Busy, busy, busy

I wish there was some explanation other than “Life” for why I can’t get done all the things I want to.  Like staying up to date with my blogging.  My most recent excuse is that my computer is up in my bedroom, which I only go into at night.  Day time hours are spent running around elsewhere, and by the time I’ve made it back to my room I just collapse exhausted on my bed next to my husband who holds me for the 2 seconds it takes for me to fall asleep, then rolls me back to my side of the bed when he’s finally tired, 20 minutes later.  I’m never around my computer.  And I’m not going to type this all up on my phone.  Sorry friends. So I need a laptop right? Maybe someday.  Luckily (?) Brooks is feeling sick and won’t let me put him down.  So while Maggie is at school, I can’t do my dishes, sweep, mop, work out, vacuum, shower, dust, scrub, cook, or sew like I normally would.  I’m “stuck” holding a lightly sleeping baby.  It’s nice. 

I’ve had so many things on my mind lately, things that have happened, or that Maggie has done.  Now that I’ve sat down to write about them….they’re gone from my brain. hmm…  So, I guess an update.  My daughter talks a lot. Almost constantly, if I’m honest.  Lately it has been ALL about the alphabet.  She loves spelling and telling you what sounds which letters make and what colors or foods or musical instruments start with said letters.  Maggie has figured out phonetics.  If she’s in the mood she can spell almost anything.  Which has me wondering: HOW can Hooked On Phonics actually work? We pronounce almost nothing phonetically.  Here are some sample words that she’s insisted she is spelling correctly: caoo (cow) scroo(screw) jackit(jacket) thu(the) nee(knee) shoo(shoe) Really, why are there so many silent letters in our words? A friend says she just “blames the British.” That’s fair.  Maggie’s also suction cupped herself to braille. It’s so wonderful! She can tell you the dots of all the letters and most of the numbers.  We just have to work on her understanding the feel of the letters and words.  She loves it though.  Loves her braille class every Friday and loves to “scribble” on the Perkins Brailler we have at home. 

So we spend all day talking about letters.  It’s kind of fun, and also gets old fast.  And so I’ve lucked out that it was recently Easter.  Maggie LOVES Easter eggs.  (As she says, “I don’t WANT real eggs or scrambled eggs. Mommy can have real eggs.  Maggie wants TOY eggs.” She knows what she likes.)  I started with a few eggs in her basket that had some jelly beans and chocolate eggs. After the mess that followed that mistake we’ve now switched to dry pinto and lima beans.  Man, it was a sticky mess. She didn’t eat the candy, it just got sticky and nasty from so much handling.  This girl can spend literal hours emptying and refilling Easter eggs.  So when I’m done talking about letters and being told by a 3 year old that I can’t spell correctly, I plop her on the floor with a bag of beans and some eggs. They must be the kind with the two halves attached with the miniscule strip of plastic though.  There is no enjoyment in an egg that is in two separate pieces.  What strange eccentricities evolve for comfort and continuity of routines.

Oh! Videos! I believe I’ve talked about this before, but here it is again because it’s been such a great success.  I love looking through old photos and seeing past activities and friends and such.  I wanted to provide that experience for Maggie.  We’ve started taking videos of life for Maggie.  Especially of things that we’d take pictures of, that were a special occasion and should be remembered.  Now we’ve got a bunch of memories for Maggie to reexperience.  When she hears the sounds the computer makes when starting up she immediately asks to watch videos.  I love it.  She has her favorites of course.  Walking in sand, crashing a cart, talking about her first day of school, jumping in a bouncy castle, riding a pony. I’m so glad to have found a way to help her remember our fun times together.

One last quick note, since I’ve been working on this post for over a week now, coming back to the keyboard for a few more sentences every time I walk by the computer.  I just read THIS post by my friend Kelly. I’d like to piggy back onto her ah-ha moment.  I love my life.  I am very proud of what I do.  I LOVE my children.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  I wouldn’t trade my insanely messy kitchen, the pinto beans scattered allllllll over my living room floor, the baby sweetly snoring in the bed on my right, or the singing I hear from the next room as Maggie’s waking up. (I have to hurry if I’m going to finish before she demands some attention)  I love my career choice. And I love that my husband is willing and able to work so hard so that I can be at home with our kids.

