Forget a College Fund - We need a Dental Fund

Well, last month my daughter managed to wipe out the bank account by having some major dental work done. However, I was so proud that at almost 6 years old, Camon has had no cavities (it probably has something to do with the fact that the child has no desire for sweets, but I would like to think it has to do with us taking care of his teeth). However, this weekend he discovered something "sharp" in his mouth. Much to my surprise, it is a HUGE permanent tooth growing behind his baby teeth. I must add that those baby teeth are not loose at all. So, while he may have clean teeth, I think that his fortune will be spent on braces!!!!

SIX days until Kindergarten!!!!! His cousin Aaron started yesterday and told him how COOL it was. So, he is excited about starting. I am glad he is - I have already cried twice this week. It is going to be a long couple of weeks.

What can she get into today?????

As most of you know, I have two children (two children with very different personalities). One of which is very mischievous. I bet you can not tell which one that is from these pictures....
These were taken on Saturday morning. I was doing laundry and realized that she was awfully quiet... and, that is never good. So, I went to the bathroom and began taking a series of pictures: her pouring water into her tea set from my bathtub, her trying on my shoes, her digging in my vanity for make-up and jewelry, and then as you can see her dipping a water bottle in the toilet (which was full of toilet paper, might I add). For the record, I took a quick picture and then immediately scrubbed her down and lectured her about how nasty toilets are (I wanted to be sure that no one thought I encourage this behavior). On the other hand, her older brother was quietly sitting in the recliner watching his Saturday morning cartoons. As I watched this play out, I thought back to some of the other things that Isabelle has gotten into over her short three years of life...

From the time she could crawl, I had to shut all doors and watch her every move. One day when she had first learned to walk, I needed to do dishes. Which seems like no problem, unless you have an Isabelle in the house who climbs into the dishwasher 400 times while you are trying to load it. Well, the kids were preoccupied with toys in my bedroom floor and all doors were shut to the bathrooms, so I decided to take that opportunity to load the dishwasher. I seemed to forget that Camon was big enough to open doors and of course had to potty. When he went in my bathroom, so did she. About 3 minutes into loading, I heard her coming down the hall. I turned around, to see that her pajamas were covered in pink drool, and she was steadily chewing and leaking this pink stuff out of her mouth. I panicked and ran to the bathroom to find a drawer open and an entire pack of Rolaids (paper, foil and all) chewed up. I called poison control - for the first time. The second time that I called, she had taken a bite of an Electrasol tablet from under the kitchen sink. And the third time (luckily she was at my in-laws and the call cam from that number this time) she had climbed up on my mother-in-laws toilet and gotten her fiber pills from the medicine cabinet. As you can see, she survived all three incidents, but I am so afraid that I am going to be turned in one of these days for neglect.

Then, one day I was taking a bath and had to lock her in the bathroom with me so that I could keep a constant eye on her - well except for that 2 minutes that I put my head under the faucet to rinse my hair. When I looked up, she had gotten into my feminine products and had a maxi pad stuck to her shirt and a tampon string hanging out of her mouth. I wish I would have had a camera to embarrass her in the future, but I think this blog will do the trick.

Then, there was this time that we were out eating with my sister and her family. Isabelle was sitting by Clint and then Me and Camon. Camon had to go to the bathroom and so I asked Clint "Do you want to take him, or watch her?" Of course who in their right mind would choose the trip to the bathroom, but this time he chose the worse of the two. Camon and I were in the stall and all of a sudden, I see these 2 little hands and a head pop under the door. Yes, they belonged to my 2 year old daughter. The very one that I left for her daddy to "watch". We finished up and returned to the table. Where he and my sister tried to play it cool, like they knew where she was all along. However, when the truth came out, Isabelle had left the table, walked through the restaurant, and opened a heavy door into the bathroom without any of the 3 adults seeing her leave. Then, they panicked and one of them ran to the front to be sure that she wasn't in the parking lot and Clint ran through the restaurant and to the kitchen to be sure that she was not in there. Finally my sister poked her head in the restroom and saw her in there and so they sat down and acted like they knew right where she was all along.

