Forsooth! A Tooth!

Hurray! Finally! Ty has broken his first tooth through those puffy gums. All that gnawing on anything within reach (including Mom, furniture, crib rails, his feet, anyone else's feet within range, toys, sweaters, blankets, etc.) finally has a pay-off! Bottom left tooth. Soon he'll have a whole new smile.

Well, he DID tell Santa that all he wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth...looks like he may just get his wish!

Finally finished all my shopping! Yay!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDD...actually did pick up a holiday outfit for myself! The skirt is a plaid, navy, black, yellow, green and cranberry. Much nicer than it sounds. It is just above knee length and is sort of flirty at the bottom. Cute! And on sale for $20. Got a matching cranberry-coloured velvet jacket to match. It's really nice. I even got a matching necklace. Was too shopped out to get shoes...think I may not bother till after Christmas. Enough snow around here to wear my boots anyway...Should pick up some tights or pantyhose though.

Phoenix had his school concert today. Oh it was so adorable! Quite a lot of songs and poems for little 4 and 5 year olds to memorize but they were all great. Oma came out to sub for Mark to watch the show. Got it all on video, and then went back to the class for cookies and cake.

Actually the cake was really cute. One of the moms had made a snowman cake. It was beautiful and looked quite tempting. I was just heading over for a piece when I spotted a little girl with her head bent over the cake licking the icing off of the side of the cake. Gross! Her mom spotted her too and freaked out! I ran. I see enough parental frustration whenever I look in the mirror without witnessing that of a stranger.

Had my Dad over for dinner today. He had come over earlier today to watch Keegs and Ty while I went to the concert. Keegan was having a major tantrum over something and Mark said to Keegs, "If Grandpa wasn't here, I'd lay the boots to ya!" Dad kindly called out, "I can step outside for a few moments if you want to go ahead...". Yeah, every good dad knows the power of a threat.

My Dad never had to lay a hand on me. It was what will go down in history as "THE LOOK". It was enough to send me crying to my room every time! My brother's needed more of a fear factor. Dad would get out "the belt" and fold it in half. Then he would buckle it, you know so that it was shaped like a U on the bottom and the mirror on top. Then he would snap it. The leather made a horrible cracking sound that you just knew was the sound of pain. He would say, "Put your hand in there!" and we would say "NO DAD!" Then he would say, "Go to your room!" and we'd say, "Okay!!!" and run like hell. Yeah, there's nothing better than a threat. I don't any of us were actually stupid enough to put a hand in the belt slap zone. Hmm...on second thought, Paul probably did, but he is the rebel of my siblings...

Anyway, it's getting late, I'm tired, my stomach is doing the cha cha, or as we like to say, "I've got a rumble in my Bronx", and I need a nice cup of tea. Have a good night, and God Bless all of the fathers who only gave the look and the threats, but loved their kids too much to act on them.