leenaok

Alisha went for her IQ testing today. The psychologist administered the WISC-IV and Alisha did really well, much more in line with where we thought she was. Her strength was in her processing speed (98th percentile) and her weakness was in memory (47th percentile, so basically in the “average person” range since 50 is average) There’s no doubt her scores are considered "gifted" in the clinical setting; unfortunately it’s still not high enough for the school district. Her Full Scale IQ needs to be in the 98th percentile to qualify and she was only in the 96th percentile. It came down to 4 lousy points. *sigh*

Seriously, why is the “system” so against the genuinely smart kids?? It is so frustrating, especially when you discover that they DO make exceptions: Although you need a 130 to qualify for gifted, you can also qualify with a 115 (which to me, makes it a not-quite gifted class), as long as you meet “part b” criteria: 1- Limited English Proficiency (can’t speak English) or 2 - you qualify for free or reduced lunch (you gotta be poor). If Alisha was a part B kid, she could have qualified with that 117 on the RIAS. I was really irritated when I discovered these exceptions to the rule. Although it’s no longer technically a “gifted” program in my mind, at least it would have provided Alisha with a free, somewhat challenging education. After seeing the low standards of the public school system through the eyes of a parent, I am really disappointed. It is really and truly a biased system. With all this in mind, it is highly likely that Alisha will be saying adios to public school and returning to Noonan Academy in the near future. Too bad we can’t take our tax dollars with us!

Didn’t I say it wouldn’t be long before Alisha started talking about contact lenses? Well, guess what she brought up the other day, after just 7 months of wearing glasses! I told her we could talk about contacts when she was 16. That’s how old I was when I got mine. That’s fair, right??

In JTK news, he has officially moved into his own bedroom, yay! We had to do some rearranging, so now the treadmill is in our room and the crib is in the guest bedroom next door. I wonder if he’ll even notice he’s in a different room. I thought 16 months was a good age for him to be moved, although I would have been AOK with it happening sooner, like at 12 months. With Alisha we waited until she was 18 months, but we really didn’t have a choice back then. We lived in a 2 bedroom apartment and our guest bedroom did not have enough space for both a crib and a queen-size bed. As for decorating Jacob’s new room, it is the last thing on my never-ending "to-do" list! Speaking of my baby boy, he just started turning on and off the light switch. Fortunately he needs out help to get to the light switch, but once he's tall enough to reach it, I can see his new skill being really annoying!

It was ideal: Halloween on a Saturday plus an extra hour of sleep! I think they should change the date of Halloween from Oct 31st to the Saturday before we “fall back”, don’cha think?

This year, Alisha was a ballerina. She wore the leotard and tutu costume from her first ballet recital (in December 2008). Jacob was a football fan. Fortunately his “costume” only required a football jersey onesie and he was good to go. Yeah, the Kurians are low-maintenance like that. Some people really get into the “Halloween spirit” but not us. For the first time, Alisha was really gung-ho about getting candy. I remember in previous years all she wanted was to give out candy; this year her goal was to fill her pumpkin container to the brim and then fill Jacob’s too! She managed to achieve half her goal, but it was good enough. I mean, she’s only allowed to eat one piece of candy a day and she might ask to eat one 5 times a week. Plus, I ration out those Skittle/M&M packets so 4 or 5 will equal one treat (instead of the whole bag). Needless to say, I finally threw out last year’s Halloween candy to make room for our new candy stash. So, back to the treating - we went out from 7 until 9. Towards the end of the night people were giving out handfuls of candy. Alisha’s total (which includes Jacob’s candy) came out to 236 candy items, including some full-sized candy bars (yeah, I know, lucky gal!).

Alisha was tested for the gifted program this week. In order to qualify for gifted, you need an IQ of 130 or above. Alisha’s was “only” a 117, which is a high-average IQ, but not high enough to qualify for the program. I have to admit, I’m surprised that her score wasn’t higher. The RIAS, which is administered through the school district, is considered more of an IQ screener than a full-fledged IQ test like the WISC-IV or Stanford-Binet. With that in mind, we are probably going to request a full IQ test through a private psychologist. If that doesn’t work out, we will most likely send her back to her private school at Noonan Academy.

