This past weekend, Kristin asked Carson if he had any loose teeth, and he pointed out a wiggly tooth in the bottom of his mouth.

Today, Kristin asked him at dinner how his loose tooth was doing. Carson simply answered that it was fine.

Brian then asked Carson if it was difficult to eat, and Carson said no. He finally then admitted that his tooth had fallen out during the day. He had wiggled it during class, and then it came out.

When Kristin asked him where the tooth was, Carson matter-of-factly grabbed his backpack and pulled out a balled-up tissue paper that had his tooth inside. We were stunned how he didn’t voluntarily bring any of this up!

For the record, Carson got $5 from the Tooth Fairy that night.

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A depressing day here in Madison, as we received 7.2 inches of snow. The kids, of course, enjoyed it, sledding down the hill in our front yard and having a snowball fight with Kristin (after building snow forts).

Carson was super cute, as he had his hat pulled down so low that he had to lift his head to see forward (check out the photo). After Kristin pointed out that she was “winning” the snowball fight, Carson stated sternly that the snowballs don’t count when they catch them (again, while tilting his head up to see). We thought that was hilarious.

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Sometime this summer (sorry, we don’t remember the exact date), Braden and Carson decided to play school. Here’s an excerpt of the dialogue:

BRADEN: I’m the teacher, and you’re the student.

CARSON: What’s your name?

BRADEN: You can call me Mr. B.

CARSON: Okay Mr. B, what are we going to learn today?

BRADEN: We’re going to do some math. What’s 6 plus 7?

CARSON: Can I use my fingers?

BRADEN: Yes.

CARSON: (After using his fingers) 13.

BRADEN: That’s right.

admin Journal playing, talking

The Madison and Verona school districts never align their calendars. This year, their spring breaks were two full weeks apart. We pulled Carson out of school to go to St. Louis during Braden’s spring break, which overlapped Easter.

Carson threw up during the drive down due to being car sick. We had to clean him up in the parking lot of a gas station in a sketchy neighborhood. Otherwise, the drives there and back were uneventful.

We stayed in downtown St. Louis and were surprised by the lack of shopping and restaurants in such a large city. We went to the City Museum, the zoo, the Budweiser factory and the Arch, which unfortunately was closed for construction. The city was extra quiet as there were no Cardinals or Blues games during our four-day, three-night stay.

Here are some photos.

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Here are some examples of funny or cute things that Carson has said in the past few months:

• Braden typically asks us what he should wear before going to school (e.g. short-sleeve shirt vs. long-sleeve shirt). This morning as he headed up the stairs and declared he was changing, Carson said: “Long sleeves.”
• Once Brian was singing “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue and got to this part: “I’m on my way, just set me free …” and Carson chimed in “home sweet poop” (he likes to replace words with “poop” to be funny). It was stunning that he had learned the lyrics from Brian singing it!
• Braden still doesn’t like to go to the basement by himself. He asked Carson to come with him as he went to retrieve something. Carson stayed at the top of the stairs and said, “chee chee chee ha ha ha.” This is in reference to the “Friday the 13th” movie sounds Brian makes when he’s trying to scare the kids.
• While Kristin was participating in a run this year, Brian told the kids that “mommy was in a race.” Carson responded, “A race? Oooh, I hope she wins a medal.”
• Brian noticed that one of the two chairs in Carson’s room was no longer there and asked Carson where it was. He said matter-of-factly, “It’s in Braden’s room so he has somewhere to sit.”
• While reading about raptors in a dinosaur book, Carson cited that “raptors can run up to 30 miles per hour.” Brian asked Carson how he knew that, and Carson replied that his friend Sam told him at school.

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Despite being only seven and four years old, respectively, Braden and Carson can really eat. A typical evening will see them eat dinner, and then about 1.5 hours later they’ll have a large snack.

Braden can wolf down an entire sub in about 10 min. and then will eat part of Carson’s sub. He usually eats two bowls of cereal (without the milk) for breakfast. After playing sports is when Braden gets especially hungry.

Tonight, Carson showed his eating prowess. For dinner, he ate 10 chicken McNuggets (Braden ate nine and a hamburger). About half-an-hour later, Carson claimed he was still hungry, so he had a second full dinner of General Tso’s Chicken (he calls it “red chicken”), lo mein and a dumpling.

