Teeth and Math

Emma pulled out her own tooth today! 

So much easier when she does that instead of Jared holding her down while I pry open her mouth and pull it out, which is how it normally goes. 

We tried letting them fall out on their own, but the amount of yucky stuff building up underneath was causing concern for the adult teeth. 

But... this latest tooth has been loose for a bit and she actually wriggled it a lot, so today, when she complained that she was having a hard time biting her teeth together and eating, I figure it was about time. I explained why it would need to come out today and she cried. I made sure to ask her what it is about loosing teeth that really upsets her. 

The blood. 

I know where that comes from. Knocking out a baby front tooth when you are 4 and having blood pour down your face and onto your mothers arm can be pretty traumatizing I imagine. So I gave her extra snuggles and we made a deal to watch one more Curious George, then we would pull the tooth, then she could watch some more CG. She cried, but accepted it. 

Then she cried and begged and pleaded to wait till tomorrow to pull it once the moment arrived. I hugged, and soothed best I could, but then I started getting my implements ready (paper towels, ice cold water, ice). I told her this time we would pull the tooth with her sitting up so that way the blood wouldn't drip onto her tongue and that she could close her eyes while I stopped the bleeding so she wouldn't have to look at the blood. 

As my fingers where headed for her mouth, she said "Wait, let me try first!" in a panicked voice. This is one of the stall tactics, but we always let her try. 

On her 4th or 5th try I saw her eyes grow wide as she actually managed to pull the tooth out! I quickly grabbed the tooth (in case there was blood) and stuffed some paper towels in her mouth before the blood could get on her tongue. 

She was so excited she tried to talk to me about it while her mouth was full of paper towels and my fingers. 

All it all, it was the 2nd least dramatic tooth removal we have experienced and I hope she remembers it for next time as we still have 13 teeth to go. 

Look at the adult top teeth coming in! The missing tooth is on the bottom left (right in the picture). 

On our return from Ames for our celebratory gelato (that was Emma's reward for pulling her own tooth out), Emma mentioned that she had math homework to do when she gets home. 

Me- "Ok. Wait, were did you get math homework?

Emma- "Oh, I have to go to school first to get my math homework."

Me- "What school are you going to go to?"

Emma- "The school in our family room."

We do not actually have a school in the family room. That room is basically Emma's domain, so I guess it is possible that there is a school in there.

After we got home, Emma headed for the family room and was quite for a bit. Then she wandered into the living room to show me her math homework. 

(The last equation is 609+9=618)

Apparently we should employ the unicorn teacher on a full time basis because she seems to be a pretty good teacher. 

Oh, and we made a super yummy millet porridge for breakfast this morning!

Hate the cold, Love to Bake

I really hate the cold weather. But at the same time, I love being able to use my oven without turning the house into a sauna.

In the last few weeks, Emma and I have been baking up a storm. We have made bread twice,

The first batch. I think I ate the entire thing my self. Emma and Jared may have had a piece each, but I couldn't say for sure. 

A few days later I wanted to make more bread, and Emma wanted to help out more. 

Here is the bread once we finished kneading it. 

After we let it rise for an hour.

Not sure what was up with the face, but this was after we punched the dough down and threw it into the bread pan.

Another hour of rising. 

And the finished bread! She was mid sniff in this picture. She really liked how the bread smelled. 

Doesn't it look so pretty? I ended up freezing this for now. I think I may turn the entire loaf into french toast. Then I will refreeze so that we can pop some french toast into the toaster when the desire arises :)

Bread is not all that we have been cooking. Today we made homemade gold fish (though not shaped like fish). 

I found the recipe here, which lead me here, which lead me here. I ended up just following the recipe the created all the links, which is from Savory Seasonings. She has some other recipes that I am interested in trying out. 

Anyway, Emma and I made up the dough for the cheesy crackers (as we have dubbed them). 

While the cheesy cracker dough was cooling, the banana muffins we had made earlier where cool enough to taste, so we did. 

Which jarred one of Emma's loose teeth, which made it hurt and bleed, which made her scream and cry for about 20 minutes. She hates blood, and really gets upset when her teeth get loose because she knows that it eventually leads to blood and pain. 

These latest two loose teeth (the two on each side of the middle upper teeth) we decided to just let them fall out on their own, but if every bump of the tooth causes blood and hysterics, we might try to convince her to let us pull it. 

Oh well. The banana muffins were yummy anyway. Here is the yummy simple recipe for the banana muffins. It is just as yummy if you add an extra banana. And cinnamon. 

The second batch I made up, I used some mashed sweet potato and 2 bananas, and baked it as bread instead of muffins. I should have still used 3 bananas, but the bread was very, very good.  

Well, time to be done. I told Emma she could use my laptop (her computer needs a geek squad fix). And I have a ton of school work. 

Have a great day!