Does Maryn get YouTube broadcasted directly to her brain?

So weird. (Thanks for the tip Jon T.)

some recent funnies

Here are a few things that have happened lately that I want to remember:

While in the car with Jon (I think G-pa Stone was there too), Seth said "You know what Dad, grass is like the Earth's hair."

Further proof that Maryn is almost exactly like my sister Wendy- While clipping Maryn's nails last night, I noticed that a few were very short already while the rest were all the same length. When I asked her about it, she said "I pulled them off with my teeth." Yes, folks- at age three, she bites her nails.

We have been listening to a CD of Disney songs (Jon made a random mix). One of the songs is "Davy Crocket" to which Maryn sings "Baby, Baby Crockett, king of outer space."

milestone reached by brute force

I went to pick up Seth and Maryn from a birthday party on Saturday afternoon to find Seth sitting on his friend's dad's lap crying and bleeding. Apparently, Seth and two of his buddies were wrestling in the jumping castle when Seth took a knee to the chin. The impact knocked one tooth completely out and loosened the other one significantly.
It took him a good hour to calm down and stop whining about his tooth. Finally he said to me "Mom, I can feel the space that my tooth left in my mouth and I'm getting kind of excited." (Excited about the tooth fairy, which he had never heard of, which I had just finished telling him about, which now I regret doing.) He had trouble eating for the rest of the day because he kept forgetting about the remaining wobbly tooth and biting into hard things like bread.
"Mom, how is my tooth ever going to feel better?"
"When you decide to be brave and let me pull it out."
"Will it hurt?"
"No more than having your other one knocked out."

He woke up the next morning with four shiny quarters under his pillow. (Tooth fairy payments have increased significantly since I was 5 and losing teeth.) He spent the whole morning wiggling and fretting over the remaining tooth until finally he came up to me and said "Mom, I'm ready to be brave." (I admit, I was still a little nervous to pull it out, my biggest fear was that I wouldn't get it out on the first try.) After one swift yank later, the deed was done. He didn't even cry and patiently bit down on a wad of tissue paper until the bleeding stopped. That tooth still had a considerable amount of root on it (about 3-4 mm for you dentally-inclined types). It probably wouldn't have fallen out on its own for 2-3 more months.

I think he's going to have those two huge holes in his mouth for a while, so I'm really glad it wasn't his top teeth.

Seth's just excited to have earned two dollars in two days.

Ike flooded my basement and fixed my cable

We received the remnants of Hurricane Ike this morning in the form of a torrential downpour that lasted four hours and flooded our basement (for the third time this summer). 4.3 inches according to our local newscast.

(Some quick words of explanation- our city's "run-off" drainage system is inadequate because it was built long before our city got huge. So whenever there is a lot of rain in a short period of time, the drainage system works for a while, then gets too full and stops draining- thus the water running down the hill onto our porch runs right under our french doors and into our basement, instead of down the drain located on our porch. So there's really not much we can do about it...I know, Mom- sandbags.)


Here's a video that Jon shot as the water was seeping in. (In the video, he mentions that it was the fourth time we've had flooding- but it's really only the third.)

The floor is red painted concrete which I actually thought looked pretty cool until all this flooding has made the paint peeley and gross.

Here's more pics of the flooding: In the first one, you can see our sandbox turtle with two cinder blocks in front of it that are almost completely submerged.

In this second photo, you can see how high the water was in reference to the chair leg. We think there was about a foot of water up against our back door.
The goods news of the day is- for some reason our cable connection is now crystal clear after months of the picture on almost all channels getting worse and worse. This was after multiple visits from the cable guys who said there was nothing they could do to restore the picture. We couldn't even get two network channels (one of which is the station Oprah is on). But for some reason, this huge storm fixed the problem! Cool, right?

Seth's teacher update

Apparently we're BFFs now because she asked me to be her Head Room Parent (aka- party planner). First order of business- class Halloween party.

In all seriousness, after that day of fretting- I'm over it. I've corresponded with her via email several times now and she's very pleasant in that realm. Because of this, I've realized that we're actually very similar- not that friendly or outgoing in person (unless it's with someone with whom you're well-aquainted) and way more comfortable corresponding via email.

You'd think that two people who are so similar could get along.

We'll see. :)

overheard at breakfast this morning

(Jon and I were in the living room, the kids were eating breakfast in the kitchen.)

Seth- "Mom's really the boss.  I know Dad's bigger than her, but she really is still the boss."

Maryn- "No, Dad's the boss!"

Seth- "No, Mom!"

Maryn- "No, both of them!"

Jon- "Maryn's right, now quit arguing!"

Seth and I know the truth.

what do you do when...

you don't like your kid's teacher at school?

I went in to Seth's class today to help with art. I was really excited to see how he interacted with his classmates and whether he was good at following directions (because he doesn't do well in this area at home). What I wasn't prepared for was the cold shoulder the class and I got from his teacher.

I'm not sure what I expected, but something along the lines of...
to kids- "Good Morning, class. We have a helper today, Seth's mom."
to me- "Thank you so much for coming in to help us out today."

What I got was...
to kids- "Sit down and get our your books." "Close your books and listen to the annoucements." to me- "What's your name again?"

Maybe she was having a bad day? (She is pregnant.) I really hope that's it and that she isn't always like this. I guess I was expecting someone more outgoing and energetic, someone who seems like they actually like kids. Do I have a starry-eyed expectation because my only examples are my mom and sister (who are both fabulous kindergarten teachers)?

My biggest consolation is that I have very few foggy memories about my Kindergarten experience. I don't remember anything about my teacher other than that she was really old. So I don't think that one sub-par teacher is going to make or break his elementary experience.

Right?!

twinkle toes

I took this pic a while ago and never got around to posting it (surprise!). Maryn and I did this fun, girly activity while Daddy and Seth went to see a movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth- 3D).
If you look closely, you can see her itty-bitty pinky toenail- courtesy of Daddy (look familiar, Michelle?).

ballerina girl

I'm blogging way out of order, I have so much else to catch up on. But I wanted to post pics of the first day of Maryn's ballet class. (Thanks for the leotard, Grandma Jeannie!)

She let me do her hair in these little buns, so cute!
I wasn't able to stay in the room because Jonas was so jealous and wanted to go and sit with the girls, so I had to take him out to the hall. This is a pic of me peeking through the door. Maryn is sitting to the right of the girl in the white tutu.
The class is 30 minutes a week for 3-4 year olds. It's not a real ballet class, it's more about movement and music. But the instructor does teach them the ballet positions and they practice them while playing games and using props. The girls aren't required to wear dance gear, they can wear whatever they want, really. But it's a fun opportunity to dress up like ballerinas (and some of the girls went all out, believe me!)

The following pic is of Maryn and her absolute best friend, Zoe. Whenever we are on our way anywhere, Maryn asks "Is Zoe going to be there?" Luckily the answer is usually yes!
(I think we'll skip the tights next time!)