Ghosts and Goblins, Monsters and . . . Daddy

Lucy has a very creative imagination.  She tells me all the time that she see monkeys and owls in the trees (we do have owls but not usually during the middle of the afternoon), dolphins and whales in the pond, and she sees friends and family members in the hall or in her bedroom. I know she is usually pretending but when she started becoming scared to sleep in her bed, well, now I'm worried.
It started off with a lot of pointing towards the closet or the rocking chair and discussion of seeing someone there.  I know shadows play tricks.  I know she is creative. I know most little kids get scared of the dark.
Now, she won't go to bed without a blanket over her head.  Even for nap time, when it isn't dark.  If she's going to sleep, she't got a blanket over her head.

Is this what Lucy is afraid of?

I don't know if it is because of  an incident that happened a few weeks ago or if that is just a contributing factor or what.  The girls have been playing a game they call "ghost."  They make moaning noises and chase each other.  No big deal.  They were playing it the other day and Brian started talking to them over the baby monitor. It caught Lucy off-guard and made her extremely upset. It was around the same time that this fear of sleeping in her bed started.  We've explained that it was Daddy, she's seen how the monitor works and knows we can talk to her and that we can hear and see her.  It doesn't matter though, she's still very scared to go to bed.
I've gotten some great suggestions from friends, like use a Dreamlite or a nightlight.  Lucy has both and she  doesn't want them on.  I guess it's not that she's scared of the dark, per se, because she's napping in the daylight and still scared, she's just scared to go to sleep in her room.  I can identify with this because I was scared to go to sleep in my bed until I was about ten years old and even then I still had trouble from time to time. (I am not allowed to watch scary movies anymore since I saw The Ring and Ghost Ship and never fully recovered.) My mom used to let us watch semi-scary movies, like the original Clash of the Titans and I was petrified of Medusa and swore I saw her in every dark corner of our house.  I don't want my little girl to have to go through that trauma.  The feeling of not being able to close your eyes and go to sleep because you're sure something is watching you or is about to jump out and get you is one of the most uncomfortable experiences anyone can have.  The only thing that ever made me feel better was sleeping with my mom and even then it didn't always help.  What do y'all think? Is this just a passing phase or should I be genuinely concerned?  Any more suggestions on how to make her feel more comfortable? How many of you have gone through similar situations and what was the outcome? Imma has never been afraid of the dark or much of anything else so this is our first time experiencing this. Thanks in advance for your help!

