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!
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