schmits.org

Welcome to schmits.org: , , , and virtual front porch. This web site is just that; a place to visit for family, friends, and anyone, who are too far away, to stop by in person. Pull up a chair and stay a while....

Lose One, Gain Two?

Dylan lost his first tooth today! It is his lower, right, front tooth. It came as a huge surprise to me, since it wasn't loose. I arrived home to a tooth in a plastic bag from school. I tried to get the story out of Dylan about how it happened. Here's what I learned:

He lost the tooth during facts time at school. His teacher noticed that his tooth was missing. They then found the tooth on the floor by his chair. It bled a little bit.

He is now excited that he can do an experiment tonight. He put the tooth under his pillow to see if there is a tooth fairy. Well, he's really put the tooth under his pillow to see if it gets replaced with money. He can draw his own conclusions from the results. Let's hope he's not disappointed with a dollar, since one of his friends said you can get four dollars!

Since he lost a tooth, I figured I should double-check how many teeth he has in his mouth. It had been a while since I did a survey for the 6-year-old molars. The back left molar has been there for a while, since it is more than half-way exposed. I also think that I can see the adult tooth barely poking out of the gap in the front of his mouth.

Second Half Photos

I recently updated the family photo index to reflect all of the photo albums I posted in the second half of last year (2009). Since this included seven albums, I am going to be lazy and not include direct links to them all. The family albums index can take you to them.

The pictures include vacation photos from the summer, Dylan's first day of kindergarten, two trips into Chicago, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Over 800 pictures in all!

If you need a username or password, please don't hesitate to send an email.

Mama?

This weekend, Geoff commented on how it's cute the way that Andrea calls me "Mama." Mama?!? I thought that I was Mommy.

Much to my surprise, I then noticed that she calls me "Mama" significantly more frequently that she calls me "Mommy". In fact, "Mommy" might be my description and not really my name. I will be paying close attention to this in the coming week.

For now, I'll take comfort in that I still have a two-syllable name. Before long, I may just be "Mom."

License Plates 2009

It's been a while, five years to be exact, since there has been any mention of the license plate game in these pages. While this year's season is over, it was a notable one worth capturing.

This was a long season for the license plate game, since we had an early Memorial Day and a late Labor Day. Fortunately, I did not need the entire time to complete the task. As an individual, I saw all 50 license plates this year! Unfortunately, the official competition is a team sport, and my final two plates were not witnessed by any other participants. I saw Alabama while on a business trip in Texas, and I saw Alaska while with a friend on the way back to work after lunch. Ironically, both of these plates were viewed with the same friend.

It was nice this year to have Dylan able to spell words. He was able to confirm the presence of Idaho and Hawaii, and I even got picture evidence of Hawaii outside of the YMCA in Naperville. That was a success early in the season. Perhaps next year he will be able to identify license plates while driving! Before long, we'll have internal Schmit-family competition, instead of merely competition with the New-York-based Schmits.

When I Grow Up...

... I want to be...

The first time that I heard those words from Andrea was the day that we visited a dairy farm on vacation. That night, the answer she offered with no prompting was "a farmer and a cooker." By "cooker,' I certainly hope that she means a chef and not simply a burger flipper at a fast-food joint.

Tonight, Andrea added two more variations to the mix. The first was, "When I grow up, I want to be an author, ... and a farmer and a cooker. A food cooker and an ice cream cooker." Shortly after, she indicated that she wanted to be "Curious George, a farmer, and a cooker."

I was surprised that she did not forget about being a farmer and a cooker in the month since she first shared her aspirations. It'll be some time until she's all grown up, so for now I hope that she enjoys being a kid!

Lots of Pictures!

I've been on a photo editting and posting spree. I have been secretly putting up new albums over the last month and a half, with the majority in the last week. Here are some new albums to enjoy. As with a good drink or meal, be sure to savor them, since it might be a while since you'll get any more.

