Lukas loses his first tooth

Lukas lost his first tooth. He lost it at school which was an added bonus because he got to go the principal's office where he got a little tooth shaped holder on a string to carry it around the rest of the day. Rob & I were dorks & were seriously up late that night debating about what the tooth fairy would do. Lukas did NOT want the tooth fairy to take his tooth away & even wrote a note for her with those instructions. We were also worried that, since he lost his tooth at school, everyone would ask & compare what the tooth fairy brought him. (some kids here get $5, $10 & even, yes $20 for a tooth - it is the expensive Bay Area, afterall ;-) In the end, the tooth fairy did take his tooth, but Lukas was OK with that since he got a whopping $3. We've already told him not to expect that much for each tooth - we think the tooth fairy only gives that much for the special first lost tooth.

Girlie Girl

I'm trying not to raise Marieke as a "princess" and try to encourage dinosaurs & cars alongside any dolls & fairies. But apparently nature overrules nurture.


Marieke hates to wear shoes except... a pair of hand-me-down shoes that she found buried in her closet. They are super sparkly with pink sequins and jewels - she LOVES them. They don't fit her yet, but she is always bringing them to me to put them on her & she clomps around the house. Whenever she is cranky or crying....I can pull out the sparkle shoes & everything is right in the world again.

Marieke can go from this... (BTW - notice the grinning pesty brother)

to this....

and then completely recover with her girlie girl shoes.