• When she's not working her thighs in the Jumperoo, she's isolating her biceps by pulling up on anything and everything, especially our activity table in the family room and her crib.
• She's still a champion sleeper, even in the midst of teething, going down at about 7 p.m. and sleeping until 6:30 a.m., with a morning nap and an afternoon nap that each last for about two hours.
• Her love affair with her thumb is still going strong. (Although there's shades of 'Fatal Attraction' with this love story. Any tips for treating red, chapped thumbs? We're new to this thumbsucking business.)
• Her sweet, happy smile gets bigger and more infectious every day!

Ladies' Man

Hosting a playdate might be more amusing for me than for the kids, especially when the date is Joey's best buddy, Drew. On Friday, we brought Drew back to our house after school, for lunch, playtime, and mommy eavesdropping.

Clara is fast developing a crush on this older man, and while I was fixing lunch, she hand-delivered some strawberries to Drew out in the back yard. Before bequeathing this prize, she asked, "Drew, do you like strawberries?"

"Clara," he responded. "I don't like strawberries. I love them!"

Is there any faster way to Clara's heart? She totally loves being attacked by pirates with Buzz Lightyear guns, too.

Later, the two boys crowded together on bench at the kids' lunch table (seriously challenging its weight limit), and threw their arms around each other's shoulders.

"We're best buddies, Joey!" said Drew happily.

"Yep, we're best buddies. But Drew, you know, we're not even going to go to the same kindergarten!"

"I know," said Drew, soberly. "But we can still go to the same college. And we should definitely go to a college close to home."

I could swear he shot me an Eddie Haskell smile.

Glasses in Sight?

Back in January, at Joey's 5-year check-up, he was asked to don an eye patch, squint, and read some letters on a wall twenty feet away. As a bonus, he had already been asked to remove his shirt. Hilarity ensued. Pirate Joe thought this was just about the most cockeyed thing he'd ever been asked to do... although peeing in a cup five minutes before that came in a close second.

It was all fun and games until it became clear that our little pirate really wasn't seeing those letters on the wall that well. Asked to tell which way the "E" was pointing -- up, down, left or right -- he started faltering around the 20/50 point, and my heart was racing for him as he randomly hazarded guesses. Once you've flunked a vision test yourself, and murky, blobby letters seem just out of your grasp, you never forget that tense, vulnerable, stomach-in-knots sensation of feeling outmatched and under-equipped.

Joey's pediatrician chalked up his low score to "squirreliness" (yes, that's a direct quote), which can be pretty normal for five year-old boys, but we were packed off to a pediatric optometrist just in case, especially given that one of Joey's parents was legally blind until about two years ago.

We finally made it the eye doctor on Wednesday, and on the drive there, Joey was in a grim, pensive mood. The idea of wearing glasses did not sit well with him, and when I asked why, he would only respond, "Because."

Fortunately for Joey, he got a reprieve of at least a year. He took three different vision tests, two of which asked him to identify pictures. He tested 20/35 and 20/40 on those, and then the eye doctor decided to do a more "grown-up" screening using letters, explaining that that kind of assessment isn't normally used until kids turn six, but it's generally considered the most accurate. With that method, his vision was 20/25.

With three different results, we decided glasses are definitely not a necessity this year, but, because he has astigmatism in both eyes, they likely will be perched on his little nose at some point in the next few years. I'm not sure who's more traumatized by this news -- me, because I wore glasses for so many of my school years, or Tim, because Joey's batting eye may be forever compromised ;)

Putting the Tooth Fairy on Notice

Our trio descended on a new pediatric dentist in the 'burbs today, and I think I'm still shell-shocked from an event that can best be filed into the category of Things You Really Shouldn't Do With Three Kids.

The kids burst into the waiting room hell-bent on being as silly as humanly possible, while I trailed with a Bjorn'd Molly, already feeling the weight of stares from other moms. I was immediately saddled further with two clipboards and two sets of new patient paperwork. I love summoning up Social Security numbers, insurance policy details, and obscure phone numbers while policing little terrorists. Before we even made it into the exam room, I had to ferry kids to the bathroom three (three!!) times, put Clara in time-out twice, comforted Molly after she face-planted into a wooden abacus toy, and threatened to make Joey wait for us in the car.

Luckily, things improved once dental professionals got involved. Both kids were angels for their X-rays and their cleanings, submitted to their fluoride treatments without a fuss, and earned high praise for their teeth-brushing.

The good news? No cavities here, and we can now highly recommend a diet high in OtterPops, jellybeans, and ice cream.