Why send her back to her old school? There is a world of difference between public and private school curricula. The curriculum at Noonan is at least 1-2 grade levels above public school. It’s the reason why Alisha has complained, since the beginning of the year, that she’s in first grade “all over again”. In her current school, Reading, Math and Language Arts are the only subjects that receive A-B-C-D-F letter grade on her report card. Science (optional in 2nd grade), Social Studies (optional in 2nd grade), P.E., Music and Art get an S or U. Bottom line is that in the public school system it’s all about demonstrating Adequate Yearly Progress which is based on scores from standardized testing, such as the Stanford 10 or FCAT. Private schools don’t have to demonstrate AYP so they can design a curriculum that’s not all about “teaching to the test”.

So, why did we send Alisha to public school in the first place? It was Sanjay’s suggestion :) He went through the Florida public school system and had no complaints. What he’s come to realize is that going through public school on the gifted track gave him a totally different (and much better) educational experience.

Aside from the educational aspect, Alisha really enjoys public school. She goes to the gifted class for reading (she’s currently at a mid-5th grade reading level) and it’s the only time she learns anything new. I’ve told her that learning is the most important reason for going to school so she knows that returning to private school is a definite possibility.

This weekend we went to Port St. Lucie to celebrate (Sam & Sonya’s daughter) Jasmine’s first birthday party. It was a good weekend to be out and about. The weather was perfect for outdoor water play, not a cloud in sight! Alisha was concerned that only babies would be at the party. Fortunately she had nothing to worry about; Alisha made friends with another 7 year old girl and they had lots of fun together. Jacob, the social butterfly, ran around, ate plenty, and slept well. What more could you ask from a 15 month old?

On day 6 of school Alisha (finally) got her first homework packet. And it was pretty lame. Like, alphabetize 3 words and they all start with different letters...gimme a break! Last year Alisha was alphabetizing 10 words with half of them starting with the same first 3 letters!

Here are the spelling words for the general education 2nd grade class: has, way, bad, six, will, sat, had, fix, him, if, can, hit, blue, even, study, because.

Here are the spelling words for the gifted 2nd grade class: safe, smoke, escape, flames, tell, wildfire, forest, heat, firefighter, brave, danger, prevent, neighborhood.

What a difference, right?

Because Alisha is such a strong reader, she will be going to the gifted class every day for reading and language arts. Right now she’s reading at a mid-5th grade level. It’s kind of amazing how quickly her reading skills developed. I mean, she wasn’t an early reader; she started reading in Kindergarten, just like her classmates. But somewhere between Kindergarten and first grade, her skills took off! In first grade, she had already read the entire Ramona Quimby series (which I did not read until 3rd grade). Being a strong reader doesn’t mean she is a "shoe-in" for the full-time gifted program, but having good verbal skills certainly helps!

Week # 1 of public school has come and gone with no homework in sight. However, we DID get a fundraising packet. Good to know they have their priorities straight :\ *sigh*

Alisha’s adjusting pretty well to her new environment. It’s certainly a change but I think it’s opened her eyes to what school is really like, at least here in Fort Myers. She went from a private K-8 school with <150 students to a K-5 school with 800-900 students. So far she likes the unimportant stuff, like “Fun Fridays” (aka free afternoons with movies/popcorn/no schoolwork), no uniforms, no strict nutrition policy (at Noonan they do not permit junk food), and a variety of “junkier” lunches, like corn dogs, grilled cheese, etc (compared to Noonan’s chicken and wild rice, or shepherd’s pie).

Anyway, I’ve already been in contact with the school guidance counselor to request that Alisha be tested for gifted. The main reason I chose this school is because it has a full -time gifted program for 2nd-5th grade students. We figured if we could get Alisha into a challenging public school program then why not go for it? It wouldn’t cost us anything (more than the $$ we pay in property taxes). Now, if Alisha doesn’t qualify…well, most likely she will return to Noonan.

