Aug 29
Everyone,
Today was the first day of school for Miss Butterfly.
We were all very (very) happy to hear that her school had power, after the weekend brush of Hurricane Irene, and would actually be open to receive students this morning.
This year Butterfly will ride the big “blue” bus that is yellow. She hopped right on this morning.
And after a few hours, she hopped right off.
Her teacher this year, Mrs. Dez, is going to be a lot of fun.
She is thrilled this year to have a DESK all her OWN. She is also excited to put her school supplies in her DESK.
It’s just too thrilling.
This morning, before the bus, I asked her a few questions:
“Are you excited?”
“Yep.”
“What are you excited about?”
“Playing with my friends on the playground. And lunch.”
“Who are you looking forward to playing with?”
“You know! My friends!”
“Are you nervous about anything?”
“Nope.”
“Alright. Have fun!”
“You know I will!”
Tonight we went out to ice cream to celebrate the first day of school. She had cookie dough ice cream with a cherry on top. She said it’s been a cherry on top kind of day, wonderful and special.
We measured her (52 and 3/4 inches tall) and ended with a father’s blessing for the school year (protection and friends).
I think it’s going to be a great year!
Safire
SafireButterfly, Butterfly firsts, Butterfly in School, Butterfly stats Butterfly
May 11
Everyone,
First of all, check out my feature on the Multiples and More Blog! This was so much fun to write and I’m happy to be a part of their community!
This morning I took Butterfly to the doctor. Not because she was puking (no more instances of that and she actually ate dinner tonight) but because it was her 5 year old check up. It was also her before kindergarten check. We spent almost 2 hours at the doctors this morning. Remind me when the boys turn 5 to schedule them on different days!
So. Butterfly is a big girl. We all knew she had amazon woman tendencies and this doctor’s visit was no change. She is hanging off the top of the charts at 125% or so. She is as tall as an average 7 year old, and weighs close to an average 8 year old. She is 61 lbs and 48 3/4 inches tall. One tall beautiful girl!
They tested her ears (totally fine) and her eyes (she got tired about halfway through and refused to do them unless promised stickers and suckers). Her eyes are at 20/40 vision which the nurse said was in normal range but the doctor wants to send me to a pediatric eye specialist. Um, no. I’m getting the feeling that my pediatrician is a little alarmist when it comes to anything out of the ordinary. I’ll wait until next year when I can put her on my eye insurance and take her to my optometrist. One nice thing about this eye test is that we see she knows all of her letters and can read them when they are fairly small.
While the doctor was listening to her breath, she asked Butterfly to draw a picture of me on the paper. I had hair, eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, cheeks, body, limbs and shoes. Also, I had curly hair in the front and long hair in the back. Okay then. She passed all of her mental milestones with flying colors. She can also hop on each foot, do jumping jacks, and stand on one foot while touching her nose and count to 10. She’s 5, not drunk. Sheesh!
She also had to pee in a cup which was an ordeal. She was all nervous and couldn’t do it, couldn’t do it. Then when I moved the cup and asked her to just relax, she peed! I caught a tiny bit in the cup so we were saved. She probably has a UTI, however, and they want me to take her to the lab and have her pee in a cup there just to be sure. Lovely. She does have to go a lot so I imagine she probably does. But to take everyone to the lab, and get her to pee with all of us jammed in the bathroom is going to be interesting.
Also, my doctor likes to send us to the lab for tests.
She had her finger pricked for several tests. She also got her chicken pox vaccine and that was it. She didn’t cry for either jab and was rewarded with 2 stickers and a tootsie pop. She was thrilled.
She said that she would put them on her “Best dress!” when she got home. That didn’t last but she did get the nurse to smile at her comment.
Would you like to get a “best dress” for your little girl? Today’s giveaway comes courtesy of my good friend Lolli over at Better In Bulk. She has graciously donated a $10 Land’s End gift card to one of my lucky readers. You could get your little girl a polo pleated dress like Butterfly. Or even a new swimming suit for her. Or a pair of pajamas for yourself. We buy almost all of Butterfly’s clothes from Land’s End. They are true to size and wear really well. I even love their shoes for her. And their tights are the best for the best price. Plus, if you win, I have a free shipping code to send you as well.
To enter this giveaway you just need to leave me a comment. For an additional entry, you can go read my Guest Post on Lolli’s blog and comment there! Please do, it’s looking a little lonely over there. Just be sure to thank Lolli for this giveaway when you do comment.
Happy commenting!
