Lost Tooth

Sigh... He did a big happy dance. I wanted to lay with my head under the bed and cry. My baby is growing up... Sigh

Love Letter to a Seven Year Old

Dear Peanut,

You are seven.  You have entered the age that I always dreamed about as the optimal age.  The age where you are independent, but you not yet ready to push away from me.  You are still my little girl, and you still have lot of questions you want me to answer.

Last year in school was a difficult year.  Not so much for you, but because in general, there were a lot of difficult people around you.  As a first grader, you seem to have hit your stride.  You class is small and full of very good kids.  You have made friends with a girl who is both a friend and someone who you can be a good mirror for.  You are both a friend and a guide, and I am very very proud of you.  You show what it is like to accept people for what they bring to the table, and I thank you for that.

Unfortunately, you have also experienced your first bully this year.  It was in aftercare, and you brother was around.  I have yet to truly understand the full story, but you have made it clear that you do not like her.  We did a lot of talking about strategies for dealing with bullies.  I was also dealing with my own bullies at work, so I had some fresh stories to draw from.

Your brother also seems to be bothered by the bully for you.  Your relationship with your brother continues to be a good one.  You play well together, and you talk to one another.  You also fight like "sister and brother", but it is obvious to me that you love one another deeply.  No matter what your brother may say as he is forced to his room for a time out.

You are doing well in school.  You speak your mind and follow your own path.  That worries me because I am concerned you will alienate people, but you seem to still keep the same core group of friends with additions along the way.  Your reading level is above grade level.  Your teacher has remarked to me numerous times that you have a great math mind.  Besides following directions, you seem to be the model student.  We just need you to look up from your art for a few minutes to register that other people need for you to change activities.

You are a 'head in the clouds' kind of girl.  You always want to work on art activities, and you rarely want to help clean up.  You are, however, the person that people turn to when they need an answer for what is going on.  Oftentimes, I will tell you what your brother needs for school rather than your father.  It actually stresses me out when I can't tell you because I rely on you so much to run this house smoothly.  You help me cook.  You help me make lunches.  You help me organize my day.  You are actually the perfect assistant, minus the being a complete mess.  

You do soccer and dance.  You seemed to have hit a stride with that.  I was reluctant to let you do two things at once, but it seems to work well for you.  You are still not terribly interested in soccer  but the longer you play, the better you get. 

I do have to say, your father and I were shocked when you started having crushes on boys.  This is not something I expected at 6 and 7, but it is there.  It is real.  I am glad you feel comfortable enough to share these feelings with me, but I also had to warn you about speaking too openly about feelings to people.  I understand that boundaries are a hard thing for you.  Personal space is not something that you easily give nor do you particularly need, but as you grow older, it is more and more important.  Somethings are best spoken in private setting than with everyone.  This is a tough lesson to learn and one that I have to relearn from time to time, but we will get there.  It will get easier.     

My girl, I love you so much.  We play a game where you tell me that you love me more.  I tell you "No you don't because the world is not big enough to handle that much love."  You amaze me every day with your insight and the crazy things you happen to pick up from others.  You make more happy and more proud then I ever thought I could be.  I love your smile and your warmth and your charm.

With love,
your mum

Tooth fairy

Peanut knows about that the tooth fairy is not real. She asked. I tried to bluff her, but she was not buying it. She really wanted to know, so I told her. She was not devastated. It was not anything that she did not already know. She just acted like I was confirming the obvious. I made her promise not to tell anyone.

Since then, she has acted like she believed in the tooth fairy. My assumption was that she did not believe me when I told her. However today, when it was just me and her, she told me again that she knew the tooth fairy was me. She also said she had not told anyone, which I believe.

See, she has been instrumental in guiding BabyP through his tooth losing adventure. He has two loose teeth. One will likely fall out this weekend. I can hear him discussing with his sister the options for pulling his tooth. She even went and got some floss for him when I did not give them any string. LOL! BabyP is so lucky to have two mamas! It will be a wonder if he ever grows up!

