August 18, 2015 ~ The Tooth Fairy Came!

New Smile

Teagan’s tooth came out last night. After over a week of wiggling, of anxiety and worry and questions.  It didn’t just fall out, Teagan decided she was brave enough to pull it out.  It was so loose, it was barely hanging on and the new tooth had broken the surface, you could see it waiting.  We were surprised that it didn’t fall out with the gentle brushing or her “swish and spit” fluoride rinse. She was terrified of the suggestion – Stu offered to do it – ten minutes before actually doing it herself.  She had a tooth when we put Ashlin to bed, and as we were closing her sister’s door, she didn’t.

It was good that it was finally out, she had been so worried it would just fall out and she’d loose it – in the pool, while eating, while coloring, while swinging, in her sleep – and then the tooth fairy wouldn’t come.  She worried that the tooth fairy wouldn’t believe us if we left a picture, or if she used an orange pip instead of the lost tooth, or if we/she wrote a note to the tooth fairy.  No amount of explaining would make her feel at ease.

She did swim a little, though spent most of the time at the pool yesterday coloring.  It was hard seeing her worried and not having fun.

Another worry of hers was that people would laugh at her once her tooth was out, that they would think her smile was funny.  We tried to explain that her friends weren’t laughed at, they were envied, when they lost teeth.  Maybe the big teeth looked funny as they grew in, surrounded by baby teeth that were smaller, but it wasn’t a funny ha-ha thing at all.

Having the tooth out stopped many of the worries and anxieties.  Tooth Fairy treats helped.

And seeing her smile when she told me the tooth fairy came, and gave her treats was priceless.  There was a set of legos, with a pirate and a toothy shark, a dollar and two of each coin – quarter, dime, nickel and penny.

What if we can’t find it?

Toothy Shark

August 6, 2015 ~ Wiggle Wiggle!

This one wiggles

Teagan now has a loose tooth. A wiggly one.  She was so excited today at her last day of day camp that she told almost everyone there about it.  As Ashlin (in her twirly-twirly princess dress) and I crossed the parking lot to pick her up, we were told by at least two people that Teagan had big news.  Nice.

She couldn’t wait to show me which tooth, she bounced across the parking lot and into the car.  Sometimes she has such joy about life. Once she was strapped in, I had her show me which tooth – her lower left front.  Exciting!

As we drove to the pool, some of her anxiety started to leak out.  She asked what would happen if she swallowed it by accident.  (One of her friends had a loose tooth that he must have swallowed when eating a strawberry, so fair enough of her to worry).  I told her that I had a picture to prove that she had a loose tooth, and would take one once it fell out that we would be sure to show the Tooth Fairy.  She could also write a note explaining what happened.  I assured her that this would be enough for the Tooth Fairy to come.  If she wanted, we could use a tic tac as a replacement, but I didn’t think it would be necessary. I reminded her that the purple and green Tooth Fairy from the Jack Frost movie knew every tooth and the story behind them, she also could find teeth, they never got lost.  This seemed to help.  A bit.  But she still had those wrinkly eyebrows she gets when she’s worried about something.  Telling her that the tooth probably wasn’t going to fall out today, more likely Saturday or Sunday.  This made her face melt into sadness.  She really wanted it to fall out today.  Today!!

At least she stopped worrying about it falling into the pool.  I guess that’s something.

Eventually, the lure of the pool helped distract her for a while. Splashing is a good distraction.

When Stu got home, she couldn’t wait to tell him about her wiggly tooth.  And she asked if she could not finish her dinner, she was worried it would fall out.  Again, we explained things would be ok.  That she comes from a line of people not swallowing teeth when they fell out, so she should be just fine.

She needed a bit of hand-holding.

I guess this explains why she complained about her teeth hurting when she ate her banana for breakfast this morning.

Ashlin can’t wait for her teeth to start wiggling.  She’s got a few years to go…

Twirly-twirly princess dress

Fancy Handstand

May 18, 2015 ~ Dancing, Dancing, Done

Tap Costume

Finally.  Yesterday was the girls dance recital.  Actually, all weekend was the dance recital.  Saturday was the full dress rehearsal, Sunday the actual recital.  (The theme was LOVE).

