Lost Tooth!

This afternoon Sam lost his first tooth. He was playing the basement, when I heard him coming up the stairs saying, "Maria, you have GOT to see this." I was the first person he ran into so he settled to show me the bloody hole in his mouth and the tooth that he was holding. Even though we had to clean up some of the blood, he was too excited to complain about any pain.

The mystery is, how did it come out? I didn't think it was that loose, and I check pretty regularly. He was by himself in the basement so no one saw it happen. Maria suggested to him the idea that he fell on his face and it just popped out, so that is his story. Even though we heard no fall, and there is no evidence of any other injuries which may occur when you fall hard enough on your face to jar a tooth out of your mouth. And he is awfully excited about signing the "Tooth Chart" when he gets to school tomorrow. The other weird thing is that the hole in his mouth has no evidence of the new tooth coming in yet. So I wonder if he just decided it was time and pulled it, or wiggled it so much that it had to come out. But he's sticking with the falling on his face story and who knows, maybe that's what really happened.

Maria is now very motivated to get her loose tooth out too. She's been working it a lot since he lost his this afternoon. Maybe the Tooth Fairy can make one stop for two teeth tonight.

UPDATE: OK, maybe his story is true. Saw a mark on his chin in the bathtub last night that he could have easily gotten by falling from one couch to the next - now I'm glad he didn't knock any other teeth out!

And he was so cute this morning when he saw the dollar the tooth fairy left for him. Even though he looked twice in the box since he was expecting 7 or 8 dollars, which is what he told Ben he thought the fairy would leave him last night.

Missing Coat

I have been so unhappy about this missing coat that I haven't even been able to bring myself to blog about it. The whole situation upsets me that much. And I'm not sure why. Here's what happened:

A week ago last Friday, right before Sam's birthday party, I realized that Sam's new coat, which he had worn to school that morning but not on the way home since it was too warm, was missing. Not a big deal - there have been several times when the kids have left their coats at school and retrieve them the next day - it's hard to remember to bring it home when it goes from 50 degrees in the morning to 80 degrees in the afternoon.

So I asked Dolly, his kindergarten teacher, at soccer on Saturday morning. No, she's sure its not in her room - she remebered it because she thought it was a cute coat.

Did I mention it was BRAND NEW? It was maybe the third time he had worn it. And it was from Gap - so not super cheap to replace.

Anyway, Dolly would keep an eye out for it. Then Monday morning I wrote a note to the Kinderpaws teachers. They haven't seen it. It's not in any of the Lost and Founds. The bus driver has never seen it. I e-mailed Dolly again a week later to see if anything had turned up. She hasn't seen it, but understands my frustration.

And I have been obsessing about this lost coat. First of all, I paid good money for it, I really liked it, and it was BRAND NEW. Second, Sam's only just started kindergarten. Aren't the adults with him all day supposed to help him keep track of his things? I know he's supposed to be learning to take care of himself, but he's only been in school for a month. And I know I shouldn't buy him a new coat. But I don't really think he's learning a lesson from this - he doesn't seem to care that much. He only has sweatshirts and winter weight coats that fit now, which means he won't wear anything because he gets too hot. It hasn't been an issue yet - its been too warm - but its going to be a problem soon.

So I can't decide what to do. But I really don't think I'm going to feel better about this until I get him a new coat, similar to the old coat. Then maybe I can forget about this.

UPDATE: OK, so we ordered Sam a new coat.  But it's on sale now - $10 cheaper than when we bought it.  And Sam picked out a different color.

Birthday Party

This afternoon was Mason's 7th birthday party. I took the kids by myself since Ben had band contest. The party was at the Chiller - the ice skating rink. It started with pizza and opening gifts, then we were surprised when "Luke the Juggler" came in the entertain us. Turns out its tough to be a magician/juggler when the majority of your audience is 7-year-old boys. The were very interested in figuring out his tricks and did give him a bit of a hard time. The picture is of Maria helping him balance a rotating ball on a stick. He also gave each kid a pre-made balloon animal, which were much more elaborate than most balloon animals I have seen. But after he left, most of the boys used their sporks to pop their balloons. Maria and Sam brought their to me to keep safe.

