Monday, November 30, 2009
Karate Kid II
Move over Ralph Macchio, watch out Hannah, Rachel started Tae Kwon Do tonight! And so did Daddy! 
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Apparently...
...she felt the need to fill the void in my bed with Daddy gone. And she brought along her furry friends for a sleepover as well. 
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
A Rachel Funny
It was the week before Halloween and I was working in Rachel's class, sitting at the table in the back, busily putting homework folders together, hearing the kids hum and sing Christmas songs. I smiled to myself thinking how funny it was that we were a week before Halloween and here these kids have Christmas songs on their lips.
And then, all of a sudden I heard one of Rachel's classmates exclaim "He is too real!!!!"
A wave of panic struck me as I looked up and saw Rachel standing there and her saying "Mommy, tell him that Santa Claus is not real!!!"
I motioned for Rachel to come over and I whispered in her ear that we were supposed to remember that while we don't believe Santa Claus is real, a lot of kids do and we're not spoil their fun.
She then turned and as she walked away she got in the last word with "Well, he's not real at our house!!!" and back to her work she went. LOL.
This incident came to mind today as we were waiting to see Santa Claus at Disneyland.
To my children, seeing Santa Claus is just part of the holidays and is nothing more than a man dressed up, just like those of the characters at Disneyland. So of course Rachel wanted to see him.
And as I stood here, watching Rachel tell this man that she was hoping to get a brown horsey (huh? where'd that come from??) for Christmas, a streak of panic set in and I wondered if she would tell this man he wasn't real and that it was Mommy and Daddy who brought the presents on Christmas and that Christmas wasn't about him. When in fact it's Jesus' birthday.
Not that I wouldn't have been proud of her for preaching the truth, but whoa, that would have been really awkward! LOL
And then, all of a sudden I heard one of Rachel's classmates exclaim "He is too real!!!!"
A wave of panic struck me as I looked up and saw Rachel standing there and her saying "Mommy, tell him that Santa Claus is not real!!!"
I motioned for Rachel to come over and I whispered in her ear that we were supposed to remember that while we don't believe Santa Claus is real, a lot of kids do and we're not spoil their fun.
She then turned and as she walked away she got in the last word with "Well, he's not real at our house!!!" and back to her work she went. LOL.
This incident came to mind today as we were waiting to see Santa Claus at Disneyland.
To my children, seeing Santa Claus is just part of the holidays and is nothing more than a man dressed up, just like those of the characters at Disneyland. So of course Rachel wanted to see him.
And as I stood here, watching Rachel tell this man that she was hoping to get a brown horsey (huh? where'd that come from??) for Christmas, a streak of panic set in and I wondered if she would tell this man he wasn't real and that it was Mommy and Daddy who brought the presents on Christmas and that Christmas wasn't about him. When in fact it's Jesus' birthday. Not that I wouldn't have been proud of her for preaching the truth, but whoa, that would have been really awkward! LOL
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Disneyland with Family
As everyone by now knows, this year, Disneyland's promotion is that you get into Disneyland FREE on your birthday. To make long story short, my sister in law and brother in law came from Oregon last week all centered around going to Disneyland for Ed's 40th birthday!
We spent the day all day with them on Tuesday, and they stayed in a nearby motel on Tuesday night and played all day on Wednesday. We just spent the one day at Disneyland. I was worn out and tired and wasn't up to dealing with the crowds that might come out as a result of Veteran's Day. But Tuesday as GREAT!!! We had a wonderful, wonderful time and did managed to squeeze a lot in during the short off season hours for the park.
Over the weekend the kids had all been practicing in anticipation of being chosen for the Jedi Training Academy in Tomorrowland. To say Ryan is a Star Wars fan would be an understatement - he eats, sleeps, breathes Star Wars. So the first thing we did for the day was head over to the first showing of the Academy. We've seen the show dozens of times, but never once has either of our girls had the desire to go and try to be chosen. They were too afraid to fight Darth Vadar, let alone the scary looking Darth Maul. But on this day, Rachel was up for trying out! I think it helped tremendously that her two cousins had the strong desire to be picked. Turned out that all three of the young cousins got picked and they are now officially honorary Jedi trainees.
