She insisted.

Fuzzy, I checked (I really did!). They only make them in Twin size. :(

The kiddies visited the firehouse today. :)

( Mini fire girl )

Maddie made Halloween very easy on me. She wants to be Coraline. One yellow slicker, one pair of yellow rainboots, a blue wig and a pair of blue jeans.

Badda Bing!

I took my mom to see Star Trek this afternoon. It was the last day in the theater. I felt kind of bad that it took me so long. I kept forgetting. There was just no way she wasn't going to see it on the big screen. She's probably one of the most hardcore Trekkies I've ever known. She loved it. Just to kind of put it into perspective...she thought it was better than Wrath of Kahn and The Undiscovered Country. That's saying a whole lot.

I have to admit, it is even better the second time around. I paid close attention to the details and didn't really find any plot holes. I was seriously looking for them. I still cried in the beginning. I still smiled through the rest of the movie. I still left extremely excited for the next movie.

After I dropped her off Maddie and I went to gymnastics and then the public library's Superhero Library Party. All the kids dressed up as super heroes. I am happy to report that D.C. outnumbered Marvel by two! My own lovely Wonder Woman totally pwnd Spiderman and won the musical chairs game. Great Hera!!!

I'm beat. It's almost time for Maddie to go to bed. Ahhhhh....

All the girls went to the eye doctor today. It was kind of a field trip. LOL Anyway, Meghan needs glasses for distance...just in time for driving. She picked out a pair of AWESOME thick black statement glasses with thick gray arms with black filigree/lace type carvings. She looked good in everything she tried on but these were just spectacular.

I got two pairs. One pair is fairly utilitarian. I'll wear them most of the time. I did get another pair of red statement frames. They are really cool. I'll wear them for going out stuff. :) Greg forbade bling bling glasses (you know, the bright colored ones with "diamonds" embedded on the frames) on pain of divorce. Fortunately there weren't any of those I liked so that I might have tested that empty threat. hehe

Maddie spent the exam fucking with the eye doctor. One minute she read the letters on the line and the other minute she said she couldn't see any of the letters on the line above it. Taking a reeeeeeaaaallly long time to read huge letters. Just screwing with her. I'm pretty sure she thought it was funny (and truth be told, so did Meghan and I). The doctor? Probably not so much. LOL

Two weeks and we'll have new specs.

Now...my fucking hair.

ETA: Oh yeah, and she said to come in in a few months to do up the exam for contacts.

ETA: Oh yeah yeah, and she gave me the number of a person who does a kind of blue light therapy under eyes to eliminate dark circles no matter what the cause. Apparently it's pain free with no down time after.

OK. I am the freakin' smartest person in the world.

6 hour drive with a 5 year old.

How will I keep her occupied?

I just loaded her mp3 player with about 10 audio books!!!

It's that time of the year again!!! March of Dimes time!!! We're collecting if you're donating. Although Maddie will be walking, all donations are flat (not the $1 per mile thing). Contact me here in comments, phone, email, or in person if you want to donate. Even $1 is awesome.

Here's our "Awwwwww" heartstring picture to get you motivated to give us money.

( Set your faces to...awwww. )

My mother in law sent these along. I didn't have copies until now.

( Take all you can! Give nothing back! )

Maddie had her speech assessment today. Since she had her tongue tie fixed the surgeon recommended she be assessed to make sure she's good.

She's better than good. She's great. The level for average speech is 90 points. Maddie scored 95. The problem areas she has are normal for her age and she was actually self correcting when the pathologist asked her to repeat what she said.

This was an Early Intervention program so she actually had to have a full cognitive/social assessment. While she didn't have tons of "facts" about things, her abstract thought was pretty incredible for a child her age; something I value far and away more than just the ability to spew facts.

