The Tooth Fairy

...that's the name of the dentist's office, where we first met Doctor Lee. Noah was running on the hardwood, about three weeks ago, and BAM- totally face planted. I comforted him but when he smiled I saw that he cracked his front tooth in half- it was pointy on the end, like a fang! So I looked up a pediatric dentist. Noah hadn't been to the dentist yet, so I had no idea where to go. When we arrived at the Tooth Fairy, it was ADORABLE. Noah felt right at home- writing on the chalkboard, playing with the toys, looking at the huge Poo mural, so when they called his name to go into the office, he was happy-go-lucky. When the dentist started rebuilding his tooth, not so much. He screamed from the second it started, to the second it ended. Nevertheless, Dr. Lee did an amazing job, and we were out of there in no time. I personally HATE the dentist- I'm terrified. I don't think I've been in three years! I didn't want Noah to have the same kind of fear, so I made it a special day for him; took him to the mall and had lunch, rode the carousel AND the choo choo, and threw all mommy's pennies into the fountain. Three weeks went by, and Noah's healing process was good. The Doctor had given him antibiotics to prevent infection, and he handled it fine!

In the midst of this healing process, we went to my mom's house to see her brother and his family. They have 4 kids- two teenage girls, and two 12 year old boys (twins). Noah absolutely ADORED the twins, Simon and Matthew. They were so sweet to him. They let him play with them with everything they were doing! He wanted to eat what they ate, play what they played, and do what they did! A few of the nights we were there, Simon and Matthew were the only reason I could get Noah to go to bed and to brush his teeth! I had to put a time out on his afternoon play to change a dirty diaper, and Noah carried on like the world would end. My dad came in to pick him up and comfort him, and he said to Noah, "what's wrong??" Noah said "I want my boys!"

Anyway...back to the Tooth Fairy Story. Four weeks after the tooth incident, Noah jumped into a pile of pillows and chipped his tooth AGAIN! I guess this time it was technically the molding that broke, but either way, we had to go back and have the tooth re-built. Noah again enjoyed the play room and chalk board, but when Dr. Lee walked in to greet us, Noah ran to me, and said "hold you me, hold you me! I don't want him to fix my tooth!" Poor kid....so we went through the same ordeal again, Noah screamed again, and when it was over, Noah sat up and clinging to me said "I don't like the water Mommy!". Part of me was grateful he thought it was all water, and didn't know there was a drill involved :) We had a special lunch after that, and I think he's mentally fine now...I guess when we go for his first cleaning we will find out.

Last night, Keith and Noah were running around, playing, and Noah says to Keith, "Daddy! Your tooth fell out!!!". So Keith says "oh no! Are you going to fix it?" Noah says "Ok!", runs into his play room, and comes back with his tool set. A hammer, a screwdriver, and a wrench. :) He told Keith to lay down and open his mouth. Noah sat over him, a very serious expression on his face, and said "Don't worry Daddy. I'm going to fix it", and proceeds to put his screwdriver in Keith's mouth. I was giggling as Keith was expressing each time that Noah triggered his gag reflex with that screwdriver, only to follow it with "don't cry daddy, I've got you". After about ten minutes of tooth-fixing, Keith was done. He sat up and said "ok my turn to fix your tooth!", and took the screwdriver from him. Noah said "NO DADDY! You can't take my Dr. Lee!!!"

It's amazing all the things that impact our children. They soak up external stimuli like a sponge, and while you know it, you never know the full extent to which it impacts them until it comes back from their mouth! Noah's favorite show, Caillou, taught him the oh-so-annoying phrases "I don't have to", "I don't want to", "i don't like it", and my favorite: "it's not fair!". So we decided to flag Caillou and tell Noah he was no longer on TV. I've decided to feed his mind with Veggie Tales instead, so at least he's learning something good and wholesome!

That's about all for now! Better get my work done while Noah is sleeping!

Funny Noah-isms

This isn't going to be a long post- I just had to share a few stories that cracked us up!

The other night we were out to dinner with my dad. Dad and Keith both got soup, and gave Noah the crackers that came with it. Noah ate the crackers, and we proceeded with dinner. Twenty minutes or so passed, and Noah dropped his binkie on the floor. Threw it actually. And I told him that because he threw it, he wouldn't get it back. So a few minutes after that, he put his arm around Keith's neck, and then around dad's, and said "thank you very much for the crackers. I really appreciate it". We were dying...but once the laughter settled, he said "I need my binkie please". :) He's learning manipulation early.

Here in Newtown, where we just moved, there is a town center, and there's little shops and whatnot. One of the features is a town hall that's been converted into a theatre. They only show one movie at a time and you can see the movie for $2 a person! We've been wanting to take Noah to a movie just for something fun to do, and when the Chipmunks were featured, we took the opportunity! He sat on his booster, and ate popcorn- was THRILLED when the red curtain moved back. Through the movie, he danced to the music and reacted verbally to what was going on, on-screen. After the movie, we put him in his carseat and Keith said "did you have fun at the movie??" Noah said "YEAH! I enjoyed it!" ...enjoyed...too stinking cute and grown up!

