When much is unknown

I have some medical history for Tigger.  Unfortunately with as detailed full disclosure as I got, due to circumstances beyond any one person's control, medical history is not the best....I know some things, just not much.

Therefore, the one thing I hate about well child visits are the questions....especially if I have a question about Tigger's health and development, which then I get asked a question about medical history which about 90% of the time is information I don't have.  Sometimes it doesn't bother me, sometimes though, Tigger's Pediatrician is all about prevention so there have been multiple times Tigger has had to have lab work to rule x, y, z out and/or to check up on something.  Way more needles and blood then if I would just have an adequate medical history.

Don't get me wrong, I like her Pediatrician, I think she's probably one of the most proactive preventative, rule this out type of Pediatrician I've encountered or heard about, it's just annoying to me because I know in the future it will probably be annoying to Tigger....and anything that will cause angst or annoyance to my child automatically makes me annoyed too.

What's the Weather Like today?

So this is what I see coming home from work

Which I'm sure led to this lovely sight

Unfortunately I'm driving in the freeway so didn't get the cell phone quick enough to take a picture of flames, but you get the idea.  It's hotter than Hades.

Recap: From when I didn't blog

FIRST HAIRCUT

(Last Friday)

2 year old well child physical

My child still weighs a whopping 22 lbs and is 1 and 1/2 inches shy of being 3 feet tall.  I love the fact that the Pediatrician comments on her being in the 5% in the weight department....sigh. I swear I feed that child!

No shots today but she had to get blood drawn so that's never fun...for her or me.  I decided to get all soft and 'bad momish' after having to go to the Dr. so we enjoyed some take-out food....not something we do a lot, so it was a treat!

Tuesday Truisms: Change is a Mix of Emotions

The school year started this week.  After seven years at the same Elementary School, I asked my boss for a change.  I love my new placement....seven years ago, I was switched from that placement to the Elementary School...now I'm back to the preschool assessment center.  I will be doing mainly the bilingual (Spanish) Speech and Language assessments for kids ages 2.6-4.6 years old.  This is just a snippet of my thoughts from the week.

"The toughest thing about change is that while the new is exciting, you miss the old like crazy"


"Providing useful assessment information to parents of a 3 year old may be helpful, however, it also can be a painful time for the family"


"It will be interesting to go from elementary school parents in the final stages of the grief cycle (acceptance) since their child has been receiving special ed. services since preschool sometimes, to go into the beginning stages of grieving with families at the preschool stage"


"When one is nice to people, they make new friends among co-workers fast...maybe not close friends, but a great atmosphere"


"It was a normal summer without outrageous temperatures...until the week we go back to work"


"There is always progress.  It's just seen more rapidly in little kids" 


"I love my job again"

Last Day of Summer

We went to the beach....and had fun.  Enough said!

Sandy Water Shoes

Digging and playing with water

Love the mess

MMMMM time to eat

Grandma and Tigger

All excited to have a chair for herself

Yeah the last Transition day was a great one!

Since I start work on Monday and Tigger was going to be attending a new place...a preschool for kids ages 2-5 years old, last week and this week I had transition time where she attended Tues/Thurs.

The first Tuesday she was fine when I left....then Thursday she was hysterical and it pained me to leave her there and a few tears were shed (by me), then this past Tuesday she was sorrowful and cried in a pitiful way that broke my heart.  Today....she smiled and got her play on and gave me a hug and a kiss and waved goodbye.  Oh much better.  I can now know that Monday won't be as bad of a day as it could have been.

On that note, mommy got ready by getting hair done, getting glasses taken care of, buying the soy milk boxes (like juice boxes but better lol) for Tigger's lunch which is only sold at a specific store, and made a dental appt. for me and a hair appt. for Tigger.  I guess it's time folks...time to start work again.

Tuesday Truisms: Summer is over

You'll notice it's been a while since I've had this 'Tuesday Truisms' posts up.....been having too much fun this summer.  Well this is the last Tuesday of vacation so thought I'd bring it back from the dead.  Per usual, these are just my musings that I've concocted during the week (or in this case summer) and bring them to print.

