7 Year Well Visit

Okay.  Don't remind me.  I know I waited a long time, but even though school is out during the summer when Erin has her birthday, I never remember her well visit.  Bad mama!

This past week, Erin had her well visit with Dr. Liang.  This was not an easy visit since Erin was also getting her flu shot - not something any child looks forward to having.  My friend Lisa would tell me that I should have taken my camera out & snapped some pics, but I didn't.  Usually I don't document the annual visit but this one just struck me.

Erin hit the American charts! Finally!  She weighs 41 pounds & is in the 3rd-5th percentile.  She is 44 inches tall & is in the 10th percentile.  We've always known that Erin is petite & will never be the jolly green giant.  Dr. Liang seems happy with Erin's progress.  However, for the first time ever, she threw a caution out for us.

We have to work with Erin on her eating habits.  She isn't eating enough.  Although she eats well sometimes, on the whole, she needs work.  We have to limit her juice to 4 ounces a day & bring her dairy intake back up to 3 servings a day.  She also has to start eating some more veggies.  Dr. Liang made a point of telling Erin that she has to try each vegetable that David & I put on her plate. 

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not as worried as it sounds.  Erin avoids red meat at all costs but that's not so bad.  Her idea of eating steak is taking one bite.  Ha! Then again, she can pound down a half a bagel with cream cheese & eat lox by the pound.  She is a carb girl & loves her French toast, waffles & pancakes.  Fruit?  Don't put it out unless you want Erin to stand there & finish the plate.  Veggies?  Nope.  Corn is her speed.  She told Dr. Liang that she once had a bite of broccoli & really liked it.  When Dr. Liang asked her if she'd eat it again, you would have thought that she had 2 heads from the way Erin looked at her.  What!? I'm supposed to eat more than one bite!?  No way!! Not gonna happen.

The good news here is that Erin has been eating lunch every day.  She eats pizza at school each Friday so I know she'll eat that.  Also, she loves their chicken & potatoes.  Other than that, I pack her lunch - peanut butter & jelly, nutella (sometimes with peanut butter & sometimes with banana slices), cottage cheese with sour cream, cheese sticks, yogurt with granola, fruit, pudding, goldfish, dried cranberries, mango, pretzels.  Her drinks are usually a bottle of water, a fruit juice bag or some iced tea.  Most days her lunch bag comes home empty. 

Viv has given us the idea of having Erin drink the V-8 Fusion drinks.  Each 8 ounce serving is a serving of veggies.  She loves the banana strawberry flavor.  Today was the first day she even noticed the veggies on the label.  Thankfully, she didn't stop drinking it.  Even so, we only give it to her every other day.  Like most juices, it's high in sugar. 

So why the worry?  Her doctor believes that if Erin keeps growing at this rate, she will end up approximately 5 feet tall & about 105 pounds.  Because Erin is so small, the worry is that she goes negative in her growth pattern.  She is the smallest one out of her travel group sisters even though she isn't the youngest. 

I say that we'll see what life brings us. 

The Tooth Fairy Chronicles - Tooth 2

(Forgive the lateness of this post, but we have been without internet for 4 days.)

Wednesday night Erin & I went to karate for her lesson.  The lesson is 45 minutes long, & then we have a 15 minute leadership lesson.  I usually sit with my friends Angie, Michelle & Barbara so we can chitchat.  Class was going really well for all of our children.  They were focused, paying attention & generally doing what they were supposed to be doing.  I do admit to enjoying watching the lessons.  I'm pretty darn proud of my girl.

The regular lesson ended on time, & the leadership class began.  During one of their exercises, Sifu Helana had them at attention ready to move on.  Erin raised her hand & when she was acknowledged said (plain as day) "Excuse me Sifu but I have to give this to my mama.  My tooth just fell out."  The look on Sifu Helana's face was priceless.  She couldn't believe that Erin waited to be called on before saying anything & of course, how many people have teeth that just drop out of their mouths?

Erin ran over to hand me her teeny tiny bit of a tooth.  When class was dismissed, Sifu had the entire class yell out "Congratulations Erin!"  So cute!

