6 Month Dental Check-Up

It was time for Claire's 6 month dental check-up today. She usually loves going to the dentist! Unfortunately, this time was not 100% positive in her eyes. Things started out fine. She put on pink sunglasses and got some "lipstick" on her lips. Then, a hygenist whisked her off to another room for x-rays (The last time she got x-rays, a year ago, Claire cried. She didn't understand what they were asking her to do as far as putting the x-ray film in her mouth and clenching down on it in a certain way.). After a few minutes of not having her in my sight, I walked over to the room where she was and she was sobbing. I went in and hugged her and asked her what was wrong. No answer, just crying. I asked her if she understood what she was supposed to do with the x-ray film? She sobbed, "Nooooo." The other hygenist came in and said she would do the x-rays (I guess she was more experienced working with young children.). A few minutes later, the x-rays were done and a smile returned to Claire's face.

After a teeth cleaning and some flossing, we went to see the dentist in another room. She conducted an exam, then applied fluoride, which Claire was not happy about. Apparently, it's not the great tasting fluoride I remember as a kid, but a sticky textured fluoride. If I said that Claire did not enjoy this it would be a complete understatement. She complained about being thirsty during the ride home, then wouldn't drink when we got home. I bribed her with pizza for lunch and, pretty soon, she was back to herself.

**I'm happy to report that Claire did not have any cavities and we got a score of "2" (based on a 0-18 scale with 0 being the best) for our brushing based on the amount of plaque on Claire's teeth. We will shoot for a "0" next time. : )

A Visit with Aunt Susana

Today we drove to Pennsylvania to visit Aunt Susana. We saw her a few months ago and she was eager to see us again. Claire was very excited to see Aunt Susana again.

Claire's favorite things about Aunt Susana's house: exploring the house, the gas fireplace that can be turned on with the flip of a switch, a large doll with a velvet dress that was a gift to Aunt Susana from Claire's Grandma Berta, looking at all of the family pictures and, of course, Aunt Susana!

We spent some time at her home, then drove to Philadelphia for a late lunch.

We went back to Aunt Susana's house after lunch and relaxed for a few minutes before taking the two hour drive home.

Getting Ready for Kindergarten

My big girl is getting ready for kindergarten. She recently attended kindergarten orientation (5/11) and kindergarten screening (5/18). She is soooooooo excited about going to kindergarten!!

Claire saw some of her friends at kindergarten orientation. She and the other children learned about bus safety and took a ride on a school bus, listened to a story, ate snack and visited a kindergarten classroom.

@ Kindergarten Orientation

When Claire was finished with her kindergarten screening, the teacher brought her out and said to me, "She's a reader."
I replied, "Her mommy was a reading specialist."
The teacher said something like, "Ohhhh, that makes sense."
The teacher also mentioned that Claire had some difficulty writing numbers (reversals) which we were already aware of.

An Afternoon at the Park

Despite my seasonal allergies, I love the way all of the flowering trees look in the spring. One sunny afternoon, I look my princess out to the park for a photo shoot. I was so happy that she was eager to humor me and pose for tons of pictures.

Claire's 5th Birthday Party

After nearly two months of anticipation (from the day we booked the party), today was Claire's 5th birthday party!

Claire was joined by 22 of her friends and a few family members at Imagine That! children's museum for a Barbie-themed party. We had been to Imagine That! several times before for a birthday party, Princess Breakfast and playdates. Given the choice of several party venues, Claire chose Imagine That!

Our guests ate bagels and fruit for breakfast followed by vanilla cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate frosting. Claire loved when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and she effortlessly blew out all five candles.

We also saw a cute little Three Little Pigs puppet show that made all of the kids laugh. Of course, there was ample time to saunter around the museum playing and exploring. I'm not sure who had the most fun -- the mommies, the daddies, Claire's grandparents or Mimi!

After the big party, my parents, brother, sister in law, nephews and grandmother came back to our house for a little family party. Claire opened all of her wonderful gifts including clothes, Polly Pockets, a Lala Loopsy set, Teacup Piggies, a Leapster game, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, a Crayola Glow Station and, of course, tons of Barbies and Barbie-related toys! She absolutely loved everything!!! If you gave Claire a gift and are reading this...THANK YOU!!!!

