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Allison

Spelling Interesting Words

Spelling Interesting Words

Allison is very proud that she can now sound out words. I attended Parent Observation Day in which she sounded out little pink cards with words like Rug, Pup, Cup, Mug and then put the cards next to little objects. Accordingly, I’ve dug out an early reading work at home. Basically the work consists of little Scrabble-like tiles and mats with 3 letter words. Object is to put the tiles on the appropriate words and sound them out. To scale the work for Katherine, Steve started rearranging tiles to create more challenging words. Allison decided to participate – putting together different tiles “COSO.” She then declared, “Look Dad….Costco!!”

We’ve also started “math minutes” for the Katherine. She now does as many simple addition, subtraction problems in a minute as she can. Allison has decided she needs to participate too. Tonight she did four little addition problems (ex. 1+1, 2+1, 2+2, 3+1), and wrote the answers….backwards! Katherine was highly amused that Allison’s 2s, 3s and 4s are pretty much all backwards, but resisted the temptation to say anything. ๐Ÿ™‚

Happy Valentine’s Day

The girls both had Valentine’s Day parties the last couple days. Allison’s party was Thursday afternoon, and Katherine’s was this morning. For Allison’s party, we had little activities like beaded bracelets, bookmarks, cards and tattoos. I really enjoyed this party, and it was a great opportunity to meet Allison’s little classmates. She was so proud to have her mom at the party. Her little face beamed as I walked in with materials – and all her friends sat at circle waiting for the party.

Katherine loved her party. She came home with her bag bulging with party favors and cards. She also helped the parent volunteers put party bags in lockers while her classmates were on the playground.

The Sno-Park

The Sno-Park

Steve and I took the girls to the Hyak Sno-Park this past weekend, pre-Super Bowl to burn off some energy.

We took our new red sled – which is supposed to seat two kids – and snacks, refreshments.

Perhaps the most memorable moment was when Allison trudged to the van and muttered, “This isn’t exciting. This is dangerous.”

Thankfully, we made the kids wear their helmets as they whizzed down the hill. The first big tumble happened with their first dual run down the hill. Allison flew off the sled, as Katherine hit one hand brake. Poor Allison ended up with a couple scrapes which required some TLC.

Then, the kids took turns in the minivan eating lunch. I apparently missed Allison’s big solo wipeout, which convinced her that this was just a bad idea.

We lasted about 90 minutes at the park. Maybe we’ll try this again in a couple years!

I’ll post pictures later this week.

Allison Learns Chess

My Chess Board

When I was in fifth or sixth grade, my dad gave me a chess board for Christmas. It’s actually one of the few Christmas gifts I’ve kept over the years, and it has a lot of sentimental value. I do play, but not very well…

Yesterday, Allison and I played checkers – and Katherine was bent out of shape that she couldn’t participate. So, Steve took out the chess set, and Katherine’s first words were, “It’s BEAUTIFUL!”

With that, Allison scampered over to the chessboard, and we spent the next half hour learning the game.

I taught them how to setup the board, how the various pieces move, and the goals of the game.

If you were to ask the kids, they’ll tell you that they want to get the other’s king, the queen is the most powerful piece, not to move the king unless you have to, and many other pieces of trivia – that they don’t necessarily apply when they play!

One funny exchange this morning…

<Katherine moves her pawn forward>

Allison: “NOOOOO”
Katherine: “Why?”
Allison: “Because then I’ll take your piece!”

Allison also tried to convince Katherine last night that Katherine shouldn’t take her pieces. ๐Ÿ™‚

I have a feeling we’ll be “playing” more chess this weekend. ๐Ÿ™‚

 

Losing Teeth

Losing Teeth

You would think that I’m referring to Katherine, right?

Well, it turns out BOTH girls are losing teeth. Katherine’s lower left front tooth is getting mighty wobbly, with the lower right front tooth not soon behind.

Allison managed to slide down her grandparent’s ottoman face first a couple weeks ago. Voila, her front right tooth is turning brown. So, Allison just may lose one of her front teeth before Katherine, according to her dentist.

Interesting Conversations

I won’t recount the verbatims (way too long), but we’ve been having very interesting conversations with Katherine and Allison lately.

Here are their recent conclusions, based on various conversations:

  1. Katherine is now willing to pay me $1 a day for doing Mom-work.
  2. Allison now says we can “pay our bills!” since she received $8 for Chinese New Years in her red envelope.
  3. Katherine says the best way to resolve two competing job offers is to do each job half-day — or better yet alternate days!
  4. Katherine suspects that if/when she visits Boston Harbor, she’ll step on old tea leaves that have washed up from the Boston Tea Party.
  5. Katherine’s favorite ice cream ever is mint chocolate chip…no wait! bubble gum…Allison’s is definitely chocolate chip cookie dough

Chinese New Year

We went to my mom’s house on Sunday night to celebrate New Years Eve. Katherine, who has the memory of an elephant, remembered the red envelopes. So, after some leading questions from Katherine, my mom explained that Katherine wasn’t going to get the envelope yet, but that if she says Happy New Year (in Chinese) to an adult or elder 1-15 days after Chinese New Year, then she’ll get the hum bao.

Next day, Katherine marched right up to me and tried to say Happy New Year. She even bowed.

Allison, who was still rolling around doing her dragon dance interpretation, finally clued in.

Both girls took their “dollars” upstairs for safekeeping.

Alvin…Alvin!!

Alvin…Alvin!!

One of the girls’ favorite CDs is the soundtrack to the most recent Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. Yes, it’s the soundtrack that starts with “So you had a bad day…” and includes classics like “Funkytown”…all sung by the Chipmunks.

We had held off on this purchase for months, but finally gave in after Allison said this was the ONLY gift she wanted from Santa this year. Now, we listen to it in the car, in the house. The girls even dance to it and think they know the words to some of these songs.

We’re holding on to some pretty entertaining music videos–which may surface in another 20 or 30 years. ๐Ÿ™‚

Allison was so excited to take her Alvin CD to the minivan a couple days ago. Little did we know, until she told us, that she put on her coat, the Alvin CD in her fleece hat, and put the hat on her head. She told us that this way she wouldn’t forget or lose the CD!

Schemes

For Christmas, Katherine got a new 24″ HotRock Specialized bike. It’s got 3 gears and hand brakes. Katherine has been asking for this all year, since her friend Audrey has almost the identical bike.

Today we let the kids ride around a bit before it started to rain. The bike looks pretty big for Katherine, but she can reach the ground and pedal without stretching her legs too much.

Allison, of course, has wised up. She said, while walking out the door, “I want to ride Katherine’s OLD bike.” This 18″ bike also looked pretty big for Allison. She managed though with training wheels — looking pretty proud of herself. We’ll keep the 12″ bike for when Allison ditches the training wheels at 4 (which is the earliest we’ll let her try).

Katherine’s scheming today involved how she was going to obtain hangers for her Build-a-Bear pink armoire (her other prized gift from Christmas). Much to her chagrin, we had thrown away several BAB hangers that would have fit the armoire. Her scheme went something like this, “Allison, do you want to take some of your dollars to the mall? You can buy clothes at BAB!”

Pretend Play

Ever since Katherine had her lungs X-rayed for pneumonia, she’s been preoccupied with X-rays. You can see the picture that I took of Allison at the doctor’s office getting X-rayed.

 

It’s STILL Snowing

It’s STILL Snowing

This week’s snow reminds me of my childhood and the tons of snow we used to get in Upstate NY.

This past Thursday we got 10″ of snow. On Friday, we maybe got another inch; Saturday brought another several inches. Today, its been dumping ALL day. The kids ventured outside to deliver cookies to the neighbors, only to fall over in the snow. Allison could barely walk without face-planting in the crunchy snow. Finally, I had to hold her hand to keep her upright. Katherine lasted a few minutes this afternoon playing outside with Steve.   

Fairy Fudge

Katherine has been toting around her Usbourne Fairy Cookbook for the last several months, ever since acquiring it at a Trilogy book fair. Today she whipped it out and informed me that we could make Fairy Fudge with the new colored marshmallows in the pantry. It sounded like a good idea, so we tried it.

In case you ever get a hankering, this recipe calls for marshmallows, butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla and milk. My analogy is that it’s like making edible play-doh. We spilt sugar, sorted marshmallows and tried to make this fudge into the right consistency. It sat in the fridge for a couple of hours, and finally we were ready to roll (no pun intended).

Katherine made her two batches of fudge in no time flat. Allison, on the other hand, must have taken two to three times longer. Each piece of fudge was carefully cut with a cookie cutter and carefully laid out on wax paper. Katherine, looking over at Allison’s tray, kept asking, “Allison, can I have some of your dough?” or “Allison, can I help you with that?” Katherine was so intent on micro-managing her sister–showing her how to cut different colors of fudge to create flowers. They really enjoyed themselves.

The fudge is really something else–very, very sweet. In this case, it’s about the process or journey and not about the results!

Developmental Milestones

As you can imagine, we’ve been looking for activities to keep the kids busy. In Allison’s case, she’s been a puzzle maniac the last couple days. She’s now mastered Katherine’s 60 piece, ballerina puzzle. She’s dumped and put together puzzles numerous times each day.

Katherine is turning into a computer fiend. She’s made Christmas cards using MS Paint. She’s learning how to use MS Word, typing up her “Things to Do” for Christmas break. In the process, Steve’s taught her how to apply simple formating, print, undo, etc.  Katherine can now hunt/peck on the keyboard, and I even saw her hit Ctrl-Z to undo! Tonight I went to my computer and found Christmas gift tags filled out in a document. She and Steve had gone to Office Online, found a template and filled out the tags for various family members.

Katherine asked a very interesting question last night, “How do you and Mama type so fast without looking at the keyboard?” We explained the concept of touch typing, which she was fascinated by.

The kids are also enamored with a new game called “Slamwich” that Katherine received for her birthday. It basically involves putting down cards, with the intent of capturing all the cards. The girls love to scream, “Stop Thief” and slam their hands on the pile. Katherine can be pretty competitive and a sore 6-year-old loser. Allison just loves to participate, taking her cards out slowly and turning them over–but not giving up her red onion cards. ๐Ÿ™‚

Violin Lessons

Allison is continuing to work on her violin lessons. We basically work on the bow hand, keeping it relaxed and tension-free. We’re also working on holding the violin properly under the chin, which takes a lot of work for a 3-year-old!

Allison can sort of play Mississippi Stop-Stop (4 16th notes + 2 8th notes). We’re working on string changes, which are kind of dicey, and a 8th + 2 16th note rhythm.