Thankful TWednesday

I know I'm a day late, but I absolutely did not have time to post yesterday.  I'm still thankful and I'll be back on schedule next week.

Here's my thankful TWednesday list today:

1.  Loose teeth
Claire has a loose tooth and it's a hot topic at our house.  Every little bit she says, "Is my tooth still there?" 

2.  Open and honest conversations
On Sunday Paul rode to church with Adam so Claire and I rode in my car and talked.  She told me all about her fear of the cafeteria monitor at her school.  We talked for a while about what she doesn't like at school and I was proud that she was willing to tell me.  I hope I was able to ease some anxiety and put some light on some situations.  Right now her worries are small, but I hope that she continues to feel she can share them with me.

3.  Beautiful Weather
Just when it was so hot for so long that even the lovers of summer were giving up, we got some cool weather.  Yesterday Paul told me he thought it would definitely snow.  I doubt that, but we are loving the lower temperatures.

4.  Family Uno games
Both kids love to play Uno Attack and are pretty good at it.  Saturday we had family over and the kids showed no mercy in playing Uno.

5.  Good teachers
Paul started preschool yesterday.  Last week when we went to church to meet his new teacher, several of the boys started to make a huge mess with some dried beans.  I asked her if that bothered her and she said, "No, it's developmentally appropriate.  When they develop their motor skills more, they'll stop doing that."  I would like to now label my house as developmentally appropriately messy.

6.  Storytime in the recliner
I can still (barely) fit both kids in my lap at one time to read a book.  Nothing makes me happier than sharing a good book with them while they snuggle down and listen.

7.  Compliments about my kids
At Claire's open house, her teacher said that she was a pleasure to have in class.  She said Claire is very "intuitive, caring, and mature."  She also said she was proud of how smart she was.  I'm grateful.

8.  Tag team parenting
Often when Adam and I are at church or another large, busy place, we have to tag-team with the kids.  It's easier to keep up with one in a crowd than two.  Whenever we get in a situation where that's appropriate, we don't have a discussion, we just tell one another which kid we have and move on.  It's so nice to just know the drill and do it.

9.  Color Blindness
Claire kept coming home from school talking about her friend Bailey.  I kept hearing about Bailey's birthday and how every time Bailey spoke in class, Claire would say "Birthday girl."  When we went to open house, we got to meet the infamous Bailey and found out she was African-American.  That's not a big deal.  What was a big deal to me was that didn't even occur to Claire to tell me.  I was amazed and pleased that her friend's race was so little on the scale of importance that it didn't even bear mentioning as a descriptor.

10.  A life saved
Last week we were riding our bikes home from school and Claire almost got hit by a car speeding through the school zone.  Claire swerved and kept honking her bike horn, but I honestly don't know how she didn't get hit.  I'm working on pulling some political strings to get a speed bump put in there, but that won't lessen my gratitude for her escape from a speeding car.  She could have been killed or confined to a wheelchair.  Every time we cross that street now, I saw a prayer of thanks for her survival.