am I the only one who can still sing the "i'm a big kid now!" commercial?

At the end of April Julianna's preschool class took a "field trip" across the street and down a block to the Elementary School.  This was so that they could see where most of them would be going to school next year and get a chacne to see inside some of the classrooms and eat in the cafeteria.  Jonathan went with her and said it was a good trip.

It really makes you realize how difficult it's going to be in some respects.  One or two teachers trying to open 22 cartons of milk at the same time will be rough.  Twenty two kids trying to talk all at the same time without raising their hands would drive me insane.  Julianna is most excited about riding the bus and so far that's the only part that terrifies me.

At the same time, I know she is ready.  It will more than likely be a very smooth transistion from her class this year to an elementary school classroom next year.  She is reading on her own, she writes all uppercase and lowercase letters (although not always the captial letter first followed by lowercase letters next), she is almost totally self-sufficient with eating and using the bathroom.  Her teacher this year has done a great job at getting them to count to 100, walk in a line, wait their turn to talk.  I know it won't be perfect, but I do know that my daughter will succeed.  I am so proud of her.

Last week Jonathan took her up to the Elementary School again for kindergarten screening.  When the lady brought her back from testing she said that Julianna tested as if she were a six year, eleven month old and she is only five years and one month.  Obviously, there weren't many concerns. 

Julianna was as happy as can be when she recounted the days events to me later that evening.  She told me that she did almost miss one question when the lady asked her what a picture of a compass was.  At first she almost said clock but them she remembered it was a compass and the woman told her that most of the kids do say clock when they are asked so she did great!  Jules was thrilled to tell me that she saw Lucas and Aidan (our neighbors) and she asked me when summer was going to be over.

I'm glad that she is excited and I hope it stays that way.

I took both kids to the doctor at the end of April for their well-checks.  There's nothing terribly fascinating to report but I still want to get it recorded for my reference later. 

Julianna is still off-the-charts tall.  Her eyesight was tested (20/30 in one eye and 20/40 in the other).  Her hearing was fine. Her weight was right around 51 pounds.  There was nothing that our pediatrician was concerned about.  She did spend some time talking to Julianna about school next year, safety issues with strangers, and her new permanent tooth.

Joshua weighed in at 25 lbs 8 oz.  His head circumference was 18.75 inches and his length measured 32.75 inches which is all around the 46th percentile so he's dropped a little bit but nothing to be of concern.  I discussed with the pediatrician at length his eating challenges and she advised me to cut back his milk a little and try to increase his protein intake.

This is why I love our perdiatrician so much - well, at least one reason.  She assured me that I was doing my job as a parent.  She said that parents are to offer the child food, appropriate choices and not give in to protests for unhealthy items and that it is up to the child to make the choice whether to eat it or not.  It made me feel so much better to hear that I was doing the best I could do and that nothing will go wrong with Josh because he chooses not to eat what I provide.  Of course, this whole time he was scarfing down goldfish crackers that he had dug out of the diaper bag right in front of her.  Since that appointment he has started eating a little better and I am encouraged.

Anyway, we also talked about his physical development, his watery eyes, and dry skin spots.  The only thing the doctor was mildly concerned about was the fact that his eyes still water all the time.  She referred him to a pediatric opthamologist at Baptist to get them checked out.  She said that usually clogged tear ducts will straighten themselves out before the child is 18 months so she thought they should take a look just in case they want to do a very non-invasive surgery to fix the problem.  But she told me that they may just end up telling us to wait a little while longer and see if his eyes stop watering on their own.

So all in all my kids are perfect.  :)

What?! You don't throw your kids?

belated blogger

I haven't made time for this here blog thingy lately, but I'm going to try to do so now.  And I have a lot of posts I've never gotten around to writing so bear with me while I try to re-cap some of the past events of the last few weeks around here.

We had a fabulous Easter.  We ran from place to place beginning with our nephew's first birthday party, church, and then Jonathan's grandmother's house for Easter lunch where we also celebrated Dalford's 80th birthday. 

It was a beautiful weekend here and we enjoyed spending time in the sunshine after we ate.

While the men inspected the outside of Memama's house, Travis and Jennifer hid Easter eggs for Julianna to find.

Eventually, we came across a little frog which fascinated both kids. They chased it through the pineneedles.

I hope your Easter was as fabulous as ours!

on thoughts

Do you ever think about the present as if you're telling about it in the future?  Sometimes I watch my kids and I think about how I'll tell them stories when they're older like, "Josh, when you were about 18 months old you wouldn't eat a thing. No one would know it now!"

No?  Well then maybe it's just me.

note to self

Dear Self,
Next time you are making dinner, remember what happens when you give the little boy silly putty to play with at the counter.  Apparently, they aren't joking when they say that stuff is flammable.

Yours truly,

more on the birds

From my mom's Facebook post:

The birds hatched last Thursday and Friday. On Sunday evening they were gone and the mother bird was distraught! We are so sad for her. She came back to the nest several times Monday. ...the circle of life...survival of the fittest.