Back to the eye doctor

If you remember our first trip to the eye doctor you will wonder who the little girl is I’ll be talking about in this blog post. This morning I somehow managed to find me a sweet, cooperative, almost, dare I say it, eager little girl to accompany me to the optometrist.

waiting room

Playing in the waiting room.

Same time, same place, six months later we went back to the eye doctor. A few days ago she decided that she was going to “look into the big tube!” and since that announcement she has been quite agreeable to the discussion. When we went to the first room she happily looked into the big machine and told me there was a picture of a farm in there, “but it had no animals at all.” Then she giggled at the next machine that put little puffs of air into her eyes. I thought for sure that one would be the end of our trip, but nope, giggles instead.

the long tube

Looking into "the big tube." Like her curly pig tails? I think they are so adorable!

In the doctors office she climbed right up into the chair, helped the doctor, answered all the questions, sat still, and did an phenomenal job! She didn’t even fuss when the doctor put drops in her eyes!

crazy girl

Crazy girl!

The results… astigmatism in her right eye and less than perfect vision in both. Apparently the left eye is less less than perfect, so her vision is unbalanced. I have the same problem :/ I can’t say I’m surprised, but I am bummed.

We read a few books after the doctor left, then ventured out into the eye glass area where Eve picked out a new pair of glasses. And a case. She is most excited about the case. So far she is surprisingly amenable to the idea of wearing glasses. I tried to get her to pick a cute pair of wire rimmed ones (like this cute little girl in Lex’s class), but she wanted the thicker plastic frames that are very similar to a pair of sunglasses she wears. I think maybe the nose-bridge pieces bothered her on the wire rimmed glasses. I figured that since she was the one who was going to wear them every single day (we hope!) then she should be able to pick whichever ones she wants.

trying on frames

Trying on frames. She had that overbite going on the whole time. I think it's a nervous thing. I liked these pink ones...

 

blue frames

She likes the blue ones....(I could not get her to smile without the teeth!)

She was a little bummed to leave without them, but mostly sad she had to leave without the case. She picked a pink and black case and was quite happy about it :) Silly girl.

Since she did such an amazing job at the doctor’s office, and since the appointment took so long I had to scrap my grocery shopping plans anyway, we ended up walking around and killing time for awhile. She wanted pizza, which was great, but it was only 10am so we walked to the nearby pizza place but they were closed. Then she asked for ice cream so we walked the other direction to the ice cream place but they too were closed, for the season of course. We ended up walking back again and she picked out some crappy candy from the gas station. It was an awkward period of time to fill, not enough time to really do anything, but a little too long to just do nothing, especially on the side of the road :) After all our walking we got back in the car and headed to a pizza joint near her school. She was thrilled.

running

After almost two hours inside, she was ready to run!
Good thing there was a wide open lot nearby.

 

pacman

Eve played her first game of Ms. Pac Man today. Turns out she prefers the game when it is in demo mode better :)

 

pizza

Pizza!

Next week we go back and pick them up. Now begins the journey on teaching a 4yr old to properly wear and handle glasses. The tech said that Eve was the first young child she ever saw that knew how to put on glasses properly. I guess all those years of wearing sunglasses paid off there.

Welcome to a new journey in parenting.

Food awareness

The longer I follow the Weight Watchers plan, the more aware I become of my eating habits and the effects food has on me. I know it’s been over three years… what can I say, I’m a slow learner. One thing that has really come to my attention lately (perhaps I’ve noticed this in the past, but clearly I never did anything about it) is the immediate effect my food choices at dinner have on my evening. When I eat a reasonable portion of healthy food I feel great. Bath and bedtime go well. Everyone is happy. However, when I don’t… ugh!

