Jack Takes a Stand at the Dentist

Old Jack is really something else! He isn't what you would call a friendly kid. He likes routine, he likes who he knows, and is not all that nuts about meeting new people. I used to HATE taking Jack home to Texas, because he didn't really warm up to my family until we were almost ready to leave...and they in turn never seemed to warm up to him. Mary was queen whenever we went home.

Now I realize it is just his personality. It's what makes him him. We are still trying to work on him coming out of his shell, but more than that we are realizing that he will most likely be a quieter kid, who tends to keep to himself.

Jack's personality was in perfect form this week as he went to his first dentist appointment. He loved the big screen tv showing "Madagascar" , and he was very appreciative of the room filled to the brim with toys. But as soon as they called him back, I could see the apprehension in his face, and I knew it was not going to be pretty. He and Mary were sitting cadddy corner from each other, and if Mary's eyes ever strayed from the TV a foot in front of her face, she could have easily seen Jack. Jack, on the other hand, was turned around in his seat watching Mary and telling her, "It's ok Ya-Ya, don't cry! It's ok Ya-Ya." Mary had finally had enough with him interrupting her show, so she finally said, "OK- JACK! Now be quiet and let the lady clean your teeth!"

To make a long story short- Jack was gracious enough to let the hygienist count his teeth, and squirt some water in his mouth....cleaning his teeth was NOT going to happen. I tried laying on the chair and letting him sit on my lap- NOPE! The told me to just keep bringing him and eventually he would be ok. They don't know Jack (no pun inteneded). We better keep brushing, because Jack may not have a professional cleaning until he is an adult.

Mary Gets the Gameball!

Ok, as most of you know....Mary is not a very good softball player. It doesn't bother me.....much. She loves to talk about it. She loves her uniform. She is giddy with excitement over the cheers and the snacks, but as far as the actual games go, she could take it or leave it. As her coach, I spend the better part of most games hollering out to her something like, "Mary please watch the ball so you don't get hurt", "Mary please get out of the dirt", "Mary please play attention to the game!"

Up until last week, she would not practice at home, because to her softball was only something she did with her friends around. But for some reason last week she started having me pitch balls to her whenever we were outside playing, and her hitting has improved dramatically. Amazingly with mine and Greg's genes, Mary appears to be pretty fast, so as long as she makes contact with the ball, there is a pretty good chance she will get on base. Today she was the only girl on teh team to get three hits off the coach (you get three thrown piches, and then you move to the tee)

So today was our first "real" game. real meaning we had an umpire ( a 15 year old boy who was constantly checking his phone) and we kept score. As you can probably guess, we did not win (11-17), but Mary finally made an out. Here is how I imagine an announcer would have called her miraculous out-

And its a hit! A slow grounder to the second baseman. O'Riordan makes a clean stop and picks up the ball...but it appears she has no idea what to do with it. She moves towards first but stops....the runner is safe at first. But wait- the runner is making a break to second. The coach is screaming at O'Riordan to tag the runner. The baserunner seems to have forgotten where she is. She is stopped nearly five feet off of first base, but she is making NO attempt to make it to second. The A's coach (me) has finally gotten through to O'Riordan that she needs to go tag the runner. O'Riordan runs over and tags the runner...but wait she is tagging her with an empty glove. The coach is going beserk. Wait for it- there it is O'Riordan FINALLY realizes that she must tag the runner with the ball and she does. That runner is outta here!

After the game, I was talking with one of my assistants, and told her I simply had to give the gameball to Mary because of two reasons 1.She is one of a handful of girls who has not gotten a gameball yet, and 2. It is quite possible she will not make another out for the remainder of the season!

Mary was estatic. We went out for ice cream after the game to celebrate. And she is hoping to stretch the celebration into a trip to Chuck E Cheese tomorrow for lunch. Im not sure about lunch, but I sure was happy for her today, and more than a little proud as well!

Gracie Turns 18 months old

I took Grace to the doctor on Monday for her 18 month check-up. She is totally suffering from third child syndrome. She should have been in for a 15 month check-up, I never scheduled one. For Mary, I probably made the 15 month appointment before I left the hospital. Jack made it there, I'm sure. But poor Gracie girl....an entire appointment missed.

Anyways...Gracie is 33.5 inches (90th percentile), 27 lbs (95th percentile), and her head is HUGE- over the 100th percentile, so at least we know she belongs to us. She was a trooper when she got her shots, she took it better than Mary did. Mary was upset that Gracie was getting shots. The doctor could not hear her heart murmur anymore, which is great news! I came home and thought about updating her book, but there were too many blank pages before it, so I just left it blank.

I went ahead and made her 2 yr appointment- or I would have probably forgotten about it.

"Mom, I Love you More than Pixie Hollow!"

My cheapness has backfired. Thanks to facebook I get constant updates on sales and specials going on everywhere. Last week I got a message about a code for a free picture of your child sleeping and you got to photoshop what was supposed to be the tooth fairy. Mary has NO loose teeth, but I figured I would make the picture, why not, it was free. Then I would keep it on my hard drive and whip it out when she eventually looses a tooth.

Rewind to Christmas. Mary got a princess make-over at DisneyWorld and then had a fairy sprinkle her all over with pixie dust (aka glitter). It has been almost 5 months, and I still see glitter in her hair almost every day when I brush it. But, I digress.

So the morning after I made this great tooth fairy picture, I am brushing Mary's hair. I let her know I can still see the "pixie dust" in her hair. She then says, "I think the fairies visit me at night. I think they keep sprinkling pixie dust in my hair because they want me to be a fairy and go to Pixie Hollow with them." I idiotically chimed in, "Mary, I think you are right- as a matter of fact, the fairies sent me a email last night and they are visiting you at night." Then I showed her the picture- and it made her year. She could not have been more excited. She ran to her class telling everyone who would listen that fairies were visiting her while she slept. So since Monday she has been trying to stay up all night to talk to these fairies that I have convinced her are coming to visit her at night. During the day we email them and sometimes they email back.

Yesterday I realized this was going a little too far. Mary woke up every morning visably angry that she was still at home and not in Pixie Hollow as she had hoped to be. So tonight as she was preparing for bed, she asked if I could check my email to see if the fairies were coming. They hadn't come by last night, due to an inordinate amount of rain in the hollow. Then I broke the news to her that they fairires were not allowed to take her to Pixie Hollow because she was NOT a fairy, and the head fairy, who may or may not be Tinkerbell??, forbade it. She immediately broke down. Crying, or should I say wailing on and on about how she REALLY wants to be a fairy. She wrote the fairies a note, and drew them pictures hoping it might change their mind.

From a very young age, I have though Mary to be of above average intelligence.....maybe I have been wrong. Hope this episode ends soon!

Greg and I told her that we were sorry she was upset but happy she was staying with us. She didnt care much. But the last thing she said to me before she went to sleep was , "Mom, I love you more than Pixie Hollow!"