Lost Tooth!

James finally, finally lost a tooth at the ripe old age of 7 years and 2 weeks old. It came out cleanly with very little fuss about 2 days after he noticed it was loose & now he says there's already a second one loose.

It came home from school in that little orange plastic treasure chest you might see on our end table in the background of the picture. I'll try to get a closer picture and update!

Lefty

Sam noticed that we might have a little lefty, and I said that I'd noticed, too - and had these pictures to back it up. Leah drawing:

She was narrating what each of the scribbles were - this a boat, and this a baby monster, and this a nice monster, and this my name.

I like this much better than when she is dictating to me what I should draw.

And a bonus picture of her in a Cardinals outfit. She likes to be pulled in the wagon. We went around the block yesterday and picked up a neighbor along the way.

Birthday Interview: James is 7

Tomorrow is James's seventh birthday and we cheated and did his birthday interview this morning.  He had his party last night, complete with a Bonkers trip and a Spiderman cake, plus his cousin stayed the night, so we've already celebrated and it feels like his birthday. 

1. How old are you? Seven
2. What is your favorite color? Teal
3. What is your favorite toy? Can it be something I don't have, like a remote control dino?
4. What is your favorite game? Minecraft 
5. What is your favorite song? Seven Years Old
6. What is your favorite animal? Turtle 
7. What is your favorite book? Hilo 
8. What is your favorite movie? Home Alone (they watched this last night at the sleepover)
9. What is your favorite TV show? Wakfu 
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Pizza! 
11. Where is your favorite place to go? Subway (I suspect by this he means Baskin Robbins.) 
12. Who is your best friend? Clara (This answer has been the same for several years!) 
13. What is something you learned last year? I learn everything that's happening when it gets there.  Like, I learn that I'm going to slip, or I learn that I'm going to go to the principal's office. (Have you been to the principal's office?) Once. 
14. What is something you'll learn now that you're 7? That I'm seven years old. (Are you going to learn how to ride your bike?) No. 
15. What is your favorite part of school? Um, choice time. (What do you do at choice time?) I play on iPads and stuff. (What else do you like about school?) LUNCH!
16. What is hard for you to do? Technically, nothing. I'm like the best, smartest kid. 
17. What is your favorite thing to do? iPads. (Besides electronics?) IPAD! 
18. What do you like about Me (Mama)? You're good at reading. 
19. What do you like about Dada? He's good at reading. 
20. What do you like about Amelie? Nothing! (What else?) She is good at reading. 
21. What do you like about baby Leah? She's cute! 
22. What do you like about yourself? That I'm the best, smartest kid in unit A. 
23. What do you want to be when you grow up? Inventor. 

He also got a bike! And bought a bunch of Pokemon cards with money that his great-grandma Doris sent, so it seems like he might have had a pretty good birthday already :)  

Here's a link to his 6th birthday interview. 

5th birthday

4th birthday 

3rd birthday 

Leah Says (Plus James and Amelie and Video!)

I couldn't tell what Leah wanted. It sounded like she was saying: "I need a sneeze."
"You need a what?" I asked.
"A sneeze!"
Finally I figured out that she wanted a Kleenex so she could pretend to blow her nose.

When she wants a Popsicle, she calls it a "bicycle."

Leah was crying the other day and said, "I'm so sad."

Sometimes, when I pick her up, she'll say, "I so big," or "I so heavy."

Nana Jana bought her some Elsa sheets and said that she'd made the bed. Leah corrected her and said, "No, Dada made it."

I think I posted before about her sometimes saying that she "needs" something and other times saying "I want..." Well, now she's combined the best of both worlds and has been saying "I need want ..."

Leah likes to count things, but she doesn't go in order: "One, two, three, six, five, nine, ten, eight, nine, eleven."

She told our dog Spark, "I love you," the other day, and she told the veterinarian, "I love my doggie."

She's also learned the word 'hate' and now is saying "I hate it" when something doesn't go her way.

Here's a video of her showing me "I got mama leaf." There was also a smaller "baby leaf."

I think I posted before about her love of "Ba Ba Black Sheep," and how she's changed the lyric to the "big girl" who lives down the lane. This is a video from July of her singing in her PJ's outside during one of Amelie's piano lessons (also showcasing a good, old-fashioned "No!")


After her bath she said, “I wanna clean towel. Gonna go see the rain.”

She asked for some cheese and I said that we didn’t have any cheese, as she’d eaten it all last night. She replied, “No. Cheez-ITS.”

~~~~
James was scratching and said, “They’re just tiggers! I have tiggers!”

Amelie was complaining, “Where are all of our spoons?? We only have three spoons in the drawer!” I explained that someone liked to take spoons outside and leave them there. “Who?” she said, then narrowed her eyes and said (totally unironically) "I have three guesses." (Spoiler: she meant James, Leah, and Spark and wasn't counting herself on that list.)

Very Belated Birthday Post

My mom says that we owe Amelie a 9th birthday party (which honestly, we'd intended to host one for her!) but she did have a small family celebration with one friend sleeping over and loads of presents from Papaw and Grandma Mary.

The gigantic cake was in the shape of a heart (I learned this from Nana Jana!) Conveniently and coincidentally, a whole flock of neighbors came over to play/acclimate the dog and helped us eat the cake.

She was so excited about the presents! Look at that face!

We shipped James off to his grandma's so the girls wouldn't be hampered by a younger brother. 

They played and played with them.

 

As you can see, Leah stayed (and only somewhat wanted to butt in on the action):

The neighbor kids (inspired by Amelie's impressive loot) have also gotten into the game/toy - it's called Bakugan. They showed us that they have a magnet and will stick to the side of the car/fridge/etc.

James has also said that he just wants to have one friend come stay the night for his birthday, so I'm going to call that a double win.

Hide-and-go-seek

Leah was hiding. Can you see her?

That's some next-level hide and seek right there! (Except I was not aware we were playing hide and seek and also she said, "Peek a boo!" when she popped out.) 

Nevermind the pile of shoes.