Big kid teeth

Caitlin's adult right lower middle tooth (enough adjectives for you?) was fully in and knocking her baby teeth out of the way for a few weeks (months even maybe).  She was the only kid in the whole world that was 6.5 and hasn't lost a tooth (according to her own personal poll and analysis)--she's been watching her friends lose teeth for the past 2 years. However, that adult tooth made her feel like "a big kid," she confessed to me, not too long ago.  But, oh, the agony of waiting to lose your first tooth.    Especially since the dental hygienist labelled that baby tooth "loose" 18 months ago.

She was wiggling that baby tooth forever, it seemed like.  Most days we got "hey mom/dad, want to see how wiggly my tooth is?"  Finally, I was starting to get worried about the way the new teeth were growing in out of place since the baby teeth were still there.  On Oct 9th, we were driving to school and I decided that we'd better get an opinion from the dentist.  I told her we'd be calling the dentist in one week if that baby tooth were still there. I encouraged her to play with that tooth with her tongue whenever she could.

She came home and after dinner that day and showed us that her tooth was barely hanging on since she'd been playing with it all day.  I took a look and knew it was a matter of seconds--It was doing the 360 degree twist.  "Go yank that thing out...just take a tissue and do it," I said--not thinking she actually would.  She looked at me intently for a moment, turned around, walked to the bathroom, grabbed a tissue and yanked that tooth right out.  Brave.  I'm pretty sure I was never that brave.

 

So, first baby tooth lost, Oct 9, 2012 (right, bottom, for baby book purposes).  Five dollars from the tooth fairy (I thought we weren't doing the tooth fairy, but Caitlin thinks we are--so, I guess we are?) Then the second tooth was lost on the 20th--(surprise! adult tooth already half-way up behind that one too!)--both middle lower teeth gone--Caitlin now $8 richer.  She was way more impressed with the three $1 bills than the one $5 bill.  And not even a gap-y smile yet.  She's got at least 2 more loosey gooseys waiting that will go soon.  

ah, the milestones keep going by...

Real Cut

Back last December, John cut Ryan's hair for his first hair cut.  Since then, that's how we've maintained.  But, last week, with family pictures coming up and his hair getting noticeably straggly, we thought he earned himself a real hair cut.  That turned out to be daddy's territory, so off the boys went (with Caitlin) yesterday to get the hairs cut for real.  As they were piling into the car, I waved the camera to John with a wide smile.  I really could barely stand to miss it, but the way our schedules worked out yesterday, we just could not all go together.  John came back with a tiny eyeroll and might have muttered "the things i do for love," under his breath sort of while he grabbed the camera out of my hands.  Thanks, babe.  Here's my little dude getting his first hair cut.  He did great.

 

 He told me all about his cape when he got home. And he looks darling.

Corn maze

 

I had a conference to attend in TC this weekend, so I brought the kids along to visit with grandparents and cousins.  They went to a corn maze on Saturday while I was at a conference and I met up with them after for some caramel apples (or just caramel, if you're Nora)

Vacation part 2

We, along with Rebecca and Don and Jacob, spent this week with Nana and Grandpa up in Frankfort. We arrived on Monday and hit the beach immediately.  The kids had a blast jumping the tiny waves with each other and with Nana.

 Ryan and Jacob worked on perfecting a sand castle that someone else had left on the beach.

 Nora, again, was a fish. Loved every second in the water.

 This was my favorite picture of the day. I did not pose them, but I just love the way they are sitting on the sand together.

 On Tuesday, we went on a canoe trip down the Platt River and then spent the rest of the afternoon in Lake Michigan again.  The canoe trip was 1.5-2 hrs long and John and I were in a canoe with Ryan and Nora.  They got these cute little plastic chairs to sit in during the trip and were, overall, pretty good during the ride.  Ryan was behind Nora and definitely was poking at her and bothering her a little bit b/c he had nothing else to do probably.  I wasn't brave enough to bring the camera, but I wish I had.  Caitlin went with Nana and Grandpa in their canoe and Rebecca, Don and Jacob went in their canoe.  Hopefully I can get some pictures from the others that were there.


