Happy Birthday to You!

Susan,

This is for you. Memories of last night's birthday celebration on the town! :)

Hope you have a great birthday...

Sandy

Look Ma... No Training Wheels

Now that Autumn is officially here, Priya is riding a two-wheeler. They say once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget. Let's hope the cold, long Colorado winter doesn't spoil that. :)



We took a family bike ride to celebrate and here are the pictures from that little outing if you're interested.

Stealth Tooth Fairy

I have had issues as the tooth fairy, in the past, as you may recall. So, this time you'd think I'd be better prepared. Nope, not the case. This morning when I woke up, the first thing I realized is that I forgot to deliver the goods last night. So, I peek in Priya's room and notice she is still sleeping. Wow, did I ever get lucky? So, I quickly ran downstairs grabbed some cash and walked back up... this time when I look in her room I see that it was an illusion. She's not sleeping, instead she's on her side reading a book. Hmm... what to do?

I'm thinking maybe I can still pull this off. I walk in and watch over her shoulder while she reads... we exchange a few words... and I reach under her pillow and steal the lost tooth while placing a dollar under one of her stuffed animals on the floor. Unbelievable, she didn't even notice. I quickly returned to our room to give Bartee the scoop. Minutes later, Priya shows up and this conversation ensues...

Priya: "Mom, I have some bad news."
Me: "What is it honey?"
Priya: "The tooth fairy didn't come last night."
Me: "Are you sure?"
Priya: "Yeah... my tooth is still under my pillow."
Me: "Let's go have a look."

Back in her bedroom, she lifts her pillow and cannot find the tooth. She starts searching under the bed, but to no avail. Of course, I'm trying to convince her that indeed she has come and I have to point out the money left under her stuffed animal. "See... she was here", I say.

A lot of time passes and she's sitting on the floor going over the events of the morning and I hear her mutter, "I know the tooth was there when I woke up; I'm sure I saw it". How many years of therapy did that just cost us? Hopefully, she'll just move right along and one of these days when we read this journal together, we'll both get a kick out of this little story.

Looks like I have been given a chance to right this wrong. Sanjay's ball-kicking accuracy knocked a very loose tooth from her gums this evening.

Ours Is A Haunted House

After putting up the three and a half Halloween decorations that we own, Sanjay announced "Ours is a haunted house". In his defense, the fiber optic witch is pretty scary. The rest of the stuff... not so much. Joining in the festivities, Priya came up with a little jingle that goes like this "We are the halloween haunted house people, people, people" which should be sung so that the volume fades out at the end.

The kids are really excited about the holiday this year more than ever. And it looks like they'll be wearing their costumes for a record three events (Halloween With The Horses, Birthday Party, Halloween Night). Sanjay gets a bonus day because his school will have a Halloween parade.

Maybe I'm Doing Something Right

Sometimes with this moody 6 year old who's testing me daily, I really wonder if I'm doing something wrong? Am I really the best role model for this little girl? There are days when I feel utterly defeated and Bartee has to remind me not to let that show. He's right. At least I should act like it's all part of the plan and I've got it all under control.

Just last week she told me that she didn't want to see me for a week... I needed to go away she said. She is constantly pointing out the fact that I need to treat her the way that I want to be treated. Which is a great rule, the golden rule even, but it doesn't always apply to the mother-daughter relationship. Reminding her of this doesn't calm her nerves. According to her, I shouldn't be putting her in timeout, spanking her, taking toys away or yelling at her... because "that doesn't work".

She's probably right about the yelling, but something is working and there's even evidence. In the car the other day, she was bickering with her brother, hit him and told him that she didn't like him, so when we got home she was sent to a timeout in her room. When it was over, she walked out producing this document which she had me read to Sanjay.



Translation: I am so sorry that I said I don't like you Sanjay. I love you Sanjay. From Priya.

He had already forgotten what happened and she was forgiven in his eyes, but this prompted him to say, "I love you too, Priya (now come upstairs and play with me)". He didn't actually say that last part, but I know he was thinking it.

Can we really call this coloring?

I've been sharpening a lot of pencils lately. Wanna know why? Well, Sanjay has created his own style of coloring. He spends lots of time meticulously filling in between the black outlines with, not a brilliantly-named Crayola crayon, but instead a No. 2 lead pencil. He declared, "Look Mom, I colored it grey. Grey is so coooooool".

We now have several coloring books in the house filled with pages like this:



No wonder he was so upset when I re-gifted 5 of the 10 Halloween pencils we were given.

Something Fun

Ever wonder what you would look like had you been born in a different generation? For instance, if you were a teenager in the 50's, 70's or even the 90's? Well, wonder no more! You can Yearbook Yourself in any era. Just upload a recent picture of yourself and plug it into their classic yearbook hair shots and see what you think. Here's what happened to me....



1966 - Man, I look like Weezie.
1976 - My 8th grade school portrait looks like this, but it's in color.
1994 - I'm pretty sure I could dig up a photo of Michele that looks identical to this.