Safire
PS- The doctor’s office charged me $10 for filling out her required forms for school. 10 whole dollars!! I’m highly miffed. Do they do that in your neck of the woods?
PPS- The legal disclaimer that neither Lolli nor I am affiliated with Land’s End at all. We just love their stuff and thought you would too.
SafireButterfly stats, giveaways, reviews
May 13
Everyone,
Two days ago I realized I should probably get Butterfly into the doctor so she can have her 4 year old well child check. When I called, they asked if I wanted to come in that afternoon. Uh, no. That was the day I didn’t get out of my pajamas until 6pm, after I put the boys to bed. So I picked two days ahead and we were there at 9am. Semi-sharpish. Okay, so we had to run through the parking lot, up the stairs, and down the hall (full tilt) to make it there by around 9:05am. We at least made it.
They had her take off her shoes and stand next to the measuring wall. It was hard to get her to stand up and not lean against the wall, but we finally got it. Then we had to walk down the hall to the “weight room” and she was weighed. She chatted up the nurse the whole time and he was really funny. He took her blood pressure and she didn’t even flinch with that. (I think it was 70/40 or some insanely low number. Heart rate around 100 but I think she was nervous.)
She insisted on getting undressed her self which would explain why she was still undressing when the doctor came in. Butterfly went shy and wouldn’t look the doctor in the eyes until I shook the doctor’s hand and got her name and her favorite color. It was blue (how cool is that?) and Butterfly perked right up. She had her eyes, ears, mouth, throat, and reflexes checked while sitting on my lap. Then the doctor wanted her to do some tricks. We ended up having to pretend she was a puppy in order to get her to do all these things. She had to walk on her toes, on her heals, jump on each foot, tell the doctor 5 colors out of a book and show her the first letter to her name. She then went on to spell out her entire name (first and last) for the doctor and the doctor mentioned that she does extremely well with the letters. She also had Butterfly count to 10.
The doctor and I talked about how Butterfly writes with her right hand and still eats with her left. She said she may be ambidextrous and to just wait it out and see how things go. She also said that Butterfly mumbles quite a bit (not at home, she is too loud at home!) but didn’t say anything beyond that. She was glad Butterfly was taking swimming lessons and told me at least 4 times that Butterfly will need sunscreen every day in the summer time, even if we’re just walking out to the car because she has very fair skin.
She also asked me how tall I was and how tall Juice was because she is totally off the charts for height and weight. Somewhere in the 125%. She also looked pretty seriously at her growth pattern from a baby and remarked at how she’s always been big and tall. Yep. That’s our family. The land of the lily white giants.
Butterfly had to get 4 shots today. 4! I was not expecting 2 of the shots. Apparently, because of the area we live in, she has to get a TB test every year. (That’s where they put the bubble of liquid under the skin and I have to go back on Friday and have it looked at.) There have been several measles outbreaks in the area (including at the hospital across the street from the doctor’s office) so she strongly suggested we get that MMR booster. I asked if she’d have to get another before she starts school and the doctor said no. You can get your 2nd MMR anytime one month after you get the first one and you should be fine. They just typically give it to kids right before school because they are going to be in close quarters with a lot of kids. But since the measles seems to be traveling through the area, it makes sense to have the booster now. She’ll have to have another one before 7th grade I think. She also got her last polio vaccine, and her second to last DTaP (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus). She cried hard but perked up when I suggested a fruity drink. She got a blueberry smoothie and I got a peach one. I like it when she gets shots!
She is 52 lbs. 52! Did you know that she meets the weight requirement for sitting in the regular car without a booster in some states?! Holy cow. We are lucky that we bought the car seat that goes up to 80 lbs because she would have had to get a new seat within a year if we didn’t. I suppose she could move into a booster seat and be just fine, but her current car seat is working. She knows no different and hopefully won’t until she is 80 lbs. Or too tall for it (53 inches). She is 45 1/8th inches tall. She grew around 4 and a half inches in a year. If she keeps this growth up, we should be good with the car seat for at least another 2 years. 
Other things she mentioned: go to the dentist every 6 months (check) and make sure we either have city water with fluoride in it or put fluoride in her drinks every day. We have city water. She should be drinking 2-3 glasses of milk a day (skim is fine at this point) and 2-3 glasses of water a day, especially through the summer. She needs to have a bike helmet (check) and needs to understand cars and the dangers of the road. She also needs to be introduced to the fact that strangers are dangerous (already do that a little) and she should move at least 30-45 minutes every day. Walking, riding bikes, play at the playground, dancing to music, etc.
