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Archives for 2007

A Crazy 6 Weeks…

A Crazy 6 Weeks…

It’s been a crazy November and December with birthdays, family visits and various crises happening. After the big push around Steve’s and Katherine’s birthdays and Halloween, we then had Thanksgiving. Steve’s Mom broke a hip, and then we had my birthday. I also played my first gig in…only 15 years! And, we had a couple community events at Eton to attend. What else could possibly happen? ๐Ÿ™‚

I’m going to post a bunch of pictures to catch up and just summarize our big developmental milestones.

I go poop I get chocolate!!

Yes. It’s that time again. It’s potty training time, and Allison is done! We started in November and are pretty much done with the occasional incident. In all, it took 2-3 weeks. Chocolate from Grandma Chang was the big incentive. Not only did Allison get a Hershey’s kiss, but Katherine also every time Allison went potty the first couple weeks. Needless to say, Katherine was a big cheerleader.

Tie Shoes and Growing

Katherine has been on a massive growth streak. She now comes up to my bicep – a full 3′ 6″ tall and close to 40 pounds. As part of this, she needed a new pair of sneakers at Thanksgiving, and we went to Stride Rite to get them. By Monday or Tuesday of the following week, she announced and demonstrated how she could tie her shoes! I guess a bunch of 2nd and 3rd years wear tie shoes, and one or two them taught Katherine how to do it. She also practiced (I believe in Practical Life) at school. Now she ties her shoes and Allison’s tie sneakers. Allison won’t wear her expensive Velcro Nike sneakers anymore; she wants to wear Katherine’s old hand-me-down New Balance sneakers with tie laces.

The 12″ Wheels

The neighbors must think it the funniest thing to see Katherine pedaling around on her little pink bike. It truly is too small for her, being the smallest size bike available (12″ wheels). She’s told Steve that she wants a bigger bike, but she doesn’t think Santa can fit it down the chimney. Little does she know that I have a new 16″ pink bike from REI smuggled away in my mom’s garage for Christmas morning. Anyway, Katherine can now ride…without training wheels. This happened last week after the last day of school. She convinced Steve to take the training wheels off. The next think I knew, Steve was running down the street after her, while she pedaled by herself into the driveway!!

Allison’s Development

There is nothing this child will not try, a true testament to her desire to keep up with Katherine:

– She tries furiously to pedal her trike, but she’s still a bit too short. After a couple revolutions, she’ll turn to me and say, “push me, push me, I want to go with Katherine!!”

– She now works easily on 24 piece puzzles, the little ones that you get at the drug store for $3. ๐Ÿ™‚ She occasionally needs help with one or two pieces. She can breeze thru the big US Map without any issues and remember the names of her favorite states.

– She wants to do everything herself. If she can’t reach something, she’ll lug around a big wooden stool. I’ve even caught her putting the little rubber stool on top of the wooden stool for greater reach. Upon intervention, she’ll holler and cry for a few minutes and then set upon her next project.

– Steve put together the junior bed, which the kids played with for a bit. Allison decided that she wanted to sleep on the big bed though. The junior bed is now in our “get rid of” pile awaiting the right opportunity. Allison has tried to sleepover in Katherine’s bed a few nights. That only lasts 30 minutes until Katherine kicks her out of bed, “Mom, she makes so much noise. I can’t sleep!!”

 

Katherine’s 5th Birthday Party

Katherine’s Party

Part one of Katherine’s fifth birthday occurred this morning. We took the girls to Pump it Up where a bunch of kids from class and a couple little friends stopped by for bouncing. We have many pictures to slog through, but I picked just a couple representative pictures for now.

When I asked Katherine what was her favorite part, she replied, “the whole thing…I loved the whole thing.” This referred to a full hour of bouncing, pizza, juice boxes, a butterfly cupcake cake and balloons. Katherine was excited to show Allison how to bounce and even took her to the water fountain several times for drinks. Allison did end up with a very wet shirt, but loved playing with the big kids.

I think many of her friends had told their parents what Katherine loves now: arts and crafts. Katherine spent the whole day lugging all her gifts around the house and trying out different parts of each arts and crafts kit. She even gave up stories tonight to color in a velvet picture. What else? She toted around a Lego ambulance that she constructed almost by herself! And, she spent a good half an hour playing with a Calico Corner dollkit which matches Allison’s house nicely.

All in all, it was a fun but exhausting day.