"If you want your child to walk, you may need to hold their hand.....for some reason telling them to walk makes them go into a fast trot/gallop instead of a walk"

"Pools used to be so much fun....before kids, now I see it as an agent of possible drowning so must be paranoid at all times"

"Just because you put your almost 2 year old in a daily 2-week swimming lesson, doesn't mean they'll be proficient swimmers by the end of two weeks"  (oooops must be one of those naive mommy moments)

"Staying at home with your toddler is really priceless and worth it"

"Toddlers change from month to month, especially in the summer"

"I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't expecting the theme/repetitive song(s) of Blues Clues and Wonder Pets to be implanted into my brain guaranteeing a loss in IQ points"

"Even though I work, working in the schools gives me the best of both worlds....working and staying home...unfortunately the best world is ending this week"

"Kids help you make new friends...adult friends who are also moms dealing with similar dilemmas"  (thank you play group and play dates)

"There is nothing at all like a Southern CA summer....may be hot, but you're guaranteed to feel better under the shade or when the sun goes down and the fresh air hits"  (sorry all you people living with constant humidity, that must really suck!)

Another look into my brain yet again.  Until next week!

One of those days

I'm having one of those days....you know those days....they are the 'thinking' days.  However, it did leave me with a quote that I find rather hopeful and inspiring....so thought I would share!

"Our attitude towards what has happened to us in life is the important thing to recognize. Once hopeless, my life is now hope-full, but it did not happen overnight. The last of human freedoms, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, is to choose one's own way." - Viktor Frankl

Karma is definitely a female dog!!!!!!

My apologies for the cheesy title.  I do maintain this blog as a G-rated, sometimes PG-rated so I do not use profanity even if for a fleeting moment I think about it in my head.  I've learned that sometimes what I think and what I actually say may need to be different or at least more refined.

Anyhow, it never ceases to amaze me how life just circles around.  As a Speech Therapist working in the public schools, my assignments can change yearly and so I've had the opportunity to work from preschool up to high school in the past ten years.  During my years working in the special education preschool program, every time a new kid would start, we would encourage the parent(s) to leave their child and not linger....even if the child was having a screaming, crying, hissy fit.  We would always explain that it is good for the kids to know that mommy loves them and will return.  I know sometimes mothers wouldn't want to do that, and I would just eye-roll when they would hear their child cry and then just go back to hug them and prolong the agony of both of them.

Well it's now my turn.  The first day Tigger went to her new preschool (on Tuesday.....this week and next I have her there Tues/Thurs in the morning so the shock of going on the 22nd when I start work won't be as severe) she was excited and stayed well and even waved bye to me.  Great!  Well today was a different matter.  Today she knew that when I said 'bye' and gave her a kiss and a hug, that I was leaving and the tantrum and screams began.  Oh Lord, I didn't want to leave her like that.  Every inch of my core didn't want to smile turn around and wave 'bye' in a chipper manner while she was screaming and flailing like that, however, the rational part of me knows that if Tigger sees me calm and knows that this is the routine, the agony of the morning will not last long.  So fighting every urge, I smile, say "I love you baby, mommy will come back after lunch" and leave her with the head teacher...flailing arms and feet and everything.  I could still hear her in the parking lot....ugh.  Karma you witch!

I felt way better when I called after I came home and found out that about five minutes after I left, the sad screaming Tigger had transformed and was playing with another girl and happy.  I also felt better when I picked her up and she was happily playing, but did see me and flew into my arms telling everyone "bye"....grabbing me by the hand and carrying her lunch box.

So this is just a reminder that in about two weeks I'm sure she will know her routine again, and that she will be happy to come in the morning and play with new toys and she will be more than happy to come home again in the afternoon.  I also received jargon speech along with words and some two word phrases in an animated way all.the.way.home.  I think we'll be ok.

A mom's life.  The change in the background is a tribute to the fact that my girl is now a big girl attending a true blue licensed preschool!

TV epic fail!

You know those first time mothers that swear their child will not see anything on TV....ever.  (ok for the first five years?)  I just failed on that this week....yes Tigger loves music so music videos of songs she can sing and dance to I've let her watch, but those don't count.

We've been sucked into Blue mania this week....Tigger's only favorite programming for preschoolers.

Yup, my daughter is intrigued with Blue's Clues.  Lord help us.

Just can't get over these two

My dad is one great and outstanding grandpa.  It's no wonder my Tigger adores him.  We went to the beach on Saturday afternoon to do a family worship.  Here are some pictures of Tigger and my dad.

And because it is California and we are at the beach, you never know what you may encounter.  In our case we encountered a mermaid.  Yes I did say mermaid....random.

My Child Has Talent!

Ok this blurb of a post may be too much information (TMI) for some of you so just warning you now ok? Right!

First Talent:  Tape-removing!
So this afternoon I was doing laundry and Tigger loves to be right next to me and well take clean laundry and put it on her head or do dress up or something, so since I was annoyed that the packages of new underwear that I bought for myself (yes it's been a while ha ha) had tape around each set....ugh....since I needed to occupy my child, I just out of a whim said, here Tigger, mommy can't get the tape out, can you do that for me?

