Boogers

Nothing like coming back from a blogging hiatus with a good booger story...

The other day, I looked in the rear view mirror to see Katherine picking her nose. I offered her a tissue. She replied, "It's just a boogie. I can eat it. I love my boogies. They are my favorite."

Perhaps this is why she rejects my nutritious and yummy meals.

The Saga Continues...

In keeping with the theme of my most recent post...

While in the bath tub tonight, Katherine informed Rob that her "boobies were getting bigger [so she could] be a fireman."

I couldn't make this stuff up...

Words

A few weeks ago, I wrote of Katherine's wish to be a fireman when she grows up. She continues to talk about her career and each time I encourage her to refer to herself as a firefighter. She continues to tell me that she will be a fireman. So far, I do not have a feminist on my hands.

As part of teaching the girls to be proud of themselves as the girls they are and the woman they will become, we are working hard to teach them all the appropriate names for body parts. We have sugar coated nothing. Each body part has been labeled with it's anatomically correct name from the time the girls were infants. As I have blushed and stammered at times, I have been proud that the girls will have sexually healthy identities.

In the bathtub the other day, Katherine was busy washing herself. "I'm washing my arms. I'm washing my legs. I'm washing my potty."

I took a deep breath and said, "Oh, you mean you're washing your ___ (insert anatomically correct name here- I don't want my blog to come up when people google the term!)?"

"Yes," she replied, "I'm washing my potty."

The child has created her own euphemisms for body parts.

And it appears that I am raising a potty washing fireman. So much for all my hard work...

Lost Tooth

We have had yet another crazy week. Rob was out of town, the sleeping sagas continue, etc, etc, etc...

In the midst of the madness, though, came a huge milestone. Caroline lost her first tooth last night. I had wiggled her tooth a few days ago and it barely felt loose. And then last night as Rob was putting her down for bed, she pushed the tooth right out.

Needless to say we were caught off gaurd. She looked so grown up. I could hardly believe that my baby had lost a tooth. Quite quickly though the disbelief was replaced with panic. I had no idea what the tooth fairy was giving out these days. I knew I got a quarter and I was fairly certain that wouldn't do.

As soon as Caroline went to sleep, I started calling around. Caroline's closest friend (we'll call her Ashley) had lost two teeth so I thought for sure we could do what they did and all would be fine. Except that Ashley's family is from Germany where they don't have a tooth fairy. Ashley got nothing. I realized that wouldn't do either. I started trying to picture more friends with missing teeth. I could picture another little girl in Caroline's class with spaces between her teeth (we'll call her Margaret) so I called her mom. Margaret's mom was no help either. It seems that Margaret didn't want to give her teeth away so she also got nothing. Again, not what I was going for...

At this point, the plot thickened. Rob realized that we only had $20 bills or a $2 bill he had received as part of a work event. I have a $2 bill in my wallet that my dad carried in his wallet for as long as I knew him. It seemed right for the tooth fairy to give a $2 bill for the very first special tooth.

Because sleep is a rare event, I was able to see the look on Caroline's face when she called me into her room at 1am. Usually, I'm not so happy to see her in the dark of the night. I must say, though, seeing her smile with a hole in her mouth holding up a $2 bill was pretty cute, even then...

Ramona

I have been reading aloud to Caroline since she was in the womb. Literally. I was one of those pregnant moms...

From the time she was born, reading would soothe her and make her happy. This year has marked a big change in our reading lives. Caroline is beginning to read on her own. It seems like everyday she is reading something new. She will look in the book we are reading, the newspaper, a menu and suddenly surprise, even herself, with the words she can read. She also writes constantly- names, words, descriptions. For months, she would insist that I spell every word she would write. Amazingly, she is now taking big risks, inventing spelling for herself.

While reading and writing on her own are obviously monumental steps, we are also moving into a new world of read alouds. I have been trying to move Caroline to novels for ages and she is just becoming interested. We have found some fantastic new titles but this week she has settled on a book from my childhood- Ramona and Beezus. While some of the book is a bit outdated, Ramona's personality is timeless. And so much like Caroline.

I'm starting to think that we have found a nickname for Caroline- Ramona perhaps?

The Mind of a Two Year Old

Katherine continues to amaze me. I have never seen a more classic case of the terrible twos. Perhaps because Caroline started showing signs of the terrible twos at 15 months (or maybe at 15 days!), I had deluded myself into thinking that perhaps Katherine, while still so pleasant at two and half, might be skipping the stage completely.

I was terribly, terribly wrong. Here is a strange glimpse into life with a two year old.

Yesterday: Katherine, happy and wise beyond her years said to me as I touched a hot pan and shouted in pain, "Mom, you should have worn the glove." Umm, thanks.

Today: Katherine, grumpy and evil, as I gave her a drink in a clean glass when she wanted a drink in a dirty glass, threw herself to the ground where she cried while pounding her fists and feet on the floor for a solid half hour. No kidding.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring...

90

This weekend marked Rob's grandmother's 90th birthday.

The girls are incredibly lucky. The people on Rob's side of the family seem to live forever. Rob grew up with many of his great grandparents. In fact, there are lots of pictures of him with them. Each time we look at these photos, Rob affectionately refers to the crew as "The Antiques." Aptly named, they stand with canes or walkers or sit in arm chairs surrounded by family.

Caroline and Katherine have three living great grandparents. Katherine was even born on her great grandfather's 90th birthday. This weekend, they gathered with family and celebrated the life of their great grandmother.

We had put together a book for Great Grandma chronicling our collective 90 favorite memories of her. As we worked on the book, I was awed by the history. Great Grandma learned of the bombing of Pearl Harbor during her wedding shower. I was awed by the detail of the memories. Rob's aunt's husband remembers eating 10 scrambled eggs for breakfast after his first night spent in the family's house. I was awed by the changes we have seen over time. Rob's mom remembers wearing the previous year's Easter dresses for Palm Sunday and brand new clothes, including hats and kid gloves, each Easter Sunday.

May we each have 90 birthdays and most importantly, may we each have families who can collect 90 wonderful memories of us.