The Magic of Maia and Cecily!: Science, Babies, and No Socks

Today was one of those days that reminds me how magical it is to be a parent. Nothing particularly exciting or special happened- it was just a great day with our great kids. Maia had a wonderful time at school, and was in a lovely mood when we got home. We had a nice lunch, and then played in the living room with her tool set and instruments (Cec loves the tools!) until it was time to put Cec down for her nap. Maia watched a Toot and Puddle while nap time commenced, and then she and I had some special time reading a few books and cuddling and chatting. Cecily's nap was ridiculously short (not even 30 minutes!), but she was in a remarkably good mood. After we all enjoyed a snack, Maia got out her learn-to-tell-time clock from Santa. She spent the entire afternoon playing with it-- the numbers each became characters, and she had an incredible make believe world for them. At one point one of the numbers became a baby, one a monster, and the rest the baby's protectors. Here are some photos from the action:

The baby is being protected from the monster:

Our happy baby needs no protection from monsters!

I'll save you!

Now monsters...

After the baby had been saved, we all went into the kitchen to make dinner, and I wasn't the only Mommy cooking. Maia also has two daughters, Tuna and Rory. Rory is the big sister, and Tuna is the baby. Their ages vary- sometimes Rory is in kindergarten, sometimes she's 4, sometimes she's 3. Tuna seems to always be a baby or very young toddler. Sometimes they accompany Maia to school, and sometimes they stay home and I take care of them. Rory looks a lot like Maia, while Tuna looks like a lot like Cec. And these girls are lots of work. As I was trying to get our dinner in the oven, Maia was busy raiding the cabinets. She ultimately decided that Rory needed some cornmeal flour for dinner. This involved the sifter, a bowl, a spoon for scooping out the cornmeal, and my desperate pleas to please use imaginary flour for the imaginary kids. Maia was having none of it. She couldn't use pretend food, Rory and Tuna were hungry! Let's just say, I ended up doing a lot of extra clean-up in the kitchen. And if you've ever marveled at how long it takes to get a three-year-old to do what needs to be done, such as sit at the dinner table, get ready for bed, etc., just imagine the three-year-old with two kids of her own she must take care of. It takes a lengthy process and makes it glacial!

We have a little bit of an impasse in our house these days. Daddy spends all week at his office, commuting, etc. Mommy spends all week at home, driving to and from school, etc. When the weekend rolls around, Daddy loves to be at home. And Mommy, well Mommy needs to get out a little bit. We've been doing our best to compromise- sometimes we stay home, and sometimes we go out. Yesterday we went on a big adventure-- to the Science Museum. Maia and I went there about a year ago and had a fabulous time. Daddy hadn't been there since he was a kid, so we were very excited to show him how much it changed, and Cecily seemed ready for some science.

Maia loved the musical staircase! She ran up and down, and up and down, and up and down...

We visited the space capsule:

Maia and Daddy on their way out of the capsule:

There was a very cool exhibit on weather. Cec and Maia were both fascinated by the tornado simulator. It was open so we could wave our hands through it, blow on it, whatever, and then watch the tornado reform. Very cool...

Cecily's love of kitties extends to really big kitties!

We visited the area for kids up to age 5 for a little hands on playtime. Cecily was a little confused by Maia in the bubble... (She tried to reach for her big sis and whacked her nose into the bubble. Way to go Mommy!)