General Kid Stuff

James finally lost his two top front teeth. The ones that have been loose since the beginning of August, possibly late July. Both of them in one fell stroke, pretty much. Then he bled profusely, which was more than a little disconcerting. He jumped, danced, whooped. We sang, "All I Want For Christmas", and he danced around a bit more. He'd lost one down the drain (which would be tooth #3 that's found it's way to an untimely demise) and Zorak dismantled the bathroom sink to retrieve it. He didn't really want to, but the reaction from the Delighted Little Boy made him awfully glad he did.

John, who is beyond anxious to loose a tooth (I think, at this point, he'd willingly take a baseball to the head if he thought it would help), treated the occasion with such reverence and awe that I had to leave the room to giggle. James could not get over the concept that those teeth are the same size as the one Miss Emily sprouted yesterday, and so he basked in the wonder of it all, as well.

Smidge hung with the Big Dogs today, and then crashed during supper. Literally, during supper. After several spillage incidents, and a rather negative attempt at tasting the fish steaks, he climbed down from his chair, curled up in Zorak's lap, whispered a spontaneous, "I love you, Daddy," and passed out. He wants to be so big. And we are in no hurry, really.

John is now proficient enough with his reading that he gets, and makes, the word jokes we make all the time. He's in the club, man! And lovin' it! Sometimes, though, he'll read a word that's new, or long, or just unique, and then he'll stop and give a quick RCA Puppy head-tilt before asking, "Did I just read that correctly?" WRTR may be dry, it may be convoluted as heck, but I have to say it. is. awesome.

I asked the boys for a Latin for Children update today. So far, two thumbs up from the Small Ones. They love it, and they're learning. One of the activities in Lesson 3 has a vocabulary word conjugated, and asks for its meaning. Although we hadn't actually conjugated that word (um, hadn't conjugated any words other than the amo/amas... chant they'd learned), both boys spotted it, and knew what it meant. Oh. My. Word. How cool is that?!? The chant CD is also a much-favored hit with the children. I couldn't bribe them to pay attention through the PL chant CD, but the LfC CD they asked to keep in the car, next to Raffi. So if you see us driving down the road, and it looks like we're playing charades and singing like frat boys on Spring Break, it's just Latin vocab review. Good stuff.

Oh, and Miss Emily is so ROUND. She's just very, very round. We thought she was going to get a neck, after the last growth spurt, but them "pft" she just plumped right back up. I have never, in my life, seen such a happy child. A happy, round ball of snuggly Baby. This is so amazing, no matter how many times we experience it. It's just incredibly amazing. We have got to get this child a normal floor to crawl on, though. Now that's she's not only mobile, but has some direction control, it's difficult to keep her in the rooms with carpet. She wants to be where the action is, where the food is, and that's not in the carpeted rooms. Basically, she's an 18# dust mop, and the boys have taken to picking the bits of sawdust and wood chips off her when she sits back up. Sure, it's great family bonding time, but it's a little weird. Even for us. We have GOT to finish this house.

On that note, though, it's time for bed. Tomorrow is a sheetrocking and taping day for the school room. It should be finished by the end of the weekend. And I will, when we put the room back together, attempt to get the old (semi-dead) printer (which has the camera memory card reader on it) hooked up so I can upload the pictures I've been promising for months now.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy