February 28, 2010

Hi folks - not much to report, but it feels like a while since I last posted. Charlie went to a fancy dress birthday party yesterday, so he was very pleased to give his Harry Potter costume another airing! I have to admit, he does look very smart in it! You can't see it on this photo, but he's even got the Harry Potter lightning scar on his forehead. I turned the house upside down in the hope of finding a pink lip-liner or something similar to draw it on with, but I gave up in the end and resorted to a pink felt-tip. It was a washable one, but still took three lots of scrubbing to get it off altogether.

It's St David's Day tomorrow (patron saint of Wales, for those overseas!) and although we're not Welsh, we live in Wales and Charlie's school likes to celebrate, so Chas will be wearing his red rugby shirt and daffodil badge for the day. (Pete, who is decidedly NOT Welsh will be grumbling all day long that his son is wearing a Welsh shirt, not an English one. He threatens every year to buy Charlie a British Lions one instead...)

And then Charlie's off on his synagogue trip later this week too. The bus will be dropping the kids at the door of the shul, so I don't need to go on 'buggy duty' this time... which is actually quite disappointing, because I think I'd have found this trip a bit more interesting than the previous ones!

Hospital preparations are still underway - I'm surprised how un-bothered I am at the moment. I'm not sure if I've gone into even MORE denial now it's so imminent, or whether I've actually got my head around it. More likely to be the former, I imagine, but I'm making the most of it for now.

The only other big news around here, is that Charlie's wobbly teeth have FINALLY come out! (Both this evening, about ten minutes apart!) They have been loose since October last year, but his big teeth came up behind, rather than under them, so there wasn't anything to push them out. Even so, they've been getting wobblier and wobblier, but Charlie really hasn't been inclined to wobble them out.

We wanted them out before he went into hospital because loose teeth and ventilator tubes don't really go together, so this evening I attacked him with some anaesthetic gel the dentist gave him, and he was happy for me to wiggle the loosest of the two - and after much determined wiggling, I managed extract it without him even realising it was finally out. He couldn't believe it when I put the tooth in his hand - he peered at it and asked what it was!

Anyway, the tooth was duly put under his pillow in his little 'milk tooth pot' with a note to the Tooth Fairy, asking if he could possibly keep his tooth (as well as the coin!), and he snuggled down ready for sleep.

Ten minutes later, Charlie called us upstairs and he'd pulled the other one out all by himself. He was so proud, and had to get out of bed again to look at the gap in the mirror. I really don't think he could believe how painless it was (maybe he'll believe me next time!) and was very smug that he'd twisted it out all on his own.

We've told him that you get £2 from the Tooth Fairy for your first tooth, and £1 for every tooth thereafter - this was after he came home telling us that some of the children at school were getting £5 (FIVE POUNDS?!?) per tooth.

But, ever logical, Charlie was pondering as I tucked him in for the second time: 'Both of my teeth came out together on the same day, and this is the first time the Tooth Fairy has ever been to see me, so do you think I'll get £2 for each tooth?'

Hmmm. We'll see, Charlie. I have to say though, I'm stupidly pleased that he's managed to lose his first baby tooth (teeth?) at home, and we can do the whole Tooth Fairy thing. It's such a big milestone, I'd have hated it if he'd had to have his teeth pulled out by the anaesthetist before his heart surgery, so he wouldn't have been able to enjoy the moment as much as he has!

Pictures will be forthcoming, but his smile isn't particularly gappy because the big teeth are already pretty well through.

Oh, and I've just noticed that Charlie's blog has had more than 12,000 visitors now - amazing! Thanks for visiting, everybody, and feel free to leave Charlie a message via the comments (or via the email address in my profile) if you'd like to say hello!

Back soon.