Month 41 - Recap

My dearest boy,
I took a cue from one of my good friends and began reading to you and Natalie during breakfast and lunch (and sometimes dinner if I'm feeling particularly chatty). You two think it's great. And I'm sure you thought it was EXTRA great because the first book we read was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ... and now, you're ready for your own Chocolate Factory (because, duh, name-twins always get the same prizes). And in the next book I read (Danny the Champion of the World - we've been on a Roald Dahl kick lately), the taxi driver's name is Charlie. So naturally you want your own taxi.

I bought Uno for us this month and you two have turned into Uno FREAKS. Sometimes you like to be on a team with one of us but other times you want your own set of cards.

Here's how it goes when you're my partner:
You: "Oooh, we got a Skip card, Natalie! We're gonna skip you!!!"
Me: Dude, don't TELL her we have a Skip card!
You: Well I did tell her it was a BLUE skip card.

*the card in play is a red 7*
You: *look through our cards, decide on the green Reverse and play it*
You: BOOM, Natalie! We Reversed you!
Me: Except you can't play that card.
You: Yes I can - see? I just did! And I said BOOM, too!
Me: Right, except you either have to play a red card or a 7 card. A green Reverse is neither red nor a 7.
You: hmph.

Here's how it goes when you play on your own:
You: *gather up all your cards into a stack and hold the stack in your hand (ie: NOT fanning them out)*

*the card in play is a blue 3*
You: *look at your stack, but with only one card visible - and it's a green 0 - you determine you don't have any cards that are either blue or a 3, so you draw one*
Me: Wait, buddy. You're just looking at one of your cards. You have a whole stack of them underneath. Look at those to see if you have anything blue or a 3.
You: *do a purposefully bad job at fanning out the cards, then the cards fall to the ground*
You: UGH. I can't do this EVER! I want a snack.

I think you're almost ready to give up your nap. And I think I might cry when that happens. But truthfully, I stretched it out as long as I could. You were close to phasing it out a few months ago but I sweetened the deal by letting you nap in my bed. And it worked! For a little bit, at least. But it's getting harder and harder now, so you usually just hang out in your room, not sleeping. During the times you're not coming into the living room asking "When is quiet time over?" (you only do it every 4 seconds, so it's cool), you're in your room concocting elaborate scenarios that, from what I can hear, involve Batman, Superman, Baymax, a volcano, a flood, and gummy bears. Frankly I'm impressed you don't need a nap after developing a plot that intense.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for April 9, 2015:

• Hillary Clinton Running For President In 2016
• Boy Who Fell Into Cheetah Exhibit Was Dangled Over Railing, Zoo Says
• Fears over Roundup Herbicide Residues Prompt Private Testing
• Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel Welcome Baby Boy Named Silas
• Amazon founder plans to test suborbital spacecraft

March 2015 - Recap

My sweet girl,
You haven officially entered the age where you're totally grossed out by people kissing. It's hysterical. I asked you if it's gross when Mommy and Daddy kiss and you said "Yes, it's only not gross when you kiss us. And it's super gross on TV." I totally expect you to write a letter to Disney saying how the princesses should knock it off with all this kissing nonsense.

You're 25/26th of the way to knowing cursive. I keep forgetting to teach you X. One day I'll remember.

The Tooth Fairy made another visit not long after her inaugural visit! You're now the proud owner of $5.50. Thankfully the 90% markdown of Tooth #2 from Tooth #1 went over quite well with you. "I got TWO quarters?! That's AWESOME!!" But you know what's not awesome? I had to pull Tooth #2 (something I put in your last recap that I swore I'd never do).

We were eating dinner at Zaxby's before church on Wednesday (three cheers for Kids Eat Free nights!) and apparently your loose tooth did not agree with the manner in which you chomped down on your chicken tender. Before we knew what was happening, your mouth was covered in blood. You immediately went into Hysterical Mode of the Highest Order because in your mind, all that blood clearly meant you were dying. I tried to explain how it just looked like a lot of blood, that when blood mixes with spit, it makes it seem worse than it actually is. But all you heard me say was "Blah blah blah, a lot of blood, blah blah, blah, YOU'RE DYING."

After biting down on a gigantic stack of napkins, you finally got the bleeding to stop, you calmed down, and I was able what was going on. Your stubborn Tooth #2 was hanging at an awkward angle, almost parallel to the floor. If we were on our way home, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But since we were on our way to church, I knew I couldn't send you to your class when you were all hysterical and parallel-toothed.

You flew right back into Hysterical Mode of the Highest Order when I told you the tooth had to come out before I could take you to your church class. The whole ride to church (all seven minutes of it), you were trying (maybe ... since I was driving, I had no visual proof that you were trying, I only had your verbal assurance that you were trying) to pull it out but it wouldn't budge. No budging but plenty of bleeding. Which is a blast to deal in the car, by the way.

We went straight to the bathroom when we got to church. You showed me how you were trying and then you tearfully asked me to pray for your tooth. I gladly obliged. After the 'Amen', I dried off your tooth as best I could, got a hold of it, and tugged. And I had to tug waaaaaaaaaay harder than I was thinking I would have to. But it popped out and you immediately started laughing. It was so good.

I'm telling you this story for two reasons. One: we serve an amazing God. We get to talk to Him about anything and everything and He cares about it all. It's not like something has to be at least a 7 out of 10 on the Big Scale of Importance for us to be able to talk to Him about it. I mean, He loves those 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s. But He also cares about the 1s and 2s, the stuff we might think isn't 'important' enough for Him. Like, we don't want to 'bother' Him with our 'insignificant' 1s and 2s when there are people dealing with some major 10s. But that's not true - He wants to hear it all.

I love that you wanted me to pray for your tooth. It told me you understand He cares about your tooth. He cares about everything in your life.

And two: sometimes you have to eat your words when you're a mom. I should have realized when I typed "I'll never pull your teeth", I would most assuredly end up pulling your tooth. This crow sure is tasty.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for April 1, 2015:

• The coolest parents in the world celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary.
• Arkansas follows Indiana, OKs religious freedom law
• Medieval eye remedy found to kill MRSA superbug
• Germanwings Co-Pilot Had 'Previous Episode of Severe Depression,' Airline Says
• New 'Daily Show' Host Criticized for Tweets