Now He Believes

I think getting Dawson to lose his first tooth has actually been more difficult than giving birth. He has been terrified for a good five weeks since it first became wiggly. We have tried everything to convince him how great it would be: we told him about the tooth fairy, we told him about the money, we promised him ice cream and candy and anything else he loves. Nope, he wasn't going to have it. He said he didn't care about the tooth fairy and that she could keep her money. He just wanted to not eat, not brush and wait for it to "get stuck" again.

Well, last night was finally the night. I went to brush his teeth and it was literally laying sideways. I brushed against it and it fell into his mouth. All of a sudden, "Wow, that didn't hurt at all!'' "Look, it's not even bleeding." "Aren't I brave?!" It was like I had a different child in front of me. Then this morning he wakes up and comes running out of his room with the money from the tooth fairy and exclaims, "Now, I really do believe!"

Let's see how true that is when the next tooth starts to wiggle. :)

Mother of the Year in Waiting

In the nine years that I have been a mother, there are many times where I have done something that I thought was worthy of the "Mother of the Year" award. This morning I am pretty sure I solidified my spot and am hoping to never have anything that tops this moment.

Colton had a cross country meet at my old high school. Each week the running order has been 7th/8th grade running first, 5th/6th running second, and 4th grade running last. Usually it is the girls running first too, but for some reason they decided to run the boys first this week. Still, I didn't see any reason to rush to get there at 7:15 when the meet didn't start until 8:00 and Colton most likely wouldn't run until after 9:00. So, we left about 7:30, in no hurry at all, for the race.

At 7:58, I was 1/2 mile away and I got a phone call from one of the other parents asking where I was because they decided to switch the order, the 4th grade boys were running first and she was holding the start for us. I flew into the parking lot and told Colton to jump out and go. And the downhill spiral started. When he got out of the car, his shoe got stuck. He even said, "Mom, my shoe," to which I replied, "Whatever it is, it is fine. Just go!" When he stepped out with his other foot, I assumed (yes ASS U ME) that he was out and started to roll forward. That was when I saw him drop to the ground and heard him scream, "Mom, my foot!" Oh yes, I ran over his ankle with the car. I immediately got out and checked him. By the grace of God it was only black from the tire and it bruised up nicely later, but nothing was broken.

Now, the blame is definitely on me here, but there are three things that could have changed how this went.
#1) Communication between the schools. We are a multiple kid, multiple sport family, so knowing actual times is helpful.
#2) We have three vehicles...my van, James' jeep and the 1996 Corolla. If I had been in the van or the jeep, first of all the tire is at least 18" behind the door as opposed to the 2" for the Corolla and they are both automatic instead of manual so I more than likely would have had it in park instead of neutral.
#3) If I could be less stressed about my kids missing something. He had already missed a meet this year for being sick and so I didn't want him to miss another. BUT, in the grand scheme of things, it would have never mattered five years from now. It's not like he had a college scholarship riding on his run. I need to remember that if I am calm, my entire house is usually calm too.

After all the drama, I parked the car and we walked over to the starting line where ironically they still hadn't started the race yet. Colton decided he wanted to run and even with a sore ankle he got 41st place. Not too shabby. And now, there will be no "jumping" out of the cars for this household anymore. Gotta go wait for my phone call now.

Questions

I have so many questions about life. Sometimes I feel like I am on auto pilot like when you drive home and have no idea how you got there. Only, I wake up some days and have no idea how I got to where I am in my life.

How is Christmas only 9 weeks away?

How am I having parent-teacher conferences for my 1st and 4th grader?

How have I not worked for over 9 years?

How can I have my baby say, "for my 7th birthday...?"

How come I can't keep up with a blog or remember the funny stories when I have time to write them down?

Why do I constantly feel as though I am taking my loved ones for granted as if I will have forever to get to do things with them?

Why is it I can sleep 8+ hours and still feel tired?

What, oh what, possesed me to get a puppy?

What is so hard about actually eating healthy and exercising simultaneously for more than a week?

Can I get an extra hour added to each day?

Is it always going to be like this?