The Red Robe

Alternately titled, "Why Jackson should be grateful his mother did not put on clothes before taking him to school today."

Jackson has had a loose tooth for a while now.  I thought it would be out by Monday or Tuesday it was so wiggly.
He however, refused to let anyone near it, so it wiggled, got into odd positions, and was overall a 9 on my grossness radar (teeth out of mouths, finger nails clipped, and cut hair....YUCK).
This morning as he was brushing his teeth, he hit it and the tooth turned sideways and he starts screaming.
Bart and I get him onto the couch, try to calmly get him to let us look.  No dice.
Try to pry his mouth open to wiggle it or pull it.  Nope.
Finally, through some fancy two on one parent vs. kid action, we managed to get his mouth open, get the tooth out and hopefully move on with our day.
Nope.
 He bit me twice.  TWICE.
We got the tooth out.
We cheered and said all the nice and fluffy thing people say when one loses his first tooth.
But Jackson screamed.
And he cried.
And he threw the world's biggest fit because he was "scared".

By this time, we are all late for everything.  Too late to eat breakfast at home, Bart was too late to walk to work, late, late, late.
So, we piled into the car, and Jackson very unwillingly gets in.
We drop Bart off at work and head to school, where I tell the boys they will be eating breakfast. No big deal, they do it at least once a week.
Jackson screamed.
And he cried.
And he refused to get out of the car.
A timer begins in my mind.  For every minute Jackson made me stay at school, he would lose that much time playing video games tonight.
2 minutes
3
5
Finally, I declare he won't be eating breakfast today as it is really too late for him to even get in there and go park in front of his drop off zone.

He cries some more.
He declares he is scared.
He hides his face with his backpack.
He does not get out of the car.
I am trying so hard to be patient and Christlike and loving and understanding...it was hard, but I think any mother would have appreciated how hard it was to restrain myself from lashing out and being negative.  :)

Here is where the red robe comes into play.  See, I'd not gotten dressed before the tooth situation came up.  I am wearing a sweat shirt, shorts, socks, and a big ugly red robe.  I have morning breath, wild hair, and a anger deep in my guts that this morning had not gone according to plans and that Jackson was being such a whiny boy over this.
If I'd only had on p.j's and slippers, it would have been okay.  I'd have sucked it up and dragged that screaming monster to his class, to let his teachers deal with him.  I would have gotten out of the car, pulled him out, and drove away.  (Just far enough to make sure he got in safely).  I would have acted.  It might not have been pretty, but it would have been quick and we would have been able to move on.

Instead

I had to sit there and at first nicely try to get him out of the car and in to his classroom.


Then the niceness wore off.

I was hungry.

And getting annoyed.

And ready for Jackson to just calm down already.

I finally got him out of the car...but then he latched onto the door handle like Megan with Grey Goose on an everything's-gone-to-hell kind of day.   There was no shaking him.  I was in quite a pickle.  I mean, I can't drive off and run over his feet.  And what if he runs after me?  I can't get out of the car.  I am only in a red robe and hot pink socks.  I can't just sit there all day.  Oh, and the temperature outside?  Maybe ten degrees.  Yet he stood outside my window, banging, crying, and just overall not being happy.

No parents I knew walked by where I could explain what was going on and have them carry a screaming Jack up to school.  No teachers are down by the cars to help.  My husband at work was in a meeting so I couldn't go get him to come help (his work is maybe 1 minute from the boys school).

It was a nightmare.

Finally, right before the second bell rang (having wasted 20 minutes of time, missed breakfast and bell work, and lost video games for the night), he runs up the walk, screaming and crying all the way.  The only reason he went (unless he had an divine intervention from God and realized that Mama was about to say RED ROBE BE DAMNED and drag him into class) is because I told him he'd be locked out of that door and have to go to the principal if he didn't get into school that second.

Now, being the good mother that I obviously am, I had quickly written a note to his teacher to alert her to Jackson's issues, so hopefully the hot mess that stormed into her classroom will get a little sympathy.  Or an extra graham cracker at snack time.  Or a time out to calm down.  Something to help him be excited about this BIG STEP towards growing up.  This change.  Because as some of you know...Jackson HATES changes.  Especially those concerning him.  He needs a lot of time to get used to new situations...and I guess even though he'd known this tooth was loose for well over a week, he was not ready for the change of having it out of his mouth.

So, I am writing this post, not so much to entertain you all, my lovely readers, but to have it documented so that one day, when I scrapbook this event, I will have all the details down correctly.  Because yes...I have a before the tooth came out smiley picture.  I have a him throwing a fit flung on the ground after the tooth came out picture, and I will get (once he's calmed down and happy) a "look I lost my first baby tooth now I am a big boy!" picture.  And I think this post will be an important part of that visual story.  Maybe I need to snap a picture of this ugly red robe that Bart hates so much but that saved Jackson today.

Adventures in Cloth Diapering #14...The end of an era

I started cloth diapering in July of 2009.  My friend was/is a wee bit obsessed with them and I thought I could at least give them a try.
Well, I won a few, bought a few, wound up with Miracle Diapers, and then had a friend give me some...I wound up with a decent stash that worked quite well.