 

My baby girl is now in 2nd grade. And in public school. I miss uniforms already (but we'll see how this works).

The Kurian family drove Alisha to school for her first day of second grade. Of course, I took pictures...to the point where Alisha was like, "You can go now!!!" (but I know she will appreciate my efforts...one day). Tomorrow she will ride on a bus to school for the first time EVER! 

This weekend, Alisha lost both of her upper lateral incisors! Kinda crazy but that’s just how it worked out.  And since Alisha said the tooth fairy pays double on weekends (have to thank Sanjay for that one), I had to cough up 2 bucks per tooth!!!

One tooth came out after it started bleeding from the way she bit into a cookie.  
Here is Alisha minus tooth # 7. 


The other one was just annoying her (and she didn't even cry). 

Good thing Sanjay’s in charge of tooth extraction because I can’t bear to watch it, although I do take video when I can (for blackmail purposes)  ;)

 
8 teeth down...12 more to go! 

Here's an easy-to-read printable check-list if you're wondering what in what order teeth grow/fall out. Jacob's teeth are coming in at the rate that Alisha is losing them. So, she's lost 8 teeth and he's waiting for his 8th tooth (lower lateral incisor) to come in. 

Today we went to Open House at Alisha’s new elementary school. We went to her 2nd grade classroom where we met her teacher (a man, for the first time) and helped her get familiar with her new surroundings. Alisha is going from a private school with 150 students to a public school with 900 students, so you can imagine that it is quite a change for her. Alisha is very excited about going to a new school but she’s even more nervous about riding on a school bus (in the mornings only). The bus is scheduled to arrive at 8:20. Estimated arrival at school is at 8:45. We figured spending 25 minutes on the bus wouldn’t be too bad. It's hard to believe her first day of school is in 2 days!

Alisha starts 2nd grade in 3 weeks at Orangewood Elementary. Yes, we decided to give public school a try. Alisha is really nervous and excited about starting a new school, making new friends and no more uniforms! Nothing is set in stone, so we’ll see how it goes.

Jacob update – The kid is so active!!! He’s also babbling up a storm, something he started doing during our trip to New York. He’s also clapping his hands more than ever. He’s quite the energetic toddler. He keeps going and going until he conks out, whether he’s in his high chair or on the floor. The good thing about Jacob is, like his big sister, he is very independent. He doesn’t need me around for entertainment; Jacob actively seeks out things to do (even if it gets him into trouble). His favorite hobbies are crumpling paper, pulling on the toilet paper roll until there’s nothing left and shredding paper!!! I know boys are supposed to mellow out when they get older but those days seem light years away...

We are BACK!!! All in all, it was some road trip. Was it worth all that driving for the convenience of having our own car?? I don’t really think so. But, at least we enjoyed some mini-vacations to break up all the driving.

So, where did I leave off...

Monday, July 6th: We drove to Nanuet and spent the night at Jamilla’s house. Kids had a great time. While Jamilla and I hung out (with Jacob), the dads took the remaining kids to watch a movie, which they thoroughly enjoyed.


June babies - Alisha & Arya - 7 years old! 

Tuesday: Next destination – Boston, Mass. On the way we stopped by to visit Jenna & Hannah (who is almost 15 months old). 

It was my first time being in their neck of the woods, since we usually meet up in New York. We had lunch at a Thai place and visited the West Hartford library (which has a FANTASTIC childrens’ section btw; you can even check out toys!!). From there it took 2 hours to get to Boston; it should have taken less time but there was traffic. It’s easy to forget about rush hour when you’re in vacation mode!

Tuesday night & Wednesday night: We stayed at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Boston. I don’t think I would have stayed there if we didn’t have our own set of wheels; access to mass transit was not close by (nor in the best of neighborhoods either, I don’t think). Space-wise, the hotel was great! Once again Sanjay’s points came in handy; he had enough Hilton Hhonors points for one free night so we only had to pay for the 2nd night. Hotel room was spacious enough for us not to have to share our bed with either Alisha or Jacob. Alisha and Jacob stayed in their own room; Alisha slept on the pull-out couch and Jacob slept in his Pack ‘n’ Play. It was really the ideal traveling scenario!

