Archives for May 2006

Memorial Day and KidsQuest

Memorial Day Long Weekend

Katherine was out of school today, and we decided to take the kids to KidsQuest, a children’s museum in Factoria. Of course, leaving for any sort of activity is a multi-stage process:

Convince Katherine to eat breakfast
Get Allison to take her morning nap!
Restrain Katherine from entering Allison’s room and waking her up
Change the dirty diaper after Allison wakes up
Get shoes, socks, jackets…
Detach Steve from the den
etc. etc.

We finally made it on our way and what happens? Katherine fell asleep in the car; everyone is starving so we have to eat lunch. Finally, before 1PM, we walked into the museum. The kids had a nice time playing with the waterworks. Allison loved going down the leaf slide on her belly (like a snake…ssss…) and the girls liked to play in the little houses in the toddler area.

We stopped for a smoothie at Jamba Juice before leaving the mall. Allison at first was content to drink her water, but then realized that she was missing out. So, after a couple big “ahhhss” we let her have a few sips, then a few more. She was in hog heaven along with Katherine. After our drive home, Katherine snoozed for a couple hours. Allison practiced her walking all over the kitchen and family room. As soon as we opened the gate, Allison buzzed upstairs, walked into her sister’s room and promptly woke her up!

Camping in the Playroom

One of Steve’s aspirations is to take the girls camping soon. First step we figured is to get the kids used to sleeping in the tent. Where else to try this out than the playroom?

The girls have been having a blast in our enormous 6-person REI tent that is squeezed in the playroom. Allison rolls her little body in and out of the doorway. Katherine likes to hang out in her pink, girls sleeping bag and pretend that she and Allison are going to sleep in the tent.

We tried it tonight. I was downstairs listening as Steve valiantly tried to get the girls to sleep. Poor Allison was in her Pack and Play yelling “Maaaa Maaaa.” Katherine finally decided that she couldn’t sleep because she wasn’t tired. After about 30 minutes of crying, talking, singing and everything but sleeping…Steve put Allison in her crib and Katherine in her room.

12 Month Checkup

I was convinced that Allison would have gained a pretty significant amount of weight. She’s been eating a ton and filling out. To our surprise though, she weighed in at only 17 pounds 5 oz (only gaining 1 lb 5 oz), but she grew a whole 1.5″ in 3 months (to 28.5 inches in length).

As expected though, we plopped her on the papered table to undress her and weigh her when she started to cry. It was a pretty clear cry, “I remember this, and I don’t like it!” She cried all the way through the measurement process, only stopping when we diapered her and held her for her examination. As soon as the nurse came back in with the needles, the crying started again, only to stop when we got her to the car.

It was thankfully a very uneventful checkup – only 3 shots and no major effects this time from the vaccinations.

Exhausting Weekend

Tough Weekend

Steve and I had one of those weekends. The kids were exhausted on Saturday and Sunday, with Allison not wanting to nap and Katherine desperately needing a nap herself. Yesterday we had planned to go swimming – but that plan went by the wayside after Katherine screamed outside of napping Allison’s nursery. Katherine tried mightily to convince me that she didn’t wake her sister, that she only opened the door to find her sister awake already. That all said, it was pretty clear that swimming was not to be on Saturday.

Sunday morning we visited with some friends over brunch. The kids hung in there, despite Katherine and Steve both being awakened by Bisco at 6AM! After brunch, Katherine napped, Allison tried sooo hard not to nap and Steve finally took Allison for a drive around the neighborhood. We finally got to the gym mid-afternoon just in time for a much awaited swim.

Despite Katherine’s excitement and enthusiasm, Allison cried and cried at the pool. Once I handed her to Steve, she started bawling and continued to cry through her swim. I hopped out the pool, showered her off (more crying), toweled her (more crying) and finally plopped her on a towel with a biscuit so I could dress in the dressing room. At this point, she quieted down and knawed her treat. We’ll have to try this again sometime…Sigh.

Probably the high point of the swim was the new camera casing that Steve bought for our Elph. It worked really well and was just as easy to use as the regular camera without the waterproof casing.

Ma Ma MAAA

Allison is getting Very Vocal these days. It’s unclear if this is natural development or a byproduct of hanging out with Katherine. Anyway, Allison’s newest trick is to cry very loudly, “Ma Ma MMMAAAA!!” She does this in the kitchen, on the changing table, even when I’m holding her!