My dad took John and Don salmon fishing on Wednesday--they caught 9 or 10 salmon and then we ate them for dinner--the freshest fish we've ever had.

Wednesday, it was dreary, so we spent the early part of the day inside.  In the picture below, Nora had taken a Jenga game, lined up all the pieces and was pretending she had a piano and was making up a song and playing piano.

 Later on Wednesday we took the kids to the new waterfront park in Frankfort-the kids had a blast. Rebecca and Don got a kite, so that was fun for the kids.

Before we left on Thursday, the kids beat up on Grandpa a bit....

 ...then they became superheroes.  Nana got them all these workshop aprons from one of the home improvement stores and they decided to turn them into capes and ran around the house for a long time playing.

 Thanks, Nana and Grandpa--we all had such a nice time!

Grandma Mary's

As usual, we had a great time with family--great memories.   Also as usual, I did not take nearly enough pictures and didn't even get a decent shot of some of the family. Just a few highlights:

Cath doesn't yet realize there's a snake in the kayak

...one fell off and bumped her head

This post is a bit belated--I should've posted it about 2 weeks ago, but here goes.  Caitlin and I were out for the afternoon getting our hair cut.   John had texted me that the twins were horsing around in their room and not really napping, so as soon as we got home, my intentions were to get them out for a snack and get going to swim class.  When I walked in, I could hear them talking and laughing.  While Caitlin was going upstairs to get ready to swim and open Nora and Ryan's bedroom door, I kept myself busy in the kitchen for a moment.  

After a second or two, I heard Caitlin yell something down to me, but couldn't hear what she was saying.  I stopped what I was doing to listen again..."Moooom.  Nora has a real boo boo.  A real one."   Unalarmed, since we do boo boos all the live long day around here, I asked the 3 kids to come down to me.  A few seconds later, a bloody-faced Nora showed up in front of me.   I cleaned up the mess from her face and saw where the wound was--it was a small, but open gash just above her eyebrow and it looked pretty fresh.  Nora was not upset, not crying--nothing--just patiently let me clean her up and change her dirty shirt which had a bit of stain on it from the injury as well.  She was not, however, answering any questions about the incident--totally acting like she didn't speak English.

I went to her room, and with the exception of a smear of blood on her bedsheets, no evidence could be found.  Her accomplice was also pleading the 5th.  John and I decided that, since the wound was on her face and didn't look like it would close anytime soon, we should take her to the ED.  So, John took Caitlin and Ryan to swimming.   Nora and I headed to the hospital.

On her way to the hospital, which is about a 15 minute car ride, she decided to take a nap.  Once we got there, she fell in the parking lot and became much more concerned about her not-very bloody scrapped knees than her head.  The triage nurse had to deal with her knees first before Nora would let her mess with her head--she got them wiped clean and a way-too-big bandage put on it--Nora was contented with this.  After that, I answered  "I don't know" to approx 15 people who separately asked me "what happened?"  I had to convince the ED doc not to mess with her knee bandages as she was thinking that needed to be checked out based on Nora's answer to "what's wrong today?"  Then, the doc recommended stitches--no surprise--that's basically why I brought her in.  With a cut on her face like that I wanted to give it the best opportunity to heal nicely.

 The actual stitching was a little rough--mostly because Nora's arms were pinned down and a cloth was draped over her head (except for a cutout where the wound was), so she was mad about that--no one blames her for that.  All was made well again with a bandage full of her favorite friends.

 And a very concerned and sympathetic brother who requested his own matching head bandage.

 The stitches were in for 5 days total.  Nora was great about taking care of it and was very gentle when taking her clothes on and off.  She let John and I clean it and change the bandage with zero fuss.  She's always been a very good little patient.

