First Day of School

Today is the girls' first day of school. They are in preschool at Elizabetta Renzi Child Development Center, and I can't say enough good things about it! This is their last year of preschool before they start kindergarten next fall, and they have been at this school since they were 18 months old, so it is definitely bittersweet.

Attached are some pictures of this morning:

This is the girls in their first day of school dresses that my mom bought them. She said they picked them out themselves when they went shopping. You'll notice Leslie is still in her surgical shoe. She should only have to wear this the rest of this week.

Below is a picture of the girls and Mrs. Edie, their new teacher:

Does the Stitch Fairy Come to Your House???

The Johnsons are officially stitchless! I won't say forever because I know my children better than that, but hopefully for the foreseeable future, there will no more stitches.

We went back to the podiatrist today. I went prepared with "distractions." I have a good friend who is a child life specialist and told me to bring some things for her to look at and concentrate on instead of watching the stitches. She said that Leslie would cope better with her mind elsewhere. Well..... not exactly! When he came in, I brought out the book and.... NOPE! She wanted nothing to do with anything I brought. She hugged her daddy's arm and cried. I tried asking her what flavor ice cream she wanted when we left.... nothing. I asked what present she wanted to buy her friend for this weekend's birthday party.... nothing. All she wanted was her daddy (which Del thoroughly enjoyed). When Dr. Toups was done, she looked up, stopped crying, and asked him when she could go swimming again.

She has to wear her surgical shoe for another week, and she can only take showers - her foot can get wet now, but he doesn't want it to "soak." He gave her the all clear for swimming in a week and gymnastics when the fall session starts in two weeks. He wants to see her again in a month; by then he thinks she'll be 100%.

Of course, we had to bring our stitches home in an envelope to give to "The Stitch Fairy." When Leslie got her chin stitches out a month ago, Dr. Brown (who has young children as well) told her that the stitch fairy would come and leave her money if she left the stitches under her pillow. So how much is 12 stitches worth? Del said $12, but I think that is a lot of money for a 4 year old to comprehend. Plus, she would just want to go to the Dollar Store and buy 12 trinkets (aka things that will get left in my car or stepped on a broken). Maybe $2.... I think she got $1 for her 5 chin stitches, so that should be about right. To Leslie, money is money.... a penny is the same thing as a quarter.

Lacie is great. She's not very excited about school starting back next week. She has enjoyed staying up late and sleeping late. We have a birthday party tomorrow and a playdate with one of the girls' favorite school friends Sunday, so they are excited about this weekend. Maybe we can make it through this one with no casualties!

I Have Protectors

This is a random conversation I had with the girls today on the way home from gymnastics.

Leslie: Mom, why doesn't Hannah have a mom?
Me: Who's Hannah?
Leslie: Hannah Montana. It's only her, her dad, and Jackson.
Me: Her mom is in heaven. (On the show, Hannah's mom is played by Brooke Shields who comes every now and then to give advice, although I don't recall it ever mentioning how she died.)
Leslie: (shocked) Why?
Lacie: Coz she went out of the country without nobody and bad guys killed her. (sidenote: I don't think this is how HM's mom died... my children are just overly dramatic)
Me: I don't know how she died and went to heaven, but you girls don't have anything to worry about. Mommy's not going anywhere.
Leslie: Well, mom, if you ever go on a 'venture out of the country, would you take me with you? (dramatic pause) coz I know .... kung fu. (imagine karate hand motions here)
Lacie: No, if she ran into a bear then Daddy would have a gun.
Leslie: Guns don't kill bears; kung fu does. and I would protect her with my kung fu.

At this point, I drove home wondering how we got on this tangent..... but it's nice to know that if I decide go out of the country - on a "venture" where I might run into a bear - that I have some protection!

Where Did My Babies Go?

When the girls were born, everybody told me the same cliches about how they would grow up so fast. Recently, this has become all too real for me.

This past Wednesday, a friend called because they had 3 front row tickets to the Wiggles Concert at the CenturyTel and their 2 year old was throwing up, so they offered them to us. For those of you who know the girls well, you remember that about a year and a half ago the "Goggles" (as they called them) were the girls' obsession. When I asked the girls if they wanted to go, Leslie immediately jumped at the chance to have date with her daddy. What was Lacie's response? "I don't want to go. The Wiggles are too 'babyish'." My 4 1/2 year old is now passing judgement on things that are too babyish for her.

