Blog a la Cart

The Tooth Fairy’s Inaugural Visit to Cartwheel Farm

If you heard great shrieking and squealing late Sunday evening, that was just the Cart household responding to Sunny’s new mug.

Right before the December break, Sunny’s bottom two front teeth developed an extreme case of the wiggles.

Unsure how quickly the wiggles would then turn to gummy smiles, the Cart Tooth Fairy stocked up on One Dollar Coins. I received silver dollars from the Tooth Fairy in my youth, but apparently those are difficult and expensive items to get your hands on these days. I figured that a collection of the U.S. Dollar Coins, beginning with Sacagawea and continuing through the presidents would be a nice exchange for a mouthful of teeth.

While the teeth grew more and more wiggly, no vacancies appeared in Sunny’s smile in 2014. Santa gifted her a glow-in-the-dark tooth holder for when the time presented itself, and she practiced sleeping with it under her pillow, eagerly anticipating the day. In addition, if you’re missing 1-2 teeth, the flipper (or nesbit) is your best option to replace them. You may also want to visit a site like https://dentkits.com/product/acrylic-flipper/ for more info!

Sunday night, after brushing her teeth, Sunny spit into the sink and was distressed by the pink hue of her spittle. I asked her to smile, and one of the teeth was hanging on by a thread, a pool of blood around it. I couldn’t contain my excitement and exclaimed, SUNNY! It’s time for that tooth to come out! Just yank it! Or Daddy or I can do it! JAMES! JAMES! COME HERE! 

Sunny shook her head and started curling up with panic. No, Mommy. I don’t want to pull it. I’m scared!

As I dialed back my enthusiasm and aggressive approach, I reassured her that it was barely hanging on and a little tug would do the trick. She wouldn’t even feel it.

Mid-sentence, she reached in and yanked, and the resulting shrieks and screams, namely from myself and James, celebrated that itty bitty piece of bone now lying in her palm.

After Sunny’s successful tooth extraction, it’s important to note the importance of regular dental check-ups and cleanings. Finding a reliable and convenient dentist can make all the difference in maintaining good dental health. For those who may have a busy schedule during the weekdays, it’s important to look for dental services that offer flexible hours, like a Queens dentist open on Sundays.

Regular check-ups can prevent dental issues from becoming more serious and can ensure that any problems are caught and treated early on. So, while a loose tooth may be a cause for excitement and celebration, it’s important to remember the importance of maintaining good dental health. At Sloan Creek Dental, your dental care is important and each treatment plan is designed to fit each individual’s needs.

Like all childhood/parenting milestones, this one felt exciting and nostalgic and happy. We texted photos out to adoring grandparents and aunties, and giggled with glee as Sunny learned about salt rinses and we washed the tooth in some Hydrogen Peroxide. Courtland helped Sunny put the tooth in her Twinkle Toof, and they appeared triumphant in our bedroom Monday morning to showcase the exchange of goods.

James and I spent our Sunday evening wistfully looking at photos like this and this and this and wondering where the hell the time had gone. But mostly, we reveled in the vicarious joy of this milestone.

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And let’s not pretend like I didn’t ship that tooth off to a jewelry designer to have made into a pendant. Yes, I will be wearing a piece of my child’s bones around my neck. Yes, I am comfortable with the creep factor of that statement. My friend Maja wears her first tooth as a customized Jewelry pendant and I’ve always thought that that was so neat, and have looked forward to creating similar pendants for my girls. Maja says she gets people on either end of the spectrum in terms of reaction, and I am definitely of the awesome camp. When Sunny loses that other bottom tooth (likely in the coming weeks), we’ll slip both another dollar coin and the tooth pendant under her pillow with a note from the Tooth Fairy explaining that Sunny gets to keep her first tooth as a pendant. The Tooth Fairy will gently suggest that perhaps her mom should hold on to it for safe keeping until she is a little older. But ultimately, it’s hers to keep and wear if she so desires (though I recognize that she may be in the creep camp of this debate).

I’ve done some research for this project, and the price and use of the original tooth from Tiny Tooth Pendants appealed most. (For those of you intrigued with this idea, a gold mold from Le Knockout (but hot dang, the price!) or a silver mold from Rock My World are other options).

What camp do you fall in? Creepy or cool?

January Weekends

I’ve found these January weekends cold and tiresome. If I’m being honest, I’ve dreaded the onset of these unscheduled days, all of us at home and un-programmed for 48 hours. I do not thrive without a schedule. I like structure and busyness and activity. I find I slip into lethargy and laziness when I’m without events or plans, and that sends my grumpiness sky rocketing and my happiness spiraling.

Admittedly, in the summer or the warmer days of spring and fall, I welcome unplanned hours to tackle gardening, landscaping, and general outdoor maintenance. You can navigate to this website for landscaping projects that require an expert touch. The kids can play in the sprinkler or on their swing set. We can pause for a walk with the dogs or a swim at the local pool. Our little house expands as the gardens and fields and yard become an extended living room and play yard.

In the winter, the clothing alone proves an exhausting obstacle, and that’s assuming that the temperatures are civilized enough where clothing can provide some semblance of warmth. It’s been too bitterly cold for much outdoor fun. Even the dogs stand in distress, picking at their paws and trembling from the wind.

