Vision and Hearing Evaluation Entertainment

Ever take a four-year-old for a vision and hearing evaluation?  I just discovered what a great form of entertainment that can be!

Gracie will be going to preschool in the fall (which is only a month from now) and part of her preschool registration is a medical form to be completed by her pediatrician.  Off we went for a check-up.  Vision and hearing screening was only part of the fun, but it was the best part.  We opted out of the worst part of the check-up: Shots. 

Had to pass on those this time because I accidentally traumatized the poor kid a month ago when I took her little sis in for shots. I didn't have a helper for that visit which meant that Gracie got quite an eyeful as her sister got her pokes with the very sharp things. Gracie tried, but she couldn't "attect" her baby sister. She was declaring "I will attect you, Yibby, I will attect you!"  But, try as she might, she just couldn't.  For Gracie's check-up, I thought it would be best to skip the trauma and the drama. 

That aside, she was measured (43" tall) and weighed (42 pounds).  The doctor listened to her heart, it was in there and worked just fine.  And the doctor asked her a few little questions to get an idea of socialization: can she respond? make eye contact? yes, yes, yes, she did just fine with all of that.

The nurse took us down the hall for the vision screening. Gracie stood right in front of the chart and rattled off what all the shapes were.  Ok, she can see up close and she can identify the shapes on the poster.  She was given an eyepatch on a stick to cover one eye at a time for the test. The nurse told her it was a pirate patch.  She gets to be a pirate!

Perking right up at the idea of being a pirate, Gracie got right into the act!  She stood on the red tape on the floor and covered one eye.  The nurse pointed to a shape and asked Gracie to say what it is; Gracie replied, "R".  It was a heart.  What is this shape, dear?  "R"  It was a circle.  What is this one? "R"  It was a boat.  The nurse looks confused, but I recognized the tone of the way she was saying R.  I must intervene.

I said "Gracie, tell the nurse what the shape is. Tell her if it is a square or a triangle or whatever it is".  "But Mom, She said I am a Pirate!"  This is true.  That's what she said. 

Moving on to the hearing screening, the nurse held some sort of gizmo up to Gracie's ear and told her, "When you hear a beep, say 'beep'". Gracie said, "Beep". "No, not yet, wait till you hear a beep then say beep".  "Beep"  "Ok, we're going to start now, say beep when you hear a beep" "Beep"  Pause.

"Do you hear any more beeps?" "Yes" "Say 'beep' every time it beeps" "Ok. Beep"  Pause.  "Is it beeping?"  "Yes"  "Mom, can you explain it better?"  Oh  yeah, Mom to the rescue again.  I say to Gracie, "Every time it beeps, you beep".  There, that should clear up the confusion.

Gracie said "Beep.  My sister gave me the Princess and the Frog movie.  Lexie has a baby in her tummy. His name is Charlie".  The nurse says, "Let's try this again next year at her 5-year-old check up unless you have any concerns".  I didn't.

Between the Pirate act and the Beeping, we had a very entertaining afternoon!

Hansel and Gretel used Breadcrumbs, I am one-uppping them big time!

I am leaving a trail of expensive electronics.  Just dropping them in my path as I go along.  And just like Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs, the birds are swooping in behind me and picking up my trail markers.

Last year, or was it the year before?  I lost my bluetooth at the beach. I've lost other electronics here and there too. Can't remember what all has disappeared from my sights, but I really don't want to know either. 

Yesterday, I lost my fairly new-ish little camera in San Diego.  Nice little pocket sized digital camera and it took great photos. 

I retraced my steps, but it was gone.  Of course it was gone, it was awesome!  I was hoping it got run over and I could at least get my memory card out of it and maybe even the battery (then I'd have a spare if I had to buy a new camera), but I didn't find it. 

Do you think the seagulls swooped in and scooped it up? Those skyrats are always stealing things!  Bet they are grinning and taking pictures of each other today.  Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs are all gone, now they are scooping up my trail of electronics. 

I won!!!

I won! I won! I WON!!!

I don't get to say that very often, so I'm saying it with lots of passion while I can.  I clicked "Like" on a facebook status from my favorite local little bookstore and won a $10 gift card for the store.  Not like I had to do anything showcasing my multitude of talents, it was just random.  All the same, I'm pretty excited! 

Knowing me and my love of owning my own books (never did like giving books back to the library), I will most likely spend more than $10.  I'm kind of like that I guess. Not sure where I will put any more books or when I will have time to read anything, but I will sure have fun buying something new.

Sewing Baby blankets!

Not much time left till I'm a Grandma!  I am not finding a whole lot of extra time to hide away and sew.  So, I moved my sewing machine downstairs to a temporary little sewing table where I can keep my eye on all of the action and still get something done. 

I am running up and down the stairs for pins, scissors, different thread, etc.  Who says sewing isn't a sport?


With my "sport sewing" I finished three baby blankets for Charlie.  My new little grandbaby should be arriving in about 4 weeks so I don't have much time.  I certainly don't have time to try to figure out how to work my serger.  I am very frustrated with that thing.  I wanted so much for it to be my new best friend, but it just doesn't like me.


I am not doing anything fancy with the blankets, just adding blanket binding or rolling the edges for a little hem.  I am making receiving blankets that are large enough to use forever and some soft and cuddly blankets.   Next on my list is a swing seat cover.  Charlie doesn't want a pink swing.

Here is my pile of fabric!

Evil Picnic Table Spider!

Watch out for the nasty spider under the picnic table!!!

I got bit on the leg yesterday. I sat at a picnic table and noticed there were some spider webs on one end, so I sat on the other end, just for a bit to help Libby take off her shoes and then put them back on two seconds later. Then I had an itch on my leg, so I looked to scratch it. Dang, I had a little red welt. I scratched and looked again and it was like an m&m and turning blue with red around it. Then I said to my friend "dammit, something bit me" and then it was quarter sized and raised. My friend said "OMG that looks awful!" And it did, it looked like a tumor.

I got the kids packed up and was ready to head for the van and looked at my leg cuz it was burning and hurting like crazy and it was HUGE. Like a golf ball now! A blue golf ball! No wonder it was hurting so much! I told my friend, "Look at this!" And she said "it must have been a spider"

I got home and it was about 4" x 3" in an oval shape, still raised like a giant zit. I googled, I found that I should put it up, don't scratch and put an ice pack on it. So I did all that. It still hurt pretty bad but the swelling started to go down. I decided to tell my husband and he just raised one eyebrow and said "sneak outa here and go to urgent care". So, I did.




I'll never know how he does that eyebrow thing.

The swelling was going down and it wasn't as intense blue by the time the doc looked at it. He said the spider bite was right on a vein that is very close to the surface of my skin and the vein must have blown out and so that was just all blood. Then he says "so, it's just a bruise". Are you kidding me? I felt like such a dork! Who goes to urgent care for a bruise? He said ice it and elevate and don't google spider bites, that's a very bad idea. I felt about a foot tall.

But, it still freaking hurts and it's still blue and tender and I'm still thinking that it grew so fast that it was a good idea to get it checked out.

Stay away from the second picnic table on the left at Harveston Lake Park!!! Evil spider lives there!!!