5 Year Check-Up

Maggie had her 5 year well child check-up last Friday. Her favorite part was the fact that she didn't need any shots because she's completely up to date on all of the ones she'll need for kindergarten. She's in the 10th percentile in weight and the 25th for her height. All the questions they asked about her (ie. does she know at least 4 colors, does she know her phone number, etc.), she is able to do. She was able to walk across the room on her tiptoes and her heels. Since we were there, I had the doctor look at her hands and ears. They usually dry out and crack, but in the last week have gotten really bad. In fact, the back of her ears were so bad, they were cracked open and oozing. The Aquafor just wasn't cutting it anymore. Dr. Crifasi wrote out a prescription for an antibiotic cream and her ears and hands are already greatly improved! Maggie wasn't exactly the ideal patient considering she wouldn't do what Dr. Crifasi requested of her without me repeating it. For example, she asked Maggie to open her mouth and Maggie just sat there. I had to tell her to do it. She also didn't want to walk on her tiptoes and heels until I told her to. After Dr. Crifasi left the room, I asked Maggie why she did all that. She told me it was because she was afraid of what Dr. Crifasi was going to do and that she didn't want her to touch her. Unfortunately, I don't think Maggie's fears of doctors will ever go away. She's been poked and prodded so many times that I think she just doesn't want to have anything to do with it anymore!

Training Wheels

Maggie has been working hard all week practicing with her bike now that we took the training wheels off! She hasn't mastered it yet, but she gets on everyday to try it out. The rain didn't even stop her today...I moved my car out of the garage and she rode around in there!!

Big Step in the Right Direction

Last weekend, we actually convinced Maggie to spend the night at my parent's house. This was a huge deal because for the past couple months she wouldn't spend the night because she said she would miss me too much. Plus, over Spring Break, we went to see the Lorax. There was a preview for the movie Chimpanzee. In the movie, a baby chimp's mom dies and another male chimp cares for him. Well, this led to some severe separation anxiety with Maggie. She would go to school and stay with Rob and my parents, but would cry if she heard an ambulance, cry about missing me, and wouldn't leave my side when I was around. If I left the room, she would follow me and ask where I was going. We finally got it out of her that since she saw the preview, she's been worried that I would die. We would talk to her, and try to explain things to her, but it didn't seem to matter. Finally, it got to the point where I would leave her alone in my classroom for a few minutes at a time after school while I ran to the office, etc. I would not let her come with me. After talking with our school social worker, she said that's exactly what I needed to do. She said we needed to put her in those situations and then praise her afterwards for staying. While it took some strong coaxing, and even some bribery, she stayed up at my parent's house all day Friday (since she didn't have school) and spent the night, too! I'm not saying she's completely over her anxiety, but it is definitely better. She still cries and worries when she hears a siren, and I still have to tell her she doesn't need to go with me everytime I leave the classroom after school, but she is totally fine with Rob and my parents now, and she doesn't follow me everywhere at home. Hopefully, she'll continue to make strides in the right direction.

Maggie's 5th Birthday

Yesterday, the storms stayed away so Maggie's party went off without any problems and everyone traveled safely. We had a great time at her pink and white, cupcake themed party! All the foods and decorations were pink and white. We had pink M&M's, pink and white jellybeans, pink strawberry wafers, pink chocolate dipped marshmallows, and white chocolate cherry almond cookies. Just so everyone didn't get a complete sugar high, we also had ham salad sandwiches (which is pink itself) and put it on white bread of course! The tables were covered with pink and white tablecloths, balloons and chocolates. All the kids had a great time decorating their own cupcakes, too! It was a wonderful day spent with family and friends!

Night at the Museum

Last week, our school did a Night at the Museum where every classroom was a different theme (ie. the light room, the ocean room, the theatre room, etc.). While my room was being covered by high school volunteers, Rob and I took Maggie through each room.

Another Round of Maggie Funnies

Maggie's never been a fan of having her toenails clipped, but tonight I couldn't help but laugh when I started to trim them and she said, "I'm not ready yet. Come back tomorrow."

Tonight, Maggie started throwing a fit right before bed and I told her luckily it was her bedtime. When I told her to stop, she said she couldn't because she was cranky! Needless to say, she fell asleep in less than 5 minutes!!

Kindergarten Round-Up

As if the fact that Maggie turning 5 next week wasn't enough, she also had Kindergarten Round-Up this week! She did really well. She already knows all of her shapes and colors, 15 of her lowercase letters and 21 of her uppercase letters, and could count to 20, along with many other things they asked her to do. She seems to be having a little separation anxiety from mommy the last couple weeks, so she cried when she got to the first room. Once she got comfortable and realized she'd be okay though, she did fine.