A day in the life

Not that today was a typical day, but I still thought it would be nice to make a record of the day so someday I can look back and remember what it was like when the kids were 3, 6, and 7. My day started around 7:15 when Oliver woke up. He used to get up at 6:30 most days, but thankfully for the past six days he has been sleeping until sometime between 7:00-7:30, and actually he broke a record on Monday morning for the longest he ever slept in a night (a little over 12 hours) as he didn't wake up until 8:15 on Monday! Wow! He didn't have a nap on Sunday due to Ian's party, which is maybe part of the reason he slept in so late the next morning, although many times when he misses a nap he actually gets up earlier than usual the next morning. Anyhow I was grateful for the later start because I stayed up later than usual last night watching the debate. I didn't stay up until the very end of the debate because Paul absolutely didn't want to see any of it (even though he talks about politics All The Time). After getting Oliver dressed, I came down and got breakfast ready for the boys and I. I also worked with them on their verses for AWANA. Nadia was still in her room. Some days she sleeps in later than the boys do, but many times she is reading in her bed in the morning. That is her favorite way to start the day. Yesterday she was reading an Amelia Bedelia chapter book. This morning she was reading an American Girl chapter book about Josefina.

While Nadia was finishing her breakfast, I did a little bit of schoolwork with Ian (reading and drawing). In reading he was working on prefixes. Normally we start our schoolwork at 8:30 (or 9:00 at the latest) and are done before lunch. Usually we are at home all morning Monday through Thursday, but this morning Nadia and Ian had their annual physicals at the Pediatrician's office at 9:15. Nadia did her handwriting and science before we left for the doctor's office. The four of us were there for 90 minutes. It obviously would have been easier for me if I had left Oliver at home with Paul, but I knew Paul would not make any progress on grading his exams if I left Oliver with him. I asked the Pediatrician about Nadia being pigeon toed. He examined her and said it is not for an anatomical reason, and she should outgrow it in time. She passed her vision screening (20/25), but Ian did not (20/70). I already have eye appointments scheduled for both of them for next month. It took a year to get them on our vision insurance. It sounds like Ian might be getting glasses in the near future.

At Nadia's three year check-up, she weighed 34lbs (80th percentile) and was 36 inches tall (26th percentile). On October 12, 2012, she was 40lbs (75th percentile) and 40 inches tall (39th percentile), on November 8, 2014 she was 47 lbs (80th percentile) and 42.5 inches tall (30th percentile). Those three years they said something to me each time about Nadia's BMI, but the NP last year didn't say anything because she weighed 50 lbs (55th percentile) and her height at 46 inches was at the 45th percentile. Today she weighed in at 58 lbs (70th percentile) and was 1/4 inch shy of 4 ft tall (30th percentile). The doctor said she was just shy of being labeled overweight in terms of her BMI. Sigh. Ian weighed 32 pounds in December 2012, 35 pounds in 2013, 39 pounds last year (45th percentile), and 41 pounds today (20th percentile). He was 36 inches tall in 2012, 39 inches in 2013, 41 inches in 2014 (12th percentile), and 44.5 inches today (30th percentile). They would like to see Ian gain more weight before next year as his BMI is on the low side. I think Oliver might end up being the tallest of the three kids when they are full grown; he's my only child that ever since he hit about 6 months old they have been happy with this weight. I seem to have one almost overweight, one underweight, and one "just at the right" weight child. I decided to skip flu shots this year so it meant none of the kids had a shot today. In order to accomplish a little schoolwork at the doctor's office, I brought the clock with me (pictured above) and had Nadia and Ian practice telling time (Ian does quarter hours and Nadia does five minute intervals). If anyone was going to the doctor today it probably should have been me. I have a pretty bad cough. Paul keeps suggesting I go to the doctor for it, but thus far I am hoping it's just a virus that will go away in due time. The Pediatrician we saw today is newer to the clinic, and it was our first time seeing him so naturally he had comments to me about Ian's face. He wanted genetic testing and such done. I said look at my face. I can show you pictures from my side of the family. I am not concerned. I was impressed though that by seeing an indentation on the outside of Nadia's nose he knew she has allergies. He suggested taking one Claritin a day. We'll see. Right now she is still taking one Benadryl at night for her hives. We tried weaning her off the medication last week and the hives came back on her legs so she still needs the medication.

When we got home from the doctor's office (we were gone for 2 hours total including driving time), we had lunch. I read some of The Wheel on the School during lunch. After lunch I did spelling and piano with Nadia. While I was doing spelling with Nadia I was also assisting Ian with one of his large Lego projects. After I put Oliver down for his nap, I did spelling and with Ian and helped him write a thank you note. Normally I have some down time during Oliver's nap (translated time to sit on the couch and use my laptop), but today I made lasagna and 8 1/2 dozen cookies during his nap. I wanted to have three plates of cookies ready for the kids to give their leaders at AWANA tonight. Sometime over the next three days we'll need to make Christmas cookies (decorated sugar cookies) to add those to the mix for the plates the kids deliver to their Sunday School teachers and kids' choir leaders on Sunday morning. The plates they are delivering tonight have some butterscotch/ white chocolate fudge, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate peanut butter chip cookies, and Reese's pieces cookies. I tried a new recipe for the Reese's pieces cookies and WOW is it delicious!

Paul loved the new recipe I tried last week for Snickers cookies. When Paul doesn't like a particular food it lasts a LOT longer in our house. The oatmeal raisin cookies usually last for 2 weeks when I make them because he doesn't eat any. When I make a cookie he loves, the same size batch only lasts 2-3 days. The record goes to the Argentine butter cookies as neither Nadia or Paul would eat those. They lasted seemingly *forever* because Oliver isn't a big cookie eater so it was really just Ian and I eating those. Paul usually isn't willing to try the recipes I make for the different countries we are studying, but it's not a problem this week because we're studying Italy. We had pizza on Sunday for Ian's birthday. On Monday I made spaghetti and meatballs for Paul. The kids and I had pancakes for dinner because we have breakfast for dinner once a week. We all had meatballs and ziti last night. Today I made lasagna and bread sticks. I also bought some gelato at the grocery store for the first time for our study of Italy. I am planning on making pasta y fagioli later this week. That probably won't be as popular with the Nadia and Ian, but who knows. I would love to be wrong.  Paul didn't come down and join us while we ate lunch, but he did join us for dinner which was a special treat. He will be going back to work at Kennedy Concrete starting tomorrow, which means he won't be eating dinner with us. Paul read some to the kids from our chapter book during dinner while I was feeding Oliver. After dinner I spent time cleaning up the kitchen while Ian was still eating his carrots. After I was done I had the kids watch a 25 minute dvd about Leonardo da Vinci (also for our study of Italy), and this was my first time to sit and chill (in this case blog) since I got up at 7:00 this morning. In a little while I'll be getting the kids ready for AWANA and will be leaving for my choir rehearsal.

The Snowman in the picture above was made by Nadia in her art class on Tuesdays. The bottom part was made with newspaper (paper mache). The head of the snowman is just a Styrofoam ball. The teacher was resourceful because originally these were supposed to be paper mache turkeys, but when the class two days before Thanksgiving was cancelled, she switched gears and had the kids turn them into snowmen instead. Nadia says this one is a gift for Grandma Kennedy. Tonight the kids will be "shopping" at AWANA and will be coming home bearing many wrapped presents (for their parents and siblings). It's really nice that this church does this every year. It also means that some of the gifts are a surprise for me when we exchange gifts on Christmas Eve amongst our family! Christmas Eve is only eight days away!