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Archives for August 2003

Katherine’s 9 Month Checkup

Patty, Steve and I attended Katherine’s 9.75 month checkup today. Best way to describe her…. tall, skinny girl with a big head. ๐Ÿ™‚ She measured 28″ long (75%), 18.3 lbs (25-50%) and 45 cm head circumference (75-90%).

Katherine showed Dr. Claudson and her nurse that she is indeed a very active girl. She sat up on the scale when the nice nurse weighed her. She also spent much of her checkup in her diaper crawling around the floor and having us walk her around the room.

Perhaps the hardest part of the checkup was her polio booster and her hematocrit test. I held Katherine in the lab chair while the shot nurse swabbed her big toe and pricked it with one of those mini razor things. Katherine howled as the nurse squeezed her toe to get the blood out (iron is a little low, but still acceptable). The icing on the cake was when the nurse then took out the big needle and quickly gave her a shot in the thigh. Even with the baby Tylenol we gave her beforehand, Katherine was very unhappy. We took her home and she took her afternoon nap.

Katherine’s Falling Adventures

As Dr. Claudson said, the biggest development from 9-12 months is increased mobility. He likened babies to a Space Needle that isn’t attached to the ground. Katherine’s been falling over a lot lately. Last Thursday, she fell into her toy bookcase and got a quarter sized bruise on her left check. The following Saturday, Katherine squirmed off her changing table (despite the fact that I had a hand on her), did a half spin and ended up in her dresser drawer before I could catch her. Then….the next day…I helped Katherine stand up and hold on a kitchen chair with both hands. I turned around to get a spoon and as I walked back, she let go with one hand, fell on the kitchen carpet and bonked her cheek on the table leg in the process. By the time Sunday afternoon came around, she had a bruise and a weal on one cheek and has been looking a little worse for the wear this week. We’ve had to keep a very close eye on her and stay close just in case she tries to stand up and loses her balance again.

Finger Food Rules

Katherine is expressing a strong preference for finger food. She would rather eat little chunks of cheese, bread, fruit instead of eating her lentils, vegetables or yogurt. Feeding her can be a bit of struggle, because she will just sit in her high chair and scream if she doesn’t like what she’s eating. We’ve tried not to give in and keep giving her different foods when she screams. But, its very hard on the ears to listen to her protestations.

She’s also eating at least 2 cubes of food at a sitting plus finger food. Yesterday for dinner she ate two cubes of lentils, a third of a container of baby yogurt, little bits of cheddar cheese, toasted whole wheat bread crusts and baked potato. She would have eaten more potato, but we figured that she had eaten quite enough for one meal!

Mom’s View from Behind the Chariot

I spent the bike trip last Saturday behind Katherine and Steve. Katherine was a total trooper and didn’t complain until 7 or so miles down the Burke Gilman trail. Steve claims that Katherine doesn’t like to travel at “high speeds.” Whenever he went faster than 15 mph, she would complain (imagine a whahhhaaa sound coming from the chariot). Also, the helmet still needs a bit more adjustment. By the time we finished the ride, she was slumped in her Chariot with the bike helmet over one eye. She was looking around with her other eye and sucking her thumb. We’ll likely try this again this weekend, hopefully with better results.

All in all, it was a successful trip though. Our friend James was in town visiting, and helped us get our bikes back into serviceable shape. This involved changing a lot of inner tubes, dusting off two years of dirt, etc. I had forgotten how much fun it is to cruise around on our road bikes, even if it was on a flat trail. ๐Ÿ™‚

PEPs

Christine, Katherine and I went to our semi-monthly PEPs get together last Saturday (yes, I’m a bit late posting). It was great to see all of the kids starting to play together. Christine and I have really enjoyed our PEPs group and we’ve really bonded with the other parents. It’s fun to watch your kids grow up together and swap stories, best practices, and just watch the kids :).

One of Katherine’s pals is Francesca. She and Katherine are about the same age and mobility. This was the first time we watched Katherine play with another baby. They shared a beach ball and the Leap Frog learning table. Occasionally, we had to intervene with Katherine would grab her eyes and mouth. The funniest moment was when Katherine spotted Francesca’s pacifier from across the room, power crawled over to Francesca, and proceeded to yack the pacifier from her mouth. It was very cute!