PS. If someone did want to come clean my kitchen, that’d be great.  I love Maggie helping me cook, but making 3 types of cheesecake yesterday for our scout fundraiser tonight has made a HUGE mess.

Miss Independent

I underestimate my daughter. She can do anything. I know that. But some times I know it in theory and not in practice.
Most recent example: Every time I go anywhere during the day, I now have to get two kids into and out of the car. (BTW I had a baby in December-more on that here) I think to myself, “Man, this would be easier if Maggie was just a little bigger and she could get into her carseat by herself.” About two weeks ago, I was struggling with Brooks crying in his seat and Maggie whining about wanting to go home and eat lunch. I opened her door, put her hand on her carseat and told her to climb in.  I was done dealing with the whining and I knew that would at least keep her close to the car. I put Brooks in on the other side, then came around the car and Maggie was in the car, trying to get into her seat. She took forever, but she got it!
Why do I doubt her? I think to myself, Well when she’s older or bigger or understands better, then she’ll be able to do such and such. Truth is, a lot of those things she can do now, if I just let her. As a parent it’s really so much faster, cleaner, and usually easier to do things yourself for your children. However, if you do everything for them, they will grow up with a crazy sense of entitlement and be able to accomplish little to nothing on their own.  I believe in letting your kids help you cook, clean, rake leaves, take out the trash, carry in groceries from the car. As the oldest child of 6 I always made my younger siblings do things for me; or at least help me. I mean really, part of the reason you have kids is so you don’t have to do chores for a while. Am I right? :)
My problem is that I don’t always make Maggie do things. It’s horrible, but I do have this mind set that she’s different.  She’s special. It’ll be too hard for her. She’ll make such a mess, I’d much rather just do it myself. I don’t want her to hate doing such and such because I tried to make her do it too young, or before she really understands. And deep down, there’s the fear that maybe she can’t do it. I have these feelings yet I get frustrated with people who do things for her. 
Many people treat her like a big (ish) well spoken baby. They want to carry her everywhere and pick her up when she falls. Give her everything she wants and do whatever they can to stop her from crying.  I’m glad I’ve at least moved past that part. I know she’s a toddler, perfectly capable of walking, and of communicating what she wants and needs. Just because what she wants is usually not what’s happening doesn’t mean you should give it to her. She, like everyone else, has to learn that not everything can be the way she wants it to be. She’s even pretty good at calming herself when a situation she doesn’t like is explained to her.
I get to help people realize that she needs to walk, not be carried, so she can learn the layout of a place and how to get around in it. That when she screams because some other kid is playing with a toy she wants, don’t take it from that kid and give it to her. Just tell her to wait her turn. She has to share like everyone else. And that when she falls down, please don’t pick her up unless she’s screaming and bleeding. Let her pick herself up. I know Maggie’s going to fall a lot, and she needs to know how to pick herself up.
Now I get to tell people to let her walk without holding her hand, let her climb into the car by herself, make her be a part of the preschool group and go inside from recess when it’s time, even though she doesn’t want to. She’ll get over it.
I let Maggie figure out how to get into her carseat by herself and now she gets into and out of her high chair, climbs up and down the slide in her room and goes potty by herself. There may be a bit of a mess involved, some spilled juice or toilet paper on the floor, but Maggie insists on doing these things by herself now that she knows how. I have to let her. I have to consciously think, Yea, Maggie can do this. Yes she can help me make cookies, and it’ll be a mess, and that’s ok because then she can help me clean it up. I need to let her try instead of assuming she won’t be able.
I am so proud of Maggie. I’m glad she’s so daring and adventurous. It’s inspiring.  I love her!

Singing a song is fun to do!

