…come up to take pictures of this craziness for the blog.”
That’s when you know your children have taken the family blog into their hearts.
And when a child says this to me, I take the camera and go.
This is what I saw this time:
Foot bath
My dry brush finds a new purpose.
Monkey went last week. She chose to begin going to the dentist Buds and I are using, and I was proud of her self-possession and maturity. A couple small cavities to be taken care of that are on teeth she’ll lose, but on the side that touches a permanent tooth. It was interesting talking with the dentist about the appointment to take care of the cavities. I asked him what I should tell her to expect; a shot, laughing gas, etc.
He said, “Well, definitely don’t mention a shot, and tell her we’re just getting rid of the sugar bugs, and we’ll be fine.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant so I said, slowly, “Will…there…be…a…shot?”
“There will be a shot.”
“Well, then, I’ll tell her that so we can talk about it, and she’ll be fine.”
Jeesh…sugar bugs, and as if I’d lie to my child. I like this dentist a lot, but he is young in many ways. Ah well, I shall teach him the path of the Peaceful Parent.
The Big Kid
Then, today, Buster and Yessa had their appointments. They both were amazing. Buster is pre-disposed to plaque build-up, no matter what we do. He’s also our most “sensorily aware” child, so the scraping of the metal pick on his teeth was making his skin itch and giving him goose bumps, but he was fantastic. Yessa and I were in with him, and Melissa, the dental tech., did really well with being respectful, but also trying to get done quickly.
No cavities for either of these two, which was a blessing. The new dentist we tried out last year had said that Yessa had 5 cavities, but I didn’t feel a strong degree of trust with them, so we came back to our previous pediatric dentist. Voilà, no cavities, or at least so small they could no longer be seen.
The funny moment today came when we were walking across the parking lot to the car.
One of the issues I have with this dentist is the “be good and you’ll get a gold token,” but it isn’t a battle I’ve chosen to fight in this one area of our life. So, the kids get to pick a tattoo, sticker, balloon, or to have their nails painted. (The tech didn’t offer Zachary the option of having his nails painted, but I did…she laughed, thinking I was kidding.) Then they also get the gold token to put in the vending machine in the lobby for a little trinket (ninja and ring today).
Yessa picked nail painting, though she really, really wanted a balloon, too. Buster picked a balloon. As we walked across the parking lot, Yessa kept stressing to Zachary how important it was for him to hang on to his balloon so it didn’t float away. He heeded her warning and kept a death grip on his end of the ribbon, and he happily bounced the balloon as he walked.
The ballon came untied from the top end of the ribbon, and he was left holding a limp ribbon in his hand. We all had a moment of shock, then stood and watched the orange balloon float impossibly high up toward the sun. I’ve never seen a balloon go so high. It was pretty fascinating.
We agreed next time we’d put our email address on any balloons so we could hear from the finder.
As an auction offering, the DRE and RE Admin. from church held a bingo night fundraiser. Around 7 or 8 tables of families and friends gathered to play bingo for a couple hours while raising money for UUCF.
As is often the case, Buds provided my favorite memory of the night.
Shockingly, Buddie had never played bingo before, so he was intrigued to see how things went. Apparently I didn’t explain the process to him very well.
We got settled in at our table with our cards and pips, and when the first number was called, “O64,” Buds turned to me with a huge, pleased grin on his face.
“O64? 064! I have 064!”
He thought he’d won and was so excited for his first chance to yell, “Bingo!”
After I caught my breath from laughing, I explained the rules to him. He’s such a good sport, we laughed a ton the rest of the night thinking about his excitement at “winning.”
The big girls served as bingo callers while the littles and Dad helped roll the bingo ball and place the circles in their spots.
One of the tables was ridiculously more lucky than the rest of us, but we all had a great time, and everyone won at least once, except Monkey. Still, Addie was a wonderful friend and chose a gift for Zoe with her first win. It was a great night for everyone.
As a special aside, Addie lost a tooth during RE class, which brought a little excitement to everyone, and we went out for pizza with Kel and the girls between church and bingo. It was a very full weekend.
