When zone defense doesn't work

I discovered two days ago that Ellie's front tooth is chipped. I don't even know when it happened! Amanda also chipped her front tooth when she was two, but it's not as bad as Ellie's is. Amanda rode the push toy princess car down the stairs, and wouldn't you know it, the rough hewn rock at the bottom stopped her fall--by her teeth. Ellie is now getting pretty creative in ways to ride the same car, but we keep the baby gate closed now.I'm sad! We took Ellie to the dentist and they said it's not deep enough to take any action, and cosmetically they can't do anything until she's three! I'm sure in a world of little boys, it's sad, but somehow a trophy of war--like scars. But with little princesses?Last night, while I was putting Ellie to bed, Brett was getting the older girls out of the bath. Amanda was supposed to wait for me to put her excema lotion on. It took me less than five minutes, but in that time, Amanda decided she could do her own lotion. Nice. She looks so remorseful, doesn't she? By the way, she's also getting her second set of molars. She's old enough now to tell me, "Mom, something in my mouth is hurting me." And points to this huge, white bump in her gums. I can almost see the ridges of the molar! It's close!

Are you dead yet?

I was lucky enough to have Amanda hold my hand this afternoon as we walked home from Kindergarten. I told her how much I love holding her hand and I asked her, "Amanda, even when you are grown up, will you still hold my hand?"
Katie interjected, "Well, you'll be almost dead then!"
I guess all the more reason that I'll need someone sweet to hold my hand!

21

Katie got her own hard-back copy of the Book of Mormon for her birthday (so she doesn't have to steal mine off the nightstand) and each night, she works hard to read about one verse. She's also figuring out the other tasks associated with reading, like following the lines of words from left to right, then top to bottom, chapters, and page numbers. It's a lot to take in when you think about it. At the grocery store tonight, Katie looked up at the aisle marker and said, "Mom, look! We're on page 21!"

"Oh! I stink!"

Amanda has pretty much gotten the hang of taking care of her own toileting needs. She occasionally has accidents, but for the most part, when we're at home, she trots off to the bathroom when she needs to. This morning, she did just that. I walked by the bathroom to offer assistance, which she didn't need. As I walked away, I heard her say with great expressiveness, "Oh! I stink!" I laughed to myself and went back to the bathroom and asked her to repeat what she'd said. "I stink. I need some of that spray so Daddy won't think I stink!" she said pointing to the air freshener! She's got a pretty good handle on the whole thing, don't ya think? :)

PS--She's way too cute to be that stinky!

Daddy Ruffles

Last night at dinner, Amanda pointed out a sunspot on my arm and asked "Mommy, owie?"
"No, that's not an owie. Mommy just has a spot there," I explained.
Katie began examining her arms. "Mom, I don't have spots like you, I just have ruffles on my arms, like Daddy."
"Oh? What ruffles do you and Daddy have?" I asked Katie.
"See?" Katie points to the hair on her arms. "These are the ruffles that Daddy and I have on our arms."
Daddy would be so proud to know he's not a hairy man, he's a ruffly daddy!

Katie quips

Katie doesn't usually wear her coat in the car because the carseat gets too tight and she warms up once the heater gets going. Well, on our way north last week to visit family for Christmas, she got buckled up in her coat. After about 15 minutes the heater had warmed up and she said, "Mom, the sun is on me and I'm hot."
I turned off the heater and told her, "Okay, the heater is off."
"Mom, can you turn the sun off too?"



The bishop in our ward has endeared the children with candy. After church, the children line up outside his office (mob style almost) and are ushered into the bishop's office 2-3 at a time to get a dum dum sucker. Except on Fast Sunday. When they are given a sticker. Quite disappointing when they are all "Starving!" They all dread fast Sunday, let me tell you! Well, last fast Sunday, I picked up Katie from her class and she is hurrying to the bishop's office while she asks me, "Mom, is it SLOW SUNDAY today?"
(You know, you only get candy when it's a slow Sunday, not Fast Sunday!)