Today I ate well until afternoon snack when I prepared a plate of cheese and crackers and veggies for the kids. We all sat down at the picnic table to eat and I ate the cheese and crackers and veggies! Oops. I ate a piece of cheese sort of mindlessly, then it was all down hill from there. The kids wanted nothing to do with the veggies (buggers!) so I ate most of those, but I also ate 8pts worth of cheese and crackers. At dinner time I had 6pts left for the day, which isn’t a lot, but it is do-able. I had a healthy meal planned in my head, but we got caught up in outdoor afternoon chores and the kids dug in the garden. When we came in at 5pm I scrapped dinner plans in favor of getting the grubby children cleaned up before our house looked like our garden. Shortly after 5:30 they were both clean and we were in the kitchen talking about dinner. I was mildly annoyed at having a PYO dinner instead of cooking something healthy. Eve wanted PB&J on toast with mandarin oranges and Lex wanted grilled cheese and yogurt. In the process of preparing their dinners I ate a handful of peanuts (while opening the cabinet to get the peanut butter), half a slice of PB&J toast (Eve wouldn’t eat two whole slices anyway), a piece of bread/butter/cheese (while preparing Lex’s grilled cheese) and then half of his grilled cheese sandwiches. He’d asked for two and I made them, but it seemed like a lot when I put them on his plate so I somewhat mindlessly ate one half. I love grilled cheese! By this point I had more than blown through my six remaining points for the day, but I hadn’t actually sat down and had dinner. I was tempted to say to hell with it and make a huge bowl of cereal (NOT point friendly!), but instead I went for yogurt and granola. That was about six points. Had I just had the yogurt and granola for dinner I would have been full and felt great, but instead I ended up headachy, nauseas, and sluggish. And of course angry with myself and therefore short and crabby with the kids. Poor kids.

When will I learn? Awareness is the first step, right? Someday I’ll be able to stop myself before I blow it, instead of realizing it a little too late. Someday. Sigh.

Afternoon artwork

Earlier this week, after a busy first day at school the kids made themselves comfy on the floor for some quiet art time.

eve on the floor

Eve drawing a "Toyota chocolate caramel factory."

 

lex on the floor

Lex drawing a Crayola Factory.

 

crayola factory

The early version of Lex's crayola factory. This makes me laugh because the brown chute is "sending extra wax from the crayons into the river." Hmm... we had a little talk about factory pollution.

 

eve

Eve brought the little table into the dining room to make herself more comfortable. Then she drew a picture for another classmate at school. You would think it's a picture of the two of them together, but really it is a picture of the other little girl and that girl's mother, in a house. The girls grandpa drops her off at school and I'm not sure Eve could even pick her mother out of a crowd, but she drew a lovely picture anyway. :)

 

final factory

Lex ran out of room on the little white board so he expanded to the big one. Then he was wishing we had another white board so he could draw the warehouse!

 

Eve’s first day of Pre-K

happy kids

Lex decided today would be a good day for a
"first day of school" photo. OK!

This morning went MUCH better than yesterday. Both kids were happy in the morning and eager to go to school. Eve had her backpack packed and ready as we headed to Lex’s school. She was disappointed to find out we had to go back to our house for the morning. She wanted to head right to school :)

right for the puddle

Guess where they are heading... right for the puddle, of course!

 

eve outside

I love this girl!

Eve and I spent the morning at home, exercising, reading, playing Starfall, eating lunch, etc. Good times. Then back out in the rain to bring her to school. In her classroom I asked if she wanted me to stick around for a few minutes and she said, “Nope, you can go!” At least she gave me hugs and kisses before kicking me out. :)

 

eve

Eve at her school.

 

artwork

Eve's best friend is in morning Pre-K and Eve is in the afternoon session, but we discovered they can leave things for each other in their cubbies. Eve colored a picture so her friend will have a surprise when she gets to school tomorrow.

 

sand

I left her in the sandbox, of course. Happily playing.

Now I have a little less than two hours to tackle a MOUNTAIN of things that have been building up and slowly creeping out of control. So what do I do first? Hot tea and a blog post, with a little FB and blog reading tucked in as well. It’s no wonder I don’t get much done. Gheesh.

Seriously though, I’m super proud of my kids. They are both growing up so fast and becoming such sweet, happy individuals. Lex’s teacher told me he had a great day and she was impressed with how honest (her word) he was. Apparently during his crying yesterday he kept saying, “I just miss my mom. I’ll be ok soon, but now I just miss my mom.” I think she was surprised by how articulate he is. He gave her a big hello this morning and she seemed happy to see him. Eve is comfortable and confident in her new classroom. What more can a mother ask for?!

