Allison

Just one of those days

I was ready to throw in the towel by 2PM today. The morning started at 4AM with Allison crying in her crib and making her way (via Dad) to our bed for a few more hours of sleep (see below). Katherine then padded into the room at 7AM exclaiming, “I stayed dry. Please get my new cell phone down from the fridge.” (ditto) Steve left for the gym at 7:30 and returned for a brief one hour stint before the house sort of upended itself…What caused all the racket and stress today?

Well…Katherine’s big wooden Vermont 5-drawer maple dresser fell over. I was feeding Allison downstairs while Katherine riffled thru her drawers for some clothes. For some random reason, instead of using a stepstool, she stepped into a drawer to reach a higher drawer (this is how she described it to me). The sound of a large dresser falling sounded like “BOOM, WHAMM…WHAMM….WHAAMMM…..then AAAARRRGGG.” I ran upstairs to find this dresser about 45 degrees from the wall, Katherine stuck under a couple drawers and sitting on top of her train table. I lifted it up, had Katherine crawl to the back of the dresser to retrieve some items stuck below and we pushed it back in place.

Where was Steve? He was having lunch with a friend. We agreed that bolting this thing to the wall was the next step and Steve finally arrive at home around 2:30 with the necessary equipment to do so.

The good news is that Katherine seemed no worse for the wear. She was running around, telling me all about what happened and seemed fine. I called the nurse for some advice. She advised me to prod Katherine in the torso area to see there was any pain, e.g. internal bleeding. Thankfully Katherine didn’t flinch or seem in any pain. She giggled through the whole exercise, thinking I was trying to tickle her. She was bound and determined to see the doctor (always an entertaining visit) telling me that all parts of her body hurt, from her ankle to her torso to her hair. We’re keeping an eye on her, but I think at most she might end up with a bruise.

She also has informed Dad that she’s afraid of her dresser now. She also asked us to bolt the dresser in another part of the house – pointing down the hallway to the nursery. 🙂 I think she’s learned her lesson.

More Sleep Deprivation

We had a very eventful weekend with Allison, starting with a 103 fever on Sunday morning. Her temperature went up and down for 2.5 days – reaching 104 highs and 99 lows. I took Allison to the doctor on Monday morning for a checkup – nose, throat, ears and lungs were clear. The doctor’s best guess was roseola- a virus that causes 3 days of high fever followed by a rash (50% of time). Typically it occurs between 8 months and 2 years. Allison pulled out of her fever officially on Tuesday afternoon and has been making up for lost eating/sleeping time since then. No Rash.

The strangest aspect of the doctor’s visit was her weight. At 9 months, Allison weighed 16 pounds. On Monday, she weighed 16 pounds 13 ounces with clothes!!

Tonight she polished off a bottle of green beans/rice, a container of baby yogurt and then eat rice and scallion pie. How did she get scallion pie? Steve was feeding her yogurt at my mom’s house. While he wasn’t looking, she sneaked her little hand under his arm, grasped the pie and proceeded to eat her treat very happily for the next 5-10 minutes.

Staying Dry

This past summer Katherine tried sleeping thru the night without diapers – with limited success. After several loads of laundry, we decided to try again later when she had greater bladder control. Spring break was an opportune time for this, and we broke out the incentives.

1) Stay dry for 3 nights – get a little book with miniature tea items and a tea party at Grandma Chang’s house. Patty also threw in a “push-up” popsicle at the zoo for good measure. (done)

2) Stay dry for 3 more nights – get a doctor’s kit with cell phone that’s on the fridge. Katherine managed to negotiate the cell phone this morning after night #4.

We’re having much greater success now at 3.5 years. Assuming no accidents by Saturday (1 whole week), I think we can officially put away the size 4/5 diapers for Allison someday!!

Sleepover

Spring break also seemed a great time to have Katherine sleepover for the first time at Grandma Chang’s house. We’ve been talking about this for a while, but wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t interfere with preschool. We dropped by for an early dinner today, and my mom said the magic words “making cookies…” (a rare treat). Katherine virtually pushed us out the door afterwards. She stood at the door with my mom, waving energetically, saying “Bye bye, see you later!!”

It’s now 11:30. My mom hasn’t shown up yet with Katherine in tow and we haven’t gotten any calls yet. Boy…kids grow up so quickly.

She’s Eating the Cord Again!!!

Allison is on the move in a big way. She can now cruise from Katherine’s train table to her bed, past the nightstand to the wall and the closet. Tonight, she was so proud and happy to reach Katherine’s baskets of books in the closet. She then promptly leaned over and started pulling books out of the baskets!  I was just floored.

One of Allison’s happiest past-times is hanging out near the stairs. I plop her on the back stairway landing, and she tries so hard to climb the last two stairs to the upstairs hallway. Steve plays with her at the bottom of the stairs, where she hangs on the baby gate and swings it back and forth.

