Dear Hazittle,
Finally! About three weeks ago you discovered you had a lil wiggler down in front. Not being keen on putting a finger in your mouth and wiggling it, fear keeping you from allowing me to check it out during the day, we had to designated 5 wiggles three times a day to keep tabs on that lil dangler. So, three weeks...that sucker was nearly sticking straight forward and in the end it was the all encompassing Hoosier desire for buttery sweet corn in the month of July that swayed you to rip it out on your own. Sitting at the lunch table you begged for me to cut the corn off the cob, seeing an opportunity, I said to just get that tooth out already. I asked if you'd like me to help. You screamed, "NO!" I gave you a napkin and you grabbed at it, whining that you were scared. We told you to do what you wanted, but if you closed your eyes and grabbed it you would have it out in no time. We acted as if we were ignoring you for a minute to give you space. The three of us watched from the corner of our eyes... You took a deep breath, squinched your eyes up all tight and secure and took that napkin and pulled, pulled and pulled. BAM! You declared, "I GOT IT! It is out!" You were very excited! but had a sort of mixed expression of freak out and happiness. To cheer or to cry.
The celebratory ice cream cone settled you into cheering! We all cheered for you. You ran to get your tooth pillow Aunt Linda made you. The next morning La Toothy Dienta, your tooth fairy, left you two dollars and a nice note commending you on your bravery.
You were particularly excited that she left the letter covered in fairy dust, which I caught you later picking off and sprinkling over your head in some sort of ritual spell you would not tell me of the details. Exiting times ahead as #2 is not far behind. You make everything so sweet and special. What a way to get ready to start school.
Love, Mama
Dear Henny,
Since just before your 5th birthday your mouth has been under construction. You've lost five teeth! First fell your bottom 4, ole number 1 made its appearance at 19 weeks.
Two of the bottom have been replaced by some bigger teeth your little boy mouth can hardly contain, crowding out number 3 and evicting number 4, which we sadly lost on the car floor and before looking for it I took the rare occasion to vacuum my car...poor toothy. No worries. You had yet to put 1-3 (and 4 in spirit) under your pillow because I had not finished the tooth pillow you designed and requested I make. When number 5 started hinging straight out I got off my butt and finished off tooth dino-dragon and you placed three safely inside. Sometime in the middle of the night I heard a, "AAGGA!" This was soon followed by, "YES!" proceeded by foot steps down the hall proclaiming, "The tooth fairy came!" We read the note to you and you were excited over the 2 dollar bill, and the dollar coin and that your tooth fairy was notified by the car wash place and retrieved number 4 and left an additional dollar bill. The note was signed, Wanda! Such excitement this brought you. When you returned from school I asked if you told anyone and you said you did, even both lunch ladies! This morning number 5 was barely hanging in there and before leaving for school we HAD to get it out. You readied the toothfloss and the remote control car and I tied it on...and one, two....three! POP! It flipped to the floor. Done.
At the grocery this evening you told the young check out guy, "I lost my tooth, see!" He said, "Cool little dude." I asked him what his tooth fairy's name is...and you piped up, "Mine is Wanda." He said his was always anonymous. So, tonight you cozied it away, being thoughtful, you left it at the edge of your bed and pillow. A new note awaits you as does a two dollar bill. Hopefully this part won't be disturbing to you because while you're learning to read, by the time you're capable of reading this post it won't spoil anything...but I am in fact Wanda the tooth fairy. Wanda was a name Bahboo use to call me. I don't know why, he just did. I think it means he thought I was a lil wacky. This is a fun little game and I am sorry that "Wanda" was busy and didn't come sooner, but at this rate your teeth are going to keep coming and you'll have a big boy mouth in no time. For now, I enjoy the goofy lil face you have with your lil smile.
I showed you the other two pictures and you thought you looked pretty goofy, too. You cracked yourself up for a few solid minutes. At dinner tonight you were talking and I nudged Daddy...just too much cuteness. I took a mental snapshot.
I love you growing boy.
Love, Mama
Dear Hazelita,
I feel your late night owl sleep patterns are correcting themselves back to normal (normal for you has been sleeping through the night until at least 7:30 since the day we brought you home)...and as I typed this I know I am threatening the sleeping beddy bedtime gawds to shake your bed and tickle your toe and wake you up. You're not a cranky teether, just an awake one. So the other evening I took pictures of what a baby lady does at 2 AM. The answer, just about everything.
You like to play with your little barn, only at this late hour.
You love taking the big bricks out of the box, arranging them on the fireplace and putting them all back, and repeat.
You want something to drink.
You want a little snack.
You want to dance to the music I put on to try and sooth you to sleep, and steal the remote and change the channel to some weird Mexican reggae dance hall music...and then hid the remote, of which I still am searching.
When I asked you where you put it you shrugged your shoulders.
You like to roll on the floor.
You like to pull out the National Geographics and pretend you're reading it while pointing to pictures and making words that may be the languages of some of the people featured.
You like to say new words of your own...like, "Go pee, pee!"
You also seem to enjoy stopping all the above to mean mug me as if I'M the one keeping YOU up, several times!
