Milestones: Tooth Fairy

At Q's regular check up in early December, it was determined that Q did indeed have an adult tooth coming in. (Finally!) Unfortunately, it had found a spot behind the other teeth and was wedging up out of alignment with the other teeth. While the baby tooth was wiggly, the dentist wanted to pull it (assuming it didn't fall out in the meantime) so that the adult tooth had room to move into its appropriate spot as it was growing in.

Sitting in the dentist's office yesterday, Q asked me, "Is the Tooth Fairy real?"

"Absolutely."

He didn't quite believe me, so he wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy.



He taped it to the back of the baggie with the baby tooth. I think he was planning to hide it where only the Tooth Fairy could find it, but luckily, he forgot and left it on the table.



Note the stamp.

This morning he found her response in an envelope, along with a snowflake, and a dollar bill...




After showing Noodle, I heard him in the hallway: "This is awesome!"

Halloween

When I was a child, I felt sorry for the children in store bought costumes. They were plastic and unpersuasive. As an adult, I empathize with the parents significantly more. On the bright side, costumes for children are dramatically better made.

This year Q announced he wanted to be a ninja. Watching the student parade in Essex, I realized that 75% of all the boys wanted to be ninjas this year. Some classes had only ninjas. Nothing like having a hazardous concept (ie: black) integral to a costume.

Noodle had long claimed she wanted to be Ariel. Luckily that's an easy choice, if skimpy. Why do they make any costume without winterizing? Do they think little girls are trick or treating in preheated neighborhoods?



On facebook I posted that two nights in a row we put Q to bed in his jammies, only to discover him asleep in his ninja costume. In the morning he comes down in his jammies again. I caught him in a photo...



I wonder if he has midnight ninja adventures in his dreams.

Learning the hard way

So the World's Best Dog had her first hard lesson this week. If you run in the house, someone will get hurt.

Maybe you. The dog was in a full puppy frenzy - playing, growling, chasing, chewing, and running, sort of a pre-bedtime burst of energy. She tore into the kitchen as if she'd seen a squirrel, and - we think - hit a cabinet and knocked her kneecap out of place.

Post surgery she's doing well. We're supposed to keep her "calm" for a MONTH to help her heal. She doesn't get it.

Luckily she's so good natured that when I hold her collar and prevent her from chasing the neighbor's dog, she simply sits and watches them longingly. I'm worried that puppy training class will be problematic, but I hope training her will give us good strategies for entertaining her without straining her leg...?

Doting

So here are some more photos of our girl. She's making excellent housetraining progress. Tuesday she's scheduled to visit the vet and at the end of the month we'll start puppy training classes. No moment too soon. Jonathan is wryly concerned that Sebby is smart enough that she'll train us before we realize what is happening.



And rightly so!

Little Sebago

We have an unexpected, but much appreciated, new family member.


This is our Little Sebago. That's a big name for her, so we call her Sebby.

A not quite impulsive addition, when we picked her up on Wednesday night, she was so frightened that she tried to hide under bushes instead of walking. Once in the house, she tried to burrow under sleeping Noodle on the couch.

Since then she has calmed down and perked up. She's an excellent walker, which is going to be a big job to keep up with. I'm hoping that when she's full grown I can run with her. Or run while she walks. She's already able to walk the 1.5 mile loop.

We are repeatedly delighted with her personality. She is a lab and husky mix, and it seems she is endowed with a mellow and friendly character. Sebby loves other dogs and happily greets humans. When she seemed frightened and panicky, I inadvertently taught her to sit and wait for passing cars, which would be fine, if we never wanted to walk in an area with roads busier than our own lazy street. I take this as a sign that she will train easily, if we are consistent and disciplined.

Q, who is intimidated by dogs, is thrilled with her. He walks her on her lead, constantly cooing, "GoodgirlSebby!Goodgirl!GoodgirlSebby!Sebby!Goodgirl!No.Goodgirl!"



Here's a small video of Sebby playing with her found toy (the first toy I saw her really play with):

Home Entertainment

During the blackout following the hurricane, one of our family members grew so desperate for divine intervention, he found religion.



He is now to be referred to as the Pastafarian Penguin. If you are unfamiliar with the budding religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its sudden popularity in Austria, please see this link.

Further investigation (or rather, I read in the newspaper) revealed that the divine intervention on the yellow house (previous hurricane post) was not a random act of grace. The tree was prepared before the hurricane to fall away from the house.

My grandmother liked to say that God helps those who help themselves.

