Five never seemed so big
Raine turned 5 on Friday. It seems like a bigger milestone than some of her other birthdays, probably because of the whole old enough for kindergarten thing, though that also probably didn't spring from the ether. She seems somehow more grown-up now, truly a big kid in a way that she wasn't when she turned four.
She had a doctor's appointment today and weighs nearly (but not quite) 40lbs, and is a little over 41 inches tall. She talked the doctor's ear off about the boxcar children, and then worked very hard to be brave about her shots. She got two this year, bringing her up to speed on all the series of shots that we've started for her--some of which we started a long time ago since we just went along with the standard schedule until she was 5 months old, got 5 (or was it 6?) shots at one visit and began freaking out when strange women smiled at her. I decided at that point that two shots a visit was my max. This year Raine and I talked a lot about her shots and which ones she was due for and whether she wanted to do one this year and one next year or two this year and none next year. All of these conversations were pretty much prompted by her, and I was impressed with her maturity in discussing the topic. She was pretty clear early on that she wanted two this year to get them over with, so that's what we did. She did a great job going along with the whole thing up to the very end, and even then she didn't struggle or scream or anything, though she was clearly starting to freak out. The nurses were quick and professional thankfully--if they had stalled or hesitated it could have gone down hill really badly. I think that she's going to end up with a bit of a needle phobia, and I feel bad about that. Who knows whether being stabbed repeatedly as a baby is worse for that kind of thing, or if having shots be routine for so long is more traumatic? And maybe her fear was somewhat inevitable given that her daddy is needle phobic too? One of the great mixed bags of parenting is the constant puzzle of whether what you're doing matters and how.
Raine is also maturing in leaps and bounds in other ways. She's beginning to read and write. She knows all her letters and can write them pretty well, and has recently started trying to sound out words that she sees written. In some ways this stage makes me a little envious of zathrus for her homeschooling efforts--though I am in no way jealous of the time and energy that go into that effort. Mostly I feel a little in the dark about *how* she is learning these reading skills, and what if anything I can do to support her. She's going to a Montessori preschool which means that they don't use the names of letters but refer to them by sound, which is not how we talk about them at home and I think that throws her off sometimes. I also introduced her to block or printed letters back when she first showed a glimmer of interest two years ago, and they use a script at school that is pretty different, at least for some of the letters. I figure it doesn't hurt for her to learn that there is a wide range of right ways to write, but it also might be making the process harder than it has to be. But then again, I didn't learn to read until I was eight and I still turned into a bibliophile, so I figure it will all come out fine in the end. We read to her, and encourage her interest and that's probably all she really needs right now.
Another amusing development with Raine recently is her interest in a computer game that I got for Christmas. Stony and I have been playing too much Heroes 5, quite frankly, and it doesn't help that Raine encourages us by requesting to watch us play. She can identify a lot of the spells in the game by sound, and talks about upgrading creatures and such with an ease that is a little unnerving, but it wasn't until she called one her friends a succubus that I really started to wonder about her exposure to this game. She didn't mean it as an insult or anything--I think she might think it just means girl--and her friend didn't get offended, or even pick out the odd word, though who knows who it will be repeated to next. On the one hand, I'm deeply amused, on the other, I feel like I should explain that people generally don't want to be referred to as demons, which will in turn open up a long conversation about what exactly a demon and specifically a succubus is, and I'm not sure how much I want to go there. I don't try to avoid heavy topics with Raine--we had a long conversation about slavery today--but it can be difficult framing things so that she understands them, and getting into Judeo-Christian mythology is always really complex.
Since it has been an age and a half since I've updated about Raine, I'm sure there are other milestones and developments I'm missing, but I'm also running out of steam here, so I think I'll just end there. It as been a joy, as always, to watch her grow and change this past year, and it is really exciting how interested she is in the world, and how much easier it is to talk to her about abstract concepts these days.
She had a doctor's appointment today and weighs nearly (but not quite) 40lbs, and is a little over 41 inches tall. She talked the doctor's ear off about the boxcar children, and then worked very hard to be brave about her shots. She got two this year, bringing her up to speed on all the series of shots that we've started for her--some of which we started a long time ago since we just went along with the standard schedule until she was 5 months old, got 5 (or was it 6?) shots at one visit and began freaking out when strange women smiled at her. I decided at that point that two shots a visit was my max. This year Raine and I talked a lot about her shots and which ones she was due for and whether she wanted to do one this year and one next year or two this year and none next year. All of these conversations were pretty much prompted by her, and I was impressed with her maturity in discussing the topic. She was pretty clear early on that she wanted two this year to get them over with, so that's what we did. She did a great job going along with the whole thing up to the very end, and even then she didn't struggle or scream or anything, though she was clearly starting to freak out. The nurses were quick and professional thankfully--if they had stalled or hesitated it could have gone down hill really badly. I think that she's going to end up with a bit of a needle phobia, and I feel bad about that. Who knows whether being stabbed repeatedly as a baby is worse for that kind of thing, or if having shots be routine for so long is more traumatic? And maybe her fear was somewhat inevitable given that her daddy is needle phobic too? One of the great mixed bags of parenting is the constant puzzle of whether what you're doing matters and how.
Raine is also maturing in leaps and bounds in other ways. She's beginning to read and write. She knows all her letters and can write them pretty well, and has recently started trying to sound out words that she sees written. In some ways this stage makes me a little envious of zathrus for her homeschooling efforts--though I am in no way jealous of the time and energy that go into that effort. Mostly I feel a little in the dark about *how* she is learning these reading skills, and what if anything I can do to support her. She's going to a Montessori preschool which means that they don't use the names of letters but refer to them by sound, which is not how we talk about them at home and I think that throws her off sometimes. I also introduced her to block or printed letters back when she first showed a glimmer of interest two years ago, and they use a script at school that is pretty different, at least for some of the letters. I figure it doesn't hurt for her to learn that there is a wide range of right ways to write, but it also might be making the process harder than it has to be. But then again, I didn't learn to read until I was eight and I still turned into a bibliophile, so I figure it will all come out fine in the end. We read to her, and encourage her interest and that's probably all she really needs right now.
Another amusing development with Raine recently is her interest in a computer game that I got for Christmas. Stony and I have been playing too much Heroes 5, quite frankly, and it doesn't help that Raine encourages us by requesting to watch us play. She can identify a lot of the spells in the game by sound, and talks about upgrading creatures and such with an ease that is a little unnerving, but it wasn't until she called one her friends a succubus that I really started to wonder about her exposure to this game. She didn't mean it as an insult or anything--I think she might think it just means girl--and her friend didn't get offended, or even pick out the odd word, though who knows who it will be repeated to next. On the one hand, I'm deeply amused, on the other, I feel like I should explain that people generally don't want to be referred to as demons, which will in turn open up a long conversation about what exactly a demon and specifically a succubus is, and I'm not sure how much I want to go there. I don't try to avoid heavy topics with Raine--we had a long conversation about slavery today--but it can be difficult framing things so that she understands them, and getting into Judeo-Christian mythology is always really complex.
Since it has been an age and a half since I've updated about Raine, I'm sure there are other milestones and developments I'm missing, but I'm also running out of steam here, so I think I'll just end there. It as been a joy, as always, to watch her grow and change this past year, and it is really exciting how interested she is in the world, and how much easier it is to talk to her about abstract concepts these days.