Addie’s great maw
Yessa gets a double tattoo at dinner.
Waiting for a win.
Bingo bongo
Grandma dressed for an Arctic expedition.
Never let the children get ‘hold of a microphone.
“B7″
Addie calls the shots.
Mom was finally released from PT and able to return to making trips out to see us. Her first one was April 19-May 1st, so she was able to share Buster’s Birthday Week with us, plus Bingo Night, Boating With David, and we even squeezed in a Massadoah Adventure at the end.
As is always the case, she just slots right into our life.
Grandma is the boss of this game!
“What do I do, Doodles?”
“Explain it again?”
“I’ll just show you, Grandma.”
“That seems like a good idea.”
Being schooled by Yessa on another new game.
Buster’s Birthday lunch
Snuggle time.
Mom being taught another new game.
Mom with power tools at Massadoah.
Karen from church asked Monkey if she’d like to provide tattoos during the Earth Day Celebration at church, and Monkey was thrilled to do it. It turned out to be the perfect weekend because Buddy “A” was spending the day and night with us, and she’s a great artist, too.
Once we were settled in at church, Kate and Bets arrived and were ready to offer tattoos as well, so the girls spent a pleasant hour drawing on anyone who would sit in their chairs and offer a blank bit of skin. Kelly and I had a good chance to visit, which we always love, and the girls were wonderful tattoo ambassadors.
Monkey and her first patron
We hosted book club two months in a row, and in April the book was,
. As our activity for this book, we borrowed Neighbor Shari’s cake decorating tool kit, whipped up a huge batch of frosting, a couple of the moms brought vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, and we let the girls go to town.
They chose the colors, picked the decorating tips, and passed their frosting bags back and forth as they created amazing creations.
I love to see and hear them as they work together around our big farmhouse table. It gives me such a feeling of community.
With the normal flurry of activity that comes with hosting a large group of people at our home, I didn’t take many pictures, but here is a shot of the cupcake creations Zoe made.
Vibrant!
Yessa has been using MathSeeds for the last couple days, and having a great time. It has enough cuteness and funny videos to appeal to her, plus a little of the “earn a certificate” piece, which I can live with.
She was working on a particularly difficult task involving the sorting of mail into the correct day’s bin, and it was giving her a great deal of trouble. She was getting very frustrated, and wanted me to complete the task for her.
I almost did, because it didn’t seem like that big a deal, but just lately there have been a spate of blog posts about our nation’s children not learning to handle challenges, helicopter parents, etc. So, instead I sat with her while she worked on it, talked with her about why I wouldn’t do the task for her, offered her options on strategies.
She continued to be frustrated and a little ticked at me that I wouldn’t do it, but the joy and excitement when she conquered the obstacle completely under her own ability. Well worth it.
Great lesson there for both of us.
Buds and Yessa spent a pleasant 20 minutes playing “Feed The Kitty.” This was a game from Beloved Friend Shoshie many years ago, back before Monkey could read. I always love when we play this game because it reminds me of how thoughtful Shosh was in picking out this game. Though Monkey read at a later age than children in school are expected to, it was never treated as a big deal by her homeschooled friends, for which I will always be thankful.
Anyway, I was trying to work on dinner while Buds and Yessa played, but I had to stop and take pictures because Yessa’s cackling was so infectious. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
This child goes helpless with laughter sometimes. Buds and I both get a huge amount of joy in watching her breathless with the humor in a situation. I’m so thankful for these moments.
Here’s how the rules of play work these days, at least in our computer gaming influenced home. Start with a long discussion of who’s the boss and what special abilities they have. Negotiate, negotiate! What’s the boss’ cooldown? What level do you start at? Casual? Easy? Normal? Hard? Brutal?
Now battle. Good luck, don’t die.
Pillow throw is only a boss ability on brutal.
Difficulty leveling up.
The boss attacks! And misses!
Dodging the spin attack
Boss must attack in a straight line
Yessa flees
The boss is tired
If ever we need a hearty laugh, watch this video:
Buds and I were crying from laughter.
