It's Been a While...

Well it's been a while since I posted. But time flies when you're having fun. ;-) My daughter is doing much better now. We've seen all kinds of docs and had all kinds of tests. And fortunately they've all turned out fine. She is on a regular regime of Zantac, and that seems to be doing the trick. I think the biggest thing that helped her was when the doctor said that there was nothing severely wrong with anything in her abdomen. They told her that they understand she is having pain, and a lot of times children suffer from pain in their abdomen. Children can commonly have abdominal pain instead of headaches like adults get. And unfortunately a lot of times they can never seem to pinpoint exactly what causes it.

The doctor has assured us that sooner or later they will probably go away. For now the best thing to do is try and keep busy to keep her mind off of it. It was a relief for us all that it is nothing serious. So now it's my job to keep her busy and focus on other things.

This weekend she's been busy making Valentines cards in her studio. Just like when I was little... I have taught her to make them with paper doilies, lace, glitter and all kinds of other fun items to create them. We make them for relatives and close friends. And it's always a special treat when you get one.

I think she's the only kid in her school that does this though. When I went to school, we not only made Valentines for our family, but for every kid in our class. I think it's such a shame that soon crafts such as this will become a thing of the past.

Nowadays schools are so busy testing children and so focused on the "No Child Left Behind" Act, that there's very little time for simple things. I fully understand the reasoning behind the act, but feel it makes elementary school a much more stressful place then it needs to be. When extra time is needed for testing and such... the areas that suffer are the arts, like music and art class. They either cut back the time or completely do away with them. The other thing that gets cut is their recess time. In elementary school children need time to play and let off steam. It actually helps them to be better focused in classes if they can get rid of "Mr. Figgit" on the playground. Sometimes I wish they would just let teachers do their job and teach and have fun with the children! And honestly... I wonder if any child would really be left behind?