February 17, 2012

Today was Maggie's eye follow-up appointment. It went really well. She was awesome for the whole thing. Basically they had her look at pictures on a TV from across the room. She would cover one eye and look with the other, etc. She was so cute, answering, "puppy" or "birdie." Then they put in eye drops (which she was super brave about) and we went back out to the waiting room.

The waiting room had a little play kitchen with various doors to "appliances," like a microwave, oven and I guess what was supposed to be a washing machine. It had a little round door but the inside wasn't contained so you could open it and put stuff in and it just kinda fell into this larger area. So they call Maggie's name and I turn to gather her stuff and I realize her "purse" is empty. I look over at where she has been stuffing things into the washing machine and realize, uh oh. So I open it and there are tons of little trinkets, some hers, some not. So I'm pulling everything out and trying to figure out which is which. She is so funny about all the things she has to carry around.

Anyway, after she had the second part of the exam the doctor told us that she has slight astigmatism and slight far-sightedness in one eye and slightly more far-sightedness in the other. If the eyes had had the same level of far-sightedness it wouldn't have mattered but because they varied, eventually her brain would completely depend on the stronger eye and she would have a lazy eye. So, Maggie is going to start wearing glasses. She's excited, in theory. I told her she'll have glasses like Ann Estelle from her Mary books.

This evening, she, Gran and I took a walk. She was pretty tuckered out but she did good, considering how far we went. She likes to yell freeze and have everyone freeze. She also likes to tell Mommy to be in charge of the freeze. She's so funny. She, of course, brought baby on the walk.

I am planning on starting a new behavior system for Maggie. Basically, I'll have a jar filled with 10 balls (or other trinkets) and every time she breaks a rule, she loses a ball. To earn a ball back she'll have to do some sort of chore or something. If she has all 10 balls at bedtime, the next morning she gets to stop at the park during our morning run (she's in the stroller). The rules are no hurtful words (stupid, idiot, moron--her Grandpa was kind enough to teach her those), no hitting and no messing with the cats after being told to leave them alone. I figure those are the main issues and I'd like to go for extinction with those. And then if there's anything left over, we'll deal with that. I'm quite excited. The only issue now is that I have to actually go to Target and buy the balls. Oh shopping, how I hate you.

I love our nighttime routine. Sometimes when I'm tired it seems daunting but it's so wonderful. We say goodnight to Nana and Gran and go upstairs and brush teeth. Then we go in the room and she picks out 2 books while I get her jammies and pull-up out. Then we change her clothes. Then I read her the books while we snuggle in the bed. Then I turn on the noise maker and turn off the light and tell her our version of Little Red Riding Hood. Then I sing her "You are my Sunshine" twice and rub her feet or tummy or back. Then we just cuddle for about 5-10 minutes, before I come back downstairs. It's one of the many, many times a day I remember how immensely lucky I am to have Maggie as my daughter. She is loved beyond words.