Jacob's Tooth

About a year ago Jacob was running across our lawn and tripped on the Belgian Blocks lining the walkway. Unfortunately, he was just the right height that his face hit the blocks on the other side. He grazed his nose, there was blood, he was crying ....

I comforted him and calmed him down. About 1/2 an hour later we headed to the pediatric dentist for the kids check-ups I already had scheduled.

When we walked in they asked what happened to his nose - and we explained the fall. During Jacob's check-up she pointed out a laceration on his gum. We guessed it had come from the fall - and that he must have also hit his mouth, even though there was no outward sign of it. One of the teeth also seemed a little loose. She x-rayed him, and sure enough, the root on one of his lower teeth was fractured. She told us not to let him wiggle it, and hopefully it would repair and firm up and we would just keep an eye on it. Then I promptly forgot all about it. (Jacob saw Uncle Dan this summer, and it seemed fine.)

At the beginning of February, I noticed one of his teeth was loose. I already had appointments for over their winter break, but called and moved them up to be seen sooner.
As the dentist looked at him she said "Isn't this the tooth that had the trauma?" I though a minute and remembered - it WAS the tooth he had hit. His gum was inflamed around the tooth. She did another x-ray, which showed that the tooth was disintegrating below the fracture. His permanent tooth was not far below - she thought it should come out.

I have SO MANY fears related to traumatic experiences at the dentist as a kid. I never want my kids to have a bad experience, so I was pretty anxious.He went in a few days later, and it was great. Really, I love this dentist - it's super kid friendly, they are very patient and kind, I NEVER, EVER wait in the waiting room (the place where my anxiety just builds) .... really they are top-notch.

I wish I'd taken my camera, but I was so anxious and focused on dropping Emily & Jane at friends houses before we went, that I forgot it.
Jacob picked his "nose color & smell" for his gas, lay back and watched TV and got pretty giggly. He wasn't restrained in any way - I sat right next to him and he didn't even flinch as she pulled it out. She was worried that the disintegrating root would be left in his gum and she'd have to dig it out - but it all came out in one piece (prayers answered.)

Here's the new smile Jacob will be sporting for a few years, until his adult tooth comes in.

He really likes it, he says "There's a window for my tongue."

You're still super cute buddy!

We kept forgetting to out his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy - so we finally did it the other night (in this cool glow-in-the-dark, tooth shaped holder the dentist gave him.)

Putting it under his pillow.

I'm surprised he went to sleep, he was so excited.

The next morning he was delighted to find $2 instead of the tooth. He quickly put it in his wallet - he's planning on buying Lego when he has more money!

YAY SPRING!

Spring has been bursting out all over my garden for the past week.

Of course, on the official first day of spring we woke up to thick snow falling, but even by the afternoon it had almost all melted and the flowers looked like they were recovering.

We did a little spring clean-up in the garden last Saturday, there's still a lot more to do.

But just seeing these crocuses popping up has made me so excited for the all the flowers yet to come, and the vegetables, and being outside a whole lot more!

Born for the Stage

Getting the little one's ready for bed one night recently, I wondered where Jane had gone. When I discovered her, I knew I had to grab the camera.



Perhaps bek sin't the only one in our family who has a love of performing!

Hunter Mountain Birthday

For my birthday last month we decided to go on a little family ski trip to Hunter Mountain here in NY. We also decided to stay in a slope-side condo. Since our family is now too big for one hotel room, a condo was not much more than booking two hotel rooms and would give us a lot more space for the kids and we could make most of our own meals, saving money on food.

We were really pleased when we got there, to see how nice it was.

I started to tell the kids "This is someone else's house and they are just letting us use it, so we need to be really careful and treat things the way we do at home."
Rick interrupted with "Um, treat it BETTER than you would our house." He had a point!

Renting the condo also gave us access to the nearby Mountain Club pool - but even though it is well heated, it was too freezing and windy to go it, even though they have a little channel you can swim in and out from the building in. Maybe next time.

I took food with us for breakfast the first day, we bought lunch and then after skiing went to the local grocery store for supplies. Nothing fancy (dinner the first night was noodles, mugs of tomato soup and toasted cheese rounds), but things the kids would eat, comfort food, less expensive than eating out and no worrying about waiting ages in a restaurant with tired kids.
The first day we woke up and I could hear the wind howling around outside the windows. I closed my eyes and snuggled further into the blankets, hoping that it sounded worse than it was. It was just as bad as it sounded. It was extremely windy and cold (single digit temps) on the Friday - but at least it wasn't crowded and we just bundled up and went anyway.

The Saturday was much better. Still pretty cold (temps in the teens) but almost no wind and sunny, which made it much more tolerable. We left Jacob and Jane in the day-care and took the big girls both days. You can tell it was cold by the fact that the tip of Emily's nose is the only skin showing.