Peanut cornered me tonight and said "okay, I have a plan... you need to write a note that says...... and you need to do it in cursive...."  Now that she knows who the tooth fairy is, she is super pumped to make it special for her brother.

and honestly, I couldn't be more proud of her.

Birthday Party

We had Peanut's Birthday Party at the museum of discovery.  I had never been to a birthday party there so I had absolutely no idea of what to expect.  It turns out, they are really fun!  It is also crazy easy because all I had to bring was the cakes!

This time, the icing worked better on the cakes.  We always do cupcakes in addition to a cake because cupcakes are easy to give to the kids quickly.  We also never do ice cream.  

As a side note, it is really hard to find a princess Leia doll that does not look like a man!  

These were the party guides.  They thought it was pretty awesome that my sweet girl wanted a Star Wars party.  I have to say, I was very proud of her for that too!

The theme for the party was mad scientist.  They had fire and ice and slime and all sorts of crazy science tricks.

And look at these faces!  They loved it!  I was so happy and so proud!

At first there was not a lot of people who RSVP'd, but in the end, a few came that did not.  It was good that I packed extra goody bags!

We also actually ran out of cake this time.  Generally, we have a lot left over, but not this year!  That is both good and bad.

Peanut's Birthday

Star Wars has been all the rage at our house these days.  Peanut insisted on a Star Wars birthday cake with pink icing.  Actually, she wanted a strawberry cake made from scratch, which, I will add, is hard to find a recipe for.  I talked her into my "old trusty" chocolate cake recipe though.  I have to say, it does make me fee very appreciated that cakes from a box get a snub from her.

I had an issue with the icing.  I don't think I initially whipped it enough so it proceeded to slide down the cake.  I actually took the icing off to whip it some more.  LOL  Oh well...  such is life.  

As expected, she loved it.  It is hard to believe that my little girl is getting so big.

For her birthday, we got her a kindle.  What she opened was a box to the kindle because the kindle was not charged enough to wrap.  She was a little confused at first as to why she was getting an empty box.  Luckily, she can read so he knew what the note said.  

BabyP was very good throughout the birthday package opening.  He looked very happy to get new toys.  He is clever enough to know that new things for her means new things for him.

We went for a hike on her birthday and otherwise just lazed around.  We were off that day from school, by chance, so it was a nice day to get some togetherness.

My little ones.  They really do grow up so fast.

Enjoy it or I will scream at you

On Martin Luther King Day, I took the afternoon off and took the kids for a hike.  I had worked all weekend, and I felt like we all needed to get outside and stretch our legs.  I thought it would be nice for the three of us to spend some time exploring together and making memories.  We made memories, and I potentially scarred my kids for life.

First, it was really cold.  Colder than I anticipated.  I also made the mistake of being aggravated when I left the house.  I was so aggravated that I believe I got into the car and turned it on in hopes seeing the littlest one come running out of the house screaming because he was afraid I was going to leave him.  Note, I do that "in hopes" of seeing him do that.  He never does because a.  He knows I won't leave him and b.  He secretly hopes I do so he can have free access to the TV and candy basket.

Anyway, he had only a light jacket so he was cold.  Not one mile into the hike did I hear "I am tired"  "I am hungry"  "Snakes are eating me."  I was not in a healthy frame of mind, so I kicked off the snakes, gave them their snacks, and told them to suck it up.  Lesson learned number two is that I should not organize a hike for the kids when I really need to blow off steam.

Eventually we did make it to the top of the mountain.  I believe the general consensus was that they had a good time.  What really made them excited was that they got to make 3 miles off on their Jefferson Joggers.  For the initiated, that is 12 smiley faces to color in.  oh boy!

Backyard Bonfire

After the storm, we had wood laying around the house. Mr. T thought we should have some play camping. We set up the tent downstairs, and lit a campfire!



At first, we thought that the fire would go out, and we were ready to go inside and watch a movie. But then....