Imma's Eyes Are Smiling

On Imma's birthday, I woke up with a crusty pink eye.  I was supposed to go to a training that day but obviously that wasn't happening.  I went to the eye doctor instead.  I remember telling him, "I'm a teacher so maybe that's how I got pink eye but I haven't been in school for a week, so I don't know!"
Well, it wasn't pink eye.  I had developed an ulcer in my eye.  He said I probably got an allergen, like grass or something like that, in my eye and since I sleep in my contacts (they are Night and Day so it's allowable!) it got irritated and caused an ulcer.  He said both of my eyes looked irritated. I was banned from my contacts for five days, had to take steroid/antibiotic drops several times a day, and was assured that it would be much better shortly as long as I did as I was told.  So I did--mostly.  I was on vacation so it was really hard to go to the beach with my glasses!  But I did my best and my eyes started feeling better pretty quickly.
Today, I had my follow up appointment and my "annual" eye exam. I used quotation marks because I honestly have not been to the eye doctor since Imma was about a week old. I know what you're thinking--why do your eyes get messed up in June?  Oh, you were wondering why I didn't go to the eye doctor!  Well, mostly because I usually end up getting yelled at for not going to the eye doctor.  I have literally never gone for a follow-up with the same eye doctor until now and I'm glad I did because this doctor is really great.  I may actually go back next year!
When I scheduled my follow-up appointment, I remembered that Imma had recently gotten a note from our school nurse saying she needed to have her eyes checked.  It's not too surprising, considering both Brian and I have had glasses or contacts most of our lives. So, I decided to take the little gal along with me.  It was easy enough to make that appointment two weeks ago, much harder to actually follow through with it today. She was very reluctant to go.  She kept telling me her eye wasn't hurt and she didn't need to see a doctor.  When she realized she was going--she started saying things like, "Okay but not for Imma.  For Mommy.  Mommy's eye is ouchy!"
I think it was helpful for her that she got to see my eye exam first and realized none of it hurt--though I hate the glaucoma test and almost refused myself (I said, "I didn't have glaucoma two weeks ago, what are the chances I have it now?") and Imma  actually refused to do that part and I don't blame her. She sat in the chair in the examination room while the doctor was examining my eyes and giving me the vision test making all sorts of silly observations.  "Mommy is in a rocket ship.  Mommy has two eyes.  It's ouchy!" She was very cute and very distracting but the doctor was able to work through her silliness and it turns out my vision is actually better now than it was 6 years ago.  I was asking how that was possible and he explained that it may have something to do with fluid and pressure in my eyes. I thought about it later and it would make sense that I would have a lot of fluid in my eyes and probably higher pressure since I had just had a baby the last time I went to the doctor.  My ulcer is all healed up, which is awesome and my eyes are great, except for a giant floater I have in my right eye.  I was definitely already aware of this. Unfortunately there's nothing we can do about it for now except for pray it goes away soon.
Next, it was Ms. Imma's turn. I didn't know if she was going to freak out or behave. I used to warn people in the doctor's position by saying, "She has autism."  People are fairly familiar with that term and, at the time, I was being told she did have autism.  But now that I know that she doesn't have autism, I have to say things like, "She has a language processing disorder so she might not understand everything you say and you might not understand everything she says."  This ended up being good enough and he was able to get her to do everything she needed to do.  She covered up one eye, read letters, looked at the light, etc. all like a trooper.  She even answered some of his questions and told him about the "webs" she played in at the beach.  It turns out Imma's vision is very good.  She was even able to read some of the letters on the 20/15 line. He said she might have a bit of astigmatism in one eye but that she will most likely grow out of this.  He said she didn't need glasses at all, which is awesome because I think glasses would last on Imma for a bout 15 minutes at best.
The second Imma walked out of the office and back into the lobby, she turned into a wild woman, running around and climbing on everything. I don't know if it was pint up nerves or excess energy but it was a huge contrast between how she behaved in the doctor's office and in the lobby.  I wish I had some sort of an idea what triggers these bursts of goofiness.
To celebrate Imma's success (okay, to fulfill the bribe I had made to get her out the door) we went to Braum's for ice cream. I wish I had pictures of her at the doctor's office but it seemed a little unusual to ask for pictures for my blog so the pictures of the ice cream will have to do!

Imma and her perfect eyes enjoying her ice cream

My beautiful girl

If you are local and you are looking for a good optometrist for your little ones, even if they are special needs, I do highly recommend Dr. Schmidlap at Rockwall Precision Eye Care. It's not what I would call a "kid's" eye doctor per se--no trains or fish tanks or animal posters--but he was really patient and calm with Imma  (and me for that matter!) and I think those are the qualities kids really need when they go to the doctor.  Sometimes all of the things we usually look for in a kid's medical practice can be over-stimulating and I think it helped Imma not to be distracted because she was in a "grown-up" setting.  She was a little disappointed when she realized she wasn't getting a lollipop but she got over it when I told her about the ice cream.
Next, we need to visit the dentist. . . .

A Play Date Saves the Day!

