BushChang Family Web Site

Home of Steve, Christine, Katherine, Ally, Rosebud, and Rex

You are here: Home / 2004 / Archives for February 2004

Archives for February 2004

Our Little Musician

Our Little Musician

I knew it. Katherine has real musical talent. ๐Ÿ™‚

We were playing tonight before bath. She found her little plastic bag with her two Kindermusik harmonicas. I took one out and started blowing. Katherine got inspired, picked up the second and started to play!

Really, she was breathing in and out, but it was enough to make noise and get Bisco to sing. Katherine laughed, she bounced around and we had a wonderful time. Steve managed to get this on tape.

Katherine also played with her bath crayons for the first time tonight. She got the hang of it pretty quickly and by the end of her bath she had blue all over her foam pictures.

15th Month Checkup

I must have been really tired because I forgot to mention Katherine’s 15 month appt this past Tuesday. It was brief but we covered the major points. She’s still in the 90th percentile for height – 32″ and now in the 10th percentile for weight – 20.6 lbs. Her head is in the 77th percentile at 47 cm. So, she’s a tall skinny big-headed girl and definitely has Steve’s genes.

I can’t believe she’s not even 21 lbs yet! She feels a lot heavier, but it may be just psychological.

Katherine got two shots in the arm. :< But, she got to pick a nice big Pooh sticker on her way out and that seemed to cheer her up. I think between the shots and the molar and Steve traveling, she’s had a tough week.

Steve and I are planning to stay home on Monday and Tuesday to take care of Katherine.

Katherine and Mom

Well, now Mom (I) can claim that Katherine teethes when Steve leaves town. In this case, he’s been traveling almost every week this year (grumble), so it’s not all that hard for that to happen. Katherine and I have been spending lots of quality time together these past two weeks. On Monday night, Katherine was inconsolable. She did a lot of “ah ahhing” even as we pushed around the kitchen in a cardboard box. She didn’t want to eat dinner and was just really unhappy. Finally, I asked Steve to stick his clean finger in her mouth, and he said “there something coming out.” I did the same later that night. Katherine cried and I felt her second molar breaking thru her gums (right above her first molar). As a matter of fact, my finger had blood on it, so it must have really been hurting her terribly. We played with her and finally I went downstairs to get a teether from the freezer. Well, Steve tried to give Katherine her baby Advil and it didn’t go so well. I came upstairs to see Katherine streaking by in a blur of pink around her mouth and all down her PJs. Needless to say, she’s learned to spit out the baby Advil. ๐Ÿ™‚

Tuesday didn’t go much better for Patty and Katherine. At 4PM, Patty called to let me know that Katherine was cranky and hadn’t slept all day. I suggested some baby Advil to dull the pain and she finally took an hour nap. Katherine and I went to our toddler group class that night and she did pretty well. She clutched her lamb for the first 20 minutes of class, but was fine afterwards. After class, we went home, played and went to bed.

Wednesday night got dicier. I met Patty and Katherine for her haircut after work. Katherine’s hair had been getting very long, and we wanted her first hairdresser to trim her hair. I got to the store to find Katherine zipping a shopping cart around the store and tearing around. She wasn’t too excited about sitting for her haircut, but I supplied dried apple which kept her busy. Good news is that her haircut looks much better than the last, and she is very presentable. We stopped by Hallmark to get Dad’s V-day card. Katherine grabbed a couple cards, and I chased her around so I wouldn’t have to buy them all. Finally, after Katherine screamed for a few minutes in my arms, I selected a card and we escaped the store. Luckily, the other women shopping at the store were very understanding.

Last night was extremely trying. Katherine has definitely learned when Dad is home and when he isn’t. When he’s home, she sleeps thru the night. When he’s not, she wakes at least once and insists on sleeping in our bed. Not only did she get up at 1AM last night, she woke up at 3AM crying very hard. I walked her around and finally calmed her down by rocking her in her chair. I asked her “do you want to sleep in mommy’s bed” – she shook her head hard. I then asked “do you want to sleep in your crib?” and got more shaking. Finally, I asked “do you want milk” and got a “huh” so we went downstairs and drank milk. She finally fell asleep at 4AM.

Tonight confirmed that Katherine truly understands what I’m saying and that she’s talking to me. She picked up her sticker box and handed it to me. She said something that sounded like sticker and then “pwea” which sounded a lot like “please”!! I almost fell over!

We then went upstairs and Katherine decided she wanted toys out of her closet. I explained as usual that she would have to put one of her toys in the closet to get one out (the room is packed with toys). I asked her “do you want to put your phone in the closet?” She walked directly to her phone, picked it up and handed it to me. After a few more minutes of playing with her new toy (a bus), she went back to the closet. I asked “do you want mommy to put one of your toys away” and she shook her head. Wow!

More Words…

The Playdate

Katherine had an amazing playdate today. It started with Steve and Katherine visiting the Fialas while I had my workout. They dropped in, said hi and caught up. Apparently, Mandy their golden retriever brought Katherine her leash – once attached, they walked around the house.

They picked me up at the Pro Club and we headed off to the LeVines. Katherine played with her friend Sid and her older friends Adam and Derek. Playing consisted of staring at each other, playing with Sid’s toys and only occasionally vying for the same items. We had a couple very cute moments. Katherine took a real hankering to Suzi’s straw hat from Cuba. Our daughter looked very adorable in the big straw hat! She also played with Maggie, their poodle who really wanted to lick Katherine’s face and hands. Katherine probably spent 10 minutes on Eric’s lap squealing as Maggie licked her hands. They’re now fast friends.

