Lightning Rainbow Butterfly

Tobi opened their bedroom door and called for mommy. Since I had already put them to bed, I asked Josh to field their need. He soon came back downstairs. “They say they needs a kiss from you and that’s all they need to go to sleep.” How can you say no to that? You just plain can’t.

So up the stairs I went. After kneeling down to the floor and laying my head upon their bed, I asked where they would like their kiss. After trying a couple different spots, they finally said their heel. After a sweet mommy kiss, they smiled and said…

The pain went outside.
It went out of my heel, through my body and out my finger
It went through my door, down the stairs and out the other door
It went outside and flew away like a bird.

If only all our pains could fly away with just the help of a mommy kiss…
And all of our moments could be as sweet as that one. What a wonderful kid!

We had a wonderful day at the zoo. The favorites of the day were the
lorikeets (parrots), hippos, and elephants. We actually found the path
to the rear elephant paddock- a new discovery! There we saw a young
elephant playing tether ball and others eating their breakfast. There
was a hippo out of the water today, and we watched them eat a bunch of
hay. Finally, we made two trips to see the lorikeets. We even got to
feed them juice!

We spent the weekend camping with friends to celebrate Jamie’s 34th
birthday. Tobi had lots of fun digging in the sand, watching the fire
and petting our friends’ dogs.

This is the first time I’ve seen Tobi use their stickers to tell a story. They are playing with the giraffe sticker, having it drink and splash in the fountain water.

Out on the road practicing on their strider bike, Tobi is on their way to the duck pond!

Tobi restarted swim lessons this weekend. Boy were they excited to get
back into the water! They waited patiently on the steps to the pool for
their lesson to begin. Since there are five other kids in their class,
they got to play with squirt toys while they waited their turn to
swim. Tobi was a toy hoarder, snagging toys from the other kids as soon
as they put them down, and sneaking into the teacher’s bag of toys.
Then they would line them up carefully at the water’s edge. But when it
was their turn to swim with Miss Amanda, they lit up and were ready to go.
They lay on their back, kicked their legs and tried scooping their arms. For
the first time, their tried blowing bubbles in the water. After the
lesson, we swam together for a while as a family, and their said their
wanted more lessons. We’re all looking forward to next week.

Tobi fell while in the bathtub tonight. It was one of those falls with
a big thump and an immediate high cry that makes a mom swoop up her
baby into her arms. I didn’t realize they had split their chin open until
they took her hand away and the blood dripped down. I grabbed some
tissue right away and then went for the first aid kit. Man am I glad I
bought those 4×4 gauze pads years ago! By the time I taped the pad in
place Tobi was calmed down and talking about their “big bandaid”. As the
red started showing on the far side of the bandage, I knew we’d be
heading for the doctor, so I called up Josh and got him coming home.

Amazingly enough, Tobi was asleep by the time we got to the doctor’s. I
woke her up and we all went inside. I was prepared for the worst,
remembering the stories my mom told of when I needed stitches and it
took five people to hold me down. But Tobi was calm, even a little
excited by this late night adventure. They were rearranging the
furniture as I checked in, and immediately taken back to see Dr.
Ashley. Tobi sat at the edge of the large examination table while we
took off the bandage. Dr. Ashley talked Tobi through the steps for
making it all better. Then Tobi quietly laid back and looked at mama
(who was right there holding their hand) as the cut was flushed with two
syringes of saline. That got their shirt pretty wet, so they sat back up
and counted mommy’s fingers that were way up high while the doctor
applied the steri-strips and medical glue. Not a single tear or whine.

One big protective bandaid later, they were headed up front to collect
their sticker (Snow White). Then back to the car and heading home. I
asked if they wanted a special treat and Tobi said “milk and bread!”
Josh stopped at the store, picked up the supplies (plus a little ice
cream too). This pic is post-ice cream as we were heading up to bed
for some cuddles and a couple readings of “Brownie and Pearl Get
Dolled Up”.

I am amazed at Tobi’s strength and comprehension through tonight’s
events. They have shown poise that isn’t found in children twice their
age. They continue to astound me in such unexpected ways.

Tobi says: The snow is coming down. It’s Christmas Eve!

Tobi was the perfect patient at their first dental exam. They met with Dr.
Andy and were quite shy at first. But when he asked them to say “ah” they
opened wide and let him work. All their teeth were examined (no
cavities) and polished. They also had about half her teeth flossed. Dr.
Andy said that they typically don’t get much past the exam phase with
kids Tobi’s age. He was very impressed!

One of my favorite pics from 2009. Tobi as Tigger!