Five Things on Friday

1.  Last night, after her bath, Veronica found a brown marker and drew stripes all over herself.  She was a tiger, she said.  Maria immediately copied her, which was a pain because I had JUST CLEANED BOTH OF THEM, but it was nice because it's rare that Veronica instigates something.

2.  Veronica will be four in three weeks!  She wants a Tinkerbell bicycle.  I have to find one for her.  We are not having a big party, just cake and stuff with our family.  I want to try and stick to just big parties for 5, 10 and 15.  We'll see.

3.  This morning, Veronica is demanding ice cream and so far I'm winning.  For a sweet girl, she can be a real jerk about some things.  I told her you can't have ice cream at 10:30 in the morning! Can I have it for dessert?  For after dinner?, she asked and I said maybe.  So I said how about some cereal and she said yes.  I set her up with cereal and milk and a bowl and spoon and she ate and then she said I'm ready for dessert, mama, and she was FURIOUS when I said no.  Sheesh.

4.  Okay, now it's Saturday but I am going to press on.  Yesterday, my friend Jill came over and I helped her with her resume, then she stayed here with V and F while I took M to the store for a birthday present and then dropped her at a birthday party, then I got lunch for Jill and me and then we ate said lunch and we had to go BACK to get Maria at the party and then we came back here and played outside for a while and then I had to get ready and go to work. So.  Anyways it's Saturday.  Veronica is good with Jill, or with any babysitters.  She is not strange at all with her teachers or anything.  That is a far cry from how she was when I used to drop her at the Childwatch at the Y, and I'm grateful for it.

5.  She is getting kind of funny.  She has a good sense of humor for a three/four year old, which is to say that it's not really ACTUALLY funny, but she definitely gets the idea of it.  She loves to make people laugh, it's cute.  She and Maria have been going to Anthony's school on Monday and being peer role models and while Maria is like a behaviorist or something, Veronica is just happy to be there and be playing with the kids and have her hair done.  There was an intern there named Courtney who just LOVED Veronica and Veronica loved her, and Courtney's last day was Friday so they had a big goodbye this week.  Yesterday I had Maria and Veronica sign a thank you note and Maria wrote her name and Veronica's name but then Veronica wanted to write her own name.  She carefully wrote a V and then and E and R and then she said "I'm done".  Ha!  Keep them wanting more, I told her.

Irony

Is it irony that we thought Veronica would never talk and now she never, ever shuts up?  She gets on a roll, it's crazy when she does, where she just talks and talks and talks.  It's different than Maria, when Veronica does it, she requires a lot from the other person. Maria will blather on and you don't really have to be 100% there, but Veronica is always all, right, Mama?  Do you think so, Mama?  DID YOU HEAR ME, MAMA?  I almost always call Mike on the way home from picking up Anthony, but yesterday I didn't.  He asked me why later and I said I couldn't stop talking to Veronica!  It's so weird!

She has had a rough week.  On Monday, she didn't want to go back to school.  She had a week off and last time she had a week off, well, three, she went back and there was a different teacher.  She likes the new teacher a lot but I think it's been hard for her.  But she went back and it was fine but then on Tuesday I got an incident report, someone had hit her in the face with a block!  It said that Veronica had refused an ice pack, ha!  Tough guy!  I asked her later who it was and she told me, it was a boy who has some - well, I don't want to say problems but he's just a rougher kid than Veronica.  Anyway, she was fine and it was unpleasant but I suppose it happens.  It's never, it should be noted, happened to Maria, but she is a little louder and scarier than Veronica, probably.

Otherwise, she's fine, dancing away in ballet, having friends at school, being too noisy in church.  I can't believe she'll be four next month.  Four!  Little Veronica.  I'd say Time Flies but I don't believe it.