After this busy morning, Katherine was beat. She fell asleep on the car ride home and woke up a couple hours later. We all rolled around and headed down the hill to the local toy store where we loaded up on blocks and birthday toys. Katherine was on a tear at the store, she kept running and grabbing Hello Kitty merchandise (oh please) and anything within reach. So, finally, I took her out to the sidewalk and Steve bought a ton of stuff.

We went to a party for Ian and India – who were turning 3 and 1. They had a couple Step 2 plastic outdoor structures in their new house (intended for outdoor use), and the kids had an amazing time. Katherine in particular loved the Storybook house with the plastic phone and patio chair. She would stand on the patio chair, grab the phone and walk around. She seemed a bit overwhelmed at times by the other kids screaming around the house and running thru the plastic house. On the whole though, Katherine played very well with the other kids and we had no major mishaps. She also loved their slide. Apparently, she walked up the stairs and even turned around once and slid down the slide backwards!! I missed this of course, but Steve swears it happens. After the party, we went to Coho to have dinner with Audrey and her parents. We ordered her chicken nuggets for dinner. It came with fries and grapes. She wolfed down the grapes first, then 6 or 7 fries that we left on her plate (we took a bunch off her plate). She jammed 2 or 3 in her mouth. Only after she was done did she stuff down pieces of the nuggets.

Overall, Katherine had quite a day. We went home, played with the PlayDoh and other party favors, had a quick bath, drank a cup of milk. Katherine passed out without a protest or cry tonight. I expect that she’ll sleep through the night.

More Words…

Katherine continues to become more verbal and it’s just so much fun to hear her talk. She now says “daw” for dog and “hei” for hi and “up” pretty regularly. We stopped by our local cider house. She spied their small dogs and sad “hei” and motioned for down. I put her down and she immediately put her hands out to touch the dogs. I confirmed that the dogs are friendly, and the teeny dog barked, wagged and jumped on Katherine. Well, she just loved it. Last night, she said “apble.” We were so proud and said “yes, apple apple apple”

She totally understands everything we say. I asked her to find Toby Bear and she’ll pick him out of her assortment of bears. She follows instruction very well – from helping to put on her coat to going to the front door to help with Bisco (and handing us his towel). She understands our routines and looks forward to participating.

Sense of humor

Now that Katherine understands what’s going on, she gets the biggest kick out of the smallest things. For instance, she kept pointing up to helium filled balloons at the party. Of course, I couldn’t reach them because they were up on the ceiling and the string were out of reach. So, i had to jump to get them. Katherine chuckled at that. She also brought toby bear in the car with her for our ride today. She would clutch him and then drop him at some point, making um umming sounds to get our attention. I would reach around, grab the bear and push it up and she would grab him out of my hands. She really liked toby peeking around the front car seat to say hi and seeing him moving around the car (courtesy of mom).

I jinxed us by saying that she would sleep thru the night. she just woke up with a big blowout. I think she had too many grapes today – or maybe it was the fries. Anyway, she’s pretty unhappy – better go manage the situation.

Painting a couple weeks ago

I just found pictures from Katherine’s first finger-painting exercise back on January 24th. Steve, Katherine and I went to a teachers store and got an easel, finger paints, bowls and finger painting paper. I had also purchased a plastic vest to theoretically keep her clean. We setup shop on the hardwood floor with newspaper underneath. Katherine was a bit puzzled initially and watched me paint. She caught on, dipped her finger in a bowl, and then put finger to paper. After a few minutes, we had a nice picture – courtesy of the whole family. We had to put Bisco behind the gate, or he would have contributed too.

As I explained to Steve, I learned two valuable lessons. One, put newspaper over the carpet in the kitchen. Two, wear clothes that I don’t mind getting paint on. The good news is that this is very much washable paint.

Slimy and Wet?

We had an amazing day with Katherine today. We went to our third Tiny Tots concert this season. Katherine sat for most of the concert on my lap, watching the stage with her thumb in her mouth. During her first concert, she ended up cruising around halfway thru the concert. We really saw an increased attention span, and she was really paying attention to the concert this time!

After the concert, Katherine fell asleep on the way home and slept for over an hour in the car. We ate lunch at Cucina Cucina, and Katherine had a wonderful time. She played with the crayons, at oyster crackers, ate a respectable amount of spaghetti and meatball. Her face was covered in sauce by the end of the meal. Steve cleaned her up and we ended up shopping the remainder of the afternoon. We checked out the KB Toys sale, Gymboree and went grocery shopping.

Now that Katherine is walking confidently, we let her walk around on her own in the stores. She checked out the toys at KB Toys and emerged holding this brown striped bear – $9.99 before the sale, and $6.99 after the sale. It’s synthetic something and probably the nastiest looking brown bear or racoon? Despite it’s appearance, Katherine was entranced with it. She dragged it around the store and found it even after I put in on a high shelf. Anyway, as I handed it to the cashier, he said “do you know why this is slimy and wet?” Yep – that was Katherine…drooling on her nasty bear. She lugged it all around Redmond Town Center and the house tonight. I tried a bait and switch with an old Gund bear that Steve gave me years ago, and she wouldn’t fall for it. “Katherine do you want Toby Bear?” “yeahhh.”  But, she still wanted the Rasty Bear. ๐Ÿ™‚