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Washing Legos

Washing Legos

Steve has many interesting ideas, but this one really took the cake.

Last weekend the girls visited a few little friends and had a great time playing with their Legos. Steve was so inspired by this that he immediately went home and bought Legos…on eBay. To be clear, he bought 20 POUNDS of Legos that were delivered yesterday in an enormous box.

All was well until yesterday morning when Steve said, climbing into his car before work, “The Legos should arrive today. You just need to wash the Legos…Just go online and read about how to wash them.”

The key word is “Just.” This pretty much consumed our evening. I ruled out two techniques that I read about on the web. One involves putting Legos in a pillow case, tying the case shut and washing them in your washing machine (fingers crossed the pillow case doesn’t open and ruin your washing machine!) The second involved putting them in a dishwasher and hoping they don’t melt. (Seriously!)

We opted for washing them by hand. Steve dumped all 20 pounds into the girls’ bathtub with dishwashing soap and swished them around in hot water. Then we rinsed them out in batches in the bathroom sinks. Then we put them in a huge plastic bin where I mopped them with dry towels to get the water off. THEN Steve dumped them on the family room carpet to dry further.

As Steve noted, “the girls will remember this for the rest of their lives.”

I’m attaching pictures of the process.

Family Visit

Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey visited this past weekend to celebrate my mom’s birthday. After they climbed Tiger Mountain with Mom (Yep), Sharon and Jamey came over to make apple pie. We then headed over to Bamboo Garden for some nice spicy Chinese food. On Sunday, Sharon and Jamey took the girls ice skating in Kirkland. The kids had a great time…and slept well Sunday night.

Other Pictures

Patty took the kids late last week to the Zoo during parent/teacher conferences, when they had half day school. They stayed almost the whole afternoon, visiting the entire zoo. Allison was so tired, she slept on the way home.

I should also note that the girls got haircuts yesterday afternoon after school. They got “cotton candy” scent in their hair and sparkles too. Oh boy!

We also took the girls to Baskin Robbins for a special treat, because both their teachers gave positive reports during parent/teacher conferences.

Grandma Dottie made quilts with both girls. Katherine brought hers home. Allison decided to leave hers on her special shelf.

First Day of Summer School

First Day of Summer School

Allison was so proud to go to summer school today. She exclaimed last night and this morning that she’s “going to pre-school!” We followed our typical morning routine and drove to school. Katherine was excited to accompany Allison to the Main Building for class assignment and then Mezzo Building.

Once we entered the classroom, Allison put her backpack away, washed her hands and then headed straight to the shelves to handle the materials. The teaching assistant directed her to a practical life work. We all said goodbye to Allison, who didn’t even look up as we left…

According to the teacher, Allison worked well this morning and listened well. She said that she played with “toys” but didn’t do work?! I asked her if she ate her Cliff bar before pickup (while the other full day children ate lunch). She said, “Yes. But I didn’t have anything else.” After that statement, Allison clambered off her kitchen chair, opened the pantry and told me, “I pack my lunch now.” She packed peanuts, almonds and got an apple from the fridge and put it in her lunch bag for tomorrow.

Derby Days

One of the big summer highlights is Derby Days, namely the kids bike parade, the main parade with candy, and rides afterwards. This year, Allison rode the 12″ pink bike with training wheels. Katherine rode her 16″ bike with no training wheels. They were thrilled to decorate their bikes with red, white and blue – and flags too!

July 4th

Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey visited over July 4th weekend. It was a fun-filled three days. We picked raspberries at Remlinger Farms, made pie & cobbler, took the kids on a bike ride to the “choo-choo” train park, and a hike around Trilogy.

Katherine went to Tiger Mountain and hiked a third of the way up the mountain with her aunt and uncle. We were proud to hear that she braved the bushes and mud. Allison was very sad to miss the hike, as she tearfully told us that she “didn’t get to go.”