After cake, we ice skated for 1 and a half hours. I thought Sam could do it without me - he was doing pretty good at Maria's party, but its been several months and after watching him barely able to move without falling, I put my skates on to help. He did pretty good - holding my hand or the wall some of the time and venturing off on his own some of the time - until he got a blister on his leg from the skate rubbing about halfway through the skating time. We tried to band-aid it and tighten his skates, but he was done after that. Maria was practicing things like skating backward and skating on one leg.

Tonight we are going back to Mason's house for a cookout and family party - the kids are already there. And Ben won't get home from contest until after 11:00.

Also - Sam scored two goals and had one assist at this morning's game. Definitely pleased with everything this soccer season - except maybe the 8:45 a.m. games!

Sam's 6 Year Check Up

This afternoon was Sam's well child appointment. He's doing just fine, which we knew. He weighs 46.8 pounds and is 46 inches tall. Don't know percentiles - they quit doing that by this age, but I usually check for myself online. I just haven't had a chance to do that yet. The Dr. also gave us a sample of a nasal spray to help with allergy problems, which we may try tomorrow if Sam can handle me squirting stuff up his nose. And he giggled when the nurse took his blood pressure - thought it was a neat feeling. When she said, "Wow, you weren't scared at all," he replied "I'm six now."

But apparently being 6 doesn't make him any braver when he falls off his bike which he did three times tonight, once on the road. Only the first fall required a band-aid, and falling right on that band-aid the second time saved him from getting another scrape. But he definitely cries for a while after each fall. He is purposely going as fast as he can, and not slowing down for turns. So its not surprising that he falls. Yet he seems surprised and upset each time.

In other news, it looks like Maria will lose a tooth before Sam. She hasn't lost any in about 3 years, but has a couple that are loose, and today after school she showed me that one has gotten much looser recently. She can't even chew on that side. Could be busy for the tooth fairy here soon.

Kindergarten Homework

Tonight Sam and I were at the bar while I helped him through his homework. He brings it all home on Monday, and its due on Thursday. I try to get as much done as we can early in the week so I don't have to worry about it.

So Sam and I had been working about 10 minutes, we had about 5 more minutes worth to go. He has to write chosen "popcorn" words six times each in a notebook to practice his writing skills. Sam finished his first word but then broke down when it was time for the second word.

"Mom, this word is TOO LONG. I can't do it. I'm too tired. I need a snack."

Since it was his birthday and and we have 2 more nights to get it done, I let him off and told him we'd finish tomorrow. But I am very concerned that homework for him is going to be quite a fight for the rest of the year, let alone the rest of his school career.

You're probably wondering what kind of crazy long word my poor 6 year old is expected to write that would cause such a breakdown: The

Grandma L.'s Birthday

We were so busy dealing with Sam's birthday that I forgot that we also celebrated Grandma L.'s birthday this weekend. Friday night we took Grandma and Grandpa out to Boston's for pasta, then gave Grandma her gifts at home. The kids picked out Brain Age 2 for her to play on her Nintendo and we gave her a gift card to Red Lobster. The kids helped get Grandma set up on her Brain Age gane so that she can just do training each day now.

Sam's 6th Birthday Party

Yesterday was Sam's birthday celebrations. It started with a party at "Pump it Up" with about 20 kids attending, a combination of kindergarten classmates, Kinderpaws friends, teammates from his T-ball team last summer, and family friends. The kids had a blast playing on the inflatables - and some grown-ups too - and Sam says that was the favorite part of his day.


After the playing, there was cake for everyone in the party room (check out the cake - Ben did the decorating - doesn't it look great, even though they started by putting nine candles on it), followed by gift opening with Sam sitting in the throne and saying "Awesome!" every time he opened a gift.

