It's Out!

Phew!

He did come home from school yesterday with it dangling, but before dinner he wiggled it front and wiggled it back and then it popped out! It's so funny how different Caleb looks without that tooth. But so cute!

The Tooth Fairy did come last night and left a whole dollar. Caleb told me just what he thinks he could use the dollar for: "Ice cream money!" (They sell ice cream during lunch one day a week and he's always itching to get one.)

I told him he could maybe save up all of his Tooth Fairy money and buy something good. He thought about it for a second before replying, "Nah! Ice cream money!" and dancing around the kitchen while his sister cried that she didn't get a dollar from the Tooth Fairy! But that's a whole other post in itself...

Pretty Things

I finished this little quilt top today while the girls were resting.



This pattern was so easy to do. I may make another one sometime.

Will it ever happen?

Caleb has a loose tooth. He lost two teeth last year (both bottom middle ones) and neither of them were a big deal. The first one came out when he was vacationing at Nana's and he didn't realize it fell out until it disappeared - they never found the tooth. The second one he let me yank. This third one is a different story.

The thing has been wiggly for a few weeks at least but no one has paid attention to it until recently. Last week in P.E., Caleb fell and bonked his mouth on the floor, loosening his already loose tooth. Since then, he's been wiggling and wiggling it and the stubborn tooth won't come out. And Caleb refuses to let anyone yank it out for him (even though after I pulled the last one he told me it didn't hurt at all).

It's so loose, the thing is hanging on by half a root.

Here's a close up. Not for the faint of heart.

Here he is last night, doing his best to get it out. I'm so ready for this tooth to be out that I promised him a dollar in addition to what the Tooth Fairy brings if he could get it out before bed. No deal. My mom promised him a "golden dollar coin" (his coinage of choice) if he could get it out before bed. Two bucks in addition to the Tooth Fairy's loot. It would have persuaded me, but didn't work for Caleb.



Here he is looking worried that I might yank the tooth out for him. (Or sad when I broke the news that it was bedtime and his chance to pull it out was over, along with the extra money incentives.)

He went to school this morning with the tooth dangling. I hope he doesn't gross out his teacher! He'll be home soon. I wonder if he'll still be sporting his tooth when he gets home...

Customer Service

There is a grinder shop close by here that has the most amazing billboard. It's just a picture of a grinder with the restaurant's information on it, but that grinder is beautiful. A big roll piled high with cold cuts and toppings. Every time we'd drive by I'd drool over it and tell Rob how much I wanted to go try it out.

Finally last week we did. Rob and I took the girls one day on our way to the grocery store. I got this fabulous bacon and mushroom chicken grinder which was terrific. However, we had the worst customer service ever. We were just about the only people in the shop, but the staff still felt the need to hurry us along. Since we hadn't been there before apparently we took too long looking at the menu or something. Anyway, when they finally made my sandwich they made it wrong. They left off the bacon and mushrooms (so much for a bacon and mushroom chicken sandwich, right?). Rob went up to let the guys behind the counter know of the mistake and they totally threw attitude at him, telling him that the way they made the sandwich was the way it was supposed to be. Rob pointed out that since there were no mushrooms or bacon it wasn't the way it was supposed to be. After a minute of debate, the guys rolled their eyes and tossed a couple of mushrooms and one slice of bacon on the sandwich.

Needless to say, Rob was pretty ticked. In the car on the way home he was talking about how we'll never go back and how he was going to write scathing reviews on all of the restaurant review web sites he could find. I suggested that we write to the company, letting them know what happened, and give them a chance to correct the problem. It worked!

This afternoon I wrote an e-mail and not two hours back received a response from the owner himself:

Dear Ms. Rollins:

I am so furious that this was your experience and it will be addressed! Are you able to describe the staff and what time this happened on Tuesday, 1/20? We are known for our good service and product. It's because of feedback from customers as yourself that we are able to maintain this level of service, with the exception of a few. Would you provide me with your address (confidential), I would like to mail you a gift card and I ask that you provide me with feedback on your next experience. Anything info you provide will remain confidential (amongst owners/siblings) and your gift card will be anonymous as well. I apologize for your experience and would ask that you try us one more time.

Nice.

Now I'll feel okay about going back and trying another grinder. Maybe I'll get the one that's featured on the billboard...

Maybe this one will come without a side of attitude.

Attitude

Those who are acquainted with our dear Camille will testify that she has attitude. She is sweet. She is cute. She is charming. But boy does she have attitude! I thought it was rough when she was two. Four is a thousand times worse.

Yesterday we went to BJs and ended up eating dinner at the Subway there. We went through the line and ordered our sandwiches and everything was good until Rob told the sandwich artist that it was okay to put oil and vinegar on Camille's sandwich. Oh my goodness! If you had heard that girl, you would have thought someone did something terrible to her. She flat out refused to eat the sandwich - or eat any of anyone else's sandwiches - since all of it had some kind of condiment on it. You should have seen her using a baby wipe to try to get the mustard off the olives Caleb donated from his sandwich so they'd be okay to eat. Hysterical.

Anyway, we all finish and then head back out to the car. On the way Camille asks, "Can we go out to eat?"

We nicely explain that we just did go out to eat and now we are headed home. If she is still hungry, she can have a snack when she gets there.

"That's not fair!" she said. "That man was the worst food maker ever!"

(And just to be sure that we heard her - we were so busy laughing at her attitude that she was worried that we didn't hear correctly - she repeated herself: "That man was the worst food maker ever!")

She's going to be a really fun teenager. We can't wait!

The Songsters

Yesterday afternoon the kids played so well together. We all got bundled up and went outside to play in the snow (including their mother who was sporting a pair of snow pants that I must have gotten in junior high or whenever it was that my mom stopped buying snow pants for me). Then, after dinner, Caleb and Camille went into the living room to play. Before I know it, I see Caleb and Camille taking turns standing on the coffee table, waving the stick from our window blinds and holding a card in the other hand. It took me a minute to figure out what they were doing. They were playing singing. Caleb taught Camille the "song" that was written on the inside of an old Christmas card they found. They sang it at the top of their lungs for about 20 minutes. Surprisingly Caleb was extremely unimpressed when I sang it to him this morning at breakfast.

"Mom," he said. "That embarrasses me when you sing that."

I don't know if he's embarrassed at my singing or embarrassed about the song itself. The lyrics are as follows: May the spirit of Christmas brighten your celebration and your life at this special time and always.

I was too late to catch them in full glory, but here they are singing on the coffee table near the end of their performance.

Our Prima Ballerina

Today was Camille's first day of dance class. She was so excited to put on her pink real ballerina leotard and pink real ballerina tights and pink real ballerina ballet slippers and her pink tutu. She even let me pull her hair back (she usually likes to wear it down).

Here she is posing for me before we left for class.





Here is her little dance class. Can you find her? She has the big tutu and the braids.

Here she is doing her "tip toe walk" across the floor.



They also did a short tap dancing portion at the end of class which she liked until she slipped (it's a tile floor, not wood since it's just a class at the Park and Rec instead of a real ballet school) and fell smack on her bottom. Fortunately the tap portion wasn't very long because she insisted I come out with her and hold her hand through it. I'm sure the teacher was impressed with my mad tap dancing skills. Hopefully she'll forget all about the slip by next week and do the whole class on her own.