Lucy was right. Her tooth was very loose on Saturday. Suddenly she had all sorts of concerns. “What if my teeth all get loose and come out at the same time? How will I eat? Will a new tooth grow back when this one comes out? Will it hurt? Will it bleed? Do I have to put my tooth under my pillow for the Tooth Fairy? Can I keep my tooth?”

Saturday night, with a loop of floss and one light tug, Lucy lost her first tooth. She was immediately horrified, stunned, excited and more. I think her cerebral palsy doesn’t help in overwhelming and exciting situations. She sort of locks up and goes stiff. Her eyes were wide. She couldn’t believe it. She really lost a tooth!

She had been pushing that tooth around with her tongue for days and now the new sensation. No tooth, just gums.

It’s Monday night and that tooth has not been put under a pillow. I mean come on! It’s her first tooth. She just lost it! She’s not ready to give it up quite yet.

Last night, in the middle of the night Lucy was sort of whining. Usually her legs are twisted up and she can’t get them untwisted or she has mysteriously managed to move too close to one side of the bed and is no longer comfortable. Last night it was both. I untwisted her legs and got her centered, putting her head back on her pillow. Her eyes shot open and she asked, “Mom? Did you put my tooth under my pillow?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, good.” Her eyes shut as quickly as they had opened.

No Tooth Fairy tonight either!

Two weeks ago I got a call from Marcus. Marcus does all of our wardrobe on Signing Time. He called that Sunday to say he was working on High School Musical 2 and he could get us on set to watch a big production number with all of the stars in it. It was a “School’s Out/Summer Vacation” song where the cast and 400 extras come running out the front of the school and break into song and dance… just like my high school days… I think it was good for Leah to see just how many times the cast had to do the entire scene over and over and over again in the hot sun. Suddenly shooting Signing Time in an air conditioned studio seems like a piece of cake!

There wasn’t a big crowd gathered to watch. Only in Utah on a Sunday could they pull that off with such few onlookers! Aaron and Lucy came down to watch for a while too. The production company was super strict about using cameras or cell phones - so we couldn’t sneak you any pictures. But it was funny, they had attached big bright green leaves to the bare winter trees in front of the school and had spray painted the lawn bright green. Maybe I’ll try that at my house!

For you High School Musical fans - you might notice that Troy’s Dad/Coach (Bart Johnson) appears in Signing Time! He is a friend of ours, from when we lived in Los Angeles. Watch “Family, Feelings & Fun” - Signing Time Volume 4. I know he is in there signing SON and I think he signs FAMILY with his wife and son.

Yesterday the April 2007 issue of Working Mother Magazine hit the racks. We had submitted information to be included as one of the 25 best small companies to work for. Well, we were honored above and beyond that! I am one of three moms who are receiving their “Working Mother Magazine Entrepreneur Mom Award!”

There are three great photos of me and Leah and Lucy throughout the magazine. You can see us on page 3; page 39 and you will find our picture across two pages, with our story on page 63! Leah and Lucy will be taking the magazine to school for “Show & Tell” tomorrow.

Last night I did my “Caterpillar Dreams” presentation for a group of women. My mom surprised me by showing up and Aaron surprised me by bringing Leah and Lucy. I don’t think Leah or Lucy have seen one of my presentations since Charlemont, MA and that was over a year ago with more of an educational focus. Last night, I spoke about my life and my family and our miracles for about 45 minutes and then sang “Caterpillar Dreams” with the video/visuals on a large screen behind me. When I finished singing, I sat down by Lucy. Her eyes were a little red, brimming with tears. She looked at me and said, “Wow!” I smiled at her and she said quietly, “Wow, mom! That was great!”

I’m glad Lucy and Leah got a little taste of what I share about them when I am on the road. Many people came up after and hugged me and shared their stories. It always warms my heart to hear how Signing Time is impacting families and lives. But nothing warmed my heart more than those tears in Lucy’s eyes and her sweet quiet, “Wow!”

Last Saturday I pinned 7 pink, handmade butterflies over Lucy’s bed. One of our fans in Sarasota FL made them for her.

Last week Leah had four teeth extracted to make room for her adult teeth. Today she had a root canal! I am not kidding! She actually slept through the root canal. I was wishing I could turn off my ears as I sat there listening to the drills and watching her sleep right through the noise. Leah has always been incredibly at ease in situations where she is the patient. I have to wonder if we owe that to deafness. I think we do. Thursday she is having a mold made of her bottom teeth so that she can return later that day and have a bar put in.

I think for our family, “Signing Time!” will help chronicle Leah’s dental phases. I thought I was going to die when she lost her front teeth right before we went into production of 7 new episodes, and then Alex followed suit, losing his two front teeth as well! So, “Leah’s Farm” was a toothless wonderland. We considered having fake front teeth created by their dentists, but it would have bumped production back 2-4 weeks. By the end of production, episode 13 “Welcome To School” both Alex and Leah had a good portion of their large, adult front teeth in place. (Sigh of relief!)

Lucy makes up for whatever anxiety Leah skips out on. When we walk into the dentist’s office Lucy starts screaming, even if it’s MY appointment, not hers! The screaming actually works as a benefit to the dentist – Lucy’s mouth is wide open. I bet the dentist wishes he could turn off his ears like Leah.

Last week Lucy came home from school and said, “Mom! I have good news! I have a two loose teeth!” Yes, she has been waiting and waiting to lose a tooth. Seems like all the other first graders have lost 2 or 3. I checked and sure enough those two front bottom teeth just BARELY wiggle… BARELY. ☺

I love Spring!