All of her boxes are checked off and we’re clear to see the doctor again in year for her 5 year old before school check up. As in she’s going to be going to school in a year and 3 months. Crazy!
4 is turning out to be a little better than 3. I think having 2 new baby brothers was a huge adjustment or the fact that she is all about the RULES right now makes things easier. She accepts whatever I have to say if I say, “Because that’s the rules.” Can there be some rules about Mommy getting a nap? I think Butterfly might enforce it for about 2 minutes. Is that long enough for a power nap?
Safire
SafireButterfly stats
Jun 05
Everyone,
Our big girl is getting bigger by leaps and bounds! We went to the doctor the other day and got her official 2 year old stats. She is 32 lbs (about the 110%) and 37 inches long (135th%). She still has a nice small head of 19 inches around which is only in the 90th%. She is seriously as big as a 3 year old. They measured her 4 times at the doctor’s office because they didn’t think it was right. And when the doctor came in, she told her where to sit, where she was going to sit and where I was sitting. The doctor looked at me and said, “She’s bright. Do you read chapter books to her? She might like them.” I nearly fell off the floor. Chapter books?! I know I like them but she just barely turned 2. I haven’t tried any with her yet but I’m interested to see if she would like them. She has about 15 of her books memorized (so do I) and will read them out loud to herself. So maybe…
This is Butterfly and her new bike we got her for her birthday. Okay, I bought it at Christmas 
time because I got it on a huge sale (normally over $120, I got it for around $60…nice!) but it’s been in our attic since then. She loves the thing and begs to go out on it at least 3 times a day. I need to get her a helmet. I wish she could pedal herself because she gets frustrated and then pushes the bike with the handle. And that is SLOW GOING. The bike also adjusts out so as they get longer, you can make sure it fits properly. She is already on the next to the last hole. But I don’t think that’s going to stop her.
Every day she amazes me with her sweet nature and spunkiness. She was always a sweet and spirited baby, and has not really changed a whole lot. Well, except for the “Do it myself!” and hitting we are dealing with but that’s 2 years old for you. She’s a love even with that.
Safire
SafireButterfly stats
Jan 10
Everyone,
I got an email the other day telling me all about my 20 month old. I seriously thought it was wrong. She can’t possibly be 20 months old! That means she is only 4 short months away from being 2. But the email is right. She is 20 months old!
Butterfly loves Soot right now. She asks for her first thing when she wakes up. She follows that poor dog around the house, and if she drops food, she’ll call for Soot. Periodically through out the day, she has to find Soot. “Where Soot? Where Soot? I found Soot!” It’s very cute.
She has taken a liking to the phone. Today she brought it to me and said, “Call Nana.” Okay! So I helped her dial the number (with her saying, “Two two tree five ten!” the whole time) and she must have talked to my mom for 2 or 3 minutes. She will nod her head in response to questions, and laughs the whole time. It’s very cute. She got a toy phone from her Grandma for Christmas and she always sits down and says, “I call. I call. I call [enter name here, most of the time it's Daddy but sometimes Soot or Nana too.]“
We have a chatter box on our hands. She talks all day long. Here is a list of some things she says:
I don’t want it.
I don’t want [shoes, socks, coat, etc.]
shirt
pants
tights
dress
bow
hair
teeth
comb
brush
burrito
read
I see you.
I ready to go.
outside
come
heel
speak
shake (can you tell she loves to give commands to Soot?)
don’t
feed Soot
Soot eat water.
milk (which she calls nup)
One more time.
snap
One more snap.
Up we go! (This is how she asks to be picked up.)
Up me! (If we don’t respond to the very cute up we go.)
Jumpy jumpy jumpy.
Smell flowers.
I hungry.
Purple coat/shoes.
cream (either ice or diaper)
diaper
I change. (for a diaper change, and yes, she does tell me when she needs one.)
package
open package
I love [mommy, daddy, soot, cheese, etc.]
Hi Daddy.
Daddy work.
Daddy at work.
Call Daddy at work.
Okay.
Nope.
Uh-huh.
Super cute.
Cute!
Baby
bunny
cook
ouch, hot!
