Monday, February 9, 2009

Happy Birthday Greg!











It's hard to decide what days we will acknowledge when a loved one leaves us. It is especially hard when you consider the children that were left behind. I knew pretty quickly after Greg's death that I wanted to celebrate his life with our boys...not his death. Every year since he died, the boys have made birthday cards and attached them to balloons to send up to Heaven to their Dad. It's a great tradition that I know the boys enjoy and I'm glad that Ed takes an active role in it, too. These two little boys lost a lot and I want them to still be able to celebrate moments with their father.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

The Demise of the Tooth Fairy

That's right people...the Tooth Fairy no longer exists. Let me start my defense now: I was feeling sick, I was soooo tired, I had no cash on hand...okay look, I just forgot. When did I remember? The next morning as soon as I woke Logan up. He threw his pillow back and that's when it hit me.

His disappointment was obvious. I started with some excuses...you lost it so late, she had probably already left...maybe she had already come through Colorado. It wasn't working out. So I just came clean. I said, Logan, do you know who the Tooth Fairy is?" He said, "No." I pointed at myself and his eyes lit up. I told him I didn't have time to go get cash to hide under his pillow but I told him I would get it to him ASAP. The one catch--he couldn't tell his brother.

Now, did I clarify that I wasn't EVERYONE'S Tooth Fairy? I probably should have, but I didn't. I didn't want to completely traumitize the kid. However, I now find myself concerned that Logan will inform his friends that his Mom is the Tooth Fairy. Oh Lordy...

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Tyler...oh, Tyler...


So Tyler, who we affectionately refer to as "Greg Jr." never ceases to amaze me. Ed and I have decided that he is just like his Daddy was. That sarcasm and dry humor that Greg had is what sticks out the most. The best though, is that he's funny and he doesn't even realize it. Take this incident for example...


While we're in the car, Tyler starts talking VERY LOUD to his brother. After a couple of warnings, I finally went into serious mom discipline mode. I said, "STOP YELLING!" (Okay, so I know that yelling at them to get them to stop yelling probably isn't effective, but I'm still a work in progress!) Tyler, in his most Greg-like way said, "But Mom, all my sentences have exclamation marks at the end!" How do you argue with that? I never thought he would be able to use his education against me. Darn it...


Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Another tooth bites the dust...

That's right people. Logan has lost yet another tooth. I was beginning to wonder if he would ever lose any teeth. Maybe it was all that Vitamin D milk he had before we went to 2%. Regardless, when he hadn't lost any teeth by second grade, I was wondering if he even had adult teeth.

I can't say that nature finally took its course about mid-year in the second grade for Logan and the teeth started coming out. Actually, it was gravity that played a big part. Gravity...speed...and the linoleum floor at his school all played a part. If you ask Logan, it was his shoes fault. Brand new shoes that he refused to wear ever again because he was so firm in his belief that the shoes had caused his misfortune.

As I was pulling into the pickup line that day, my cell phone started ringing. I could tell it was the school. About that same time, the assistant principle was flagging me down and told me to park, that Logan had an accident. Now, I will admit that I went into panic mode. I expected to find them either performing CPR on my kid or a bone sticking out somewhere. Instead I find him with an icepack on his mouth. Not so bad, right? Wrong...

Losing teeth is okay...when they're loose. None of his were. The dentist said it could take up to a year for his adult teeth to start coming through. These were major teeth...eating teeth...good picture taking teeth...talking correctly teeth. Not to mention, two other teeth were knocked loose in the process, so we had to keep our eyes open for absess and what-not.

What was Logan's main concern? The teacher was so frantic because of the blood that they rushed him to the nurse. Who knew where the teeth were. Logan knew this posed a problem...what would the tooth fairy think? I tried to assure him that his mouth was proof enough that he had indeed lost teeth. He didn't buy it. Believe it or not, his teacher found two of his teeth in the hallway and in Logan's mind, that was better than nothing.

So here we are, a year later and I've lost track of how many teeth we pulled. Tonight was the best though. He had a loose tooth and the adult was already coming in behind it. As I went to grab the tooth with a tissue Logan jerked back and told me to be careful because this tooth hurt so bad. I said I would try to be careful and opened the tissue to show the tooth that had come out when he jerked. Mission accomplished...no tears shed...thank God he wasn't wearing shoes.

Here's my dilemma...is it bad to borrow a dollar from Logan's piggy bank to trade for his tooth? If only the toothfairy did direct deposit...