Rookie Tooth Fairy Trouble

Drew came running in to my bedroom last Wednesday to tell me that one of his "tooths" was loose.  I was a little surprised because Drew just turned 5 a month ago, but sure enough, his tooth was pretty loose!  I pulled so many teeth in the seven years I taught first grade that I am practically a dentist, so I felt fairly confident about helping Drew with this developmental milestone.  To me, the key to easy tooth-pulling is to let the tooth get very, very loose - almost falling out on its own - before you try to pull it.  If you try to pull it before it is loose enough, it will be painful.  If you are patient, you can pull it easily, and the child will hardly feel it coming out.  I told Drew to keep wiggling it, and that when it was loose enough, I would pull it, if he wanted me to.He wiggled it all evening on Wednesday and all day on Thursday, and by Thursday night before bed, the tooth was very loose.  Drew agreed to let me pull it, and it popped out easily, with no pain.  We were all quite excited!
Here he is with his new smile!  We can see the new tooth popping through already, so this tooth was definitely ready to come out.

Little baby tooth.  Please try not to be bothered by the crazy pajama shirt and pants combination that Drew is wearing.  He has been dressing himself more lately, and he doesn't always grab matching items (even though they are put away right next to each other in his pajama drawer).

 I had already made Drew a little owl tooth pillow, so I was glad that we were ready.  He put his little tooth in the pocket before bed.

 He was excited about the whole experience and about what the tooth fairy would bring for him that night.

 He went to bed at his normal time on Thursday night, but he got up about an hour later.  We made him go back to bed and told him that the tooth fairy couldn't come until he was asleep.  We heard him singing in his room for a while, and then everything was quiet, so I decided to risk it and go on in. 
When I got into Drew's room, I found him lying upside down in his bed, with his head at the foot of his bed and his feet on his pillow.  He was stirring around, so I grabbed the little owl pillow and ran out with it.  Jim was brushing his teeth in the bathroom, so I took the pillow in to the bathroom to exchange the tooth for money and to tell Jim about my close call.  As I was talking, Jim interrupted to tell me that Drew was behind me.  Sure enough, he had gotten up and come out!  I hid the pillow behind my back, and Jim took Drew back to bed.  I quickly finished putting the money into the pocket and followed the guys into Drew's room.  I put the pillow back while Jim was tucking Drew in, without Drew's noticing.  I was relieved to have that over with and was proud of our teamwork and sneakiness!
The next morning, Drew came out of his room, and he was all upset.  He said that the tooth fairy hadn't come.  I asked him why he said that, and he told me that he had only closed his eyes for a few minutes the night before, and he hadn't seen the tooth fairy's shadow.  I asked if he had checked his pillow, and he hadn't.  I told him to go check to make sure.
Here he is opening the pocket.

 He feels the coins!

 There they are!

 Four quarters (he thinks that coins are more valuable than paper money, so we went with quarters).

I thought that things had gone pretty well for our first time as tooth fairies, all things considered, until later in the day, when Drew asked me why I had been washing his owl pillow in the bathroom sink the night before.  He had seen it after all, even though I had tried to hide it!  He's a little smarty pants - doesn't miss a thing!
Jim talked to the tooth fairy the other day, and she told him that from now on, she wants Drew to put his owl pillow in the hallway outside his door since he was trying to see her this time.  He has agreed to do it that way from now on, so we are hoping for easier tooth fairy visits in the future!

The Little White Dress

This is a picture of me, 33 years ago, wearing a little white sweater dress. It is my favorite of my baby pictures - in fact, it is in a frame in our living room. My mother saved that little white dress, and I've had it stored away for many years, just in case I ever had a little girl.

The dress is small, and it doesn't have a size marked in it, so I was glad that I tried it on her when I did.  It wouldn't have fit her for long!
A little yawn.

I tried to do the same pose as in my baby picture, but I wasn't quite successful.

Things were deteriorating with this pose, so we moved on.

She has so much hair, especially in the back.

Relaxing.

A full body shot - the dress is pretty short on her!

Getting tired of being a model.

Ready to be done!

I didn't quite get the pose or the picture I was trying for, but I'm glad that I was able to get her into the dress and get a few pictures before she got too big!

