Two Front Teeth

 Tessa dragged out the Kindergarten Dress, as we have come to call it, this morning to wear to church.  It was a perfect fit, though she is now in first greade, technically speaking.  Now that we homeschool, none of the government-imposed age divisions seem to matter much.  We just learn.  But that is a post for another day.  Probably several.

You may remember the dress (read the post).  

It has many, oh SO many flaws.  

Thankfully we never plan to let Tessa wear it inside out. 

 And I am no photographer, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, and so after about 60 pictures and a little Picasa photo editing (love this program... it's free! http://picasa.google.com/), 

we got our nut.  A few, actually.

I am always, as is everyone who sees them, blown away by Tessa's eyes.  They are so expressive and bright.  In some light, they look almost white with a blue outline.  Her tender expressions are so intense.  But the one thing 

you don't see in these pictures is her teeth.  

Tessa smiles like Adam, who smiles like Guy.  

A sweet grin that holds back a bit of mystery and reveals a touch of their shyness.  Tessa smiled hard enough to show her little clam-shell full of 

pearly whites in only a few pictures.  

Tiny square teeth in two perfect rows.  

As I looked at one toothy picture, not her best per se, I realized that she told me tonight that both of those sweet little front teeth are loose.  She did so (having been sent to bed, of course) after Ellie came out to display yet another molar suddenly lost.  Ellie is at that age when she is shedding teeth

 like a tree drops fruit in a wind storm.  

Yes, tonight it was Ellie, and some night soon, Tessa will bring me the tiny white tooth (that probably will have dangled mercilessly for two weeks) in the palm of her little hand.  We will ohh and ahh and write out note to

 the Tooth Fairy and tuck it away under her pillow.  

And then sometime in the night (if the Tooth Fairy doesn't forget...duh), the tooth will be retrieved and payment left.  I will hold her tooth - even tinier, by comparison, in my hand - and remember the day it first appeared in her pink little mouth.  She didn't even have curls yet, and her eyes had just begun to change from dark blue to that amazing azure color.  She was so serious and stern looking, 

and nearly impossible to coax a smile from.

Not anymore.

 The Imp

Did I really grow that pretty little thing in this belly?

 "Mom!  Can I please stop smiling now?  It hurts!"

I was instructed I could only use the silly pictures 

she did on purpose, not ones like this.

Too Bad!

OK, here are the "on purpose" ones!...

 I dare you to look at this picture and NOT make 

the face she is making.  Go ahead.  Try.

(whimper!)

 Rascal.  

She's gonna have some serious plucking to do
 when that uni-brow comes all the way in, 

but for now she is sa'dang cute I could just roll her up and put her in my pocket.

Next years pictures will feature a new pair of pearlies. 

But we probably won't see those much, either.