Of love and teeth

Journal highlights:

--Yesterday Dangerboy decided he wanted to make milkshakes after school, so I let him do it himself, with minimal help from me. He had a recipe he’d found in a book. Cookie-Nut, who was in the bathtub, could hear the blender whirring and asked me what the sound was. I said DB was making milkshakes. She said, “By himself?!?” I nodded. “That’s great! He’s learning!” she said maternally. I felt the same way. I love it when my kids are independent. I need to be better about teaching them how to be.

--DB doesn’t say cute little-kid stuff quite as much as he used to, but he’s still as cute as can be. His big blue eyes still make my heart skip a beat, and his dimples just make me happy.

But, we found out he needs to have his two front teeth removed because the permanent teeth underneath aren’t growing right (they’re growing straight out!), and I’m so sad about it. He doesn’t ever get to have wiggly teeth, and no prep for PDaniel and I either…just, suddenly we have a toothless first grader. No more baby-teeth smiles. It really breaks my heart. And I feel so bad for him that he has to go through it. Having teeth pulled is traumatic.

He did amazingly well at the extraction, considering how scared he was. He was very brave, didn’t struggle much, panicked only a little, and cried not at all. It was better than last time in that he didn’t feel much pain—none at all when the teeth were pulled out, actually.

Before the appointment, PDan gave him a blessing, which he wasn’t sure he wanted at first, but I think maybe it helped. (The kid has an aversion to praying which I’m not really sure what to do about.) I took a really cute last picture of him with his baby teeth, too…then CN and I promptly dropped the camera on the kitchen floor (those tiles break anything they touch, they’re so unforgiving) and broke it. There goes another $300…sigh. I think I can salvage the picture though.

DB got to pick the ice cream and movie that night. He chose Superbowl Swirl (whatever that is) and Cars 2. And he got $10 from the tooth fairy (she splurges for extractions).

--Today was Valentine’s Day. We basically ate junk food all day. I got donuts for breakfast, then was brunch. I put a brownie (heart-shaped) in DB’s lunch, and the kids ate lots of valentine’s candy from friends. We had heart-shaped Papa Murphy’s pizza for dinner, with fruit and Martinelli’s, and each of the kids got a little stuffed animal and a little box of candy from us. PDaniel and I aren’t doing much…trying to save money for New York. Hope we can scrape some together so we don’t have to starve while we’re there.

One night, at bedtime (I love those times!), we were talking about how PDan and I met and dated, and I told him that I hoped someday he’d find a nice girl to marry. (He’s considered it…he gave Tiger Lily a ring when he was four, expressed desire to marry a sweetheart named Riley in preschool, and his latest crush is a little freckle-nosed blonde in kindergarten—he saved the valentine she gave him in a place of honor). Anyway, his comment this time was, “What happens is my birthday and my wedding are on the same day? Then I’ll have two cakes!” He’s thinking ahead.

Cookie-Nut has crushes of her own. Hers is a little guy named C. in her preschool class. The other day we were eating snacks, and she said, “I love C. He’s my boyfriend. I love to kiss him. I’m missing him so much” (pout). Where does she get this stuff? She doesn’t even really watch princess movies.

More cutenesses:

CN is getting good at rhyming. I tried to kiss her cheek, and missed, so I sang “Air-kiss!” And she sang back, “Pear-piss!”

CN’s word of the day was “Moab.” It was in a scripture story I read to her last night, and she just kept repeating the word at random times throughout the day. She just liked the sound of it, but I was surprised she remembered.

I asked her if she wanted a ponytail this morning, and she said she wanted “frogtails,” because tadpoles have them before they turn into frogs. So I have her two low ponytails, and she was satisfied, though she said she really would have liked them more if they were green.

Her latest volcab is “never mind” and “usually”, like when she announced at dinner tonight, “Usually, baby cows drink milk.” It’s pretty cute to hear her talk like a grown-up.

I was strapping her into her carseat tonight, and I saw her looking at my earrings. “Do you like my earrings?” I said. “Yes, she said, “and I like your brown hair and your eyeballs, and your pretty lips!” It warmed my heart.

CN: “Mom, I think I’m ruined.” (I forget the context…maybe she had on ouchie or a stain on her clothes?)

CN was playing in the car by herself for a while. When I went to check on her, the car didn’t smell the same as it had. “Cookie-Nut,” I said, “Do you have to go potty? It’s kind of stinky in here.”

“It wasn’t me, Mom,” she said. “A stinkbug came in here and did it.” (She’s been blaming lots of things on fictional creatures lately).

CN often remarks that someone or other (usually her) is “faster than a bullfrog.” She’s shown off for complete strangers by shouting, “Look at me! I’m faster than a bullfrog!” as she takes off running.

CN: “Mom, what are we having for dinner?

Me: “Swedish pancakes.”

CN: “Dangerboy! We’re having selfish pancakes for dinner!”

DB’s starting to ask fun metaphysical/religious questions. The other night at bedtime I overheard him and PDaniel talking about the origins of the human race, and another night they were talking about heaven. PDan was trying to explain the three degrees of glory, and DB was trying to understand. Finally, it came down to what he really wanted to know. “But, Dad,” he said, “Where do people go who are mean to their sister?”

(He went on to explain that he knows it’s wrong, but sometimes, he just can’t help it!)

Another day, while I was making dinner, he commented, “I think if someone smokes in church, they’ll go to jail and die.” (We had a talk about that one too.)