March has arrived

I forgot to mention in my last post that people who feel as I do about Berkeley California are boycotting any products being sold from there. Just check the address of the companies website you are doing business with and if they are headquartered in Berkeley simply choose not to do business with them.

Anyway, March has finally arrived and the temperatures are actually starting to rise...yea! Looks like the high today was about 42 which is a very welcome change. Of course Grace is all ready to spend time outside since it's "a nice sunny day." The only problem is that it doesn't quite feel that warm when you're outside as the perpetual Chicago wind makes it feel much cooler.

On Monday Grace and I went to see her pediatric ophthalmologist and the appointment went very well. I'm not sure if they even checked to see how her eyes looked as far as healing from her surgery back in October, but if they did it must have looked fine because it wasn't mentioned. What the Doctor did say was that she looks really good, her eyes are still perfectly straight and her eyesight is still very good too. He changed her prescription so we'll be getting her some new glasses, but he's very happy with how she's doing. So happy that he wants her to come back in three months for her next checkup and then it will be nine months after that before she'll need a checkup.

After this appointment we had to rush to the library for preschool story time. This week was the first week of a six-week program. Considering how far away we were from the library while at the doctor's office and how much time we had to get there, we did excellent by only being 10 minutes late. We went about 30 miles in about 40 minutes. That's not easy to do with road construction and traffic, but we did it. Good thing we don't go during high traffic times.

Yesterday I managed to drop Grace off at preschool and drive all the way to Waukegan to the County Clerk's office to get an original copy (oxymoron) of her birth certificate so we could register her for kindergarten. This is the only document we still needed to get her registered, but there are a couple other documents we'll need to get before she'll be able to attend in the fall. After I got those copies, I went to her school and picked up a registration packet so I could fill out the forms during the day and be prepared for the registration in the evening. Then I had to run and pick her up from preschool as she's only there for two hours.

So I was able to do all of that in the two hour time-frame and I spent a good part of the day filling out all of the forms they required. Some of the questions they ask are quite honestly difficult to answer because they involve knowing your child in situations that you normally don't see them in. Like "how does your child react to discipline?" This was an especially difficult question because how she responds to us is completely different than how she responds to other people of authority. Also the sheer volume of questions and documents they require was a little enlightening to me.

Here is a list of the documents I had to (or will need to) supply for Grace to be able to attend kindergarten at her school:
-Original county birth certificate (they make a copy and return it)
-One of the following:
- - Real estate tax bill
- - Mortgage papers
- - Signed lease agreement
- - Affidavit from local resident attesting registrant is living with the owner at no cost.
-Two of the following:
- - IL Driver's License/State ID Card
- - Voter registration card
- - Residence Insurance document
- - Vehicle registration
- - Public Aid card
- - Gas or electric bill
- - Cable TV or Credit Card bill
- - Other (as determined by Superintendent)
Also the following health documents (by the time the school year starts):
-Health examination form filled out by pediatrician
-Eye examination by an eye doctor (not general physician)
-Dental examination form filled out by her dentist
Plus I had to fill out the following forms:
-Registration form
-Affidavit of Residency
-Session request form (AM or PM class)
-Textbook loan request (borrow text books)
-About your child (getting to know you information)
And $100 registration fee.

The documents I haven't completed yet are the Eye and the Dental exam forms. We just need to get them filled out and turn them in before school begins in the fall.

Grace is really excited about going to kindergarten in the fall. She asked this morning if we could go there today-so cute. I said no obviously and that didn't make her happy. But today was a normal Wednesday, we were busy. Dance class this morning was good. She's learning two dances for the recital in June. One is "Limbo" and I can't remember the other one. They are really cute though.

After that we came home and my Sister stopped by so that Grace and my niece could play while she ran to the grocery store. Surprisingly she didn't want to take both girls grocery shopping. I'm not sure if I've talked about this here before, but I just can't deal with taking Grace grocery shopping. It's much much easier, and faster, to do the shopping without your child in tow. It's just not worth it. It's just aggravating and time consuming.

Anyway, after that we ran back up to Antioch for gymnastics. We were actually early for that class - amazing. I was reading the book I'm currently reading while she was there. It's called "Write it When I'm Gone" about President Gerald Ford. It's really interesting and has piqued my interest in Richard Nixon and Watergate which will be the subjects of the next books I read. Grace worked on the routine she'll be doing in her gym show next month. So far it looks really cute. I think she really likes doing it.

After gymnastics we ate dinner at Culvers. Believe it or not we don't really eat there very often any more. You may have noticed I don't mention it here that much any more. That was not an omission on my part as we've been eating at home as often as we can. Of course she's still only eating her usual array of three options, but we're doing that at home to save money and so that Grace doesn't get bored with eating out which was beginning to happen.

Julie didn't join us this week because she was out shopping with Aunt Connie. We finally decided when we were going to Arizona this year and got the tickets - yes tickets. I was thinking we would just drive out this year because it would save us a lot of money over purchasing airline tickets, but then Julie got this email from Orbitz about a big sale they were having and we were able to save a ton of money. It'll actually be cheaper than driving as we're flying for about the same price as just buying the gas, not including the hotel stays and food along the route. So we'll end up getting there faster and cheaper and everyone is happy. Oh and did I mention that Aunt Connie is joining us? My Mom has been telling her to come out to see her for years and she's finally decided to go out there and she's going with us this year. We're going next month and actually that time is approaching pretty quickly.

So anyway Julie and Aunt Connie were shopping for luggage for Aunt Connie to use for the trip and some other stuff too I think, so I put Grace to bed.