The Tooth Fairy Makes an Unplanned Visit

Losing your first tooth is supposed to be a really cool moment.  However, if you know my daughter Addison, you know she is no ordinary five-year-old. Did she feel a loose tooth and pull it out herself?  Or did we tie a string to it and wrap it around the doorknob and give it a tug?  No to both.

Instead she was copping an Addie-tude, stomped around a bit and fell and knocked her tooth loose on the hardwood floor!  After a quick trip to the dentist, the tooth was out and Addie was scheduled to make some money that night (Only Addie would turn a hissy-fit for a profit).  It wasn't ready to come out, so it was almost an inch long with the root!  It was something that would only happen to Addie, but we wouldn't have it any other way because then, it just wouldn't be our Addie.

On her way to bed that night she asked Jamie and me what the tooth fairy looked like.  When we told her we weren't actually sure, her response was to simply go to www.toothfairy.com and check her out.  If you click on the link you can see she isn't much to look at.  So it was a good thing she swooped in, dropped a dollar coin under Addie's pillow, and swooped out.  Who knows how long she will have that hole in her smile, but she will have the story forever.

I've often wondered if Addie was our first child if she would have been our only child.  Obviously Chip would not have liked that, but now I think he's lobbying for a third sibling.  He was playing with Ollie the other day and called him his "favorite brother."  I said, "He's your only brother."  Chip then chirped up with, "You don't know that, you might have more."  I immediately froze in my tracks with the thought of Norris No. 4. I won't completely rule out the tiny, minute, remote possibility it could happen, but unless Chip wants to share a room with a baby and I want to be fully gray by 32, it ain't happening any time soon.

I love my kids, but if I wanted to spend any less time with each of them I would ship them off to boarding school not have another one.  Like I said, it might happen someday, but then again, the Royals might win a World Series too.

Time to Focus on the Funny!

This is how I found Chip when I went in to the living room tonight.


A true man! If he were of age all he would need is a beer to go with the remote and he'd be set!

That's the lighter side of the weekend with the Norrises.  Any parent will tell you there are tough times with their kids and this weekend was one of those where you remind yourself you love your children unconditionally.  Because see, if you don't, you might just leave them in a Wal-Mart parking lot in 100 degree temperatures and tell them to find their way back. (In case anyone from child protective services is reading this, I constantly remind myself I love them no matter what, so that would never happen!)

Instead of harping on the negative I'll share a few of stories on the lighter side of the lovely/crazy/sometimes insane Norris children.

All three contribute to the craziness, but it's usually Addie leading the way.  The feisty five-year-old isn't afraid to say what's on her mind like she did a few mornings ago at breakfast.  I caught her listening to her bowl of Rice Crispies like any other normal child would do.  Then however, she looks at the box and tells me, 'I think Snap, Crackle and Pop are hot!'  I guess it's better than doting over Justin Beiber or Zach Efron, but at least they are real.  I didn't know SN&P had sex appeal!

A few minutes later I finished changing Ollie's diaper, and let's just say it didn't smell like roses, or even something mildly refreshing.  As I was walking toward the back door to take it to the outside bin and complaining of the odor, Addie offers a suggestion: 'Hey, why don't you just throw it in the neighbor's trash?'

Sometimes I don't know if I should cry, laugh or just pull my hair out when dealing with her.  Like when I walked in to the kitchen last week and saw her eating popcorn out of a bowl with a spoon -- for breakfast.  Or when I gave Ollie a baby wipe because he wanted to attempt to clean the floor and she said, in her trade mark sassy voice, 'You're making a baby do chores?'  (Again any child protective services readers can just ignore this part.)

Who could ever get mad at this cute little guy?
Don't let him fool you though, he can be devious.

There was other craziness this weekend as well that didn't really translate to funny at the time.  There are instances where I am mad at one of the older two and they'll say something smart-alec and it's all I can do to not laugh and give them the upper hand. Because let me tell you; once they see you smile it's over.

What wasn't a laughing matter today though was when just two bites in to my Qdoba grilled chicken burrito, Ollie apparently decided I was done with it.  He grabbed it and tossed it on the floor.  A burrito on a restaurant floor however doesn't qualify for the five-second rule. Once it hits the ground it immediately becomes a casualty of Ollie's infatuation with tossing food like a freaking frisbee!  Thirty minutes later as we are just entering "Discovering the Dinosaurs" at Richmond International Raceway, he decides he hates his pants and creates an explosion he will be proud to brag about to his other one-year-old buddies.  Luckily, Jamie took this one which only means I get the next big one!

Other craziness involved Ollie stealing a marker from Addie and wielding it around like a knife when I went to retrieve it.  Hey, he likes to color. I then found Addie using a real knife to gut open a crab the other night at a friend's house during dinner.  If you've read this blog at least once, you know the chance of that ending well is pretty much zero.

A wild week of family visits, children acting like, well, children and some normal craziness, I'm hoping the expected cooler weather this week brings some calm to our household. But, hey, if it doesn't, we could always feed them to a dinosaur!