Yo-Yo

Madison lost another tooth today!

It was the one on the other side of her two front teeth, so she's effectively got a mouth like Mater - two buck teeth with an empty spot on either side.  She was pretty excited about this news today, which was surprising in that less than a week ago, she lost the other tooth.  Tonight before bed, she was quick to remember the little bag that holds her tooth - now safely underneath her pillow.  Who knows what the Tooth Fairy has planned this time!  Stay tuned until tomorrow - this one will be fun, I'm sure...!

We had ballet tonight, which was a return for Madison, having missed last week.  She had a great time - Daddy sat outside the door and listened in to all the routines, and calls for different positions.  Daddy was stuck there for the hour and a quarter, so he wound up sitting in the hallway playing "Star Wars Angry Birds 2."  This is one of those back-and-forth games that Madison and Daddy keep taking turns with, trying to advance further and further.  It's a fun game - there are actually some great ones on the Kindle that we've been enjoying.  This latest edition of Angry Birds is a great time-killer.

We got home and did some piano, and had dinner too.  Daddy read a few books, and had Madison check out Raz Kids online (the school's online book-reading program).  As noted here earlier, you can send messages to your child to encourage them - but Daddy and Mommy sent a note of a different kind this time.

We mentioned earlier an assembly program called NED that was at her school.  One of the illustrations they use is that of a yo-yo, which is used to talk about persistence, and never giving up.  This is pretty much the main focus of the program.  CONVENIENTLY, they sell these yo-yos... what a trap!  So of course, Mommy and Daddy were at the school this morning, and picked one up for Madison - a pink one.

She mentioned wanting a yo-yo yesterday, and we just so happened to be at the school this morning.  Madison said a few others in her classroom got yo-yos, so the parental peer pressure was on.  By gum, Madison was getting a yo-yo!

SO ANYWAY, her note told her that a caterpillar had a gift for her - a caterpillar that likes candy corn. Of course, that's Heimlich, who is still guarding the candy corn over in the kitchen.  Madison went to go see him, and there she found her very own pink yo-yo.

Madison has never used a yo-yo before, so it took a little practice and encouragement from Daddy.  But the motto is - written conveniently on the side of the yo-yo:  NEVER GIVE UP.  You should have seen the smile on her face.  It's these little things, these little moments that are such a blessing.  To us, a yo-yo is such an old toy that pretty much everyone has.  But then we remembered that Madison has never used one before.  It just never came around, and isn't exactly one of those toys that you've got to have.  So Madison is sitting there in the kitchen, gleefully checking out her new pink yo-yo.

Soon she'll be doing all kinds of wild tricks, like the loop the loop, around the world, hop the fence, atom smasher, brain twister, over and under, boingy boing, double green triangle, walk the dog, rock the baby, Jamaican flag, iron whip, slack trapeze, hidemasa hook, and "the Man on the flying trapeze and his brother."  I just looked these up - they're real tricks you can do with a yo-yo.  Daddy can do about one trick right now, and that's make it come back up again.  The great news is that Madison can do that too - she loves her new yo-yo.

Tonight Daddy was carving something you'll read about tomorrow, as Mommy as preparing Madison's new shirt for "Spirit Day."  Having "Spirit Day" so close to Halloween could cause some confusion, but we're pretty sure it's "School Spirit."  Today was a themed day too - it was a day where kids were encouraged to dress in camouflage, which somehow is tied to a "drug free" school?  First of all, if all the kids were wearing camouflage, how did the teachers find them?  Secondly, what does camouflage have to do with not using drugs?  I have a few guesses on that, I should have looked it up.  Regardless, Madison looked great in her new camouflage outfit that Mommy got for her.

We went to Aldi's today to get more pumpkins for our carving party coming up - but we've also been getting this delicious sparkling pumpkin cider.  It's a wonderful time of year:  Count Chocula for breakfast, sparkling apple cider, chili for lunch.  We've also got this pumpkin coffee blend that is out of this world.  There are so many yummy treats this time of year, and we haven't even got to the chocolate for Halloween yet!