Last week E's front tooth fell out and then this weekend she lost the two outer bottom ones. I told her she's going to have to drink her food for a while! The amazing thing was that she pulled the second one out herself - sat there working it for a few minutes and out it came. This is the child with NO pain tolerance so she received a lot of praise for being so tough. The tooth fairy saw that she got a great prize for that - a tiger t-shirt (E loves tigers) that she found on clearance for $3 at Target. That tooth fairy is quite the bargain hunter.
She let A pull the other one out while I was at work last night. He said the back two roots were gone, but he had to work it for a while to get the front ones out. She was extremely brave and as a result, the tooth fairy brought her a Pez dispenser. I suggested to the tooth fairy that candy as a lost tooth prize wouldn't meet with dentist approval, but the tooth fairy was quite cavalier about it. SHE doesn't have to pay for fillings, I guess.
I've been checking E's teeth for a few months now (it seems like every single tooth is loose) and saying, "Oh! I bet we could get that one out tonight!" When will I learn that this child will not do anything on my timetable? She gives the impression of being affable and laid-back, but she has a backbone of steel when it comes to her opinion.
When we were at the "Meet friends at fast food play areas" stage, I had to pour her drink into a sippy cup because she outright refused to use a straw. WOULD. NOT. Then one day she said, "I want to try a straw" (and it was a complete sentence which tells you how old she was) and presto! She could suddenly use a straw.
It was the same with pumping on a swing. Every summer for as long as I can remember (or at least the last 2-3), A and I have worked with her on pumping. I hate standing there and pushing a kid on a swing. USE YOUR LEGS. She would not. I remember one particularly bad afternoon that ended in tears because I was so fed up with her half-assed attempts. Usually, though, I pushed her for a while, got tired, and said, "Oh, well, if you can't pump yourself I guess you'll have to figure out something else to do." Suddenly - two months shy of eight years old - she came home from school and said, "I can pump on the swings!" and she totally can. (cough*thelittleshit*cough)
L doesn't know it, but her fish, Strawberry, got sucked into the filter on Saturday night and died a gruesome death. I never thought I'd be the kind of parent who secretly replaced a pet, but A drove to PetSmart and replaced her. I had read a few Amazon reviews that talked about fish getting sucked into the filter, but A and I examined it closely and couldn't see where that would happen. Well, now I know. I wrapped some netting around the area and secured it with a rubber band - hopefully that will prevent more untimely deaths.
My friend loaned me the new Stephen King book and while it is proving to be very good, it is very big: 850 pages. I'm used to my Kindle, so my first world problem is that my book is unwieldy and hard to read when I'm lying in bed.
Oh my gawd!! Pumping on the swings!!! I have fought that fight and have lost with EVERY child. It is maddening.
I wrote it off as a possible teenage milestone. Your girls must be gifted ;)
Posted by: Linda | March 26, 2012 at 10:36 PM
My son does everything in his own time too. I still laugh when teachers say "He'll want to do it when he sees his friends doing it". My child does NOT care what anyone else thinks. Here's hoping this attitude keeps him out of trouble later in life.
Posted by: Pam | March 27, 2012 at 08:17 AM
My big kids finally both figured out how to pump last summer, at 7 and 5. I think they wanted to use the swings at school.
Posted by: Amy F | March 27, 2012 at 12:10 PM
My 7 year old is that stubborn kid. Her own ideas, her own timetable, HERS. All the time. But, I keep reminding myself that this strongwilled personality will serve her well later in life - peer pressure? Ha. She'll scoff at it. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
Don't worry about the candy, I have it on good authority that Pez isn't bad for the teeth. Gummies are bad. But with brushing, it's ok.
I had many, many birds growing up. I thought they were all Peter. Turns out, they were Peter, Peter 1, Peter 2, Peter 3...
Posted by: Michelle | March 27, 2012 at 03:32 PM