We went to the Edwards’ house today to see Yvonne and her 3 kids, Joshua, Luke & Hayden (L&H are twins).  Molly is so familiar with the Edwards brothers now that they’re practically like cousins.  She even gave Yvonne a hug and asked to be picked up by her. Someone said she’s trying out the other mamas to see how cuddly they are compared to hers! 😉  Everyone enjoyed playing in the garden with the additional visiting grown up on hand –  Molly’s nanna.

The Grange… where Molly put daisies in her hair, Conor blew bubbles and I accidentally knelt in dog poo.

We have a great bike seat for Molly that sits between me and the handlebars of my bike.  She loves it and gets super-excited any time I suggest we go out for a cycle round the lake.  It was really hot today so we stopped for an ice-lolly too… Molly really enjoyed her own orange ice-lolly which she chose herself, as well as the last bit of her dada’s ice-cream cone, and her mama’s strawberry-pink lolly!  Aparently food tastes better when its mama’s or dada’s.

I know ALL kids build these. Its just Moll hadn’t shown much interest in stacking her wooden blocks till today. I must’ve looked away for all of 10 seconds, then turned back and saw this (pic on right).  It kind of reminded me a bit of that library scene in Ghostbusters…… “no human would stack books this way!”.

Molly had a friend round for dinner today. Kenan and Molly go way back. Kenan is half Portuguese half French. With Sophie speaking to Kenan in French and me speaking to Molly in Maltese, the mish-mash of languages when we meet up is quite entertaining. Both kids usually come away from the experience having learned a new word in each other’s language. Today Kenan learned the Maltese word for snail (bebbux).

Today we went to the newly refurbished William Morris Gallery.  I didn’t really take in any of the exhibits, history or the Grayson Perry tapestry because I was relegated to the parts of the gallery that kept Molly entertained: the wooden blocks, the bean bag cushions and the grounds! She seemed to enjoy the gardens most of all where we kicked a ball around and climbed on logs.

I noticed her doing this a week ago.  This is the first time I’ve managed to capture it on film.  She usually sits on Conor’s lap before bedtime and completes every single sentence.  On this occasion she was resisting bedtime so was only half committed to storytime.  Still though….

This was just a routine check. Molly’s identification of the 6 silhouettes on the card were quick and clear:  Fish, Cat, Wellie-boot, Apple, Tick-Tock and Tea (picture of a mug).  I forgot to ask him whether watching to much TV will really make your eyes turn square!

So, I was sad.  But you hide it from your kids right? Well, that doesn’t work. Earlier, I’d been teaching Molly to say “Dada’s a messer”. Conor in return taught her to say “Mama is pretty”.  He prompted her, saying “Mama is…”. She took one look at me and finished the sentence: “….sad”!!!! Conor and I both smiled and Conor said “yes Molly. Mama’s a bit sad. Why don’t we get your bath toys and make her happy?”. We played and splashed and sang songs. Finally Conor returned to dry her off and take her to bed.  Again he prompted her saying “Mama is….”.  This time she looked at me straight in the eyes and gently said “….happy!”.

The first time I heard Molly say this about a week ago I couldn’t believe my ears.  I wanted to squeeze her with delight! What a brilliant expression. She learned it from a book Conor used to read to her: “Hippo says yawn”. He hasn’t read it for months but the phrase week’s to have stuck. Its great to hear her say it when she gets a treat!