Home of Steve, Christine, Katherine, Ally, Rosebud, and Rex
Christmas 2008 Photos
I should note that the pictures are from the following events:
1) Christmas morning at our house
2) Christmas afternoon at the Bushes
3) Christmas evening at the Fialas
4) After Christmas Tea at our house with the Fialas and Ramsays
5) Trip to Aquarium
6) One of our several days of snow
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.
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!!
We had so many memorable activities that it’s worth describing our Thanksgiving week. It started out with the Bush home in Trilogy closing on Tuesday – coming down to the wire right before the Thanksgiving weekend. Suffice to say, everyone was relieved that the closing happened in time for Steve’s parents to stay in the new house. Wednesday was a flurry of activity, as grandparents settled in and Katherine and I ran errands prior to the weekend.
On Thursday, we all trooped over to Steve’s Aunt and Uncle’s house for an extended (and we mean extended) family celebration. With half a dozen great-grandchildren, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, it was a raucous celebration. As you can see, Katherine befriended Mandy, a very patient golden retriever who allowed Katherine to play with her at length.
The following day, we celebrated my birthday at Amy and Jason’s house. You can see the birthday cake which barely fit all 36 candles. ๐
And, then on Saturday, Sid and his parents came over to hang out. For a snack, we made smoothies for the kids. They liked it.
Later that evening, Grandma Bush babysat while Steve and I went to the “Incredibles.” Suffice to say, we weren’t disappointed, and I understand the terrific ratings.
Ironically, Katherine had a big breakthrough with her ABCs with her Aunt Sharon…over the phone. I called Sharon, after Katherine said she wanted to talk to “Ayee.” Katherine promptly said her entire ABCs, excluding M and N. She said R, not forgetting TUV. I guess childraising is about small victories. I think we’ll have the ABCs down in a couple weeks – not bad for just 2 years old!!
Big Girl Potty
Katherine’s cousin, Kevin, visited yesterday afternoon. We had a small resource constraint when both children decided that they had to go “pee.” So, I put Katherine on her new potty seat on the “big potty” and told her not to go anywhere. I accompanied Kevin upstairs, unlocked the potty and made sure he washed his hands. As we headed downstairs, I heard a big bang and FLUSH. Katherine had gone pee, wiped herself, jumped off the potty, pulled off her little seat, dropped the toilet seat and then flushed everything. She’s growing up so quickly, and is starting to object to diapers – wanting instead to wear undies during the day and at night.
Horse Jackets and Fog
Katherine has amazing comprehension and retention these days. On the way home from the grandparents houses, we pass by a horse farm that often has the horses wrapped in blankets. We’ve talked about it, and Katherine understands that the horses get “cold” and need “jackets.” Today, as we buzzed down another road, I asked her what animals we would see at another farm. She said “horses in jackets.” We’ve also talked about fog and she explains that “foggy…hard to see.”
Katherine has been looking forward to her birthday for days. On Saturday, we celebrated with a friends and then a family dinner gathering. She was a trooper, staying up until 9PM last night – exhausted but so excited to be “Two!” She is trying to form a V with her fingers, but so far the closest she gets are two intertwined fingers.
The best part about birthdays for Katherine is “chocolate cake.” She woke up from her nap right before Steve got home with the cake, balloons and party platters. We made the mistake of showing her the cake from Larry’s Market. Katherine must have said “try cake…pease!” at least 40 times before the party. She tried crying, she tried pleading, but we stayed firm telling her that we had to wait for her friends to arrive. As soon as her first guest, Sid, arrived she headed to the cake to eat.
What else did she eat before the party? A juice box, goldfish and crackers. The party was a hoot, with boys running around the house, the kids playing and coloring a large cardboard castle.
Katherine’s Vocabulary
Steve and I were debating tonight how many words Katherine has in her vocabulary. I would bet that she has 750 to 1000 words. Steve thinks she has over a thousand, maybe even two. Lately, her verbal skills have just blossomed to less everyday words. For instance, she helped us eat “Tacos” tonight, and played with her “Leap-pad.” She can describe just about everything and help us read books. I bought a book called “Truck in the Muck” last week. After only a couple times reading the book, she now follows along and helps me finish the sentences.
Her Favorite Songs
Thanks to Toby School, Katherine’s learned a handful of songs that she sings regularly. One is about fish swimming in the water. She says “fish shwimming in water, bubble…bubble pop!” and then starts in on ducks paddling. She also sings the main words to “ibby bibby spider” and also hokey pokey. She enjoys having me or Steve sing the hokey pokey; she’ll hold on to one of our hands to stick her foot out and also her hands waving them around – followed by a walk around in a circle. She loves being able to sing the songs and put them different parts of songs together. One minutes she’s singing her ABCs, the next she’s singing about spiders and fish.
ABCs
Katherine’s ABCs deserve a mention of their own because she’s made tremendous progress over the last month or so. Previously, she would say “ABC..Dada.” She heard Sid say his ABCs a month ago and pushed thru the Ds. Now she can say “ABCDE…H..GHIJKLOOOPQSTUVWXYZ now know ABCs sing with me!” She will sometimes skip T and then go straight to YZ, but if I say T!, she’ll fill in the rest of the letters. I think within the next 6-8 weeks, she’ll be able to say her entire ABCs without any issues.
Keeping Pooh Dry
Katherine loves potty training. She will run to her drawer, pull out a pair of Pooh undies and then attempt to stuff both legs into one leg hole. We’ve put her in her undies for up to several hours at a time. She’s done a great job, saying “peepee” and running to her little Baby Bjorn plastic potty in the downstairs or upstairs bathroom just in time to go bathroom. She tries to mimic us by using “paper towel” to wipe and then to flush the toilet. We just purchased today a Baby Bjorn formed plastic toilet seat that Katherine used to go to the bathroom on the “big potty.”
The End of an Era – or Decade
It’s the end of a long era. For the first time in 14 years, neither Steve nor I work for Microsoft. Wow! Friends have told us about this, but I wonder how I ever managed to work. We’ve been sooo busy this last month with family, appointments, Halloween, Katherine’s birthday…The list of things to do never seems to end.