Her language and cognitive development matches a child who is 6.5 to 7 years old. She maxed out on the testing questions because they didn't make any higher than 7. Suffice it to say they highly recommended that she be tested for gifted as early as kindergarten. Until then she should be put into enrichment courses. She's already in music and will be in cooking class in March (since I can't cook I figure we can try and train her early).

Phew. OK. I'm done.

< /shameless kid brag>

I'm cleaning her room (and the closets) and I found one of her little tote bags packed to the brim...presumably with the things she feels she can't live without. Perhaps she packed for Disney already. Maybe for Meme's. Regarless, it's so...well, Maddie.

The contents:

One Tyrannosaurus Rex
Her Swoop stuffed animal
Four penguins (including Chilly)
A penguin book
Four Dr. Seuss books
A Jack Sparrow light-up pen
Scooby Doo
A pack of tissue
An older tooth brush (presumably one that was packed for a trip and was never unpacked)
Crayons
and a pair of socks

Sounds good to me!

Went to Toys R Us this morning to use a gift certificate from Greg's brother. I have such a hard time buying Maddie things because, well honestly most current toys suck. Lo and behold on a small shelf in the back of the store I found fairy rag dolls. Lo and behold they are organic dolls made of 100% certified organic cotton. Isn't that a hoot?

Yeah. I got them. What the hel. Two for Maddie and the darker one for Meghan. hehe

We went early this afternoon to get Maddie's Santa picture. She finally sat on his lap. It took about 3 years and a lot of convincing that he was really Odin; not some freaky weird guy in red.

( Madeline's Santa Picture )

So we went to the Verizon store to ask about a problem I'm having with my phone. I can't save sounds or songs as ringtones. None of them. Won't do it. If I can't download it I can't have it. Suffice it to say no one carries the Dexter theme song. Seems that that service is not a part of the phone and I can't return the damned thing. ::sigh:: That pissed me off big time.

Greg's shoulder and upper back have been on fire from the hacking spasms he's had over the last two weeks. It just so happens that there's a Chinese Acupressure Massage Therapist in the mall. He goes in for the five minute free sample. He stayed for the full 30 minutes. hehe. Maybe I'll go next time. Maybe I'll get Jason to work on me now that he's licensed.

On to Waldenbooks. Had to get two presents. One birthday. One Christmas. Didn't have either. Travel to the mall for Barnes and Noble. Park 14 miles away from mall entrance. Wade through mall insanity. No luck. Take the phone to the expert Verizon tech. No luck. Grrrrrrr.

Went grocery shopping. Meh. Made dinner. Meh. Ate dinner. Meh.

Things are looking up...Dexter Season Finale in 21 minutes. Watching a documentary on Alexander the Great and the Battle of Gaugamela. Alexander is my homeboy and I'm really starting to dig The Military Channel.

Today was Maddie's Mad Tea Party. Miss E. joined us early in the day so she could attend the party. Mom and dad were meeting with some friends so we had the pleasure of hosting her for the day. All the girls arrived on time and the melee ensued. Greg, Meg, Maddie and I all dressed as characters. I think by the end of the day the girls were filled with so much sugar they were twitching when they left. I told the parents to refrain from juice or fruit for dinner. It might have sent them into a coma. They made their own cupcakes and sundaes and painted tea trays. They had tea, stacked sugar cubes, played hot "cheshire cat," and ate tarts. They all left full of sugar with goodie bags, their tea cups and saucers and a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. All in all an awesome party.

Now...if I could only get the song Painting the Roses Red out of my head I'd be getting somewhere.

( Down the Rabbit Hole )

The rest of the evening was spent with the older crew. They got to avoid the Mad Tea Party. Let me tell you, two hours between two parties just isn't enough. Period. Four might have been better.

I need to go to bed now.

I have posted pictures in a long time. I'll group them together.