I love it. You are so funny and ornery at the same time. It is sweet, cute and some you and me time...but I'll just let you know, we can get all this done by midnight, too. I am not complaining. We have friends whose little boy your age doesn't sleep longer than a couple of hours at a time, ever. I feel for them. I am also sooooo grateful this is fun for me because it isn't the norm. (Let's keep it that way!)
Love, Mama
Dear Sir Henry Thompson,
I use sir to commemorate your transition from big boy (a term often used for little boys that insist on feeling bigger) to just boy. A couple of weeks ago while brushing your teeth you mentioned that your two bottom teeth hurt. I sort of looked and dismissed it as I saw nothing and you weren't real descriptive on where or how it was hurting. A few nights ago you mentioned some pain there again. I had you open wide and I jumped back, aghast when I touched your toothies and they moved! I had a sick pit in my stomach. Sour and flippy as I hadn't yet put together the pieces that you are, in fact, almost five and it is perfectly normal for your teeth to wiggle. When I passed along this new information to you there was a nervous smile and a hint of excitement. I was encouraging you to give it a wiggle several times a day. You decided you needed to prepare a little something to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy once it fell out, hopeful tooth fairy would leave behind some money. You settled on a sea slug with a pocket on its side (pictures to come). I don't know why a sea slug but you did, choosing the fabrics carefully. I put it together yesterday. Today I tried to finish while you painted some rocks and Hazel contently drew on herself with marker. With some consistent wiggling, by this evening it was clear toothy was begging to come out.
Daddy and I were discussing how it was loose enough that it needed to come out before bed so you didn't swallow it. Daddy suggested we get your stomp rocket, tie one end of a string to the rocket and the other to the escaping offender and stomp on that rocket to finish the deed. The very second you were reacting to Daddy's proposal, one more wiggle knocked it out. Here is your reaction...
You had nervously excited smiles and said you felt like quite the boy. As you washed your hands you leaned in and asked us if we, "Noticed anything different." haha
Your
level of excitement culminated into a serious dance session after dinner.
Your most recent dance moves are both entertaining and indicative of
your boundless energy. Transitioning just like that to the next phases of development, with such ease!? Mommy stood next to Daddy and cried for a minute. Daddy thought I was being a tad silly but he was feeling a little funny as well, especially after I shared that you asked questions about kindergarten today. You're excited about the cafeteria. Sigh...You are growing away from us, and this is what we want. I think you'll certainly have independence down by age 18...but as you promised as a little boy and I hope you remember as a boy, don't forget about Mommy and Daddy. -Until I finish sea slug tooth holder we needed to find a safe place for toothy. You decided the Sponge Bob Lego set we put together last Saturday would suffice as a holding spot.
Yep, you're putting together Lego sets now, too. This is a rite of passage of its own.
We love you buddy. We love you.
Love, Mama
For a look at your first tooth at 19 weeks click here http://www.thethompsonbaby.blogspot.com/2009/07/tah-tah-toothie.html
Dear Sweet tarts,
We had a great time checking out the Zink Berry Farm with Bahboo and Grandma P. The Zink's are a super warm and welcoming couple that invited us to see their animals and to take all the time we needed. We got to pick ourselves. You (Henry) flitted about with buckets swinging; it took a couple of reminders to keep the bucket steady so the berries didn't fly all over.
You and Bahboo took liberty with tasting and as I was picking, your grimy hand would shove into my face with a juicy half eaten berry screaming, "OH this one is GREAT! It is so awesome, you have to taste it Mommy!"
Hazel enjoyed riding on Daddy's armrest reaching out around her, smashing red goo in her fingers and licking her tart sweetie fists. 
We picked just enough blueberries to make some wonderful pancakes...Daddy's last bite was a super charged tart one that made him pucker like a fish!
After breakfast was cleaned up we worked on making two pies and a cobbler. Bahboo could hardly wait! You helped cut the strips to create the perfectly imperfect basket weave top. The timer sounded and it was time to eat! Mommy plated the bubble mess on the pretty plates Mamaw Mergie got us for our open house. It was a special occasion. I made my first pie, ever!
I will say it tasted delicious! The recipe for the cobbler pretty much tasted like it had a sugar cookie on top. Just recounting it is making me feel like I will have to go and have some more, I bet you will join me. What a nice relaxing evening.
Love, Mama
ps I loved these so much I had to post these too.
PSS Poor baby Hazel is teething HARD CORE while I type and hold you. Your second bottom tooth is working hard to stay popped out and a tooth next to the top middle is breaking through too. You don't scream! Or at least you didn't. Poor baby mamacita.Tylenol is on deck. and Henry just walked up and said, "I'm feeling sweaty hot, I think I'm getting a little sick." Doh!
Dear Hay-zel,
I'm just going to say it, you're VERY drooly these days and rather than build a mote around you to catch it I found this fun little sewing project from a book I checked out at the library. I was able to use scrap fabric and make you look stylish all at the same time. Easy and reversible! Teeth are on the horizon. Lord help us through the teething stages! Poor girl! I won't like seeing you in pain at all and I am certain you won't be a fan either.
After you're done droolin' on them and you get bigger you can put them on your head too.
I have a few more easy patterns to try too. I hope I don't make you look too ridiculous.
Love, Mama
