Elijah lost a tooth!

Elijah was ecstatic to discover he had a loose tooth while brushing his teeth, and we have been keeping watch over it ever since. Yesterday, leaping into a pile of foam bricks at the children's museum, he felt "something strange" in his mouth. He ran over to me and put the tiny tooth in my hand and grinned. His little hole in his smile is so cute. I remember my first lost tooth, and the excitement I felt. I remember him growing that tooth as a baby. Crazy. He called his Daddy ("A VIDEO call, Mommy!) at work to tell him the great news.

"I know the tooth fairy is just a story, Mom," he told me. I asked if he wanted to put his tooth under his pillow anyway, to see what would happen. He thought that would be a good idea.

We decorated a little box from a tiny Altoid tin for him to hold his tooth to put under his pillow. However, when the tooth fairy went to find it, it wasn't under his pillow. Bunk beds are kind of tough on tooth fairies. The tooth fairy left him $2 under his pillow, anyway, for his first tooth (it is special, after all!). 

Elijah came down in the morning describing to me how he had decided to hide his tooth box to see if the tooth fairy was real. The box was hidden under a book on the shelf near his pillow. Sneaky little guy! "I know it's you, Mom!" he said. Ha!

Peter's mug

Peter is pretty crazy about a mug he found. It was sitting, empty, on the ground when he picked it up, squealing. He held it, put it to his mouth, chuckled, then squealed again at the echo sound his voice made. He clapped the sides of it. He pretended to drink from it. Joseph came over and swiped it from him, curious about what the big deal was. Peter's heart broke. His head collapsed to the floor and he wailed. I intervened, took the mug from Joseph, who didn't really care much about it, and gave the mug back to Peter. Joy was restored. This is the little guy who loves to pretend to wipe things clean... does he want to mimic us? Pretend to drink his morning coffee? Who knows. He's at it again this morning with the mug. His ally, Sissy, gave it too him when he spotted it on the counter. :)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to this amazing guy! We love you so much! And thank you to the generous people who picked up our breakfast check this morning at Cracker Barrel. What a sweet surprise!

Library

My view leaving the library yesterday.

"Cleaning"

Years ago, I read this gem in an article describing the methods of Maria Montessori: "Never turn down a child who offers to clean." Ha!

Here's Peter and Joseph putting that philosophy in action. (Peter in light blue, Joseph still in brown pjs.) Lately, when Peter sees me wiping something, he reaches out for me to give him a wipe of his own, then chuckles to himself as he wipes, too. And whatever one thinks is fun, must be super fun, so today along came Joseph for a wipe of his own, too!

P.S. Joseph said both Mama and Dada yesterday!! Pretty sure he knows it means us, too. It's so sweet to hear!

Impromptu Los Angeles

David had a last minute trip to LA, so we joined him! We left at 4 am for a pretty painless drive, arriving at Hank and Johanna's by dinner time. The kids were rock star travelers. It was wonderful! So good to be with family, and see their worlds. It felt like vacation.

Highlights include beach time, hanging out and talking with Hank and Johanna and Ike and Abigail, cousin play time, bonding with little man Zachary, an all girls tea party, Ike and me braving the beach with 5 kids (and no baby bottles... oops!), worshiping at Ike and Abigail's church, guys breakfast for David, Hank and Sam, and amazing meals made by Johanna and Abigail  (seriously, they spoiled us!)

And please excuse the blurry phone photos. They don't illustrate the trip, but do capture a few fun moments I caught on camera. :)

first words and signs

Peter has a word! It's "Hi!" He says it all the time, and loves the reaction he gets from it. He says it when we come in to his room in the morning, when he's crawling and sees his big brother or sister, or in the grocery store when he sees fellow shoppers pass by. He wiggles his fingers in a little wave.

Joseph makes more variety of sounds, and his face is full of expression when he says them. We think he may be close to figuring out Mama and Dada. He definitely says the sounds, but doesnt connect them to us, yet.

Both boys know the sign for "All done!" And today Joseph signed "More" on his own. They are still not big solid food fans, but they love their savory soups, and now... fish!! They devoured my fish and chips from Flying Star! Mmm. That may be when Joseph figured out "More." David is thrilled we may have 2 carnivores in the house and suspects their eating will improve as we offer them more meat. :)