 

Your Shoulders are Crooked

Your Shoulders are Crooked

It was inevitable that Steve would have an incident on his bike. It just so happened this past weekend with STP (Seattle to Portland) bike race, in which an overloaded bike bag fell into his spokes and caused him to catapult over his handlebars and break his collarbone. The family has reacted in interesting ways. Katherine has tried to be very helpful, fetching Steve’s ice pack from the fridge and trying to “help.” Allison doesn’t really understand why Dad can’t give baths or big hugs, so she gets kind of whiny at times. Bisco wants to be around Steve whenever possible, even trying to mooch his way onto the bed last night. All in all, we’ll be happy when the next several weeks pass, and all returns to normal.

Derby Days (aka Free Parade + Candy)

For the second year now, we’ve marched in the Redmond Derby Days kids parade. This is the largest, or one of the largest, kids parade in the country. We arrived probably 30 minutes earlier than we needed to, so the kids were squirrelly by the time we started. Nonetheless, Katherine pedaled for half the parade, and Allison shared her Red Flyer wagon. The best part for them was the adult parade. Before the parade, we had put down in a nice shady spot a towel which a neighboring couple watched for us as we marched. After the kids parade, we settled on and near the towel with friends, and the kids were on the lookout for … candy! We probably have half a pound of candy that the “floats,” marchers and such threw or gave to the kids. Katherine and Allison ate quite a few pieces, at which point I confiscated the rest which is on top of the fridge probably until Halloween. ๐Ÿ™‚

After long naps, we headed back downtown for a quick dinner, the adult bike races (fast!) and the carnival. What we didn’t realize was that Allison was much too short for any of the rides. So, Katherine rode several rides by herself, and even a few with Dad. She loved the rollercoaster; Steve and she rode the first time. The second time she requested the last seat in their coaster and screamed all the way around!

Fourth of July

Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey visited for Fourth of July this year. We didn’t pick berries this year, since we still have frozen strawberries and raspberries from last year. But, we did make pie. Bisco went for long walks every night. We took the kids the park, to the Kirkland waterfront, to the aquarium. It was a generally relaxing long weekend.

 

Catching our Breath

Catching Our Breath

We’re literally catching our breath in between visitors and our upcoming vacation. Where to start?

I went to my old college friend’s wedding in Napa two weekends ago. Manfred and Cher got married at BV vineyards and the ceremony was beautiful, even in 95+ degree weather! My b-school friend Kristina and I did the girls weekend thing, had some spa treatments, and visited 4 or 5 vineyards. Between tasting, spitting, buying/shipping wines it was an amazing time to recharge and catchup. So, where was Steve? He took the kids up to a beach house to stay with his parents and celebrate two birthdays and an anniversary. From the pictures, it looks like the girls had a nice time with their cousins and grandparents. In all, I was away from Friday thru Sunday – thankfully Steve had lots of help between his parents, then my mom and then Patty watching the kids throughout the weekend.

The following Thursday and Friday Kristina used a free ticket to come up and visit. The theme for the visit was “healthy living” – lots of exercise every day, salads, 20/20 type food. Katherine reveled in the attention, asking “Aunt Kistina” to read new Arthur books (which if you haven’t read are quite funny!). On Kristina’s last day, Katherine was resolute that she had to help take Kristina to the airport, even crying when we let her off at the curb. ๐Ÿ™‚

Katherine recovered immediately the next morning when she woke up to find Sharon and Jamey at our house. Per the last three years, they visited over July 4th to see how the girls are doing. We picked berries, made pies, took lots of walks and visited the zoo. Allison surprised me by saying “Shar” (sounds like Cher) to get Sharon’s attention. She also went somewhat ape at the local berry patch; my mom held Allison throughout the trip, feeding her raspberries. We’d hear “ra Ra RAA” and then “ok ok, here’s another berry. I hope you don’t get diarrhea” from my mom. It goes without saying that the open face strawberry (with raspberry puree) and blueberry pies were pretty tasty.