Then this past Saturday afternoon, she went outside to play. Clint was out there and so I assumed that he knew she came out. A little while later, I heard the door open and Camon went out as well. When I looked outside a few minutes later to check on them, I did not see them anywhere. I asked Clint where they were, and guess what - he did not know. I called my in-laws next door, because they are famous for seeing them outside and going over there without asking. But, of course they had not seen them. So, I started to panic. For those of you who do not know, we live on a good bit of land and our house sits pretty far off of the road. However, that road has a speed limit of 60 mph. As I began to look all over, I see this red shirt AT THE END OF THE DRIVEWAY!!! Sure enough, it was my two angels. They are smart enough to know not to go in the road, but they were too close for Mom. They turned to come to the house and I went out to meet them. After a little bit of "explaining" about the dangers of the road. I asked what they were doing. Camon said that he came outside and saw her going to the road and went to get her. When I asked her why she went that far, she said that she was chasing a butterfly.

So, now that you think I am a terrible mother. I will stop with the stories. I actually do watch my children closely, but when you have an Isabelle in your house sometimes you just do not have enough eyes and never enough locks. There is never a dull moment with her around.

Camon's Phone Conversations

Well, Camon is back from his chocolate-land adventure. He had a blast and has told us all about their adventures. While he was away, I talked to him every night, and some of those conversations were quite interesting...

Me: So, how was the plane ride?
Camon: It was COOL! It went really fast at first, but when we got in the air it went soooooo slow.
Me: Well, it was really going super fast, it just seemed slow.
Camon: That is what Mimi said, too. But, I think y'all are crazy.

After about 10 minutes of him telling me about his day, he said "Well, How's Dad been doin'?" For a minute, I had to stop and think..."Is this my grown son calling from college to check on us, or is this just my 5 year old?"

Me: "Did you and Jordan ride the rides by yourself, or did Mimi and Deda ride too?"
Camon: "They rode some of them, but Deda is a big chicken."

My parents bought them disposable camera's to take their own pictures.
So, I asked him, "Have you been taking a lot of pictures so that I can see all of the places that you have been?"
Camon: "Yes, I have taken pictures, but you can not see them."
Me: "Why not?" (thinking that he was being stingy with his experience and did not care to share the pictures)
Camon: "You just can not see them. There is not a screen on the camera."
... It never occurred to me that my children would not know about camera's with film that you had to take to have developed.

He is back now, safe and sound and full of stories to tell. I think Camon looks a whole year older after being gone a week, and I know his conversations have aged. I guess that I have to face the fact, my baby boy is now my little man.

And, while Isabelle enjoyed the time to herself, she was extremely glad to have her Bubba home again. I asked her if her cousin Aaron kept her company while Camon was gone and she said, "Yes. I like to play with boys now." I am not so sure her daddy likes that idea too much.

11 days until kindergarten.

And Isabelle moves on...

Well, we are now on the second day, and I think Isabelle is beginning to decide that being the only child once in a while is not such a bad thing. Of course, I think that her dad and I have a little to do with that. Not that we are better company than her big brother, but we sort of spoil her to make up for his absence. She has gotten to sleep with momma and daddy, get an ICEE on the way home from school, get candy whenever she asks (which she is usually limited on), swing on the "monkey swing" without sharing the time, watch whatever "girly" movie she wants to, read the bedtime story of her choosing, spend the night with Pawpaw and Mawmaw, play with her cousin Aaron (who otherwise refuses to pay her any attention when Camon is around, because she is a girl) and of course, talk as much as she wants without her brother's interruption. And, she still has 3 days to go. Plus, I will be gone this weekend, and there is no telling what she and her daddy will get away with while I am gone. So, I think that she will be able to survive her brother being gone (at least for a little while...)

Question for the day!

