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Patty Salgado

Katherine First Tooth Appears

This past Friday, Patty informed us that Katherine’s first tooth was about to appear. Sure enough, today Steve felt Katherine’s lower right front tooth. Christine confirmed that a small point of her tooth had poked through. Katherine had been pretty cranky for a few days prior to this, stuffing her hand (and anything else she could get her hands on) in her mouth and crying occasionally. We think this had been due to teething. Once the tooth appeared, she seemed much more cheerful this afternoon, taking an hour and forty minute nap and then smiling thru dinner and the first part of the Alias season finale.

Katherine reached one other key milestone on Friday. She reached from a seated position to the bars of her gym and pulled herself to her feet. She has been trying to do this in her bath as well – putting her hands on both side of the bath and trying to leverage herself up. We also found her in her crib, pulling herself up her bumper and grasping her crib bars. So, today we removed her crib bumpers and also lowered her crib mattress one notch. We also removed the dangling part of her Tiny Love mobile.

This was a big day for Katherine!

Swinging Katherine

Patty took Katherine to Marymoor to the swings for the first time. Apparently, Katherine loved it! She kicked her legs vigorously and watched the other children on the swing set. Steve and I will need to take her (and Bisco) one of these weekends.

We also noticed this past day or two that Katherine now holds on to the side of her tub with one hand and plays with her ducks with the other. This is helping her keep her balance in the tub while sitting up.

On Saturday, Christine and I took Katherine back to Marymour to play on the swings. We had to see Katherine swing for ourselves. Katherine had a great time and loved swinging right up to our faces. When she got close, we said “boo” and Katherine would start giggling.

Katherine Learning to Crawl

Steve and I put Katherine on the carpet yesterday with her “Oh the Places You Will Go” book slightly out of reach. As usual, Steve helped her move forward by putting his hands behind her feet. She would push off frog style and inch forward. For the first time though, when Steve wasn’t helping, she arched her back upwards, raised her shoulder and pulled her body forward. We were astonished and stared at her for a few minutes while she dragged herself across the carpet towards her book. At that point, Steve ran to get the digital camcorder and we recorded the event on film. We mentioned this to Patty this morning, and Katherine and Patty spent the day practicing crawling on carpet and hardwoods. How exciting! Our little baby is growing up…

Katherine Gets Sick

On Thursday, Katherine got her first real cold. Patty had been feeling under the weather and by Thursday Katherine was sleeping listlessly and by Friday she had a full blown cold. We tried everything – from the cold vaporizer to tilting her crib mattress to sucking her snot out her nose with the bulb and saline – but she remained congested for a good 4 days.

  • Thursday evening – Katherine wakes up every hour. Steve tries not to wake Christine.
  • Friday evening – We went out to dinner, and it becomes apparently clear that Katherine is sick. We take her home and she is unable to sleep in her crib she is so congested. We finally resort to putting blankets in her infant car seat and having her sleep in the car seat. She wakes every hour, with Christine and Steve taking shifts to put her back to sleep. Her temperature reaches 100-101 that evening.
  • Saturday – She seems much better in the morning. In the afternoon, she gets more cranky and by the evening it’s pretty much the same routine. Suck the snot out with the bulb and Katherine screaming at us. She wakes every hour, with us sleep walking her in the hallway and trying to sooth her. Her temperature is only 99-100 that evening.
  • Sunday – We take her to Pediatric Associates in Bellevue to check her ears. She weighs in at 15 lbs 4 oz. The nice doctor tells us that these colds last about 7 days with days 3-4 being the worst (yep). Katherine doesn’t have any signs of ear infection thankfully. She manages to sleep for a couple hours at a stretch.
  • Monday – Christine drinks half a cup of caffeinated coffee at work she’s so tired. Christine and Steve are both getting sick from Katherine and not sleeping.
  • Wednesday – We’re finally both getting better and Katherine is only waking a couple times during the night.

Katherine’s 4 Month Checkup!

