Since I spent so much time posting photos this month, I didn't have time to post a few other things that happened.
Madeline is getting much better at reading in English and I'm very excited for her! She's been reading well in French for quite some time now, but struggling with English reading. It's understandable since she doesn't learn any English at school. I knew she would get it eventually, but I was hoping it would happen a little sooner. It's hard to see her stuck on something! It's wonderful to see her trying so hard and making real progress now. Slowly, but surely, she's sounding out and figuring out the words she sees all around her.
The girls had annual checkups in mid April. They're all fine and growing well. (Georgia is 17.5 kg/38 lbs and 103 cm/40.5 inches; Madeline is 21.2 kg/47 lbs and 117 cm/46 inches; and Sophia is 34.5 kg/75 lbs and 137 cm/54 inches.) The only notable things were: (1) We learned Sophia was supposed to be getting speech therapy at school (recommended by Dr. O'Grady) because she has nodes on her vocal chords and her voice is a bit hoarse (it always has been); however, we haven't heard from the speech therapist who should have received the recommendation in January. And (2) Madeline has a wart on the bottom of her foot, so we're treating it with duct tape and it seems to be shrinking.
Sophia's class is participating in an online hockey pool at Pickuphockey.com. Each student chose their own players and they're supposed to check the standings each day. The kids are very excited about it. Sophia's strategy was to pick the top 10 of the top 150 players (as ranked by TSN). She was tied for first place for most of the first round, and is now in second place (with only six players left). We'll see how far her strategy will take her!
She's her father's daughter... Now that hockey play-offs are on, Georgia insists on watching hockey with Neil (rather than go to her bed) so she gets to snuggle up on his lap watching hockey until she falls asleep. Also, last week, out of the blue, she announced that she wants to have a Roughrider birthday party (with a green and white cake and pom-poms!) for her next birthday. I guess spending day after day with Neil is having a certain effect on Georgia!
Sophia and Madeline (and Bronwyn) started Girls in the Game last week. They'll be doing track and field activities in the gym for the first three weeks, then golf outside for three weeks, and then I'm not sure what for the final two weeks. Meanwhile -- this was a nice surprise -- the parents get two free passes every week to use the gym while waiting for the girls (or anytime). I wasn't prepared with the right footwear last week, but this week I enjoyed walking around the track with Laurel for 20 mintues. Also, the track is the only place from which parents can see their daughter(s) participating in the program, so it's nice to go in there and take a peek.
Over the past two weeks, Neil enjoyed showing artifacts and speaking about bison (past and present), and prehistoric hunting techniques, weapons, and tools (including demos of pressure flaking which sometimes involved real blood from Neil's hands!) to all of the classes at the girls' school. He received some very nice compliments from several teachers and a thank you card from the school. Sophia and Madeline really liked having their dad as a guest speaker, too. Neil has talked about bison and farming to the girls' classes in past years, but this was the first time he had been invited to talk to all classes, grades one to eight, plus one kindergarten class.
Neil and I watched all six parts of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. (I think it's the only TV I watched this month). This subject is very interesting to me. Unlike some children in the show, I'm pretty sure mine could name the vast majority of vegetables! They certainly don't like them all, but they have been introduced to many different veggies. Georgia warmed my heart this afternoon when she sang out, "If you give me some broccoli and dip, it will be my favourite thing! I'll eat it up! I'll chomp it up!" (which was her funny way of asking) and then she really did eat a bunch of broccoli.
Sophia had an orthodontist appointment this morning. We were surprised to learn that the alignment of Sophia's teeth has actually improved slightly since last July, so she will not be getting an expander and night-time head gear right now, as expected. Great news! Dr. Olfert said if it doesn't get worse, he may be able to adjust everything with braces later on and total treatment over two years instead of three. Now she just needs to go back every six months so he can monitor her bite, which could change for better or worse fairly quickly. The nice thing is that these check-ups don't cost anything.
All three girls had dentist appointments this morning for a check-up and cleaning. Sophia has a cavity in a baby tooth that's going to fall out soon, so there's no reason to fill it. Madeline's teeth are very crowded, so she'll need to see an orthodontist pretty soon. Georgia, we just learned, has a behaviour called tongue thrust in which she pushes her tongue out when she swallows, which in turn pushes her teeth out. We had no idea this was happening. (And here I thought it was wonderful that she had some space between her teeth; i.e., lots of room for adult teeth!) Apparently, it's not too much of a problem now, but it will be a big problem if she still has tongue thrust when her permanent teeth are coming in. To prevent this, we need to try teaching her not to do that (which is difficult for a 4-year old to learn) or she may need a special appliance to protect her teeth. :(
Madeline has been preparing for her spring piano recital on May 2. She has one little piece of music to play on the piano and a part in a rhythm ensemble. Also, my dance class, along with the beginner adult class, has been working on our performance piece for Mosaic. It's a lively and unique (choreographed by our teacher) 8-person set dance and then ceili dance with no break in between. It's quite fun, as well as challenging to learn. I think it's going to look great. I don't even know what dances the girls will be doing at Mosaic. As always, I look forward to seeing them perform! Madeline's piano solo and the music for my Mosaic dance are always popping into my mind these days.
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