After the party, we came home and had a family birthday party and dinner with Grandma and Grandpa L., Grandma and Grandpa K., and Lisa, Mason, and Lindsey. Sam got to open more presents, including some cool Star Wars toys and the Voice Changer Clone Troopers helmet (Sam was waiting to win the Trix yogurt give-away to buy one himself, but now maybe the pressure is off.) Then we had a lasagna dinner that Maria and I prepared Friday afternoon, followed by ice cream dessert. The kids played games (for Maria Clue and Sam played Caribou) until after 9:30 when we finally got them to bed. Ben and I went to bed soon after - around 10:30 - we were so exhausted!

All in all, a great day and fun birthday. Tomorrow is Sam's actual birthday, so he has a special day and treats at both kindergarten and Kinderpaws. Then he gets to pick where we have dinner- the weather might be nice enough to have a picnic in a park.

Reflections on a 5-Year-Old

Today is Sam's birthday party - on Monday he turns 6 years old. We are having a party at Pump it Up with 20 kids - both friends and family. I am looking forward to all the celebration, and Sam is so cute when he talks about it. This morning he's still sleeping, and once he gets up it will be a whirlwind of soccer game and party preparations. So I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to reflect while its still quiet.

I have mixed feelings about Sam turning six. Five years old is a favorite age of mine - with both of my children. They are still cute and cuddly and little kid-ish. But as they try to figure out the world, they make the funniest comments. Five-year-olds also still believe their parents know everything. And even though I know its untrue, its a great feeling that one person in the world believes you are the expert at all things. And I know from experience, this phase is just about over. Sam started kindergarten a month ago, and soon he will be certain he knows it all (a phase that I think will last until he's about 20). And he won't want to hug me in public anymore and tell me he loves me. And soon he won't need me to read him books either.

For me, the turning point seems to be when they lose those front teeth. All of a sudden, they don't look like your baby anymore - they have these huge teeth in a still smallish mouth. And then they don't act like your baby anymore either. I think I'm most sad this time because Sam is my youngest, and I'll never have another 5-year-old in the house again.

And the clock is ticking, because not only is he turning 6, but he has a loose tooth too.

Another Day Off

Another day of no school due to closed roads. We're not really sure where these roads are, just have information from the newspaper yesterday which stated roads that were still closed in the county, and most of them are in our school district.

But at least we got our phone, Internet, and cable back around 10:00 this morning. We took the kids mini-golfing this afternoon and now they are playing outside with Mason. We have to eat a really early dinner and then its activity night Maria with piano, ballet, and gymnastics, and Sam with soccer. It's important to us to try to enjoy these unscheduled days off since chances are we'll be making them up during the beginning of what should be our summer vacation in June.

We know there are parts of central Ohio that have no power and may not have any until Sunday, so we do consider ourselves lucky, especially since we have Sam's birthday party this weekend.

Going A Little Crazy

So yesterday we had a huge wind storm. What was left of hurricane Ike, except at least it was dry. We were lucky, though, with very little damage. Our next door neighbors were not so lucky, as they watched shingles from their roof fly by the window. Then when they got up there to investigate they realized that their was not even any tar paper in places. But they were able to patch things up with Ben's help while I watched Mason and Lindsey here along with Maria and Sam.

We were happy that we never lost power. But we did lose cable TV, internet, and phone about 24 hours ago. And school was cancelled today because of power outages and road closures. Its been a long time with no TV or internet. Thanks goodness for our Blackberries or we would really be crazy. I hope we get everything back soon - if not it's going to be a long evening - don't know how many more times I can watch The Wizard of Oz!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Saturday

This morning we went to visit the traveling Vietnam War Memorial, that is has been herein Marysville since Thursday and is leaving tomorrow. Ben's parents came up to see it too, and the kids made rubbings of some names of men that Darrell had known in the Army. Maria understood what it was about, but Sam really had no idea. Once he had made a couple of rubbings he was ready to go.