They each did an awesome job and made this entire family of Star Wars Geeks proud!!! Rachel even says she'll try again next time we're at Disneyland!!!
The crowds were light and we managed to do sooo much. We spent the day focusing on the big rides and a lot of the favorite rides that our family hoped to accomplish while visiting. We all went on Autopia, and managed to be on the tracks that were side by side and had fun racing, passing up, and taking pictures.
There were some rides that the smaller kids didn't wish to experience, and a time or two, Rachel wasn't quite tall enough to ride. So we had our fun sitting out and waiting for the rest of our family to get off the rides. 
The cousins all had a great time paling around and riding with each other and competing to sit with one another on rides, etc. We really did have a great day!
Gramie with four of her five grandchildren.
Disneyland closed at 8:00 on Tuesday. We skipped dinner and took advantage of relatively short lines and then went out to dinner after leaving Disneyland. The kids were all tired, but they relished all the time they could have together...
We spent the day all day with them on Tuesday, and they stayed in a nearby motel on Tuesday night and played all day on Wednesday. We just spent the one day at Disneyland. I was worn out and tired and wasn't up to dealing with the crowds that might come out as a result of Veteran's Day. But Tuesday as GREAT!!! We had a wonderful, wonderful time and did managed to squeeze a lot in during the short off season hours for the park.
Over the weekend the kids had all been practicing in anticipation of being chosen for the Jedi Training Academy in Tomorrowland. To say Ryan is a Star Wars fan would be an understatement - he eats, sleeps, breathes Star Wars. So the first thing we did for the day was head over to the first showing of the Academy. We've seen the show dozens of times, but never once has either of our girls had the desire to go and try to be chosen. They were too afraid to fight Darth Vadar, let alone the scary looking Darth Maul. But on this day, Rachel was up for trying out! I think it helped tremendously that her two cousins had the strong desire to be picked. Turned out that all three of the young cousins got picked and they are now officially honorary Jedi trainees.
They each did an awesome job and made this entire family of Star Wars Geeks proud!!! Rachel even says she'll try again next time we're at Disneyland!!! The crowds were light and we managed to do sooo much. We spent the day focusing on the big rides and a lot of the favorite rides that our family hoped to accomplish while visiting. We all went on Autopia, and managed to be on the tracks that were side by side and had fun racing, passing up, and taking pictures.
There were some rides that the smaller kids didn't wish to experience, and a time or two, Rachel wasn't quite tall enough to ride. So we had our fun sitting out and waiting for the rest of our family to get off the rides. 
The cousins all had a great time paling around and riding with each other and competing to sit with one another on rides, etc. We really did have a great day!
Disneyland closed at 8:00 on Tuesday. We skipped dinner and took advantage of relatively short lines and then went out to dinner after leaving Disneyland. The kids were all tired, but they relished all the time they could have together...
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Orthodontic Growing Pains
Off and on over the last couple of months, Rachel has been complaining that her tooth hurst. Her front top tooth is the one she always points to. We'd looked in there and kinda came to the conclusion that her 'funky tooth' as we affectionately call it, the tooth that is sideways in her cleft aveolar ridge (her gum) was moving down and pressing on her good tooth.
I took her to our pediatric dentist on Tuesday and she checked her over - no cavities, no visible problems. She took an Xray which showed her jacked up upper teeth, but nothing that really jumped out.
Our dentist emailed her Xray to an orthodontist to look over and his conclusion was that she has so many issues where her cleft is, that more than likely the pain she is experiencing is growing pains in the area of all the movement and change. Our plan is to keep an eye on it as there really isn't anything that can be done right now orthodontically.
