Eloise Today

I've dreaded today for a long time.

Today was Eloise's 2nd try at the dentist.  And she has some terrible staining.  And she still sucks on a pacifier at night.  And I was preparing for a major guilt trip.

I always feel badly going to the dentist because I don't floss enough.  I've never flossed enough.  Who does floss enough?

If I don't take care of my own teeth, that's on me.  But not taking care of your daughter's teeth?  That's terrible.  Ahh, man.  It's just terrible.

Then add the fact that Eloise is scared of the dentist.  The first time, I took her to my dentist because they take our insurance.  Wouldn't that be nice?  Yes, it would be.

But it wasn't nice.  Eloise wouldn't take her head out from her coat the entire time.  She wouldn't even look at the dentist, let alone open her mouth.  So I knew today would be a challenge.

It started out well.  She walked willingly into the office.  (Oh, the kid's dentist this time.  No insurance, no problem!  As long as my child opens her mouth.)  Then she played in the waiting room.  Wonderful!

The minutes ticked on, though.  And she grew more nervous.  "Why are they making us wait?!  Don't they know she's going to explode?!"

And she did.  She started wailing.  "I don't want to go to the dentist!"  She yells and cries.

Oh, no.  At this rate, we weren't even going to make it past the waiting room.

But the staff and dentist were the most positive and kid friendly I had ever seen.  They spoke with her with extreme wisdom and confidence.  Then they left us alone.  And we spoke.  We inched up to the door that lead to the offices.  We peered in.  It looked fun inside.

And almost instantly, she released her death grip.  Stopped crying and ran in.  If you remember her flower girl experience, same thing.  From 0 to 100 in no time.  This girl can move.

I sighed.  Relieved.  And am super duper proud!

Eloise, could you just give me a heads up next time?  It'd save a lot of stress on my part.

But then again, parenting wouldn't be so fun.

How does your garden grow?

My neighbors and I are really great gardeners.  You should come spend some time in our front yards during the warm months.  We are all out there talking about our gardens.  Intending to tend the gardens but we mostly just talk.  Sometimes for better (and most the time for worse).

But we love our neighbors.  They are so interesting and caring and present.  Seriously, none of us seem to work.  Let's see here, 3 work from home, 3 go to work, 2 don't work, 2 are stay at home moms.  So that makes for a lot of togetherness around these parts.

And, we love our garden.  It has provided us with hours of activity.  Everyday we water and weed and admire and pick a pansy.  And now, it is giving back to us.  We've eaten the first fruits of our labors.

Eloise actually picked a green bean from the plant and ate it raw.  Yes she did.  Little Miss Carbo Lover ate something green and asked for more.  Brilliant!  (Another way to get Eloise to eat is to have a picnic.  Yesterday we ate lunch outside.  Today we picnicked inside because of rain.  Something about eating on the floor that frees the girl to eat.  Whatever it takes, right?)

Sunflowers about to bloom.

Tomatoes (Is that how you spell the word?  I'm forever confused.  Thanks to Moxie, though, I will always remember that "a lot" is 2 words, not one.  :-) 

And our prize of the day.

I took a photo of this beautiful green bean.  Then I ate it.  Delicious and satisfying.

And to think this used to be a small seed in our bathroom.  Remember?

The Best Part of Vacation

But the absolute best part of vacation

is spending time together.

(What's your favorite Colorado photo I've posted?  I'm curious!)

Colorado Extreme

I Heart Faces

Do you have an older child that loves the baby's toys?

I do!

Here, Eloise has climbed in the baby bouncer and is playing "baby."  It's pretty funny except when she stays in character too long (and acts like a baby all day :-).

I could have submitted a hundred photos this week, but this one tickled me most.  (Oh, and fyi, she is pretend crying.)

Check out other submissions at I Heart Faces.

The Face of Vacation

A taste of what's to come

We've been away for a while.  And I've got photos and memories to share.  More to come soon!

Losing Control

Our Wednesday Bible study has been on a wild ride entitled "Losing Control."  I don't know how to exactly achieve this loss of control, but I do know it's liberating.

Here's a great illustration from Sarah Pekkanen's book "The Opposite of Me."  (Note:  It's a great summer book club selection.  Select it.  She's my neighbor, too.)

" 'When I was nine, I was terrified of the high diving board at my pool.  One day I got to the pool right when it opened.  I was the only one there except for a couple of lifeguards, who were flirting with each other and not paying any attention.  I still remember how it felt when my toes gripped those cold metal stairs as I climbed that ladder.  I must've stood there for fifteen minutes, just staring down at the water that seemed impossibly far away.  And then I took one step forward.  On tiny step into the air.'

'Was it scary?' I asked her.