This is “Baking Soda”

I often have these surreal moments when I know that Allison is trying to say something, but it’s not coming out right. This afternoon we played with a USA puzzle, one that has say 12 pieces instead of 50. As she worked, Allison muttered to herself, “these are the lines…this is the boot (e.g. Louisana)…this goes here…and this is baking soda.” At that, I had to interrupt and ask, “what is baking soda?” She pointed to a state and repeated herself. Thinking hard, I finally figured it out, “You mean …Minnesota!” Allison then replied, “OK…OK…it’s Minnesota” The wierdest thing about this is that I hadn’t told her this, so this must be from Mom and/or Patty.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween
The kids were so fired up for Halloween. Katherine lay awake until 10PM last night telling me, “I’m so excited. I can’t sleep! (yawn)” Anyway, she headed off to school today dressed as a Chinese girl for Cultural Halloween. After Kindermusik, she come home to join me, Allison and my mom. Steve’s parents also stopped by for pictures of the kids dressed as Minnie Mousse.

A couple of funny stories:

Steve’s Mom: “Allison, what are you going to say when the door opens?”
Allison: “Helwo”
Katherine also took it upon herself to hand out candy after about 30 minutes of cold trick or treating with Allison and Steve. Here’s what would happen:
1) Doorbell rings
2) Katherine swings open door, profers candy, “Take any two pieces”
3) Allison scoots or skids to the front door to take her place next to her sister.
4) Allison exclaims, “I have gwowsticks!”
5) Kids says thanks. Katherine shuts the door, carries her bowl to the stairs and waits for the next kids.

Both girls were exhausted tonight.

Steve’s Birthday
This was perhaps the biggest blowout in family history:

1) Thursday – we constructed a new basketball hoop in our garage starting at 6:30PM and ending at 11PM. Lesson: it takes at least 3.5 hours to put one together, backwards!
2) Friday – we had a huge family party at our house. Steve, his cousin, uncle and Katherine manage to fix the basketball hoop.
3) Saturday – we go car and couch shopping. Steve and I go to dinner with friends.
4) Sunday – I finish car shopping. we go to the Trilogy Halloween party.

Funny enough, we’re not done yet with birthdays since Katherine’s birthday is right around the corner. Between this, various nasty colds, volunteer work, a trip to NYC, a broken dishwasher, and everything else, it’s been one of the craziest months ever.
Kid Conversations
We try so hard not to laugh at their conversations these days. One priceless story occurred while Allison had a cold and my mom took care of her. Apparently they went to QFC for a donut (why, i’m not sure). Allison peered into the donut case to select a chocolate donut. She carried it to the counter for my mom to pay. On the way out of the store, Allison tried to eat it and dropped it. Out of the sky, a crow flew to grab the donut. A week later, they’re back at QFC and my mom buys a donut for each kid.

On the way home:

Allison: “Kafrine”
Katherine: “What?”
Allison: “Kafrine, Pau-pau and I went to QFC. We bought you a chocolate donut!” Allison is also quite the comedian or jokester. I had noticed for a couple days an odiferous smell in the minivan. Rhetorically, I asked her as we were buckling up to pickup her sister from school, “Allison, what is that smell??” She replied, “Kafrine!” (Note: it was her car seat. I hosed it down a couple days later.)

For Halloween, Steve had decided to dress up as Professor Plum, completing a Clue team at work. He worked hard to dye a cheap blue suit that he bought at Value Village. I watched as he wrung it out and then put it through the wash, and then as he pulled out a….blue suit! Anyway, the next day he wore it as reading parent at school and then to work. The kids got the biggest kick out of it. Katherine called Dad, “Professor Plum.” Allison declared at the party, “Happy Birthday Professor Plum…Ha Ha Ha Ha” in gales of laughter. She got such a reaction from family members that she repeated it over and over for good measure with lots of laughing.

 

Swimming Like a Fish

Swimming Like a Fish

Allison has been taking her swim lessons the last two weeks with great results. My mom described her as a fish – moving her arms to reach her swim instructor with face underwater and eyes wide open. We’ve all been very pleased…including Allison who put her windup frog in the tub tonight and said “Ready….Down!”

We’ve learned lots of little tips to make swimming easier, such as us moving forward with Allison facing backwards in the water so she doesn’t get water up her nose. I’ve learned how to hold her in the water, so she can move her arms and legs without grabbing me. We’ve also learned how to hold her and proceed with “Ready…Down,” so she enters face first into the water from the side of the pool. Like her sister, Allison now jumps off the side of the pool. ๐Ÿ™‚

Developmental Updates for Allison

Allison is definitely two now! We have moments of stubbornness and upset, but she is still open to discussion and distraction. Other updates:

– Allison can count up to 5 or 6 items with 1:1 correspondence pretty reliably.
– She engages in all sorts of conversation with us and Katherine.
– Her spatial and matching skills are progressing, sorting through 48 insect puzzle pieces to find 4 ladybug pieces, 4 spider pieces, etc.
– She’s finally starting to outgrow her 18-24 month clothes.

