Ally Update

5th Grade.
My mom taught 5th grade for many years. My mom is no longer with us and lately with Mother's Day approaching I think about her more often than usual and wish she was here to hear all about 5th grade. My mom would have loved reading the blog from last week in London.
She would laugh hysterically at some of the 5th grade antics currently taking place. And she would have so much enjoyed watching Ally in her ballet recital in the costume displayed below.

No she isnt a telly-tubby (not that my mom would have known what that was, neither did Ally when her classmates declared they looked like tell-tubbies.) The theme of this year's show is The Circus and Ally's class are the acrobats.
Every girl has a different colored unitard. I am so glad Ally got hot pink and not brown. All I can think of with a brown unitard is that the girl will look like a piece of poop. And a unitard? Can I tell you how much my pudgy 5th grade self would have died in a unitard?

But if any one can rock hot pink spandex its Ally:

She was not pleased that Becky took these pictures, so if you see Ally don't tell her you saw the costume on the blog.

I mean - hot pink spandex? It makes me smile and laugh.

But back to Ally. Her class started the BFF unit it health class a few weeks ago. BFF stands for Bodies, Feelings & Friends. You might know it more as Sex Ed 101. Its a 12 week unit on the human body - boys and girls bodies, reproduction, families, puberty, friendship as it relates to relationships.

And Ally hates it.

She is so creeped out by the whole topic. We've read some books and talked about it all in advance. But she says its so awkward. They do the whole class together now - boys and girls and don't separate them out like they did when I was in 5th grade. So she sits at a table with her friend Willow and 2 boys.
The other day she came home with most of her lunch un-eaten. I asked what happened and she said some boys were talking about their body parts and she got so grossed out she couldn't eat!
She keeps asking why they have to learn this. I keep explaining that it is part of life and growing up. And that its important to understand not only how her body works but how boys' bodies work too. She might be a mom to a boy someday - she might have a husband. And then I tell her the story of one of my college room mates who was terribly embarrassed for not knowing the male body parts at age 20 and we had to get an anatomy book to show her. Ally doesn't want to not get pop culture and not know what people are talking about. She wants to be knowledgeable, even if its uncomfortable and embarrassing.

At the same time the 5th grade is learning the BFF unit in health class they are doing ballroom dancing in gym class. Ally is like most kids and of course there are a few boys she really doesn't want to dance with. She asked why boys are so immature and why they do disgusting things like pick their noses and fart. Becky laughs and tells her they are boys and boys do that, and will keep doing things like that for a few years (or more) until they start to catch up with the girls in maturity.

In health news Ally still has some pain in her knees but it seems to be getting somewhat better. Becky and I think some of the pain is Ally's body and the way her brain works. We are starting to see some similarities to two years ago. Its not as severe and this time the MRI did show some things wrong with her knee. But it seems her body has a pretty sensitive pain threshold and that her nerves are very slow to stop transmitting pain messages. Becky and I are aware of the signs and are talking with Ally about it. Ally's Physical Therapist is on board as well and will continue to work with Ally on her body mechanics and strength training to keep the inflammation in her knees down. But we all agreed to stop talking about pain with Ally, and to let Ally tell us when she needs meds or when the pain is really bad. PT is starting to push Ally more and more and we hope to have her back tumbling at practice soon.
We go back to see the orthopedist in two weeks and we will be talking with her about this as well.

We learned a lot two years ago about how to manage chronic pain - what the signs are and how to deal with it and how important it is to stay active, even with pain. Ally knows all of this as well.