The big gap

Last night, Emma lost her other bottom front tooth. It's been loose for a few weeks but I didn't think it was going to come out for a while longer. But Emma's friend Emme told her she should start twisting the tooth and it would come out sooner. Anyway, so we're getting ready for bed and Emma says "Mommy, my other tooth just came out!" After the initial excitement, I suddenly panicked - I didn't know if I had any tooth fairy money! After we put her tooth in an envelope and put it under her pillow, I went downstairs to see if I had a couple of one's in my wallet. But of course not! All I had was a $50 bill that I keep tucked away in my wallet in case of an emergency (I've had it in there for at least five years.) As much as I love my child, there was no way the tooth fairy was leaving her $50. I thought about leaving her an IOU from the tooth fairy or maybe telling her that the tooth fairy has Friday nights off or something. But what I ended up doing was calling my next door neighbor and she lent me a couple dollars for the tooth fairy.

The lesson here is, when you kid is in the "losing their baby teeth" stage, it is probably wise to keep an envelope tucked away somewhere with a few ones in it, just in case. Please learn from my shortcomings as a parent!

Anyway, here's my girl with her really big gap now...I'm kind a freaked because it's so big, but my mom says that's good so her permanent teeth won't be too crowded coming in (at least for now.)


And just a couple more photos I took this morning...




Have a nice weekend!

Our great wall photos

During my year-long wait to get a referral, I met three other single gals who were waiting as well and our DTC dates were very close together. We got together every month and really became close friends and a wonderful support system for each other. After we all got our referrals, we tried to get our girls together every month for a play date and, even though it seems harder and harder to coordinate these get togethers as our kids get older, we have all remained very close for the past six years.

Last week, our local FCC group had its annual charity walk and all of us have always made it to that. When the girls were two, we sat them together on this wall (don't ask me how!) and took their picture. And every year at the walk since then, we sit them on the same wall and take their photo to see how they have grown.

Here is the photo we took when they were two (from l-r, that's Emma, Jenna, Kimmie and Christina)


And here they are in 2008, all of them age six now...


It is so incredible to see how the girls grow and change from year to year. I so appreciate the friendship of these three women and their (not so little anymore) girls. As I said, it's become more of a challenge to get together with everyone's social calendars (or more accurately, our kids' social calendars!) But I'm hoping we'll be taking our great wall photos for many years to come.

My little Paris

For some time, Emma has been bugging me about lip gloss. Or I guess I should say "nip gloss" because that's what she calls it. She has about 155 tubes of chapstick, but I've never allowed her to wear the shiny stuff. Well, the other day we were scouring the dollar bins at Target and they had some "glearmy nip gloss" - "glearmy" being Emma's term for glittery shiny shimmering lip product. She BEGGED me for some glearmy nip gloss and, in a moment of weakness, I caved. I mean, she's six now...I guess it's okay if she has a little tube of shiny lip gloss.

Oh, how wrong one can be! On the way home, Emma smeared the lip gloss on her lips (and a bit on her face too.) Then I heard a little high-pitched voice ask "Mommy, does this nip gloss make me look hot?"

Are you kidding me?! Where is she picking up things like this? Has she been reading Paris Hilton's blog when I haven't been looking? GRRRR!!!

I told her very calmly, but in no uncertain terms, that she didn't look hot, that she was too young to look hot, and she wouldn't be looking hot for many years to come. When we got home, I confiscated her new nip gloss when she was distracted and it went into an inaccessible drawer. I would have thrown it away, but you never know when I might need some watermelon-flavored glearmy nip gloss.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of my definitely un-hot daughter taken last week..




May she be in a school uniform and pigtails forever...

The Defiant One

Now it's common knowledge that I happen to be the mother of the sweetest little girl on the entire planet. But that doesn't mean we don't have the occasional behavioral challenges. For example, we are going through a phase now where Emma pretty much argues with everything I say. Here is a typical exchange:

Mommy: Come on, Emma. You need to brush your teeth and get ready for bed.

Emma: In a minute

Mommy: No, now!

Mommy waits in the bathroom for obedient daughter to bend to her iron will. And waits and waits and waits.

Mommy: Emma, I mean it. Get in here now.

Emma: Just a minute

Mommy: (loudly this time) If I have to come in there, there's no story tonight.

No response

Mommy: EMMA!

Emma: OKAY...I'M COMING!

We do this nearly every night and it's wearing me out.

Tonight, after the inevitable struggle to get her ready for bed, she decided to do somersaults on the bed before I turned out the light. She did one and I applauded and said she could do one more. So she flipped over one more time and I said "Okay, that's enough." And she looked me right in the eye and somersaulted one more time and then started to do it AGAIN! I just flipped off the light and walked out of her room (I always like ending the evening on such a warm note!)

Blah! I know it's just a stage (please let it be a stage!) but it's really getting old.

Anyway, here's a photo of my great debater with her friend Kimmie. I took this at a splash park last weekend and I love this photo of them. It's hard to stay cross with someone so adorable!

Au Revoir, Maternelle

WAH! Yesterday was Emma's last day of kindergarten...I can't believe I have a first-grader now. It's just one year older, but the gap between kindergarten and first grade seems much more than that.

Anyway, the room parents organized a little party for the last day of school. I was so sorry to say au revoir to Emma's kindergarten (maternelle) teacher. M. Thomas has been such a wonderful teacher for Emma. He is so sweet and loves his kids so much. Plus, he's such a great instructor - I mean my child is fluent in French already, for crying out loud! And as a single mom, I'm thrilled whenever Emma has the chance to have a positive male influence on her life - and M. Thomas has definitely been that.

Here's M. Thomas giving Emma her "diploma" yesterday...


And here's Emma with her ex, Ocea (they used to be boyfriend and girlfriend but Emma tells me they are just friends now (whew!)


So now it's summertime for us, the time of year I'm insanely jealous of my friends who are teachers and get to spend a couple months with their kids. Emma's going to zoo camp for a couple weeks, then summer school and then we'll take some vacation time. I know it will be over before we know it!

Just when you think your baby is getting all grown up...

...she wants to spend all afternoon playing in the sand box at a local park...






I'm definitely going to cherish these kinds of days as long as I can!