My January

So January found us once again without Joey for five weeks...three more to go. Thankfully nothing too terrible has gone down in his absence. Glory turned 8 and Gideon turned 10 and even though we were without our daddy they still had fun birthdays.

To be very honest Sundays are very scary without Joey. Something about never knowing what to expect of my littlest gremlin during Sacrament seems to keep my stress level high.
So the very first Sunday by myself I shuffle in too late for a side pew, and get them in their places. Our very nice and very young second counselor comes to chat...
"So going solo again? Hows that going? I was gonna ask if you wanted to say our closing prayer...would that not ....be possible then?

I might have given him my -I'm an evil harpy and will claw your face off- look but I hope it wasn't that bad..."I better pass this time...sorry"
"Oh sure, sure , no problem, I completely understand"

well if that was some sort of torture test, I failed, but my sister gave me a way out of my guilt...That was a lesson he needed to learn...I hope he won't forget it...ever.

So I've been a little stressed out over another issue...my now ten year old son had a loose tooth that has been hanging by rotting strands of skin for months...seriously, months...so finally one night I'm furious once again because he refuses to pull the stupid thing out...But I'm extra mad tonight...I'm so mad I wanted to break dishes...I was ticked...

"He's gonna get it now...when he falls asleep, I'm gonna rip that tooth out"
I had tried before but I guess I just wasn't mad enough...so I felt a little better knowing that I was gonna cause him a little pain for what he caused me.

So I cleaned my kitchen and an hour or so later I could tell he was asleep. First I had to move him on his side and give him a minute to relax again...I turned off the light...slowly stuck my finger in his mouth.. It took a push and a pull and it was out...and the little rebel didn't even wake up. I was happy it was out and felt a little empty that he didn't even feel it. The next morning went like this...

"Wake up guys...who want's oatmeal? Who wants cereal? Who wants to see THE NASTY TOOTH i RIPPED OUT OF THEIR MOUTH LAST NIGHT?"

That woke him up! So he's checking out his tooth and has the gaul to get excited that he was gonna get money from the tooth fairy!

"Not a chance twerp, I did the work, I get the dough...the tooth fairy's gonna transfer 50 bucks out of your allowance, into mine for all my pain and suffering."

Then he laughs hysterical at me like I said something terribly funny and walked off laughing as if the truth behind my threat was just not in the cards...but funny anyway.

I wasn't laughing or joking...