1 Mother 2 Another

How is it August already?


Where did summer go?


And why is it that the girls aren't in school, I'm not working,
and yet I'm still exhausted and feel like I'm constantly running?


What summer vacation?

So in response to last week’s plea
to the tooth fairy from Cora for a toy for her cat, she found this
on Friday –


Dear Cora:


Thanks for yesterday’s note; what an exciting day you had!
How scary to have lost Satin’s tooth, but how wonderful that
your AMAZING mother found it again!


It sounds like you’ve got quite a playful kitten there, who
likes to nibble and scratch at her toys – even if her
“toys” are your toes! Unfortunately, a tooth fairy only
has gold coins to give out, and I don’t think Satin would be
very entertained by those. But I bet you have everything you need
to make an awesome cat toy right in your own home!


Ask your mom to let you go outside and cut some catnip from your
herb garden. Then tear it up into tiny pieces and stuff it into one
of your old, too-small socks. Tie it shut and throw it to Satin and
watch her totally forget about your toesies!


Good luck – I’ll see you soon, when you lose a tooth!


Sincerely,


Your tooth fairy


I didn’t mention the note to Cora, but later in the morning I
went outside to do some pruning in the herb garden, and walked in
with an armful of herbs to dry.


Including catnip.


“Hey, guys, I had to cut the catnip back, so I brought some
extra in to dry. Do you think we’ll find a use for it?”


Cora looked at me, startled. “Oh, that reminds me! I got a
note from the tooth fairy and she said -“


And we were off and making a cat toy.


Not my first rodeo, kid.

So at bedtime last night Cora asked Maddie
to come into her room after books had been read for some
“help on a little note”.


Yep, Cora wrote a note back to the tooth fairy.


Here’s what I read when I sneaked in to read it last night:


Dear tooth fairy,


Today we lost my kitten’s tooth and my mom found it. My
kitten’s name is Satin. Satin is very playful and it wou8ld
please me and Satin very much if I received a toy that Satin could
play with instead of my feet. Whenever I get cold I put my feet
under the covers only to wake up in the morning and find my feet
with scratches on them.


Thanks,


Cora

p.s. Did you print your recent letter?


Do you see what my child did there? Who would deny a sweet kitten a
little toy, especially when that toy would keep the sweet little
kitten from tearing up the darling child’s tender toesies?
And is I did deny said child the toy, she will end up SHIVERING AND
COLD at night, afraid to use her blanket lest it make her toes an
alluring child.


In other words, I’d be depriving my child of basic shelter.


Oh, she’s good. She’s very good.


It’s on.

So yesterday morning Cora found this note
stuck into her tooth pillow:


Dear Cora:


I understand you recently grew another tooth –
congratulations! You must feel like a very big girl now


And I hear that your kitten has lost a baby tooth – wow! What
a lot to go on in one household at once!


I’ve heard that you’re hoping for some money from me,
and I want you to know that while it would be a lot of fun for me
to do, I’m afraid it’s not going to happen.


Don’t get me wrong – I think every new tooth is
something to be celebrated! But what do you think would happen if I
start giving out money every time you get a new tooth in your
mouth?


Just think about it. You’ve got a ton of teeth in your mouth
right now- and if I had to give you at least a dollar for each one,
then another dollar to replace them all with grown-up teeth,
I’d be broke! I’d have given away all my money years
ago to other kids, and have none saved up for terrific girls like
you.


Right now I’m saving up for your first tooth, which I feel
confident I will see within the next school year. And when I do see
it, there’s FIVE gold coins waiting for you – yours to
keep! I can’t wait.


So just know that I’m so happy about your new tooth, and that
your kitten’s lost one of her own; that’s lots of
exciting changes going on there that can only mean one thing
– you’re growing bigger and bigger! Keep up the good
work, and make sure you brush those new teeth really well so
they’ll be in good shape when I get them.


Sincerely,


Your tooth fairy

p.s. no use trying to pull out a perfectly good baby tooth before
it’s ready to come out – they’re no good to me
and will hurt an awful lot. No cash for cheaters! I promise,
I’ll be back soon enough.


Cora found the note and read it in silence. I casually said,
“So, I see you’ve gotten a note! What do you
think?”


Cora was silent for a minute. Then she said, “I have some
thoughts.”


Then at bedtime last night, I heard her say to Maddie, "Maddie will
you come into my room after you read books with Mommy? I need you
to help me spell some words for a letter I'm writing to the tooth
fairy."


Bring it, kid.