More cereal please.
berries
There are tons more but this is long enough. There is a chart of milestones that kids this age should be doing. •
Will pretend to feed a doll. Check. This is the only way I got her to eat dinner tonight. We have a very small mechanical raptor that we call Bunny. She had a great time feeding Bunny, and then eating Bunny’s bites. • Can take off own clothes with help. Or without help, like she does pretty much every day. I’m waiting for the diaper to come off as well. •
Will dump an object in imitation, such as throwing garbage away. This is a favorite pastime of Butterfly’s. I have to check the garbage periodically to see if she has thrown toys away. •
Learns words at a rate of 10 or more a day. Yes, Juice can tell you that she now says “Dang it!” because he kept saying it over our crashed computer. Dang it! •
Can walk up (but probably not down) stairs. Up and down, but she’s been doing that since forever is seems. She is tall enough to reach the hand rail on our stairs, and can even go down one or two without holding on to anything. •
Searches for hidden objects. See above story about Soot. You can substitute Soot for her dolly, blocks, anything. She loves searching games. •
Names several body parts. Nose, head, hair, chin, eye, ear, shoulder, knee, elbow, arm, hand, foot, toes (she calls them piggies), leg, finger nails, cheeks, lips, mouth, teeth. I’m running out of body parts to tell her!
At the end of the day, I often feel drained trying to keep up with the leaps and bounds that she is making. She is also starting to get slightly bossy and tells me how to make her cereal in the morning. Bowl, spoon, cereal in bowl, nup and I have to do it in that order or life as we know it is over. We have read all of her books so many times she has a few memorized and gets upset if you miss a word or a page. She has also started to like to sing, and will just wander around singing to herself.
I am so interested in what she is going to do when she is 2!
Safire
SafireButterfly stats
Nov 10
Everyone,
Butterfly turned 18 months old today. I can’t believe how much she has changed in the past month. We took her in for her 18 month check up and she is 26 lbs, 5 oz and 34 1/2 inches long. This is one tall girl we have. She’s off the charts in height, like 117%. She has only gained 1 pound in 3 months so her doc said to make sure she is eating at least 3 meals a day and 3 snacks a day. Hello, this kid
eats ALL DAY LONG. Here is a breakdown:
Breakfast: she normally eats about half of my bowl of cereal (won’t eat her own, monkey) and 2 scrambled eggs. She also has a sippy cup of milk, and a package of fruit snacks. If she’s really hungry, she will eat some of Juice’s cereal too.
Snack: she always has a snack mid-morning, about 9:30 or 10. It’s either string cheese and more milk, or an apple or banana.
Lunch: her favorite thing is mac and cheese. She will eat half a box, if not more. We also have applesauce, milk, maybe some string cheese and a cookie.
Snack: after her nap I always give her a cookie and milk, dried cranberries and raisins.
Dinner: anything we are eating. She loves beans, rice, lentils, chicken, pasta, and guacamole. It’s been a struggle to get her to eat dinner the past few days. She’s more interested in playing and doesn’t want to sit and eat. Tonight she had veggie lasagna, turkey, jello with berries, salad, some pasta tomato thing, and water. (We went to a potluck for our church.) This is the meal that I try to get her to eat more veggies, but she typically refuses anything but broccoli stems and frozen peas. Yum.
Snack: right before bed she always wants something to eat. (Probably because she didn’t eat all of her dinner.) I try to offer her the rest of dinner, or string cheese. Oh, and milk.
I don’t think she is starving. They just want to make sure she stays on her curve for growing. But of course, it’s made me slightly paranoid that she’s not eating enough. I know she is, but I guess it makes me doubt myself. Stupid doctors.
Let’s see…she got 2 shots today. DTaP #4 and tetanus. She did not scream this time. Probably because she had a sucker in her mouth. The first sucker she’s ever had. Huge amounts of drool during her shots, but no crying. It wasn’t until after she was done and I took the sucker from her that she bawled. I don’t mind that they give her a sucker for her shots I just wish they could pick something healthier. And also ask me if a sucker is okay. The nurse ripped the paper off and gave it to her without okaying it by me. I could have said no, thanks, but Butterfly had already tasted it and I knew we would have a battle. Better to battle the sucker removal after the shots than right before.
We went to the park today with my mom’s group. Butterfly ran, and ran, and ran. She never stopped running from the moment her feet touched the ground. She is a mover, that one. She loves slides so much and I like that I can just be near the slide and she can get on it, slide down, get on it, slide down, without my help.
I’m looking forward to the days of going to the park and sitting on the benches and watching her run around. Soon.
Safire
PS- She spilled something on her shirt right before we went outside to take the pictures. I like that shirt or I would have changed her. It makes her eyes look so green!
SafireButterfly stats