Here’s a summary of the sights we saw in Boston: Boston University, Boston Common, Fanueil Hall, Harvard Square.

Here's Alisha at the Boston Common Frog Pond.

The weather was actually pretty decent, so it was nice to walk around and enjoy the better-than-Florida-in-the-summer weather. Alisha's favorite things were the swan ride, the frog pond and (of course) the playground. On Wednesday night we got together with some of Sanjay’s friends from “back in the day” at Fire & Ice, a Mongolian BBQ-style restaurant. All you can eat dinner for $17 in Boston, not bad at all!

Thursday: We drove back to Commack, NY. It was quite a drive and we were stuck in some traffic along the way. Fortunately we weren’t in a hurry to get back, so we didn’t have to stress out about it.

Friday: Aside from packing for our return trip, our day was pretty open, which was nice. My parents went to the church retreat so we said our goodbyes when they left in the afternoon. We then met up with Sandy’s family for dinner at an Indian/Thai/Chinese restaurant. Guess what we all got – Thai! Food was good although the boys (Ethan and Jacob) were a little on the high maintenance side. I suppose we are getting to that age where it’s going to be difficult to go out with a toddler. I don’t remember Alisha ever being like that. Then again, Alisha was like the perfect baby. Or maybe she wasn’t and I’ve just blocked out all the not-so-perfect memories?

Saturday: We drove to Staten Island for Sanjay’s annual family reunion. If you remember, we flew up last November for the first reunion. Fortunately the “committee” agreed that summer would be a better time for family members to get together. So, what goes on during a family reunion?? Well, there was a lot of picture-taking, speeches, and various discussions about the future. When it came to voting for the 2010 reunion, it was pretty tight between Florida and Philly but ultimately Philly won. I have no problem with that because it means the Florida chapter of the family tree (which is basically us and Sanjay’s parents) gets to put off dealing with all the headaches of planning a reunion. We might get our chance in 2011 or 2012 though, but maybe the midwest family members will want their turn before we do. Hey, I’ve never been to Chicago, might be fun!

After the reunion we drove to NJ and spent the night at Joel & Namita’s house. Alisha & Joshua were so cute together.

The bookworms :) 

Joshua was especially sweet; he followed Alisha around the house and hung onto her every word. As for Jacob and Lily, we attempted the “Ultimate Bully” rematch and Jacob took the trophy. What can I say, Lily might look tough but she’s still a girl (and there’s nothing wrong with that!). Jacob may be small but the boy’s got SPEED! I don’t know how he makes every kid cry, maybe because he’s so loud and in-your-face??

Sunday: We went to church in Philly. Got there a little late but who’s complaining?? After service we went to Sanjay’s cousins’ house for lunch. We hadn’t been to their house since we got married (back in 2001) so I guess you could say we were overdue for a visit. By the time we’d all changed into our traveling clothes and stuffed ourselves with food, it was about 4 o’clock. Man, it was SLOW DRIVING down the interstate. I mean REALLY SLOW. So slow that the traffic caused a 2+ hour delay in getting to our destination. It was depressing watching the GPS add more minutes to our arrival time as we moved along at 20 mph. Ideally we wanted to get to Savannah but we barely made it into North Carolina before stopping in Rocky Mount for the night. We got rooms at the Best Western. Exterior corridor rooms but we literally needed a cheap place to lay our heads for like 7-8 hours, that was it. So, why be choosy?

1st note to self: NEVER DO INTERSTATE DRIVING IN THE NORTHEAST ON A SUNDAY! Either leave on Saturday or wait until Monday. It’s just not worth the aggravation.

To add insult to injury, Sanjay got a speeding ticket in Maryland! Everyone was speeding, but the cop waited until we passed him to pull us over. Why? Because he wanted to make sure he pulled over someone with an out-of-state license plate; it’s less likely the driver will show up in traffic court to plead his case. Cost of the ticket: $160. Add that to the gas we spent and the hotel stays and at the end of the day, flying instead of driving up north might have been the better deal. At least my in-laws saved $ because they drove back with us. If they hadn’t stayed with us, we might have left on Saturday (after the reunion) and made our return drive over 2 nights instead of one. Doing the drive to New York with just one overnight stop is just too much, especially with kids.

