Cage Free Monkeys

Birthdays and Lost Teeth

It seems as though the past few days have been filled with events that remind me that the kids are growing up--despite my strict directions to them not to. Meg's 4th birthday has arrived and in addition to her proudly declaring "Im 4", she has made a vocabulary change I am sad about. When Meg describes something, she is very animated and wide eyed. And when she wants to drive a thought home she looks like her eyes may just pop out of her head. With this animation comes one of my favorite Meg-isms... "Every mingle one Mom, It was every mingle one." Obviously, mingle replaces single and I love it. I wont correct it--I cant. Well, yesterday she looked at me and told me she ate her chicken nuggets (non-antibiotic, gluten free, organic..) and she proceded to say "I ate every single one." It was a sad moment, mingle was gone.

Then Michael, who has been flopping around his first two loose teeth (a development only about 10 days old) came flying into the kitchen bloody mouth and bloody hand--but smiling and screming "Yeah!!"---My first thought was brain damage-Maybe he fell so hard that he is confused--there was quite a bit of blood. Then I saw it---the black gap in his mouth. His tooth was in hand. I thought of the 50 or 60 pictures I must have of that tooth slowly emerging from his gum at 6 months old. Now, here it was in his hand ready for the tooth fairy. He called everyone in the family.

So the tooth fairy did visit last night and although Mom and dad had set the tooth to dollar rate at $2.00, he recieved $5.00--the tooth fairy didnt have any singles. She also brought an extra gift since it was the first tooth and such an occasion deserves a little something extra: a two pack of hard-to-find Disney cars to add to his massive obsession--I mean collection.

Last night though, they both cuddled with Mom and dad on the couch, cozy under blankets watching How Its Made and Wipeout--love watching these people fall into the mud. Four peas in a pod-despite the unauthorized growing.