Developmental Updates for Katherine

Katherine has really been turning a major corner to age five. Steve and I attribute better listening and higher energy levels to a weeklong regiment of iron drops, then a move to Flintstones Complete with Iron and more iron-enriched food. How did we figure this out? I took her to the pediatrician, who recommended a blood test to measure iron levels. Katherine did not appreciate the blood test, but she braved through the tourniquet and needle to receive a dollhouse bathroom set. As we suspected, her iron was on the lower side. We’re going to keep up the vitamins and such – fingers crossed the energy sticks. Other news:

– Katherine loves Kindermusik class and the glockenspiel (think small xylophone).
– She makes her own PB&J sandwiches for lunch, adds soy chips, a few chocolate covered edamame (iron rich) and stuffs them into her Princess lunch bag.
– Katherine enjoys washing dishes, surprising my mom who asked her to wash not expecting Katherine to actually do it!
– She’s eating a lot more food. My mom says it’s the B-12.

After a hard first couple days missing her old third year friends, Katherine is enjoying school and bringing home lots of intricate works. Today she brought home a rainbow letter work for the sound of the week “A.” Per teacher instructions, she drew a picture on the back of the “As.” What did she draw? A picture of Allison in her crib, looking out her window to flowers outside. She also brought home a full on cut and pasted picture of the new food pyramid, another piece of paper with grains, one more with protein, etc. She seems to have a greater appreciation of eating a well-balanced meal!

Camping At Lake Wenatchee

The highlight of Katherine’s summer was our camping trip over Labor Day. We stayed two nights, with both girls in bright pink sleeping bags and delighted at the prospect of sleeping outdoors.

Highlights for the kids: s’mores, hot chocolate, tent, flashlights!, playing with inflatable tubes in the water, ice cream in Leavenworth…

Lowlights: horseback riding for Katherine (Allison loved it), waking up bright and early due to various camping noises, packing/unpacking…

Haircut #2 for Allison

Haircut #2 for Allison

The girls went to see Shara yesterday for their hair cuts. What was the big attraction – movies? train table? toys? Nope. It was the complementary lollipops hanging for the children to take when they are done. Allison ate her lollipop in 3 minutes flat. Katherine nursed hers along for about 20 minutes through Redmond Town Center.

Research Picnic

Last Saturday we attended the MS Research picnic on the soccer fields on campus. It was an amazing experience for the kids – many of the amenities of the MS company picnic for the Research division. The girls went on pony rides (no waiting in line!), bounced on a variety of different bouncers (again, no lines), ate a small bit of cotton candy and had their caricature drawn by an artist. They ate grilled salmon, mac and cheese, had popsicles and popcorn and even got goodies bags with animal hats! Towards the end of the evening, the kids sat next some friends to watch a Native American Indian dance. Katherine talked about this all the way home, “Mom…why were they wearing masks? Why were they wearing costumes? Why did they say BOO?” and so on.

Young Frankenstein

Once every while, Steve and I will go out for a date night. Last Saturday we headed out to Seattle to have a nice dinner and then see the pre-Broadway premiere of Young Frankenstein. Steve asked me on the way in, “Why did you choose this?” I didn’t have a terrifically great response other than it sounded like a good idea!

Were we in for a surprise or what?! The show was very funny, and the cast members were terrific. The Seattle Times gave it an OK review, but clearly the writer had seen the original movie, as had 99.5% of the people in the theater. Speaking as a person who has not seen the movie (yes, I have a deprived life, and it’s on my NetFlix list), the show was great!

What do you want to do tomorrow?

What do you want to do tomorrow?

Allison have a little routine that we do each night. I ask her what she’d like to do the next day, and she comes up with the most interesting responses …examples below

  • “I want to ride a pony. Katherine ride a Big Pony. I ride a…pony.” (referring to the MS research picnic last week)
  • “Go to Chuck E. Cheese”
  • “Blow bubbles”
  • “Eat Food” (pronounced Footd)

Yesterday we drove back to our house. Allison spied long clouds in the sky and exclaimed, “The Blue Jets go Loop de Loop!” She’s also picked up Katherine’s habit of asking, “Mom, are you ready?” the song before “It’s a Small World” on our Disney musical DVD.

Danger Girl

Allison is still very much in her crazy, no fear phase. Yesterday we took the girls to a park which has a low wood walkway through wetlands and a park that resembles a castle. On the way back to the car, Allison decided to try and walk along the side rail of the bridge which is just a couple inches tall. I spied her trying this and asked her to walk in the middle of the bridge. One minute later I heard Steve exclaim, “Allison!!!” She had put her foot back on the rail and toppled straight into the tall grasses a good 18-24 inches below the bridge. Steve leaped into the grass and fished out a slightly shaken toddler. Allison had a slight scratch on her arm and lots of grass stuck in her clothes and floppy hat. No other injuries…sigh!