A Plea to the Tooth Fairy

The kids had a dentist appointment this week. This kids love going to the dentist!  I know that sounds crazy, but the dentists at our dentist's office are both really great. One guy goes to our church and the other woman is just really friendly and sweet.  The hygienists are awesome too!  Unfortunately, their teeth don't look so great.  :(  Part of the problem is remembering to brush every night. Part of the problem is that their teeth are so squished together that it is very hard to clean between them.  Even the hygienist had trouble with all her special dental tools.  Henry is going to have to have some cavities filled in his back teeth. We also talked a bit about his thumb sucking habit.  His bite and his teeth have been already been affected and we have been talking with him about quitting, but it's not as easy as just taking away a pacifier.
On the way home from the dentist, I talked with the kids bout being better about brushing and not eating so much candy and I told Henry that he was going to have to stop sucking his thumb.  When we got home Frances and Henry went into the dining room while I was fixing dinner.  They were very quiet, but I was thankful that I was able to get dinner ready without interruptions.  After a quick dinner we got ready for bed and the kids got settled in for the night.  Frances gave Henry something and he put it under his pillow. Being curious, I asked him what it was. Frances said it was a note for the tooth fairy.
I was tired and I didn't think much of it until I was lying in bed falling asleep myself.  I jumped out of bed and crept into the kids' room. I slowly pulled the note out from under Henry's pillow. I was tucked inside a tooth ring Frances had gotten at the dentists' office.  I unfolded it and found this:

Frances thought that if the tooth fairy brought Henry a pacifier that he would stop sucking his thumb.  Awww! So sweet. But sorry, honey that's not how it works!!

Father's Day Weekend

Ken is taking a week of vacation this week and he scheduled himself off for the surrounding Saturdays.  That means we have two weekends in a row together!! Whatever will we do!?!?  Well for Father's Day weekend we decided to go visit his dad.
Ken downloaded a new game for his phone called "Ant Smasher" that we gave to Henry to play.  All you do is smash the ants with your finger. Henry loved it, but he kept messing it up and I had to reset it a thousand times for him.  He was concentrating very hard!

Ken's dad just got back from a 3-week hunting expedition in Zimbabwe.  It is a trip he has wanted to make his whole life and watching him tell the stories was too much fun. He was so excited! Like a little kid at Christmas. I am so glad he got to make this trip!

We spent a nice weekend there, hearing about his safari and just hanging around.  I managed to catch a few pictures with Ken and his dad. The first one is all the boys!

 And the second is a very proud Papa with three of his grandkids. (I am not sure why Benjamin has his mouth wide open!!)

There had been a big storm the night before we came up and there were leaves and such all over the back porch.  Benjamin took it upon himself to start collecting leaves and throwing them through the rails.  I finally have a kids who likes to clean up!! How do I nurture that skill??

Ken grilled some pork chops for dinner Saturday night (while Frances danced like a weirdo in the background).

She also lost another tooth while we were there.  She pulled this one out herself!  It was number 6 for her.  Now she can drink milkshakes with her teeth closed again.  :)

Which diagnosis shall we have today??

I am home again with a sickie! This time it is Benjamin. He has the dreaded RSV as well as an ear infection.  Poor baby is working so hard to breathe and all he wants to do is sleep.  Meanwhile I am entertaining Henry, who is not allowed to watch any TV today.  Our rule has been that if he doesn't stay in his own bed at night that he can't watch TV the next day.  I am starting to wonder who is being punished here??!  My current facebook status is :"The first time your child says "Momma" it warms your heart and brings a tear to your eye. The 10,000th time in one hour that your child says "Momma" it drives you insane and brings tears to your eyes."
Now I am trying to get Henry to eat his lunch instead of crawling around the floor like a puppy dog.  Since I set everything to the tune of Frere Jacques, I sang him this song: "Eat your lunch please, eat your lunch please. It's time for nap. Time for nap.  Eat your lunch please, eat your lunch please. So you can go to sleep, so you can go to sleep."
He grinned his little devil grin at me and said, "Mommy, dat's punny!"  Wanna hear mine?"  And then he proceeded to use the same tune and sing back to me, "I-I a-m, I-I a-m. I-I-I-I a-m, I-I-I-I a-m. Don't say a bad word, Don't say a bad word."  And then he ate his honey mustard sauce-because that's an important part of the meal!!


In other Benjamin news-he has another tooth coming in. On top this time. Same side as the one on the bottom.  I think he only has two right now. I don't want to bug him since he doesn't feel good.

Houston...We have a chomper!

Benjamin's first tooth just barely broke through his gums tonight! I have been watching this one little spot that I knew was going to be a tooth. I checked it right before bedtime and, sure enough, there's a tiny tooth poking through!

Frances update

Frances finished her first week of Kindergarten on Friday. SHE LOVES IT! She has all kinds of stories at the end of the day and thinks she is a huge deal now because she is in Kindergarten! She comes to the day care after school, so she still gets to see some of her old friends. On Tuesday when she came in, she went down to the three-year-old class and said, "I'm here now Ms. Ariel. If you need me to take any kids to the bathroom, I can help you out." HAHA She thinks she is hot stuff! She comes into my classroom in the afternoons and says, "Okay, boys and girls. Do you want to learn something?"

She loves her teacher, Mrs. Luden. There are things that I have already taught her or tried to teach her (like coughing into her elbow) that she has never paid attention to, but when Mrs. Luden says it, it's gospel.

She loves riding the bus in the morning. I even let her walk to her bus stop by herself (It is a block away and I followed her in the car.) and she loved it. Henry cries whenever he sees her get on the bus from a combination of wanting to get on the bus himself and from missing his sissy. He's so pitiful. When he sees her come into the daycare in the afternoons he starts asking for her so he can give her a hug. They love each other so much! How did I get so lucky?!

As a side note, Frances has her first loose tooth. It is on the bottom, directly right of center. She wants to eat an apple so it can come out. It's not that loose, but it won't be long.

My little girl is growing up so fast!

Number Nine...Number Nine

I knew there was one coming, so tonight when Henry was crying, I got brave and stuck my finger in his mouth. Sure enough, top right in the back has a new tooth coming in. It has mostly broken through the surface, but still has a way to go. I only felt one, which is somewhat odd because all his other teeth have come in pairs. I will keep checking and report back what I find.