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Our nanny this summer never put Carson down for a nap, and this year at preschool, Carson doesn’t have nap times anymore. So basically Carson’s last nap time took place in early June during his last week of preschool.

As long as he’s not cranky, this will be a big benefit to us when we’re on vacation. It’s hard to maximize the day when we have to return to the hotel in the afternoon so that Carson can nap for an hour or so.

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We used our timeshare points to go to a resort in Four Corners, Fla., near Orlando during Braden’s spring break. We really liked the resort, as it had several pools, a beach, a mini waterpark and a couple of on-site restaurants. Plus, it was next to a grocery store and about a 10-min. drive to Disney World.

The trip started badly, though. We had an 8:40 a.m. Saturday flight, which meant we had to get the kids ready early in the morning. When we got to the gate, the attendant announced a mechanical delay. At the end, he announced a bird had hit the plane while it was grounded (we later learned this may be code for something more severe), and our flight was canceled.

Unfortunately, no other flights to O’Hare were available immediately. We had to get in a long line to get re-booked, and we ended up on another airline with a late afternoon departure. We then went home, and the kids were in good spirits (as soon as we got home, they started playing with their toys).

Our assigned seats weren’t next to each on the flight from Chicago to Orlando, so Brian kept returning to the gate until we got re-seated (Brian and Braden, Kristin and Carson). That flight was very, very long, due to a storm in Orlando that shut down the airport. Our plane circled Tampa, and the pilot warned we were going to have to land there due to a lack of fuel, but thankfully we were cleared to land in Orlando.

Kristin and the kids got the luggage while Brian stood in a 40-min. line to get the rental car. At least we got a free upgrade to an SUV, which took 20 min. to find because it was in the other rental car area.

After a 40-min. drive to the resort (plus a stop at 7-Eleven), we finally got to our condo just after midnight. We were really upset that we lost an entire day of vacation and the chance to go grocery shopping (the grocery store was closed on Easter Sunday, which led to a horrific shopping experience at Wal-Mart). However, we were pleased that the kids handled the stressful situation so well and without complaint.

We hid Easter eggs and then went to sleep. The kids had their own bedroom, and each had their own bed.

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We went to Disney World on Tuesday (Hollywood Studios) and Thursday (Animal Kingdom), Universal Studios CityWalk on Monday and Clearwater Beach (a hellish 3-hour drive due to a major car accident and a large volume of tourist traffic) on Wednesday. We spent almost half the day at the pool on Friday, our last full day. Here are some photos.

The Disney character lunch on Thursday was disappointing because it was super expensive, and neither Braden nor Carson wanted to take photos with Mickey, Goofy, etc. As we guessed, they did enjoy the safari ride.

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Fortunately, we had no issues on the trip home!

admin Journal vacation

When Carson has poop, he will go to the bathroom without telling us, and usually in less than one minute (seriously), he’s done. We think part of the reason for his speed is that he holds it (usually throughout the school day) until the very last moment.

He signifies that he’s done by saying in a monotone voice, “will … you … wipe … my … butt?” Sometimes we don’t hear him (e.g. we’re in the basement and he’s upstairs), so he really has to yell.

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For Braden’s birthday party this year, we rented out a gym, per his request, so that he and his friends could play football and basketball. Brian refereed the games.

In the football games, the kids were more organized than in the basketball games, which saw almost zero passing and kids arguing with Brian on every call.

It’s obvious Braden really, really likes playing sports. He also received two more footballs as gifts.

admin Journal birthday, potty training

Carson promised us that once he turned four years old, he would stop using diapers. True to his word, he’s finally done with them forever. Hooray!

Our first celebration was at preschool, two days before his actual birthday. On Saturday, we had pizza and cake with Kristin’s parents, Marcie, Parker and Josh at our house (which took place after Braden’s basketball game). Afterward, the four of us went to Lake Geneva for a weekend escape. It was a surprisingly busy travel weekend, as most hotels in a 1.5-hour radius were booked or had limited selection.

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In January, we bought Carson a real bed that he helped pick out at Steinhafel’s. It’s a very tall single bed, and Carson has some difficulty climbing into it. We also got a mattress protector in case of accidents.

We still need to get him a nightstand.

admin Journal birthday