1m2aSandbox

This doesn’t have anything to do with mothering, except in the larger “mother the world” sort of way, but bear with me.

I know a lot of us are looking at the disaster in the Philippines and wanting to help. It reminds me of Hurricane Sandy, and how quickly people want to reach out, give a warm blanket and a hot meal and a hug. I love that about humanity – when something like this hits, it stirs our hearts, even if it’s half a world away.

A good friend of mine works at World Vision a non-governmental organization that is one of the tops, in my opinion, at being right there in an international crisis with aid. He’s worked for them for years, has seen First Response teams in action across the globe, and knows what he’s talking about. Which is why I stopped and read this article he posted yesterday – The Ten Worst Things To Donate After A Disaster.

My mother left Thursday morning for a week in her old hometown and a high school reunion.

The girls began working on her “welcome home” banner Wednesday night.

Yes, before she’d left.

Can you say “attached”?

Tis the season for colds and flus and allergies, and I find myself hovering around Defcon Three sometimes in my hyper-alertness for signs of sniffles and such.

We weathered Cora’s case of the croup remarkably well last week, using only natural home remedies and getting her back on her feet super fast. And having remedies on hand to help treat an illness is great- but having something on hand TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T GET SICK IN THE FIRST PLACE is even better.

We do a few different things here: first, we take natural vitamins that are pretty much just dehydrated fruits and vegetables. We don’t take them all year long, since we eat a ton of produce – both fruits and veggies – when we’re making smoothies multiple times a day. But when the weather turns cold somehow an ice-cold strawberry/blackberry smoothie just doesn’t hit the spot. So our vitamin regime starts back up.

I don’t know quite how this happened, but the girls lost a total of three teeth on Friday.

I know, right??

We went to the dentist Friday morning (yes, I’m the sadist who makes her kids go to the dentist the morning after Halloween) and as the dentist did a routine cleaning, one of Maddie’s teeth popped out. The staff made such a huge deal over the whole thing that Cora began determinedly working at her loose bottom tooth, trying to match her sister.

Cora’s decided to get an early start on her Christmas list, and apparently all she wants for that holiday is her two front teeth.

Yep, she lost her second front tooth yesterday.

She would have lost it even sooner but she’s been doggedly hanging on to it for DAYS, intent on losing the thing at school. See, when you lose it at school you get a little plastic treasure chest to put the tooth in, and a sticker that says “I lost a tooth today!” to wear for the rest of the day.