The rain stayed away all day, so Sam was able to get his soccer game in today as well. The opposing team was fairly aggressive, and our boys were a little cautious to go after the ball. If we kept score, we would have lost by about 10-5 or so. Sam scored once - he had a break away where he dribbled the ball all the way to the goal, but when he got there, a member of the other team dived on the ball and caught it with his hands. So Sam got a goal kick because of the penalty and put it in.

This afternoon Ben had a band contest and the kids played outside with Mason for a few hours. Now they are back, tired and grumpy, and arguing about everything! I hope its just a phase, but I also know it could just be a sign of them growing up.

Our Little Architect

Sam got his book order at kindergarten today. He ordered a Pokemon book with tracing paper and 3-D glasses. As soon as we got home Maria set him up and he started to trace the Pokemon characters - he was really enjoying himself. When I checked on him, he was wearing his Monsters, Inc hard hat (recently saved from basement and new favorite) and drawing with great concentration. He told me he had his hat on because he was working in his office.

This on top of all the building with Legos really makes me wonder if we have a future architect or engineer on our hands.

Schedule!

Maria started ballet and gymnastics this week. She takes both classes at the dance studio, and they go all year round until the recitals in May. I always like that these classes don't start until the week after Labor Day, so there are only 6 weeks of overlap with Ben's marching band schedule and Sam's soccer practices. Planning around all of these and still trying to have dinner as a family has been stressful and we have had to be creative, but we had a plan for the entire week - even able to cook at home Sunday through Thursday. Here's what our week looked like:

Monday - Band after school (Ben) and Book Club (Lisa)
Tuesday - Paino (Maria) and soccer (Sam) at the same time
Wednesday Band (Ben), Ballet (Maria), and Band Boosters (Ben)
Thursday - Soccer (Sam), Gymnastics (Maria) at overlapping times

I was looking forward to getting into the routine of what a real week would be like, but the reality of the craziness has left me (and Ben) exhausted. It really takes two parents on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get both kids where they need to be, but it's only for a few more weeks.

When I picked Maria up from ballet today, Miss Krista told me that she would like to split the ballet class to "allow the girls to grow more." Apparently there were several girls in this class who are behind and Miss Krista would like to pull out Maria and several others into their own class. Good news - new class at 6:15 on Tuesdays, which is right after piano. Also, Maria could switch to a Gymnastics class that backs up to ballet - 7:00-7:45 on Tuesdays. This means that Maria could have all of her activities in one night. She is excited about it, but I am afraid it will be exhausting for her. Then again, only having to go out one evening in the winter when it's cold and rainy or snowy sounds much better. So we're going to try it next week and see how it goes.

A Preview Of Sam's Soccer Team Picture

Maria's Test Scores

Here are Maria's test scores from the Reading and Math Ohio Achievement Tests taken last spring - we just received them in the mail.

The Lion King

Yesterday we took the kids to the Ohio Theatre to see The Lion King. Ben and I saw it several years ago, but thought the kids were old enough to enjoy it now. And they loved it. Our seats were in the middle of the balcony, but we got lucky in that one seat directly in front of us was going to be empty (the woman in front of us said one person in her party was not going to be there), so the kids sat behind that seat and were able to see really well. (Except for the fight about who got to sit next to me, since they both couldn't and still be able to see well. We finally compromised that Sam would sit next to me during the first half, Maria during the second. But then that seat got filled during intermission and Sam had to sit on our laps anyway.)

Maria's comments were things like "Amazingly spectacular" and Sam stuck with "Awesome." They loved the costumes and big animals, and the first half held their interest pretty well - Sam started to get squirmy toward the end of the first half. At intermission, Ben took Sam to the gift stand where he picked out a Scar key chain, which kept him entertained during the slow parts of the second act. Maria and I spent all out time in the bathroom line, but were able to make it back to our seats just in time for the second act. Maria picked out a T-shirt after the show.

