William lost his second tooth day before yesterday.  I came home from work and he greeted me with all the gory details about the twisting and turning and bloodiness.  He pulled it out himself, which is brave of him since neither Marc nor I have the intention of ever pulling out teeth.  Regardless of how "hangy" they are.  Shiver.  Tooth Fairy came and brought him $1.50.

William finished his 4-week golf class and did great.  He sort of surprised me in how well he listened and follwed directions and stayed focused.  Now that we know he can, there will be more of that expected of him!  I will have video of his golf at some point.  It's not posted quite yet.

Signa started her weekend with a 4-H Dog Field Day where she decided at the last minute to enter the Junior Showmanship competition.  And she won 2nd place!  We were both happy (and surprised).

Then on Sunday, Signa entered her first karate competition in the Forms category.  Here is the video for that:

Dear William,


Tomorrow is Easter and you also turn five years old. The next time you have a birthday on Easter will be when you turn 89 years old and although it’s silly, it makes me sad to know that I won’t be there with you to celebrate that birthday. Tomorrow is my last celebration of your birthday on Easter. And today is last day for me to have a four-year-old.

To say that four has been easy would not be truthful. To say that it’s been equally challenging and wonderful would be. You are an adorable little boy, full of life and energy. You are polite, saying please and thank you, and you are curious, trying out all kinds of things. Even the not-so-smart ones.

You love to be with your friends, but still do a lot of parallel play. You loved our trip to Disneyland and you love our trips to the park. Sometimes I’m not sure which you like more. This year, you played soccer and did very well. You wanted to do it again, so we just finished sign-ups. You also wanted golf, so that starts next week and you are doing a couple of camps this summer. One is a drop off day came and you are a bit nervous, as you haven’t been dropped off before. But I know that you will do very well, as you are mature and capable of listening and following directions. For the most part.

You still think Signa is the bee’s knees and try to emulate her in everything you do. You love to play with her and be with her and when she is apart from you, you just aren’t yourself. This year you lost your Aunt Gin and I think that was harder on you than we yet know. But we love you so much that we are going to love that hurt right out of you.

You are still my cuddly little man and I hope that doesn’t change any time soon. I love getting my morning snuggles and hugs and my afternoon Big Hug greeting. You make my day every day with your joy and energy and silliness.

Thank you for being my delightful big stink.  Who just told me that you are taller today and your feet are longer because you are now five.

I love you.
-Momma

William just lost his first tooth, so the sound of the letter F is going to make more of an appearance at Mascot Manor, I'm sure.

Last Tuesday, I took the day off and took William to the Oakland Zoo. It was a beautiful sunny day and in celebration of a Hitting-Free two weeks (a story for another day...), I decided the little man deserved a reward. We spend the morning with the animals and then after lunch headed over to the ride area. If you haven't been to the Oakland Zoo, you need to understand that the ride area is just a few small carnival rides. In fact, there are two rides there that have NEVER even worked. There is a small roller coaster. Think: up, down, and around twice- just enough to feel sick, but not quiet enough to induce vomit. And no thrills to offset the queeze. There is a carousel with the standards zoo carousel animals to sit on. And go up, down, and around a few times. (yes, more queeze). There is a train ride that is actually pretty cool. And then there are the cars.


Tiny cars going in a circle. There is no gas and no brake, as they are all attached to poles attached to the center. They go MAYBE zero miles per hour. But the attendant on Sunday was extremely serious about his job. I didn’t catch his name, but let’s call him, “Nazi Car Guy” (NCG for short).

We got to the car ride and there were a cluster of kids “lined” up as per the usual. No attendant in sight, but one lady was nervously telling everyone to get in line. In a real line, not a 3-year-old line. “The guy is going to insist, so I’m just sayin’.” She was twitching and looking over her shoulders. Her child was rigid with fright, but I just thought they were weird.

Until NCG showed up. He stood on the other side of the gate. I really think that he saw it as being St. Peter deciding who could go through the pearly gates. Sadly, the gate is all of 2 feet high metal. Not a pearl in sight.

LINE UP! LINE UP SINGLE FILE RIGHT HERE! NO!!! SINGLE FILE. THE SOONER YOU MOVE IT, THE SOONER WE CAN START.

Keep in mind that in order to go on this ride, the children must be between 36 and 42 inches. So it’s for those ages 2-5. It’s not the Tower of Terror or a safari adventure where children could slip out and be eaten by lions. It’s a car ride where cars go around in slow circles.

With the help of startled parents, the children lined up, bewildered, but still sort of plotting which car they were going to maneuver through the intricate circle of fun. NCG would soon take that plotting away, as each child was demanded to STAND AGAINST THE RULERED WALL SO THAT I CAN MAKE SURE YOU ARE THE APPROPRIATE HEIGHT.

Rather than glancing haphazardly with little or no interest at the child next to the ruler as they do in the normal world, NCG opened the gate, walked through, stood next to the ruler wall and then proceeded with The Procedure.

STAND WITH YOU FEET AGAINST THE WALL. YES, LIKE THAT. He would then take his pointer and carefully hold it to the point at which the top of the child’s head reached. MOVE AWAY FROM THE WALL. He would then carefully examine the place where the pointer touched. Sometimes he’d have the child come back to start over.