2nd note to self: Until all passengers are elementary school age, take 2 nights to drive up/down the Interstate between FL & NY!

Monday, July 13: Left the hotel at 7:30am, spent most of the day in the car. It was a L O N G day. Fortunately my in-laws didn’t mind me sitting in front during our travels. They sat on either side of Jacob (in the middle row) and Alisha enjoyed having (what we call) the “way back” to herself. If Jacob started crying, we’d put in a DVD, otherwise we tried to avoid it; since Jacob refused to wear the headset, we all had to listen to the audio on the DVD. I love the Cedarmont Kids, but how many times can you listen to their songs on a 20 hour drive?????

After dropping off my in-laws in Tampa, we finally arrived in Fort Myers at around 10pm. After 2 weeks of being on the road, being home felt FANTASTIC!!!! I just appreciate my home sweet home even more when I haven’t been there!

We’ve made it to New York! It has been quite the trip so far. Let’s see how well I can summarize our journey up to this point:

Monday, June 29: We spent the night at the Marriott, Coral Springs. Hotel itself was fine but we ate dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and experienced the SLOWEST SERVICE EVER. Only a few other tables were occupied but it looked like there was just one person working in the kitchen. S-L-O-W.

Tuesday: Jacob turned ONE! Sanjay had work so Alisha, Jacob & I spent the morning with my grad school friend Shara. She recently joined the parenthood bandwagon and has a 5 month old son. Jacob had fun walking all over the place and checking out all the toys (and non-toys). Alisha went into the pool and never wanted to leave! We started our drive up I-95 by 4pm and kept going until we reached St. Augustine, where we ate a late dinner at Sonny's BBQ. From there we drove until we got to the Savannah, GA exit, where we stayed at the SpringHill Suites.

Wednesday & Thursday: It felt like we spent most of the day in the car. We couldn’t wait to get to our first vacation spot – Virginia Beach! We got there in the late afternoon so we had plenty of time to start enjoying the beach.


Jacob is probably thinking, "Yay, I'm no longer stuck in that carseat!"

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites which was right on VA Beach. Hotel room was a little cozy, but then again we don’t pack light and Jacob’s Pack ‘n Play took up some space. The best part was that this hotel didn’t cost us a cent; we used Sanjay’s Marriott Rewards points to pay for the 2 night stay. Finally, those out of town trips did us some good! I think if we ever go back to VA Beach, we should stay at the SpringHill Suites, so we have extra space to spread out.

It was nice to relax and enjoy the beach with nothing to do and nowhere to go :). Alisha wanted to go for a ride on the surrey so we rented one for 2 hours. The beach has a bike path but it was hot and going uphill was no picnic.


Next time I think Alisha should do the pedaling!

Friday: Ate brunch at Pocahontas, the "Best Pancake House in Virginia Beach in 2002" by "The Food Network". It lived up to the hype; the pancakes were delicious!! We left Virginia Beach in the afternoon and started the drive to Nueva York. It was a LONG drive, but we got to Commack around 9:30pm.

Saturday (the 4th of July) & Sunday: Steve drove up from Jersey to hang out with us on Saturday. On Sunday we invited the family over for a low key lunch/BBQ to celebrate Jacob’s first birthday. My mom always insists on whipped cream as the cake topping, even though she never eats any cake. I think most people prefer butter cream topping. I actually prefer Carvel ice cream cake to all others, but for some reason Sanjay hates ice cream cake. I just don’t get it. 

On the picture-taking front, the birthday party indoor shots came out quite blurry...what a bummer! 

The birthday weekend is OVER and the house is quiet at last. Dirty, but quiet. Alisha & Jacob enjoyed the company of both sets of grandparents this weekend (yes, my dad surprised us on Friday).

