Tooth Fairy, home alone and flushed away (not movie reviews)

It has been forever since I've written again.  I guess my birthday resolution isn't panning out all that well.  Let me try to catch up on some things.

A while back, I took the older two girls to the dentist.  So far, so good.  Jorja is eight and still has no cavities.  Definitely doesn't take after me, but that's a good thing.  Jorja has no issues, but Ginny is a bit more tentative in the chair.  She got a little freaked out trying to get xrays last year, and didn't do much better this year.  Still no xrays taken, and no fluoride treatment.  Since that trip, she has lost three teeth and two permanent ones have grown in, all on the bottom in the front.  The baby teeth were loose for a while, and needed to come out, as the permanent ones were coming up already.  Julie got the first one out without too much trouble.  There were some tears, but not too bad.  I managed to get the second one out.  For as loose and wiggly as it was, it seemed to still have a tap root deep seated in there.  I pulled it out, and Ginny was crying and then the blood came.  I've seen quite a few baby teeth pulled, and there's usually a little blood, but this was different.  The space between her lip and gums was filling up.  I was a little freaked out, but tried to keep cool.  Jorja was watching the situation, and the more blood she saw in Ginny's mouth, the more drained from her face.  She was white.  (Might have to rethink that doctor career goal.)  I led Ginny to the bathroom to get her over the sink.  As I was leading her there, I looked at Julie and mouthed the words, "why is there so much blood?!"  She didn't know.  I thought the poor girl was going to bleed out.  I was thinking it was going to look pretty strange heading to the hospital over a pulled tooth.  But we made it to the bathroom, wet a facecloth and got her to bite on that.  Eventually, the flow of blood was staunched and we were able to celebrate the upcoming tooth fairy visit.  I think the tooth fairy might have been a bit more generous that time, but its not every day you suffer an arterial wound from a tooth.

Jorja likes to come home from school by herself on Fridays when I'm home, and I think that's great.  It means I don't have to pack the other two up and drag them along to wait for Jorja.  However, there was a time before the snow came that I had the idea of taking the little two to the playground and just waiting for Jorja.  Jorja wasn't expecting us to be there, so I was on the lookout.  The bell rang and I watched the door.  I didn't see her come out.  Pretty soon the flow of kids was diminishing and still no Jorja.  She's usually a bit poky, so I wasn't too concerned.  We went into the school and checked her room.  Her teacher said she left already.  Oh great, this was not good.  I grabbed the other two and started hurrying for home.  I picked CeCe up and we ran most of the way, but Jorja had beaten us there.  She was banging on the door and no one was answering.  She was almost into panic mode when we got there.  I felt so bad.  There were a lot of tears, and it took a few weeks before she trusted coming home by herself again.  No more surprises from me now.  That was another one of those 'parent of the year' moments.  It was no snowball to the face mind you,but still, probably more emotionally scarring.

I was upstairs doing something with CeCe a while back when Jorja came up to find me.  She was in hysterics.  She dropped something into the toilet.  I have no idea how many rolls of toilet paper  have had to fish out of the toilet in the last year, but it's quite a few.  This was no mere roll of toilet paper though.  This was toothpaste.  I got her calmed down (and decided that this toothpaste would not be used again) and went down to retrieve it.  I looked in the bowl and didn't see anything.  It was a sample tube of toothpaste from the dentist visit, so it wasn't that big.  Jorja said it was in there, just in that 'out of sight' area poop sometimes disappears into.  Great.  I got gloved up and went in.  Only there was nothing there.  I asked her if she was sure it fell into the toilet.  She assured me that it did.  I then asked her if it fell while she was flushing.  Again, she said yes.  I asked her again if it fell in mid-flush.  She said yes.  So we flushed the toothpaste.  That's a first.  At least we didn't have to worry about using it again after.

Kids have an interesting perspective on things.  We were driving somewhere the other day and saw a car with a roof top carrier.  Ginny said, "Look, that car has a helmet."  I guess it does look that way.

We had the girls parent teacher interviews today.  Even if the kids make me pull out the little bit of hair I have left at home, I'm glad to hear how well they do at school.  Jorja continues to excel and now reads at a grade 7 level.  Not bad for someone in grade three.  She's doing a lot better at recess this year too.  There seems to be a lot less drama than the last two years as far as kids excluding her.  Ginny in doing great too.  She is best friends with a boy in her class that goes to the same daycare.  Together, they seem to be able to get into a bit of trouble, but other than that, all is well.  Ginny gets along good with everyone, listens well and is kind and considerate.  We're pretty proud parents.  Later.

 

CeCe's sunshine

Putting CeCe to bed usually starts off like this:

'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey

You never know, dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping

I dreamt I held you in my arms

When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken

So I hung my head, and I cried'

It is her favorite bedtime song, but it usually has some questions to go with it. It's a fairly regular routine, but one night recently she gave me a bit of a surprise at the end. It went something like this: 

CeCe:  why you wanna cry?

Me: because his sunshine wasn't there

CeCe: where's the sunshine?

