time flies

Today Annika had her early education screening. When I was explaining the testing to her I called it a "kindergarten readiness test" to which Annika about jumped to the moon she was so excited. She thought that meant she was going to start kindergarten. Today.

So after those tears were dried and a little more explaining was done (being very careful NOT to use the word kindergarten again) she was excited to go to her screening. And so was I.

I remember taking Bergen to his like it was yesterday and having a loooong drawn out conversation with the screener (the same screener we saw today!) on whether we should send Bergen to kindergarten at 5 or 6. Now that our decision is over and done, I look back at all those conversations I had with various people along the way on how to make the right decision. And we did make the right one. Holding him was the best thing we could have ever done for him... But Annika is a summer baby too and we will need to make a decision for her as well.

The nice thing this time around is that I don't feel the pressure to figure it out like I did with Bergen. I think I started stressing about this when he was three. Probably after his early education screening to be exact. But now that I have all this wisdom (right?) I know when the time comes for Annika we will know what to do ... and there is plenty of time before the time comes.

So, back to Little Miss. She rocked the tests which is no surprise. She, however, didn't rock the hearing screening which too was no surprise. We have had a question in our minds for quite some time about her hearing so guess it is time to have it checked out.

I just can't believe she is at this stage already. Preschool. Kindergarten readiness. What is next? College? Sure seems like it.

Man, time flies.

xoxo, the blad pad

ROAR

march came in like a lion for the blad pad this year.

5 out of the last 8 days i have been to our clinic's after hours care (aka urgent care) or the minute clinic for either ingrid or myself. and the visits went a little something like this:

visit one: "nope. while ingrid's lungs sound like she is struggling to breath, they are moving air quite nicely. she does, however, have an ear infection".

visit two: (this is when i was thinking ingrid might have a uti or bladder infection after being on antibiotics that were really tough on her little system) "ummm, there is over a 2 hour wait so unless this can't wait until tomorrow then i suggest coming back" ... "okay, then can i schedule an appointment for tomorrow" .... "ummm, yeah. we are all booked for tomorrow. but if you call at 7am you *might* be able to get in with our on-call DR".

visit three part 1: "oh man, your throat does look really painful and your lymph nodes are really, really swollen. but no, you don't have strep. however, you might want me to take a look at your daughters' eyes while she is here. they are looking pretty bad"

visit three part 2: "yup, looks like she has conjunctivas in both eyes. not sure if bacterial or viral. wait a couple of days and if it doesn't get better then start her on these (prescription given) drops"

visit four: (after ingrid's little blue eyes were looking much, much worse 12 hrs later) "while her eyes do look like they are infected are not. the redness and swelling should go down in a couple of days"

visit five: "while i can completely understand why you feel like your head is going to explode as you have fluid build up (ok, sorry, tmi) everywhere, you in fact don't and are just plain miserable. take a couple of these (mucinex) and you should feel better somewhat shortly".

so, all in all, i don't have much to complain about other then spending a lot of time in the waiting room at one clinic or another. i am really thankful for nothing major. but man we have had a lot of misery.

march came in like a lion and i surely feel like one when i am sick. however, sweet pea doesn't let sickness stand in the way of her and a smile.

she is our little lamb...

xoxo, the blad pad

just cause

since i wasn't blogging this christmas (or the one before for that matter... ) i wanted to share just a couple of our sweet pea... just cause.

my name is annika

today while little miss and i were playing some board games i called her "anni" .... which just so happens to be our most common name we call her around the house. and then we went on to have a little convo that went something like this:

A: mom, they call me annika at school

M: would you like us to call you annika at home?

A: yes

M: no anni? no anni-banni?

A: no. my name is annika.

you got it big girl. you are my annika.

xoxo, the blad pad

i heart annika's preschool

they do the most amazing study units at her preschool. so far they have studied the body, the peaceful planet, the 5 senses, award winning authors/books, the 7 continents .... and now they are doing a unit on the rainforest. i can't get over how they decorated her classroom. doesn't it make you want to learn about the rainforest all over again?

explorer hats and paper binoculars (sooooooo adorable)

ingrid taking the big red car for a spin

annika checking out the vegetation they studied today

xoxo, the blad pad