 On the day that we took her in to the pediatrician's office to get the stitches out, we were asked again over and over "what happened?"   This time, Nora answered before I did "Ryan say me to jump and then I got bloody,"  to both the nurse and the doctor--and she has stood by that answer every time she has been asked about it since.  So, the truth finally came out.  I think.  John and I figured that they were jumping on the bed--or at least doing something they shouldn't, mostly because there was no crying involved and neither wanted to talk about it on the day of the actual injury.  What I'm really surprised about, if indeed her story is true, is her willingness to do what Ryan suggested.   I'm also surprised Ryan suggested it.  First, Ryan is NOT a risk taker.  At the playground, at the pool, he hangs out by me mostly--doesn't do any dare-devil climbing or jumping.  He's never encouraging others to make any dangerous maneuvers either.  He loves to run and throw himself around, but he still does it with some caution.  Nora on the other hand, is a daredevil, but NOT a kid who is a follower, nor is she a good listener---so why would she listen to Ryan when he suggests attempting to jump across the room?  I was not at all surprised that she was the first of my kids who needed an ED trip related to an injury (vs an illness because Lord knows we've done that over and over), however I am surprised that it was Ryan's suggestion and that she followed it. She usually plays alone, but occasionally joins in with what the other two are doing.  She is her own little woman and doesn't follow the crowd--or really like to be part of the crowd.  So, maybe it's different when it's just the two of them alone in a room? Maybe they act differently when they just have each other? I'll never know.

So, there is only a very tiny little scar and you can't really see it.  Hopefully this is the worst of the twin shenanigans, but I doubt it will be.

Adaptive behavior

Yesterday I had an I-cant-take-it-one-more-second moment with my hair that was way overdue for a trim.  My fav hair stylist wasn't available on 20 hours notice, so I booked with the lady next to her. As soon as I hung up, I thought I'd go out on a limb and call back to see if I could also bring Caitlin.  Caitlin's last haircut was at Dworld, and while it was fun and cute, it was also crooked. very.  It's been bothering me for the past4 months, but I haven't been very compelled to do much about it because every single haircut she's ever received has been pretty crooked.  I kind of gave up.  But, I got an uncharacteristic burst of optimism, and asked for Caitlin to come with me.

When I got home yesterday afternoon from work, I was excited to share with Caitlin that we'd get a girls' afternoon together the following day and yay, what fun.  She was not thrilled.  She did not want her hair cut. We talked for a while and she came around, but was very clear that she just wanted her hair evened out.  Fine with me--me too.

So, fast forward to the next day (today) and I was just getting home from taking Nora to a routine doctor's appointment.  Caitlin was happily ready to go to the hair salon when I returned home.  Usually I have to push and prod her to move along in order to leave the house, but she was definitely on board and ready to roll.  She grabbed a stuffed puppy she had just crafted that morning with my mom and hopped in the car.

Caitlin is very shy around new people and new situations, so we've been talking and preparing for stuff like this.  While we were in the car on the way to get our hair cuts, I was asking her questions about how she would respond when she was asked how she wanted her hair cut.  I was reminding her to make eye contact (she is supposed to report back to me about her eye color at the end of this) and to speak audibly.  In contrast to the usual "I know, I know, mom" eye-roll, sigh, today I caught her through the rearview mirror with a sneaky grin on her face.  "I wrote her a note already," she told me, proudly, "since I'm always so shy."  After inquiring about it, she read it to me...and I just died.  First of all, because:

Dear Brber Shop.

 and then:

Hi, My Name is Caitlin. I just want my hair cut strate. Thank you!!

 Amen, sister! I just want your hair cut strate as well!
And second of all, she didn't mention this to John or my mom, whom she was with all morning.  She must've been thinking a lot about needing to talk to an unfamiliar person and worried.  Do fears like this work themselves out with continued socialization and maturity, or how do I help her? I'm sad that she is plotting how not to have to talk to people.  So, that'll give me something to read about this weekend.

In the end, the new hair stylist, Ashely, was this lovely, soft-spoken young lady.  Caitlin took right to her and completely forgot about the note.  She left the waiting area (which was about 8 feet from where my chair was) and sat in the empty chair next to me, so that she could be with us.  She chatted up Ashely the whole time.  When it was her turn, she declared that she wanted her hair cut short.  Was she sure? YES!   I sat back and caught up on Hollywood gossip in the waiting area and the two girls hung out and talked the whole time.  Caitlin LOVED the whole thing.  She felt really special.

On the way home, she said she felt good because she was sure that Ashley was her kindergarten teacher's daughter since her name was Ashley and she had dark hair.  I'm not so sure, but whatever works.