Teagan had two dances, Ashlin just the one.  In the days before, Teagan seemed fine, a few nerves, but she remembered last year, so wasn’t too concerned.  Ashlin on the other hand, I think was a bit anxious.  She told me in the car on Friday that she was “a little nervous and a little scared, mama.” Oh, my sweet little girl.  I tried to reassure her, tell her that it was normal and that she’d be just fine.  Excellent, even.  She knew her dance.

Waiting is so hard when you are four

Saturday, Stu and I got the girls all dressed, with their dance hair and headed out for a long afternoon.  There was an issue with the sound, so the first few dances and the start of Teagan’s tap sounded like they were underwater.  After a minute of the girls not being sure what to do when they couldn’t hear the lyrics to their song, it got fixed.  Bad cable or something.  They had the girls restart their number, from the stage.  The girls danced well, but were a bit off.  I think it would have been better to have had them walk out again, a full reset.

Since the sound was fine by the time Ashlin went out, one song after Teagan, (which made for a bit of a frantic dressing schedule for me,) the preschoolers didn’t have any sound issues.  However, they had never been on a stage before, and seemed a bit overwhelmed by it.  One girl crowded the teacher, leaving a gap between the girls where she should have been.  But all seven of them did a fantastic job, even though some were scared of it being so dark backstage.

Silly Girls

Teagan seemed to carry over some of the uncertainty from her first number, and danced more tentatively than usual. She kept watching the girl to her right for cues.  We spoke with her afterwards, trying to bulk up her confidence, because she knew her dance, she didn’t need to follow, she could lead.  I think it worked, because Sunday she was much better, more sure of herself.

We ended up watching quite a few of the acts after the girls were done, Ashlin came out and saw her sister’s ballet number (Jesse’s song from Toy Story II, and the girls danced with a doll – so adorable!).  Teagan joined once I got her changed out of her costume.

Sunday was easier, in a way, but harder.  It’s so long, and the girls have to stay in the cafeteria for the rest of the show.  I suppose we could have left early, if they didn’t want to be in the finale.  But both did, so we stayed, while the girls colored and fed and hugged and were generally distracted for two hours.  Most of the other preschoolers left, Ashlin and one other peep were on stage for the finale.  (Although we called them the sunflowers, I overheard one of the other mom’s called them the peeps, so cute!)

Ashlin was so proud of herself, dancing on stage.  All the girls stayed in line and did their act, although one little girl ran off during the number, she was so scared.  Ash noticed partway through, and said to the teacher “we’re missing one!”  Everyone in the audience heard.  I think they were the hit of the show.  I could be biased.

Teagan’s ballet number also got big cheers from the audience, and I think her tap number looked better than the girls a level up.  They worked so hard to get the steps right.  I’m so proud of both of them!

At dinner, Teagan asked if she could use the knife.  We let her, and after a few failed attempts, she was able to actually cut her chicken.  She’s so big.

She has a knife!

We’ll work on holding the fork.  Eventually.

May 14, 2015 ~ It’s only a flesh wound

Brave Girl in the Doctor’s Office

Today I got one of those calls from the school that you don’t ever want to get.  Teagan was hurt in an accident, had a cut on her head that needed more medical attention than they can give at the school.  I had to come right away.  The nurse didn’t tell me if it was bad, just that it was bad enough.

Finding my car keys and making the not-quite-ten-minute drive were some of the longest minutes of my life.  My baby was hurt.  I had horrible images of her face being cut, an eye popped, her jaw broken.  Yeah, my brain went too far, but sometimes those images just come all on their own.

Her teacher was right at the front door, I didn’t need to wait to be buzzed in.  That was freaky, though probably just good timing.  We walked to the nurses office and she told me that the bar from the [security] gate fell and hit her in the head.  An accident, no one was fooling around, the class was on the way back to their classroom from gym.

