Lessons from Rachel

I'm coming off eight days of vacation, much of it spent with Rachel. Here is what I learned.

Your head can't fall off. It's glued on to your neck.

When you're four and a half, it's okay to shout, "You can't catch me!", even if you're chasing a boy instead of the other way around.

"Rachel, you're being argumentative!"
"No, I'm not!"

A slight boo-boo can evoke tears, but falling off the bed backwards onto the floor and slamming our head into a wooden restaurant booth leads to a reassuring, "I'm okay!"

At four and a half, you can name your stuffed animal rabbit "Rachel" and your parents are not sure whether it's cute or the height of egotism.

Automatic hand driers are to be feared.

I miss the days when she said, "Purkle" for the color and "Bice-ee-sickle" for a mode of transportation and "pereeter" for the electronic device I'm using right now.

My child knows more songs in Hebrew than her father.

Rachel now knows her opposites, although occasionally, you ask her, "What's the opposite of hard?" and you get the response "not hard."

We like red apples, not green ones. We like red grapes, not green ones.

One cannot be expected to remove seeds from one's own watermelon.

"Isn't that SO funny?" is funny when delivered by a 4-year-old.

"What does Minnie Mouse drive? A Minnie van!" is also funny, even though she stole it off the tv. (Athough she insisted for five minutes she made it up.)

She likes the boy Shaam in her class, because like her, he is smart and funny. I'm so proud to be raising a child so humble!

Rachel Goes to the Dentist

So here we were. Rachel had turned four and a half and somehow, we had never made that first trip to the dentist. We had talked about it, but we had not acted.

Rachel had grown more anxious and I blame her Berenstain Bears Go To The Dentist book. In that book, Brother Bear has a cavity and the dentist pulls out Sister Bear's loose tooth. Rachel had decided no dentist was going to pull her teeth.

We just had to get this done. I scheduled her an appointment on a Tuesday. I also decided not to tell her until that Tuesday morning. There was no reason to ruin a decent Monday night's sleep. So when she got up that morning, I said, "Rachel, I have something to tell you." My wife retreated to our bathroom. I informed Rachel she was going to the dentist that afternoon. Predictably, she expressed concern the dentist would yank one or more of her teeth. I assured her the hygienist merely wanted to count her teeth and clean them.

She revisited the subject a couple of times before the appointment, but seemed much more accepting of the task ahead, as long as I would be with her. Prior to this, only monsters had brought more fear than the thought of the dentist.

When the hour of reckoning arrived, we exited the fourth floor elevator and made the long walk to the executioner's chamber, I mean the dentist, at the end of the long hallway. Despite my child's confidence there would be no books or magazines for children in the lobby, lo and behold, there were. I began to fill out the new patient paperwork, as Rachel urged me to read to her from a DisneyKids book.

She kept Honey Bear close by. Honey Bear, a stuffed bear given to her when she was born, would help get her through this. To me, this was a mild upset. If I was a betting man, I would have placed my money on Minnie Mouse.

Anyway, as I filled out the paperwork ("Has the patient ever been pregnant?" made me shudder a bit), Rachel made the rounds of the waiting room.

"I'm going to the dentist."

"How old are you Rachel?"

"4 1/2."

Rachel does not know a stranger and made several new friends that afternoon. When the hygienist called her name, to my surprise, she bolted to the chair with Honey Bear. I followed, with my still camera (see above.)

The hygienist, Joy, went to great lengths to explain what everything was, though, truth be told, Rachel knew from her books. She almost seemed excited, with the exception being the item that sucks excess water from her mouth. Adding to the excitement, she would receive two items from the dentist's treasure chest if she did really well.

She was fitted with a blue bib. So was Honey Bear. She was offered sunglasses to reduce the effect of the light in her face and being the Rock Star she sometimes calls herself, she accepted (see above).

She was given a choice of a myriad of flavors of toothpaste/fluoride and she, not surprisingly, opted for cinnamon. As I braced for the protests as her teeth were cleaned, Rachel surprised me by giggling throughout.