We had a great time, but were exhausted since going to the show was sandwiched between Sam's soccer game and going out to dinner with the Smith's (the kids and Mason stayed here with a sitter). We're trying to cram everything in before Ben starts having competitions starting next Saturday.

Today should be more relaxing with only regular Sunday stuff and finalizing plans for Sam's party. Check back later for a post about Sam's soccer game - Ben took video and will have to download those pictures. He did great and scored three goals.

Birthday Party Stress

Sam's birthday party is in two weeks. Planning any kids party is busy and stressful at times, but I think Sam's is more difficult for me since it comes right at the beginning of the school year. Ben is working a lot of hours, and getting things done at our house on top of soccer practices, Maria's activities, me back at work, and playing outside in the evenings when we are home seems tough as it is. But now is the time I need to be getting out the birthday invitations, getting gift ideas to family members (although I did already get that one done), ordering the cake, wrapping presents, and making the special picture book I always give both kids on their birthday that has summarized their entire year. Two parts of this system have been stressing me out:

1. Invitations. Sam is still making friends - he's only been in kindergarten 2 weeks as of today. They sit with someone different each day, so he hasn't had much of a chance to make new friends. And when he does make a friend he would like me to invite, he only knows their first name. Sometimes Maria can help with last names, then I search in last year's directory (we don't have this year's yet) for their address. This only works if they have an older sibling at the elementary. Using the white pages is impossible - with the family names aorund here there are way more than one listing for the last names - last night we fould one name with about 20 listings in just Plain City alone. And I'm trying to respect the school's request to not give out invitations at school so some kids don't feel left out. Usually I eventually get an address, but it is time consuming. I'm afraid he's not going to have very many friends at his party because I can't find them!

2. Cake. Sam picked out Star Wars Clone Wars for the theme. Apparently they have a tight copyright and bakeries are not allowed to even print off Star Wars pictures on the icing sheets and put them on a cake. So we are going to order a plain one and Ben will be creative with the Star Wars logo and action figures. I think it will turn out fine, but is serious extra work the morning of the party, when we don't need extra work.

I'm sure it will all be fine and Sam will have a great birthday. But the organization this time has not been easy!

What Would You Do With $10,000?

Sam has a plan for when he wins the Trix yogurt $10,000 give-away. He is certain he'll win, it's just a matter of time. Every time he tears off the lid of the yogurt and it says "Sorry, try again," he is both surprised and disappointed. It doesn't matter how many times I explain their "Many will play, few will win," disclaimer, he is still determined that he will be $10,000 richer soon.

So when he wins the money, he's going to buy a Clone Trooper Voice Changer Helmet. I asked him if he would give me whatever he may have leftover after that purchase. He said, "No! But I will give you a dollar."

Grandpa K.'s Birthday and Cookout

Tomorrow is Grandpa Keller's birthday, so Rita and Darrell came over so that the kids could celebrate with him. We ended up having a cookout with the Smith's next door and Lisa's parents, so there were 12 of us in all. Lisa took care of the appetizers and meat, we handled side dishes and dessert. Thanks to Rita and Darrell for all the help with that!

We enjoyed a delicious meal and the kids got along well too. Afterward we got out the Slip-n-Slide and Lisa brought water balloons and slingshots for them. The slingshots didn't work very well but the kids had fun getting each other wet with the water balloons.

What a busy but fun weekend it's been!

Now we all have colds, or allergies, or something. I had a slight cold all last week that doesn't seem to be getting much better or worse. Ben and Sam have allergies, but have been much more miserable today. Don't know if they're getting a cold on top of allergies or if the pollen is just that bad. And Maria is pretty stuffed up tonight, and her colds almost always turn into some kind of infection, so I'm waiting for that. Could be an interesting week.