She also will yell (no other way to describe it), “awa aWA AWAAA!” This goes on for minutes at a time. We offer water (agua) but she’ll push it away. Allison typically does this when she sees running water, water in a cup,`an empty cup, a spray canister or anything that could hold liquid. Sometimes she really does want water – our water!

Mother’s Day and a Dyson

Happy Mother’s Day

Steve and the kids disappeared Sunday morning and reappeared a few hours later with a Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner. The girls were very excited by the purchase, helping Steve assemble and test drive the machine. In virtually no time, we filled the canister with dirt and dog hair. We also used it today to the same effect – where is all this stuff coming from??

Anyway, Grandma Chang came over for a nice brunch. The kids managed to get some rest before a Greek potluck last night. They were delighted with the food and dance, and we really didn’t eat very much for breakfast this morning. All that said, it was a great Mother’s Day. I’ll post some video once we get it into the right format…

An Eating Machine

An Eating Machine

Allison has turned into a mini eating machine. This all started during her birthday dinner at my mom’s house when she ate 4 meatballs, half a jar of carrots, a bunch of noodles, at least six small blocks of tofu and cake! We thought this might have been an anomaly. Since then though, she’s mowed down everything in sight. It’s not uncommon for her to sit in her high chair for over 45 minutes picking through her food, raising her eyebrows and carefully inserting cubes of food to her mouth.

A couple days ago we took the girls to Ruby’s. Allison dutifully ate her avocado, grated cheese, corn and black beans from our salads, while Katherine picked at her mac and cheese. Funnily Katherine insisted on sitting in a high chair next to Allison. Halfway thru the meal, Allison started pulling on Katherine’s high chair, and a very annoyed Katherine moved to sit in the booth. After this hasty departure, and before we could stop her, Allison reached for the mac cheese and stuffed some in her mouth! She loved it and must have had 3-4 more big spoonfuls before we left.

Tonight at dinner she ate an entire avocado (admittedly not a large one), 2 strawberries, at least 6-8 pieces of penne pasta, 4 or 5 pieces of broccoli, several large chunks of sweet potato and some bits of whole wheat bread.

Needless to say we’ve been changing a lot of big diapers. Allison is also starting to fill out which is great.

We’ve been pleasantly surprised at the range of her palate. New additions include edaname, grapes, mango, corn (straight off the cob) and broccoli. Between all four of us, we managed to eat 3 small heads of blanched broccoli tonight, and the girls could have eaten more! Allison is very clear about her preferences, exclaiming “mmm mmm” when she wants more of something. She makes the sound “saw” for strawberries which is also one of her favorite treats. When we go to the fridge and get water, her eyes light up and she says “agua agua!” Sometimes she reaches out with her arms as to say, “I’m really thirsty. Gimme some of your water!”

We started cows milk on her birthday. She’ll take a couple sips but hasn’t acquired a strong liking yet. I’m hoping this happens soon, because we have only 7-8 more weeks to wean her before I go to Napa without the kids!

Twelve Steps

We’re not sure what precipitated this eating interest, but we think it may have to do with her walking. For the most part she still crawls, scoots and cruises. When there’s nothing to hold onto OR she’s really motivated to get something, she’ll take small steps sometimes stopping to regain her balance and then walk again.

Tonight I brought out one of her favorite items…the blue vacuum cleaner. It may be that she heard this a lot in the womb (thanks to a hairy dog), or she may just think it’s fascinating. From clear across the room, she made a beeline to the vacuum. We caught this on video with our new Canon Elph (one of our old ones bit it). She showed us several times tonight that she can take upwards of 12 steps before she collapses to the ground!!

Sibling Issues

Most of the time, the girls enjoy playing together. Other times are just angstful for one or both of them. A couple days ago I had a meeting a Seattle which meant that Steve had the girls for 2 hours. He decided to take them in the Chariot for a ride behind his road bike.

I’m actually sorry I missed this experience because it sounded like a hoot. From Steve’s description, Allison discovered and learned to love the kid Camelback. She loved it so much that she and Katherine fought in the Chariot for it, prompting Steve to stop and figure out what was going on. Katherine told him, “Allison is going to drink all the water in the water backpack!!” Katherine also ate in front of her sister without adequately sharing.