Let me start with one above the cut. I got my engagement ring back. We were going to do the "two hand" formal photo since Greg's ring is all sparkly with goodness but I can't figure out when we'll do it. Sooooo.....here's mine!! That's my original diamond cleaned and put in a new setting. The diamond is "embraced" by a separate ring that has the two marquis cut sapphires and two small round cut diamonds. The two rings are soldered together to form one band. The band under is my newly rodiumed and polished wedding band. Greg's band was rodiumed and polished as well. They are quite spiffy. I'm simply in love. I didn't want to "upgrade" my diamond which is what is usually done after so many anniversaries. I wanted to keep the original one and enhance it some way.



Under the cut you'll see:

Vingolf's Odin Blot

Awesome carved pumpkins from Greg's work

Random very adorable cat pictures (which incidentally I need good LOL captions from all of you)

Maddie's family dinner birthday

Some "parent watch day" pictures from dance class.

( Random stuff pictures )

Today is Maddie's 5th birthday. Most of you know she was 1 pound 11 ounces when she was born. She couldn't cry, see or really move. She had to do all her growing in a plastic box. Meghan is my tiny dancer. Madeline is my blackbird.

I sing this to her every birthday.

Just got back. We're scheduled for November 3rd. They only do hospital surgeries on the first Monday of the month. They don't do children in the office. The doctor (the same guy who did Meghan's wisdom teeth and remembered me) said that though it has never happened, when children go down they go down fast sometimes. This is a simple 20 minute procedure but there is good bleeding because it's in the mouth (a very vascular area). He always insists on all forms of life saving equipment within his reach when dealing with kids. I like him.

I have to talk to anesthesia on the actual day. They tend to take the child and gas them in the OR where I can't go. BZZZZZZZZ. Wrong answer. I want her sedated with me and then they can take her when she gets groggy. Of course it won't matter if she wants to willing go with them. We'll have to see.

So there it is. He said the pain is very, very minimal and between the Novocaine and the Tylenol she'll be just fine.

Today we go to the doctor to see about snipping her tongue. It's the consultation appointment so we'll end up setting a date today, I'm sure. She understands that she needs her tongue snipped so she can talk better. She doesn't know it will hurt. Hopefully (actually I'll demand) that she's given an oral sedative before IV insertion AND they will shoot her tongue up with Novocaine. That way as it slowly wears off the pain killers will take effect and the swelling will have gone down some. Greg and I are really nervous about this. I mean, I couldn't even watch when Meghan got her eyebrow pierced. I got woozy. This will kill me. Anyway, it's got to be done so she doesn't suffer in the long run with poor speech development which will impeded many things including a vocal music career if she wants one.

On to music...(nice segue, right?). Maddie is now in Pre-K music class. This is an extra enrichment course. The school offers two a year. This year is music and Spanish. I'm not for Spanish at this age, to tell the truth. I'd rather see extra reading or math instruction. Spanish don't mean diddly squat right now IMHO. Numbers and letters. Anyway, this course is really good. Twice a week they are taken to another room for a half hour. They learn rhythm, instruments, sing songs, and learn to identify more popular classical pieces. I get a weekly report from the teacher and they identify strengths and weaknesses. I'm sure erichp would approve...LOL!

Maddie is quickly learning to read!!! She is doing extremely well and can read quite a few sight words. I have flashcards and a copy of the Dolch word list. Every night when I read to her she asks me to teach her to read. She is really doing well with decoding letters and is starting "phonics" spelling. A couple weeks ago she spelled "parade" as "pard." This is where they should be in kindergarten. So suffice it to say she's ahead. The teachers think she should be evaluated for the gifted program in kindergarten. That way when she goes to Muhlenburg for first grade she'll be ready for the program. </ end parent brag>

Lastly I bought winter boots for her. You aren't gonna friggin' believe which ones she picked out. ::sigh::

( I bet you expected this, right? )

Maddie drew a picture of Frigga.

May ye have a bountiful International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Take all you can! Give nothing back!

I made it...well, mostly (still waiting on Meghan but that's not too far away).

First day of school and work


And my favorite youtube of all time: