Home of Steve, Christine, Katherine, Ally, Rosebud, and Rex
Pictures from Last Two Weeks
It’s been a super busy week, between work at Katherine’s preschool, non-profit activities, anniversary celebration and a wedding.
Here are some long overdue pictures from:
Enjoy!
Early Father’s Day Presents
We had two early Father’s Day presents this week. The first was a nice 24-48 hour stomach bug. The length of recovery depended on the family member. Allison was the first to go, followed by me and Katherine two days later then Steve. Within 48 hours, I felt fine enough to raid the freezer (always a positive sign) and scarf down some Morningstar patties. Katherine was itching to get out of the house by the end of the second day – she exclaimed, “we’ve been home FOREVER.” Needless to say, Steve and I have lots of fond memories of this week that we’ll probably laugh about in a couple years.
The second gift I hauled out of the garage after dinner. Katherine was such a hoot. She insisted on helping me carry the box from its hiding spot to the family room. She said, “I can carry it!!” I promptly let go and Crash went the box on the floor. Steve arrived in the family room to see Katherine inspecting his open Quadrilla wooden marble set box and exclaiming, “what a cool gift!!” (In case you read German: quadrilla.com)
Allison’s reaction was a bit different. She didn’t really understand what it was and why everyone was so rapt on building a tower that they didn’t want her to push over. So, I spent about 45 minutes distracting her from the marble set – only to have Katherine push it with her hand and accidentally knock it over. These towers are not quite a stable as they would appear in their pictures or in the toy store (i suspect they super glue them). We now have a very tall marble set tower sitting on our kitchen table with a tupperware lid at the bottom to catch stray marbles. ๐ Allison and Bisco are enamored with the marbles.
More Words!
Allison is picking up words at a very fast clip. Here’s the newest list, with an addition from my mom:
I think I may have also figured out Allison’s nickname for Katherine – it may be “anya.” At times we will hear Katherine talking in the house. Allison will turn her head and say, “Anya!!” It’s all very odd since these names don’t sound anything alike!
I’ve also been practicing some Chinese for clothing. I’m sure that’s got to be really confusing, hearing the same item named in three very different languages. Speaking of which, Allison is starting to actually show some Spanish comprehension. The other day Patty was talking about soup on the stove being warm and used the word “caliente.” Allison promptly began blowing as if to cool the soup.
End of Year Party
Today was Katherine’s end of year party for preschool. She, Allison and I were pretty much recovered from our bug, and Steve was doing fairly well (although not quite 100%). We went down to the Redmond Community Center auditorium for a program filled with songs, an interpretative short play and kindergarten graduation. Katherine was fascinated with “graduration” as she put it. I tried to explain it, likely she’ll figure it out before her kindergarten graduation year.
Katherine’s class was first on stage. She had no issues with standing on the stage and did her best to stay with the other kids. One funny moment was when Katherine stopped singing this Danish song…oh about 2 seconds after all the other kids. And then, they moved onto another song which involved alternating humming and singing. Katherine broke into song while everyone else was humming. We have it all on tape. It was just hysterical. This is not to say that just about all the other children didn’t have priceless momemts because they did from: crying from stage fright, bumping each other (really), not singing, sneezing / coughing….
After the performance, Steve took Allison for a car ride as she was exhausted. Katherine and I ate a little bit – including some grocery store, non-tasty mini-cupcakes with very attractive sprinkles. There must have been 30 dessert dishes at the event. It was phenomenal if one had the calories to spare, which I still didn’t after the flu.
Allison and I took off for home after dropping Steve and Katherine off at the Audi dealership. The S4 has been having wierd alignment which the dealership fixed. If you ever want to hear a rant, ask me WHY the S4 has alignment issues. In short, it has to do with some numnut trying to drive around a cyclist in the Arboritum, swerving into Steve’s lane, forcing the S4 to graze the curb. I’m so peeved. The only bad news besides spending $ on someone else’s bad judgment is that we need new tires again. Back to the story…Steve and Katherine picked up the car and went to Baja Fresh so Steve could have Mexican food. We all tucked into our spaghetti tonight including Allison, so it’s safe to say that we’re all raring to go on Father’s Day sans bug.
Tomorrow is strawberry picking in Carnation. Katherine is just sooo excited because she had a blast with family and friends picking strawberries last June. I’ll post the latest pictures tomorrow night once we’ve uploaded them.
Blossoming Vocabulary
Allison is really starting to express herself with gibberish and half words. During today’s dinner, she kept saying “ahh ahh ahh,” complaining and finally pointing at my plate. I asked her, “do you want some bread?” She responded, “breh” and promptly knawed and ate half of my baguette piece.
We also were driving by a friend’s house today. I was telling Katherine, “we’re going to pass Ian and India’s house.” From the back car seat we heard Allison say, “Innnn…” and other sounds. She knew what we were saying!
We continue to have increasingly interesting conversations with Katherine. Here’s an excerpt from yesterday dinner…
Katherine: “Next time, you go on a bike ride.”
Christine: “Well, I don’t ride as fast as Daddy and his friends….”
Katherine: “You can go with the other moms then…”
Christine: “Some of the other moms are pretty fast…like Tina and Susan.”
Katherine: “Oh…”
Christine: “Daddy will be home later tonight after his bike ride.”
Katherine: “No he won’t (sniffle). He didn’t bring a flashlight…he won’t know how to get home without a light because it will be dark…”
Needless to say, Katherine was pretty bent out of shape that Dad was missing dinner, bath and bedtime for a bike ride. ๐
She also tries so hard to get what she wants. The other day she arrived home with a chocolate cupcake, courtesy of Patty’s sister. We told her that she could only have the cupcake IF she ate her dinner. The problem though was that she wasn’t hungry for dinner. She eventually told us, “I’m full. I want to save my cupcake for tomorrow.” Tonight she remembered that the cupcake was sitting on top of the fridge. We told her that we weren’t sure if it was still edible. She told us, “Let’s get it down and see!”
The kids are starting to interact more and more like siblings. For instance,Katherine has been really trying to figure out the boundaries of how she can play with Allison. On several occasions we’ve seen Katherine push her sister just hard enough so Allison falls on her bottom. We’ve also seen Katherine sitting on some part of her sister – with very strict consequences. I’m hoping this phase ends shortly without any trips to the doctor.
Badline…Badaline!
Everyday Allison continues to learn new words. Her latest trick is reach for her favorite book right before bedtime. The book is called Carl’s Masquerade- a story about how Carl the dog takes Madeleine a baby to a party. Anyway, Allison now reaches for the book, smiling at me and calling “Badaline!!” When she gets really worked up, she’ll yell “Bad!” or “Badline!”
Yesterday she surprised us even more. I was outside trimming hedges, and Steve was trying to change her clothes and put on her shoes. To help expedite matters, he decided to skip socks and put her shoes directly. Allison told him, “socks!”
10th Anniversary
Since we’ve been asked, I should mention that Steve and I celebrated our 10th anniversary a couple weekends ago. We had always discussed going on a big trip to celebrate, but with two kids now we ended up going to Seattle instead. Mom babysat the kids for the night. We went to the W (had a gift certificate) and the Union Square Grill (yum) for dinner and downtown shopping. The waiter at the grill was extremely nice, bringing us a surprise, complimentary cheesecake dessert. The next morning we hit our favorite brunch spot (Cafe Flora), did a little more shopping/browsing and headed home.
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:
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.
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!