Hurricane Irene

While away in Maine, we kept an eye on the storm warnings, each one seeming to inch the hurricane's arrival closer by 6 hours. Luckily for us, our departure day coincided with the day before the hurricane and we managed to get home, unload our borrowed kayak, unload our own kayak, throw all the lawn furniture and toys into the shed and workshop, unload the car, and watch one last movie before the storm hit.

In my opinion, our town was not hard hit. We had a lot of downed branches and trees, but most of them missed houses. The photo below features a landmark house we use to give directions to our road. Someone asked the owner, "Are you a religious woman?"



In case you can't tell, that tree is only inches away...

We were fortunate in that we are on town water, so we always had flushing toilets. I took a shower on Monday, and the water was still hot. Jonathan took one on Tuesday and got warm water...and then it was gone. I heated several pots of water on our gas stove and had a bath with Nuala. Wednesday we gave up and went to the Red Cross shelter at the junior high for showers and to meet their rescue and therapy dog Cassie.



She speaks 5 languages! She looks unimpressed in several more. She was lovely.

Before leaving, we charged our phones and computer, but there was no wifi, so we had to head to the wifi shanty towns in Old Saybrook (Jonathan's description of the Starbucks and OS library). But that hot water and the immediate kindness of all the shelter workers was really lovely.



Nuala and I made the Red Cross a chalk sign and hopscotch before we left. I hear someone was carefully washing it away later. Ah well. At least we didn't use paint.

We regained our electricity on Thursday morning, about 2 hours before a planned retreat to Massachusetts to do laundry and escape the darkness. The Canadian power workers showed up on Saturday, looking like Chippendale dancers with their jumpsuits unzipped to display their ripped abs. We would've been just as excited if they had looked like John Goodman.

In the time it took one of my neighbors to walk out to gripe about not having electricity, they had the wires live, returning electricity to our neighbors, and wifi to our home. There are rumors of residents deep on wooded roads still without power, but all the world is beginning to feel right again. We are gorging on electricity to make up for the deprivation. I even ironed. It's been so long that Quinn asked what ironing was.

Jonathan's reply: "It's when what you say is the exact opposite of what you mean."

Boston Adventure

Due to circumstances beyond our foresight, we are unable to take Q to the Statue of Liberty's crown this summer. Q is an ever flexible child and suggested we go to Boston instead, to see the Museum.

Q meant the Boston Science Museum, but we misunderstood, and ended up at the Boston Children's Museum, which was a fabulous adventure.

In the past we have taken the train for the Birthday Adventure, but this was the first year we brought Noodle. I learned the hard way that when Noodle is tired on a train, she bounces off the walls. Pinned down in her car seat, she falls asleep, so we decided to drive to Alewife, leave the car there, and take the MBTA from there.

From South Station, you can easily walk to the Children's Museum. Below you can see Q climbing the three story maze/net/climbing structure that greeted us.


Several of the exhibits were demonstrations of self propelled power.

Here you pull hard on the rope...


...and the ball (look hard) goes sproing!


Q and Noodle were also able to pull themselves (with a little assistance) high into the air...


I think Noodle's favorite room was the bubble exploration room, where I took no photos, although considering how wet and slippery it was, perhaps avoiding handling electronics was a good idea.

J and I were thrilled to see a Mac friend who now works at BCM in teacher outreach and education and ate lunch with her watching construction in the canal by the museum while Q&N mostly ignored their food and threw crumbs to the Canada geese and gulls.

In the afternoon, we hit the Public Garden. Having properly prepared the kids with multiple readings of Make Way for Ducklings, we rode on the Swan Boats, chatted with the Mallard Family, and visited their statues.



Nuala & Quack


Quinn & Mrs. Mallard


A real duckling and mallard...


I swear, this one was unposed. They were genuinely this sweet and good for the whole day. I'm both amazed and grateful.

More photos for perspective

Now if I was trying to use photos to deceive, this is the photo I would use.



The above photo was taken in the neighbor's driveway- which drops down to the garage under her house.

Below is a photo of the most even area of snow I could find, where the kids could stand next to it for perspective. This is the back yard. The kids are in the path dug out so we can get oil delivered (and they did, just minutes after this photo was taken). Much to my great relief, the neighbor's snow blower was able to go off road to clear this path.

Cabin Fever Update

Seeing this hanging on Q's door, I prepared to rip into him. I pulled it off the door and began to yell for him, when I saw what he'd put on the other side...



A second door hanger covered the rest of the household bases.




And for the Florida readers - the view from our street- I'm not sure this gives an accurate appreciation of the snow depth since the kids may be standing on a bit of snow...