Me:  I don't know. He had a dream he was hugging her, but when he woke up, she wasn't there. 

CeCe:  were'd she go?

Me: I don't know. 

CeCe: why you wanna cry?

Me:  his sunshine wasn't there. 

CeCe:  hmm. I've been there. You?

Me:  yeah, I've been there before too. 

Later. 

Sent from my iPhone

Ginny is awesome

We are now through the first full week of school and hopefully settling into a bit of a routine.  I guess Ginny hasn't had a full week yet - they were eased into kindergarten pretty gradually.  First an hour with a parent there, then a full morning with only half the class, then finally the whole class for the whole morning.  Piano lessons started last Monday evening for the older two girls, so they have their second lesson tomorrow.  They even got a bit of practicing in this week.  Sunday school was also back into full swing this morning.  Ginny and CeCe were both a bit hesitant to go to new classes.  I had to pry CeCe off my leg, but she was fine after I left.  So I was told anyway.  She seemed fine when I picked her up anyway.

Jorja has a new girl in her class at school this year.  It turns out this girl is from Poland and doesn't speak very much English.  Jorja came home with the news that she was going to tutor this girl for the last recess every day.  That is so like Jorja.  After a few days, I asked her how the English lessons were coming.  She said they were good and I asked her if she taught the new girl to say 'Jorja is awesome.'  "No!!" was the response I Jorja gave me.  (A good thing I guess)  However, Ginny had a different idea.  She said, "Dad, it's pronounced 'Ginny is awesome.'"  I think she might cause a little more trouble than Jorja.  Later.

Back to school again.

Every time I try to blog from my phone with pictures, it screws up. We are currently without a computer, so it's frustrating. This is what I meant to say along with the pictures in the previous post:
>
> The kids went back to school this week. Well, Jorja went back (into grade 3) and Ginny started kindergarten.
>
> Jorja ended up with the teacher that she was hoping for and was a wee bit excited. By a wee bit, I mean vibrating.
>
> Ginny was a little more nervous, but once the day came and we went, she was pretty excited too.
>
> Ginny has only gone for a part day so far and goes for her first full morning on Tuesday. Jorja is gone for her third full day right now. She wanted to go by herself, but I talked her into letting me take her first thing this morning. She came home for lunch by herself and went back for the afternoon by herself. Soon she will come home all by herself. I guess I'm no longer needed. It's hard to believe how big she is.
>
> I think it's going to be a great year. Later.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

Back to school

The kids went back to school this week. Well, Jorja went back (into grade 3) and Ginny started kindergarten.

Jorja ended up with the teacher that she was hoping for and was a wee bit excited. By a wee bit, I mean vibrating.

Ninja warriors

This summer, the girls have been watching a show called 'American ninja warrior'. Basically, contestants have to make it through a series of obstacles. There's hanging, climbing, balancing, and other feats of strength involved. There were qualifying events in four cities, with the finals culminating in Las Vegas. I think the finals should be on pretty soon. Anyway, since watching the show, a trip to the park is no longer just a trip to the park.  The jungle gym is now a giant training ground for the next ninja warrior. (Which is going to be one of my daughters). Walls are scaled, monkey bars traversed, walkways spanned by a human bridge. It's pretty impressive actually. I don't know if I should be proud or just afraid for their lives and limbs. So far, we have been lucky, but each trip seems to involve more daring feats. On the upside, summer is almost over. As long as we make it through without a trip to the ER,  I'll be happy. Here are some of the stunts I've witnessed.

 

Later.

Vacuuming and Miley

When I got home from work yesterday, I wanted the girls to clean up their toys so I could vacuum later. I got Jorja to vacuum once before and she thought that was pretty special, so she wanted to do it again. Then Ginny decided she wanted to vacuum too. I told them that when they were done, they could both vacuum some. (I wonder how long they will fight about wanting to vacuum?) As I was getting supper ready, Jorja came up to complain that Ginny wasn't helping clean up. It was then that I found myself saying, "Well, if she doesn't help clean up, she doesn't get to vacuum." I must have slipped into some alternate reality there. Weird.

Jorja and Ginny have been discovering their own music lately. They have progressed from watching the Disney junior channel to watching the Family channel. Between shows, music videos are periodically shown. Our lives will no longer be the same. Jorja came home from daycare one day and asked to turn on the computer to listen to some music. I said sure. I was making supper when I heard Miley Cyrus's 'the climb' blasting up the stairs. We had eight good years of musical influence I guess. I hope it's enough. At supper I commented on her music choice. She looked at me with wonder. "You like Miley Cyrus?" was what she said, but her look told me she was thinking 'how could someone as old as you know Miley Cyrus?' I didn't say I liked her, just that I had heard the song before. I know there were many times my Dad cringed as he watched 'Good rockin tonight' with me every Friday night. (That was a video show in the 80s for those of us without cable and MTV). But he watched anyway. And every once in a while said, 'this is sick'. Back then, sick didn't mean good. I too will keep an open mind as the kids grow up and express themselves through their music. Even if I cringe now and again. (Or always) Later.

Sent from my iPhone