5 Year Old Physical

Tonight we took Ally to the pediatrician for her 5 year old check up. We all already knew this but the doctor made it official "Ally is perfect...you are both (the moms) doing a fabulous job..." The appointment was late in the day - 5:20PM and we were there for over an hour, and Ally was pretty tired by the end when it was time for her flu vaccine. We asked for the nasal one, but Ally kind of panicked after the first nostril. Lots of tears, a bathroom break (so I would not get peed on for the 4th year in a row) and a sticker and lollipop bribe later I finally held her face while the technician sprayed it in. I think most of the vaccine was then wiped/slobbered on my sweater, but at least it was over. The doctor said maybe next year we should just do the needle shot. Becky and I agree that would be simpler. But Ally has been worried all week about getting a shot in her leg, because then she couldn't run at recess if her leg hurt, and apparently those boys are still chasing her and it hurts her throat to roar at them too much. To add to the drama Ally has a make-up gymnastics class tomorrow, and she was concerned that the shot would make her leg hurt during gymnastics. Phew - a nasal spray and the leg was safe. But did you know that the nose spray is tickley? I do, now that it has been screamed into my ear. But seriously - Ally was a champ at the doctor - she had 2 exams, one from the resident and one from her regular doctor. We all talked about how important it was for Ally to eat lunch at school and meals at home. Dry skin is still an issue so we were told to keep up with the lotion twice a day.

Ally is officially 35 pounds and 40 inches tall. This is about 15-20% for both height and weight. Our doctor showed us how on the chart how Ally continues to grow and that is what is most important - continued and consistent weight and height gain.

We treated Ally to ice cream after dinner, mint chocolate chip.

Then it was craft time before bed.

I saw in a magazine a way to make a Christmas Card display using a tomato cage. So before the doctor while Ally was at after-school program Becky and I spray painted one of our old cages silver. Then while Ally finished her dinner Becky made the cone for the top.



Ally of course wanted to help so she traced the circle tree skirt, which I cut our with decorative scissors and then she and Becky made a star for the top, and Ally is shown here cutting out the star.

Silly face posing with the finished project.

Very quick project - now I just need to get binder clips to attach the card to the holder. Of course we also need to receive some cards.

It was a busy day, and its been a busy week:

Monday - it was a beautiful day, 65 degrees and sunny so I picked Ally up early and took her for a walk. Then Ally had girl scouts in the evening.

Tuesday - music class for Ally after school

Wednesday - Ally's physical and craft project

Thursday - make up gymnastics class

Friday - play date at a local paint your own pottery with Ally's friend Willow

Saturday - gymnastics and Roxie's birthday party

Sunday - swim lessons with Stella start up again

Busy Busy Busy but fun busy and happy busy and thriving and healthy busy. Ally has been sleeping really well at night and waking up in a good mood every day.

Life feels pretty good.

Cooking Class - November

River and his mom Summer hosted cooking class in November. It was a huge success and lots of fun. The kids made Zucchini Sticks, Pizza and Banana Ice Cream.

Ally seasoned the bread crumbs for the zucchini sticks.

breading the zucchini - dip it in egg, then into the bread crumbs. They were then baked in the oven and served with marinara sauce for dipping. The rule at Cooking Class is that Ally has to try things - she tasted a bite of the raw zucchini - declared she did not like it, but she tasted it.

Getting ready to put topping on her pizza.

Mia made her pizza into a face! Summer had put together all kinds of different toppings - raw spinach, roasted red peppers, raw green peppers, olives, artichokes, tomatoes. It was great.

Ally decided she wanted just cheese on her pizza but...

She tried eating some raw spinach! And she liked it. She literally ate handfuls of it.

Banana Ice Cream was the final dish. Did you know you can just blend frozen bananas and it makes ice cream?

From left to right; Auric, Ally, River & Thora tasting the frozen bananas - we try and have the kids taste things in different states, so they each had a piece of the actual frozen banana, and this was a taste of the bananas blended together to a mashed state, but not yet ice cream.

It was pretty funny to see them all gathered around a food processor watching bananas get pulverized.

Mommy and Ally

Thora's mom Sarah holding Auric (her son) and River's sister Lila.

Thora and her pizza smile. (That is Aiden's grandmother behind Thora. Aiden was camera shy and refused to have his picture taken).

River's pizza smile

Ally's pizza smile

The absolute best part of the cooking class came the next day. Becky and Ally and I were shopping at the supermarket and Ally asked "can we get some of that green stuff I liked at Cooking Class?" Of course we said yes and went to the produce aisle and found some organic baby spinach, brought it home, washed and dried it and put it in a bowl.

Turns out the girl loves her some spinach - plain, not cooked, no sauce or dressing.

Thank-You Notes

I was really proud of Ally for writing all of her own thank-you notes this year:

They are short and to the point. But she wrote every single one herself, and there were a lot to write - 12 of them! We got them all done one morning in a couple of sessions.
Ally received a dew more gifts since then so we'll work on the others this week.

Tire Swing

I pick Ally up from school about 4pm. Lately that means it is almost dark. But she always asks to play for a while on the playground. Its tough now with the darkness, and our 20 minute walk home. But I usually agree for a few minutes. One day this week she has the whole tire swing to herself. Ally has a long love of tire swings - for about 3 years now she has loved them and looks at them longingly in other people's yards and on TV. She is pretty psyched that her school playground has one!

look mom - no hands - she hasyou push and spin the swing and then lets go with her hands and keeps her balnce by holding onto to the inside of the tire with her feet

so high

and the finale was standing on the swing

Then she was pretty tired for the walk home and I ended up carrying her on my shoulders.

