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Archives for April 2003

Swinging Katherine

Patty took Katherine to Marymoor to the swings for the first time. Apparently, Katherine loved it! She kicked her legs vigorously and watched the other children on the swing set. Steve and I will need to take her (and Bisco) one of these weekends.

We also noticed this past day or two that Katherine now holds on to the side of her tub with one hand and plays with her ducks with the other. This is helping her keep her balance in the tub while sitting up.

On Saturday, Christine and I took Katherine back to Marymour to play on the swings. We had to see Katherine swing for ourselves. Katherine had a great time and loved swinging right up to our faces. When she got close, we said “boo” and Katherine would start giggling.

Katherine Hacking with Dad

Dad’s been working really hard the last couple of weeks shipping Pure Networks’ first product Port Magic. Katherine would watch dad type on the keyboard and stare at the monitor. It was clear to dad that she understood typing on the keyboard created the movement in the monitor. Katherine thought this was a lot of fun, especially when dad would grab the keyboard to prevent Katherine from doing something serious to the PC.

Katherine is Growing Up

I’ve been really busy for the last couple of weeks so I haven’t contributed to the weblog very much. Here’s a brief synopsis of Katherine’s growth over the last couple of weeks. Katherine is intensely interested in the world around here. She struggles to stay awake on the weekend and at night because she just wants to play. She gets herself so worked up that she cannot fall asleep. And she’s so loud. I used to be able to wake up at 1A, change her diaper and get her back to sleep while remaining in a semi-asleep stupor. These nights are over. Katherine screams at the top of her lungs when she’s being changed so I’m wide awake by the time I get her back to sleep.

Christine and I call Katherine “swivel-head” as she now leans back and swivels her head from one side to another to check out her surroundings. It’s fun to watch her take interest in one noise and then be distracted by mom or dad talking in the opposite direction. She’s absorbing her surroundings like a sponge. Bisco has become a great source of entertainment for Katherine. When Bisco comes near, she wants to grab his fur and stick it in her mouth.

Super Baby Food

More New Experiences

We’ve been reading a book titled “Super Baby Food” that has detailed instructions on how to make baby food. Thus far, we’ve followed instructions for feeding rice cereal, avocado and banana. Rice cereal has remained a steady favorite. Avocado is not, although when paired with rice cereal, Katherine will eat it. While Katherine loves bananas, they do not love her. We’ve found that her movements slow after a meal of bananas. So, this Saturday, we tried something new. Christine made a batch of pureed sweet potatoes and steamed pear puree.  Katherine not only ate 2 tablespoons on sweet potatoes, but started to make noises indicating she wanted more. Today, she ate all of her potatoes and a little avocado on the side. Sweet potato ended up everywhere – on her face, in her hair, on her PJs….She also *loves* to drink from water glasses (if they have ice, that’s a bonus). Invariably she’ll grab the glass and tip water in her mouth, at which point most of the water will dribble down her chin. It’s hilarious.

We also took Katherine to a fabric store today where we purchased swatches of fabrics for her to feel. Unfortunately, between this trip and a walk around the neighborhood, she slept very little today (1.25 hrs) and resisted all efforts to nap. Steve placed her in her crib, to find her trying to crawl up the bumpers. Christine also found Katherine on her tummy several times this weekend. It’s time for the bumpers to go.

Steve also leveled the Britax Roundabout convertible car seats in our car using styrofoam floatees from babysrus, a trick advocated by several baby car seat web sites. She now sits nice and level in her seat and doesn’t fall as far forward when she sleeps in her car seat.

Katherine Learning to Crawl

Steve and I put Katherine on the carpet yesterday with her “Oh the Places You Will Go” book slightly out of reach. As usual, Steve helped her move forward by putting his hands behind her feet. She would push off frog style and inch forward. For the first time though, when Steve wasn’t helping, she arched her back upwards, raised her shoulder and pulled her body forward. We were astonished and stared at her for a few minutes while she dragged herself across the carpet towards her book. At that point, Steve ran to get the digital camcorder and we recorded the event on film. We mentioned this to Patty this morning, and Katherine and Patty spent the day practicing crawling on carpet and hardwoods. How exciting! Our little baby is growing up…

Happy Easter 2003

Happy Easter! It was an early Easter rising for our family this morning. Katherine woke up every 2-3 hours last night, and decided that she was not going back to bed at 5:30AM. Christine fed Katherine and played with her until 7:30 at which point both of them passed out due to exhaustion. Steve, in his never ending quest to ship Port Magic, was up trying to fix yet another “showstopper bug” this morning. Finally, we got around, headed to the Sarins and had a wonderful Easter brunch in sunny 70 degree weather.

Other noteworthy events today: we went shopping and for a long walk with Bisco. Katherine tried avocado again tonight – made a big thicker this time – and made faces at her food. She doesn’t seem to be too keen on avocado unlike her parents and Bisco who has learned to park himself under the high chair. We also bought a new 6+ month Fisher Price toy; it consists of different shaped plastic building blocks (triangles, circle, square) that can be stuffed thru same shaped holes into a plastic drum. This is the first time Katherine has played with toys in a container, and she had a good time knawing at the blocks and kicking the drum.

Katherine has also learned to sit up without any help at all! This has opened up a whole new world for playing and interacting. She occasionally keels over to her side (whoa!) or will fly backwards and bonk her head on the carpet. But, all in all, she’s gaining her balance and starting to enjoy her 6+ month toys.

April Colds

Our crazy week seems to be finally ending. Katherine is still slightly congested (e.g. snotty), but sleeping more soundly. Christine and Steve shook their colds a few days ago. The only remnant of Katherine’s first big cold has been a series of listness nights. For the last several nights, she slept 3 hours at a stretch, but has waken up very hungry. This is fairly unusual, especially since prior to her cold, she slept through the night, and if she did wake, often we could get her to go back to sleep without eating.

Katherine had a big day today – we went to the LeVines home, where they hosted their big matzah brei. Katherine met lots of friends and saw her friend Sidney very briefly. After getting home, she tried avocado for the first time and seemed to sort of like it. Most of it ended up on the high chair, the bib or Christine’s shirt. We also started to feed Katherine a dinner of rice cereal today. Maybe if we feed her solids for dinner she won’t need to wake up so often to feed during the night.

Steve and Christine are still exhausted from the week. Hopefully we can catch up on our rest tonight (finger crossed)!