IN DEBT

By this picture you may think this boy to be a money-grubbing, greedy little child, but you'd be wrong. Instead, what we have here is photographic evidence of how sorely the Tooth Fairy needs to work on his/her communication skills...

Young Son had a tooth extracted at the dentist's office this week because, sadly, he seems to be related to his mother. This means that he a) doesn't have enough room in his mouth for all those pearly whites and b) doesn't seem to have teeth that want to fall out on their own. It also means the dentist is someone we see regularly--and I mean regularly in a way that's far and beyond the good old 6-months-'till-your-next-cleaning kind of thing. Oh, how grateful we are for insurance and a really nice dentist!

The Tooth Fairy, recognizing the deep levels of pain, despair, and anxiety this tooth extraction caused Young Son's mother, brought him a butt-load of quarters, and maybe a few extra dollar bills, as well. Then, not realizing that Tooth Fairy I had already made a visit, Tooth Fairy II came along and did the same thing.

So Joshua ended up being relatively well-paid for that one long, skinny, white tooth. I certainly wish I could figure out a way to be paid for the things that come out of my mouth! Even better would be payment for what I put in...

Ha!

What I do get, if not money, is this little nut of a child who is wildly entertaining to me. Last night I found him in the entryway, tying a knot into his T-shirt, dancing around with his midriff showing. Why? I'll never know. And this was after he spent a good half-hour singing made up songs to the tune of "Love At Home."

The truly funny thing is, Joshua is so shy, calm, and reserved any other place. I feel truly privileged to have a first-row seat for the show of who and how he is at home. Luckily we have a little video clip here to give you a glimpse, too (unfortunately, this is the tamed-down version--he was much sillier before I started filming):

I lied. There is no clip for you. After 2 computers, 4 installs, and more than 8 hours, I am giving up on the video upload. I have a sneaking suspicion that Joshua, who besides being shy is also smart, has somehow managed to sabotage the video clip--he did keep saying to me, "No! Don't put that on! Don't put that on!" So now you'll just have to imagine Joshua's silliness, because I promise, you won't see it anywhere else.

I really do love the little guy. I love the bigger ones that live in my house, too. Heavenly Father has truly given me more far more than I deserve, and I am deeply, deeply in debt; happiness-grubbing little blessing-keeper that I am...