Once we got home, Erin was reminded where she had to sleep in order to have a visit from the Tooth Fairy.  She wasn't happy about it but followed through.  Apparently, during karate, her friend Dakota told her that he saw the Tooth Fairy, & she has blue wings.  WHAT!?!? I had to think quick for that one!

About an hour after bedtime, Erin went to David saying "It's not fair.  It's not fair."  She woke up long enough to ask me why Dakota got to see the Tooth Fairy.  I explained that there are different Tooth Fairies for different areas & that they have different things they want.  In our neighborhood I was told the Tooth Fairy doesn't visit children who are not in their bedrooms, & she certainly doesn't want to be seen!

Thanks Dakota!

Anyway, the Tooth Fairy has decided that she pays $2 per tooth after the first one.  Whew!

The Tooth Fairy Chronicles

After yesterday's big news we had to prepare Erin for her very first visit from The Tooth Fairy.  I have to say that this was a lot of fun too!

We have been preparing Erin for The Visit by explaining that the Tooth Fairy comes at night while we are asleep.   I told Erin that we had a problem since the Tooth Fairy only knows how to find the bedroom of the child who lost their tooth.  AND, if the child isn't in their room, she gets lost.  (David & I have been trying to get Erin to sleep in her room for years now.  If this didn't work, nothing was getting her out of our room!)  Erin told us that she would give it a shot & try sleeping in her room so she could have her visit.  While David was out doing something, I explained that she needed to sleep in her room the entire night since we don't know what time the Tooth Fairy will show up.

My oh so smart child asked why the Tooth Fairy wouldn't be able to find her in our room.  But Mama was prepared for that question! Did you know that if an adult is in the room, the Tooth Fairy gets confused!?  Shocking! Just shocking I tell you!

Anyway, we started our ritual by finding Erin's special Tooth Box that my Aunt Jean made for Erin when she was a baby.  (I like to be prepared.)  We cleaned it up & made it all nice & fresh.  And then I told Erin that in order for the Tooth Fairy to show up, she has to hear a public announcement to know which house to go to & where the bedroom is.  So . . .

I had Erin repeat after me:

"Oh Tooth Fairy! We had a special thing happen today!  Erin lost her Very First Tooth Ever!  And we want you to know that she's put it someplace safe until you can pick it up!"

(Poor Erin giggled her way through this while I had to keep a straight face.)

And then she went to sleep.  In her sleeping bag.  In her room.  For the entire night!

At 6:30 this morning, Erin came to me & told me that she wanted to see if the Tooth Fairy visited.  We went into her room, & when she was awake enough, she looked on her dresser.  And what did she see!? Why Fairy Dust of course!  She opened her special box & was totally thrilled.

It seems that the Tooth Fairy pays pretty nicely these days.  Erin got $5 in gold Sacagewea dollars! (I've had those since she was a baby also.  I told you I like to prepare ahead of time.)  Of course, I did let Erin know that $5 was only for the first time.  After that, she probably wouldn't get quite as much.

And her 2nd tooth is probably going to come out in the next few weeks. 

All She Wants for Chanukah is . . .

. . . a new tooth!

Yup! You heard it here! Today, Thursday, October 8, 2009 my girl lost her very first tooth.

I came home after David & Erin since I had a doctor's appointment.  No sooner did I walk in the door than Erin came running up to me "Mama! Look! My tooth came out!"

And thank G-d it did.  Erin was told back in May that she had a loose tooth.  I told the dentist that I was shocked because I thought her teeth were grounded in cement.  He had a good laugh at that.  Anyway, her tooth started to become visibly loose in August.  She's been waiting for this to  happen since many of her friends started to loose teeth last year.  Her friend Alyssa lost 2 teeth in as many days!

So what was Erin doing when her tooth came out? Nothing.  She was in aftercare doing her homework.  She wasn't even eating a snack! It just fell out on the table.  Cool!

Her tooth is so tiny! In fact, I got worried thinking that there was a problem because her permanent tooth is already there.  David told me that the only way for the baby teeth to come out is for the adult tooth to push it out of the way.

My girl is growing up.  I'm not ready for this.  But I am so dang happy for her!!!