Hodge Podge

Ava saw her pediatrician today and was given the green light for Wednesday as long as she doesn't get sick between now and then. I have my fingers crossed and am praying for a Hail Mary.

The appointment went well. I had to take Olivia with me since she didn't have school. I was telling her before the doctor walked in that the appointment was not for her or about her and that she needed to sit and be quiet so he could talk with Ava and give her her physical. So the door opens and the doctor walks in and he looks at Olivia and says, "Hi."

Olivia says with a big grin, "Hi doctor, How are you doing today?"

And he tells her, "Fine. Thank you for asking."

And then he looks at me and says, "Wow mom, you are doing a great job. In my 3 1/2 years here she is the only kid who has ever asked ME how I'm doing. Your kids are very polite."

I must say- they are very polite and have great manners. They both know how to use 'please, thank you, I'm sorry, you're forgiven, may I be excused from the table?, cover their faces when they sneeze or cough,' and all the other niceties I can't think of at the moment. Don't get me wrong though. They know how to fight and squabble just the same and give the remark, 'you're not my friend anymore' at the first instance of not getting their way. It was just nice today to see Olivia be kind and chatty even after I told her this appointment was not about her and she needed to be quiet. She wasn't intrusive during the exam. She was really quiet and good. And she knows the difference between when and what she can say and when to not speak in public. She really is learning every day.

I look at her and sometimes I think about how trying it can be being a SAHM and then she does something like this and I remember why it is so important to be there and teach her the things I want instilled in her. And on days like today I feel like, "Yeah. I did make the right choice for myself and I'm doing a good job at it."

Sometimes I question if I'm teaching them the right stuff. If I'm doing enough or playing enough. I'm sure there's a lot of different techniques I could use to educate my kids but so far things appear to be on track. Olivia can write all of her letters, she began spelling 4 letter words awhile ago and now will come up to me in the kitchen or somewhere and say, "Mommy, how do you spell water?" Then I tell her and I can hear her walk away chanting W-A-T-E-R all over the house. She can read some words by sounding them out too. It's kinda scary because Dave and I have become used to spelling everything out in front of her and soon we won't be able to anymore.

And then there's Ava. She didn't want to listen to books in the same way Olivia would so I figured she would struggle to learn but then she surprised me. She just has a different way of learning and completely different interests. We were walking down the street the other day and she pointed at the stop sign and told me, "Look mommy, it's an octagon." Baffled she knew that I asked her what other shapes she saw. She named them all. Then she saw the letters that are sometimes carved into the sidewalks for the power/water companies and she begins walking and reading the letters out loud. She knows all of her letters.

I've asked her so many times, "What is this letter, Ava?" when we are in the house and she looks up at the ceiling, cocks her head to the side, and puts her chubby little finger to her cheek and tells me something random. I end up thinking, 'oh well she'll learn them at some point she just won't know them all before she starts preschool like Olivia did.' But she does know them- capital and lower case. She just doesn't spew it out in the conventional way. She even knows what sound each letter makes. Ironically, Dave and I believe she is farther ahead of Olivia when Liv began preschool. With the help of Olivia's constant practice Ava has reaped all of the rewards. The proof is that Ava did Olivia's dance routine after only seeing it performed a few times. She picks stuff up so quickly. It's so exciting and so terrifying at the same time. I look at Ava and my baby is gone and she has been replaced by a developing 3 year old.

I am so happy that I spend every day with her and Olivia. I get to see it all. I get to be there for all the 'moments' and that makes me very happy. I know too soon I'll be hearing about them second hand from the backseat of the car on the way home from school. So I'm not trying to brag about my kids. I just think that they rock. And when they read this later they will see why I stayed home with them and how much I enjoy it as well as how very deeply I love them.

It's Coming

Next week is only a few days away and Ava will forever be without her bump. I think that she is happy about it's final departure even though she doesn't have any idea HOW it's going to happen. But whatever. She lives in bliss and I'm happy to pull up a couch and have a seat next to her.

We saw the Plastic Surgeon today. Everything is set and ready to go. Tomorrow she sees her regular Pediatrician to get the finally 'go ahead' and as long as she doesn't get a cold between today and then she should be fine.

Daddy Dave is going to buy some balloons for her during the surgery so when she wakes up she has something else to focus on other than the annoying tape and stitches around her leg.

So here's to hoping we can get this over with and move on and still have a little bit of time to enjoy the end of the spring. I mean, c'mon. We missed the last five weeks due to respiratory issues, diarrhea for Liv, then for Ava... oh and let's not forget that the cat had it this morning and stunk up the entire downstairs. So officially I think the entire house is now okay. I don't want to jinx us and say great, so I'll still with, "we are okay."

Doctor Doctor

So this week was kind of a big deal. Liv went to her 4 year checkup on Wednesday and everything went well. The doctor said she didn't need any shots that day (since she was still 3 at the time of the appointment he thought she was in for a routine 3 year appt) and then suddenly realized that she needs 4 shots at the 4 year mark and that she'd be 4 in a week. Not so good. Dave has Wednesday of this week to spend the day with Liv on her birthday and guess where we will be going… back for shots. Stinks. We are also taking her to breakfast and a to a lizard thing at the library so it's not a totally horrible day but she does go on and on after getting shots about how horrible it was. Maybe this time will be better. We can only hope.

So anyway at that appointment Liv's doctor said that the girls needed to start seeing the dentist twice a year and the eye doctor once a year. While at that appointment Liv didn't do so well on the eye chart so he wanted her to get to an appointment soon. So I booked both the eye exams and the dentist for Saturday and we went to the eye doctor first. They both did really well following directions and getting their eyes dilated. They did so well in fact that Olivia will be getting GLASSES next week. Yes- Glasses (Juicy Couture even). She is farsighted with astigmatism. And …ready for the drum roll… Ava gets glasses next year. Our poor kids are cursed with my eye sight.

So we left there at noon with the dark plastic shades on, eyes totally dilated and headed to Toys r us to buy the neighbor a birthday gift, ran home snarfed lunch, and headed to the dentist. Luckily they were still wearing their special glasses and didn't have to use the ones from the dentist. Attached are the dentist pictures. Both had x-rays taken, their teeth cleaned, and were given treats for being so wonderful. Everyone at the office loves how brave they were and how good they were. When we got home we made some pinecone turkeys with some googly eyes we bought at toy r us.

But just so we didn't leave anyone out- Today Lady and Sugar went to the groomers and had their nails trimmed. Lady peed all over the floor a few times, Sugar snarled at dogs passing by, but both did ok while they shaked tremendously getting their toes beautified. Oh and I didn't forget Nanners. She waited in the truck while the dogs did their thing and then we drove to the other pet store and she got her yearly shots.
And a fun time was had by all!
The Rockstar

The champ. Ava getting x-rays taken.