When I got to the nurses office, and saw Teagan on the bed, with a huge gauze pad taped to her forehead, my heart hurt.  She looked so small, frail, even though she was being so brave.  Everyone spoke at once, telling me how good Teagan had been, how it was an accident, and how brave and strong she is.  She looked ready to cry, and I asked if she needed a hug.  She did.  Need a hug, not cry.

There was a second child in the nurse’s office who got hurt by the falling bar.  He got hit in the foot, thankfully.  Nothing too serious.  Teagan got the brunt of it, I think she may have been the line leader.

They gave me a quick peek at the injury, it was about half an inch long, maybe a bit more, and deep, right on the hair-line.  Not quite the nightmare wounds I was imagining on the drive over.  The nurse suggested I call our pediatrician’s office and see what they wanted us to do.  They wanted us to come in, if they couldn’t help properly fix her up, they would direct us to the best place nearby.  They did say they could do stitches there, or I think they said that.  Things did get a bit jumbly.

Teagan was worried that she didn’t have her behavior chart.  The nurse, teacher and office staff were dumbfounded that she was still worried about her chart.  They promised to get it and save it for her.  Once we got to the car, she worried about her snack – a fruit cup.  I told her I would call once we got settled at the doctor’s office.  Such a sweet girl, thinking about these trivial things and not being upset about getting hit in the head.

So brave

We got taken right back, thankfully, and the doctor said they could glue the wound shut, instead of stitching it.  The worst part was when they cleaned the cut out.  Teagan didn’t like the cold water on her head, in her hair.  She kept trying to touch her forehead, to wipe it away.  I ended up holding both of her hands down and out of the way.

I took a few pictures here and there, I thought it might be a good idea to document some of this, just in case.  She asked to see them, and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not.  I gave her a quick peek at the one with the glue, before the steri strips.  She didn’t seem upset looking at it, more curious, which makes sense.  She’s never seen an injury like that before, and maybe more interesting, because it was her boo boo.

The school staff was really nice, the teacher and principal both called to check up on Teagan.  The teacher explained that the administration had called the district maintenance department to come look at the gate that afternoon, and that they would be taking it down before another child was hurt.  A bit reactive, but nice to know that there wouldn’t be any more accidents.

Anyway, this kid really surprised me today.  She was brave, calm, strong.  Most people, adults, probably wouldn’t have been that good with the procedure.  I know I had a hard time when I got stitches, and I was in my twenties.  And I had pain-killers.  She only had a bit of Tylenol after everything was done.

So brave.

Oh, and she’s sleeping in her bed, not on her floor.  Strange girl.

May 1, 2015 ~ Get Up And Dance With Me!

Heading Out

Tonight Stu took Teagan to their first Father-Daughter dance.  Our school allows the Kindy kids to attend.  So sweet.

The PTA was able to get some students from a local salon to provide free up-do’s for the girls, if they wanted.  Teagan wasn’t sure about it, but decided she did want “fancy hair” and we went over.  She asked for twists, like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz had, but with a pony tail in the back, not on the sides.  I don’t think the stylist we were assigned to really knew how to do Dorothy Twists, but she did something that made Teagan happy.  With a little extra curl to the back.  Teagan asked if I could try to curl her hair too.  We’ll see, I said.  I’ve never had a curling iron.

Ash was very disappointed that she couldn’t go.  That is, once she woke up from the nap she refuses to admit she needs, and realized that she really wasn’t going to be able to go.

Stu had no idea what to expect.  He’s not from the US so is unfamiliar with the entire school system.  I did suggest he wear a tie.

They had a great time.  Teagan was well behaved (Yay!), introduced him to her classmates and the older girls she knew.  Stu said the DJ was probably very popular in the older-second-or-third-wedding circles, some of the music choices were a bit dated.  Dated enough to get the fifth graders to storm out for not playing Uptown Funk or some other requests.

He did play some slow songs, and Teagan and Stu danced.  He spun her, which was the best thing ever.  He bent over and danced at her height.  He picked her up and danced with her at his.  She loved it.

