Today was national cow day or something like that at Chick-fil-A. The kids were up early and ready to go to breakfast with their friend, Samantha. Anybody who wears a cow outfit of their own making got a free meal.

Lucia was up at midnight last night finishing up their costumes. Chick-fil-A was proactive enough to put paw prints, spots, tails, noses and ears on their website. Lucia printed them off and taped them to their T-shirts.

The kids had a major memory.

They had breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had a break in counseling long enough to join them for dinner at the local Chick on Pelham Road.

Lucia said she had her chicken quota for the day. Her cals were shot, but she will go running in the AM.

We were coming home tonight from our Boot Camp exercise group and Tristen announced quite emotively that she had a loose tooth. I checked it out and found not just one, but two loose teeth. She was ecstatic.

Her bottom two front teeth are quite shaky. They probably won’t make it through the weekend.

She asked if she could stay outside for a few minutes. She needed to dance in the driveway. Tristen has never found a  moment in her life that she has not been overly excited about. She is the perfect person to open presents. Everything is a party and everyday is full of surprises and she does not hold back from excited expressions when it comes to whatever is the next thing.

For her, this is a rite of passage into adulthood. Her friend is seven and has lost eight teeth thus far.

Once she came in the house she needed to call Grandma Mary and Grandma Pat and let them know the good news.

When Tristen was born in ‘01 a close friend saw her and nicknamed her Tritter. The name has stuck. She is called Tristen, Tritter, Trit and Tritty. Most of her friends, who know her well, do call her Tritter. Her brother and sister call her some form of her name or nickname, depending on the day.

Over the years It has been fun as Tristen has learned to communicate. She is learning new things and keeps us regularly updated on all kinds of information. Just today she said, “This is the best Flag Day ever.” I asked her what she was talking about and she said today was Flag Day. That one slipped by me.

But not Tristen.

Her updates on who is doing what, saying what and sometimes thinking what is commonplace.

We call these micro-commentaries on life’s happenings, Trits. Tritter gives us Trits throughout the day.

Unfortunately, it never occurred to me that millions of people would have an interest in this kind of communication. Twitter has now hit its stride. Oh well.

But before there was Twitter, there was Tritter.

Each month we make our way to Home Depot (first Sat) to do a building project. The kids have HD aprons and now a dozen or so nice pins representing each project of the month. Last month it was a birdhouse with a piece of plexiglass on the back so you can attach it to your window and get a peek into the back of the box.

The other day Lucia took a nap while Ansa took her normal mid-afternoon nap. When Ansa awoke she was rubbing Lucia’s face and being playful in a just-woke-up-sedate-kind-of-way, she began rubbing Lucia’s forehead and noticed the wrinkles. 

She told mommy, “I want some of them.”

And then she began to rub at the outer corners of her eyes and said, “Can I get some of them too?”

Lucia’s perspective and opinion about the incident was totally different than Ansa’s.