Speech

Veronica says a lot of words funkily, because of the L thing.  I forget where I was with her the other day, but the adult I was with said "so ... R is L?" and I said yes, R is L and Y is L and sometimes W is L!  But one thing Veronica won't tolerate is YOU saying anything the way she does.  Two words that she says really adorably are school and beautiful.  She says things are beautiful all the time but it sounds like bluetiflu.  It is a nice sound, really, it's too bad it's not a word.  Bluetiflu.  When she says school is sounds like skewool.  She says school a lot too, because we talk about it a lot when we talk about their schedule and we are ALWAYS talking about our schedule with Maria around.

Anyway, tonight I was lying in bed with Veronica right after I put the baby to bed.  Normally I don't go in and I never lie down but I felt bad for her because Maria was being a jerk and not letting Veronica get into bed with her.  "I need my rest because I'm still a little sad from before", she kept saying, which, whatever, Maria.  Enough about her it's not her blog, ha!  So I was lying down with Veronica and telling her what a fun week we had planned, I said how she'd be going to school tomorrow, only I said it skew-wool, like she does and she cut her eyes at me and said "I think you mean SKEW-WOOL, Mom".  But in her mind, she doesn't think she's saying it strangely.  I think she feels like we're making fun of her and I totally don't want to do that, I mean - I am laughing with her but not at her.  But she is not laughing, so I have to remember not to do it.

She has a playdate on Friday, it's super exciting, old Veevsy with her friends on her own.  She had her little ballet recital on Friday and she'll start again in two weeks.  She is a sweet and cute ballerina.  She's a sweet and cute everything.

Playdate

Veronica had a playdate!  She has a friend at school named Corrine and they are the cutest little buddies, they are both little sweet things.  Corrine is a little younger than Veronica, she won't be four until August, and they are just super cute together.  Apparently they talked about having a playdate and I met the mom at registration and introduced myself and asked if we could get together.  Her dad brought her over on Thursday and they had a HIGH old time.  Of course, Maria was kind of bossy about the whole thing but it was still fun.  I wish Maria would lay off a little, but it's too hard to explain that it's not her playdate too.

She is doing just fine, old Veevsy Voo.  She was licking the hell out of my arm today and finally I said VERONICA, STOP!  Stop licking my arm!  And she got super hurt and she said "I was just kissing you, Mama!".  Ha!  She is crazy.

Last Monday, she didn't want to go to school.  She is a very sensitive person, Lord, ANYTHING makes her cry and in fairness, I was especially screamy last Monday.  I have been really good about not yelling at them, if I do say so myself, but I have really lost it with this damned construction we've had done on our house.  The dipshit floor guy wasn't coming on Monday, like he was SUPPOSED TO, and I was annoyed with him, the girls were doing their usual lollygagging on the way to the car, Maria took off her PANTS right before we got in the car, I was annoyed.  So I MAY have yelled at them to get IN THE CAR!   GEEEEETTTT INNNNNN THEEEEEE CARRRRRRR!, I might have said.  So we get all the way to school and walk in and Veronica says to me "I am not going today Mommy".  I said, who in the what now?  Why not?  I spoke really quietly and sweetly and said why don't you go to school, your friends are here, come on, it will be great!  But she had made up her mind so home she came and even though she was healthy, and even though we were PAYING for it, she didn't go to school last Monday.  And I have learned my lesson and I am not speaking in anything close to a harsh tone to that ninny before preschool.  We won't get fooled again!

Update

I never update these blogs anymore but in my defense, no one ever leaves me alone for a second.  I really and truly think that I might have a nervous breakdown before this super fun vacation of the girls' is over.  Alas, there is nothing one can do about one's impending nervous breakdown if one is in charge of everyone else, so, the heck with it.  If a tree has a nervous breakdown in the forest and no one gives a hoot, has it really happened?  A question for the ages!  

