Big Kid Day

Reese and Aidan have been such big helpers since we brought Gretchen home. They will do absolutely anything I ask to help out with their little sister. Besides being big helpers, they have been really good about taking a back seat to their little sister. Though we still spend time doing things together like reading books before bed and snuggling on the couch or playing outside, they have definitely had to entertain themselves while I am feeding or taking care of Gretchen. Which is why, when Reese had a doctor appointment this week, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to leave Gretchen with grammy and spend some time with just the big kids. We dropped Gretchen off just after 8 in the morning and headed straight to Reese's appointment. We got the worst part over with immediately when we arrived. We went to the lab where they did a finger stick and took blood. Afterwards we went to the optical lab to have her eyes tested. Finally, we checked into the doctor's office and they gave me a development questionnaire to fill out. It asked several questions related to Reese's physical and mental development for her age. Some of the questions I was to ask her and see her response, others she was to try and repeat, still others she was to perform some task. Although she was able to write in the responses that were required, I wish that we would have done this before she had blood drawn. It was major drama to get her to hold a pen because her finger hurt, but she did it. Finally, the nurse called us back to weight and measure. Reese weighed in at 62 pounds and was 47 inches tall, off the charts for both at only age 5! Then the doctor came in to listen to her heart and check her ears, throat and belly. Since we didn't need any shots, she gave us our Kindergarten physical forms and sent us on our way!

After the doctor, we started the fun part of big kid day. We went to the Dollar Store next where I let both kids pick out one toy. Aidan picked a checkers game and Reese picked a hair bow. After shopping around for awhile, we were ready for lunch. We went to Culvers for kids meals and m&m topped chocolate ice cream. Finally, we headed to the theatre to watch a movie. We were uncertain which movie to go to, but in the end we decided on Madagascar 3. We got our popcorn and a water and proceeded to our seats after going to the restroom. We found seats in the very top row of the theatre and when the movie started we were the only people in the theatre. The kids gobbled up popcorn and laughed with the movie.

Immediately after the movie, we went to grammy's to pick up Gretchen. I had the kids stay in the car while I went in to get her so that they wouldn't wake up all of the sleeping babies. As soon as I opened the door to put in the carseat Reese said, "Get that blanket off, I wanna see my baby!" I was so happy to have some time with just Reese and Aidan as big kids to reward them for being so helpful during the transition of family of 4 to family of 5. But it absolutely made my heart melt that they missed Gretchen during our outing and were so excited to see her.