For children loose teeth are of paramount importance! BUT I thought Deep Thinker would NEVER lose his first tooth.

In kindergarten, his first peer reported a baby loose tooth. Then the next person. Pretty soon everyone is losing teeth. Except Deep Thinker. He handled it well…until about the middle of first grade. Then a few times he got really anxious…but last summer he FINALLY got a loose baby tooth! After this, it was Internet 24/7. He kept searching for how to pull a loose tooth. He kept ASKING me how to pull a loose tooth. Questions about the toothfairy. By the time he finally lost his first tooth, I was ready to pull my hair out! Finally, about 4 months ago (in the 2nd grade!), he lost his first tooth. Huge celebration (and relief for me).

He just lost his fourth tooth last night–this took place while our neighbors were watching the boys for us. My husband and I had gone out to a movie, and our friend Rosie stayed with the boys.

Well, we saw our movie, and it was nice, but it was also nice to get home and hear a calm, quiet house with all of our boys asleep. BUT Rosie reported that Deep Thinker lost his tooth while we were gone. I love how he told Rosie about it. Here’s the dialogue they had–oozing with 2nd grade sweetness and lack of self-conciousness:

Deep Thinker: I went into the bathroom to poop. While I was in there, my tooth came out.

Rosie: WOW! That’s great!

Deep Thinker: Call my Mom to tell her.

Rosie: I’ll definitely tell her!

Deep Thinker: I know where her phone number is. I can give it to you.

Rosie: Thank you.

He he. Rosie didn’t call us immediately, as she knew we were out watching a movie. But she let us know about this development, and Deep Thinker was happy to find $1 under his pillow. Though as seemingly with all other things, he was kind of hoping for more:)

One happened last year. A girl accidentally made him bump into a door, and this gave him a huge black eye. Then, she developed a crush on him. She’s very cute (in my opinion), but as he puts it “bossy and mean.” This year, they’ve kind of become friends. So that’s nice.

This year another girl–we’ll call her Ann–has apparently told her friends that she loves Deep Thinker. He tells me in horror “THE WHOLE SECOND GRADE knows about it! It’s very embarrassing!” as he makes a horrified face. Poor thing.

I was trying to make him feel better. I said, “Honey, but Ann is so adorable.”

His response: “Don’t be fooled Mom. She’s NOT as nice as she looks.”

Sometimes people ask her why she doesn’t have children, but I sense they feel a little hesitant. Well, this week Rowdy Rebel became curious about the topic, and he didn’t feel at all hesitant.

He said, “Aunt Super Cool, why don’t you have babies?”

She said, “Because I’m not married. Why, do you think I need to have babies?” Rowdy Rebel said YES.

So, his aunt said, “Really? When do you think I should have babies?”

Rowdy Rebel answered, “Oh, I don’t know…the day after tomorrow.” he he.

But of course, his best friend is the “wild kid” who is not only wild, but seems quite mean. Rowdy Rebel and this child LOVE each other. They want playdates together, they share snacks, they throw sand at each other…

I’m encouraging Rowdy Rebel to have a larger group of friends. Last week, I paid close attention to the children in his class who were playing nicely, quietly, and respectfully. I was trying to figure out their names to then encourage Rowdy Rebel to try playing with them more often.

I asked, “Who was the boy in the blue shirt with Lightning McQueen? (Lightning McQueen is the red car from the movie “Cars”–and Rowdy Rebel’s HERO.) Rowdy Rebel answered, “Maybe that was Chris.”

I followed up, “Yes, this was probably Chris. Let’s double check. What does Chris look like?”

Rowdy Rebel answered, “Well…He has a nose…eyes…and hair.”

I burst out laughing. For a second Rowdy Rebel looked puzzled. Then it must have clicked, and he said “OOOOOOhhhhh, everybody does, right Mommy?”

Oh my. My first grader has been using the computer more and more. I am not ready for this. Yet I encourage it. We often use it together to find the answers to his questions–you know, things like “What’s a spider web made of, Mom?” So he has seen me do Internet searches many times.

The other day he said he wanted to do an Internet search. So I said, “Sure, what should we search for?” He explained that he, only he, wanted to do an Internet search, and could I leave the room please.

Uuuuuuhhhh, no. But I was so curious about what he wanted to search for and knew there was no way of getting it out of him. So, I left the room. And when the taps on the keyboard stopped, of course, I ran right back in to see what the big secret search was for.

I nearly died with laughter. I am putting a photo of the Internet screen here–click on it to make it larger. I know many of you can decipher the first grade spelling, but for those who can’t, the translation is below.

[Translation: How to draw a butt.]

I said “Yes?”

He answered, “Wait a second. I’m concentrating POOPING.”

So, I waited, confused as to why he called me.

And after a few minutes, he asked, “Mommy, do all mommies have crooked teeth?” (Yes, that means, do all mommies have crooked teeth like mine. THANKS.)

Rowdy Rebel was getting ready for his bath.

As he was getting ready to take off his pants, he reached into his pockets and pulled out HOARDS of fake Spiderman dollars. (I assume these are from a game the kids played at preschool.)

So, I explained, “Honey, we can’t take things home from preschool. This money belongs to the school. Why did you take it?”

He looked at me like this was the most ludicrous thing he’s ever heard. Then he responded, “I took it because the teacher wasn’t LOOKING when I put the money in my POCKETS.”

Then he threw his hands up in the air in frustration at my stupidity.

Anyway, my husband and I are now planning to have a 3rd child and talking to Deep Thinker and Rowdy Rebel about having a little brother or sister. They are very excited about the idea and clear that this is the plan.

So, yesterday Deep Thinker started talking about China again. “MOM, when are we going to GO to CHINA???” I told him it would be fun to go one summer all of us together, maybe I could teach English and we could all study Mandarin.

And he said, “Well, we aren’t going to be able to do this if ya keep GROWING BABIES.”

Rowdy Rebel doesn’t get it. He kept asking me over and over if we could buy a shirt. Finally, I said, “Listen! I already asked her. She said no. We can’t buy one!”

His response: “Well just be sneaky and get one!” (He said these exact words.)

I told him that we can’t just take one because the team Mom would be very upset if we did that.

His response: “Well then go to the coach!” (Exact words.)

Rowdy Rebel has been screaming a lot at night because I put a stop to the climbing in bed with mom and dad really late. He rolls around so much it’s impossible to sleep! This new program is NOT making him happy. But I don’t care. He’s sleeping in his bed–all night. He’s three. He can handle it.

Every night I’ve reminded him that it’s bad to scream loudly at night, and our neighbors might get upset. So, of course, last night he goes up and starts crying as usual I went upstairs, walked into his room and said, “ROWDY REBEL, it’s time to SLEEP.”

And he said, “Okay.”

Then he added, “Mommy, did you hear me? I cried quiet, not loud.” My sweet little man. He must have made a decision not to scream…just like I asked him to.