Myviruallife project

1. Madalynne Marie
Montagnese
And her family.

2. Madalynne when she was born.
4 ½ lbs.
When Madalynne was born she was 4 weeks early and weighed 4 ½ lbs. They had to
keep her in the neonatal unit for jaundice until her Apgar came up from six to an eight. She
was there for a few days and then she came home.

3. Madalynne Marie Montagnese, 3 months.
Beautiful!
● What were the most difficult decisions?
Having to leave Madalynne at the hospital
for a few days due to jaundice.
● Did anything surprise you? It surprised
me that Madalynn was learning a thing or
two so early.
● Knowing what you know now, would you
have made different choices? Sometimes
my nerves got jangled from lack of sleep
and I got annoyed with Madalynn, so I
would try to calm myself before I get so
annoyed.

4. 9 Month Pediatrician report for Madalynne.
The Pediatrician has the following to say after a routine physical exam, a few items from
the Bayley Scales of infant intelligence, and some observations of Madalynne in the
playroom: Madalynne has an obvious attachment to you and prefers you over other
people, but seems to have fun playing with your partner. She was cautious at first with
the nurse and doctor, a normal reaction to strangers at this age.
Madalynne has been ill several times this season from colds or digestive upset. The
doctor advises keeping her away from sick people, and checking out a new food for a
few days to test for allergies.
Madalynne is cautious around new people and situations, but warms up fairly quickly to
friendly people and to new and interesting activities and then begins to vocalize a lot and
make eye contact.

5. Madalynne’s 1st Birthday!
Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

6. Madalynne, 12 months old
She’s growing! *What were the most difficult choices? She was too
dependent on me so I had to encourage her to be more
independent.
*Did anything surprise you? She just said her first word
and it was the name of my parents dog, but I
thought it would be mommy or daddy.
*knowing what you know now would you have made
different choices? No, she is growing and doing
everything a normal 12 month old would be doing.

7. Madalynne Marie Montagnese, 18 months
Getting big. *What were the most difficult decisions? Leaving
Madalynne with a sitter for short periods of time.
*Did anything surprise you? That she is securely attached
to me, I thought she was showing independence.
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made
different choices? I would work on communication between
parent and child and interpersonal communication with
Madalynne.

8. Madalynne had a 19-month Developmental Test.
Madalynne was getting ready to enter a preschool when she was reasonably
potty-trained. I wanted to see how her development compared to other children of
her age at this point. The observed her in free play and did a little testing of
cognitive skills.
Madalynne was not very aggressive with other kids, unless one of them tried to
grab a toy from her and then she resisted. The examiner recommended that she
continue to go to toddler play groups/daycare to develop her skill in interacting
with other children. At home, her general advice for the toddler negativism that
was bound to happen at this age was to use clear and simple explanations for
rules, warnings and time outs for misbehavior, and encouragements to “use your
words” if Madalynne wanted something.

9. Madalynne’s 2nd Birthday!
Happy Birthday!

10. Madalynne, 2 years.
So big!
*What were the most difficult decisions? Trying to help her
transition with the new toddler playgroup leader. She was unsure of
the leader and her behavior was a problem, but we just tried to give
her feedback on negative as well as positive behavior.
*Did anything surprise you? Yes, I became pregnant with my
second child.
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made different
decisions? We would just monitor Madalynne with how she acts in
play groups and try to take her to more of them so that she gets
comfortable with meeting new people. Also, she had an issue with
problem solving, so we would help her “talk through” the steps.

11. Age 2 ½ Developmental Test.
Madalynne will be starting a new preschool program soon, and my friend is an early
childhood development specialist so I asked her to evaluate Madalynne. She evaluates
her language, motor and cognitive skills using some developmental scales, and
observes her interacting with other children in a toddler play group.
Madalynne wa somewhat hesitant in the group of children and spent a few minutes
watching them before joining in. After a while she latched on to a couple of the other
children and had a good time. By the end of the session they were smiling and imitating
each other.
Madalynne was generally not very aggressive, but at one point became somewhat
aggressive over a favorite toy, and had to be remanded by the group leader to share.
The specialist advised me to seek out more group experiences for Madalynne.

