Weapons of war

Kate was working on her history homework to design a postcard someone might have sent from Valley Forge.   Luke sat next to her and started drawing the Spanish American War, as he'd heard about in Spanish class.

He was really into it, and he was telling the story of his pictures as he drew, "...but Florida had a secret weapon!  Jet skis!"

I haven't verified the historical accuracy of this.

Tough girl!

Ally is one of the most tenacious people I know.

She was so disappointed when Luke got a "shark tooth" (an adult tooth growing behind a stubborn baby tooth) before she did.  I told him for about two months to wiggle that baby tooth to get it to come out, but, in typical Luke fashion, he wasn't all that motivated.

Ally was thrilled when she finally got her own shark tooth about a week ago.  Once her shark tooth came in, I told them now it was a race to see who could wiggle their baby tooth loose first.  Ally started to go to town on that tooth. 

Then she told me last night to pull her tooth out.  I felt it and it wasn't really that loose.  She said, "That's okay, pull it anyway." 

I told her it would probably hurt, and she replied, "Just DO IT!  I'm sick of being the only one in my class who hasn't lost a tooth."  Her classroom has a chart for when they loose their teeth.

I grabbed a pliers and some gauze and tried to get it, but it was bleeding and I couldn't quite grip it.  I pulled a bit of it and heard the roots snapping.  This tooth was not loose enough, but she said, "I don't care.  Pull it out."

I had to tear it out a bit at a time.  Four or five times I pulled and didn't get it.  Kate or Anna would've been in tears and likely hiding from me by that point, but not Ally.  She begged me to keep going.  

I did.  It finally came out and her gums were bleeding.  I shoved gauze in the hole, and gave her a huge hug, apologizing for how much it must hurt.  

She said, "It hardly hurt at all!"  

She began jumping around!  "Now I get to be on Mrs. Grambow's chart!"

What it's all about

I met Kate's band teacher yesterday.  (Middle school is a big change; I can't believe it's May and there's a teacher I hadn't met.)

She introduced herself to me and asked whose mom I was.  When I said Kate Melbye, she said, "Oh, I loooove Kate."  I smiled and told her that Kate loved her, too.

We talked a short while about random school related stuff, then she was leaving, she looked me in the eyes and said, "...and thank you for having a nice kid."

When I let myself think about this comment on the way home, I teared up a little, and I thought that was just about the best compliment a mom could get.  Isn't that what it's all about?

Flee to China

Yesterday was a crazy day.  I was at the middle school doing recess duty when the kids were called off the playground early.  It turned out that there had been a bank robbery and the suspect had fled into Fox Point, so our schools were put on lock down.

The district canceled bus service and had the parents come pick up the kids following the emergency protocol where we had to line up and show our ID and runners went to fetch the kids.  All of this ended up causing Anna anxiety.  She panicked about locking the doors and wanted Dave to come home from work.  She was really worried the robber would hurt our family.

I let them watch TV to calm down and then we went to Skateland for our last day of Awana.  When we were coming back home, Anna began to worry again.  I said, "Honey, don't worry.  He's long gone by now.  If he were around, the police would catch him.  He got as far away as he could."

Later, when Luke was getting ready for bed, he commented, "If he's in China, he's lucky." It took me a moment to realize he was referring to the bank robber.  Then he continued, "Because then he'll get a lot of toys, because China makes a lot of toys."

Luke with his Awana awards

Brother

Dave told me that Anna and Ally were complaining about a boy in their yoga class being mean.  Ally was upset because he told her she wasn’t any good at yoga.  

Luke was upset and said, “I want to go to yoga.  I’m going to teach that kid some manners!”

Dave was thinking, WOH!  He pictured Luke telling the kid off, Don't you mess with my sisters.

Dave asked, “How are you going to do that, Buddy?”

Luke explained, “By being a good example.”