Tooth Fairy / Santa Claus Double Header!

This is going to be a very big night for Annabel. She lost her second tooth today, so we are expecting evening visits from both the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus tonight if you can believe it! It's going to grand central in here for childhood figures bearing gifts.

As you can see from the girls thoughtful note, Santa is still a very important figure at Christmas. In case you can't quite make it out, that is a potholder that the girls made for Mrs. Claus. Annabel seems to have some interesting suspicions. She is often quiet when the topic comes up around me, and she has asked Kristin if Santa Claus is really your parents. Kristin of course said no. Gaby is 100% on Santa and can't WAIT for tomorrow morning.

They are both off to bed and we just finished getting the house ready for tomorrow morning. Merry Christmas everyone, we are missing out extended family this year. We hope you have a wonderful holiday and a peaceful New Year!

Lost Teeth, Thanksgiving and Paying The Bronco, Dude!

From ThanksGiving

It's been a very busy few weeks for Annabel.

She lost her first tooth on November 13th. She said she was playing with it at school and it came out on her tongue. She said that it didn't hurt and it only bled a little. She also got word to the tooth fairy (using her Mom as a trusted go-between) that she wanted to keep the tooth so she could show her grandpa who had said that he wanted to see it.

Much to my surprise, Kristin told me that the tooth fairy agreed to let her keep it! I also heard that the tooth fairy is now paying outrageous amounts for first-time teeth. I think there must be a shortage of teeth in fairyland or something.

Shortly thereafter I started to notice some changes in Annabel. She seems suddenly a bit more playful and a bit more at ease around strangers. She was practically performing for our house guests on thanksgiving.

"Pay the Bronco, dude!" she would say in a very funny western accent, holding out her hand, as if to accept payment. Everyone was laughing at the performance and she was eating it up. Kristin and I have never seen her so outgoing. We were also surprised that she was (apparently) the Bronco and needed to be payed.

She has also been reading much more readily. Last week she read practically all of fox in sox fluently and without problems. There is some talk about the fact that losing teeth and reading frequently coincide. That is certainly the case with Annabel.

Here are some recent pics from Thanksgiving which we had here in San Francisco and then our weekend in Lake Tahoe.

From ThanksGiving

From ThanksGiving