Emily thought the icicles on the rocks that we could see from the lift were really cool and wanted me to take a picture.

Rick riding the lift with Emily.

Rick riding the lift with bek.

The best part of the whole weekend?
Lots of family together time and bonding - the best birthday gift a Mom could ever get!

Fun Friday

We have a crazy through-the-week schedule this year. Not much time for play-dates or relaxing after school. We used to do movie & pizza night on Fridays - but even that has been curtailed due to Emily's early morning swimming class on Saturdays, and the need for an early night. We were all feeling a little tapped out at the start of the school year so, I declared "Fun Friday" for each Friday this year. I will try not to run errands, or clean or do laundry. Fridays are just for playing.

The weather is warming up so we're about to change, but before we move into Spring - here's a recap of our Winter Fun Friday's.

Jacob and I have been skiing together each Friday morning. It has been one of the true joys in my life to have this time with my boy. I am so grateful to all the friends who took Jane on Friday mornings so we could do this. We actually were really lucky to have great weather almost every Friday. There was one day a few weeks ago that was FREEZING and very windy, so we gave it a miss - but other than that, just about every Friday this winter dawned sunny & clear. We also got some decent snow this year too (I love snow.)

These Friday's have been so great - we get there early, so get a nice close parking spot and practically have the place to ourselves.
Riding the lift with Jacob is fun. He's not at all afraid of heights, so he leans over and looks down calling out all the things he sees that previous riders dropped. We talk about the trees, and which one's are evergreen or deciduous, we wonder at the beauty of the sun shining on the snow. We talk a lot about Star Wars. I have just loved this time with him.

Two weeks ago we went and it was slushy and icy, then last week we didn't go - too warm. I think that might have been our last day. I wish I had realized when we were there that it was our last - I would have made an effort to take some more video - he really has improved and we spent the last few weeks doing only blue runs. Maybe we'll get one more day in - there always seems to be a late snowstorm in NY.

In the meantime, here's some video of one of Jacob's earlier ski days. I wish I'd left the camera on one more second - he does make that turn at the end.
(As always, ignore my annoying commentary. I wish I could turn the sound off!)



On Jacob's second day (ever) skiing he saw someone going over jumps and instantly wanted to know when he could do it. I told him he had to be better at skiing. Undaunted he started doing little bunny hops on his ski's whenever we are on a kind of flat section at the start of a run.
I decided not to fight it - and let him just do it when he wants. Such a funny boy.



Friday afternoons we have had lots of play-dates, movies & popcorn and craft activities - but we were also lucky enough to have some good sledding days. (Have I mentioned I love snow???)

Here are a few shots from our favorite sledding day this year.

Jane and Stella - our next door neighbor & Jane's BFF.

This year was such an improvement for us because Jacob was pretty much independent at sledding - he raced himself down, and could walk back up alone too. Much more fun for me than last year - dragging him up while lugging (a then 18 month old) Jane.

Emily and Scout getting ready to race.

Jacob slaughtering the competition - Emily nearly taking out a few friends.

Don't you love Isaac chasing the sled down the hill?

I even let Jane sled with her friends. I started them kind of near the bottom, and I was nervous every time - but they laughed like crazy.

I am looking forward to Spring (not having to put jackets on and off 20 times a day as we come in and out will save me huge chunks of time), but I will miss the fun we've had this winter.

Fun Fridays for Spring? I'm thinking playground, zoo, bike rides, jumping on the trampoline, hatching butterfly's and definitely gardening with our worms and ladybugs!

Jane Starts Swimming

Jane started swimming lessons!

It's really important to me that the kids are strong swimmers, and we've been going to Aqua Tots with Emily and Jacob for the past 4 years - so Jane knows no life other than watching her siblings swim, and is as familiar with this pool as our own home.

You have to be exactly 30 months old to go in the pool without a parent, and Jane missed out by 6 days on the last session. Ever since then she's been DYING to start and was always asking "Is it my turn yet?"

Imagine my surprise when on her first day she lasted about 10 minutes before bursting into tears and asking for me!

Here's some of her first lesson (red swim cap, blue wetsuit.)
Excuse the jiggling camera, Jacob was on my lap - his lesson is right before hers.



She's done a lot better since then, and hasn't cried (much). There may have been a little bribery involved (we now own a few more Schleich horses ....)

I'm not sure if it was all too much after all the anticipation, or just getting used to the routine, or just that it was suddenly overwhelming - but she had her favorite teacher (Steve - EVERYONE loves Steve) a couple of times and he seemed to help her get over it.

I'm so happy she's on her way to being a little fish like her big brother & sisters.