On pictures and teeth

You would think taking a picture of teeth, or lack of them, would be a snap. Point, hold for a toothy smile, click, picture. There's lots of stock photos out there of checkerboard smiles. How hard can this be?

I don't know what mutant children these are, but I can't get a picture of the incoming and outgoing teeth to save my life. JT's tooth came out last night, and of all the pictures I took, only one had a hint of missing-toothiness.

We will not even discuss the trials of taking pictures of HM and her nubby teeth. Suffice to say, her new habit is rolling her tongue over these new things in her mouth. Until she develops a tongue I can photograph through, you'll just have to trust me that the teeth are there.

I don't think he's grogging history yet

Actual conversation with the boy, as we drove into DC one day.

"That's the Capitol building! That's where the president lives!"

"No, the president lives in the White House. He works in the Capitol."

"Oh. Hey, do you know who the president is? I do."

"Really? Who?"

"George Washington."

"Ummm.... Honey, George Washington's dead. He died a long time ago."

"Oh, that's alright. He can still be president."

Zombie prez FTW.

Incoming and outgoing

All in the same week, I have one child getting her first tooth, and one losing his first tooth.

A baby's first tooth is a drama laden affair. It can feel like an eternity from when the slobber first appears and the first tooth finally cuts through. With JT, he started needing a daily shot of Vitamin T (Baby Tylenol) around four months, but those first teeth didn't push through until month seven or so. We only realized they were there when one day, he was gnawing on IB's thumb and nearly drew blood. He was a year old before he could sleep without a bit of help from some blessed otc drugs.

HM is being no more stoic. Ah, well. IB and I aren't known for our ability to suck it up, either.

Jake is surprisingly blase about his loose tooth. I don't think he yet understands how it could come 'out'. He's fussing with it constantly, though, so I'm sure he'll find out soon. Some things, you just can't prepare the kiddo for.

He didn't have nearly enough self-inflicted injuries

So my parents got him a bike.

This was fully sanctioned by us, and we would have gotten it for him, but we'd already gotten his birthday present. They still needed something to augment a weekend away to meet the driver of Gravedigger, so they got him his own wee bike. My mother's thoughts on it were optimistic.

"You can pop HM in her stroller and walk behind him."

The first time out, sure.

Second time out, I was at a good jog to keep up.

I'm thinking by summer's end, training wheels will be off, and I'll need my own bike to keep up. Or better shoes.

Seven years

Today, the boy turned seven. Seven is a surreal kind of birthday. He's no longer a cute little moppet with baby fat around the edges toting around floppy stuffed dog. Overnight, it's like I see how lean he is now. He's tackling bigger things at school, moving beyond the things that kids pick up without effort (like the ABC's) and on to things he has to take a pause to work out.

He's also becoming more independent, so we decided this would be a good year to celebrate that: my parents got him a bike. He rode it with me tailing him around the block three times before he wanted to put it away.

At first, he didn't want to get one... then he saw stunt bikes on TV. Bikes going through hoops of fire, jumping helicopters, evading raging tigers, etc. After that, he definitely wanted a bike.

Did I mention the self-destructive tendencies have gone up, too?

New Blog

This one is still going to be updated now and then, but I've started one for work and personal things:

http://elephantangelchild.blogspot.com

I'll do another kiddo update later, but for now, here's a picture:


She rolls!

Back at work!

Did you know how hard it is to blog with one hand? Well, it's not easy. Hence, lots of half entries that were deleted due to lack of time. The irony, huh? At home, no other thing to do than tend to a smallish humanoid, and nothing can ever get done.

I'm back in the land of adult talk now, but I have not come empty handed. A video!