'It was the easiest thing in the world.'  May said.  'All I had to do was let gravity take over.  Nature knew exactly what to do, once I got out of its way and let things unfold as they were meant to.  The fear was almost impossible to bear, but actually doing it was easy.' "  (Page 250, 251)

Knowing that I don't have to (or can't) control my life, my husband's life, my children's lives, etc, has been one of the most liberating truths I've encountered.

I Heart Faces: Shoes

The wrong shoes can make life very uncomfortable.

And no shoes at all can make life unbearable or even unlikely.

So this week at I Heart Faces, bloggers are focusing on feet, shoes, and the world wide impact we can make by helping "shoe" our neighbors.

Shoes, like clean water, mosquito nets, or a warm meal at a local shelter are such wonderfully tangible ways that we can help alleviate some of the pain of this world.

Check out Soles 4 Souls and the cool work they are doing.

Lessons From Preschoolers

Some call it nagging.  It might even be considered whining.  But for this nice and neat blog post, it'll be named PERSISTENCE.

And this little girl has a lot of it!  Especially when cotton candy is involved.  Repeating the same phrase over and over again, can wear me down.

While I think of it as a negative when I'm on the receiving end, I'm looking at it from her point of view today.  Because being persistent in your dreams in life (cotton candy, grad school, job promotion, American Idol, potty training, sleeping through the night) can (sometimes) get us where we want to go.

So as I continue to wrestle with the insurance company over charges for Cordelia's birth (11/7/09, ahem), I will draw upon my Preschooler's persistence.  And maybe, just maybe, we'll get this claim (my money) figured out.  I will not give up.

Thank you, Eloise, for this valuable lesson in life.

Do you want to see my Preschooler's other lessons?  She's such a bright little bug: see here, here, and here.

Not Me Monday

It's been ages since I've participated in MckMama's Not Me Monday.  And I've missed the cathartic nature of confessing my many imperfections.

Here's what I've NOT been up to lately, wink wink.

I have NOT been without my dear husband for the last few days.  And I have missed him dearly, but NOT for the most selfish reasons.  

I do NOT miss him helping me in the middle of the night with the little ones.  I do NOT miss him most when I'm awake from 2-4am with an ever chipper 3 year old who can't go back to sleep after having an accident in bed.  I can NOT wait to see him so that he can help split the work load when Cordelia continues to cough herself awake every 2 hours.  NO, I am absolutely NOT that self absorbed.  Nor exhausted.  Nor lazy.  Nor needy. NOT ME!

Just to prove that I'm NOT lazy nor exhausted, I will NOT tell you how the soiled sheets from 2 nights ago are still on the bed.  I did NOT just tell Eloise to switch beds so that I wouldn't have to change her sheets.  And it's been over 48 hours, and I still have NOT washed them.  Nope, NOT ME!

And as if that wasn't bad enough, I have NOT napped when I could this past few days to catch up on my sleep.  I have NOT tried to get more rest so that I'm a nicer and healthier person.  Instead, I have NOT read an entire book.  (Sarah Pekkanen's new book The Opposite of Me.  Sarah is my sweet neighbor and an excellent author.  It's a great vacation read.  Chick Lit.  But also a very real look at identity and quarter life crises, which I don't know about you, but everyone is having them these days.)  Anyway, NOT ME.  I'm a responsible mother who puts her health first.  Obviously.

Happy Monday!  What have you NOT been doing lately?

A Candid End to School

It's the end of Eloise's first preschool year.  Let's look back at her first day.

Now, the last day of school.

Posed.  (Never good.)

Candid.  (Always better!)

We love you Ms. S!  Thanks for such a wonderfully successful year!

Mark Schultz

Yes, for all you (ahem, Molly) who answered correctly (aren't sister's great?), that is indeed, Mark Schultz.  Not a household name to many, but for me, he's big time.

I first met Mark when I was in high school.  We were on a mission trip to Mexico and he was a youth minister with a church from Nashville that came with us.

And because our churches were friends, he came and did some other youth/music stuff with our church so I met him those times as well.  All while in high school.

Total times meeting Mark Schultz before last night = 3.  Maybe 4.  That's all.

So I hear on the radio that he's coming to play at Falls Church (shout out to my loyal reader Elizabeth for getting the location of the concert correct!).  Of course I made plans to go see him.

He's a become a well known contemporary Christian singer.  He's a real talent, he's real nice, and I've enjoyed following him for the past 12 years.

So Alex and I walk into the church last night, and guess who's standing in the lobby,

"I know you." He points at me.  "Emily _____."

He remembers me.  And my name.  Boy, did I feel cool!  And boy does that man have a gift for names.

We chatted with him a little before the concert,  enjoyed a great show, and chatted a little afterwards.

I'm an even bigger fan of Mark Schultz now.

And I am going to make a great effort in learning and using people's names.  Because it feels good when someone knows your name.

Do you know...

...who this is?

Tiny Dancer

It's the end of the school year and things are coming to a close.  Eloise recently had her end of the year ballet show.  Needless to say, it was adorable.