Alisha’s party was Saturday afternoon and I wasn’t sure how many kids would show up, being summer vacation and all. However, seven friends from school came (plus 2 siblings) so Alisha was thrilled! The weather was hot and sunny, perfect for playing outdoors, so we inflated the pool and slip ‘n slide and had parents in charge of filling up the water balloons. I turned on Alisha’s bubble machine and handed out water guns while the kids ran around and had a grand ol’ time. Sanjay manned the grill and cooked up hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken.


Even Jacob joined in the outdoor fun (for about 15 minutes)!


For her birthday cake, Alisha picked Barbie Ballerina. 
 

I thought was perfect because of all the dancing she did this year. Alisha got tons of presents, everything she could have hoped for and MORE: Barbie dolls, Littlest Pet Shop toys, books, costume jewelry and arts and craft projects. However, we waited until all of her friends left before she opened our present, a Wii! Alisha had been asking for one for months (you know, since “everyone else has one”), but we kept ignoring her requests. Finally we figured, why not? At least it’s something we all can enjoy. It took Alisha all of 10 seconds to set up her Mii and start bowling! She’s an expert Wii-er from all the times she’s played on Jim & Tami’s Wii. Speaking of Jim & Tami, they started her game collection with “Boogie, Superstar”, a dancing and singing game, and “Cranium Kabooki”, a brain teaser game.

Alisha with Josefina (her American Girl doll)


Unfortunately for Alisha, she left all of her fabulous presents on Sunday to go to Tampa with her grandparents. It’s just for a week though, we’ll be picking her up next weekend. And I suppose absence makes the heart grow fonder :) As for Jacob, he’s too much work for his grandparents so I get to spend even more quality time with him while Alisha is gone. Yay, I tell you. YAY. *me pulling out my hair*

Wish someone would leave the easy kid with me and take the other one for once!!! I can’t even watch TV in peace! Jacob is either stepping on the DVD player (which changes the input to DVD), turning the TV power switch off and on, playing with the remotes, or (this is the best) flipping off the power on the surge protector so I have to flip it back on and watch the cable box boot up all over again. Joy, I tell you. I suppose one way to solve this would be to get a TV console with glass doors, so all the equipment and wires would be out of our face. However, we’ve got a long list of things to buy, and right now a console doesn’t fall under the category of immediate need (of course, this could change depending on Jacob!).

In the meantime, I’ll continue to bang my head against this chair.

Speaking of Jacob, we celebrated his first birthday on Saturday evening with a mini cake that Sanjay bought for him. 


Jacob gets his very own 1st birthday cake! Yum...

Granted, his first birthday is 2 weeks away, but what the heck, might as well do it while all the grandparents are in the same place! Alisha was adamant that she didn't want to share her birthday with him this year, but I think starting next year we'll be celebrating the June birthdays together.  

And in BIG news, as of today Jacob is officially walking! I mean, he’s been taking steps here and there since he turned 11 months, but these past few days he’s been walking more and more. Today he went from the back couches to practically the TV! Unfortunately, every time I go to grab the camera he’s back on the floor.

Alisha’s final swimming lesson was on Saturday morning.

Hooray, Alisha can swim!

She’s still got a lot to learn, in terms of refining her stroke, but at least she’s not afraid of the water, and she can do some of the basic moves. I am so proud of her. I am hoping to register her for summer group lessons, but if that doesn’t pan out (due to our out of town schedule) then I’ll see about re-enrolling her for private lessons in the fall.

Alisha can swim! She still needs to work on her kick and her stroke (getting her arms out of the water) but the girl is swimming at last! 


Alisha is making lots of progress!

I am really happy for Alisha because learning how to swim is incredibly important, especially here in Florida. Alisha has friends with pools and now I won’t have to worry as much when she splashes around with them in the water.

Today was Alisha’s appointment for sealant. Gone are the days when she could chew on ice and hard candy; that type of behavior can crack the sealant. Of course, it’s not as if Alisha eats candy on a regular basis, maybe once every few weeks. I still can’t believe she has a cavity! I have lost count of how many fillings I have (at least 5 though, plus a root canal w/ crown) but I’m guessing Alisha has inherited my “bad teeth” gene. I wonder if the laughing gas will help. Maybe it’s to keep their mind off of the long novacaine needle!

