So I don’t know whether it’s just because Georgie is getting to be a bigger boy now and not a littler boy, but he seems to be stepping up his domination quotient a bit lately. As fun as that may sound, it usually results in lots of loud “Georgie, stop that!” from the girls and/or his Dad or me. Oh the joy!

I’ve been pondering this thoughtfully, trying to come up with responses appropriate to bigger boys. Yesterday he and I had a talk about being a benevolent ruler. I don’t have a problem really with him trying to rule. I’m fairly sure that just naturally comes with that spiffy ‘y’ chromosome. God made men for dominion, and this 10-year old stuff is training for the grown-up version (that’s what I tell myself anyway). He does need to be kind in his leadership though and not just obnoxious in all the various ways he can come up with to do so.

That was the subject of our conversation this morning. I told him that every time he gets into it with one of the girls, I was going to call him over and have him go think up and do two kind, useful things for whoever he offended and then come back and tell me what he did so that he can practice leading through serving. The idea sort of has a restitutionary quality to it as well except that it’s behavioral instead of with physical items that you’ve stolen.

Anyway, he agreed that this sounded like a good idea and was very relieved to discover that this new response was not charging him a quarter every time he’s yucky to his sisters. Ha ha! Now I know your Achilles Heel, Georgie. I’ll just have to file that one away for future evil reference….

So this morning the kids were out cleaning up the mess they made in the garage, and when they were finished Georgie and the older two girls bounded up to me all excited to tell me their new plan.

Trinity: Guess what? I get to be Georgie’s slave for a week!

Anika: Yeah, and then after that it’s my turn and I get to be Georgie’s slave for a week!

Me: Oh really. And when does Georgie get to be your slave?

Georgie: What??

Me: You weren’t planning to be their slave at all? Oh, well then you get to be the slave first.

Georgie: Well that’s not happening.

Me: You shouldn’t ask them to do something you aren’t willing to do first. That’s what we were talking about this morning. Remember? Servant leadership?

Georgie: Okay, we won’t do slaves then.

Ridiculous children! Apparently it was Georgie’s idea for the girls to be slaves (which I assumed), but he was just going to have it be for a day. They opted for the extension. Ridiculous children! At least the garage is cleaner.

RAchel

After five+ years without being seen by a dental professional, I finally made it in for an appointment last Thursday. Since my teeth had been a bit sensitive for awhile and I had heard some crazy rumor that the rule of thumb is you lose one tooth for every child, I figured this visit was not going to go well. Since for the first time in our married life we have dental insurance and the exam, X-rays, and teeth cleaning are covered at 100%, I could actually make it in without being pre-empted by husband’s teeth falling out of his head or children needing to be seen. Yay!

Guess what? No cavities! Moowahahahahahaha! I feel like I’m eight and got a good report from the dentist. Five years and no cavities! Some of my teeth were rubbing together and chipping off the enamel, which was why they were a bit tender but there was no decay at all and the enamel got fixed yesterday.

Tomorrow I’m taking all four of the girls. The younger two have never even been to the dentist. I have this feeling that their reports are not going to go as well as mine… Probably good that they’re going in though.

In other news, the kids are off school this week (remember we are now on a year round school schedule so their off weeks are all wacky) so Georgie is spending the week at Bunya’s house (Bunya=George’s Mom) for his birthday. Our house has been extremely quiet. The girls play trains and computer and dolls and other quiet things. It’s weird. It’s very nice, but very weird. I’m starting to miss Mr. Rambunctious.

On the other hand, Trinity and I went out with Grandma (my Mom) last week and today Anika and I went out with her. Both of the girls seemed to really enjoy having a little bit of special time with just Mommy and Grandma (well, and Henry but they like that too). We went to Hanna Andersson and they each got a hat and mittens set that was on clearance for $4 and they bought it with their own money!

I didn’t even realize Trinity had brought her money with her until she came up and said, I have this much money and I’m buying this and this. Ummm, ok. Knock yourself out! She seemed pretty proud of herself. So was I.

Georgie sounds like he’s having a ball. He’s been going swimming with Babunya (Hubby’s Grandmother) and to the Dollar Store with Bunya. And Bunya, being the genious that she is, has apparently found that a good way to keep him busy is to hire him for $1.50 an hour. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s a diligent worker and loves having a mission so I’m sure she’s getting her money’s worth. He told me he’s decided he wants to always keep $10 in reserve in case a new Bionicle comes out so he’ll have money to buy it right away if he wants it. Good plan!

Guess that’s it for around here. Starting to think about Christmas. Yikes!

Rachel

Georgie is ten! His birthday was Sunday, and somehow he has made it to ten years old. I gotta tell you, every day from the time he was eighteen months to four and a half, I wondered how in the world he was going to make it to the next day without me strangling him. Now here he is, all big and ten. He’s gotten to be quite the charming boy too.

Georgie’s favorite show has been Mythbusters for a couple of years now. He talks about it all the time, records every episode that airs even if he’s seen it twelve times, watches it as often as possible, and talks about Adam and Jamie (the leads) as if they are his friends.

Well, Adam and Jamie apparently have a live show that they are doing in a whole four cities, and Portland is one of them. Of course we had to take him to that. He was so excited and told us over and over that this was the best birthday present ever. The show was at the Schnitz, which is a beautiful concert hall from the ’20′s that was designed in the Italian rococo style with sort of filigree all over the walls and ceiling.

Georgie obviously listened to the entire show, but spent most of the time looking all around the building at the lovely architecture. Here he is in front of the Schnitz (the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to you non-Portlanders who have never heard of it anyway and don’t care at all) with his Mythbusters tee shirt on:

Such a happy boy! That’s the camera strap he’s trying to strangle himself with there. Really adds to the picture, don’t you think? After we got home, I was making dinner and decided that since it was his birthday I would make him a quesadilla with no meat for dinner which apparently is a big deal in the Georgie-verse (usually they have ground turkey and jalapeno and onion in them, to which he loudly objects).

When I called him in to hand him his plate (kind of an informal night) and tell him it was plain cheese, he got a huge smile on his face and said “Oh no. You didn’t” and started laughing. Yes, the Mommy-ogre who normally forces him to eat meat can occasionally be generous. Who knew it would be that easy to make him feel special? Anyway, Happy Birthday, happy boy. May you grow in grace and the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love you.

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In other news, here is a picture from today of Anika’s major event. When she came in to smile at me and tell me that look! she could turn her tooth all the way around backwards, I told her she had to pull it out or I would (I told her this after I was done grossing out). This was the result:

Nice tooth in her hand. Pretty funny listening to her talk. And if you have thirty seconds that you don’t know what to do with, you can watch this lovely video of Anika and Kyra showing off their mad kung fu skills. Such talent.