Amelia had a dentist appointment this morning. It went really well, but what stands out is this conversation with the dentist:
Dentist: how old are you now?
Amelia: (shyly holds up 3 fingers)
D: hmm.... I wonder how many that is? 2?
A: no! I'm not 2! I'm 3!
D: (looks to me) that surprises me! You are such a big girl, I thought you were at least 4! Are you almost 4?*
A: yes!
D: When will you be 4?
A: on my birthday!
D: (big, deep laugh, this answer has taken him off guard) You are right! I guess I asked the question wrong, didn't I?(Trying not to giggle) do you know what day your birthday is?
A: March! March 30!
D: Wow! That is very soon!
*and we finally have a dentist that TALKS to our kids at their level and spends a moment with them before shoving fingers in their mouth. Thank goodness.
Sent from my iPhone
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Yes, she is one of ours...
On President's Day...
I will never get tired of kindergarten writing. It is osum.
Here we have a picture of what I assume must be Abe Lincoln in his tall hat. Inside his hat, we find the following gem:
"I would keep a tent and dinosaurs in my hat bkus tary are osum."
Obviously. Because dinosaurs and tents are awesome.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
9 Month check up
Last Wednesday we had our 9 month visit with our doctor for Gemma. My primary concerns were:
1. Update me on the food rules. I knew the food rules in and out when William was a baby. I keep up on the new stuff, but not as diligently as before.
2. Ear check - did we clear up the ear infection yet from last week?
3. Catch up on our HepB vaccine. We declined this one at birth for the bean and need to catch up
So the answers were:
1. No major changes. Whatever you want to give her is fine as long as it isn't a choking hazard. Even peanut products.
2. Ears look great.
3. Done
Everything else checked out great. She's ahead of the game (obviously) on the gross motor skills and on track with everything else. He noted that she is teething all over the place, which is probably why she isn't sleeping great still.
Her stats were:
As an added bonus, that morning, Amelia woke me up and complained about her cheek hurting. And then pointed to her cheek next to her ear. Suddenly things started falling into place. No apetite. Check. Falling apart over every little thing. Check. A doozy of a head cold the previous week? Yes. Generally difficult to negotiate/crabby/uncooperative? Yes, yes, yes. So far, I had been chalking these things up to being a threenager. Yet, Wednesday morning when she came in complaining of cheek pain, I knew we probably had something more.
Luckily, the dr office was able to squeeze in an ear check for Amelia in conjunction with Gemma's well visit. Look at me multitask. The verdict? Ear infections, both sides. Ugly ear infections that had been brewing for some time according to the doctor. He was very surprised to hear she hadn't complained once before this morning*.
* This makes two weeks in a row of ear infections for a grand total of four infected ears at our house and twenty days of remembering to give the antibiotic twice a day.
This also makes twice I have had to present kiddos to Nurse Skeptical. Kids with no fever and no specific complaint other than they aren't sleeping well and aren't eating. C'mon mom, her look tells me, get with the program. KIDS CHOOSE NOT TO EAT AND SLEEP ALL THE TIME. For NO REASON AT ALL!
I'll also add that twice I have been right about the ears being a problem.
1. Update me on the food rules. I knew the food rules in and out when William was a baby. I keep up on the new stuff, but not as diligently as before.
2. Ear check - did we clear up the ear infection yet from last week?
3. Catch up on our HepB vaccine. We declined this one at birth for the bean and need to catch up
So the answers were:
1. No major changes. Whatever you want to give her is fine as long as it isn't a choking hazard. Even peanut products.
2. Ears look great.
3. Done
Everything else checked out great. She's ahead of the game (obviously) on the gross motor skills and on track with everything else. He noted that she is teething all over the place, which is probably why she isn't sleeping great still.