I haven’t been to the dentist in 2 years and am in no rush to go. Every time I go for a cleaning they tell me I am close to having gingivitis. Why can’t I ever get good news from a dentist? The only person who gets good news from the dentist in this family is Sanjay. The guy went 15 years without seeing a dentist and his teeth are in perfect health. Some people are so lucky.

So guess who came to visit, my mom! She totally surprised Alisha this afternoon. She’s here until Sunday to spend quality time with her grandkids, and to bug me about how I don’t water the plants often enough. Some things never change...

We went to the dentist today and Alisha was told she has a cavity! Like the glasses, I knew this was going to happen eventually, but not at the age of 7. Unbelievable yet believable. I guess it could have something to do with the fact that she spends like 30 seconds brushing her teeth. Alisha actually gets more toothpaste in and around her sink than into her mouth, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The hygienist said I should be brushing Alisha’s teeth until she is 10 years old!!!!! That’s a L-O-N-G time. I know for sure I don’t floss her teeth enough, maybe once every month, but it’s a pain flossing someone else’s teeth, especially when that someone is constantly complaining that it hurts, etc.

The dentist also recommended that Alisha have 4 of her molars sealed. First of all, I didn’t even realize she’d gotten her 6-year molars (also known as the first permanent molars). Secondly, I’ve never really heard of sealing teeth. Dental technology has come a long way since I was a kid. From what I learned today, sealing is basically coating your tooth with a melted plastic in order to prevent food from getting trapped in the crevices of the tooth and causing cavities. It goes where no toothbrush bristle can go. I look at it this way: either cough up 200 bucks for a filling later on or 62 dollars for a sealant right now (that should ideally last for years). No, we don’t have dental insurance but that’s because paying for all of this out of pocket is cheaper than the cost of dental insurance premiums (which don’t even cover everything).

So, tomorrow is our sealing appointment and our filling appointment is in 3 weeks. The dentist recommended N2O (laughing gas) for the filling appointment. I don’t recall ever needing N2O for my fillings but then again, my first filling wasn’t at age 7!! I would have LOVED to get everything over with tomorrow (since my mom can watch Jacob while I drive around town) but it’s a pediatric dental practice and all these parents are cramming in appointments before they go on vacation.

Has it really been 7 years since my baby girl was born?! Every year I think about how we’re all getting older. At one point I thought 20 was old, then it was 30, and now I’m thinking 80! Will I ever consider myself old? I don’t think so!


Alisha = the luckiest 7 year old ever (at least for today)!

Alisha enjoyed her ice cream cake and we even let her open up some of her presents. I’d gone to Justice (which is a cheaper version of Limited Too) over the weekend and secretly bought her a few things with my 40% off coupon: earrings, necklace and shirts. I wouldn’t have bought anything at all had I not had the coupon; those tweeny-bopper stores are expensive! For Alisha the best present of all was the American Girl doll my parents bought for her. She told me a long time ago that she would love to have a Josefina doll, and that’s what she got. My parents would have NEVER spent that kind of dinero on a doll for me! I never even had a Cabbage Patch Kid!

Alisha can now float on her back, and with every lesson she keeps getting better!


Look at the progress Alisha has made!

I can't believe it's already June.  Alisha’s birthday is just around the corner and Jacob’s is at the end of the month. Alisha is SO excited about turning 7.  I told her for her actual birthday I’d buy her an ice cream birthday cake (Carvel, of course). Like me, she LOVES ice cream cake. Sanjay calls our love for ice cream cake a New York thing, but I don’t think so.

Alisha’s last day of school was today; she had early dismissal at 11am. I told her we’d go someplace special to celebrate so we went to Steak ‘n Shake. Remember, it’s her favorite dining destination ;) I didn’t feel like dealing with Jacob so we did the drive-thru thing. I actually wanted to celebrate Alisha's birthday this weekend but Sanjay’s in Naples for work so we’re having her party next weekend instead.