Katherine was beside herself and managed to thoroughly exhaust herself over July 4th. On Sunday, Sharon, Jamey and I took the girls to the “choo choo train” park which is at most 1.5 miles away. Katherine insisted on wearing her Hello Kitty flip flops and walking the entire way, turning a 20 minute walk into a 45 minute exercise. Ironically when we arrived, she informed Sharon that she couldn’t play in the playground because she would get splinters from the bark since she was wearing the flip flops. On the last day of their visit, we took the girls to Woodland Park Zoo. We went to our usual haunts and were surprised to see not only two grey wolves but also brown bears awake! We managed to get there during feeding time and saw one even dive into the river/pool to retrieve and eat an apple. That was pretty cool, and elicited an “woooo wooo” from Allison – which is her standard response to seeing a dog.

For July 4th itself we took the girls to a friends BBQ, where they had rigged up a zip line between two trees. All the kids waited patiently in line with their bike helmets on to get hoisted up to the zip handle holder and to whiz down the line to another parent who would help them off. I was initially dubious that Katherine would attempt such a feat, but she insisted on trying this. Steve held her torso and ran with her the first couple times down the line. Then she told us, “I’m going to do this myself, without Daddy holding me!!” Steve then preceded to run behind her. She was so proud of herself. Allison held her own at the BBQ as well, walking all over the backyard and exploring her surroundings. One very funny moment occurred during dessert when Katherine sat down to eat an ice cream cone. She allowed her little sister to lick the cone once but told Allison to get her own ice cream after that. Allison must have mowed down two tablespoons of vanilla ice cream in just a few minutes.

The Wednesday after the visit both kids napped up a storm. They’re back to their indefatigable selves.

Summer Camp

One might wonder why we’ve had Katherine in summer camp these last two weeks. It’s less about choice and more about necessity. Eton School, Katherine’s new school, requires at least two weeks of camp to assess new students. Compared to last year’s summer camp at MCH, Katherine did really well – no tears, easy goodbyes, productive work, fun on the playground and a ready acceptance of camp five mornings a week. Steve and I were initially and somewhat smugly complacent the first two days. Katherine on her first day within the first 10 minutes: explored her locker, washed her hands, looked around the classroom, pulled out a stencil and colored pencil work, completed the work cycle, put the materials away and asked her teacher where to put the paper. I was highly encouraged at pickup to hear that all went well that day. On Tuesday morning the teacher asked us,. “how is Katherine this morning?” And after I told her that Katherine was excited for her excited day she replied, “Just wait for Thursday.” I guess 20+ years of teaching results in good insight, because Thursday was meltdown day for Katherine – she cried in the classroom and needed TLC for much of the morning. Thankfully, this week has been smoother and I think we’re in relatively good shape for September (knock on wood).

All she wants to do is keep up…

I cannot believe the change in Allison the last month. She’s gone from a still shaky toddler at times to a confident and fearless explorer. As a result, one cannot take one’s eyes off Allison for more than 10 seconds. She’s fast, really fast. As an example…this morning I sat down to wolf down my cereal before hauling the kids to school (Steve was at the gym). I saw Allison turn the corner and thought, “not a big deal, she’s just doing another lap around the island.” Ten seconds later, I realized “hey, I don’t hear her walking (flap flap of feet on hardwood).” I peered around the island and saw Allson not only standing on a low wooden stool next to the dining room gate but her also leaning over the gate and into the dining room. I just about had a coronary.

It’s also clear that she’ll follow her sister anywhere. Katherine and Allison were unsuccessfully sharing baby legos this afternoon. After about five minutes of unsuccessful negotiation, I asked Katherine to please stand in the hallway to think about how to share better. Did Allison play with her baby legos? No, she followed her sister into timeout, grabbing Katherine’s hands and trying to figure out what she was doing.

