Conversation is never quite the same once you have small children. This morning I was awakened by my two girls bursting into my room.
Carissa, 2, exclaims: “Mommeeeeee!! I had yucky stuff in my nose, and I just TAKED it out!”
She flung her arm outward, demonstrating. I tried not to wonder where the “stuff” was now.
“It’s called BURGERS!” Mara explained.
“It’s not burgers!” I said groggily, barely awake.
“Well, that’s what YOU guys call it,” Mara shrugged.
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Then at lunch, Micah pushes out his chair and sprints toward the stairs.
I call after him. “Micah, why are you out of your chair?”
He turns, looking like he’s in a hurry. “I have to go POOP!”
“Well, when you’re done, don’t shout down the stairs–David is sleeping. We will come up and wipe you!” I promise.
“Okay!” he agrees. “Just listen for the SPLASH and you will know I pooped. I hope it’s a BIG splash–like KAH-SHHHHHHH!”
Daniel and I just look at each other and shake our heads.

At lunchtime Captain America (age 4) enters the dining room holding out the shield we made him out of a cardboard box. “This is my Mom, and she’s making us some yummy sandwiches.”
“THIS,” he snarled at David sitting in his high chair eating crackers, “is the monster. And the bad guys gave him some food.”

————–

At this stage, we are learning and discovering all the time!

Mara watches Carissa, 2, put together her “school” puzzle. Seeing the picture of the pencil case, Mara asks, “What is this?”
“It’s a rhombus!” Carissa explains. I love it!

Micah is playing dominoes. “Look! If I push the first envelope [domino], it goes down all the way to the end!”

David brought me his little Hide-and-Seek Forest book twice and looked with interest as I read each page. I was surprised because he’s so active–more than any of my kids–and Micah and Carissa never wanted to sit through books at this age.

And four times around 9:30 this morning, David kept crawling over to me, patting my leg or my shoulder, saying, “Nigh, nigh! Nigh, nigh!” Was he saying “nite, nite”? . . . It sounded that way! When I laid him down, he didn’t even lift his head.

 

I was a little apprehensive about Mara and Micah’s first dentist visit, just because they’ve had so many recent medical experiences involving shots or needles–whether watching David get his blood drawn or all four getting the flu shot–and not knowing what to expect myself, I tried the best I could to prepare them.

I told them they would lean back in a big chair–almost like laying down–and the dentist might say, “Say ‘ahhhh'” or “Now bite down” or “Close your mouth.” I told them the toothbrush would make a little noise like “buzzzz” and it might sort of tickle a little bit.

Micah tends to worry in advance and then, after days of worrying, fully convinced something terrible is about to happen, he might scream, just in case (like when I’m trimming his fingernails).

Mara tends to react in the moment, shocked that there are painful parts of life at all.

Mom (that’s me) is left to sort through which responses need correction and which need comfort . . .

But to my surprise, the whole experience at the dentist really was amazing. The best part, of course, was learning that both kids’ teeth are healthy (and second best, was getting in and out in less than an hour with both kids!) But beyond that, a dentist who really relates well to your kids can give them a positive outlook on going to the dentist and even make the experience enjoyable!

When we came in, the resident introduced himself to the kids and talked to them for a couple minutes. He asked who was who and how to pronounce their names. Then he asked who was older and the kids looked at each other perplexed, as if all adults should know the answer to that question. He turned to Micah, “So are you a little bigger?” Mara and Micah hugged and Mara said, “Look!” as if him merely looking would clear up his question. I noticed how close they are in height right now.

But as the kids warmed up (which didn’t take long), he said he had a few things to show them. He showed them his chair and let Micah push the buttons to make it go up and down. Then he asked if Micah wanted to get in for a ride.  (“Okay, you can!–In a minute. I have a few more things to show you first.”)

Then he showed the kids his “squirt gun,” and literally squirted water across the room! They were laughing and of course begging to try. He showed them his mirror and his “silly straw,” and had them put their finger on it to feel the suction. Then he showed them his really special toothbrush and showed them on their fingernails how it felt when it was working.