Swimming update - Alisha's doing GREAT!  She is on a roll and since she doesn't have school next week, I've scheduled lessons Tuesday-Saturday with Saturday being her final lesson (#9).

In the midst of everything that went on this weekend, I totally forgot to mention Alisha’s first swimming lesson! It was on Saturday morning and it went as well as could be expected. I’ve said it before, Alisha is a cautious child, so she was hesitant to even immerse her face in the water even though it’s something she has done before, albeit 2 years ago. Why has it been so long?? For those who might have forgotten, last year Alisha didn’t take swimming lessons because it was all about Jacob, 24/7. Well, it’s still 24/7 Jacob but at least he’s a little bit older. And bribe-able, thanks to Cheerios! 


Ya gotta start somewhere!

Alisha’s still got a bunch of lessons ahead of her so her swimming skillZ can only improve! :)

So much to say! Our friends Sam & Sonya came over for the weekend with their now-almost-8-month-old girl, Jasmine. I was hoping Jacob would behave (and not try to crawl on top of Jasmine or attempt to grab her eyes), and he DID! Unfortunately there was nothing he could do to impress his “girlfriend”; every sound that came out of his mouth made baby Jasmine cry! We just couldn’t figure out what it was. By today she was 100% AOK around Jacob but (of course) they went back home this afternoon.


Just look at Jacob & Jasmine. They're bonding over tupperware :) 

Alisha really WOWed us with her dance performances! She had 3 numbers: 2 ballet and 1 tap solo. I did not realize that her dances were to modern pop/R&B/hip-hop music (until I went to her dress rehearsal on Friday). I was most impressed by her first ballet performance and her tap solo. The girl can really move! The first ballet routine was to the song, “Welcome to Miami” (by Will Smith), her tap solo was to “A- You’re Adorable” (click here to listen) http://www.sillybooks.net/books/A_Adorable/adorable.html and her other ballet number was to “Independent Women” (Charlie’s Angels soundtrack by Destiny’s Child). You weren’t allowed to videotape the program but of course I brought my camcorder, sat waaay in the back of the auditorium, and recorded what I could, using the viewfinder. Trust me, it was not easy watching the dance and recording at the same time! I wasn’t in the audience for Alisha’s solo (I was on the side of the stage) and because she went on stage earlier than we’d expected (because another girl hadn’t shown up on time), Jim wasn’t ready with the camcorder until the middle of the solo. I was so happy that Alisha didn’t get stage fright; she really and truly exceeded my expectations. Anyway, we were debating whether or not to cough up the 45 bucks (a complete rip-off) to buy a copy of the recital on DVD but ultimately we did, just because of her tap solo!!

The dance recital felt like it took up our entire day; it went from 3pm-7pm...yes, 4 hours!! Alisha & I got there at 2:30 and everyone else got there by 4. Technically it ended at 6:30ish, but then the owner of the dance studio came out on stage, thanked everyone and announced the name of every single student/stage mom/helper; that took 20+ minutes. Needless to say, we were really tired by 7 o’clock. Why didn’t we leave early, you might wonder. Well, after the ballet girls performed their second act, they were kept on the stage until the very end. It’s actually a smart idea because it kept (the majority of) the audience in their seats until the very end.

To celebrate a job well done, we all went to dinner at Stir Crazy, Alisha’s second favorite place (the first being Steak ‘n Shake). 



BTW 1. That’s not Alisha’s costume (dancers are only supposed to wear their costumes when they’re backstage) and 2. Alisha is wearing make-up. I was instructed to have Alisha wear the following: eyeliner (I used purple because black was too harsh), mascara, rust-colored lipstick and blush.

And I finally mastered the hair bun! I went to the dance store and (with the purchase of a bun kit) they provided me with a demonstration. If Alisha wasn’t such a wiggle-worm her hair would have only taken me 3 minutes, but because she is who she is, it took me more like 8-10 minutes. But I was really pleased with how everything turned out.