Teagan came home with at least fifty glow necklaces.  They said that she had more, but Stu made them into bracelets that she then traded with the older girls for swag for her classmates.  She didn’t hesitate to walk up to the “cool kids” and show them her bracelets and then offer to trade with them.  They allowed her to join their circle for a bit.  I really wish I could have seen that!  My kid is so awesome.  The smile on her face as she was telling me she traded the bracelets for balloons and leis was just wonderful.

I really can’t wait to be able to chaperone.

 

April 29, 2015 ~ Learning to Dribble

Left Foot!

Last night was the girls’ first soccer lesson.  Staggered lessons meant that both needed to be ready to go at the same time, after having a quick dinner.  Our first time getting ready was a bit hectic – I’ve never put shin pads on anyone, even myself, before.  But we made it, and not too late.

Ashlin hit the field first.  I was a bit worried she would be scared, nervous about doing something new.  But I needn’t have worried.  She saw one of her friends from day care and was off.  She only came over when the coaches sent them on a “hydration break.”

Teagan’s lesson didn’t start for a half  hour, but she saw a classmate walking in as we parked, so she asked if she could walk in with them.  There were two other classmates in her session, and it was so wonderful seeing them interact.

The coaches kept them busy, broke them down into smaller groups to work on skills.  They seemed to be well prepared and organized.  The girls seemed to like them and the lessons.

I do need to have a chat with the girls though.  One of Teagan’s classmate’s mom mentioned that Teagan showed her some pictures of her sisters junk on her leappad.   Oops.  They’re all gone now, but yikes!

Stu was able to get to the pitch in time to see a bit of Teagan’s session.  He ended up kicking a ball around with Ashlin, scoring goals and dribbling away.  Teagan was a bit sad at the end of her lesson and scrimmage that she couldn’t kick with Stu too.  But it was late, they were both cold and tired and I hadn’t thought to pack snacks.  I did remember coats and water!

For a first time, I think we did pretty well.  They both had a great time and learned a lot.  I know I/we’ll be better prepared next week.

Back to it!

 

March 15, 2015 ~ Shamrock On!

Shamrock on!

Today Teagan ran her first road race.  It was a fun run, nothing super serious or competitive. I don’t think there were official times at all.  My sister and dad ran with her.  She paced dad and  Renee stayed with them, just in case.  Teagan ran almost all of the two-something mile course – shorter than most of the walks/rides we did over the summer.   She stopped a bit when someone gave her a flat and she needed to put her shoe back on.  And a second time, on the big downhill at the end  she got a stitch in her side, so walked a bit.  But she did run across the finish line.

My sister said she was a bit overwhelmed with how many people were in the race.  She’s not often in a big crowd like that.  Just after the start, she asked to turn back just because the cold make her need to use the bathroom.  Maybe it was a bit of nerves… Still, with the “false start” and two slow/stops she finished with a time of around 32 minutes or so.  Not too shabby.  Especially for a first race.  For a five-year-old.

On the drive home, after a lovely lunch of corned beef and Irish Soda bread, she spent the ride home taking pictures with her leappad of all the trucks that went by.  She liked the patterns on the cabs.

This kid is a hoot.  I’m so proud of her for doing the run.

UPDATE:  I totally forgot to mention how she would giggle each time she succeeded in getting a picture of the truck cab, asking me if I saw it or not.  Each time she mistimed the shutter, she would be “aw shucks, missed it,” she didn’t get frustrated, but would get ready to take the next picture. She only stopped once it was way too dark for a picture, well past the point where any older person would have stopped trying.  She was so into her project, it was totally adorable. There must be at least 50 blurry pictures on her Leappad of truck cabs.  I should try to look at them tomorrow :D

September 10, 2014 ~ Homework!

Tonight Ashlin worked on her first homework project – a cut-out representation of herself. She drew eyes, nose, sides of her nose and mouth. She colored in hair and shoes (I think they’re her pink Chucks).  She wrote her name – with no help. There’s a cup in her hand because she loves milk.  There’s a sticker of Sophia the First (one of her favorite shoes) and a bird, because they’re pretty.

