Observing good

Today I saw a UPS delivery guy bring a  resident's recycling bin in from the curb as he dropped off a package. 

Such good. 

Today

Ansel climbed up a couple of shelves in the pantry, grabbed the candy jar, and ate all of its contents - 3 fun size almond Snickers. Needless to say, he did not want lunch. 

After I couldn't buy lemonade from some kids in the neighborhood because I didn't have any cash, Oliver told me if he had a lemonade stand he would sell a cup for $0.01. Jess commented that we may need to teach Oliver about profit margin. 

I pruned our dogwood bushes for some hours this morning. It was surprisingly rewarding. 

Lost tooth

Oliver has had a loose tooth for about a month. This morning it was hanging by a thread. As Jess left for work this morning he gave Ollie a fun ultimatum, "Ollie, when I get home, I want that tooth to be out."  Ollie got nervous. Was it possible? 

This afternoon as we were eating our lunch at the park, Ollie bit into his PB&J and stopped suddenly. The tooth had fallen out and boy was he excited. "Dad's going to be so glad." I was glad too. His adult tooth had been visible behind the baby tooth for a few weeks. We called him shark boy and I knew that baby tooth needed to come out stat. 

When we got home Ollie shined the tooth by giving it a good solid brush. It's now glistening and safe in his tooth holder. He and I are currently plotting how he will tell his Dad that the tooth is gone. 

Wow, I've got a kid with a lost tooth. Time sure keeps on tickin'. 

Making sense of it all, 2 and 6 years old

Ansel and his 2 year old and 4 month self is talking lots.  He speaks very clearly and thoughtfully.  But sometimes things get mixed up.  Like say,
Gorilla becomes Granola,
Big Bird becomes Bird Tird,
Escalator becomes Excavator,
and my favorite Ansel quote yet, when looking for something that he clearly wants but isn't quite sure what it is: "Where's my mines?"  This kid is clearly in the MY stage.  He loves to sing, and hearing him come up with the words is the sweetest. And lately when we're driving, he always yells, "Go Mama!" when we stop. Jess and I wonder: if this is what he is like at two, picture his driving comments to us when he's a teen. Oliver did this same thing, so when they are 13 and 17, just picture the back seat driving. Haha!

As for Oliver, he's trying to get the concept of money, but it is still abstract.  Try explaining a credit card to your 6 year old.  I don't do a very good job of it.  The other day Ollie thought I could buy a credit card and then we could buy anything and everything we wanted (sounds like a dude I went on a date with in college).  Yes, I've got some clarifications to go over.  But he's getting it and for his birthday he wanted a specific something.  It was on the expensive side.  "I know mom, we could use the money in my money jar to start to pay for it.  Then, we could enter a video into America's Funniest Videos and win the $10,000 prize and pay for the rest of it!"  Good thinking Ollie!  What's more, when I'm searching Google or Amazon for something we may need he strongly suggests, "Remember to type in CHEAP, Mom." Good thinking once again Ollie.

These guys are my favorite.