Monday Mish-Mash

Annie has yet another cold *sigh*, so luckily we were off for a follow-up appointment with Dr. Drake this morning. A perfect time to have Annie's ears checked. I'm happy to say they were clear (and "well ventilated"), and even more happy to say that Annie was an absolute angel when she was being checked. Anyway, here we are in our usual Under-The-Sea-Turtle Room that we have been put in every single time we go in there, no matter if it was for Leia's "ear seed" or Annie's "tubes." This is a good example of how Annie is these days whenever the stroller stops. Translate: "I want to get out now!" I came with a slew of questions this time. Here they are: 1. Can we use drops or antibiotics as a preventative measure? (No.) 2. Why not? (Because, if you do, you pre-select bacteria to grow that does not respond to either treatment.) 3. What is the next step after the tubes fall out? (After one or both fall out, make an appointment fairly quickly. We'll discuss it then. It depends on her continuing condition.) 4. An ear infection can follow a cold, but can a cold follow an ear infection? (No. It's a different virus.) 5. Can using an otoscope at home help you use drops earlier? (Not really, you only use drops when you see drainage. When drainage come out of the tubes, you'll see it in the ear. Period.) All very interesting. They were also very glad to hear how verbal Annie is. In fact, as Dr. Drake left the room, Annie waved goodbye and called her "doc-da"! : )
Then we had to stop at the fancy ball-machine, of course. : ) Annie was mesmerized, as always. We could have stayed for hours, I think. As it was, I took her to each side for about 5 minutes each, and we talked about what we saw. She was especially excited to see a kitty face swing back and forth, and a moon/star combination move. : )

Leia Rose's excitement of the day was getting a very special package from Yukino! Look at her expression when she found a necklace and bracelet inside! And THEN discovering that her name was spelled in beads on them! Leia Rose LOVED it!
And she was particularly impressed with all of Yukino's nice drawings.
Especially this one where Yukino wrote, "Leia Rose, I wish you a playdate with me! I miss you! I love you! Yukino" And it features a PINK KITTY. (Actually, I wondered if it was a bunny, but Leia insisted it was a kitty.) : ) What a very special picture! And what a difference in writing from preschool to first grade, huh? : )
Leia Rose was so inspired, that she began creating for Yukino right away. In fact, she created 8 pictures, including a Valentine! : ) Oh my, I'll say she was inspired!!! I'm sure wearing her new bracelet and necklace really helped. : )

Another cool thing about the day was that Leia Rose brought home her very first homework assignment: to read this book (Mat) to friends and family time and time again. Leia is smiling really big in this picture because she's thinking about a really funny page in the book. This one page always made her laugh. (See below.)
And, of course, Annie wanted to get in on the action, too. : )
Part of the deal with the homework assignment was to read it over the phone to lots of family members, and Leia Rose chose to call Grandma first. Here's Leia Rose reading the book to Grandma. : ) Now, I probably won't do this for every single book/assignment as Leia grows up, but I thought the first one was really special, so here it is:

[Yes, this is the page that always made Leia Rose laugh really hard! I'm so glad!]
Now, considering the books that Leia Rose read this summer, I would say that this was a bit below her reading level. But you know, I'm so glad she felt it was "easy" because it really boosts her reading confidence. (Where sometimes the books last summer frustrated her.) It just goes to show that teaching preschool and teaching high school are totally different animals. : )

[Ironically, what these pictures don't show is that we had a really hard afternoon. Leia Rose proceeded to break BOTH my special Rosary (that I've used since Leia was born) AND Brian's special Rosary (that we gave him when he decided to become Catholic) by shoving them down into the cracks of the screened porch floor and then pulling them out again. And by the time she was out of the thinking chair for doing that (I made her stay in until I fixed both Rosaries, which took 20 minutes) and I gave her a little lecture about respecting other people's things and especially other people's HOLY things, it had started raining and she couldn't go outside (which she wanted to do all day). Crying ensued. And all Annie wanted to do was climb the stairs, and cry every time I put the gate up.]

But let's end on a silly note: Both Annie and Leia created silly games today. Annie and I went back and forth saying "Blah" together. (You had to be there.) And Leia Rose came up with this game in the car called "Lower Case/ Upper Case" where she would say, "A lower case house is just 'house' but an upper case house is 'HOUSE!!!' Ha! Ha! Ha!" So fun! : )