The bad news? The dentist officially launched me out of the land of milk teeth, and straight into another universe peopled by gritty, grown-up, gap-toothed kids.

Joey had been complaining about one of his bottom teeth hurting when he brushes, and I relayed this to the dentist, wincing, and mentally preparing for a cavity and a lecture.

"Well," the dentist said, "I can see why. It's pretty loose and wiggly. It's about to come out."

This man clearly had no idea how close I had just come to dropping Molly on the linoleum floor, because he blithely continued.

"It looks like he's ready to lose four of them, actually."

Tooth Fairy, I think we'll be meeting soon, although I thought you wouldn't be taking any booty from our house for at least two more years. While Joey wiggles his overachieving baby teeth, brushes with a new, crazed fierceness, and wonders aloud if you bring quarters or dollar bills, I just have one question: Any chance you can give mothers laughing gas to ease these rites of passage?

Girls' Weekend

This weekend, I flew to Palm Springs with some of my closest friends to celebrate my friend Carla's upcoming wedding. We had an amazing, relaxing time in a sprawling, luxuriously renovated villa that was allegedly once a love nest for Sonny and Cher. I'm not sure why that piece of trivia didn't actually deter us from staying there, but we loved its old Palm Springs style, modern decor, and kid-free calm!

This was my first bachelorette party as a mother of three, and raising small children must have honed my ability to board planes in a timely, cost-effective manner. I'm thrilled to report that this time around, I didn't miss my flight because I was too absorbed in a book. Tim is also thrilled to report that I didn't once again experience extreme post-partum panic and book a $400 one-way flight to return to my baby as soon as aeronautically possible.

Unfortunately, raising small children has also drastically lowered my alcohol tolerance. My flight home may or may not have been a queasy, turbulence-filled ride, during which my 33 year-old body cursed my inner sorority girl. When the beverage cart rolled around, I could feel my stomach curl into the fetal position. Cranberry vodka? No, thank you.

Hangovers aside, it was unbelievably luxurious to soak in the Palm Springs sun, sleep in, read two books cover to cover, and gab with 13 other amazing women all weekend long! Thanks to Stacey for capturing many, many fun moments from the trip!

While I was away, Tim took the kids to Lake Tahoe to play in the snow, and Clara had fun cavorting with her own lady friend.

Somehow, I have a feeling I'll be seeing this saucy stance at a bachelorette party in her future.

Doppelganger

Molly met her twin last week, and was mesmerized. What a fun glimpse into what life with her times two would be like!

We Have a Crawler!

Little Molly May is officially on the move, at just shy of 11 months old!

She started crawling this morning, and by midday was a pro at Studio Grow, going after firetrucks, dinosaurs, and wooden trains.

Here's a final look at her crawl from the rear view...

Future Zookeeper

Clara might have found her calling on Sunday, when we visited the Oakland Zoo, and were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour that included up-close-and-personal visits with tortoises, giraffes, a yellow-naped Amazon parrot, a blue-tongued skink, and the teeny-tiny, porcupine-like tenrec.

Proving that she really has been raised by a pack of wolves -- Joey and two 100-pound dogs -- Clara gamely stroked the leathery neck of an 85 year-old tortoise, was unfazed when she was covered in slimy saliva from multiple giraffes, and would have definitely jumped into the sunbear exhibit if she had been able, to get a better look at the wrestling going on inside.

No wonder one of her favorite books is Goodnight Gorilla! Give her a ring of keys and a flashlight, and she would happily share a snug little zookeeper house with a lion, a gorilla, a giraffe, an armadillo, and even a mouse.

Joey and Molly joined the fun, too, but kept their distance a little more.

We ended the weekend with not one, but two family photos!! If only we had all gotten the memo to stick out our tongues like a giraffe!

Thanks to Amy Phelps, one of the fabulous giraffe keepers at the Zoo, for organizing our tour!

Play Ball!

For the upteenth year in a row, we convened at Marchbank Field to watch our guys -- from the class of 1993 and 1994 -- take on their much (much) younger counterparts in St. Ignatius' annual alumni baseball game, this year with Uncle Matt traitorously coaching the young studs ;) The 18 year-olds carried the day, but the old guys still had fun, and Tim even got a single.

Here's our little baseball fans after the dust settled.

It's always a fun day for playing with cousins from both sides of the family!

Clara took some notes on what clean-up duty entails, and then plopped down in the dirt next to the backstop. I'm surprised she wasn't chewing tobacco by the end of the day.

The best part of the day besides the single? A rare family photo! Just ignore Clara's surly look and Joey's goofiness, and bust out your magnifying glass to zoom in on Molly. We're obviously not picky these days.