Her stats were:
Weight 20 lbs 12 oz (85%ile for kids her age)
Height 29.5 inches (97%ile for kids her age)
Head: 45.7 cms(unknown, but probably large)
Which means, she is on track to be an Amazon. Or a giant. Or tall. Or Gemma. For reference: William's 9 month appointment & stats and Amelia's 9 month appointment and stats.
As an added bonus, that morning, Amelia woke me up and complained about her cheek hurting. And then pointed to her cheek next to her ear. Suddenly things started falling into place. No apetite. Check. Falling apart over every little thing. Check. A doozy of a head cold the previous week? Yes. Generally difficult to negotiate/crabby/uncooperative? Yes, yes, yes. So far, I had been chalking these things up to being a threenager. Yet, Wednesday morning when she came in complaining of cheek pain, I knew we probably had something more.
Luckily, the dr office was able to squeeze in an ear check for Amelia in conjunction with Gemma's well visit. Look at me multitask. The verdict? Ear infections, both sides. Ugly ear infections that had been brewing for some time according to the doctor. He was very surprised to hear she hadn't complained once before this morning*.
* This makes two weeks in a row of ear infections for a grand total of four infected ears at our house and twenty days of remembering to give the antibiotic twice a day.
This also makes twice I have had to present kiddos to Nurse Skeptical. Kids with no fever and no specific complaint other than they aren't sleeping well and aren't eating. C'mon mom, her look tells me, get with the program. KIDS CHOOSE NOT TO EAT AND SLEEP ALL THE TIME. For NO REASON AT ALL!
I'll also add that twice I have been right about the ears being a problem.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Amelia
This is an adorable story about Amelia, but it requires a bit of background.
Amelia started taking ballet lessons this year from a woman who has a studio in her home. She is a member of our church and has known our whole family for five years now. In fact, when I was pregnant with Amelia, she told me I would be having a baby girl. She was so sure, even when I was certain it was a boy.
Starting in January, the small group of girls in Amelia's class have been working on their routine for the Big Dance Show in May. The dance is choreographed to have this group of girls having a little tea party.
As part of the routine, the girls use a tea set as props. With Amelia's permission, we packed up her little, plastic tea set and brought it in for use during rehearsals. The tea set has cups, plates, saucers, silverware in five different colors. Each week when we arrive at ballet, the table is set with a tea cup and saucer at each chair. The tea cups and saucers are all mixed up colorwise and it looks adorable. And every week Amelia has to match everything up before she can go into the dance classroom. It still looks adorable.
These cups have generated several funny stories that really demonstrate Amelia's personality quite well....
1.
A few weeks ago, the cups and saucers weren't on the table yet and the girls came to sit at the table. The teacher passed out the cups and saucer willy nilly to each girl and the girls got ready to get down to practicing their dance. Except for Amelia. Amelia was not having any of it. "No, no, no, no! The cups are not together with their little plates!"
The dance teacher suggested that it might be fun to have them all mixed up one time for fun.
Amelia disagreed. But, she was in a difficult position of having to disagree with an adult with her mama sitting right behind her shaking her head.
Amelia pressed on. "The tea set is mine," she insisted "I should get to decide. The cups and plates should match."
The dance teacher looked at me and laughed heartily. She then whispered "she is SO related to your husband, isn't she?"
Why, yes. Yes she is.
They switched the cups to be matching the saucers and all was right in Amelia's world again.
I attempted to have a conversation with Amelia on the way home about going the flow and listening to teachers. I don't think I made much headway.
2.
A few weeks later, we were back at ballet and the table was set as usual - all willy nilly with no regard to the order required by Amelia. She righted things as went off to dance. When the girls came out to practice there was a problem. ONE OF THE CUPS was missing. Everyone looked around for it and someone questioned which cup color they were looking for. Amelia surveyed the scene for a beat and announced that it was the light blue cup missing.
Again, the dance teacher looked over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised to say "A little engineer in training? She is so like John!"
3.
We were running late to ballet and we arrived the table was set, again with not a care to matching the cups and saucers*. Amelia was in such a rush to get to ballet, she didn't stop to correct the disorganized place setting on the table. When she came out mid way through the class to practice the dance she exclaimed, "Oh no! The cups!"
