Crib for sale

Lately, Noel has been coveting Dominick's bed, so much that every naptime and bedtime, he's run and jumped into it. For a couple of weeks, we've searched antique malls, garage sales, and Craigslist (haunting it, actually) for a twin bed. We wanted to find one in a style and wood tone similar to Dom's, preferably with footboard, rails and mattress included, and not too far from Webster Groves. (Hauling was going to require the use of a friend's truck.) The right bed hadn't shown up yet.

My neighbor Judy was back in town for two days from Rhode Island (Dominick asked, "Does it have a lot of roads?"), where she's been on a year-long sabbatical/fellowship that she has extended through next summer. Before leaving today, she mentioned offhand that she had a complete twin bed in her garage. Ooh!, I thought. I said we might be interested in it if it was compatible with Dominick's existing bed, so she showed me the bed. Well, take a look at this:

On the right is Dominick's bed, and on the left is what is now Noel's bed. It certainly fit our criteria, and all we had to do was fetch it from the garage next door. How easy is that? Now I have some shopping and/or sewing to do: pillow, bedskirt, comforter, sham, etc.

The boys were very excited about this new development. I suppose it's a pretty big milestone, moving out of a crib and into a big bed. They're growing up so quickly. [sigh] As expected, Noel has had trouble staying in his bed tonight. May the novelty soon wear off! In the meantime, anyone need a crib?

A chapter ends

Not to be dramatic, but Dominick's last day of preschool was today, and I'm feeling a little sad. He's had a wonderful year and, according to one of his teachers, grown exponentially. I can see it, too. He's changed so much since he began in the Red Room last year, but perhaps most dramatically in the Yellow Room. Emmanuel is such a familiar, comfortable place, full of great people. We'll really miss it, but the good news is that Noel will be starting there next fall, probably in the Parents' Day Out room on Wednesdays. That means we'll bump into some of Dom's friends or their younger siblings and parents, so we'll be able to stay in touch. The other bit of good news is that the summer program starts June 9, so Dominick still has a couple of months to see some familiar faces before launching into his elementary school career on August 18.

The Yellow Room seemed so bare today because all the projects were taken down and sent home with the kids. This was exciting enough, but at the bottom of his bag Dominick found a special gift from his teachers: a small photo album of pictures taken throughout the year, kind of a day-in-the-life of preschool. Dominick absolutely loves the album. When he first saw it, he said he wanted to thank his teachers and make them a gift, too. Then he hugged the book to him. He has looked through it several times today with both me and Mike. I just hope he doesn't love the poor thing to death!

Dom with his painted counterpart. He drew the face. We taped the other Dom to the living room wall, and it freaks me out every time I turn around and catch a glimpse of it.

The beach picture, a current favorite of Dom's. He's very proud of the sand he glued onto the paper. Note the octopus with more than eight legs.

Dom embracing his photo album

Dom's first dental checkup

Yes, I know...Dominick is five and should have been to the dentist long ago. Bad me. I put it off forever, telling myself it was because of insurance questions when the real reason was that I dreaded it. Given Dom's refusal to let the dentist (our dentist) see his mouth after he knocked his tooth out last spring, I didn't have high hopes, but the boy surprised me: he did great! He went back (without me) willingly and cooperated marvelously through x-rays and all, though he said he kept closing his mouth during the cleaning portion. There were no tears, no fighting, nothing. At the end he got to pick out a toothbrush, a prize and three stickers. You can imagine his joy to discover that Lightning McQueen was one of the toothbrush choices. (Of course, now Noel wants one, too.) Also, he got a sticker and photograph for his book, mailed to him prior to the appointment. Here's the picture. He's looking pretty tough in it.

I made good on my end of the bargain and took Dom to the dollar store for a treat after we were finished. He picked what might have been the worst possible item in the store: a four-pack of whistles. What?!? I blame my five-day-and-counting headache for preventing me from thinking clearly enough to veto that decision. Maybe I can barter with him for something else.

Lazy Saturday night

In lieu of a real post, I'm just letting you know I uploaded more photos from Dominick's camera onto the Picasa site (see embedded slideshow). He obviously likes to take pictures of his brother, who also had a turn with the camera tonight, resulting in a few self-portraits (chin and mouth only). There's quite a lapse between the earlier images and those just loaded, but I think it's because SOMEBODY cleared off the camera in between. Too bad--I'm sure there were some cute ones! I'm also updating the boys' likes in the sidebar.