What hurts? La-La

Last week, I tried to get back on the healthy eating band wagon. Since the New Year, my give-a-dang has been busted but I'm really trying to refocus. So, I pulled some stuff out of the freezer (February is our clean-out-your-freezer month, anyways) that I had made back in the summer when I was on my hardcore Metamorphosis plan. I had slow-cooked some chicken breasts with rosemary and we were going to have some sweet potato and white corn puree on the side (my Metamorphosis food). (Strained face) Mmmmm! Honestly, it resembled something Jasmine should eat, not us. But I served it with a straight face and rockin' presentation. While I fiddled around with my chicken, I watched Brent and Beatle try it. Brent shuddered a little with the first bite but quietly trudged onward. Beatle declared after her first that it was disgusting and she wasn't going to eat anymore but after Brent revealed that I lived for this dish back in the summer because I was so hungry and we played up that it had a sweet taste and it was healthy, she conquered it happily. Birdie took a bite and spit it back out. Later, we tried to get her to take another bite. It ended up half on her plate and half on the table with only a thick slobber string connecting them. When prompted to try again, she implored to us, "I choke. I choke." We all died laughing and did not make her eat anymore.

Speaking of that little Birdie girl, she has been my conjoined twin this weekend. I was just talking to a friend of mine last week about how healthy Birdie's been. Besides a snotty nose here and there or puking twice, she's been great for the past year. Hallelujah! Last week, she was complaining of her "woo-woo" hurting her and complaining when she went pee. With Beatle's urinary problems starting around the age of two, we wanted to get this checked out. Well, nothing like going to the Doctor's office to get you sick! No urinary problems but some kid, with his mom watching, hijacked Birdie's sippy cup and took a drink. Stunned that she didn't do anything to stop it, I asked, "Is he sick?" The flippant reply, "Oh yeah, he was running 104 last night." I should have just taken her cup to the car but I was worried that she needed to drink to help her imaginary urinary problems so I washed the top off with hot water and soap in the bathroom. I asked for it, I guess. Anyways, she's been sick all weekend--running a temp, which she never does, and totally glued to my side. She started saying, "Hurt. Hurt." When I asked, "What hurts?" She pointed to herself and said, "La-La." :(

Beatle lost another tooth yesterday which brings our grand total to 7. It's so cute to see her big teeth growing in; it's changing the way she looks a little. I'll catch a glimpse of her sometimes and see a young woman in there, waiting to make her debut a few years from now and then I get a lump in my throat. On the flip side, she lost one right by her two big front teeth, I'm rooting for her to loose the other before Easter so she'll have her own set of bunny teeth.

Despite my best efforts, I am the World's Worst Santa/Tooth Fairy/any other fantasy roles parents are supposed to be! The last tooth she lost, there was a big debacle where it fell out of the keeper before bedtime but I didn't know that and she checked again before bed and there was no money or tooth in there and she was crushed. So, I had to put a note in there with money after she went to sleep. We all know what happened at Christmas. Oy vey! (Here's the problem: She jumps the gun and checks things a million times before morning!) Then last night, I was expected to creep into her room containing now a dog since we have my mom's dog, Samson, a sick two-year-old having fitful, feverish sleep and a hyper-vigilant 6-year-old who has already experienced more harsh revelations in the fantasy department than I care to dispense in a lifetime. As I was rocking Birdie to sleep, I was trying to slyly convince her to put her tooth closer to the outside of her bed, but she insisted on putting it closer to the wall. By that time, I was already sweating. Then she announced that she needed a drink. While she went to the kitchen, I summoned Brent telling him I needed the gold coin and TIME! Beatle needed his help getting a cup while Birdie and I slipped out to the living room under the guise of forgetting Birdie's "bankie" out there. Brent and I shook hands in the Dining Room (cause that looks totally natural!) and I had the coin! We grabbed the "bankie", trembling, I found the pillow and the tooth, made the switch and was back in the rocking chair when she came in. Of course, she started fiddling with the tiny pillow and realized that the tooth fairy already came. She was in shock and then she was disappointed. Really? Disappointed? I can't win with this kid! She was sad she didn't have anything to look forward to in the morning. I went with it for awhile and then I told her that I think she was the only kid in the universe that was disappointed that the tooth fairy visited them!

Yesterday, Birdie was so sick but Beatle had her laughing so hard while they were in the tub together. I was amazed, honestly, that she had it in her to be laughing that hard. I remember when Suz and I were about that age and my mom saying that they couldn't get her to laugh like I could. There aren't as many sounds as sweet as your children enjoying each other.

Y'all, we are SO excited about next school year! I've been researching, reading things and talking to people like crazy about curriculum options and philosophies of home schooling. This morning, I had a friend call me after she left from volunteering in Beatle's classroom saying that Beatle's sparkle was gone. (We are most definitely aware of that fact.) She went on to delicately tell me the story of her daughter and how she was diagnosed with and treated for ADD in the third grade and how they wished that they had helped her sooner. She's also shared with me how they reached the decision to retain their son and how they are so glad they did. I know that everyone's got a different opinion about how we should handle this situation and I truly love this friend and know she was counseling me out of love (and who knows? we could wind up doing both things someday! I'm not dumb enough to say never!) but I'm so excited to try another option first that works with Beatle's strengths and challenges her weaknesses in her "habitat". And, everyone I've talked with that have made the switch, don't regret it. I swear, this won't turn into a homeschooling blog! Will it make cameo appearances? Yes. But I just wanted to include an excerpt from this book (For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay) I've been reading that kind of sums up how Brent and I feel about Beatle and her public school experience thus far. "Good little Sally made only one mistake, she gets an A! But poor struggling Johnny tried his best and is rewarded with a D. How can Johnny ever take proper joy in the fact that he learned a new step?...The Bible teaches that we are like parts of a body. In other words, we are different from each other, we all have different gifts. How immoral (I wouldn't have chosen a word that strong!) to apply an arbitrary yardstick to the little child and expect him to progress at some 'normal' speed! We take from him the joy of accomplishing new skills which should be part of growing up." I think it's a strong possibility that this is why she may be so discouraged right now and why her "sparkle is gone". 'Nuff said.