busy week for t. fairy

Just one short week after Liam lost a tooth front and center, Max has followed suit and lost his first tooth! Max's bottom tooth has been loose for weeks, but he just started crying at mealtime, a sure sign around here that the tooth is really about to come out. Of course, it wouldn't be a Max story without a whole lot of drama. When I went to pull the tooth for him, the boys' friend C., who is older, was here to play. Max was awfully scared (or acting awfully scared) and started crying, even though C. and Liam both assured him that it would feel like such a relief to finally have the tooth out. Still Max was unconvinced and refused to let me pull it.

So I did the only thing I could do: I tricked him. I told him I was just going to wiggle it, then I used a tissue and gently wiggled the thing all around, then pulled it right out. I hid the tooth in the tissue.

"Did you pull my tooth out?" Max demanded suspiciously.

"Why?" I innocently replied. "Does it feel better or something?"

"SO much better!!"

 As Max reported later on the phone to Aunt Bethany, "My mom pulled out my tooth, and then I cried a little, but it felt really good."

before and after

zoo, me?

Saturday morning, Mike had to work. It really stunk. He was one of only two people from his shift who were required to come in and work on Saturday; not coincidentally, he was also one of only two people (why yes, the same two people!) from his shift to have taken a personal day that week. Such is work in the factory -- they will get you for the full five days one way or the other, even if they have to be vindictive pricks to do it.



Anyway, I made the best I could of the situation by heading out for a morning at the zoo with Loni and the boys. Having learned our lesson at the arboretum on Monday, we got there right as they opened. It was a steamy morning, but we happily spent a few hours wandering around. We rode the train around the perimeter, we visited the butterfly house, we stood under the misters, and we saw too many animals to count. The boys particularly liked the river otters and the giant carp. They bought pellets from a vending machine to feed to the fish, and threw them into the stream, causing fish bodies to writhe everywhere in fierce competition for the food. I found it at once compelling and repulsive. You can judge for yourself since I took a handy video. Keep your eye on that sneaky Henry, and at the end you'll see the thing that grossed me out the most about our zoo trip -- having to fish (har har) the pellets out of his mouth. Ugh!

first day of school!

Today was the first day of school, and a mighty cheer rang through the land. We all five walked together over to school this morning to start Max off on his first day of kindergarten, and Liam on his first day of second grade. I went inside with the boys, and waited in the gym with Max (the kids line up by class) for his teacher to come and get the class, and then I walked with him to the door of his classroom. Along the way, we passed several kids who were crying and being consoled by their parents, and I was sure Max was pretty nervous about the whole thing. But then we got to the door, and he shot me one last look over his shoulder, and then he was gone. Another bird takes his first tentative step out of the nest.

When they got home this afternoon, both boys were full of stories about all the fun they'd had during the day, seeing old friends and making new ones, oh, and maybe learning something along the way. Liam tells me he has two new best friends for this year. Max said that recess was his favorite part of the day, but that it was over way too quickly. I'm sure the teachers are taking it easy this first short week, so there was only one homework assignment for Liam: find three things that can be used to tell the story of his summer. They had to be small enough to fit in a brown paper lunch sack, and only one of the items could be a photo. So he chose a photo of himself with Max at the water park, a pair of goggles to tell the story of how he took two sessions of swimming lessons, and a souvenir penny from the planetarium to tell the story of our end-of-summer overnight trip. Pasta was on the menu tonight, and all three boys ate bowls and bowls of it (my little Italians!), and then they all fell asleep without a protest. Success!

last fling

It was the last weekend of summer (as measured by the school calendar, of course), so what better way to celebrate than a short but sweet road trip? Sunday morning, we loaded up and headed for Chicagoland. Since it was a blustery day, we made our first stop the Adler Planetarium. We saw two different star shows, checked out about a million telescopes, examined the planets, and drove a couple of different rovers. There was even a tiny slide (with a facade of moon rocks, of course) that Henry spent a considerable amount of time on. We had lunch in the Galileo Cafe, and let the boys pick out a treat from the gift shop. Henry got a light-up bouncing ball, and Liam and Max unerringly latched on to the most annoying toys in the whole place: these plastic robot arms that let you pick things up (because, you know, using your hand is too much work!) and make this awful creaking sound. We were ready to take them away within 5 minutes, but what can you do?



