In the 2 hour window that I have with all 5 children in school…I waltzed into Target this morning with my world on a string. I made it to Walmart last night after the 5th grade parent night…and by 10:30…all school supplies had been purchased except for a folder, 2 composition notebooks, and a wireless keyboard with an attached mouse. Which…for the record…I’m not entirely sure I got the right thing. but at this point…I really don’t care. Walmart was out of that stuff. So…to my preferred place of shopping I went this morning. They would never fail me on folders. I just knew it.
So…the last school supply was purchased by 10:00 this morning. And it felt great.
I’ll just do a little cleaning around the kitchen, I thought.
And that’s where I found my second born’s crinkled up Math syllabus. With a list of “needed materials.”
Back to the store I go.
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Currently…my oldest child is on a school bus. It’s the first time in the history of this family that I’ve not taken and picked up a kid. I always kind of reasoned that I chose to be a stay-at-home mom and taking them and picking them up was part of my job…even if the lines are long. But this has gotten completely out of control. Case in point:
Taking:
6:30 am
7:55 am
8:30 am
10:55 am
1:45 pm
2:30 pm
3:45 pm
and then whatever activities they have…tonight being
5:10 pm
6:10 pm
7:35 pm
I have one word for this.
NUTBALLS.
So…on the mornings that Chad can’t take that 6:30 shift…he rides the bus. And that’s the end of that.
(the above was written yesterday.)
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It’s been a very mature couple of weeks for the puddin cup. I mean…with the way things are going here…she could be driving by next week and married by her 6th birthday.
Way earlier than any of her big siblings (a fact that was not lost on her)…she lost her first tooth. Earlier in the Summer when she told me it was loose…I filed it in the “dramatic announcements you hear from Annslee” department…right next to declarations such as “While I’m asleep…I’ll think about horses!”
So…I really took the whole loose tooth thing with a grain of salt. But turns out…
she wasn’t joking.
And when I saw just how loose that thing was…the muscles in my teeth pulling fingers started to twitch. Because I love to pull teeth. Literally that is. Not to be confused with dealing with people who are defiant. Which I happen to be doing a lot of these days. But that’s entirely another story.
And can you believe that she didn’t let me near that thing??? She wouldn’t even let me touch it to wiggle it! She ran around screaming “NO!!!!!!” She acted like I wasn’t the pulling teeth expert that I am! I don’t get it.
So…I did the only thing I knew to do.
I taught her everything I knew.
I told her that she was getting private lessons from someone who…as a child…decided that I wanted to lose a tooth…only I didn’t have one loose. So…all in one day…I manually loosened my tooth using a wet wash rag and pulled it by that evening. I’m pretty sure I sensed some exasperation from my tooth fairy as I recall. But…she had to admit…..
I had skill.
Anyhoo…
She said, “I can’t do it!”
I said, “You can! You can do it!”
And with all her siblings surrounding her and cheering her on…
She did.
And just like that…
we have another master tooth puller in the family.
I knew she took after me. wink wink.
And then I found her praying.
“Dear Jesus. Please tell the tooth fairy that I only need money. She doesn’t have to bring me the chocolate bunny or the toothbrush because she might not be able to carry them. Thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
After searching for the tooth in the carpet…twice…due to the fact that she kept taking it out of the pocket of the pillow to see if it was still there…
it made it safely under her pillow.
Her tooth fairy surprised her and was able to carry a new tooth brush…and slipped her a $5. She may have been out of ones. Although…I can’t be certain.