Top O' The Mornin' To Ya!

Every St. Patrick's Day Eve a little Leprachan sneaks into our house and turns all the milk green and leaves only Lucky Charms to eat for breakfast. Well, we caught him this year! We must have been last on his list of stops to make 'cause he was still in the kitchen when we all got up! (Kind of him to pose for a photo I thought-though we WERE disappointed that -true to the tales- he had no intention of letting us know where all his gold was hidden. Rats!) The kids were all thrilled to finally catch a glimpse of the mysterious yearly visitor and I believe it served to confirm their belief in other unseen, but much-talk-about visitors like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. (We have a few who were beginning to doubt, if you can believe it.)

After such an exciting beginning, the day couldn't have been anything short of amazing! I didn't even bother with corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Seemed like it might have been a little anticlimactic.

I just had an epiphany! Aside from birthday cake and ice cream, Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas and NewYear's Eves, most of our traditions are centered around breakfast. We do breakfast-in-bed on birthday mornings, CUPID comes and leaves little love notes and goodies at each child's plate on Valentines Day, and - as mentioned here - we get excited over green milk and Lucky Charms for St. Patty's Day breakfast. Easter breakfast is "Empty Tomb" sweet rolls plus the story of the Resurrection, and -rather than a BBQ- we feel free and grateful over every-breakfast-food-imaginable on 4th of July (After a sunrise flag-raising.). I just realized that possibly the biggest reason I have (unintentionally) configured things that way is because I have the most energy in the morning and find it easiest to make simple, silly things seem really fun and/or exciting. And since "simple" and "silly" is all that I can muster, if I have the entire day to spress over it, I have a lot harder time convincing myself and everyone else it's exciting OR fun.

Hmmm... What does that say about my character or lack thereof? Just musing.

It's time!

After Fallon absentmindedly picked another (the fourth, I believe) huge hole in her cheek while sucking her thumb we decided we really needed to break that habit; not just because the dentist showed us how it was turning her teeth and pushing them out, but in order to save her face from disfigurement (Is that a word?). (I'm sure she'll thank us later.)

First we tried putting gloves on her hands. She didn't mind and even asked to wear them, but then I realized she was just pulling them over her thumb when she'd lie down to sleep! Hmm...

I duck taped them to her wrists.

I bought long elbow length "princess" gloves.

I duck taped those too.

Nothing seemed to work for longer than a week or two - and then a MIRACLE: my sister-in-law, Katie, sent me an email with the answer. It's called "Mavala STOP". It goes on like fingernail polish (A bonus for sure as far as a "beauty conscious" almost 4-year-old is concerned.) and tastes SO nasty that she hasn't put her thumb in her mouth since the first night we brushed it on! (Jan. 14.)

I haven't put it on her now for about a week and last night my heart dropped when I passed by her room and I heard that old familiar sucking sound. I rushed in to confirm my disappointment and was surprised to find her hands resting peacefully at her sides but her mouth instinctively "sucking" nothing. Old habits die hard.