Teeth!

A few days ago, Roman's first tooth started to show…and today, for the first time, he started crying and complaining about it (!!!! for the first time !!!!) and I realized that his second tooth is also attempting to emerge, in that terribly painful way that that teeth do, which is literally bone slicing through sensitive flesh and which must feel as awful as it sounds -- especially if you've got two coming in at the same time. He and I are both more sleep-deprived than normal, as he's waking up every hour or so at night so he can chew on something and feel better. The poor guy puts on a good game face, but you could tell he felt pretty awful because he didn't have as many smiles today as most days, even though we were visiting Great Grandma and he absolutely ADORES Great Grandma.

Despite the emerging teeth and the funny faces Roman makes as he sucks his bottom lip in and moves his tongue around, and despite the older two being jacked up on fruit snacks consumed on the car ride (I'm pretty sure I could give my kids espresso and a candy bar and it would *maybe* come close to the sugar rush they get from fruit snacks), we had a lovely visit. We spent most of our time pouring over old family photo albums that Grandpa Ron had put together a decade ago. We showed the kids pictures of their Great-Great-Great Grandparents all the way to baby photos of their Grandpa, and talked about the families' origins (Norway, Germany, Ireland), and marveled at the shoes and dresses and the fact that almost nobody ever smiled for formal portraits. Grandma had stories about lots of people she remembered, and we looked for similarities in facial expressions and genes throughout the generations. One photo in particular - the one that started our photo book afternoon - is one of Grandma Jo sledding. Armando spotted it while carrying some food out onto the porch where we were having lunch. "Who is this person?" he asked. "That's me," Grandma said. "It looks just like Reni," observed Armando. And damn if he wasn't right. The wide smile, the cheekbones, the hair, the tilt of the head - it was Reni's sweet smile all over again.

Then we went to visit Grandpa Ron's grave, and Grandma told me about when Great-Grandpa Alvin purchased the plots there while Armando walked the kids around and showed them some of the other gravestones.

Anika and Reni, in usual fashion, were full of follow-up questions at bedtime tonight. Reni's requested bedtime reading: a story on Atlantis and a book on cell's life cycles. He is full of questions about viruses, and wanted to know if the statues in the lost city had gotten viruses and then died, and if the story was pretend, real, or "real pretend." In this case, buddy, your 'real pretend' is an apt description. Then he requested we watch videos of viruses and bacteria and cells on YouTube. I am getting a new science lesson every day with this kid. He can already tell you that a plant cell is green and square and an animal cell is red and round, and he's working his mind around the concept of injecting your body with a virus so that it can learn how to fight the virus and prevent you from getting sick. He even packed the cell book in his backpack this morning so he could show it to Great-Grandma.

Anika wanted to know who Great-Grandma's Great-Grandma was, and if she looked like Great-Grandma, and if they loved each other. Then she confessed that she thought the cemetery was going to be someone's house, and I told her that they are usually outside but some people, like priests and people who lived a really long time ago, are buried in tombs under churches and that's kind of like being inside a house. When did God die? she asked after I mentioned the churches. I told her he was still alive, always, in all of us, and then she started asking a litany of questions I didn't have answers to, like, did the angels die? Why do angels have wings? Did God give them wings? Ah I know! she said, smiling, God doesn't need wings because he can fly and do ANYTHING. Then, satisfied with her answer, she turned around and went to sleep.

Two years in a Methodist preschool and a half-year of Catholic kindergarten has really had an impact on this kid. Reni is our little scientist, and Anika our little philosopher. As hard as it is most nights, in my frantically exhausted state, bedtime chats with these munchkins are always worth it.