Healthy Eyes, Sad Heart

This is a complicated tale. The first part of the story actually happened in the doctor's office last spring. Sophia didn't do great on her vision test at her annual checkup, but I chalked it up to nerves because she wasn't fully understanding the directions. Up until that time, she had never complained of blurriness, headaches or any such.

Fast forward to last month. Sophia prepared for a normal day at school when one of her friends walks in with the coolest accessory Sophia had ever seen -- glasses! She kept her impression of these glasses mostly to herself. Just saying now and then how she liked Jocelyn's glasses. No red flags there.

Over the last few weeks, Sophia has been asking if she could have her eyes checked. I did connect it to the new glasses in school, but combined with last spring's eye test, I didn't think I could ignore her insistence that sometimes things get blurry and that she sees things really small.

Still pretty sure that this was in Sophia's head, brought about by her love for accessories, I set up an appointment at Walmart Vision yesterday. She did great through the whole test. I was actually very impressed at her willingness to do anything and everything they asked. I realized just how much she wanted glasses.

After the test was over, she was incredibly disappointed to learn that her eyesight is nearly perfect. About halfway through the test, the optometrist had looked and me and said, "So far, it's looking pretty good!" So, when she heard the glasses-free news, she said, "But didn't he say they were just pretty good?" She was really very bummed. I'm not kidding.

Since we were at Walmart, I decided to let her try some of these five dollar accessory glasses, but she very quickly lost interest when I told her that she couldn't wear them to school. Obviously, I had missed the point completely. She's right, though. She is really cute in glasses.

She has recovered from her disappointment, and Erick and I are relieved that, at least for the moment, she is spared the hassle of dealing with glasses. 

Blank Paper

Newly fallen snow makes me think of blank paper.

Also, it's been a quiet week. Sophia hurt her toe at school last Wednesday, so we didn't go out in the snow when it came down here. Now it's been rained on and is gross but sticking around.

This is what she did when the toe got better. I know it's blurry, but it's the best I could get.

Obviously, she's feeling much better. 

This is and has been a full week for me. Helping at school with Literacy Groups, which is a short-term commitment, has been lots of fun. Best thing to come out of it was when one Kindergartner told me he doesn't eat snow any more because of the trans fats. I kid you not. I have no idea how he heard about trans fats or how he thinks they come to be in snow, a.k.a. frozen water. Regardless, it was all I could do not to laugh or ask him to repeat it for me several times. However, I didn't want the rest of the kids in our group to go home worried about the trans fats in snow clogging their "orteries" as he said trans fats are likely to do.

If something interesting happens, I'll be sure to fill you in. Till then, happy winter days for all!

Long Weekend Flies By

"Long Weekend Flies By" would be the headline if this were a newspaper.

Sophia had both Friday and Monday off, but it hardly felt like we had more time than two days. On Friday, she and I spent a little time at the Science Center. There is a temporary exhibit about saving endangered animals and their habitats. Sophia had on this turtle shell at the exhibit for about half a second. The above face is how she responded when I said, "Look turtley."

The rest of our weekend flew by because my parents were up for a visit. We found just the right balance between seeing and doing fun stuff and laying around the house.

Even though it was too cold to do any of the fun outdoor activities that St. Louis has to offer, we soaked up the sun in our living room, while Mom crocheted and Sophia sewed. Craftiness apparently skipped a generation.

Same Thing

Still caught up in Diamond of the Week here in the Creach house. Sophia has been very excited about being the center of attention. She said pretty much that on the first day. I asked what her favorite part was about being Diamond of the Week on that day, and she said, "Well, I had the attention of all those people." Those people being her fellow Kindergartners...

The week has kept giving in the attention part. Here are two of my favorite things about the Diamond of the Week phenom. Of course, all of you parents out there have had similar experiences, although I think it's normally called Star of the Week and such. Still, this is my one turn at being the parent of the center of attention. So I'm going to share.

Here's the poster that is on the door all week.

She obviously captioned all the pictures. "I am on my cousins" for the one with Aaron and William. "I love my friends" for the one with Blake and Madilyn. She picked the pictures out of twenty or so that I narrowed down.

The other favorite thing is this book.

Every one of the kids in Sophia's class draws a picture and tells a story about one of their favorite memories with Sophia. And each and every one ends with (at Mrs. Wilson's direction, of course) "Sophia is my friend."

I just love this tradition. I figured it would be right up Sophia's alley, and it is. I captured her second read-through since she's been home. There have been several Diamonds of the week so far, and she could remember what she wrote for their books, too. She already has a good one in mind for Emery's book next week. I was just as happy that she takes it seriously for her friends (and she says that even when she's not forced), and not just when it's her turn.

Diamond of the Week

As typically happens, as I write more for myself, I have fewer words to share about our life in general.

That's okay, though, because our life has returned to its normal rhythm. We are all grateful for that. Sophia has recovered from our trip, her illness and some sleep disturbances that resulted from those.

She has been sweeter than ever, especially as today is the first day of her week as "Diamond of the Week" in her class. She told me in all seriousness that she was looking forward to it, but the first day is a lot of work. While there are some "favors" like getting a book of your classmates' artwork and such, the diamond of the week has extra work to do so the other kids get to know that person even better.

This week also includes Valentine's Day, of course, which will be extra special for our little love bug, I'm sure.

Hope everyone enjoyed a lovely weekend with their families. And can use Valentine's Day as a time to focus on and feel grateful for the love we enjoy all year, in whatever form it takes.

Ride, Sophia, ride!

Yesterday was another Sing Along at Sophia's school. They added the Camel Song this time, and it was awesome. Sophia got to play a part in one verse. You can see that she's a little nervous to start, wanting to get her riding just right... 

I think she did an amazing job. Sooooo cute.

A Memory for the Wall

Just before Christmas, Sophia's school had a fundraising auction, and I purchased a "Family Masterpiece" session from ArtMart. Essentially, you get to choose a style of painting based on number of people (3) and age of children (6). These factors set us up perfectly for the Jackson Pollock style of painting. And it was SO much fun!

Armed with squirt bottles, cups full of paint, brushes, eye droppers and even a super soaker, we got to turn a blank canvas into our own masterpiece.

All three of us enjoyed the process from start to finish.

Sophia particularly enjoyed the squirt bottles of yellow and red. For a while, our painting resembled a hot dog.

We got a bit dirty, but it was entirely worth it.

The canvas is on here somewhere...

This is what it looks like dry and in our dining room. Beautiful! It was a memory that we'll always cherish -- unless someone offers us a fortune.

I highly recommend the experience to anyone. Yes, we probably could set up the same experience on our own, but it wouldn't have helped out Sophia's school and, more importantly, I would have had to clean up that mess!