Two Lost Teeth

1 September 2008, Monday

Jana made lunch for us and we all went to the park for a picnic. As we were leaving the house, Jana called Sam "Cutie Face." He replied, "Don't call me names! Just Sam-o and Handsome." Dallin wanted to lead the way and told us not to worry if we got lost because he "knows the neighborhood." He did a pretty good job; we just had to gently remind him a couple of times that he was turning right a little too early. He and Sam are both getting pretty good at looking all ways before crossing at a corner. They get a little over cautious if there's a car moving at all within sight. That makes me a lot more comfortable.

We ate the great lunch Jana had prepared. Dallin wanted some chips and I told him that he needed to eat the five grapes on his plate. He started trying to make a deal with me. "Can I have five chips when I eat my fie grapes." "Yes," I replied. "How about two chips after I eat two grapes." "No, you can have two chips after you eat five grapes." He got pretty upset and threatened to go get lost in the neighborhood. After watching both Kaylie and Sam eat 5 grapes, he was able to choke them down. After we ate, we played pirate ship on the big toys.

I took the boys down to Google to play and have a little treat while the girls rested. I played pool with Dallin while Sam played the arcade games. Dallin did a pretty good job, once I figured out how to shorten the cue. Then we went upstairs for a treat and played foosball. We came back down and I played pool with Sam while Dallin fussed around with the Xbox and the Wii. I don't know how to use them, but I got Guitar Hero working for Dallin. He didn't want to play that game, so he fussed around some more. When it was time to go, Dallin threw a major fit and told me all sorts of mean things, that he didn't love me anymore, that he was through with me, culminating with "and when I get older, I'm GOING TO SMOKE!" When we got home, Dallin apologized to me for "freaking out." He's a good kid, just going through a fit-throwing phase right now.

2 September 2008, Tuesday

Tonight at dinner, Dallin began telling me about DDT and how it affects mosquitos, which affects fish, which affects Eagles, an endangered species. I'm surprised that they are already feeding the kids this stuff so early. DDT kills mosquitos that propagate malaria, which kills people. The link to Eagles is dubious at best. Anyway, I expressed some doubt and Dallin got pretty angry at me. He told me that I don't know everything. I agreed and told him I would do some research on the subject.

Today, Jana spoke with Sam's teacher and she told her that Sam had picked out the most difficult puzzle, a turtle, and had sat and concentrated over it until he had put it all together. She was impressed that he stayed focused and that he completed it.

3 September 2008, Wednesday

When I got home from work, I heard a little voice say, "Daddy, look for me!" Kaylie was hiding in the pantry. When I opened the door she shouts, "Ta Da!" She likes to hide there lately and usually says something like, "I'm going to work now," and shuts the door. After I found her, she told me that she wanted to go potty on the toilet. I took her upstairs to sit for a while, but she didn't get anywhere.

At dinner, Dallin showed me his loose tooth. I asked him if he wanted me to pull it out and he said yes. Pulling teeth used to give me the willies. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had remembered. Dallin's tooth came right out! He lost his first tooth! He was very excited and to celebrate, I made strawberry milkshakes.

6 September 2008, Saturday

Last night, while Jana and I were watching a movie, we heard a cricket in the house. We looked around but couldn't find it. It stopped chirping, so we forgot about it. We were awakened at 12:30 by the sound of chirping downstairs. I went down to try and find it. It sounded like it was near the garage, but it stopped chirping. After waiting a bit it started again, but it sounded like it was coming from the screen door. Not there and then it stopped. I sat on the stairs, waiting for it to start again, but it never did.

At 3:00 we heard the chirping again. This time I went into ninja mode. I crept down the stairs an noticed a small black blob under the door in into the vacuum closet (right between the garage and the screen door). I took one more step and sure enough it moved and stopped chirping. I had it trapped and I knew I would be victorious.

I get a little freaked out by bugs, especially jumping ones. I tried a few times with a shoe, but had to resort to a fly swatter in the end. My heart was going pretty strong by the end and I ended up staring at the ceiling for about an hour. At least I heard the sprinklers come on at 4:00.

7 September 2008, Sunday

Dallin had me pull out his right front bottom tooth, the second one this week. He wrote a note to the tooth fairy that was really cute. It had a picture of him in bed sleeping and the tooth fair taking out the tooth and putting a dollar under his pillow. It said "Dear Tooth Fairy, Thank you for the money." He is an awesome kid.