All things Mack!

Sick weeks are always hard and this was no different. Mack had a high fever off and on for 4 days with a bad cough, congestion and a loss of appetite. It is already difficult to get this kid to eat a full meal and with her basically not eating anything for 3 days I knew her weight would suffer. Unfortunately I was right and she is now back below 30 lbs!!! For once in their lives, Kait weighs more than Mack which is just kind of sad. I guess I won't feel bad giving her girl scout cookies this week if it will help her gain some weight back. I was finally able to get her an appointment yesterday on base and they ended up having to take x-rays of her chest. Because I had the other two kids with me, I wasn't able to go back with her where she was getting the x-ray done. Thank goodness she is such an easy going kid because she just walked right on back with the nurse without a single glance back at me. I was worried she would be scared or nervous. What was I thinking?! And she even got an x-ray of a teddy bear to take home as a souvenir, as well as a handful of stickers! She did have some fluid in her lungs, but luckily it was not full out pneumonia yet and her oxygen levels were at 90% which isn't horrible, but definitely not good either. She is on an antibiotic and albuterol treatments, which are never any fun, but at least she is on the mend and fever free. This is all good news, EXCEPT now the other two are starting to come down with the same thing. Here's praying it doesn't get as bad as hers did.

In other Mackie news, she is doing so well at school and is blowing me away daily by how much she is learning!  I mean, I know she is 4 years old already, but I was not prepared for how fast she would grow up! She can write all her letters, her name, numbers, knows advanced shapes (hexagon, octagon, trapezoid, etc) and has even started doing basic addition! I am so proud of her! She has been drawing dinosaurs since she was barely 3, but they are seriously getting good! She can draw a stegosaurus, triceratops, t-rex, brachiosaurus, apatosaurus, and even her made up dinosaur, a "hercadon".  I'm sure she can draw others too, but those are the most recognizable. She loves books and I am just waiting for her to come home knowing how to read on her own.

I am still unsure about when I am going to start her in kindergarten, though. I really hate that she has an August birthday. Seeing how well she is blossoming in school, I am leaning towards her starting Kindergarten this coming school year.  I really didn't think I would, but I honestly think that she is ready. If she didn't have the personality she does, I would be more hesitant, but she is SO social and so happy that I think holding her back would be a disservice to her.

I love her little (or should I say big) personality so much! She is not an average 4 year old girl and I could not be happier about it! Usually the first thing she says to someone she meets is, "I'm Mack! I love dinosaurs, and lizards, and snakes, and frogs!" which always throws people off because when you look at her, you think, "Wow what a gorgeous little girl!" and then you hear her talking about snakes and things and it makes you look twice. I also love how rational she is. I mean, don't get me wrong, she can still fly off the handle like any other 4 year old and overreact about things that really don't matter, but those moments are few and far between. Even a lot of her tantrums are done methodically and thoughtfully. For example, anytime I am getting ready to leave the house without her she tells me calmly, "Mommy, if you leave without me, I am going to be sad. I will cry if you leave. If Daddy leaves, I won't cry. I will be sad, but I won't cry. But if you leave me, I will cry!" Then she does actually start to cry once I am leaving. But it is so calculated! I mean, she makes a very conscious decision to be upset instead of just letting her emotions take over. She really must be my child because I pretty much operate the same way. It makes me nervous too though, because I know that girls can be mean. Especially to girls they think are different or weird which Mack is a little of both! She has already had a couple girls ask why she wears boy clothes, and even one (sweet wonderful girl who I miss a lot!) say that Mack was not a "real girl" because she loves dinosaurs. Thankfully Mack has the ability to be oblivious to this stuff, I just worry that one day she won't. I guess only time will tell, but I hope that by us continuing to encourage her individuality and confidence that she will always let stuff like that roll off her shoulders and that she will be proud of herself for staying true to who she is.