Maggie has been such fun lately!! We've taken some videos (and pictures, you know how I love pictures) of recent activities. I was trying to figure out a way that she could better remember things we've done; have an experience like looking through old pictures. So I was listening to the videos with her the other day. My goodness! She loved it!!! She had her favorites of course, and wanted to hear them over and over. I'm not sure she understands that she's hearing herself, but we'll keep it up and I know she'll get it soon. She's so smart.

A small part of me has been sad because Maggie liked to listen to songs more than have them sung to her or to sing them herself. I really love singing, so she was subjected to it anyway, even though she would sometimes protest the whole time. On Sunday night we were winding down and getting ready for bed. She was sitting on the couch talking with Brandon and asks him what song they should sing together. They proceed to spend the next 15 minutes or so singing every song Brandon could think of. What a proud daddy! They were adorable!!! Now she wants us to sing with her all the time! I love it! I love singing in the car with her as we drive to school. Which she is absolutely loving, by the way.
So here we are, her laying on my lap as we sing "I'm a mean old witch" together on the front lawn. We're happy. And singing. Which makes us more happy!

Happy Days!

It's been about 2 weeks now that Maggie has been going to school. Can I just say WOW!?! What a drastic change. Those first couple days were so SO hard for me. The teachers said each day that she was crying less and less, but she still was! I think it was the 3rd day, I just came home from dropping her off and curled up in my bed for half an hour trying to figure out if this was the right thing for Maggie. I decided to just keep trying for at least a little bit longer.

Each time I went to pick her up the news was better and better. The teachers were getting to know her quirks while she was learning the routine and what is expected of her. The last few days she's had only a couple small fits (no full on tantrums like the first few days). Thursday they said she didn't cry at all until I came to pick her up and told her we needed to go home. She wanted to stay! What a 180. I am so grateful! She is learning a lot about how to interact with people and I know this is going to be a great experience for her.

As my neighbor said when I told her things were going so much better, "You need to give that girl more credit." She's right, I do. Maggie is an amazing girl, she can and will learn. She can do it! I can do it!

(Wrote the beginning of this post a little over a week ago….oops) So now it’s been almost a month.  I couldn’t be happier with how she’s doing in school!  She loves her teachers, she tolerates the kids.  Her teacher said that today she explored the classroom by herself for the first time.  They found a wake of destruction in her path – broken toy, box of tissues almost empty, and chairs pulled away from one of the tables.  But they were really happy that she was comfortable enough to move around the room on her own.  She really loves going to school. 

Potty training is…ok. She does a great job when we’re out and about, but for some reason when we’re at home all day she just gets too busy playing and won’t stop for a potty break until she’s already wet her panties a little. Sigh. Some days we’ll go through 6 pairs and then she’ll make it 2 days without an accident. I guess it’s just all about practice and reinforcement.

We went to the doctor, just for a normal check up.  Maggie has gained 2.5 pounds in the last 3 months! That’s more than whole year before that!  We’re really excited that the growth hormone seems to be working. She still needs to get another blood test to make sure they don’t need to switch the dosage or anything.  Her pediatrician says it’s a good idea that we’re doing the hormones, because her projected height without them is 4’9”. HAHA!!! She’d be a blind midget…. Sigh. With them she’ll probably be around 5’2”. I’ll take it!

One of Maggie’s favorite activities is jumping. On the trampoline, the bed, really anything bouncy.  I love how her hair poofs out on the way down. So cute!And really, could she get more happy? I submit that she cannot.

First day of school (again)

So we started off this whole blog with a first day of school. That was technically a first day of play group that happened to take place in what is now her classroom.  I stayed with her the whole 2 hours as we played with our friend Ella and her little sister Jenna.  Now it’s for real. Kind of.  She’s started pre preschool! It’s still so funny in my brain. Who sends their 3 year old to school? I do. And I’m excited about it.