In the end, she had twenty teeth, no cavities and a successful first trip to the dentist. She took a ball and some lip gloss from the treasure chest, bouncing the ball into the waiting room as I checked to see what I owed.

She also received a diploma, but we had to return for a new one when we realized they spelled Rachel as Rachael. All in all, we learned the dentist is nothing to fear, at least as long as no teeth were being yanked!

I Proudly Accept

Today, Rachel gave me a sticker of a green frog. She said, "This is for being a great daddy." It's better than any other award I could possibly receive.

Daddy and Rachel's Perfect Day

Recently, I had a day off to spend with Rachel, while my wife was at the Temple Early Learning Center, preparing for the new school year. I told Rachel the day would be filled with surprises. Of course, she tried to get me to reveal them, but I stayed strong.

We began at the grocery store. Rachel chose the requisite shopping cart with a plastic car attached and we were on our way. The most important item on our list was half a dozen eggs. Rachel loves helping me make scrambled eggs. I chose a container, presented it to her Rachelness and after careful examination, she offered her approval.

On the way out of the store, we stopped at the bank counter. The woman who tries to keep the line moving said something to Rachel (they know each other) and Rachel replied that it would make her "uncomfortable." The woman was quite impressed Rachel had "uncomfortable" in her vocabulary.

As I waited for my turn in line, Rachel transformed the pole that marks the front of the line into a fire pole, sliding down onto the floor and then giving her Minnie Mouse a turn.

Then, right after I loaded her back in the car, I noticed a real fire truck. Two members of the crew were getting groceries and the driver remained in the front seat. I brought Rachel over to show her the truck. The driver saw her and opened the door. He allowed her to sit behind the wheel, while she recited her address and that she knew to call 911 if there was ever an emergency.

Fresh off that happy coincidence, we came home. We scrambled four eggs. The protocol is Rachel cracks an egg and I empty it into the pan. Then I crack one and she empties it. It was quite the yummy breakfast.

Our next surprise was a trip to the library. Rachel had been there once before to see a puppet show, but we didn't explore the library much. Today, we would have as much time as she wanted.

The obvious first step was to get library cards. The librarian took our info. When we got to the phone number, Rachel provided the details. She is proud of knowing the number and usually delivers the phone number with the ratatat speed of a machine gun. Rachel sat up on the counter and watched the process, as I explained the need to stay quiet and use an inside voice, which would become a recurring theme during the next few hours.

Rachel was also fascinated by the electronic scanner. In fact, she leaned over and scanned her head when the librarian was otherwise engaged. Fortunately, her head was not overdue.

We went back to the children's section. Rachel picked up a book about Dora the Explorer going to the dentist. Little did she know she herself would be making her first trip to the dentist in a few days (more on that in another entry.)

Basically, Rachel was more interested in the computers with children's educational programs than the books. And she learned when she gets up to wander around, she forfeits her terminal.

At one point, Rachel got up, held one hand in front of her crotch, another behind her butt and proclaimed loudly. "I need to find a bathroom before I tt or poopie on myself."

Soon after that, we left with six books and of course, a Wiggles cd. After we got to the car, I realized we had left Minnie Mouse back in the library. As soon as we were back in, Rachel raced to the children's section and retrieved Minnie. As we left, she offered her thanks with, "Daddy, you're my hero!"

I offered to take her to ChuckECheese, but she opted for Athens Pizza instead. She flirted and seemed to hit it off with a 6-month-old girl behind us. Olivia seemed to get upset whenever Rachel averted her attention from her to her meal.

We then went to ToysRUs and didn't buy anything. I'll pause to let that sink in.

On the way home, we learned Rachel likes Katrina and the Waves Walking on Sunshine . It was the perfect song for a perfect day!

Rachel and Her Kickin' New Pink Boots

Another View of the 'Do

The New 'Do