“Now I have one more thing that some kids are scared of,” he finished. “Look at this: Doesn’t it make you think of Captain Hook? . . . Some kids are scared of this. But it’s not scary. Let me show you.” Again he tapped on their fingernails to show them what it does.

He took out his fluoride treatment and said, “When I’m done cleaning, I’m going to take this and paint on your teeth! On your teeth”–he turned to Mara–“I’ll paint princesses and fairies, and on your teeth [Micah] I’ll paint Spidermannnn or. . . the Hulk! . . . I’m not very good, but I’ll paint your teeth. AND when you’re all finished–this is my sticker drawer.”

He pulled open the drawer to reveal a variety of princess and super-hero stickers, which of course captivated their attention!

Mara went first and she did great. It was hilarious, although not surprising, I suppose, that she tried to talk through the entire teeth cleaning. He counted her teeth, while pricking each one with his hook. He let the kids choose: tooti-fruiti, bubble gum or mint toothpaste. Micah picked “fruit,” and Mara picked mint toothpaste and said, with mouth occupied, “Shhhhhhells shhoow [smells so] good.” After her cleaning she sat up and looked absolutely delighted!

Then she had her fluoride treatment, where he “painted” her teeth. Afterwards Mara asked for a mirror and he handed her one. “I don’t see the princesses and fairies,” she observed, carefully inspecting each tooth in the mirror.

“I told you I wasn’t very good,” he admitted. “But!–I have a princess toothbrush for you.”

There was no time for disappointment over the tooth painting. He handed her an Ariel toothbrush–Mara’s favorite princess. She was thrilled. He let her pick a princess sticker, and she began, “I have a sister. . .”

I knew she was going to ask for a second sticker for Carissa, so I said, “Just one.”

“She can have two.”

Micah was next and, what a relief, it went just as well! He was not quite as excited about a Tigger toothbrush, but there were Transformers and Spiderman stickers. He mostly enjoyed pushing the buttons to make the chair go up and down.

Mara wanted to stand right next to Micah and watch. But I asked her to stand by the wall to give the dentist (and Micah) some space. The dentist again, assured her, “It’s okay. You can stand here and watch!” So Mara watched Micah’s teeth cleaning and fluoride application. (What an awesome dentist! Sooo good with kids!)

Mara got x-rays–he didn’t think Micah needed them yet–and she enjoyed riding “up” in her helicopter. This first picture shows her excitement and the second picture shows how tiny my little Mara still looks in the tall chair!

I asked if I could take a quick picture of him with the kids–I said, I know I’m a crazy mom, but it’s their first dental visit yadda yadda yadda–and he offered that we go back to the room to make it look more authentic. (Big points there with me! Maybe he didn’t realize I’d already snapped a few shots?) He said his mom would have done the same thing. “The invention of the digital camera was a terrible thing for our family, because then my mom would take 800 pictures at Disney World and she wouldn’t feel guilty about it because with digital you can just take as many as you want. . . You’re lucky you caught us on a day we’re not too busy!” I felt–very lucky indeed. 😉

As I was waiting to schedule the next visit in six months, Mara noticed the mural on the wall: A red-headed girl with her little blond brother, riding together on a toothbrush.

Uncharacteristically quiet, she smiled at Micah, “Look! It’s us!” Giggling they ran over to take a look.

Those two! . . . Another “first” today. Together!

I wondered how much of this together-time they will remember. I will remember.

My mind flashed back through so many memories of them together. They are inseparable.

I know someday they will grow up and go their individual ways, but I love it that for now, in a mural of two kids loving life together, they see themselves and laugh.

My mother and I “wrote” a narrative of my daily life when I was about Mara’s age. Mom recently sent it to me, and Mara and I read it together.  Her favorite part was when my little sister Mary used to pretend she was my dog! Mara just laughed and laughed and laughed. When we finished reading, Mara said, “I wish our days were like that.” I told her that her days were fun and exciting too, and of course, she wanted to make a book with me. She has been asking to write a book almost every day, so today during naps, Mara dictated and I typed.