If the child was approved, he would go back to the gate, open it, let the child through. WALK! DO NOT RUN! REMEMBER WALK, DO NOT RUN.

Then he repeated on the next child.

Once the children were in place. He began the lecture. DO NOT TAKE YOUR SEAT BELT OFF. DO NOT STAND UP. DO NOT YELL OR SCREAM. WE WILL START IN A MOMENT, BUT REMEMBER THE RULES. THEY ARE HERE TO KEEP YOU SAFE. DO NOT TAKE YOUR SEAT BELT OFF AND DO NOT STAND UP. DO NOT MOVE UNTIL THE RIDE COMES TO A COMPLETE STOP. He said “COMPLETE” extra loud and mean. DO NOT RUN OUT. WALK CALMLY. WE WILL BEGIN.

And then the children gleefully went around in stupid circles ten exact times, smiling and giddy with power.

The parents and grandparents were all swearing to report NCG. Muttering to one another throughout the entire ordeal about how they can’t believe this and spouting expletives when their child was too small at 35.99 inches or too big at 42.01 inches.

I, however, was laughing and making mental notes for writing fodder.

We went to a wonderful Oktoberfest party with Nana and Papa a few weeks back. Nana made Signa a Dirndl and bought a beautiful shirt for William from Germany. She then borrowed Lederhosen in a beautiful red leather from a friend for him.

William, always the ham, couldn't just do the chicken dance; he had to add in the Curly Shuffle (which he calls the Rock and Roll move).

You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_UdE9E96bU

We also took a trip to Oregon to see Grampa and Grandma Molly. Just William and me. We had a great time and now he wants to go there every week. He loved the built in playground, but also all the food and special juice that was just for him! We can't wait for Thanksgiving, hoping they will be joining us again.

And if you are a genealogy friend, I've created a genealogy blog at: http://mmgenealogy.blogspot.com/

I figured I needed an outlook for all my recent genealoging before I start writing it here and boring you all!

Signa is at Gramma's this weekend and so we needed to do something special with William. Marc was in a sculpting mood, so I coerced William into taking me on a date. We went to the bank and I let him take out the cash. Then he took me miniature golfing, to lunch and to the bumper boats. And skee ball, where he scored a tiny back-scratcher and soccer ball eraser. He graciously paid for everything and proudly told the people, "This is for my momma and me."

I will never ever forget Will's first date. I even got a big hug and a kiss at the end.

Tonight he is taking his Momma AND Daddy on a dinner date. He wants to have shrimp (and white wine, although, we veto that).

Last weekend, Signa and I went to Oregon. We drove up on Friday and back on Monday, but had 2 full days with Grampa and Grandma Molly. It was wonderful and Signa wants to go back with us next time, even though it's supposed to be just me and Will next time... I think Daddy would explode with NO KIDS for a full weekend, so we will see...

While there, we attended Battle of the Bones (http://www.battleofthebones.com). We tasted 12 or so different pulled pork and voted for our favorite (the apricot one was our family's favorite!). We walked around and got ice cream and cotton candy and giant lemonades with flavoring in them and balloon animals. It was a great day and I LOVE PULLED PORK!

Sunday we went up to the mountain for a picnic. It was a lovely day and the whole weekend was very relaxing and comforting. I love spending time with my parents as you get to be a kid again and they sort of step into the adult role as your backup. I hope my kids feel that way when they are older, too.

Yesterday I took a surprise day off work and we had Momma Camp. The kids got tickets for Momma Camp from 9am to 9pm. The day started with name tags and leis. We then went to get supplies for Momma Camp and then home for the Momma Camp Sing-a-long*. After the sing-a-long, we painted figurines as our craft and then had a water fight with water baloons and Super Soakers in the front yard. Then lunch at McDonalds and playtime in the Playland. Then Will's nap, during which Signa tried to learn how to ride her bike. Then another craft (library bags) and then off to the water structure activity pool at the community center. Then swim lessons, hot dogs for dinner, and smores by the campfire in the backyard. Then bed.

We all loved our Momma Camp.

* Our official Momma Camp song is sung to the tune of "Lollipop" and played on the guitar in the A CHORD until the POP (where you knock on the guitar) and then the ba bom bom part is in the E7 on the guitar (note that those are the only things we have learned on the guitar in guitar class, so it's a bit limiting.

William's computer class started Monday. It's really his first class just for him where we aren't there with him. I was so hyped up for it that I couldn't wait to call him after to hear all about it.

Marc and Signa sat outside the class and waited for him and said he did fine. Serious Will, just like normal, but went fine. When I talked to him on the phone and asked him how the class was. "It was fun and we played games and I don't like it because there is a girl kid in there and I don't like girls."

What the H E double hocky sticks? He doesn't like computer class because there is a girl in it? Did the breath mint freeze up his brain? He repeated that to me about 3 times Monday and then again yesterday morning.

We had to drill it in that he is NOT to say anything like that in class or anywhere else because it's mean and hurts people's feelings.

Who knew that cooties come at age 4?