However, the music was already started and the girls were supposed to be dancing. Part of the dance requires the girls to get up and switch chairs. Amelia followed along with the dance steps. I could see she was plotting something...but I couldn't figure out what.
Until it was time to move. When she stood up to move to the next chair, she simply took her cup with her and left the mismatched saucer behind. She matched this cup with the correct color saucer at the next seat and attempted to take the second cup with her again. The dance teacher was onto her and made her leave the cups alone this time. "Amelia! Just dance!"
And she did. But, she didn't like it. As soon as the music was done, she hopped around the table and righted the colors with a big sigh of relief.
And the dance teacher looked to me and just shrugged her shoulders. "What can you do?"
*For the record, I find it quite entertaining to watch Amelia problem solve her way through making her world organized the way she wants it.
Amelia started taking ballet lessons this year from a woman who has a studio in her home. She is a member of our church and has known our whole family for five years now. In fact, when I was pregnant with Amelia, she told me I would be having a baby girl. She was so sure, even when I was certain it was a boy.
Starting in January, the small group of girls in Amelia's class have been working on their routine for the Big Dance Show in May. The dance is choreographed to have this group of girls having a little tea party.
As part of the routine, the girls use a tea set as props. With Amelia's permission, we packed up her little, plastic tea set and brought it in for use during rehearsals. The tea set has cups, plates, saucers, silverware in five different colors. Each week when we arrive at ballet, the table is set with a tea cup and saucer at each chair. The tea cups and saucers are all mixed up colorwise and it looks adorable. And every week Amelia has to match everything up before she can go into the dance classroom. It still looks adorable.
These cups have generated several funny stories that really demonstrate Amelia's personality quite well....
1.
A few weeks ago, the cups and saucers weren't on the table yet and the girls came to sit at the table. The teacher passed out the cups and saucer willy nilly to each girl and the girls got ready to get down to practicing their dance. Except for Amelia. Amelia was not having any of it. "No, no, no, no! The cups are not together with their little plates!"
The dance teacher suggested that it might be fun to have them all mixed up one time for fun.
Amelia disagreed. But, she was in a difficult position of having to disagree with an adult with her mama sitting right behind her shaking her head.
Amelia pressed on. "The tea set is mine," she insisted "I should get to decide. The cups and plates should match."
The dance teacher looked at me and laughed heartily. She then whispered "she is SO related to your husband, isn't she?"
Why, yes. Yes she is.
They switched the cups to be matching the saucers and all was right in Amelia's world again.
I attempted to have a conversation with Amelia on the way home about going the flow and listening to teachers. I don't think I made much headway.
2.
A few weeks later, we were back at ballet and the table was set as usual - all willy nilly with no regard to the order required by Amelia. She righted things as went off to dance. When the girls came out to practice there was a problem. ONE OF THE CUPS was missing. Everyone looked around for it and someone questioned which cup color they were looking for. Amelia surveyed the scene for a beat and announced that it was the light blue cup missing.
Again, the dance teacher looked over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised to say "A little engineer in training? She is so like John!"
3.
We were running late to ballet and we arrived the table was set, again with not a care to matching the cups and saucers*. Amelia was in such a rush to get to ballet, she didn't stop to correct the disorganized place setting on the table. When she came out mid way through the class to practice the dance she exclaimed, "Oh no! The cups!"
However, the music was already started and the girls were supposed to be dancing. Part of the dance requires the girls to get up and switch chairs. Amelia followed along with the dance steps. I could see she was plotting something...but I couldn't figure out what.
Until it was time to move. When she stood up to move to the next chair, she simply took her cup with her and left the mismatched saucer behind. She matched this cup with the correct color saucer at the next seat and attempted to take the second cup with her again. The dance teacher was onto her and made her leave the cups alone this time. "Amelia! Just dance!"