The day started off ok. I’m really incapable of being on time to almost anything, so we were a couple minutes late. I’m really going to work on that.  Promise.  I wasn’t the only one late though, and they were running behind schedule anyway. We first stopped in the front yard to take some pictures before we headed out.  Even that was a bit of a trial.  But I had to document the adorable backpack I made for her the night before. I went looking at Target for one, but she’s so tiny, even the littlest ones would have made her tip over.

I stayed for the first half hour or so, just watching.  They start class by letting the kids play with toys first, to let the adjust to just being in the classroom, then they move to “circle time” where they begin learning letters and sounds and other fun pre preschool things. :)

And lets add in some explanation here: Maggie is in a class of 7 kids that are all special needs.  I’m not really sure what they’re needs are, but Ella is in her class. She is visually impaired and was in playgroup with Maggie earlier in the year.  One boy has some physical disabilities, walks with crutches or a walker.  The others are speech delayed or have some level of autism, I believe. There is a teacher and an aid to help with just these 7 kids.  That makes me so happy!  If they are anything like Maggie, they each need reassurance at every change in routine and all seem to be pretty stubborn.  So within the small amount of time I was there they moved from playing to circle time. One kid just screamed when told he had to put the blocks away and come sit with the rest of the class. He set off two other kids who are apparently sympathy criers, and this set Maggie on edge too. She didn’t want to sit in the little chairs, but eventually was ok with it. Then they sang a welcome song and that made her very happy. 

Move over to singing time, and there’s a whole new set of problems.  Maggie didn’t want to sit on the floor. Sigh. I decided to leave at that point. They obviously know how to handle crying kids. I got a text about an hour and a half into school asking if I’d bring milk when I come to get her. Another sigh.  That means things are not going very well.  I show up and she is asleep in Laura’s arms, has been for half an hour, but is still making the little sobbing sounds.  Yup, that means she cried so hard and for so long that she fell asleep and was still calming down half an hour later. I proudly report that I did not burst into tears, even though I really wanted to.  I got her stuff and took her from Laura.  She woke up during the transfer and was very glad it was me. She drank some milk and when I asked her what she did at school, she said, “I cried. I was sad.” Heart tearing apart! What am I doing to my little girl?!? I talked with her teachers for a little bit and though they were being very reassuring that things would get better and that it wasn’t all that bad, I could tell that it had been a hard day for everyone.  We went home and she got all the things that bring her comfort and as we started talking more about school, she didn’t say anything negative. It was all about the play dough, which I know she didn’t touch. Sitting at the art table, where she wouldn’t do the painting. Drinking apple juice, which I’m sure is about the time when Laura texted me to bring milk.  Reading stories, they told me she wouldn’t sit down.  She seemed to be remembering everything in a very positive light. This was very calming for me.

Today was her second day.  The morning was rushed again.  I had to actually wake her up to make sure she had time to eat before we left. She was only reluctant to go because she wanted to stay in her high chair, one of her very favorite spots to be.  We were a bit late again, I swear I’ll get better, but came in just as they were heading to circle time.  She was eager to join in and talk about the sound the letter P makes.  So I left, went to sewing group at my church and worked on a quilt for my cousin.  I came about 10 minutes early to get her.  They are out on the playground for the last 15 minutes or so of school.  I saw her talking with Lauri, her orientation and mobility specialist, and could see she wasn’t upset, so I went and talked with her teachers. 

They said today was much much better.  There was still some difficulty with transition, and Sandra (our old VI specialist) who had shown up to drop off some braille books for Maggie actually went to the store and got some milk. Bless her. She’s doing better!!! She likes school enough to say it. And we asked at dinner if she was excited to go back tomorrow and she said yes. I have faith in this program and in these teachers. I feel so very blessed! Here’s to a good day tomorrow.

 

MRI results

We’re all good. With the exception of a missing bright spot on the pituitary gland, everything is as it was before.  This lack of bright spot may indicate diabetes incipidus. Yay. We’re watching for the signs, but as of her last test results everything is fine.  She’ll be getting another blood test soon to see if all her growth hormone levels are where they should be or if the dosage needs to change.

Everything on the medical front seems to be winding down to a manageable pace, for which we are very grateful.  I’m glad to have a healthy little girl.