Anyway.  Veronica.  Yesterday was a funny day for Veronica, because Maria went and played with a friend so it was just me and Veronica and Felicity.  I was trying to ease the pain of Veronica NOT going to play with Maria, so when Maria said "Veevsy I have good news and bad news:  the good news is I am going to Paige's house to play.  The bad news is, you are not going, I told V we would do something fun.  Veronica said I want to go to Chick Fil A and I want to get down and go in.  I said okay.  We got to Chick Fil A and she said I want chicken and fries and fruit punch and then she ate every single bite of that, and the fruit that I got her and Felicity.  She played in the play area and walked right up to this kid and started playing with him, she was like a different girl.  It makes me excited to think about this fall, when Maria is in school every day and Veronica goes just 2.5 days and we will have some time together, just me and the littler girls.  

I decided that I'll send Veronica to the preschool at the Catholic school where they'll all go.  I was thinking of keeping her at the same preschool where she is, but I think it makes more sense for them to go to the same school, and it makes more sense for Veronica to be where she'll go for Kindergarten.  I don't anticipate any problems for her but why not avoid them if they are a possibility?  

She is doing fine, otherwise.  I have her parent/teacher conference at the end of the month but her teacher left over break, so I guess it will be with the teacher's assistant.  I never really clicked with her teacher so I won't miss her but I'm sad that they're switching teachers mid year like that.  I'm sure Veronica won't care so I'm not going to either.  

I can't think of anything else to say.  I am so sick of them and being with them all the time and having them YELL at me all the time.  Everyone is getting sick of each other, they want to go do things all day and night and I have to keep Felicity home for a nap and ugh.  This is a cruel break and I'm sure I'll miss these days, but right now I am sick of them!  p.s. I don't think I'll miss them either, but whatever.  Here's a picture of Veronica at CFA yesterday, horrified because Felicity was climbing up the slide.  Which is something Veronica does all the time!  

Dentist Miracle

I took Veronica to the dentist yesterday.  Mike took her for her first appointment a few weeks ago, he took Anthony for a checkup on his extraction, and Maria and Veronica had regular checkups.  So what they do at this pediatric dentist, is give you an estimate of what it's going to cost.  I forget what it was going to be for Veronica, because they estimate it for everyone, but it was a LOT.  It was like $1600 or something, because I remember thinking it would be like $3,000 before all was said and done, including Anthony's work.  One of the costs they estimated was for sedation, because I guess she was such a freak during just the checkup.

So all week it was bugging me, I couldn't stand the thought of them sedating that three year old!  Anthony was VERY rough coming up from that sedation, he was crying and so upset, for hours.  If Veronica had it, Mike would have to stay home from work because there's no way I could stay with her and watch the baby.  Also, Veronica has ballet on Fridays and she really likes it, they don't have it next week because of Thanksgiving and I just hated for her to miss it two weeks in a row.  So I told Mike I'd take her to her appointment and just talk to them about it there.

I walked in and checked in - oh this was funny - I haven't been there in a long time, because Mike's been taking them.  He takes Anthony to school and the dentist is right near there, so it's usually him.  It was on the third floor, I knew, but I stopped short at the elevator because I wasn't sure where to go from there.  Veronica took off and said, over her shoulder, "it's over HERE, Mommy!  TO THE LEFT!".  Ha!  Anyway, we went in and they said "has she had anything to eat or drink, MOM?".  I hate when people other than my four children call me mom, fyi.  I said no she hasn't but I want to talk to the dentist, because I don't think I want her sedated.  It's so crazy when you tell any medical professionals that you are going to do something different than they tell you to do.  All of them get the exact same "WHAT?" look in their eyes, no one can BELIEVE you are daring to question the DOCTOR.  In this case, the DOCTOR is a DENTIST, so forgive me if I don't bow down and act like you're a neurosurgeon who went to Harvard.

