March

Ellie went to the local children's hospital in March to get checked for scoliosis. The pediatrician noticed that her left shoulder is higher than her right shoulder at her 4 year checkup. The spine doctors noted that she does have uneven shoulders, but the x-rays of her neck and spine show perfect bone structure. Her left shoulder muscle, however, is very tight and this tight muscle is what elevates her shoulder. Her muscle is tight because she slightly tilts her head to the left. She tilts her head to left because her left eye has a weak muscle. The weak muscle inhibits her ability to keep her eyes aligned properly. As an infant, she learned that she can tilt her head to maintain monocular vision (to keep from seeing double). Tilting her head allows the weak eye to remain at the same elevation as the strong eye because the weak eye does not have to elevate as much. Is this reminding you of an old nursery rhyme?

• There was an old lady who swallowed a cow. She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.She swallowed the dog, to catch the cat.She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.

Ellie's version
There once was a girl who had uneven shoulders. She had uneven shoulders from a tight muscle. She had too tight a muscle from tilting her head. She tilted her head to rest her eyes. She rested her eyes to see only one....

In all seriousness, Ellie does NOT have scoliosis. She does tilt her head, and she can have eye surgery to repair the weak muscle. The surgery has side effects and often over-compensates for the weakness causing "droopy eye". So, we are not going to pursue any kind of surgery at this time. We are supposed to get her vision checked by a pediatric opthomologist twice a year until she is at least six to ensure that she is able to keep her eyes aligned. The spine doctors said that her head tilt should not cause any issues with bone growth, and they expect her bones to continue to develop normally despite the tilt. The condition is called "Brown's Syndrome", and it is not hereditary, just a gene malfunction! Sometimes this condition will spontaneously correct itself around age 6 to 8, but this is very, very rare.

Visit from cousins Grandma and cousins Jessica and Jared. We went to the zoo, did lots of playing, and started preparing for the move!! We put the kids to bed in their own spaces, but they ended up all in the same bed (except for Kevin)!

We bought our first home and moved in March. We painted a few rooms (pink room for Ellie, blue playroom, green kitchen) and planted some flowers in OUR garden (impatients, petunias and marigolds - the marigolds didn't survive!!). Having never owned a home, these were firsts for us! Ellie and Kevin decided to share a room. The pink room is Ellie's room, but she only sleeps in it when her cousins come to visit. At least that's what she says! Since her cousins haven't come to visit, yet, she has never slept in the pink room!

She told me that she likes sharing a room with Kevin because sometimes she gets a little scared at night. But she looks over and sees Kevin in his crib. Then she realizes that if a monster or somethin' comes to get her, Kevin will use "all his strength" and "do the biggest jump he's ever done to jump right out of his crib and save" her. She said that if a monster comes to get Kevin, she will protect him by "climbing right into in his crib" because she "already knows how to do that."

Kevin worked really hard to get Sleeping Beauty's pink shoe just right so that he could slip it on. If you look under his toes in the foot picture, you'll see the little pink shoe. It took several failed attempts before he realized that he's a little too big for barbie-size shoes! He has also tried to sit in the wooden dollhouse chairs!

Ellie and Kevin go through the same routine every day that we go pick Ellie up from school. Ellie comes out of her classroom , tosses her lunchbox on the ground and gives Kevin a big hug. Kevin waits for the hug and gets very excited when he sees her coming! After the hug, Ellie picks up her lunchbox and gives it to Kevin, and then they hold hands all the way through the hallway to the car. They get pretty upset with me if I interfere with their routine! Sometimes the hugs are so big that one of them gets knocked over! They are very sweet with each other!