Family, Hormones, and the Potty

July was filled with family. A trip to LA to see Brandon’s cousin and her cute family, a visit from some Canadian family, then Maggie and I took a trip to Utah and Idaho to see my family. A week after we got home was a birthday extravaganza (yup, 50ish people in our tiny backyard) for Maggie turning 3 and Brandon turning…older. ;) He’s a young 27 now.

And Maggie’s 3 years old!!!  I can’t believe it!  She’s officially a big girl now. As the realization comes that she is getting older, if not bigger, we’re instituting some changes around the house.  Maggie is adjusting surprisingly well, which gives me hope for the upcoming school year. 

We are no longer using the tray of her high chair.  It’s the kind of booster seat that just hooks to a normal chair and the tray attaches to that.  Her legs are long enough though, that she was starting to make the whole thing tip, which resulted in milk everywhere on multiple occasions.  She is still sitting in the booster seat part of the chair, but she now eats at the table like a big girl!

Maggie has been on growth hormone for almost 2 months now.  She is amazing!  She reminds us at night that, “It’s time to do my hormones.”  When we first started we wanted her to be happy not traumatized, so we offered her ice cream after she got her shot for the first few times.  It’s now expected.  So she reminds us to do her shots, just so she can get some ice cream.  A small miscalculation on my part…at least she’s getting calories?  No, she does not get ice cream every night, but she definitely asks.  She doesn’t cry at all, unless ridiculously tired, and then the tears are a result of that, not necessarily the shot.  She will not let me put it anywhere but her legs.  It must hurt less there, because every time I’ve tried to put it in her arm or back or belly after the first week or so she screams.  When administering the shot, you count to 6 to make sure all the medicine has come out.  This helps Maggie a lot, because she can count, and she knows that after 6 its all over.  I’m really so proud of her.  She’s a trooper.

Our biggest change lately has been potty training!!! She’s done amazing!  As always.  Have I mentioned my daughter is incredible? Because she is.  We’re starting the third week and the past few days she’s been without an accident!!  She does NOT like having wet panties, so that’s a big motivator for her.  And an M&M after she goes in the potty doesn’t hurt either.  The first week I though I was going to die though.  17 accidents the first day. Only 4 the next, but that’s because I had her sitting on the potty most of the day out of my lack of desire to do another load of laundry (which I had to do anyway).  It took until the end of day 5 for her to preemptively be able to tell me she had to pee.  She would tell me she had to got potty as she was peeing. Sigh.  But she finally got it!!!! I was so SO happy.  I mean, it was day 5….I thought maybe she was just too young to understand the feeling of, I have to pee, and then being able to hold it until she got to a potty.  But she’s not. I just had to wait it out.  I know that I’ll be doing lots more laundry, but I accept it because I do not want 2 kids in diapers.

Which brings us to…I’M PREGNANT!!!  Due December 23rd with a little man.  We are SO thrilled!!!  Brandon found Maggie a couple books at the thrift store about babies, and Maggie absolutely loves them.  Grover Takes Care of Baby, and I’m a Big Sister.  She talks all the time about baby brother.  “Mommy has a baby in her tummy!” is one of her favorite mantras to chant while spinning in circles or rhythmically flinging her slinky.  And whenever she’s sitting on my lap (which is quickly disappearing) she pats my belly and says, “Hi baby. I love you!”  It’s so precious!!

So recap: Family is great. Hormones are going very well (hopefully we’ll see some results soon). My little 3 year old is sitting at the table now, and going in the potty, and will have a new baby brother in December. 

We’re moving her crib into a toddler bed soon too. Which will then lead to no diapers at night, I hope.  Life is busy and wonderful, and we are so very happy. Except to be dealing with Thursday’s MRI.  That pretty much promises to be awful. Sigh. But Brandon’s family will be here that night for the weekend, which is awesome.  So hopefully that all equals out to pretty good. That’s sound math right? Awful + Awesome = Pretty Good? I’m saying yes.