PS. Did you notice my sidebar came back? I knew it would. Vacation must be over for it too! —>

First day of school – first grade

The big day finally arrived. Lex slept late (bugger!) and we had to wake him up. I made pancakes for breakfast, not to celebrate but because we were out of most everything else! He fussed a bit about going and tried to hide under the table, but when I got him to talk to me he decided it would be best to leave sooner rather than later so we could arrive a bit early and he could be one of the first ones in the room. I think it’s easier for a kid like him to see the kids trickle in as opposed to having to walk into a full classroom. Unfortunately it seems everyone else had the same idea! The parking lot was packed and Lex immediately got apprehensive again. He dragged his feet into the building, but luckily for me didn’t put up a physical fight. I had to pull him along when we got into the building and he suddenly “forgot” where his classroom was. Good thing he showed it to me over the summer! When we got to the room it was pretty full. He immediately started crying. Poor boy. His best buddy (so sweet!) ran over and said, “Hey brother, welcome back!!” and tried to pull him into the classroom. Lex fell (prat fall really) and wailed louder that he got hurt. His poor friend had huge eyes and felt awful. I found myself trying to reassure both of them. Then a sweet little girl came over and gave Lex a big hug. Lex cried some more and hid under the cubbies. I felt so bad for him. I got his stuff put away and gave him big hugs and left. His teacher took my sobbing son and walked him back into the classroom, while I walked my sobbing self down the hall. Again I was thankful that he did not put up a physical fight.

Eve and I spent the morning grocery shopping. She was so excited for school that she packed her backpack (spare clothes “just in case,” a water bottle “in case I get thirsty” and a snack) and carried it around the grocery store. Then we hit the library quickly, then home for unloading, lunch, a few stories, and back in the car headed to her open house. She starts school tomorrow but today they had an hour to meet the teacher, see the classroom, and meet their classmates. Easy peasy for Evie. She had fun. She was very tired by the end though. Then back in the car to pick up Lex and head home.

Back at Lex’s school he was all smiles at pick-up. He said he had a great day, “except for the very beginning,” and liked gym class best. I guess Tuesday’s are gym days. Good to know. So far he’s planning on going back again tomorrow! :)

lex

I wasn't about to attempt photography today, but here is a picture of him from last week, smiling with his new backpack.

 

eve

Eve got a new backpack too. I'll try to get a good "first day of school" picture of her tomorrow :)

 

sand

Eve went straight for the sand table at open house today. She loves sand.

School begins tomorrow…

Tomorrow is the first day of school.  My kids love school.  Well, they love being there.  Getting there is another story (the story of my life with Lex!)  Over the past week or so every time I bring up school Lex dodges and avoids the conversation.  Eve, on the other hand, is super excited!  She is mostly excited for her open house tomorrow (basically a meet-and-greet, her class starts Wednesday).

We had a really nice afternoon today. Lex has been saying for a few days now that he needs more mommy time (I love that he says that!) so today Alan took Eve out to lunch and over to my grandparents house for awhile. Lex and I had planned to go out to lunch and a movie, but instead he decided on a home day so we sat in the living room and played Monopoly all afternoon. When we got hungry we had a picnic snack. When he got bouncy we went outside to ride bikes for 15 minutes before the rain started up again. It was awesome! Even more awesome (for him!) is that he kicked my butt at Monopoly! Fair and square. He had a few lucky cards, managed his money well, bought real estate and houses like crazy and gave me a thorough whooping! Then we wrestled on the floor for a bit, rearranged the living room a touch (photos later) and looked at Red Sox baseball playing cards. He was in HEAVEN and therefore so was I. It was great.

The one downside to our afternoon was when I tried to talk about school. I asked how he was feeling about it (nervous), if there’s anything we can do to help (stop talking about it), does he want a big deal or nothing (nothing!). I had the poor boy in tears in a matter of minutes. I tried to explain how similar it would be to Kindergarten, we talked about which of his friends would be there, what the routine would be… but it was all through tears and him begging me to please stop talking about it. Sigh. I know he will have a great time. So we stopped talking about it for the day. I’m hoping tomorrow isn’t too hard.

Sometimes I feel like a slacker mommy because there are so many cute things I want to do for “back to school” season, like this (isn’t he cute!), and pencil cookies I saw in a magazine (last year!) and a special dinner (PYO tonight, of course) or breakfast or lunch box treat. I didn’t have time to prepare before today and today I decided my time would be best spent on the floor with Lex instead of in the kitchen. I definitely made the right choice there! I take comfort that he doesn’t care for (won’t even participate in usually!) the “back to school” excitement. One less thing for me to worry about… now if only I could stop worrying about it! ;)

I predict it will be tough to get him out of the house in the morning, but I’m hoping that once he’s in his classroom and sees his friends he’ll be happy. Otherwise I’ll be peeling a crying 1st grader off me when the bell rings and I’ll walk away in tears. No fun for anyone.

Tomorrow is a super busy day, but I’ll try to get back online tomorrow night to keep you all posted, as I know you’re now dying to know how the day will go. :)