Several nights ago, Cora came into our
room in the middle of the night complaining that part of her mouth
hurt. Now, ever since we’d gotten back from New York,
middle-of-the-night visits are not uncommon; we spent a week
sleeping everyone in one room, and it’s natural for the girls
to, shall we say, elaborate on issues to make them visit-worthy.


So when Cora told me in the middle of the night that her mouth
hurt, I assumed it was a canker sore –she’ll get them
occasionally when her diet goes to crap (thank you, vacation!)- and
told her we’d look at it in the morning.


When morning came, Cora brought it up immediately, and imagine my
surprise when I looked in her mouth and saw that she was teething!
Yes, her six-year molars were coming in, and apparently this one
was particularly painful.


I explained the situation to Cora, who immediately became delighted
and spent the rest of the day constantly checking on her “new
tooth”. She asked for popsicles constantly, which I provided
by making her a strawberry/spinach smoothie (don’t judge,
it’s delicious) and freezing it into pops. She gnawed away
happily, and all seemed well.


Until bedtime.

I do love summer – the pace is
slower, expectations are lower, the schedule is lighter. You can
cruise along, coming up with fun things to do or simply lounging
all Saturday in your pajamas.


Or, you can have our weekend.


Which, let me say here, was not really bad – just not what
we’d thought it would be when we went to bed Friday night.


For starters, I’d arranged for our niece to come babysit
Saturday night, planning to surprise Brian with a date night.
Maddie had her horseback riding lesson at 9 a.m., but I could see
us sneaking out of the house while Brian and Cora slept, coming
home a couple hours later to find them still in their pjs, waffle
leftovers on the kitchen table. Then I pictured a whole day
lounging around the house, reading on the couch, playing games,
until Date Night arrived.


And I was mostly right.

“Mommy, I need you to help me make a
drawer for Cora to appear in at the top of a song,” Maddie
said the other day, and then turned away, expecting me to follow.


Which I did, unquestioningly.


And what’s worse, I knew exactly why she was asking for it.


Taking the girls to New York was something we did for several
reasons, and one of the things we wanted them to experience was the
world-class theatre. We’d originally bought tickets to
NEWSIES only, and then broke down halfway through the week and
bought tickets to ANNIE as well.


Let me tell you, watching the girls’ faces as NEWSIES started
was one of the best events of my life. The stage lights reflecting
off their shining faces, both girls watched awestruck the entire
show. Cora never sat back in her seat, not once. And when they got
to go backstage afterwards and walk on the set? They were in
seventh heaven.

So we spent last week in New York City,
giving our girls the chance to go back to their birthplace for the
first time since we moved from there five and a half years ago.
Both girls have been clamoring to go, and at one point we even
offered them the choice between Disneyworld and New York –
and New York won.


There was not, of course, time enough to cram everything we wanted
them to experience into one trip. But we surely did try, hitting
museums, a couple different zoos, multiple city parks, many trips
into Central Park, two Broadway shows, some free events, LOTS of
great time with friends, and of course, a ton of excellent food.


In fact, I consider it one of my crowning victories that we did not
eat at a chain restaurant one single time all week.


New York is a lot for anyone to take in, and when you’re
under four feet tall I imagine it’s even more intimidating.
We walked somewhere between six and eight miles EACH day, and Cora
gamely kept up with us, though she did ask for frequent rest stops.
And once she discovered the ubiquitous ice cream truck that’s
parked at every New York street corner, she asked for even more
frequent ice cream stops “because I need to cool off and get
my energy up!”

We're back safe and sound from New York
City - at least physically.


Lots to tell here, but for now laundry and bills and empty
refrigerators call! Soon, I promise.

Tomorrow morning we leave for New York,
and I suppose I’m as prepared as I can be.


It’s not like we haven’t traveled as a family before
– we try to take a family vacation every year. But every
other year it’s been some place warm and sunny and beach-y
and slow; this is our first venture into an urban vacation. And as
much as I love New York City, I’ve never been there with kids
you can’t strap into a stroller and pin down.


So this will be an adventure.


Wish us luck – and see you in a week!

The girls are getting excited about our
upcoming trip to New York; we’ve bought tickets to one show
and they’ve watched the TONY Awards and seen clips of all the
kid-friendly shows out there right now. In Maddie’s words,
she can’t wait to see some “real theatre”.


They spent an hour last night working on “It’s A
Hard-Knock Life” for a small upcoming performance (tickets go
on sale soon!). With lyric sheets in hand, they divided up parts,
discussed characterization, worked through props, and sang through
it several times. Apparently they’re going to add costumes
and staging today and perform it for anyone they can pin down.


Whose idea was it to let them watch the new The Making of
ANNIE documentary yesterday?