It Was a Grand Affair

Yesterday I made Malia clean her entire room. It was an all-day project. She objected, of course, but the need to clean her room so we had time to go to Hobby Lobby and get Jolly a new eye was fabulous (if kind of mean) incentive. Her room is perpetually such a huge mess that being able to play in a completely clean room is somewhat of a novelty to her. As such, this morning she conducted a ribbon cutting before playtime commenced.

She still dislikes the fact that I made her clean everything up at the end of the day, but she had such a great time playing when 1) there was actually space to play in and 2) she could find all her stuff that I’m hoping, with some encouragement of course, that she can learn to pick up after herself without having a huge meltdown or needing me to name each individual item and where it goes in order to get the job done.

We’ve Had a Tragedy

Malia was understandably distressed. Apparently, Matthew shoved Jolly into his indoor basketball hoop and then used one of his basketballs to get her out. We’ve talked to him on numerous occasions about 1) not being rough with Jolly, 2) the fact that she is not his and 3) the potential broken heart of his younger sister if Jolly gets destroyed. It would seem that none of those things have had any impact on him whatsoever.

So we took a trip to the medical supply store (aka. Hobby Lobby) to acquire a replacement eye and were lucky enough to find one nearly identical to the original. You have to look really closely to notice any difference. We performed the requisite brain surgery in order to replace the eye and since I was in the middle of an invasive puppy surgery anyway, we fixed her broken neck and weak legs. Malia stood by the entire time, reassuring Jolly that all would be well since Jolly was scared.

Post-surgery, she is (nearly) a new puppy and is ready for some more tough love…although I would definitely discourage any further moonlighting as sporting equipment.

Before:

After:

Wild!

I took Matthew and Malia to the zoo this morning. Not only do I try to do some fun things like that when they are off-track, but they did such a great job on migraine day that I figured they deserved an outing. The animals were super active and running all over the place. It was St. Patrick's Day and the zoo keepers had given many of the animals green paper chains, painted cardboard boxes, banners celebrating the holiday, etc. as enrichment activities. It was so fun to watch the wild and wooly ones explore the new additions to their habitats.

Matthew and Malia were also pretty wild. After a long, cold winter, they were pretty stir crazy and ready to be outside. I had to tell Matthew repeatedly to slow down and wait for his aged mother!

It was a great day!

Puppeteers

Matthew and Malia are off track. Unfortunately, migraines don’t respect the calendar so they were left on their own for most of the morning while I slept off the migraine. While I was dozing on the couch, Matthew concocted a plan to keep them entertained. They pulled a couple of socks out of the spare sock bin and made puppets that look like Charlie Brown and Lucy. Matthew also built a small psychiatrist’s booth. Then they set up a card table in the garage, draped it in a sheet, set up the soundtrack (“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”) and charged 10 cents admission to see the show. When I was mostly functional again, I was a willing audience member. Here’s a clip of the show.

I’m so glad that I have kids that are creative and can keep themselves entertained. 😊

It's Harder Than It Looks

One of Malia’s experience gifts for this year was going to see Disney On Ice. She has been terribly excited and started asking how long it was until March about 5 seconds after Christmas was over. She has been counting down for over a week and finally, after an eternity of waiting (for a 5-year-old, anyway), today was the day.

We have been having lunch at my parents’ house most Thursdays so Malia and Kate (her favorite cousin) can get in some good play time. This week we switched to Friday instead, so we ate and they played like usual, but when it was time to leave Malia got ready to go very quickly, which is definitely not normal. Her usual response when I tell her it’s time to go is to act like I’ve asked her to donate an organ on the spot. But there was no grumping or whining today. There was no dawdling or asking for five more minutes. She cleaned up quickly and we were on our way.

As we were walking to the event center after we parked the car, Malia kept stopping to tug at her pant leg. I asked if she was having a problem of some sort and she told me there was something weird going on with her pant leg. When we got inside and sat down, I checked her socks and pants and discovered a marker shoved up her pant leg. I have no idea what it was doing in there. And Malia didn’t know either. Apparently, she stuck it up there at some point and then forgot about it…

Anyway, she had a marvelous time and said her favorite part was the whole thing. Personally, my favorite part was Lightning McQueen and Mater driving around on the ice. Their eyes and mouths moved and everything, just like in the movie. Well, that and the fact that I got to use the word “Zamboni” in an actual conversation.

Dinner afterward was another highlight, especially since Malia got one of the longest fries she’s ever seen.

And since she is a big kid now, she even wrote up her own little blog post about the event.

For those of you who struggle to read phonetic writing and are thrown off by anything other than the tradition top to bottom, left to right writing, here’s what it says: “The 10th was very fun. Disney On Ice was fun. It was ice skating. And I mean very fun. To you, Malia.”

Malia’s final assessment of the show is that because she saw Disney On Ice, now she knows how to ice skate. If only it were that easy. 😉

And So It Goes

Today was Malia’s now-yearly appointment with the allergist. This is the first time we did blood work for her, so I was hoping that it would reflect an allergy that is not as severe as Matthew’s. Unfortunately, it did not work out that way. Malia’s IgE for peanut is greater than 100, just like Matthew’s. We also did skin prick testing for a variety of other things. As of now she is not allergic to fish or shellfish or any other tree nuts. However, she has never eaten tree nuts other than almonds and coconut, so that is not a guarantee that she will not develop other allergies in the future. But looking on the bright side, for now it is just peanuts. And I’ll keep my fingers crossed where the other nuts are concerned. She is also allergic to both dogs and cats which is not a surprise considering her family history and her tendency to get red itchy eyes when exposed to animals. Good thing we are an only-fish-as-pets household already.

Is It Over Yet?

Last night we sat the kids down and told them that one of their cousins is having some very serious struggles. Matthew looked at me, his eyes older and more serious than any 10-yr-old’s eyes should be, and said, “It seems like it’s been a hard year.” I’ve been thinking the exact same thing for the past three days. We’re only two months in and we’re already in our second life changing emotional struggle. I certainly hope the remainder of the year has some good mixed in with the struggles.

The Very Last First Loose Tooth

Yesterday Malia lost her first tooth. (And yes, the permanent tooth is already coming in behind.)

And for dinner this evening we had “spaghetti” and not “bahsketti.”

My baby isn’t a baby anymore. It’s the end of an era. Sigh.