Microsoft Learning Table

Christine and I found a Microsoft Learning Table on sale at K Bee toys. Katherine loves her Leap Frog table so we thought she’d love the Microsoft version built with “Smart Technology”. Katherine enjoys spinning the top of the table and walking between the Microsoft and Leap Frog tables.

Katherine’s New Chariot

The big purchase for last weekend was the Chariot. A Chariot is a convertible bike, stroller, and jogger. Christine and I have signed up for a Butterfield and Robinson biking vacation around Santa Barbara in the fall. We’re afraid of getting smoked by people twice our age so we’ve decided to train for the trip. We wanted to take Katherine with us when we train so we bought the Chariot. Being safety conscious we also bought a bicycle helmet for Katherine.

Fitting a bicycle helmet on a 9 1/2 month old baby is quite a challenge. The first challenge is finding a small enough helmet. We bought a Giro infant helmet. The second challenge is adjusting it for her. The final challenge is making sure the seat doesn’t push the helmet back over her face. Through all of this Katherine was a real trooper. Occasionally, I’d look back and the helmet had slipped over her face. She didn’t seem to mind too much.

Katherine says her first words!

Today, Katherine reached a real milestone with her verbal skills. As we bathed and put her in her jammies, she said “babababa” repeatedly. Steve started to say “dadada” until I informed him that “ba ba” means Dad in Madarin. Wouldn’t you know that her first word would be in Chinese! Anyway, she practiced “ba ba” all the way to bed, which was just great.

She’s also been saying “wah ah wah ah” with her hands clutched together in front of her mouth. She moves her hands back and forth to make a different sound. She’s been experimenting with her hands and all sorts of toys to create new sounds.

Getting Katherine to Sleep

We re-introduced Katherine to the Farber method starting this Saturday after a several week break. She cried hard Saturday night for a few minutes, but since then has settled to bed with barely a peep. I have to say that this method works really, really well. Steve also lowered her crib all the way to the bottom, which hasn’t made much of any difference in her ability to stand up and clutch the railings. ๐Ÿ™‚

I think Katherine may be going through a growth spurt. She’s been sleeping more regularly during the day, about 2.5 to 3 hours a day. On Sunday, she napped 4 hours! Hopefully, this phase sticks for a while and we have fewer issues getting her to nap during the day.

Brunch at the LeVines

On Saturday, Katherine, Christine and I trekked across the Lake to have brunch at the LeVines. Katherine loved playing with Sidney and his toys. It was fun to see them play together and attempt to “share” toys. Sharing means bonking each other with their toys. ๐Ÿ™‚

On the way back from the LeVines, we stopped by Zanny Brainy to pick up a tricycle. Christine and I researched tricycles and found this one to be the safest and most versatile: http://www.mytoybox.com/product/KETT88521000.html. We selected the Brummi model which is only sold through Zany Brainy. I just discovered that it’s for a 3-6 year old. Hmm… Maybe another trip to the toy store is required…

Katherine loves her tricycle though her feet don’t quite touch the pedals. She loves being pushed around in the tricycle and watching the effects of steering the handle bars. After a demonstration by dad and a little bit of practice, she was able to turn the handle bars. I wouldn’t say she could steer the tricycle but she realized moving the handle bars altered the course of the tricycle.

In downtown Redmond there is a cool park, Anderson Park. It has a great jungle gym with plenty of things to play on. Katherine loves to watch the other kids play. It’s almost like she’s studying them to see if she can do what they do. Sometimes, I think she’s just willing herself to grow up so she can go play with the other kids.

On Sunday evening, the Fialas, Ramsays, Olbrights, and BushChangs got together for dinner at Cucina, Cucina. It was a fun time to talk about the newest members of the family and to swap stories.