At the end of our visit, we tried to get a family picture along the lake shore, but the wind was blowing a little too hard and the results aren't really fit to print. I did get a nice one of Mike and the boys, though.

After a brief but harrowing stop at the outlet mall, we arrived in Naperville Sunday afternoon. The boys were thrilled to spend the afternoon and evening with Grandma and Grandpa. [Max later told me it was his favorite part of the trip. When I asked him why, he said, "Because they gave us guns."] They unearthed a treasure trove of Mike's old toys, including, yes, a wooden gun that he got at Disney World (Disney Land? I don't know) as a kid. That night, we left the boys in the capable hands of their grandparents, and we headed out for dinner alone. Such luxury! And when we came back, they had all been bathed, Henry was asleep, and Liam and Max were in their pajamas watching Looney Tunes. Perfect.






Monday was a much nicer day, so we set off for the Morton Arboretum. And this is where we made our crucial mistake: We didn't get there right when they opened. We got there about 11 a.m., and the place was packed beyond belief. Seriously. It was hot, and crowded, and the kids were tired and not really in the mood to listen to us, so the whole thing turned into a little bit of an ordeal, but the arboretum itself was really cool, and the parts they did explore were so much fun. I think the part the boys liked the best was the "Secret Stream," where they could climb in and get their feet wet. That part wasn't quite as crowded, either, which was a big bonus. The last time we went to the arboretum was a cold fall day, and the boys were much younger (Henry wasn't even born yet). I can't wait until we get a chance to go again, hopefully when it's a little less on the crowded side!

mi casa es su ... wait, that can't be right

Henry invited himself over to hang out with his pal Charlie, who showed admirable restraint in the entire matter.

seen around

Last year, Mike planted the vegetables in the big flower bed off our deck, and put flowers out in the oasis. This year, he put the veggies in the oasis, and planted a riot of interesting wildflowers right off the deck. There are six-foot-tall sunflowers, poppies, black-eyed Susans, and all kinds of other flowers that I may not know the names of but definitely like the looks of. In the minus column, having these flowers so close to the house means having plenty of bees around every time we go out (so far, knock wood, none of us has actually been stung -- the bees are much more interested in the flowers). But in the plus column, we've got our own butterfly area going on. Check it out:



Max in particular likes to run up to the window to point things out to me. You can see some of the flowers behind him, but mostly I just added these pictures because Max is adorable.

can't win for trying

Tonight, Liam and Max went with me to run a couple of errands before we picked up Henry. I made some crack along the way about being their favorite person in the world (for turning their backseat movie on, I think), whereupon they informed me that I am not, in fact, their favorite person. That honor goes to their father. "I like Dad better than you," Liam solemnly informed me, "because he spends more time with us and does more things with us. You are always working."

And then my little peacemaker, Max, chimed in: "Maybe you can still be Henry's favorite person, though."

And you know what? It's true. This summer, I have been working a lot. Too much, really. And since Mike (who is a fantastic parent and totally deserving of the boys' adoration) is home during the day, and so are Liam and Max, they have been spending a lot of time together. They go to swimming lessons, shop for groceries, work in the garden, all sorts of things. And my time is, as it has been for some time, in the afternoon/evening. I'm the one who eats dinner with them, does evening activities with them, tells them their bedtime stories. But I guess it's no big surprise to me that it's not enough for them. They only know that Loni is the one taking them to the water park, not me -- they're not thinking that I'm putting in a few extra hours to pay for that trip.

I don't get hit with the working mom guilt as often as some of my friends do, I think. Still, it stings a bit. But then I remember that I also grew up with a working mom, and I may have complained about it (Sorry, Mom!) but it didn't take me long into adulthood (if it even took that long) to see the gift she was giving us by doing it. Not just the part where she provided for our family, though that shouldn't be underrated, but the part where she showed us, every single day, that women's work isn't only in the house. So I guess there's hope that my boys will see it that way one day too, and that I will get to share the co-favorite-person mantle with Mike.