I took her to our pediatric dentist on Tuesday and she checked her over - no cavities, no visible problems. She took an Xray which showed her jacked up upper teeth, but nothing that really jumped out.
Our dentist emailed her Xray to an orthodontist to look over and his conclusion was that she has so many issues where her cleft is, that more than likely the pain she is experiencing is growing pains in the area of all the movement and change. Our plan is to keep an eye on it as there really isn't anything that can be done right now orthodontically.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Hearing Test
At Rachel's Crainofacial Team Appointment the end of January, after talking with the ENT, it was decided to have Rachel's hearing retested in 6 months. Her P.E. tubes had both fallen out and we wanted to stay atop of her hearing as it can affect her speech.
She really should have had her hearing tested in August, but with school starting that month, etc, it just slipped my mind. But now that we've gotten the ball moving on getting her speech through the school, I wanted to follow through with getting a hearing test so that the results could be passed on to the speech therapist and to her teacher.
She had her hearing test today and it came back 'normal'!!! Whoo Hoo! No need to see the ENT at this tube for possible tubes!
She did well for the first part, the part where they check the pressure and sound waves bouncing off the ear drum.
And for the second part of the test, they took us into the sound proof room (aka the panic room for those that are claustrophobic, etc). She and the assistant sat down, the hearing test started, and things were going well. And then all of a sudden, Rachel stopped putting blocks in the bucket every time she'd hear a sound. She just stopped. I got concerned, cause I heard one or two sounds and I didn't have the ear phones on and yet, she wasn't putting blocks into the bucket! How could she possibly not hear that?!?!? And then the assistant put on a special set of ear phone looking things. I'd never seen these before and it concerned me even more. And then Rachel resumed back to following directions and putting blocks into the bucket.
When the test was complete, the audiologist came into the room and we talked and he said that he'd gotten to a point in the test where she just stopped. He was making sounds as loud as her volume in talking and she wasn't picking them up. He said he got concerned for a moment, and then looked at her face and she must have just zoned out for a few minutes because she got back with the program and did it and passed it. LOL. The special ear phone looking thing he had the assistant put on, was to test the nerves in her ears, seeing how she wasn't admitting to hearing anything. LOL. That test too turned out normal.
So it's been proven, she can hear. Now if we could only get her to listen!!! LOL.
She really should have had her hearing tested in August, but with school starting that month, etc, it just slipped my mind. But now that we've gotten the ball moving on getting her speech through the school, I wanted to follow through with getting a hearing test so that the results could be passed on to the speech therapist and to her teacher.
She had her hearing test today and it came back 'normal'!!! Whoo Hoo! No need to see the ENT at this tube for possible tubes!
She did well for the first part, the part where they check the pressure and sound waves bouncing off the ear drum.
And for the second part of the test, they took us into the sound proof room (aka the panic room for those that are claustrophobic, etc). She and the assistant sat down, the hearing test started, and things were going well. And then all of a sudden, Rachel stopped putting blocks in the bucket every time she'd hear a sound. She just stopped. I got concerned, cause I heard one or two sounds and I didn't have the ear phones on and yet, she wasn't putting blocks into the bucket! How could she possibly not hear that?!?!? And then the assistant put on a special set of ear phone looking things. I'd never seen these before and it concerned me even more. And then Rachel resumed back to following directions and putting blocks into the bucket.
When the test was complete, the audiologist came into the room and we talked and he said that he'd gotten to a point in the test where she just stopped. He was making sounds as loud as her volume in talking and she wasn't picking them up. He said he got concerned for a moment, and then looked at her face and she must have just zoned out for a few minutes because she got back with the program and did it and passed it. LOL. The special ear phone looking thing he had the assistant put on, was to test the nerves in her ears, seeing how she wasn't admitting to hearing anything. LOL. That test too turned out normal. So it's been proven, she can hear. Now if we could only get her to listen!!! LOL.
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