Leaps and bounds

Natalie wanted you all to see her spelling test from last week.  California state standards have kindergarteners read and spell 40 high frequency words.  We heard she got a 100% on her test of the first 10, but got to see for ourselves when the test on the second 10 came home last week.  Earlier in the year, she did very well on spelling the same words, but she used Scrabble tiles to spell since she had such a hard time writing that she wouldn't be able to keep up with the test and probably would refuse to complete it.  But her stamina and precision for writing has improved so much that now she's taking the tests with a pencil and paper!  Go Natalie!

We're also happy to report that the toileting successes at school have continued!  In fact, I can't remember the last time she had an accident with #1 (she doesn't have great success with #2 yet, but I can see a glimmer of hope).  I hesitate to test her on #1, by not taking her and seeing if she just goes to the toilet on her own initiative, because the successes are still so new...but I almost think she would take herself to the toilet.  Several times she has asked to use the toilet, instead of or before swinging, no less!  This weekend we visited Tom's cousin Jean in Oceanside and Natalie stayed dry the whole time, even using a different toilet.  Here's a picture from our hotel stay this weekend, with the kids enjoying popcorn and glued to cable TV (every time we stay at a hotel, I am happy to have the kids watch cable TV while we're there, but I'm also reminded that it's really ok that we don't have cable at home...there are no high pressure toy commercials on public television).

Natalie had an EUA at CHLA today to check her eye pressure.  Both eyes were about 17-18, so that's good news.  I was hoping for GREAT news, where her left eye would be super low so we could stop giving drops in one eye.  But since that pressure was with eye drops, we have to continue the drops.  Thankfully, we're down to 3 eye drops a day in one eye, which is much more manageable than where we were a year ago (wow, 5 drops a day in 2 eyes).


And last but definitely not least, I had a wonderful Mother's Day, thank you very much.  This seems like our first Mother's Day without a mother (besides me, I mean!)  Tom's Mom passed away last year right before Mother's Day and her passing was still so fresh that it was almost like Mother's Day last year was still for her.  But now both our moms are gone, so I get all the attention in our family, which I'm really not used to!  I guess I can get used to it!  Lukas cracked eggs for breakfast, and then we had a fun dinner at home with Tom grilling the tri-tip.  It was a very memorable Mother's Day!