I know the calendar says it is not Spring for 12 more days, but when I opened the door this morning, I hear birds singing. Plus 2 of the 3 feet of snow on my back porch melted since yesterday. This morning, enough snow had melted in the front yard that I was able to see the bulbs I planted in the Fall peeking up through the soil!!! I don’t know why it seems so exciting to me, you plant tomatoes you get tomatoes! But those bulbs – you plant them and they look like nothing. It rains, it snows you have Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and finally by Easter – VOILA!!! You have daffodils and tulips. If you didn’t believe in miracles before, you really ought to now.

When we bought this house last year, the first thing I asked was if they had bulbs. Sadly, no, they hadn’t planted any in the 25 years they lived here. I don’t even know how that is possible! So, when Costco started selling their bags of bulbs I bought them. Even then, you look at this white bag with beautiful flowers on the packaging and when you open it there are just brown onion looking clumps… was this a waste of money? The beautiful bags with the ugly contents sat in the garage for weeks…. months? Finally when I was worried the ground would be freezing soon, I got out my little hand trowel and put 3-4 bulbs together in a hole. Three daffodils here. Three tulips there. All around the front yard.

I guess they still don’t look like much. Just a bit of green poking up through the brown leaves and dirt. But every time I walk by, I imagine what they will look like. The suspense is almost over. And I wonder… can I bring THIS excitement to the next bag of brown onion looking bulbs I buy? If so, there is no way I will consider it a waste of money.

This is the first year that I have a season pass to a ski resort. Aaron has had season passes, like he has elementary school photos, one just about every year. So, I set the completely unreasonable goal of skiing 50 times this season. (I don’t think I have skied 50 times in my life! But if you are going to be unreasonable… BE unreasonable!) Today was day #13. I can tell I am getting better and stronger. I started out in days 1-5 trying to get to the bottom of what goes on in my head when I am skiing. I was looking at “authentic fear” -real fear like a shark is swimming toward you and “inauthentic fear” - fear of calling someone on the phone who is mad at you. In one case your life is really in danger, in the other case you might feel like your life is in danger but you are safe in your living room.

Aaron and I were on the lift chairs and I asked him, “Do you think the fear you feel when skiing is authentic fear or inauthentic fear?”
Aaron: “What are you talking about? I don’t feel fear when I am skiing.”
Me: “Oh. What do you feel when skiing?”
Aaron: “I feel like I’m have having a blast!”

Then I got to look at what exactly I was afraid of! What was I saying to myself in my head while skiing? I only had to pay attention on the next run to notice I was totally focused on one phrase. “DO NOT FALL!” It was there, over and over again in my head. “DO NOT FALL!”

The next ride up on the chairs I told Aaron, “I am so focused on NOT falling, there is no room to enjoy myself!”
Aaron: “So, fall then!”

It had snowed pretty recently and there was a lot of powder. He made it to the bottom of the hill before I did and he stood there yelling; “FALL RACHEL! FALL! WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? FALL DOWN! FALL DOWN NOW!”
I fell.
I didn’t die.
I didn’t get hurt.
I didn’t die of embarrassment either.
No one threw things at me or mocked me.
I fell. I got up. I kept skiing.

When the girls came home from school. Leah asked if we went skiing. When I told her we went that morning she asked, “Mom, did you fall down when you were skiing?”
Puzzled I answered, “Yes. I did.”
Leah: “Good for you mom. When you fall it means you are trying something new. You are trying something different and you are getting better at skiing.”

There you have it! I guess I should have consulted Leah in the first place.

Which gives me a great idea! I am going to work on getting a Powdershot of me falling!! HA!! Then VICTORY will be mine!

Lucy and Leah had no school yesterday. So, Leah and I went up to Snowbird and skiied for a few hours. We had so much new snow it was incredible! Here are our powdershots. We are in black and yellow.

Last night, Aaron, Leah, Lucy and I were honored at the Utah’s Jr. Miss Pageant. Each year they have a “Women Making A Difference Award.” This year the award went to me. Well, actually they honored us and awarded us. First there was a Board of Directors dinner on Monday night. I spoke for 20 minutes, they showed a video clip about us and then Sierra West Jewelers gave me an incredible strand of pearls. Friday night was the pageant and they asked Leah, Lucy and Aaron to come up on stage as well as they shared our story and honored me as this year’s Woman Making A Difference. John from Sierra West then gave Leah and Lucy matching pearl bracelets, necklaces and earrings. WOW! He said that he realized after meeting us on Monday and hearing our story that I am able to make a difference because of my family, so he wanted to honor them too. (I will post pictures as soon as I get them)

This morning at 9:00am I got a call that Channel 2 news wanted to do a story on us. They were hoping to come interview us today or Monday. My experience with the news is, take it when you can get it and don’t put it off! So we set up for them to be at our home at noon. Good thing we all had leftover “fancy hair” from the night before! This sent us into a whirlwind housecleaning flurry! A week ago KUTV channel 2 did a story about a little girl named Jade who has cerebral palsy. In the piece they had said she can’t use her arms and has no way to communicate. One of our Signing Time fans was watching and when she heard those comments she knew she had to tell them about Lucy and about Signing Time. Tammy emailed the reporter and the reporter listened. So, they were coming over to do a follow up about using sign language with children who are non-verbal and children with physical disabilities. Tammy and her family came over for the interview. When it was all done and the news crew left, we ordered a bunch of pizzas and hung out. The kids played and were sad when it was time to go.

This piece will air in Salt Lake City, Utah on KUTV Channel 2 news at 10pm. Watch for it Sunday night March 4th. Or view it here!

Tonight we are celebrating Aaron’s mom’s birthday with dinner and a movie. See! It’s not ALL work around here!