Bring on the NOISE!

I remember back to when Leigha was born. One of my friends, Darcy, taught me how to place scotch tape over the speakers on any toy that made noise! I remember being annoyed that so many of them were so loud. I went ahead and did the trick on a few that bothered me the most. I also pass on that trick to any friend that ever complains about the volume.

Funny how things change. My aunt and uncle warned me they had something for the kids about a month ago. They told me not to get too excited, as it was something small, but they warned me that I might not be very appreciative of the gift. On Friday, my aunt and uncle came by for another visit. Since they were over at my house, it gave me an opportunity to count the money that our school collected for Dimes for Down Syndrome. (I can't wait to spill the beans about how much we made, but I will wait until I make sure that I have it all!)

By the time I got home, I noticed that my kids were jingling. My uncle had this huge smile on his face as the kids showed me their new gifts.


Funny thing is, I don't mind the noise! It's a good thing, too, because my mother loves to send my kids all of the animals that sing and dance around the holidays. So far we have received the Disney sleigh, a pig that sings the song "I'm Too Sexy", and now two singing dogs. I can't say Noe was thrilled, but I loved them! You won't find any of my millions (and I am not exaggerating) toys with scotch tape on them either. Quite to the contrary, I welcome the noise. If it makes the kids happy, I am all for it. I have learned to tune out noise. I know some of my friends on the phone with me haven't learned to tune my kids out. In my house, silence means one of two things. Either my kids are sleeping or they are up to no good. Recently it's getting worse--do you think it's OK that my kids climb up on the counters to get to the knife block? Don't you think it sounds fun to play with sharp (well, really pretty dull these days) knives?

Robert has always been a little possessive about his toys. It's only getting worse these days. The boys are constantly trying to take each other's toys away from them. Then they come running to me and just point, as the tears flow from their eyes.


The boys (including Uncle Jerry) had a great time playing with the bells.


Leigha was proud to show off the new hole in her mouth. On Thursday, Leigha pulled out her own front tooth. She had requested that I tie it to a door and slam it for her. She obviously doesn't understand the ramifications of that. I am NOT going to irritate her anymore than I already do, by causing her more trauma. It's still hard to believe she was not the first one to lose a front tooth, she should be the ONLY one!


I still can't stress how nice it is to have Aunt Bobbie almost home for good, that means they will be coming over for hugs more often (we hope!).