Our Trip to the Zoo

Drew, Maddie, and I spent last Friday at the Detroit Zoo. Drew was on Spring Break from pre-school last week, and I wanted to do something fun with him while he was out of school. Friday had the nicest weather of the week, so we picked that day. We had talked about going with friends, but we didn't coordinate it in time, so we went on our own and had a very nice time. Drew brought along his Sonic doll, which you will see in most of the photos! He loves that doll!

We started with the penguins, who were being fed.

Next we went through the aviary.

These little monkeys were Drew's favorite animals of the day. I think it was because they were pretty near the window, and he was able to see them up close.

The gorillas were close to the viewing area too.

Maddie started getting fussy, so we stopped for lunch. Drew and I had packed a picnic, and Drew really enjoyed eating outside. Someone had dropped some sandwich crusts near our table, and a little squirrel kept coming over to grab them, one-by-one. We had fun watching him.

Drew decided to give the squirrel the remains of his sandwich, but we were surprised when some peacocks came along and ate them instead.

Drew and I stopped at Sonic on the way to the zoo and got drinks. We enjoyed them throughout the zoo.

Another peacock.

The giraffes.

We really liked watching this bear. He was resting when we first got to his area, and then he got up and went over to his little pool of water and jumped in, making a huge splash!

My camera battery died after the bears, and Drew started hobbling a little while later because his shoes were giving him a blister, so we decided to call it a day. The zoo was a little more crowded than I had hoped it would be, but we really had a beautiful day to be there, and we enjoyed our zoo trip very much.

Easter 2012

We had a very nice Easter this year. We started our Easter celebration the Wednesday before Easter. Drew had to bring 6 hard boiled eggs to school that day, and his class dyed eggs. His teacher is quite brave! Here he is with his eggs.
Drew's eggs.

Since Drew had dyed eggs at school, he didn't really want to dye them again at home, so we decided to make some Easter cut-out cookies instead. I suggested that it would be fun for Drew to wear his bunny ears while we made the cookies, and he wore them! I love that he is still young enough to do things like that. I know that someday (probably sooner than later) he won't want to be silly like this any more, so I am taking advantage of it while I can!

Drew did a great job of cutting out the cookies, and after the first tray, he also wanted to roll out the dough.

I frosted the cookies, and then Drew sprinkled them with colored sugar (blue, of course) and sprinkles.

They were good!

Jim had to work Easter morning, so we did our Easter baskets on Saturday night before bed. I wanted Jim to be able to see Drew with his basket. Here are our baskets this year. In addition to candy, we each got a little something extra. Jim got a bottle of hot sauce. I keep seeing things about Sriracha on different cooking blogs and show, and since Jim loves hot sauce, I got him a bottle. He hasn't tried it yet, but I will let you know what he thinks of it.

Maddie and I shared a basket this year, and ours is on the right. Maddie got her first little doll as her main gift. The boys went to Bath and Body Works and got me some soap and lotion, and they got Maddie some hand sanitizer with a cute little monkey holder to hang on her diaper bag.

Drew's basket is in the middle.

Since he has gotten the Wii, Drew has grown to love the Mario characters - especially Sonic the Hedgehog. He has been wanting a Sonic doll, and we got him this little one for his basket. He LOVES it! Sonic has been going everywhere with us this week!

He also got some new pairs of underwear and a tube of toothpaste.

He loves his Sonic!

We gave Maddie her doll, but she isn't quite old enough to care about it yet.

I took a few pictures of the children Sunday morning. Drew had to pose with Sonic, naturally.

Here are the two of them together. So cute!

Jim's sister and brother-in-law gave Maddie her Easter dress and sweater. She was so fancy!

We went out to Jim's sister and brother-in-law's house for lunch, and after lunch, we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Drew had a great time looking for eggs.

I got to hunt for Maddie's tiny pink eggs. I was a horrible hunter, but I managed to find them all.

Drew enjoyed running around the yard hunting for eggs with his cousin Danny.

Here is Maddie with Aunt Sharon. Maddie is eight weeks old now, and she is getting to be so alert! She is very strong, and she loves to hold her head up and sit up. We had a very nice Easter with our family, and although we enjoyed all the fun of Easter, we also enjoyed talking with Drew about the true meaning of Easter. We are so thankful for Christ's sacrifice for us and that he conquered death so that we could have eternal life!