• January thru March 2009 (111 pictures), excluding Dylan's birthday which was already posted
• April 2009 (82 pictures)
• Andrea's 3rd Birthday (65 pictures)
• A visit from Uncle Tom, his kids, and Grandma (84 pictures)
• May 2009 (81 pictures)
• June 2009 (60 pictures)

If I continue at this pace, there is a chance that I can edit pictures from vacation and the rest of the summer by Labor Day weekend. Good thing that Labor Day is late this year!

For Sale?

Today, I dropped Andrea off late at school, and stayed for her class group time by her request. Group time was interesting...

Last week Andrea's class had a pizza-making fundraiser. On Thursday, they made English-muffin pizzas -- all cheese. Well, they had sauce on them, too. On Friday, the pizzas were cooked and sold them to parents. I don't remember the exact price, but I donated a dollar to get four and I overpaid.

Today, the class was discussing and voting on what they were going to do with the $9 they earned. The two options presented by the teacher were: (1) ice cream party, and (2) buy a fish for the classroom. Each child was given a choice in turn to voice their preference. They were also given the option for a "write-in" idea. Andrea passed on her turn to vote. Andrea's friend, Aaron, did not. He was the first (and only) to say, "I have an idea."

Aaron's idea was to "Buy Andrea's mommy." The idea got a vote from Aaron and two of the other children. In the end, "Buy a Fish" also had three votes. (Un)fortunately, "Ice Cream Party" ended up with six votes, so I don't have to worry about being owned, and cared for!, by a pre-school class of three-year-olds.

Math of Ages

"Mommy, when Dylan is six, will I be four?"

"Yes, Andrea."

"And, when Dylan is seven, will I be five?"

"Yes, you will be."

"When Dylan is eight, will I be... six?"

"You will be, Andrea."

"Mommy, when Dylan is nine, will I be seven?"

And, when Dylan is ten, will I be eight?"

"You sure will be."

"When Dylan is twenty, will I be ten?"

"No. When Dylan is twenty, you will be eighteen, Andrea."

"When Dylan is one hundred, will I be seventeen?"

"No. When Dylan is one hundred, you will be ninety-eight."

So went the conversation when I was pushing Andrea on the swing this afternoon. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now that I think back on it, it is impressive to me. Granted, Andrea's math ability became constrained when she crossed the boundary of ten. However, she was either able to keep straight incrementing two sets of numbers. Or, she was able to subtract two from each number in her head. Either way, I'm impressed.

Both Dylan and Andrea are currently in the mode of challenging my addition skills and keeping me sharp. We often start simple, with something like "What's one plus one?" They then take the answer and add it to itself. Well, they ask me (or Geoff) to add it to itself. They don't seem to get bored with it, so I often find myself adding numbers in the thousands. In my head. While driving. Perhaps there should be a law against that.

Beer

Scene: Jewel grocery store on the Sunday afternoon before Memorial Day
Characters: Daddy and Andrea

Daddy: "Let's get some beer and then we're done."

Andrea: "Don't drink too much."

Daddy: "Ummmm, why not?"

Andrea: "You'll be sick."

Daddy: "Okay, should I just drink one, then?"

Andrea: "No, five."

Daddy: "Five?"

Andrea: "Five is okay."

Daddy: "Okay."

Daddy wonders with whom Andrea has been discussing drinking beer....

ttyl

Andrea is very interested in knowing how to spell various words. I often hear, "Mommy, how do you spell... (fill in the blank)?" More recently, she's turned it around to something such as "Mommy, what does c-a-t spell?" Earlier this week, the question Andrea asked me was, "Mommy, what does t-t-y-l spell?"

So any of you who are wondering whether kids these days are just inherently different than we were as kids, the answer is a resounding y-e-s (which spells yes)! I still have no idea where she got that letter combination from. It is not a phrase that I use, nor is it something that I have heard (or seen) Geoff use. However, it certainly is odd that Andrea picked that combination of letters from all 456,976 possible 4-letter permutations.

For those still wondering, t-t-y-l spells "talk-to-you-later."