"Where is Bubba?"
I think that I have heard this question 400 times between last night and this morning. Isabelle knows the answer to this, of course, he is in Pennsylvania. She is not asking this because she does not know this, but rather, she is hoping that the 5 days that he will be gone is already over. So, her next question is "Are we going to get him yet?" It is great to have children that are so close, but can also be a problem when they are apart. This summer they have only gone to daycare 2 days a week and so they have spent ALOT of time together. I am beginning to think that this was not a good idea. Especially considering that for the first time they will be attending different schools. Not only is this kindergarten deal going to be hard on mom, but I am afraid that the separation from each other will be more difficult. Oh well! I guess that I should just be thankful that they love each other like they do. Who knows how long before they change their minds about that...

Camon's Pre-Kindergarten Trip

Well, it is now 19 days until Camon starts kindergarten. His Deda and Mimi are taking him and his cousin, Jordan, on a pre-kindergarten trip. Yes, you heard that right - maybe they will keep up the generosity and offer him a car when he turns 16. Anyway, they are leaving this afternoon and flying to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. From there they are going to Hershey (as in CHOCOLATE-land). He flew with me to San Diego when he was 18 months, but of course does not remember that trip. So, to him this is his first flight. They just called from the airport to tell me that the trip was already an adventure.

First, Jordan refused to take her backpack off at the security check-in because her momma told her not to let it out of her sight. So, Mimi had to convince her that it was okay this one time and that she couldn't get on the plane without sending it through security.

Then, when they got through security and got to the gate, they were looking out the window at all of the planes, and Camon got a frown on his face. He told my mom, "You lied to me." She thought, what in the world is he talking about? So, he continued, "You told me we were going to fly, but those airplanes have wheels."

Oh boy! Sounds like they are going to have an event-filled trip. I'm jealous!!!!

LITTLE HANDS!

Sunday night after church, we went to eat at IHOP. My children love breakfast food any time of the day. As I was sitting in a booth between the two of them, I began to get everything you could imagine dripped on me. First, Camon's chocolate milk. Then blueberry syrup, egg yolk (because they love RUNNY eggs - yuck!), a little syrup in my hair from Camon's fork, and then of course greasy fingers on my pants from Isabelle's bacon. I found myself thinking, "When will they be big enough to eat without all of this mess?" But then, I stopped and realized that I should cherish these times. Before long, they will not sit in a booth with me - I will be lucky if they will want to be seen in the same restraunt with me. And, so as I prayed that night, I thanked God for those dirty little hands that mean so much to me. Then, I wrote a little poem about their hands. I am no poet, but here goes:

Thank you Lord for dirty hands
That touch my clothes and hair
And leave fingerprints on windows
To prove that they were there

For Camon’s hands that squeeze and shake
As a superhero he becomes
And Isabelle’s hands that twist her hair
As she sucks her tiny left thumb

For needy hands that reach up high
To say “please pick me up”
For hands to hold in happy times
Or whenever things get tough

For loving hands that wrap you up
And squeeze you oh so tight
For frightened hands that grab on yours
And hold with all their might

For caring hands that stretch
From east to west apart
To say “I love you to the moon
And back to my heart”

For growing hands that learn to draw
And write those first little words
And hands that point to show you
All of the spiders, bunnies, and birds

For tiny hands that mysteriously draw
On the furniture and wall
And creative hands that paint or build
A creature oh so tall

For helping hands that pick up toys
And assist in folding clothes
For hands that do those tiny things
For which nobody knows

For careless hands that go astray
In search of something new
For hands to hold and show the way
As mothers often do

For hands that fold in humble prayer
Of thanks to You each day
And joyful hands that clap in glee
To give you all the praise

For precious little hands in which
Great faith so abounds
For silly little hands that reach
To touch a mother’s frown

And thank You for Your guiding hand
That leads me to the light
That lifts me when I stumble
And points me to do right

As their little hands reach out to me
To show them what to do,
I’m steadied, reassured, and loved
As I reach up to You