We have done away with bottles. But he doesn't know it. I got two cups that have bottle-ish spouts, and we call them his 'big boy bottles'. He loves them-- so excited for the change! Putting the bottles AWAY!!!!!!!!! I'm hoping to slip a regular cup in front of him one day without him knowing.

My little boy is growing up! :(

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

I can't believe my last blog post was a YEAR ago!

I'm such a posting slacker.

Noah is TWO years old, and obviously has developed WAY past the walking stage of life. He has a little sassy but adorable personality now. Soon after walking, he took to parades. My dad has a song he whistles and lots of fun 'parade batons' in his kitchen cabinets that he a noah wave in the air as the walk and sing. When noah gets into it, he recruits anyone who is in the room to come parade with him. I have a priceless video of this from Thanksgiving...if only I can figure out how to post it!

For the past few months, Noah has been attending a parent/toddler class with my mom. They sang songs, played with lots of toys, and at the end of each class, got a hand stamp. The teacher was Miss Yvonne. Noah quickly became the teacher's pet, and though he was clingy and bored with the singing part of the class, he loved the activity portion. He took countless trips down the slide, rolled down the wedge-shaped mats, and begged to play basketball if the net wasn't already out. He came out of his shell after a few classes and began to participate in full, and proudly displayed his stamps if you asked to see them. He no longer attends, however, since Keith's promotion with Lincoln moved us to Newtown, Connecticut. I did take him to a gymnastics class last week, however, and after crying for the first 20 minutes, he warmed up and loved it. Poor guy, I can't tell if his cry-before-i-try attitude is because of the transition and move adjustments, or just him being two, and somewhat introverted. He went down a huge inflatable slide over and over again-eventually without me assisting him and cheering/coaxing him on, and at the end of class, I threw him into the foam pit. He was reluctant to try it and i knew he would love it but knew we didn't have time to do the back and forth of adjusting. So we conquered that one head on. He loved it, didn't want to leave, and wanted to play with every piece of gym equipment on the way out. Needless to say we're enrolling him in that one. :) When we were going out for groceries yesterday, he asked where the 'big big house' was. I realized that he meant the gym, and I told him the big big house was gymnastics class, and we would go back very soon.

Noah was the cutest pengin ever for Halloween this year. At first he didn't want anything to do with the costume. Then, some trick-or-treaters came to our door. We handed out the candy, and pointed out the costumes to Noah, and after that he ran over to his costume and said "put on! Go with kids!" He wanted to trick or treat too! :) He was so darn cute. I have to get pictures from my dad. Nick dressed up into a head-to-toe-sequin costume of a patriot (left over from dad's mummer days), and came with us. He was so funny...walking from door to do by himself, wanting to ring all the bells, and choosing his candy. We left with tons of lolly pops :) He was so excited that Uncle Nick came with us too! At one point after Nick left, he turned around after climbing someone's front steps and said "where'd uncle nickie go?? Oh no!". The day after halloween, we were making animal noises. I asked him what a cow says: "moo". I asked him what a dog says: "ruff" . I asked him what a penguin says, to which he responded, "trick or treat!!!"

He's such a little squirt, wanting to do everything that mommy and daddy do. His favorite toys are either things he can't have or toy replicas thereof. He loves his toy kitchen he got for chrismas, and loves reading books in his tent! He's very good at verbally expressing himself. We went to the gaylord hotel in DC, just before Christmas, to participate in the ICE exhibit and christmas festivities there, and after a long day of playing, swimming, listening to Christmas music, and trekking through snow, we were lying in bed together. He looked at me and said "mommy, are you happy?" i said "yes Noah, I'm happy". He said "daddy, are you happy?" (but daddy didn't answer because he was sleeping). I said "Noah, are you happy?" he said "I'm happy". and with that, he went to sleep. One day we were riding in the car, and he played with my necklace and said "I like this mommy". Another day, I was fixing my hair in the mirror and he said "mommy you look nice". He just melts me! Keith has been hanging window treatments and whatnot, over the last few days. Now, Noah wants to climb on the ladder, so I help him. When he reaches the top, he says "i need a screwdriver". I try to distract him from that by helping him "jump off' into mommy's arms.

The endless sleep battle has finally come to an end! We decided it was time for a fresh perspective on the bed, so we turned his crib into a big boy bed. He took to it right away, which has made it easy to put him to sleep in his bed. we just lay together and read a book, then stay there with him til he falls asleep. I was worried that the pattern wouldn't hold while we vacationed in canada, but things worked out just fine! He went into the beds to lay down when he was tired.

Tons of transitions going on right now so we haven't stuck to the bedtime routine, which I know I"ll kick myself for, but I worry for him. I want him to feel safe and comfortable, and I don't want him to be traumatized by all the change. That said, I'm going to save my binky and bottle battles for later. I know the bottle is more of a comfort thing than a need because he asks for them and then just holds them- doesn't drink them. We will cross that bridge when he gets a bit more comfy here.

That's all I'm going to ramble about for now- had to break the one year stint! Here are a few christmas pictures.