At 9A this morning, Christine, Patty, Katherine and I headed off to Pediatric Associates in Sammamish to visit Dr. Claudson for Katherine’s 4 month old checkup. The nurse called us and we all trotted off to the examination room. We packed the four of us plus Katherine’s backpack and car seat into the tiny examination room. The nurse and Dr. Claudson were surprised to find three adults waiting for them in the examination room. We introduced Patty to Dr. Claudson and he proceeded to examine Katherine. Katherine measured 25 1/4 inches high which is in the 75-90 percentile. Her weight was 14 lbs, 7oz which places her in the 75 percentile for weight. Her head circumference was 41.4 inches which places her in the 50-75 percentile. Overall, Katherine is doing excellent for height, weight, and demonstrated abilities. Demonstrated abilities are things like rolling over, sitting up, babbling, etc. Dr. Claudson gave Katherine a clean bill of health and praised her as being a very healthy baby with no concerns whatsoever.

Dr. Claudson left the room and a few minutes later the nurse returned with four shots for Katherine. We were prepared for this and had given Katherine an infant dose of Tylenol 15 minutes earlier. The nurse prepared Katherine for the shots and Katherine got this look: “Oh no, not this again!” The nurse was professional and quickly administered the first three shots. Katherine got progressively more and more pissed. She has lungs now and knows how to use them. The fourth shot had problems and the nurse had to quickly run and get a replacement. By now, Katherine is screaming at the top of her lungs: “bloody murder”. The nurse quickly administered the final shot and daddy scooped up Katherine to soothe her. Daddy got to soothe Katherine because he was the quickest, both Christine and Patty were not fast enough ๐Ÿ™‚

After the doctor’s visit, Christine and I went to work and Patty took Katherine home. By the time we left the doctor’s office, Katherine was upset but no longer crying. Patty took care of Katherine during the day. Katherine was only a bit more cranky than usual. Christine and I came home that night to a worn out Katherine.

Katherine the Human Sponge

Over the last couple of days, we’ve noticed quite a few changes in Katherine. Katherine is soaking in her environment like a sponge. We’ve noticed her watching TV, watching us eat, and starting to imitate what we do. In the first picture, Katherine is sucking her thumb and staring up at me. If I laugh or smile Katherine will imitate me. It’s become a game for us. I smile and she smiles. I giggle and she giggles. Katherine really likes the attention and I love the interaction. I can see her think and react to me and the environment. It’s very rewarding.

Katherine Loves TV

Katherine loves to watch TV and unfortunately so does dad. Dad and mom don’t want Katherine to become addicted to TV at an early age so the TV goes off when Katherine’s in the room. Christine and I believe than when Katherine’s awake our focus should be on her. Sometimes though, dad slips and mom catches the two of us watching TV together. Notice how Katherine in the picture is able to sit up and focus on the TV with only a little support from dad.

Katherine Prefers to Sit Up

Katherine prefers to sit up. Christine and I believe that Katherine wants to take in her surroundings and can see more when she’s sitting versus laying on her back. This makes burping much easier as you no longer have to burp with one hand and try to support and hold steady a wiggling Katherine.

Playing with Dad

Katherine loves to play with dad and dad loves to play with Katherine. Our latest game is to place Katherine on my legs and elevate her over my head. Katherine likes this because she can stretch out her arms and look down on dad.

Reading is Fundamental

Over the last couple of days, we’ve noticed that Katherine remembers certain books and is starting to have favorites. She loves the Rainbow book because of the bright colors and each progressive page fills in a rainbow made of ribbon. Christine and I decided that we’d go beyond a simple reading of “Where the Wild Things Are”. The LeVines gave us a set of “Wild Things” puppets so we decided to read the book and act out the parts using the puppets. I think Christine and I had more fun than Katherine. Katherine liked sitting up in the chair by herself and watching mom and dad make fools of themselves.

Bonding with Patty

Katherine and her nanny Patty have really bonded. Patty speaks and sings to Katherine in Spanish. Christine and I decided that exposing Katherine to another language when she was little would hopefully make it easier for her to pick up new languages when she’s older. Patty reads to her, encourages development in Katherine, and takes her and Bisco for walks. We’re very lucky to have found Patty. Having to say goodbye to Katherine in the morning and go to work is much easier knowing that Patty is taking care of her during the day.