Stu said that she’s not done yet, she wants to put some pictures of her family on as well.

This one totally rocks.

October 30, 2013 ~ Halloween Preview

Teagan’s pumpkin!

I’ve been quite negligent lately.  I’m behind on writing about projects, about the kids and all the things they – we – have done lately.  Well, let’s just do a quick catch up.

Last weekend we went into the city.  We took the train instead of driving.  And for the most part it was good.  The girls were very excited to be on a train, pretty well behaved and fun.  Until our train was held between stations for almost 50 minutes by some police action.  Not sure exactly what happened, the lady sitting next to us said that maybe they were looking for someone who did something bad.  Great.

That’s when the train ride stopped being fun and became an endless stream of us trying to make the kids sit, behave, be quiet, not lick the windows, not go into other people’s bags.

Thanks to the delay, we were a bit late to the dinner with family, but made it before the main course was served.  Dinner was awesome.

Train!

The ride home was a bit less crazy, but only minutely so.  They couldn’t settle, sit still.  They also did not sleep at all.  Even after we got into our car, they didn’t fall asleep.  We got back home around 10:30.  I think that was the longest Ashlin has ever been awake without a nap.

This past weekend the town held a Trunk or Treat at the school parking lot.  We were supposed to meet up with one of Teagan’s friends from day care.  But earlier in the day we had been at a party – for a lovely now two-year-old – and they both napped.  Neither Stu nor I wanted to wake them up.  So, we got there a bit late and had to park off to the side, where there were no trunks giving out candy.

It took a bit to find our friends, but we did, and Teagan – and Ashlin too! – was happy!  Big hugs and giggles.  Even a few shrieks.

The girls came home with half-full pumpkins.  More than enough candy for them!  We were probably giving them Halloween candy through Easter last year.  Most of their take was dum-dum lollipops, not enough chocolate.  Shucks.

Buzz-Buzz!

Snow White

Somewhere Teagan learned a new Halloween song:

Trick or Treat!

Smell my feet!

Give me something good to eat!

If you don’t,

I don’t care!

I’ll pull down your underwear!

Lovely.  The things I blame day care for teaching her.  Though it is funny when she gets the order wrong.

Also, both girls have taken to being “blanket ghosts” in the car to and from day care.  They snuggle under the blankets I made, then pull them over their heads and yell “boo!”  Silly girls!

Oh, and shampoo buns are the best thing since trick or treating! At least until tomorrow.

Shampoo bun! Me too!

April 12, 2013

Hat with pompom

Look! My first knit hat!

I had some left over yarn from one of the first baby blankets I crocheted, I figured why not try to make a matching hat?  Once I figured out how to make the tail long enough to cast on, (but not too long!), and once I got it joined properly, (a bit more tricky than it seemed), and once I got past the first two rows (more annoying to not twist and get the stitches to flow than I thought), it worked up quickly.

The hat was done in two nights?  Or was it three?  Anyway, fast.  Maybe just as fast as a crocheted hat, at least this style, anyway.  And using the  double pointed needles once starting the decreases took a bit to get used to.  Maybe I’ll splurge and get another circular needle and do the trick the ladies at the yarn store showed me.  I wasn’t ready to start that way, I may need to know how to use the double pointed needles at some point.

And I will admit, I enjoyed knitting around and around and around, only needing to think about moving up the stitch marker as I completed a circle.  Depending on the hat, I may like knitting them more than crocheting them.

Once complete, I felt quite accomplished, pleased with myself.

The pompom?  Well, it’s my first one as well too!  I probably could have made it a bit thicker, but I thought I had enough yarn wrapped around the cardboard.  Next time I’ll double it.

I feel like this hat gave me a bit of experience, enough to start the one for Ashlin, or maybe for Teagan for next winter.  With non-leftover yarn, as well.

I’ll write up the other projects I’ve been working on soon…  and the few remaining from Christmas too!

Knit in the round

Related articles

• March 24, 2013 (lisasff.wordpress.com)
• March 19, 2013 (lisasff.wordpress.com)