We also ate lamb chops for an appetizer, which were delicious, and had hamburgers and cheeseburgers for a late lunch. Our family celebration wouldn't have been complete without cake, so we sang Happy Birthday to Claire again and enjoyed a scrumptious DQ ice cream cake.

It was a perfect day of celebrating with our friends and family!!!

Claire's 5th Birthday

Five years ago today my beautiful baby girl was born. It has been a joy being her mommy for the last five years. She has grown from an adorable little peanut to a beautiful, smart, funny, kind little lady.

To mark the occasion, we tied five helium balloons to the railing in our upstairs hallway knowing that Claire would see them when she came out of her room first thing in the morning. She did, but she wasn't as excited or as impressed as I thought she would be. "What are all these balloons for?" was the first thing she said. Shortly thereafter, she wanted to go downstairs to see what was there. I explained that there wasn't anything special there for her birthday and that the Easter Bunny hadn't come back and left things for her birthday. : )

After serving the birthday girl's breakfast, I got started making birthday cake cookies for Claire's school birthday celebration on Tuesday. It, literally, took me the whole morning! I did take a break for a few minutes to watch Claire open her gifts. She loved them all!

Later we went to the grocery store where Claire got to choose her own birthday cake. She chose an ice cream cake (Like mother, like daughter.). I told her that she could choose the restaurant where we ate lunch since it was her birthday. Naturally, she chose Frank's Pizza so we feasted on pizza and Coke for her special birthday lunch.

Note the velvet dress Claire is wearing. She chose it after being told
she could wear whatever she wanted on her birthday. She has been dying to
wear this dress since she wore it for Christmas!

We spent the late afternoon at soccer practice. Claire was excited to play, although she was extremely tired and hot as evidenced by her frequent trips to the sideline for water and girl talk.

The end of Claire's birthday was marked by me singing happy birthday to her (Her daddy was on his way home from work.). She waited patiently before making a wish and blowing out all five candles. Claire thoroughly enjoyed her slice of ice cream cake before brushing her teeth and going to bed. I think she had a great day!

Easter 2011

Our Easter preparations began last night when we dyed a dozen hard boiled eggs. Claire was eager to dye the eggs and helped me prepare the dyes, then told me which eggs to put in which teacups and when the eggs were a satisfactory color ("Leave it in longer. It's not dark enough!" "Take it out. It's perfect.").

The result was a bright and colorful dozen. Since no one else in our family eats hard boiled eggs, I suppose I will be eating all of them this week. Anyone want to join me for an egg salad sandwich or other meal where hard boiled eggs are the main ingredient?

This morning, Claire woke up and went straight downstairs. I could hear her gasp, "Oh my!" when she saw that the Easter Bunny had made his yearly visit. She quickly ran upstairs to show me some Pocoyo figurines (aka "guys") that were in her Easter basket. I removed the figurines from the packaging and she took them to her room and introduced them to her other guys. After playing for a while, she came to get me because she was hungry for breakfast. We went downstairs and I saw *for the first time* the loot left by the Easter Bunny. I read the letter he left which informed Claire that he had hidden 12 shiny eggs in the family room. She immediately started hunting for the eggs and, with a little help, the was able to find all 12.

We drove to my parents' house for our official Easter celebration. After feasting on appetizers, the big kids began hunting for 30 eggs (hidden by yours truly) in the yard. I think I overestimated their abilities because they needed some help finding some of the eggs. With 6 eggs left, we took a break and went inside for a delicious filet dinner. The kids were eager to get back outside to find the rest of the hidden eggs after dinner and they were able to find five with assistance, but no one (including me!) could find that last egg. Grandpa was sure he was going to eventually run over it with his lawnmower. Grandma, however, found the egg a while later after it had rained. Needless to say, the egg and its contents were not able to be enjoyed.

We finished our Easter celebration with some low key desserts (low key = There were less people than number of different desserts served.). My grandmother brought a sweet little Easter cake which gave us the perfect opportunity to start off Claire's Birthday Week by singing happy birthday to her! She will be an expert wisher and candle-blower-outer by this time next week!

We had such a nice time together today. It's a good thing we like each other so much because we will be spending the next two Sundays together. Stay tuned!