Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Wild Life, Busted Lips, Sidewalk Chalk, Rice Cereal, & Loose Teeth


The title pretty much speaks for itself.  It was a busy- in- a- good- kind- of- way, lots of outside time, sidewalk chalk and soak in the spring weather kind of day.  One of the reasons we love our neighborhood is because it is a bit different.  There is no homeowners’ association to deal with and there is a very eclectic bunch of people living back in this tucked in neighborhood that is flanked by a creek that feeds the Potomac River on one side and a calmer section of the river on the other side.  While our little house doesn’t directly back up to either of these, we are only a block from the creek and a five minute walk to the river.  It is a very outdoorsy sort of neighborhood and there are several neighbors who have horses.  We pass one of the horse farms every time we come or go from the house.  Through the years we have actually never met the owners though we feed the horses on walks and we have even given the horses nicknames since we don’t know their real names.  Peanut Butter is a light tan brown, peanut buttery color.  Brownie is a deep blackish brown shade.  So the other day as Josie, Bart, and I passed the horse farm on our way to church, Peanut Butter gave us quite a scare.  He was lying on his side and quite frankly looked dead.  Despite my limited knowledge of horses, I know from talking to friends who ride, that horses often sleep standing up.  Not always though.  So after Josie and I were convinced that our friend Peanut Butter was dead, I jerked the car into reverse and was ready to jump out, Josie pointed out that his ears were twitching a little.  I then saw his snout wiggle a bit.  O.K. on our way again, praying that the horse wasn’t actually having some sort of seizure.  No worries, he was perfectly fine walking around later when we came back home.
A couple neighbors even have goats and chickens.  Then there is the rogue rooster.  I am not exactly sure who he belongs to, but I have almost run into him(literally) a handful of times.  He always darts out into the street right before a sharp curve in the road then takes his jolly time crossing and proceeds into a cluster of woods.  This morning the boys and I were driving back from Jimmy’s preschool when this crazy bird started his strut right in the path of my Gray Goose.  Thank God my brakes are still in good shape. 
Again we spent most of the afternoon outside.  Sawyer managed to take a swing(the actual seat part) to the lips and luckily was wearing a red shirt so no concerns over how to get that blood out.  The kids christened the patio with its first chalk drawings of the year.  More worm habitats were created though I am not sure how many worms survived the pokes and prods of the kids’ weaponry.  Jimmy used his new batting glove to handle the worms.  Josie had no qualms grabbing the squirmy worms right up barehanded.
Dinnertime found my three little helpers and me feeding Bart his first serving of cereal.  Josie helped document it with my iPhone, even capturing Jimmy’s tantrum in the first few minutes because he wanted to be the first to feed Bart.  Bart loves to eat so enjoyed obliging his overeager siblings. 
I was hoping for a fairly smooth transition from dinner to bathtime to bedtime since A.J. was working his usual long hours and none of the middle boys had naps. And it was actually happening.  Until Miss Josie decided to smack herself in the mouth intentionally to help further loosen her two bottom teeth.  They have been loose, but were still a few days of wiggling away from coming out.  I was on the phone with my sister Nikki when Josie popped into the kitchen with a bloody mouth and started bawling.  For whatever reason, she didn’t think this would hurt.  Now the one tooth actually needed to be pulled because it was dangling.  I rushed to get off the phone and then had to work to grip this slippery tiny tooth.  It turned out to be a much more traumatic event than I had hoped for my baby girl’s first loose tooth.  A.J. arrived moments later to the chaos of Josie sobbing over her tooth and my wild boys reenergized from their bath and brief rest on the living room floor.  My drama queen calmed down and proudly called her grandparents to share her big news.





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