So we are now past the Wiggles, and we have a new musical obsession:

THE JONAS BROTHERS!!!

The girls even have 'favorite' Jonas Brothers, just like I remember doing with my sister and The New Kids on the Block. Lacie likes Joe (the one in the middle), Leslie likes Nick (the one on the left - she says he's the "cute, funny one"). They told me I could have Kevin (the one on the right, which coincidentally is a good thing, because he's the only one over 18). They have even gone so far as to ask if they could have the Jonas Brothers come to their house for Christmas. I hate to disappoint them, but their tour isn't coming anywhere near here, so they're out of luck for now.

So, alas.... my babies are now about to enter their last year of preschool before they go to real kindergarten, they don't like the Disney cartoons anymore; they much prefer the "big kid" shows like The Suite Life of Zach and Cody and Hannah Montana. They are eagerly anticipating the theatrical release of High School Musical 3... And evidently they are now too big for the Wiggles.

Lack of Coordination Runs in the Family

Although this may not be the greatest picture of Lacie in the world, it should be very obvious to you that she is missing two very crucial items..... her front teeth! Now, at 4 1/2 you are also probably thinking, "Isn't that a little early to be missing teeth?" Not if you're a Johnson!

At the age of 2 1/2, little Lacie was running in a mattress store, when she literally tripped and fell over her own feet and knocked her 2 front teeth loose. After a visit to the greatest Pediatric dentist EVER, we were told that they would tighten up on their own. Fastforward another year (nearly to the day), the girls were jumping on the trampoline, when Lacie fell and bumped her mouth on Leslie's head. This time they had to be pulled. Because it would be nearly 4 years before her permanent teeth moved in, they recommended she be fitted for a pedo-partial, which is essentially a permanent retainer with 2 very real looking baby teeth attached. It is to help maintain the space in her mouth and to prevent a speech problem.

The above beach picture is when Lacie was without her "new teeth" for about a month this summer. Her mouth outgrew the partial and the dentist had to make a new impression and order another one. This is what her new teeth look like:
Del likes to laugh that the girls got their lack of coordination from me. While I didn't lose any teeth, I am not the most graceful person in the world. Luckily, we have good insurance! Maybe they are trying to get a good look at the medical profession; every family needs a doctor... or two!

Beach Trip

We took our annual Byrd/Johnson Family Vacation to the beach during the last week of June. Since I hadn't started my blog yet, I thought I would post about it now....

We've been taking the girls to the beach in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, Alabama, with this same couple every year since the girls were 18 months old. It is amazing to see how much they've grown each year. This was by far the best year yet. The girls became more comfortable with the ocean and were happy playing in the waves on the edge of the sand for hours. The one day we managed to get them to let Del carry them out into the ocean, Leslie got stung by a jellyfish. Unfortunately, she was not ocean-friendly after that. Maybe next year.

Here are a couple of other beach shots:

Me and my precious girls!

The Johnson/Byrd families

We've decided to try Destin next year instead of Orange Beach, but hopefully this beach tradition will be one we continue well into the girls' teen years. Our families are close, and it is always a great time!

Update on the Toe!

Leslie has now been crippled for a week, but you can hardly tell. Once she got her surgical shoe on Monday, she was a new girl. The hard part has been reminding her what she cannot do right now - jump on the trampoline, go to gymnastics, get her foot wet, etc.

We were supposed to go back to the podiatrist today to get a new bandage, but I got a call that our appointment had to be rescheduled till Monday because he got called out on emergency surgery. This meant that I had to change the bandage myself... YUCK!

Before we dressed it again, we took a few pictures, which I will post below:

It's not as bad as it looks. The purple in between her toes is not bruising. It's some purple stuff (gentian violent?) the doctor put on there that helps cut down on the wetness and bacteria. the toe is swollen, but that is mostly from the crack in the bone, I believe. In a couple of weeks, I predict that she will as good as new.... hopefully!