So we waited, we had a tea party in the waiting room, Veronica was in very good spirits.  I had talked to her about it and I said she could either be made to go to sleep when she had her teeth worked on, and not go to ballet, OR she could just lie down and do what the doctor said, and then she could go to ballet and we would get her a prize and blah blah blah.  The assistant came to get us and she said "now, she's had nothing to eat or drink since midnight, right MOM?" and I said, well, I TOLD the woman up front, but no she hasn't but I'd like to talk to the dentist about it because I don't know if we want to do it.  That woman didn't even say anything!  How SHOCKED she must have been, to not even SAY SOMETHING!  People make me mad.  So we went into the kitchen, where there were permission slips and the medicine all out, just like I HADN'T SAID ANYTHING.  But then the dentist came in, Dr. Kevin, his name is, and he was really, really nice.  I said how I was concerned, blah blah blah and he said "do we have three year olds that can do it?  Yes!  Are there many of them?  NO!".  He said I could stay there and I had to be a 'silent observer', because it can be confusing for a kid when the dentist is saying one thing and the assistant one thing and a mother braying away.  So I said fine, I just wanted to tell Veronica how it was going to be and have it actually be that way.

We went in the room and she started to get tense right away, but I just talked to her and she lay down and started watching the Barbie movie she picked out.  The assistant put a mask of sorts on her with nitris oxide, but it was hard because it was way too big.  She said it was the smallest size but Veronica is a peanut and everything is slightly big on her.  I could see her relaxing from the nitris, at one point she even sort of slung one leg over the other, ha!  It took forever, as usual, for the dentist to come in and she did start to cry a little bit, but she just - stopped and did what he said.  It took a long time, much longer than it took when I took Anthony, but I don't think I realized how fast she did Anthony's.

Oh!  I'm forgetting that they were going to seal the other teeth, like all the other teeth in her head so she didn't get any more cavities.  I said why would we seal baby teeth? and the dentist said that she had 'deep grooves' in her teeth and those are more susceptible to cavities.  Now.  I don't want to call anyone a money grubbing scumbag, but what?  WHAT?  Do baby teeth have deep grooves?  Or just my kids' teeth?  I said my husband and I had more run of the mill, NORMAL teeth, so we were unfamiliar with these deep grooved teeth.  I said that the last year had been kind of crazy at our house, particularly in the morning and at night, and that we are re-committing to teeth care and I wanted to see if that would help our situation so if we could wait, I'd like to.  So he said fine.  Sheesh.

Anyways, he filled them and the assistant - I guess he just drilled them and the assistant filled them and then we were finished!  I can't believe how proud I was of her.  She was really amazing, miraculous, even.  It just goes to show that you can't judge a person by just one facet of their personality.  Veronica is kind of a wussy, she will cry for 20 minutes because she has her feelings hurt, but she is also really tough and a hard worker and she definitely proved it yesterday.  I felt really vindicated as a mother, and I am not kidding when I say that has almost never happened to me the whole TIME I've been a mother, so I was glad for it.  Then we went to ballet, and out to lunch, and all day she was so proud of herself, it really was a great day.

Halloween

Veronica was a fairy for Halloween, Bloom from the Winx Club, to be exact, but that rat fink didn't wear her wig, even though I combed it all out perfectly - PERFECTLY - the night before, but whatever, she looked super cute.  She was also willing to wear her tights and a long sleeved shirt under her costume, unlike a certain sister I know, so I appreciate that.  Here's her picture:

She's pretty, right?  She is so sweet.  She is kind of a kook, I have to say.  You know how she leans on the table like she does?  She and Maria call it 'getting her air out' and she has been getting her air out a LOT lately.  It's funny to hear Mike say, "Veevsy, you're going to have to get your air out later, we have to go!".  I hope it's something she outgrows, or at least I hope she finds a more subtle way to get her air out than to perch on the corner of a table, ha!

She has really been yapping away this week, yap yap yap yap YAP!  Today she made me go in the big room outside of Maria's ballet and she told me SHE was the teacher and WE were pretending to be pigs, so lay down here, Mommy, and OINK!  She told me to grand jete, and to turn and when I did it, she said "that's not right!".  She is bossy but it's so cute, she is really finding her way.  She loves school and her best friend this year is named Rosie.  Some day maybe I'll post something else about her but mostly she is my real heart girl and I am madly in love with her.