I’ve scheduled exercise squarely into my day, the activity and resulting shower a guaranteed hour or two of respite. We’ve built fires. Read books. Watched movies. Practiced our instruments. Served Penelope hot chocolate. Done arts and crafts. Constructed puzzles. And yet, there are still moments where the kids start using the couch as a trampoline and every blanket and cushion within a 2 miles radius is loaded onto the living room floor and cymbals are clanged and screams are shouted merely for the sake of hearing the capacity of one’s lungs, and I feel like I want to yell and stomp in reply, or curl up in a ball and crawl deep inside myself and stay there until the snow thaws and I can push everyone outside and finally have room to breath once again.

It’s not their fault that they resort to these antics and revelries. They’re children. But our house is compact. My fuse short. And the lack of Vitamin D palpable. James bears the brunt of my wretchedness, and counters my dark cloud with homemade pancakes and tickle monsters and pillow forts. Right now, as I type this, I can gaze out the window and up the hill to our barn to see a snow ball taller than Courtland being rolled about by three pairs of hands while two frantic balls of black fur leap with joy.

The temperatures have elevated, and there’s no excuse not to take advantage of the wonder of the snow before it melts away. Yesterday, while the cold still hovered in the single digits, but the sun shone brilliantly, James bundled us all up and insisted that we spend some time outside, for however long our fingers and toes could stand it. Snow angels and snow glitter and magical photographs were captured in that 30 minutes. And it restored a piece of my sanity. Of myself. I laughed and smiled and felt a gratitude that was so easily lost over these weekends of cold and inactivity.

Winter can be so breathtakingly beautiful, but it is also the hardest time of year for me. I wish for snow and sunshine and 30 degree temperatures so that I can sled and ski and skate without discomfort, but January is not always so accommodating. I realize that that’s part of the magic and beauty when those days do present themselves, but it does not make my management of the interim any more graceful.

But even the process of writing through these feelings and this melancholy have cleared my head and lifted some of the oppressive fog. We’ve scheduled plans for dinner. And there’s baking to be done. And the endorphins from this morning’s run are kicking in. Assuming the weather stays warm (in winter terms), I’ll be taking Sunny for her inaugural ski lesson this week and I’ll get an afternoon to myself on the mountain. And how fortunate am I to live a life that allows for such experiences.

Thanks for listening, friends. Do any of you ever suffer from wintertime blues? How do you combat the darker days and colder temps? Especially with young children! What activities keep your children busy in the winter so that you don’t all go totally stir crazy? I’m all ears! xo Ash

3/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Sunny: This week she began Suzuki violin lessons. She has that gleeful look on her face whenever she picks up the instrument. Thanks to this new adventure, I have now experienced the squeakiest yet most endearing rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
Kaki: She enjoys playing super hero and roping her big sister into her epic make believe. While brushing her teeth earlier this week, she declared, very seriously,”We have really good lava suits.” I was glad to hear it.

More details about The 52 Project here. To view all the portraits in the series visit here.

2014 a la Cart

Well, here it is. Our longest video recap yet. 19 minutes and one awkward ending, reflective of our children’s obsession with the slow-mo feature on the iPhone 6. We took more photos than ever this year, and tried to weave in some video. Ultimately, this is our version of a scrapbook. A place to pull together our favorite media from the past 12 months and display it is some (semi) succinct fashion to refer to for years to come. It may only be of interest to a small demographic of people, but how grateful I am to have our years archived in this way.

2014 was a year without any major life changes, losses, or milestones. It is a year that will always be a bright spot in my memory. Consistently good. Consistently happy. After the ups and downs of years’ past and knowing that life is anything but consistent and predictable, I am grateful for that brief, lovely pause. I did love this year so.

Year in Review: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

The Snowy Morning

More Snuggle Bug

Welcome, Winter.

The photos that prompted this week’s 52 portrait scowl.

It finally FINALLY felt like winter last week. I would take snow fall, crisp, cool temps and brilliant sunshine any day of the week over the 40 degree, wet, grey, muddy yuck we’d had most of December.

Honestly, if the sun is shining, I’m a happy woman, regardless of the temperatures, so last week was winning. I’d love for it to warm up a wee bit so that outdoor activities are more enjoyable, but I’m thrilled to finally have some snow on the ground (our Thanksgiving snowstorm didn’t last very long). I’m hoping to get the girls on the slopes this year, though budget, schedules, and weather make it complicated. This weekend we did a whole lot of visiting with Kaki’s FGPs and playing around the house, but perhaps next weekend we’ll be bold enough to head to our local mountain and get the Carts on skis. Fingers crossed!

2014 a la Cart (the iPhone edition)

We’ve been working away on our annual video, so here’s a quick look at our year through Instagram snaps in prep for the (appallingly) long version we’re creating from the thousands of dSLR photos. 2014, I sure did like you.

2/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Sunny: Chapped lips. Crusty, boogery nose. Teary eyes. She was mighty unhappy with me trying to take her photo in the cold and snow. 
Kaki: This snuggly froggie loves to ham it up for the camera and ignore my requests for a smile.

More details about The 52 Project here. To view all the portraits in the series visit here.

Currently Playing

If you’re as obsessed with the new T. Swift album as us Carts, then you’ll understand why this video is so awesome. And even if you aren’t listening to the songs ad nauseam, you’ll still think it’s pretty dang cool. That’s assuming you have a soft spot for pop music, but I’d wager we all secretly do, deep down inside, the part of your soul that can’t help but bop along to the shake shake shake of a repetitive, albeit catchy beat.

Happy Weekend, y’all!