It’s just a matter of weeks before she walks on her own. Unlike Katherine though, Allison gets into everything, and we have to watch her almost constantly. For instance, I left the room to go to the kitchen. Katherine informed me less than a minute later that Allison had crawled to the standing lamp next to the recliner and was trying to reach the cord. She will even crawl to the white toy baskets, hang over and pick out toys with which to play…

“Ma Ma” (YEAH!!)

For those who’ve been spending time around Allison, you’re probably well aware that she’s been saying “adada” and “baba” for a while now. As a matter of fact, she will try and imitate many sounds that she hears. For example, this past weekend Katherine was telling us that she saw la luna (the moon) as we drove in the early evening. Allison promptly began babbling “la la lu,” waving enthusiastically at us as if saying “I can say that too!”

I was so delighted the following day when she started say “mmm mmm…a” and now she says “MA MA.” She knows that this elicits smiles and nods. I can’t wait for her to learn “TaTa” which is Katherine’s original nickname for herself when she was a baby.

All in the Name of Science

When Allison was a baby, we volunteered to participate in studies for the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at University of Washington. We got a call a couple weeks ago to participate in a study regarding habituation. I was really psyched because this group is doing some really interesting work around infant brain development. I invited Steve to come with us, and he jumped at the opportunity, given his background in psychology (from that VTSS degree you know! <g>).

All that said, we drove to campus last Tuesday and took Allison to the Institute. She first watched a researcher look at a toy – with the researchers measuring the length of time she stared – and then the same researcher looking at another toy in another room. Without getting into details, Allison did remarkably well in this new environment with many new people around. While we chatted with the asst. professor, she crawled around and played with some simple toys that she found fascinating. She was tired and hungry by the time we hiked back to the parking garage and drove across the bridge, but hung in there like a star.

Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy

One of my resolutions is to read more with Allison. It occurred to me that we read A LOT with Katherine when she was an infant, but we’ve done less with Allison. This is probably because she likes to chew on books. But, I think with the right books, she’ll be less inclined to get her fiber this way.

Her favorite book these days is a Sandra Boynton book called Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy. It’s a large board book with textures in the drawings, like a sandpaper paw on a dog labeled “rough rough rough.” We also read Barnyard Banter and Barnyard Dance. I should say “we” because Katherine has a large influence on what we read. She’s decided that she HAS to participate in Allison’s bedtime reading. This usually means that Steve and I sit with one child on our lap, and both kids tussle to touch and turn the pages.

Allison really does enjoy this ritual. She reaches for books and is getting more practiced at turning the board book pages. Sometimes I have to help separate the pages, but in all, she flips pages forwards and backwards and seems to enjoy seeing the same pictures over and over again. I’ve also started to re-memorize these books. 🙂

Mobility

On the moving front, I witnessed a new behavior a few days ago. While standing (her primary entertainment these days), Allison reached down to pick up a toy that she had dropped. Slowly she took one hand off her table and leaned down to grasp what she had dropped. So, not only does she crawl and cruise, but she can sort of pick up objects too!

To give you an idea of her activity level, she’s developed calloused skin right below her left elbow. She moves this forearm forward and then army crawls her body forward. I found it after her bath while applying lotion. At first, I thought she had a rash, but figured it out eventually (how about many years of college does it take???…) Given that Katherine never crawled and was an early walker, this is a new experience for all of us.

Showing Us Works

Today we had our second student-led parent teacher conference. Katherine led off her conference with a handful of practical life works.

First, she poured water into a bowl, dropped 3 drops of soap in, and used a hand mixer to make bubbles. After dumping the water in the sink, she carefully mopped up water from her materials with a tiny sponge, placed everything back in its place and put the work back on the shelf.

Next she selected a work that involved pouring water from a small pitcher into glasses using a funnel. Then…more pouring… this time moving beads from one pitcher to another. For a change, she headed to the science table, taking a dissolvable packing peanut, pulling it apart and putting it into a bowl of water. She watched it puff up, stirred it around and then dumped it all down the sink.

We headed to the art section of the classroom – where she slipped on an apron and used modeling clay to strengthen her fingers. Then, she took color drops off the shelf and dropped them in a tray to see how the primary colors combine. She carefully put the droppers back (calling them polish – hmmm) and then rinsed and wiped dry the glass tray. At this point, Katherine decided she wanted to paint. We taped paper to the easel, and she made about 4 strokes before taking the paper to the clothesline to dry. She insisted on attaching it herself using clothespins.

This all happened in about the span of 40 minutes. Katherine then laid out 3 work rugs, ostensibly to give us lessons and have her parents work on projects too! We wrapped up the conference at this point – Katherine was getting a bit tired as was her concentration span, and it was time for other students and parents to work in the classroom.

Overall impression is that she has come a LONG way in the last six months at school. She understands and applies classroom rules, for instance letting the teacher know when materials have run out for a work, or what to do with her paintings when she is done. Her concentration span has increased, and she likes to chat with other kids at school. School can be tiring mentally, and we’ve got to continue to work with her on identifying and verbally expressing her emotions (especially after a tiring work cycle).