This morning, Lucy didn't get up until 9:30.  She almost never asks to go out to the pool but this morning she did.  Lots and lots of times.  I kept telling her no though because we had a play date scheduled for 12:00 and we were going to have to leave at 11:30, which means that we had to start getting ready to go somewhere around 10:00.  Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but considering I looked for Imma's shoes for 20 minutes and still never found them, if we are going to be on time, we have to forgo anything that may take an unpredictable amount of time, like swimming.
So, I ignored the whiny pleas from my little princess and told her no, we are going to Old MacDonald's (Imma speak for McDonald's) about 28 times.  We were sitting on the couch working on abcmouse.com when I heard a strange sound from the backyard. I ran to the window and got there just in time to see our brand new patio table shatter into a million gazillion pieces.  It's a little breezy here today and the umbrella was up, so I'm guessing it caught it just right and slammed it down on the glass.  I had no idea that could happen!  If we had been outside, the girls would have been in the pool right next to the table and I would have been sitting at the table.  Thank God we weren't out there and no one got hurt.
Of course, I'm not particularly happy that the table is destroyed and I'm hoping that the manufacturer or Lowe's or someone will at least replace it.  I know they make those stabilizer pieces for the bottom of the umbrella and we didn't have one on. Apparently, we needed one. I just thought that, if the directions said the  table could hold that size umbrella, it didn't mean with pieces you had to buy separately.  I don't really want another glass table after this but I also don't want to walk away empty handed after we spent so much on this one.  The frame is just fine and I'm thinking about the possibilities of putting a piece of butchers-block or some nice wood in it instead but I have no idea if I could do that or not.  I work with fabric and scissors, not wood and saws.  Anyone have any ideas?
When I went to clean it up, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The glass was almost all on the patio with very little in the grass so I was able to sweep most of it up.  There wan't any in the pool that I could see but I will definitely let Brian check that out before the girls get in it again. Imma stood by the back door the whole time I was working and asked me not to throw away the "ice" and begged to go into the pool, which I couldn't let her do.  At the end of the day, it's probably just a minor inconvenience, but it could have been a lot worse if we would have been outside or if the dogs would have been out there.
The girls did have fun with our friends at McDonald's.  I was so proud of how well Imma played with her friend and how well she was talking.  She explained that we went to the beach and then we had to go to the airport to come home.  She was using his name and played with him in the play area, which is great for her because she has so much trouble remembering everyone's name and usually prefers to play by herself.  Lucy was the only child dressed like a Disney Princess in the play area so it was easy to keep an eye on her. When you're child is dressed like Cinderella, it's pretty hard to lose track of her and you can just ask the other parents, "Does anyone know where Cinderella is?" No descriptions required.
Hopefully, we will get this little patio table thingy squared away and get it replaced before we have anyone over because it would be a lot easier to cook-out with a table in the backyard!

The shattered remains of the patio table

Who would have thought you could fit that whole table into one little trash can?

Amelia Island Plantation Vacation

Brian and I first visited Amelia Island in 2006, before we had kids. We had a great time. Beautiful beaches, dolphin cruises, horseback riding, forts to explore, and a small town feel that isn't completely over-taken with tourists.
Right after Lucy was born, we visited again.  Imma has always loved the beach and we were so looking forward to spending time with her in the sand.  Unfortunately, she didn't get to see much of the waves because she was violently ill the entire trip.  It's the sickest our little girl has ever been.  That trip was a bit of a bust but we stayed at the Amelia Island Plantation and had a gorgeous view of the ocean.
When planning our vacation this year, we considered several locations but we ultimately decided to go back to Amelia Island Plantation.  Thankfully, no one was sick this time. Though we did end up spending the night in Houston because of a mechanical problem with our plane out of Jacksonville which caused us to miss our connection, ( and Brian's bag also spent some extra time in Houston!) we had a lovely trip. I would highly recommend Amelia Island Plantation to any family looking for a beautiful, peaceful beach with just the right mix of touristy/private sightseeing.

This was my neighbor on the plane.  She was a little hyper.

And the little girl sitting in front of me kept sticking her head through to say, "Hi!"

The view from our room in the Ship Watch Villas.

Master bedroom

The girl's room

We always visit this pirate statue downtown .

And the giant anchor.

We went on a dolphin cruise and saw lots of dolphins. . . and some princesses.

Lucy is on the look out for wildlife!

Imma really didn't want to go on the cruise, which is odd because she usually loves boats.

Keeping Rapunzel out of the water.

Part of Dungenous, the Carnegie plantation on Cumberland Island, Georgia.

Wild horses in front of the remains of the main house.

More of the amazing wild horses.

I would love to visit Cumberland Island some day.

Lucy Carnegie built houses for all 9 of her children on this island and  JFK Jr. was married here.

Amelia Island Plantation also has a wildlife refuge.

We went back to the main Omni hotel for lunch.  Lucy was not in the best mood.

Imma was all smiles!

We waited for Daddy to go get the car and Lucy put on quite the show for the people working at the front desk.  She was dancing away!

