Lost my tooth!

Hunter lost his first tooth on Thursday. He was biting into an apple slice and said, "I thought I bit into an apple seed and then I looked and it was my tooth!" We were in the dining room, he was on the computer playing "Raz Kids" (an educational program that helps with reading that his teacher has requested he use at home) and all of a sudden he belted out "MY TOOTH!" After all of the anxiety and drama leading up to this momentous occasion, in the end he was very happy that it had come out. There was no blood and he said it didn't hurt at all. He was excited to put it under his pillow and decided it would be safest in a plastic baby food container. He wanted the tooth fairy to return the money in the same container so that he can re-use it for the next tooth.

The next morning he was disappointed to see that the tooth fairy had "only" left him $3.00. That was until I told him that I used to only get $1 for each tooth and Uncle Mark told him he used to get change! Then we added up that once he has lost all of his teeth that it will amount to $60! This changed his mind instantly. John had mentioned that was good "college money!" and he repeated that several times when re-telling the story to others that day. It was cute to hear him say, "college money!" As you can see he looks adorable with his first little gap!!

Loose tooth update

Hunter has been very fearful of losing his first tooth but the day is quickly approaching and unavoidable. He has actually broken down in tears to me on numerous occasions about this new undesirable milestone. His reaction is very unexpected because as a teacher I see my students getting so excited about their wiggly teeth and showing me when they lose them, talking excitedly about the tooth fairy coming. It's one of their favorite topics of conversation and they are always all-smiles about it. I am wondering if his attitude will change once the first one is out and he knows what to expect the next time. Either way it's going to happen so we'll just have to wait and see. His tooth is hanging on by practically nothing. I can see it moving when he talks. He tells me that he is "pushing it back in so it doesn't fall out." I'm not allowed to wiggle it, brush it, or touch it at all. That's the latest.

See that?

See that? Right there on the table! Do you see it? Exactly! That's because there is nothing there! Tyler and Brody are constantly bringing me imaginary things. Imagine a little forefinger and thumb pinched between absolutely nothing handing this to you very insistant that you take it...about fifteen times each day. Apparently they do this to others too because the other day as I was leaving for work my brother (who watches them several times a week) commented to me, "I'll be very happy when they stop handing me imaginary things." I actually think it's pretty cute.

Climbers!

This is how we have to live now that Tyler and Brody have discovered the freedom that pushing chairs around the living room and climbing on them provide them with. You can't stop them! They're unstoppable, I'm telling you!!! You may think to yourself, "Well, why don't they just pull them off of the chairs before they can climb up?" and to you I say, "C'mon over and please relieve me of this task that I would have to do at least 348 times each day and see for yourself how enjoyable that is." I would rather have to put a chair down every time I have to eat.

Story time

Hunter wanted to read to his brothers before they went to sleep last night. Occasionally he will have an interest in this and it is truly so sweet that I HAD to document it. Usually Brody is our "book worm" and is much more interested in books than Ty but last night the reverse was true. Pictured here is Hunter with Tyler in the rocker. He chose to read one of their "Twin" books. I also have this video taped. If I ever figure out how to post a video I will update this entry.

You can see Tyler pictured here with his jammies and beads on. He just LOVES wearing his beads. We have to trade beads for nuk when we set him in his crib so he won't cry. We can't have him sleeping with his beads in case of strangulation.

Hunter is still wearing his Halloween jammies because they are his favorite pair. These jammies are actually from LAST fall so they are getting very small for him but he continues to wear them because he loves them that much (see previous post regarding his disinterest in any NEW clothing).

SUPER late Thanksgiving post

I know this is months and months late but it's been weighing on me that I never even wrote about Thanksgiving (or Christmas or New Year's for that matter...stay tuned!).

This year we hosted and it was really great! We definitely had a house full of people! Grammie (my mom) came to visit from Arizona and so I had a lot of help with the boys so I could be in the kitchen most of the day preparing. We also had Noni and Nona, Uncle Hank, and Uncle Mark for dinner and some of John's friends come for dessert. The food turned out yummy and everyone had a great time!

It was great having my Mom here. The boys loved it, especially Hunter since he is old enough to know that when Grammie visits it means LOTS of attention and game-playing! He had been looking forward to her coming for at least a month beforehand. We all had a great time together. She was able to volunteer in his classroom and enjoyed seeing what a typical day in his Kindergarten room was like. She was asked not to help the children spell any words because the teacher is working on getting them to sound things out on their own. One little boy asked her how to spell something and naughty Grammie whispered the answer to him. Mrs. Stanioch came over later and saw "his" work and was very impressed saying, "Very good sounding out Elijah!" When my Mom retold the story to me later she said, "Well, what's the worst thing that will happen? She'll think highly of him and give him a little extra confidence!" The children really enjoyed having her visit in their classroom. At the end of her time there a little boy named Matthew told her, "I love you Grammie!"

Snowflakes!

Hunter learned how to make snowflakes at school last week so guess what we've been doing at home ever since? Going through LOTS of paper!! It was really cute how he thought to "teach" me how to make one the day that he learned. He said, "you just fold it like a taco...then meet the two edges together and then meet the two edges again and then find your top to the snowflake and then you can cut chunks out OR you could make raggedy edges at the top. Then unfold it all and it will be a snowflake!" He made all of these except for the one on the upper right...that's mom's snowflake and he made me write "Jules Collins" on it (not Julie...Jules)!

Dress up!

Brody and Tyler LOVE to dress up! This is quite refreshing to me because Hunter has never been one to experiment this way. In fact it has always been a struggle to get him to put anything new on his body. I find myself dreading the start of every new season knowing the fight I have ahead of me to get him to wear anything appropriate. This past fall he wanted to continue wearing his shorts (which he refused to wear at the beginning of summer) even though the temperature outside was 50 degrees and falling. We developed a "new clothing chart" in order to coax him into new clothing on which he was able to earn stickers for new items of clothing worn and eventually win a prize when the chart was full. It worked! He really wanted these spikey bracelets from the Oriental Trading Halloween Catalog and was willing to earn his daily sticker by trying new things. He usually is fine once the new clothing is on him. He oftentimes forgets that he is wearing something new within the first half hour but just getting it on his body is torture!

Getting back to the little ones. Lately they have been loving trying on everything from shoes, boots, hats, necklaces, bracelets, watches, pretty much anything they can get their little hands on! It is funny to stumble upon them wearing Hunter's boots or my winter hat just walking around the house that way. Hunter finds this humorous as well. They usually manage to get these items on all by themselves but sometimes bring the items to me "asking" me to help them put them on. They even try things on each other! This morning I found Tyler putting a beaded necklace onto Brody and they were both loving it!

Have this...have that!

One of Tyler and Brody's favorite naptime/bedtime activities is passing their stuffed animals back and forth between their cribs to each other. By the end of it all Tyler always winds up with a crib-full and Brody with nothing but his blankie. I'm pretty sure that it happens once they have woken up but who can say? We aren't in there to witness what actually happens. Either way we can hear that they are happily going about their business up there so have at it!

Hunter's first collection

I'm not sure how this started but Hunter began his own first collection about a month or two ago. It's not your usual rock, coin or objects of a particular animal collection. He chose banana stickers. Not kidding! He has at least 35 banana stickers so far! The first thing he does after he knows I've been grocery shopping is beeline for the banana tree in the kitchen. And when we happen to grocery shop together he steals extras from other banana bunches! I allow it since I'm not sure anyone else really pays attention to the sticker on their banana bunch and some of them come with more than one. I don't quite understand the attraction but so goes the mind of a five-year-old! I am pretty astonished, however, by how many different ones there are out there.

Who got into the chocolate?

I did! I did!

(Tyler)