And she did. But, she didn't like it. As soon as the music was done, she hopped around the table and righted the colors with a big sigh of relief.
And the dance teacher looked to me and just shrugged her shoulders. "What can you do?"
*For the record, I find it quite entertaining to watch Amelia problem solve her way through making her world organized the way she wants it.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
A Volunteer
I stand in the front hallway waiting. At times, I wonder if this waiting, waiting is the best use of my time....I have so many thing to do. My list is a mile long.
And then here they come around the corner. Each one of the twenty faces light up when they see me standing and waiting. They shyly wave and a few exuberantly wave both arms over their head while doing a little jig in their place in line. A few look over their shoulder in delight to whisper "WILLIAM! YOUR MOM IS HERE!" Finally, my boy comes around the corner and when his eyes meet mine, a smile like the breaking dawn spreads across his face. He has the most beautiful smile, my boy. Totally irresistible.
"Mommy! You came today!"
"Of course I did - remember? We talked about it this morning."
He reaches his hand out and we hold hands the rest of the way down the hallway to his classroom.
"Mom? I'm so, SO glad you are here."
In this moment, I'm not sure Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. I think it might be this kindergarten class.
I am aware of the rarity of this moment. My child is excited to see me at school. He calls me by name in front of his peers. Seeing me has brought a smile to his face. This precious boy is so glad I am here. I understand he will not feel this way about me forever and I relish these moments that are just the two of us. By being here, he knows that he is important. He is important enough that I stop doing everything for an hour a week to come to his school and help his teacher. Some days I get to work with William. Most days, I am working with other students who need a little extra help.
So yes, most of the day I am check, check, checking things off a list. All day long, I refer to my handwritten and mental checklist of things to do. Pay the preschool, pick up milk at the store, wash the shirt for purple day, pack lunches, get notes ready for work meetings, etc.
At the beginning of this year, I committed to spending one hour a week at William's school helping out. I have a lot to offer with a background in education and I love the opportunity to help. However, there have been a lot of other perks. I know each of his classmates by name. I have observed (for better or worse) the classroom environment my child works in. I have a personal relationship with his teacher.
In the end, I think although I am the one donating my time, I am coming out ahead.
And then here they come around the corner. Each one of the twenty faces light up when they see me standing and waiting. They shyly wave and a few exuberantly wave both arms over their head while doing a little jig in their place in line. A few look over their shoulder in delight to whisper "WILLIAM! YOUR MOM IS HERE!" Finally, my boy comes around the corner and when his eyes meet mine, a smile like the breaking dawn spreads across his face. He has the most beautiful smile, my boy. Totally irresistible.
"Mommy! You came today!"
"Of course I did - remember? We talked about it this morning."
He reaches his hand out and we hold hands the rest of the way down the hallway to his classroom.
"Mom? I'm so, SO glad you are here."
In this moment, I'm not sure Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. I think it might be this kindergarten class.
I am aware of the rarity of this moment. My child is excited to see me at school. He calls me by name in front of his peers. Seeing me has brought a smile to his face. This precious boy is so glad I am here. I understand he will not feel this way about me forever and I relish these moments that are just the two of us. By being here, he knows that he is important. He is important enough that I stop doing everything for an hour a week to come to his school and help his teacher. Some days I get to work with William. Most days, I am working with other students who need a little extra help.
So yes, most of the day I am check, check, checking things off a list. All day long, I refer to my handwritten and mental checklist of things to do. Pay the preschool, pick up milk at the store, wash the shirt for purple day, pack lunches, get notes ready for work meetings, etc.
At the beginning of this year, I committed to spending one hour a week at William's school helping out. I have a lot to offer with a background in education and I love the opportunity to help. However, there have been a lot of other perks. I know each of his classmates by name. I have observed (for better or worse) the classroom environment my child works in. I have a personal relationship with his teacher.
In the end, I think although I am the one donating my time, I am coming out ahead.
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