12. Madalynne’s 4th Birthday!
Happy Birthday!

13. Madalynne, 4 years.
Baby girl is growing!
*What were the most difficult decisions? She started watching tv a lot and
sometimes got irritable and whiny when I called her name or tried to interact with
her during the tv show. So I allowed her to watch one favorite show without
interupting her and comment and joke around about the show afterward. I didn’t
want to take tv from her completely.
* Did anything surprise you? It surprised me the Madalynne has learned most of
the letters and their sounds from watching educational tv, and games and songs
at preschool. She can write her own name, and read a few words.
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made different choices? My
partner and I would occasionally find some time to go out once a month to get out
and away frome the kids, but we often ended up talking about the kids or worried
how they were doing with the babysitter. I would have made it to where neither of
us would be allowed to bring up the subject at all, and talk about the two of us.

14. Kindergarten Screening.
Madalynne will turn 5 this summer and will be a bit on the young side in the fall when
she starts kindergarten. The school has a kindergarten prep session over the summer
that lasts for a couple of weeks and involves group as well as individual work on letters,
numbers, etc. We enrolled her at the age of 4 years and 10 months. She was assessed
by one of the kindergarten teachers, who observed her during free play and tested her
one-on-one. This was her report:
Madalynne was doing well with the peer group. She made several little friends in the
kindergarten prep session.
She could read a few short words and write her name and could name most of the
letters on sight at the time of testing. She also showed an age-appropriate
understanding of phonological awareness( deciding whether two words started with the
same sound, picking out the two words that rhymed from a list of three words). The

15. Madalynne’s 6th Birthday!
Happy Birthday!

16. Madalynne, 6 years.
Wow, 6 yrs!
*What were the most difficult decisions? My partner was out of
town repeatedly in the last 2 months for his job. Everyone
missed him and I was irritable because of all the extra family
responsibilities.
*Did anything surprise you? Madalynne started learning how
to play the electric keyboard at home, just by following the
simplified musical notation in the little book!
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made different
choices? My partner and I sometimes had arguments over
daily issues and both children overheard. I would have tried to
go to counseling for the issues to make things better for all of
us.

17. First grade report card.
Consistently works cooperatively in groups, consistently respects rights and possessions
of others. and consistently demonstrates appropriate peer interaction.
“Demonstrates strength” in reading and writing.
In the comments section the teacher wrote: Madalynne occasionally gets upset in
stressful situations but usually calms down fairly quickly.

18. Psychologist’s report-Age 8
We were interested in having a relatively complete Psychological test report done on
Madalynne just to see how she is doing psychologically. We take advantage of the local
university’s service of providing inexpensive psychological testing and counseling by
psychology interns who were supervised by an experienced clinical psychologist.
Her score were in the average to above range in word reading, reading fluency,
phonological awareness and spelling.
She was friendly to the examiner and remained calm and cheerful during the IQ and
achievement tests even when some of the questions became difficult and frustrating.
These were some of Madalynne’s scores on the Verbal portion of the Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children ( where 7 is one standard deviation below the mean, 10 is
the mean and 13 is one standard deviation above the mean ): Information(13),

19. Madalynne’s 10th Birthday!
Happy Birthday Maddy!

20. Madalynne, 10 years.
She’s growing like a weed! *What were the most difficult decisions? When Madalynne fell off of her bike
riding to school and came home limping with a few scratches on her legs. I
just patched her up and drove her to school. I didn’t make a big fuss about it
and coddle her because I wanted her to learn these things happen.
*Did anything surprise you? When Madalynne came home from school with
lice, we had to treat everyone and everything in the house.
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made different choices? My
partner and I were still arguing a lot, and I would have sought counseling by
now to make sure we are communicating with each other better.

21. Fifth Grade Report Card:
Consistently works cooperatively in groups, consistently respects rights and property of
others, and consistently demonstrates appropriate peer social interaction.
“Demonstrates strength” in all area of reading, and in spelling and “appropriate for grade
level” in writing.
In the comments section the teacher wrote: Occasionally Madalynne gets upset during
stressful situations inside or outside the classroom, but usually is able to bounce back
quickly.
“Demonstrates strength” in the areas of speaking and listening and in content knowledge

22. Madalynne’s pizza party a week before her 12th
Birthday!

23. Madalynne, 12 years.
Almost a teen!
*What were the most difficult decisions? Madalynne had a new friend that moved
by her from out of state and she seemed to have been in some kind of trouble or
have come from a troubled home. Madalynne and her friend tropmed through the
neighbor’s flowers and I made her do extra chores and save her extra allowance
for several weeks to pay some recompense for the flowers.
*Did anything surprise you? Madalynne started to become more interested in her
appearance as a result of some compliments from some guy in her grade. I
thought it was a little young, but now-a-days it’s not really.
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made different choices? I gave her
a lot of allowance so that she could buy cool clothes, but I should have had her do
some chores for neighbors and have them pay her.

