He was SO excited to go tonight. He danced and flitted around impatiently while I packed his bags, gave me only the most cursory of hugs and kisses goodbye, and pulled my mom’s car door shut himself, instead of waiting for me to do it.

I can only hope that all goes well, and as he gets older and improves on certain behaviors my mom will be more willing to take him overnight. As it stands, she had him overnight exactly once, and that was back in March. Meanwhile, Alyssa has gone on sleepovers at my mom’s house for days or a week or more at a time! It’s time to close the gap between them, you know? Besides, nothing is worse than Ryan crying and expressing upset over not being able to go on sleepovers, while Alyssa skips off merrily on hers.

Her response? Ooh, this still has my blood boiling… “I’ll take him on Sunday night.” Sunday night as in NEXT Sunday night. WTF? She has nothing to do all day and all day to do it in, yet she can’t make time to take her grandson overnight. I told her flat out that I hope she feels really shitty for doing this to Ryan, and I hope she can sleep well at night knowing she’s letting him down over and over and over again.

What pisses me off the most is that when my brothers were younger — younger than they are now, of course, but a few years older than Alyssa and Ryan — my mom would give me such hell if Dan and I made plans to do things with them, but then had to cancel due to work or something else coming up. Funny that when the tables are turned, only she has no valid excuse, she has not only no excuse of any kind, but she doesn’t even show a lick of remorse for it!

I hope she comes through on her promise to take him on Sunday night. I could really use the quiet time on Monday morning to catch up on my writing about wedding favors!

The next morning we were woken up by a distraught Alyssa, who was upset (understandably) that the Tooth Fairy never came overnight. As it turns out, her other loose tooth, which was next to the tooth that came out last week, had come out while Dan and I were out. I found out later that Alyssa told my mom, who apparently found it unimportant enough to let us know. So on the fly, I told Alyssa that the Tooth Fairy must have gotten very busy that night, but she would surely be here tonight (which was last night).

So last night rolled around, and right as Dan and I were getting ready to fall asleep, we suddenly remembered about Alyssa’s tooth (and I remembered to go take my one a day vitamin)! Man, that would have sucked SO bad if the Tooth Fairy missed her stop two nights in a row. So we scurried into her room, maneuvered the loose tooth out from under her pillow, and put a dollar bill in its place. And this morning? She was happy as a clam.

Ah, I can’t believe the days of the Tooth Fairy are here. But it’s great! The little plush fairy we’re using for Alyssa’s loose teeth is from Gifts Defined, and I’d definitely recommend it as a potential baby shower gift.

I love having a nice little birthday party for Alyssa and Ryan every year, but man are they exhausting. I’m hoping that this year’s party will be less of a drain on me, since I’m breaking the self-induced tradition of having them at home by instead choosing to have Ryan’s at a local park. There’s a pavilion there, complete with grills, electrical outlets and nearby bathrooms, plus a large playground for Alyssa and Ryan to play on. I’m thinking packing the food in a cooler, using disposable plates, cups and utensils, and not having a house to prep and then clean up. WHOO HOO!

Sidenote: here are Ryan’s photos from his last three birthdays. (Try not to stare too long at the delicious birthday cake, or you’ll be needing industrial strength scales!)

To THIS:

But she did, somehow. From a teensy swaddled bundle to a gangly, talkative, excited, always happy five-going-on-six-year-old, my Lissy girl has definitely grown. ♥

And with that said, I’m not happy with the elementary school she has been enrolled in (see this post for the reasons why), and I’m going to do my best to get her transferred to one of the other two before the school year starts. I know from experience that school districts aren’t the easiest to work with, so wish me luck!

I freely admit to being a little creeped out at this picture. How thoughtful of her to include gravestones for all four of us, eh?

Argh.

Does the lying phase stop? I feel bad for not believing the things Alyssa tells me, but these days that is my first reaction!

Ryan also made me proud today. He was frolicking around in the shallow end of the pool, like he normally does…

Then he decided he wanted to swim like his big sister, so he started heading into the deeper water, until he was in over his head, and began swimming! He tires easily, and only goes maybe 3 – 10 feet in any given direction, but he is definitely getting the hang of it. I am SO proud of him.

So that was our day… a day of water, chlorine, sunscreen and sunshine!