"I roar at them"

The story about these pictures is one of my favorites of all time.

I picked Ally up at school, and as usual she needs to use the bathroom. I have to go into the bathroom with her to push down the water - its an old school building and she cannot push the faucet down to get water by herself - she does not have enough leverage. But I digress...we are in the bathroom and she says "mommy, the boys were chasing us at recess again today" this has been a common statement about recess. So I say "oh - did you try asking them to stop" "yes I did and they don't stop and I don't like it ... but I know how to scare them away" big pause and I wait and Ally follows that with "I roar at them" and she said it with such aplomb and so matter of factly as if that was a perfectly normal solution. I asked if it worked and she told me yes, they were scared of her roar and so then they stopped.

Oh my - I am so proud of her. My amazing, strong, little girl who loves gymnastics and coloring and dinosaurs. She roars at the boys to get them to stop chasing her and her friends. I just love the non-violent solution to her problem.

So later that night we asked Ally to show us her roar.

It is very fierce

the angry eyes

wide open mouth - look closely at Becky in the background

And for Ally the roar is a full body move - she can't stand upright and roar - its a chest forward back arched mouth open eyes squinted or shut mouth loud roar.

Its an impressive sight to see and hear.

And way to go little one learning how to defend yourself.

We are still talking about asking boys politely, and she claims to have tried that and one agreed during classroom time not to chase her and then out on the playground he gave in to peer pressure and chased Ally and her friends anyway. So typical. And so appropriate for this age. But oh so funny.

Happy Thanksgiving

We're happy to be celebrating with Becky's family this year.

Hand of it

For those of you who don't know Becky can juggle. This weekend Ally proclaimed "mama, mommy, come see, I got the hand of it" Hang of what Ally? "Hand of it - see I can juggle"

It was so adorable and she was so proud of her ability to juggle and a balloon and that she used the phrase "hand of it" which makes super clear sense in relation to hitting something with one's hand. We just did not have the heart to correct her or try and explain why the saying was actually "hang of it".

waiting the out stretched hands

hand on it - look I've got the hand of it!

Its so cool to see her tackle new things.

And for those who want to know - that is Ally's dress and sweater hanging in the background for a special celebration on December 26!

Birthday Night

Ally's actual birthday evening was fun too! We invited her friend Stella and her family over for dinner. Ally received a Rapunzel doll from Stella.

Becky and I got Ally a play tent - its a Princess Castle Tent. We thought it would mean less fort building. Not necessarily true, but Ally loves it.

Shannon (Stella's mom ) and I thought Becky looked very "bad witch in the Wizard of Oz" in this picture. For those of you who know me and my opposition to all things Wizard of Oz it was a bit freaky. Turns out Shannon doesn't like that movie either!

The girls immediately started playing in it.

Our traditional photo under the birthday banner.

Ally and her own cake.

5 years old!

I told her she could cut it herself. She stood up to get enough leverage.

super excited silly face

Stella and Violet eating cake

Violet liked it so much she licked the plate!

After our friends left Ally opened some more gifts. Thank-you Aunt Martha for the new pillow.

Aunt Louise sent Ally a new book "Treasury for 5 year olds" Ally was so excited - she gets one from Louise every year and she seemd expecially thrilled with this gift, its kind of a right of passage to move up to the next year.

It was a great day.

School Party

This year, now that Ally is in kindergarten she could have a party at school. That means bring in cupcakes for her classmates, and they have a small party for her. She was pretty excited. But that meant we had to make cupcakes, and a cake for her actual birthday, and we had just made fish cupcakes for her party, oh and we made cookies for to celebrate with her afterschool program. Lots of baking!

Ally decided for her actual birthday she wanted a little cake. She requested white frosting and vanilla (white) cake and red decorations on it.

I decided in the interests of my sanity to buy the pre-made colored frosting in a tube. If you can't tell Ally was all over it.

Decorating her own cake at 5 - maybe at 6 she'll bake it too?

I made a small single layer cake of the same kind to share with Stella and her family.

Then the school cupcake decorating factory began. Becky iced.

Ally applied sprinkles

and ate some too

I put them in the carrier.

At school on her birthday. It was pretty cool to walk in and see Ally so engaged in her classroom activity. She didn't even see me come in and even after one of her friends ran over and said "Ally your mom is here" she kept working at her table on her project. I went and sat with her for a while until it was gathering time.

On a student's birthday gathering time is about the birthday child. The teacher says something nice about him/her and then passes a talking object (it was a wooden door knob on Ally's birthday) around and each student who gets the knob says something they like about Ally. It was really neat to hear what they said:

Sofia "I like that when I played a game with Ally and I won and Ally lost, Ally did not cry...she is a good sport"

Simon "I like that Ally is not that mean to me"

Lily "I like to play with Ally"

Joanne (one of the teachers) "I like Ally's smile"

Noelle (the lead teacher) "I like that Ally plays with all different students"

Nathen "Ally is nice to me"

Erik "Ally is not mean"

Then it was time to eat the cupcakes! The class sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish. Then after cupcakes each student made a birthday card for Ally.

It was really very sweet to see each them each make one and bring it to her. Ally had such a nice time. A special treat for Ally was that then we went straight home and she did not have to go to afterschool.