Yesterday I had the kids in the afternoon and spent quite a bit of time with Katherine playing with Steve’s gear set while Allison was napping. Post nap Allison was a little groggy. But as soon as she heard the whirring of the gears and saw them in action, her eyes lit up, she gave us a big smile, flapped her arms, and wiggled her legs. I put her down next to the coffee table and mayhem ensued. Allison would walk around the table grabbing the gears and messing them up. Katherine would get really mad and tell her sister to stop. Finally I intervened and suggested that Katherine find something for Allison to play with. We also started dinner which saved us from further distress.

Happy Birthday Allison!

Happy Birthday Allison!

Allison turns one officially tomorrow, but that hasn’t stopped us from celebrating early. On Saturday, Steve’s parents threw a small family luncheon. The girls really enjoyed eating their sandwiches, chips (Katherine only) and the very cool Disney cake that Grandma ordered from Hoffman’s. Afterwards, their cousins arrived, and the kids played inside and outside – playing with marbles and hunting bugs. Both girls were exhausted, and we took them home for some much needed R&R.

On Sunday we hosted a relatively small birthday party with Katherine and Allison’s friends. I would describe this as relatively small compared to Katherine’s first birthday party which involved a caterer, storyteller and about 40+ people stuffed in our house. In contrast, we had about five families tie-dying t-shirts in the garage. Steve was a bit apprehensive the night before – which resulted in yards of plastic covering all work surfaces in the garage and laundry room. Thankfully everyone managed to emerge unscathed and undyed from our craft project. We have about 20 shirts for friends and us sitting in the garage right now waiting for their rinse and wash cycle. We’ll see how they turn out!! The only bummer was that Allison had a weird allergic reaction to her birthday cake. About 20 minutes after trying the frosting and cake the area around her mouth turned red. I guess she won’t be getting any more birthday cake from Larry’s anymore – although the cake from Hoffman produced no reaction at all. Very puzzling.

Tomorrow we’ll have early dinner at my mom’s house with noodles and any other traditional foods. The first birthday is a BIG deal in Chinese tradition, so we’ll wrap up our festivities tomorrow evening. I still can’t believe it’s been a year since we went to the hospital. Allison is still such a skinny small kid that she really doesn’t look like she’d be one yet.

Finally…she’s walking…really walking

Everyone who’s seen Allison scoot, crawl, roll and cruise around has said, “She’s just days from walking.” They’ve been saying this for about a month. Well….(big drum roll)….we finally saw her really walk today!! I’m not talking about a step or two here or there. This was the real deal.

After dinner tonight, Katherine and Allison were wrestling for the shopping cart in the family room. Katherine predictably took it away from Allison and loaded it up with all of Allison’s new birthday toys. She pulled it away, and Allison let go of the cart. I didn’t realize this until Steve walked by, gasped and pointed – but Allison must have stood by herself for a good five seconds. Then, she took 5 or 6 steps to the grocery cart. Katherine was more than happy to replicate this; she would keep the cart out of reach and Allison would stagger to it taking half a dozen relatively steady steps to it.

I taped it on our big old video camera for posterity. Funny enough, Patty’s been saying that Allison has been taking one or two steps for several weeks, but they happen so quickly that I usually wasn’t sure if / when it happened. Tonight’s incident was unmistakable, and we all cheered for the very happy birthday girl.

Talking Too

Allison’s vocabulary is starting to really take off, and it’s funny which words she’s chosen to learn first…

Mama, Dada
Dog – loves to watch Bisco in the living room from the alcove upstairs
Agua
Ball – (sounds like bawl)
Shoe
Hot – usually when she’s heading straight for her little heater
Up – she said this yesterday at the bottom of the stairs to tell Steve she wanted to crawl up!

I’m still amazed at the rate of growth. I’m going to have to start up the old word spreadsheet again to track her vocabulary (did it for Katherine until we got to 300 words). I swear tonight that she said, “cool.” If she says it again, we’ll just add it to the list. 🙂

Picking up Mom and Dad’s sayings

Katherine is picking up a lot of sayings from us and from her classroom. Some are funny, some are not and some are just annoying. As Steve said, “I had no idea how much I said that until Katherine starting saying it.” Here are some of her favorite sayings and their origins…