She gave me that serious brow furrowed face of hers and took all 12 of the ones I needed to wash and went into my room....didn't think much of it, I continued to load the washer, then went to find out how my child was doing.

Well....lo and behold, my child had un-taped six of the twelve already and was working quite rapidly at getting the rest done...with a "here mami"....I was blown away.  Good job Tigger, you are totally my tape undoer expert!  This is not my area of expertise but I'm thinking this is great fine motor skills for a new 2 year old right? ha!

Second Talent:  Knowing my specific needs
So it never fails, even though I discretely try to go to the bathroom by myself while Tigger is entertained elsewhere, she has a bionic ear and zoom, zoom, comes into the bathroom with me and doesn't leave.  I usually don't care, but it happens all the time....even during that lovely time of the month.  Do not need an audience for that.  Well I just finished that lovely time of the month...and this month Tigger has been, well I guess astute because when she saw me head into the bathroom she ran to my bathroom drawer, got into a specific one and runs over to me and hands me....yup you guess it, a tampon....(told you TMI)

uh Thanks Tigger, way to figure out that these things are used once in a while!  What will happen next?!

Swim lessons are over

And just like that, two weeks of daily swimming lessons are over.  Here is the happy, albeit the very sleepy wanting to take a nap Tigger and her certificate.

Kids are just Funny

Kids are funny as evidenced by:
Today was my mom's birthday!  Tigger and I took her out for lunch....and spent the afternoon with her.  Tigger was great.....I had prepped her for her grandma's birthday and all morning she was going on and on about "Ta" (her name for my mom) and birthdays and cake.  (I think my daughter really loves cake)

So we went to a place my mom wanted to go....one of those buffet style places where you can eat as much as you want plus desserts....lots of desserts!  So while we were out and about eating, Tigger sings "Happy Birthday to you, to you, to you Ta.....to you Ta" over and over again.  It was kinda cute.  Mom had a great time eating and by the time we were finished, Tigger had her cake as well (luckily I spotted some carrot cake so I figured that was the best of the worst dessert had to offer) so everyone was happy.

Kids are funny as evidenced by:
This evening we were playing upstairs....ok, I was doing laundry and Tigger was playing with my clothes as always....when she started to play dress up.  She then goes to a mirror and starts posing.  I mean posing with intent like she's a model or something.  Then I see her smile into the mirror and BLINK like she's flirting with herself and the mirror.

Ummmmmmmm I have no idea where that came from.  I'm not awful, but I don't spend gobs of time in front of the mirror and I don't spend lots of time getting ready to go out, so this posing and "beauty pageant faces" going on is really making me laugh.  Nobody can teach that stuff....you either got it or you don't!

Here's to life with a kid, they are funny!

It must be the heat!

Been around the blogosphere lately?  No?  oh that's too bad, I really think the heat is getting to people!  Blogs getting "hurt" by other blogs, an inspirational blog post getting bashed because it was too positive....yikes!

I guess I just don't get it.  Here are my thoughts on these past few weeks of reading various blogs.  this is not aimed at any one forum or blog or anyone....I do read a lot of blogs, and this summer has been a doozy.  

1.  Just because it's a blog doesn't mean it's private.  (Yes that means that people who don't agree with you or who won't have nice things to say may see your blog unless you do privatize it)

2.  Just because one doesn't agree with a post, it doesn't give one license to post really negative comments about it.  (there are ways to disagree that sound constructive, professional, and neutral while getting your point across...no need to get nasty)

3.  Just like one person cites their sources or a quote for their final thesis when doing graduate or a PhD program, one can do that online too as long as it meets "fair use" terms.  (yes a copyright is so no one copies and passes it off as their own, it's not a license to not be aware of the 'fair use' terms)

4.  However, when doing your research and compiling your thesis for class....books/journal articles etc. aren't people and are very friendly, forums and blogs are manned by live people.....so even though one may be in the right, people are funny and threaten others....so if you think you're dealing with a person that is going to cause trouble....just run screaming into the night.....in the long run, you can probably use something better.

5.  Moms, quit going after other moms and I mean specifically....this is why we are constantly stressed out....don't like what someone else is doing (we're talking legal here not anything like drugs or beatings)?   then don't do it at your house.

5.  Remember blogs and forums are full of "typed words"....."typed words" are missing a very vital ingredient in communication.....PRAGMATICS.  You are familiar with it, it's voice inflections, mannerisms, body language, in addition to the content of one's point....so really try to be more understanding, after all, the computer really takes away this vital aspect of communication from us.

ok people, be nice, be kind, be thoughtful, don't be acting a fool.....readers and your blood pressure will thank you for it!