One night we ate dinner at the Falcon's Nest. Strangest eating arrangement ever.  I literally couldn't talk to Brian because he was soooo far away on the other side of the table.

Hello, over there!

One of the reasons we love Amelia Island is because we love lighthouses.  This one sits in the middle of town and isn't really accessible.  But we always stop by to see it from afar.

We visited the Jacksonville Zoo and they had lots of wildlife roaming around , particularly birds, like this guy.

Lucy checking out the giraffes.

These elephants were not real but Lucy really wanted to ride them!

Daddy went for a ride on the trunk!

The girls' favorite part of the zoo was the train ride!

We really were lucky that all of our problems happened on the way home and not on the way there so they didn't mess up our vacation plans.  Nevertheless, with all of the challenges of getting two little girls and myself through TSA without anyone being violated, I am seriously looking into the possibilities of either buying our own plane soon or at least getting in on a partnership. When your husband is a pilot, you may as well take advantage of that if you can and avoid the frustrations of the airport, if possible.  That's my theory anyway.  We'll have to look into the feasibility of that but I worry about the girls every single time we have to go through security because I've heard too many horror stories of little kids being traumatized.  

We had an amazing trip and I would definitely recommend Amelia Island to anyone looking for a fun family vacation spot that's off the beaten path but easily accessible.

Imma's Teeth Are Having Babies

Imma thinks that A) Her teeth are going to have babies or B) A baby is going to come out of her mouth.

She is a little confused over the loss of her first two teeth.

They came out within about ten minutes of each other a couple of weeks ago. I've never heard of that happening before. Both of her bottom, middle teeth. And she literally lost both of them. The first one we think she may have swallowed. The second one she was playing with and we couldn't find it.

But the tooth fairy came anyway. She brought her a dollar and a new swim suite. Imma was proud to have both.

She was really upset at first.  She didn't understand that teeth are supposed to come out.  She thought she would never have teeth their again. She kept asking everyone if they had babies, too, if their teeth had come out, if their teeth were big or little, etc.  In the last few weeks, she has probably asked me if she could look at my teeth about 50 times a day.  She still doesn't quite understand, but she can see her new teeth coming in now so at least she isn't worried that she's going to have a gaping hole in her mouth for the rest of her life.

I tried to take a picture but she didn't quite understand that either. These are our attempts.

You can see the new teeth popping through in the bottom/middle.

You can't really see anything at all in this picture, except for a silly girl.

Does anyone else have experience explaining tooth loss to a special needs child?  What worked for you? What didn't work?  What misconceptions did your child have?