Allison has more new words of recent:

  • “Babeee!!” – Allison gets really excited when she sees other babies anywhere, anytime.
  • “Sheh sheh” – thank you in Chinese
  • “Jeh Jeh” – older sister in Chinese
  • “buu” – book
  • “Baaa” – for sheep

She also understands and follows direction. Today, while folding laundry, I asked her to pickup a pair of PJ pants and she did! She also tries to help cleanup, putting objects in buckets and boxes with us. Allison will also make a beeline for her bookshelf when prompted to get a new book. She also digs and fully interacts with her toy phone (pretending to talk into it), her animal puzzle with big knobs, stacking cups, her Little People, etc etc.

It’s really a joy to spend quality time with Allison and see what I missed with Katherine two years ago.

Birthday Weekend

Birthday Weekend

Two weekends ago, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey flew into town for two whopping nights to wish Grandma happy birthday. The kids had a great time, and Katherine helped them make …. pumpkin pie. She also helped make me upside down apple cake for a birthday celebration. Katherine reveled in the desserts. Allison oogled but was denied. ๐Ÿ™‚

Swinging the Gate

Allison’s favorite past-time is swinging the baby gate at the bottom of the back stairs. We put her down anywhere in the family room and within a few minutes, she’ll cruise her way to the gate. Her greatest joy is opening the gate, walking thru to the stairs, backing up, closing the gate…repeat…repeat…repeat. Allison is very stable these days, falling to her bottom only when Katherine tries to help her not fall.

When in the kitchen, she invariably opens the bottom drawer next to the refrigerator which is full of cups and other various babysafe items. Within minutes, they’ll end up flung to the various corners of the kitchen.

What a Week!

What a Week!

Christmas was chock full of family meals and get togethers this year! We kicked off our week with Christmas Eve dinner with our immediate family and grandparents. My mom, the Bushes and Great-grandpa Vasvary visited for a potluck dinner featuring ham, potato buds, beans, salad, rolls and cheesecake. Katherine was so wound up and managed to convince the Bushes that she should open just one present Christmas Eve. This morphed into two gifts…a Bodyworks book and gift card. Anyway, we managed to get her to bed after reading the “Night before Christmas.” She gave me one last instruction before going to sleep, “Mama, be sure and tell Santa not to put a candy cane in Allison’s stocking. She’s still a baby!”

The next morning the crew arrived at 8:30AM (what dedication!) to see the girls open their presents. Katherine was agog at the stockings which were stuffed the night before and at the plate of oatmeal cookies which were nearly gone. We first tackled the stockings and the gifts wrapped by Santa (aka Steve who insisted on wrapping half the stocking gifts at 1:00AM the night before!).

Then…on to the gift opening!! One of my goals this Christmas was to keep the number of gifts under control. We sort of accomplished this, as Steve and I gave the kids only a small handful of gifts. Between all the family members, the girls managed to receive clothes, instructional DVDs and music CDs and toys. Katherine was super happy to get her candy cane and Carl book. One disappointment came when she took a Hallmark Lambey out of her stocking, “This isn’t Lambey…”

We then ate brunch which included a strata, more ham (see a theme?), fruit and a Christmas bread. Katherine fell asleep several hours later with Bisco, both sprawled on the couch for two hours. To cap off the excitement, we headed off to the Fialas for dinner and play with the cousins. This Christmas was eventful in that Katherine really interacted with her cousins for the first time. We attribute this to her Montessori learning environment. Or, it could be her natural development as a three year old.

That week we also hosted a brunch with the broader set of great-grandparents and Fialas. Brunch included….ham again, yogurt/granola, quiche, yummy breads, fruit, bagels, etc. A subset of folks played bridge before dispersing.

Eating More Solids

Allison has continued to expand her eating repertoire to include peas and brown rice (oh yumm!) and cereal finally. Patty’s key learning today: warm the food! We’re really trying to feed her at least 2-3 times a day. She’s grown as a result to 14 lbs and 9 oz – a 1.5 lb increase since her 6 month appt – and 36.25 inches. She still lags many of her peers at 5-10% weight and 25-50% height. She’s going to be a skinny kid!!