The Tooth Fairy, lice, Little Fish, and bike rides

Lily has been practicing singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth".
Her two bottom front teeth are now growing; her two top front teeth are not, yet. Last night, the Tooth Fairy visited and gave her a dollar. (NZ$1.00! - that's a lot for a little tooth!) This was for one of the side teeth near the front of her lower jaw. It had been pulled out when she bit into a towel in frustration and anger at something, and then pulled the towel.
She asked me the other day "Is the tooth fairy real?" I replied that the tooth fairy was made up to help children overcome their concern about their teeth coming out and whether it would hurt, and that the fairy was real if she wanted it to be, but that it was really me if she wanted to know. She seemed happy with that.

Lily is back at school after the summer hols, but has been suffering from persistent head lice. She gets them at school (the children have a head lice exchange scheme in operation), and then when we have cleared them up, she gets them again. We have avoided using the strong insecticidal shampoos that are available (too dangerous), having instead done the louse-clearing the time-consuming manual way with a lice comb and some aromatic oils that make it difficult for the little beggars to hang on to the hairs or scalp. I read somewhere that children tend to equate the amount of time you spend with them with love. I can think of more enjoyable ways to spend time with a child than lice-clearing.

I am trying to get Lily some music lessons to play the violin (that I blogged about below). I have not booked her in for extra art classes this term (at a place called "The Art Station"), as I have done that for 2 or 3 terms in a row and I don't want her schedule to get crammed too full. Children must be allowed time to experience just being children, without having every waking moment structured to death for them by well-intentioned parents. She has been going for about a year to swimming lessons at the YMCA tepid baths, every Tuesday after school, and is progressing really well - she loves the water. That is why I sometimes call her "Little Fish" - a nickname that she is quite proud of.

Lily has now started going on short bike rides with me - I have removed the trainer wheels from her pink bicycle, and she rides it on two wheels just fine now. Steep hills are a bit scary though, so we avoid those for the moment. Her bike has a rear brake incorporated into the rear wheel hub (just back-pedal to brake), and a front brake activated using a hand grip on the RHS of the handlebar. Her hands are not quite big/strong enough to operate the handbrake properly yet.