Since I haven’t blogged much lately, I figured I might as well share Mara’s perspective on things, beginning with her morning:

When I’m laying in bed, I hear Micah, and sometimes he comes in while I’m still resting. The sun is half-up. Sometimes Micah is not up yet. If he is still sleeping, me and Riss play together, but before long, he pops up in our room. Every morning Micah and I play together. The playing can last long. Me and Micah like playing tracks! Me and Carissa like dressing like princesses. She just got some princess dresses. They’re pretty. I have some too. I even have Rapunzel dolls.

When Mommy wakes up, it’s time to get ready for our day! We put on our clothes, and Mommy nurses the baby.

When we go downstairs, first we do our work. And this is our work: Micah lets out the puppies. I empty the bathroom trash and put in a new bag. Carissa opens the blinds.

We empty the dishwasher till there is nothing in there. Mommy does the glass things. Micah does the plates and puts them away. He also does the sippy cups; he puts the lids together. Carissa does the baby spoons. I do the silverware. I do the bowls too. We stack them neatly. We stack the ones that look like others together when we put them in the drawer. When we’re putting them in there, we put them in a nice, neat stack. It might sometimes look like a lighthouse!

Now it’s time to eat! We might sometimes have eggs, cereal, or maybe waffles too. We can have lots of different kinds of foods! Every morning we have fruits. After one of our meals, it’s vitamins.

After our breakfast, it’s time to play. The baby plays with us for a little bit. Then Mommy puts him to bed.

We do school and exercises. At exercises, we do jumping jacks. We do jump rope. There are push-ups and crunches. After that it’s schooltime. We do charts at school. I learn to read. We do sight words. Sight words are like “mother,” “here,” “his,” “has,” “father,” “orange,” and “are.” After charts, the baby is maybe up.

Now it’s lunchtime. Mommy feeds us first. We have for lunch vegetables and fruits. We also have yogurt with it sometimes. Even cheese sandwiches too. We can have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We also have chicken nuggets. Sometimes with our vegetables and fruits, we have pretzels that are like sticks, except they have twisty hairs, like a braid! [Rolled Gold Honey Wheat Twists]

These days every day I take medicine that I like after every meal. I like it.

We sometimes play. Then we go to naps. After that, I need to go potty. Then I play. Sometimes the kids aren’t up yet. When they are, we play together. We play train tracks in Micah’s room; we like to play Legos sometimes too. In my room, I play Legos too. I also play princesses. Sometimes I dress up as a princess! I can be Rapunzel too. Ariel—I have two Ariel dresses. I have one that’s shorter. It’s the one I like the best because it’s prettier. The other one is longer. It is bluish-greenish and does not have as much sparkle as the other one. That’s why I like the other one so much.

Then we eat dinner after playing. After that, Daddy comes home from work. Sometimes when he comes home from work, we go downstairs together in the basement and watch something. It’s our time together. Micah and I go down there together. We sometimes do it when David and Carissa are asleep. Sometimes we have time to watch another.

Sometimes we do baths before going to bed. That’s the times when we don’t get to go downstairs with Daddy. I don’t like them, because I feel cold at the end. In baths I wash my hair. We have to put conditioner and shampoo in.

Me and Carissa’s favorite bedclothes are a dress! I wear a Rapunzel dress. Cinderella is on Carissa’s. Mine has flowers on the back. Carissa’s has heels and shinies.

Then we go to bed. We sometimes read a book before bedtime. We even sometimes sing a song and pray. This is all before bedtime. I hear music. My favorite song starts with this: “Joyful, joyful we adore Thee. . .”

Church Days

On church day, we do the same things we do on the other days, except the funniest thing is that we wear PJs down to breakfast so we don’t get our church clothes covered in food!

When we’re done eating, we go upstairs to put on clothes. And then Daddy, when he wakes up, puts on his clothes. That’s on the days when he doesn’t go to work.

Our church changed where we sing after our school. It used to be before our school. After our school, we come and sing. Then we play with friends for a little bit. Then we say good-by.

Me and Micah sometimes ride our bikes and sometimes go in the stroller or sometimes walk.

Then we go to lunch. We sometimes get time to play before lunch. After naps, we do the same things we do on the other days.

The End