Today, as I noticed a dark red mark on Ethan's panty line and observed him screaming and crying and pulling at his panty line area, I realized...Ethan has outgrown his diapers!
He only has maybe 4 that still fit his 40 lb puffy behind.  And 4 is not enough for me...the lazy cloth diaper mother.
So, I realized, with a start, that the end of cloth diapering was near for me.  VERY near.  Sure, I could trade them or sell them and buy the next size up, but we are at the very early stages of potty training, I plan to go all out starting in August (after summer travel is over) and buying new diapers for basically two months seems silly, especially since I "pride" myself in having spent so little to cloth diaper (I'd say less then $60 total, including soaps).
It's been a struggle at times to cloth diaper.  My husband has not been on board at all with cloth diapering.  He will say, "Does Ethan have on a REAL diaper or one of "those" things?" before I leave for a girls night out.  (Most of the time I leave him in cloth ;) ).  I'm not sure where these feelings of his come from...it's saved him literally hundreds of dollars, but oh, well, I've let it be a non-issue so as to win bigger battles on other fronts ;).
Also, I am a lazy laundress, so I've had to battle that and make sure to keep them washed in a timely manner.
I've never soley cloth diapered, using disposable on the weekends and when we went on trips.  Also, if an outfit fit better on big butt Ethan, it was a sposie that day as well.
But, now that the end is here, and that I just twenty minutes ago took off the last cloth diaper I will ever remove from my baby, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia.
My little baby is growing up!

Before you know it, I will be posting part two to the end of an era: DIAPERS AT ALL!  Let's hear it for post summer traveling potty training!  Though...I am considering buying some cloth diaper based training pants that have a bit more absorbancy then regular underwear.  We will see.

So, for those of you who followed along in my adventures in cloth diapering, I bid you farewell...and want to let you know all cloth diapers will be for sale for $10 or less at the garage sale I am co-hosting this weekend in Omaha if you are interested ;)

Growing Up, Even When I am trying not to let him...

Today is Jackson's FIFTH birthday.
Usually months before a party, I start dreaming of a theme, favors, decorations, etc. (Bren's 8th: MAN party Ethan's 3rd: probably super heros...not 100% yet)
This time I didn't. I could say it is because the craft fair got in the way, but that is not true, I'd have had time to do it all.
It's just that...even though Jackson is the MIDDLE child, meaning Brennan's done it all already (JACK starts school in AUGUST!) and Ethan is the LAST to do it. Doesn't the middle child get lost? But...I do not feel this is the case.
Here is the thing. Of all the boys, Jackson is the one I cherish as a young child the most. Does that even make sense? It's like we have a connection, and I fear as he gets older, maybe we will lose it? IDK.
SO...because I was feeling desperate and worried (how could Jack NOT have something awesome on the day of...would he realize it was lame compared to last years?), Jack and I went to the store. And he picked out balloons (lime green, baby blue, and silver...GREAT color combo!), party favors, and a drink (Root Beer). He decided his birthday dinner (GeeGah's famous fried chicken, fries, shells n cheese and peas). He picked the birthcake ice cream from the freezer section.  Oh, and his cake?  A green and blue SLIMER cake (Ghostbusters)...lucky for me he has a Slimer shirt, so I feel less guilty about not whipping up some sort of awesomeness in that department :)
I let him be a big kid. And he loved it and is SO EXCITED for his party tonight. Even though I didn't do anything fancy.
Sigh.
Even when I tried to avoid him growing up by ignoring the fact that his birthday was coming...he still grew up on me.  And me...I think I grew up a little, too.  (Cause, yeah, letting HIM pick that stuff out...HUGE deal.  Like, I am usually 100% in control of ALL aspects of birthdays, including themes that I convince birthday child will be "just perfect!" for them...though usually, I am right ;) )

The Tooth Fairy Came

Brennan lost his first teeth. I bet Friday, Bart-Saturday, and Brennan-Sunday. Bart won the bet. I will not go into the details of the teeth (Oh, yes...both bottom middle teeth came out within ten minutes of each other!) popping (literally) out. And yes, now I feel old.
It wasn't gross, but then again, it was because I have this "it's no longer attached to your body so that is disgusting" phobia. This goes for cut hair, fingernails, teeth...anything that was once attached and is now free makes me want to hurl.
Bren's kindergarten teacher allows the children to bring in the teeth they lose to show them off. This presented a problem for Brennan because the Tooth Fairy, smart lady that she is, comes the day the tooth is lost. Since the teeth fell out on the weekend, Brennan was very worried he would not be able to bring the teeth to school to show them off. (Is that really such a bad thing?)
I told him to think of a solution for this problem of his. Smart kid that he is decides to leave her a note. Because he asked me to spell every word for him so the Tooth Fairy would know without a shadow of a doubt what he was requesting, it was a short and to the point note.
It read:

Tooth Fairy,
Leave my teeth until Monday.
Brennan

I am NOT going to spend an hour helping him spell out a sappy note that will just be scrapped (either in a book or the trash...depends on my mood). I'm just not that good of a mom.
So, the note worked, Brennan got $6 ($5 for the first tooth, $1 for the second...he bought Captian Underpants Book 2), and the Tooth Fairy came last night to retrieve the teeth.

Now...my questions...

1. What do I do with the teeth (remember my phobia) and what did your mama do with your teeth?
2. What are you planning on doing/are you doing as teeth fall out? How much money does the Tooth Fairy bring? Or does the Tooth Fairy bring presents, like a new toothbrush and toothpaste? I was going to do that as part of the T.F. present, but then Brennan saw the toothbrush in the grocery bag and I was busted.
3. Do you remember your first lost tooth? I remember loosing mine, but this post is long enough...I'll share that story on another day.

And...don't forget to scroll down and entire BECKY's JEWELRY GIVEAWAY!