As I write, Graem is asleep *by herself* in our bed! I tucked her in at 8:15PM, and walked away. Shawna checked in on her an hour ago, and Graem was fast asleep. We were shocked. School has been exhausting for all of us!
Monday we had an open house at Graem’s new school–basically, a chance to meet her teachers, check out her classroom and outdoor play area, and meet some of her classmates and parents. Graem was very excited to see the room, and even started playing with some of the learning materials. She couldn’t get enough! In fact, at one point, her teacher came over and told her that she was not allowed to play with the materials until a teacher taught her how to use them. Graem kind of shrank after being told that, so we went outside. She saw other older girls climbing a tree and immediately wanted to do the same. We saw some familiar grownup faces, so it was nice to chat with them. After the hour was up, Graem didn’t want to leave!
Tuesday was a different agenda. They had half the class come in for one hour, while the parents were gathered with some of the school administrators for indoctrination. What Graem didn’t realize was that mommy and Mama weren’t going with her to her new classroom, which resulted in a lot of crying and screaming. One of her teachers and the director had to practically carry her crying and screaming into her classroom! For the parents, there was a lot of discussion about inside shoes vs. outside shoes, with the subset of gym shoes; discussion of lunches and snacks, all of which must be peanut-free; rules about pickup and dropoff and parking; proper clothing; illnesses. When our hour was up, we went out to the hallway to pick up a very happy and excited Graem! We talked briefly with one of her teachers, who said that she did very well learning the materials, and that “this one will definitely be needing additional learning materials.” Shawna and I were very proud!
Today was a different story, in many aspects. We explained to Graem that she’d be staying the full day, and she was very excited about it. Mama packed her lunch–a bag burgeoning with a turkey sandwich, grapes, cheese, juice, and an apple. We talked in the car about how I would drop her off at her cubby, but I would stay while she changed into her inside shoes, and then say goodbye to her. While she was changing shoes (a process that takes at least 10 minutes, btw), my friend Kim’s daughter arrived at school. We said hi, and Riley even offered to take Graem to her classroom–to which Graem said, I know where my classroom is. I kissed Graem goodbye, and she walked with the director to her classroom. I was ecstatic!
After pickup, Shawna called me to give the report, which consisted of the following: Graem didn’t use the bathroom all day because she was scared; the teacher said that Graem didn’t do any work but just watched; Graem said that she went to another classroom where she didn’t know the teachers and two kids got to color but she had to eat snack. We’re concerned about the not peeing, so we’ve been talking about asking for privacy. I also have to sort out what is going on in the afternoon just to understand who she’s working with–Kim said that she may be working with different teachers or having an evaluation. We find that she has an easier time if we can talk about it at home to reinforce that everything is just fine, and so she knows what to expect.
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow… we told her that she wouldn’t get her new inside shoes until she peed at school and started doing the work.
Shawna called me at work today to tell me that during a doctor’s visit, Graem wrote her name clearly and distinctly on a chalkboard in the waiting room! Shawna was in such disbelief, and thought that someone else had done it better that she erased it–only to be astounded again when Graem rewrote her name!
Thank you LeapPad… there is no way I can take credit for this!
Our three-year well visit was yesterday–boy what a difference the exam is than in previous years! Many of the tests were attempted and failed due to toddler non-compliance: a hearing check that involved Grammy saying “Beep!” when she heard the beep, or tapping a stick; a weigh-in on the big girl scale instead of the baby scale (she passed with flying colors, after much coaxing to “stand on the stickers;” a height measurement standing up instead of sprawled on the paper and marking her length (she barely passed this one); peeing in a cup, which she surprisingly passed; a vision/shape? test that she failed due to her answering “I don’t know” to every shape, when she clearly knows them all!
I was a bit annoyed that Dr. C was shocked that Grammy’s 3-month long cold had subsided after the round of Amoxicillin she received for her facial laceration. Isn’t this basic stuff?? Antibiotics kill (some) bacteria??! I suppose it didn’t matter, since we brought Grammy in with a new cold plus puking/diarrhea. Graem received her hepatitis vaccine. I was again annoyed that she was offered this year’s flu vaccine which does contain thimerosal–AND I had to ASK whether it had it! It was not disclosed to us. We also found out that the vaccine she received last year also contained thimerosal, but were advised that it at least has the mercury that your body passes (ethyl mercury)–like that’s supposed to make me feel better.
The good news is that Graem is still off-the-charts for height and weight: she’s 40″ tall and weighs 33.5 lbs., putting her at the 95th and 75th percentiles for her age. She’s also doing great at her letters–I gleamed with pride as she made letters for Dr. C with the two tongue depressors that she was supposed to use for her failed hearing test. She even wrote a perfect, 1/4″ high W this morning at breakfast.
I was at work on Wednesday when Shawna IM’d me that Grammy got her first shiner. She had her first playdate with her friend Dobbs, and they were playing on his indoor slide and ball pit. Shawna and Sybil were upstairs talking, when Dobbs came upstairs and said, “I think Grammy needs you.” Apparently they were taking turns down the slide, and someone didn’t get out of the ball pit before the other one came down.
This accident happened after a minor incident with the balance beam at gymnastics. Graem insists on using the highest balance beam they have–but this time she slipped off and cut her ankle in a couple of places. What was surprising is that she didn’t cry for either the balance beam fall or the black eye.
