Zongker Family Blog

Katrina pulled her first tooth yesterday. The first one to come out naturally at least, she had to have her two front bottom teeth removed by the dentist several months ago and wasn’t awake for it. She had been wiggling this one for about a month now and it was ready to come out.

I told her the night before while putting her to bed that her tooth has been ready to come out for a while now and she could probably pull it out tomorrow if she really tried. The next day while I was working she came back and asked me if I really thought she could pull it out today. I told her, “yes” and asked if she wanted me to help. She said, “yes”.

We went back to her room and I let her work on it at first and alternated turns. She was excited but also pretty scared so after about a minute of trying each time she’d start getting nervous giggles and tearing up, so we’d take 5 minutes for her to calm down. During each one she asked me “What if a new tooth doesn’t come in!?”, “What if I swallow the tooth when it comes out!?”, “What if my mouth doesn’t stop bleeding!?”, “Does it hurt when the new tooth comes in!?” and about every other potential problem she could dream up. She also made up a complex set of hand gestures to indicate when it was and wasn’t ok to proceed with various tasks.

I tried to answer all her questions and explained to her that Dad is a pro at this and has done this 20 times before. Then showed her all of my teeth and explained I had to pull out a baby tooth for each one to come in. She was really brave and wanted to press on even though she was clearly scared.

With all the breaks it took us about an hour and a half to pull the thing out, but we finally got it. She was SO excited when it finally came out. Probably more so relieved. She wanted to rush out and tell mom, but I made her hold some tissue on her gums until it stopped bleeding first. I was so proud of her for sticking it out. She kept thanking me for helping her every 10 minutes.

Afterwards we showed mom and celebrated with some soup for dinner and ice cream later. That night the Tooth Fairy brought her $1 and Junie B. Jones: Toothless Wonder. Notice the similarity on the cover picture. That wasn’t intentional.

Once again, this Independence day, we enjoyed our recent tradition of going over to the girls’ Uncle Jason & Aunt Stephanie’s house for swimming & a barbecue with that side of the family. It was a nice time & the weather was surprisingly pleasant. It rained the night before, on into the morning hours, so we were kind of reluctant about getting into the pool (for fear that the water might be too cold), but when we were finished eating, the adults caught up for a bit, while the kids played together, indoors. Sometime during all the festivities, the sun began shining again & when we got in the pool, the outside temperature was in the mid-80s or so & the water was just fine!

After swimming, we all got changed to go out to a large park/soccer field near where our local fireworks show takes place each year. This has also been part of the tradition/celebration, the past few years. We all got our folding lawn chairs set up & the adults helped the kids set off our own fireworks in the field. I think my girls are just like me — we tend to go more for the sparklers and smoke bombs than anything else!

It was a blast, as usual… then, it was time for the “big show” to begin. We all settled in to watch, but we had also heard weather forecasts of impending thunderstorms on the way… About 10 minutes after it had begun, it seemed the show came to an end. Confused & worried about the possibility of getting drenched (figuring they called the rest of the show off due to rain), even though not a sprinkle had been felt, we all decided it’d be best to just pack up & call it a night. Little did we know there had unfortunately been something wrong with the local fireworks display — either a dud, or misfire, or something caused the show to come to an abrupt halt, we would find out later via the news & other friends & family. But, all was not lost — we had an enjoyable time, with family & we got to celebrate the holiday in our usual way. When we got home, it was about 10:30 p.m. rather than 12:30 a.m. & to be honest, with little ones, it’s probably better to get home earlier, anyway… Hope everyone had a safe & happy 4th! Attached are a few highlights of ours!

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The clogging group that I’m a member of decided at the beginning of this year that those who wanted to should enter a national competition in Grove, OK. It happens every year around the same time & although it was last month, I thought I’d go ahead & tell our story. It was a long, determined 6 months worth of practice & hard work, but we were all in it to give our best & to have fun!

Not only was there a competition, but also a workshop. It was an interesting one, held at the Grove Civic Center. On one side, in a large room were cloggers, and in the other half of the building, there was a fiddle workshop & competition going on that weekend. Since both hobbies go well together, I guess that’s why they hold this event for each, at the same time, every year. In any case, the cool thing for me was that Katrina got to come & it was her first ever clogging workshop. She’s not a seasoned enough dancer to compete, just yet, but I figure she’d have fun & probably pick up some moves at the workshop, in any case…

The workshop was also a short one — only 4 hours on Friday. But, we were all invited to go to a camp on Grand Lake for dinner & dancing & enjoying fiddle music in the evening. Since she didn’t want to participate, Kat & I sat out, but there was even a special dance at the end of the evening, where some of the cloggers got to show off their skills to the fiddlers. Katrina’s Nana, Annette as well as a few of the other dancers on our competition team decided to take part in that & they did a wonderful job, showcasing some of the “mountain figures” they had just learned, earlier in the day!

The next morning was the “big day” for us competitors. We had 3 routines to perform, each in a different category. We were all nervous & excited at the same time. Although it was kinda’ “by default”, since there were no other teams in our age division (30+), we actually won, placing first for our category & division, all 3 times! We didn’t take any “overall grand champion” titles; those mainly went to the kids groups that competed, but we all still had a great time & it gave us a wonderful sense of achievement & accomplishment!

I think Katrina enjoyed just being there & getting to stay overnight in a different city — her first “roadtrip” with her Nana & Mama, to go somewhere else & enjoy the new hobby she’s really been getting into lately. I’m proud of how good she was for the duration, as well. And, thanks to all my clogging friends that helped to keep an eye on her, when I had to compete, too! It was a journey worth remembering! Enjoy the photos!

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What a difference a week or two makes. Our new house is just about finished. It’ll be a few more weeks for cleaning, touch-ups and last minute items like laying sod, but for the most part the house is complete. Here’s some pics.

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