To My Precious Daughter On Her Birthday

Dear Imma,
Many years from now, I hope that you can look back upon this post and know just how much you are loved and cherished.  This year has been one of tremendous growth for you.  I can't tell you how extremely proud I am of all you have accomplished. You continue to amaze me each day with your enthusiasm, curiosity, and perseverance. It is impossible for anyone to meet you and not instantly fall in love with your beautiful smile and your loving spirit.
This year, you graduated from kindergarten. You proved you could accomplish anything with your determination and hard work.  You made lots of new friends, started reading, learned that "1 + 1 eagles 2" and you love to write. It warms my heart to see you hug your friends good-bye at the end of the day and I love it when you come in after lunch, throw down your lunch box, hug me and bound back to class.  School was so much more fun knowing you were just down the hallway.  You learned to keep your hands--and your teeth--to yourself and you learned to do uncanny impersonations of many of your teachers.
You have grown leaps and bounds in your ability to communicate.  You have gone from short phrases to complete sentences, asking and answering questions, explaining things, bringing up references from the past, and carrying on conversations. It's hard to remember that just a year ago, you couldn't really answer questions.  Now, you can answer just about anything.  I also love all of the questions you ask in your own special way. If you don't know someone's name you say, "I don't know what nat's (that's) name." Though abstracts are still extremely difficult, you are getting there. I see progress every day and we have gone from wishing you would speak to wondering if you will ever pause to take a breath.
You played softball this spring. Pawpaw would be so proud of you.  You were a part of a team and you worked with the other girls to accomplish a goal.  You are an amazing hitter and got several hits from the pitcher, as well as hitting off of the tee.  You would make funny, "wha, wha, wha" sounds when you missed that cracked everyone up.  Though you had to have a coach's help to run the bases, that's something we will continue to work on, as well as throwing the ball and not clumps of dirt.  To me, playing a sport was the true symbolism of doing something "normal" and you certainly did it this year.  Your coach even said she would be happy to have you on her team again next year and we are looking forward to that.
If I would let you, you would stay in the pool all day.  You love to swim.  This year, you've finally began to understand how to hold your breath, go underwater, and paddle.  Swimming lessons this summer have been extremely successful. I'm so proud of how well you have listened and I'm relieved that you no longer seem to think you can walk on water--although I certainly think you walk on water in many other ways.
You love Alice in Wonderland, Lizard of Oz, Roman (Despicable Me) Cinderella I and II, and The Backyardigans.  You love to read and often have a book in your bag.  You love to color, paint, draw, create.  You hate wearing dresses and shorts and having your hair brushed.  Your best friends are Peyton, Gracie, and Colton.  You love your dog Duke and you wish you had a horse named Peanut. You loved the Dumbo ride at Disney World but not the characters and you would "getta go water owl" every day if Great Wolf Lodge wasn't so expensive.
I love watching you play with your baby sister when you are being kind to each other.  You try to teach her things and she imitates so much of what you do.  She repeats your words and movements because she looks up to you.  I am so looking forward to seeing the two of you grow into lifelong best friends.
There are so many things that I love about you, I couldn't possibly list them all.  I think the one attribute I love the most is that you never complain about your differences. You never even seem to notice that most people don't have to work as hard as you do, everyone else understands, everyone else can say whatever the want. You just keep trying until you convey your point or until you know what to do. Sure, it has to be frustrating and we can see that sometimes but you just keep trying and persevering, no matter how difficult the situation is. That is an amazing quality to have and I hope it is one that I can help cultivate in you so that you can always be successful, no matter what obstacles you come across on your journey.
I have always known that you were an exceptional child, a soul with a purpose.  Sometimes I have questioned my abilities to guide you as a mother but I've never regretted being chosen for this most important of roles.  Each day we grow closer to meeting your potential. I  pray for strength and guidance so that I can help you fulfill all that God has planned for your extraordinary life.
You are a beautiful child, a generous spirit, a loving soul.  I am so  very blessed to be your mother.  May your seventh year be filled with love, laughter, learning, and abundant life.
Love,
Mommy

Imma and two of her best friends at the zoo

Imma changes into her "nother one clothes" the second she walks in the door.

I find lots of self-portraits on my phone.

We had Imma's birthday party in May so that friends from school could make it. It was Alice in Wonderland themed.  Imma loves cake!

The Peacock Purse

Imma got a purse for her birthday with a peacock on it that she can color herself.  She loves it. She takes it everywhere with her.  She picks up random items and puts them inside.  One day, we found an ipod, a swim suite, and a civil war history book.  I guess she was going to the beach.  In Manassas.
However, we had a little issue today.
Imma insisted on taking the bag to swimming lessons and she left it on the patio at her teacher's house.  We didn't realize this until we were home and Lucy was taking a nap.
She actually handled it better than I thought she would. She was upset but she didn't actually cry.
Luckily, Daddy was able to stop by and pick it up on the way home from work.  Catastrophe averted!
Something tells me this might not be the last time we lose the peacock bag if we're not exceptionally careful!
What items do your children insist on taking with them?  Have you ever lost one?  What did you do?

Imma's bag, which she colored herself, exactly like the one pictured on the box. It was pretty extraordinary to watch her do this., ask her Uncle Cristian! He was blown away watching her color all of the intricate parts by glancing at the drawing.

Let's Catch Up!