24. Madalynne’s 7th grade report card.
Madalynne consistently contributes to cooperative group activities and respects the
rights and possessions of others, has consistently appropriate social interaction with
peers, and even seems to be a kind of peer leader.
Her word reading, spelling and writing skills are strong.
She got A’s in 7th grade English, Social Studies, and Spanish.
She got a B on both 7th grade math and 7th grade science.
She listens attentively, follows directions, and follows school rules.

25. Madalynne’s 14th Birthday!

26. Madalynne, 14 years.
Still growing strong! *What were the most difficult decisions? I wasn’t comfortable with Madalynne
dating at this point so I told her no, but she can visit with him either at his
parents house or at my house, or anywhere with a group of other kids.
*Did anything surprise you? A student at Madalynne’s school was caught with a
knife and was suspended. There have also been a couple of drug possession
busts and some fights. I just told her some stories about when I was in high
school if you were caught associating with kids that committed crimes that you
would get suspended.
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made different choices? I don’t
think I would let her wear make-up at this age, I just think it’s still too young.

27. Madalynne’s 9th grade report card.
Madalynne got good marks for citizenship this year from most of the teachers.
Madalynne was able to take Honors Spanish and English on the basis of her 8th grade
report card, and got A’s and commendations from the teachers for both.She also got an
A in World Geography and an invitation from the Geography teacher to participate in the
Travel Club at the school.
She received a B in Algebra 1 and a B in Biology.
She received A’s in her fine arts classes this past year and a comment that her work was
very creative.

28. Maddy’s Sweet 16 Birthday!
She’s a teenager now!

29. Madalynne, 16 years.
Can’t believe she’s 16!
*What were the most difficult decisions? Talking to her about sex and
trying to convince her that she should wait until they are more mature,
and sure of the relationship. I talked to her about safe sex, condoms, and
birth control.
*Did anything surprise you? I allowed Madalynne to go out with some
friends on a Friday night and around midnight she called me to come
pick her up. She had alcohol on her breath. We thought the hangover
was punishment enough and started an informal “alcohol education
program” at home, finding articles on the internet about the effects of
alcohol on judgement, reaction time, and memory.
*Knowing what you know now, would you have made different choices? I
think that everything we did went pretty well, except for a few hiccups,
but I think she is smart in decision making, and grew up to be a smart
girl.

30. Madalynne’s 11th grade report card.
Madalynne was able to take Honors English and American History on the basis of her
10th grade record, and got A’s and commendations from the teachers for both. She also
got an A in Spanish 11 and also plans to take AP Spanish, English and World History in
12th grade.
She received a B in Algebra 11 and a B in Physics, and at an earlier conference with the
Physics teacher, this teacher thought Madalynne was working up to her ability.
She received a’s in her fine arts classes this past year and a notation “ Pleasure to have
in class” from the Drawing 11 teacher.
She got a B in her music classes this year and seemed to enjoy the classes and learn a

31. Happy 18th Birthday!!!!

32. Summary questions:
*How was your virtual child similar to you and how were they different? My child
was similar to me in the fact that she wasn’t good in Math, which I never have
been. She got a little irritable and she held things in like I do, and didn’t want to
talk about whatever was bothering her. She was different from me because she
played a lot of sports and instruments throughout her years and I didn’t. She was
very outgoing and talked to everyone, and I’m a little quiet and to myself.
*Are you happy with the way they turned out as an 18 year old adult? Yes, she got
into several colleges, including a couple of good in-state institutions primarily on
the strength of her grades and high verbal score on the SAT. She has also been
working part-time at a local grocery store in the senior year and now has been
offered a promotion in the summer, and she’s going to save half of the money for
future college expenses. She has grown to be a smart, independent girl, and

33. Tiffany Montagnese
This project for me was a very good learning experience and had a lot of decision
making skills that I had to really sit and think about. Although I have raised three
children and they are out of the house, it still taught me something about raising
kids and also taught me something about myself.