Birthday Dinner for Grandpa Orr

Aunt Pat and Uncle Art graciously hosted the family tonight to celebrate Grandpa Orr’s birthday. Both Grandma and Grandpa Ramsay were in town to meet Grant – the newest member of the extended family – and to spend some quality time with family.

We really enjoyed catching up with everyone and watching the babies and toddlers interact with one another. Both Kevin and Will were active, playing with all the wonderful toys in the backyard, from the sandbox to the basketball hoop to the swings. Katherine spent much of the evening watching the two toddlers (especially from the high chair) and socializing with the adults.

Grant, who is a month old, snoozed, ate and generally hung out with Trina, Aunt Pat and Grandma. He is a very adorable baby, with a wonderful disposition. Mandy managed to sneak some food when folks weren’t watching, although she didn’t get any carrot cake…this time. ๐Ÿ™‚

Highlights for Katherine:

  • Steve and I took turns pulling Katherine along in a plastic wagon. The faster we went, the more she would clutch on to the side of the wagon and kick her legs. We could tell that she really enjoyed this because she would start panting (this is her new “thing”) sort of “ha ha ha ha” and give us a big smile.
  • Katherine enjoyed the kiddy swing. Dad pushed her several times and then would grab and release her feet. Katherine thought this was extremely funny and would laugh at dad every time.
  • Katherine got to play on the teeter-totter with Will and Kevin. Will was initially a bit concerned that Katherine shouldn’t be on the teeter-totter (perhaps being too young), but Aunt Pat convinced Will to get on the other side and play with Katherine. Afterwards, he and Kevin both huddled around Pat and Katherine saying “Hello, baby Katherine” and peering into her face. It was a very cute moment. Katherine then crawled over to the basketball hoop, which she managed to face-plant into (mild crying) the pole, but she recovered fairly quickly.
  • The adults all took pictures of Grandpa Orr with the children. Kevin and Will both held plastic balls. Katherine eyed Will’s red plastic ball and grabbed Will’s shirt to try and get to it. Once Will lowered the ball, both children grasped the ball and stared at each other for several moments. I think we managed to capture this on film …er …RAM.
  • Grandpa’s birthday cake had a rainbow with the birthday inscription. This is perhaps a testament to how much we’ve read the “What makes a rainbow” ribbon book, but Steve and I listed off to Katherine all the animals that make a rainbow- Red/Ladybug, Orange/Fox, Yellow/Baby Chick, Green/Grasshopper, Blue/Bluebird, and Purple/Butterfly. Yep, we’ve read this book wayyyy tooo many times!

Many folks in the family were sporting new cars. Jason and Amy just bought a mini-van and Art and Pat a SUV. Both are great for kids. It seems like our children now drive so many of our decisions. It was great seeing everyone. Between us we shot 244 pictures the best of which appear to the right.

Other New Developments This Week…

Katherine’s teething continues in earnest. Patty told us that Katherine has a new tooth about to emerge on the bottom right gum and another up top. I stuck my finger in Katherine’s mouth last night, but didn’t have much luck finding them. The problem is that Katherine would chomp down, and those teeth really hurt!

We’ve got a new game in the morning where Steve and I take turns showering while the other plays with Katherine in the bathroom. She’s now learned that if she crawls to the shower and stands up (with palms on the glass) she can sometimes see the person in the shower. She also crawls to the drawer and pulls it out and pushes it in. yes – we’ve got to put in the drawer locks.

We took Katherine shopping last weekend (or maybe the week before?). Anyway, we hit the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, where we got a couple autumn outfits and some much needed 12 month jammies. She should be all set for the next several months or two more major growth spurts. We also stopped by a toy store, and picked up a toy that Steve and I had been looking at for a while. It’s kind of like a bead maze where the beads move on these wires (this toy’s been around for a while, so you’ve likely seen this thing). Katherine’s still a bit young to grok it entirely, but she does like to spin the beads around and move them up and down a bit. Nevertheless, it’s a great toy for the rest of the family. It’s also a nice change of pace from the other two standing toys that she plays with which are battery operated. (Speaking of which, we think the Leap Frog table is possessed. It will randomly start playing music at weird times of the day, even if we haven’t touched it in hours.)