So, it's been a while since I've posted. We've been busy with the end of school, end of baseball, end of dance, end of cribs, end of bottles. Yes, that's right--end of bottles.  I know, I know, Lucy's almost three, she should have let go of that bottle years ago. But anyone who was around when we were taking Imma's bottle away can completely understand why no one would ever want to go through that twice.  So, Lucy got to hang on to hers a little longer than most.  But the Bottle Fairy finally came a few nights ago and she's been sans bottle ever since. She's been pretty upset the last couple of days but I think we are starting to see the light--maybe.
She is also sleeping in a big girl bed now, which she loves.  We bought her mattress and side rails this weekend.  She also got a new owl bedspread which is right up her alley. So far, she's happily climbed in bed for naps and at bedtime and hasn't gotten out.
Imma graduated from kindergarten.  It was a bitter sweet moment for mommy.  It's been so nice to be at the same school all year. I've gotten to see her grow and blossom. She'll still be at the same school as me next year but there's something a little less magical about first grade compared to kindergarten--no offense, first  grade teachers, I've taught both.
We were sad and happy--mostly happy--to see softball end.  She had amazing coaches and she even got to lead off the last game by batting first, but it was such a struggle.  Her coach said she would love to have her on her team next year, which is awesome.  We will have to work on a few things, like running to first and not throwing dirt or taking the ball away from your teammate in the middle of a play.
I already posted about Lucy's dance recital.  I was absolutely thrilled with how well she did.  Both girls will be taking dance in July with Lucy's teacher, Ms. Lexi at Dance Techniques in Rockwall.  I'm looking forward to seeing how Imma does. She did really great last year.
The girls are taking swimming lessons this summer with one of our amazing kindergarten teachers at Safe Swim in Sachse.  I put them in private lessons so it's only four sessions, but it's completely one-on-one with a seasoned swim instructor.  Today was class two and both girls did really well.  They came home and swam in our little pool and Imma was actually going under water without worrying about getting water in her nose or anything like that. This is actually Imma's third year of lessons (You'll remember the "there's something wrong with your kid" story from year 2) and I didn't ever think she was going to understand that A) You can't breath water and B) You can't walk on water. But with her teacher this year, she seems to be getting it.
We are going to Florida next week.  This will be our third trip to Amelia Island. We went there right after Lucy was born and once before we were even thinking of having children.  I loved our room last time, perfect ocean view, so we decided to stay in the same place. Last time we were there, Imma was as sick as she has ever been in her life.  Hopefully, we won't have that happen again.  Imma is looking forward to flying on the airplane to the beach.
Imma is really looking forward to another stay at "Water Owl" or Great Wolf Lodge as most people call it.  We will be staying there for Lucy's birthday. I think Imma loves it more than Disney World and would live there if we would let her.
I'm also trying to get a lot of new items made/listed this summer. I feel like I've been spending more time with the family and less time working on my stuff, which is good  for the fam but not so great for business.  I started Glitter and Tulle Boutique as a way to distract myself from my dad's death and it's been a great way to occupy my mind, but now that I am not quite as upset as I was, I want to make sure I continue to grow the business because I have worked so hard and I love it so much.  I've made a lot of sales and more importantly, I've been able to make a lot of people happy with items I have created.  That's an awesome feeling.  I'm expanding my crafts and listing more types of items, such as cards, dresses, and party decor, so theoretically, that could expand my clientele.  I would really like to open a brick-and-mortar boutique someday so I'm hoping to get some major work done this summer while still focusing on my kids.
We are going to keep working on school this summer as well. I have work to do and Imma has work to do. Now that we've got the behavior well in check and the processing is coming along, we've got to get the reading up to speed.  She needs to stop being afraid to try and just work through the words she doesn't know.  I see her comprehension starting to come along, which is awesome, even though I'm still petrified about state mandated testing in third grade, which is looming ever closer. I subscribed both girls to abcmouse.com for the summer and they really love it though I need to get Lucy started on her curriculum. She really loves "abcd's!"
What are your plans for the summer?  Do you have any family time planned?  Any vacations? What's the one thing you are really hoping you can get accomplished before the summer ends?

Imma's softball picture.  This girl can hit the ball!

Kindergarten graduation! 

The whole family--photo courtesy of Lucy's other mommy, Amy!

Last lunch as a kindergartner, with our sweet little friend Sarah.

Water babies!  You'll recall we had a redneck/car port swimming pool last year.  This year, it's on the back patio instead.

The Bottle Fairy brought Lucy a new princess dress (pardon our mess!)

Lucy chasing the ducks in a park while we waited for her turn at swim lessons. She was kissing her hand and saying, "Here duck, duck ,duck!"