BushChang Family Web Site

Home of Steve, Christine, Katherine, Ally, Rosebud, and Rex

You are here: Home / Archives for Hobbies / Biking

Biking

An Eating Machine

An Eating Machine

Allison has turned into a mini eating machine. This all started during her birthday dinner at my mom’s house when she ate 4 meatballs, half a jar of carrots, a bunch of noodles, at least six small blocks of tofu and cake! We thought this might have been an anomaly. Since then though, she’s mowed down everything in sight. It’s not uncommon for her to sit in her high chair for over 45 minutes picking through her food, raising her eyebrows and carefully inserting cubes of food to her mouth.

A couple days ago we took the girls to Ruby’s. Allison dutifully ate her avocado, grated cheese, corn and black beans from our salads, while Katherine picked at her mac and cheese. Funnily Katherine insisted on sitting in a high chair next to Allison. Halfway thru the meal, Allison started pulling on Katherine’s high chair, and a very annoyed Katherine moved to sit in the booth. After this hasty departure, and before we could stop her, Allison reached for the mac cheese and stuffed some in her mouth! She loved it and must have had 3-4 more big spoonfuls before we left.

Tonight at dinner she ate an entire avocado (admittedly not a large one), 2 strawberries, at least 6-8 pieces of penne pasta, 4 or 5 pieces of broccoli, several large chunks of sweet potato and some bits of whole wheat bread.

Needless to say we’ve been changing a lot of big diapers. Allison is also starting to fill out which is great.

We’ve been pleasantly surprised at the range of her palate. New additions include edaname, grapes, mango, corn (straight off the cob) and broccoli. Between all four of us, we managed to eat 3 small heads of blanched broccoli tonight, and the girls could have eaten more! Allison is very clear about her preferences, exclaiming “mmm mmm” when she wants more of something. She makes the sound “saw” for strawberries which is also one of her favorite treats. When we go to the fridge and get water, her eyes light up and she says “agua agua!” Sometimes she reaches out with her arms as to say, “I’m really thirsty. Gimme some of your water!”

We started cows milk on her birthday. She’ll take a couple sips but hasn’t acquired a strong liking yet. I’m hoping this happens soon, because we have only 7-8 more weeks to wean her before I go to Napa without the kids!

Twelve Steps

We’re not sure what precipitated this eating interest, but we think it may have to do with her walking. For the most part she still crawls, scoots and cruises. When there’s nothing to hold onto OR she’s really motivated to get something, she’ll take small steps sometimes stopping to regain her balance and then walk again.

Tonight I brought out one of her favorite items…the blue vacuum cleaner. It may be that she heard this a lot in the womb (thanks to a hairy dog), or she may just think it’s fascinating. From clear across the room, she made a beeline to the vacuum. We caught this on video with our new Canon Elph (one of our old ones bit it). She showed us several times tonight that she can take upwards of 12 steps before she collapses to the ground!!

Sibling Issues

Most of the time, the girls enjoy playing together. Other times are just angstful for one or both of them. A couple days ago I had a meeting a Seattle which meant that Steve had the girls for 2 hours. He decided to take them in the Chariot for a ride behind his road bike.

I’m actually sorry I missed this experience because it sounded like a hoot. From Steve’s description, Allison discovered and learned to love the kid Camelback. She loved it so much that she and Katherine fought in the Chariot for it, prompting Steve to stop and figure out what was going on. Katherine told him, “Allison is going to drink all the water in the water backpack!!” Katherine also ate in front of her sister without adequately sharing.

Yesterday I had the kids in the afternoon and spent quite a bit of time with Katherine playing with Steve’s gear set while Allison was napping. Post nap Allison was a little groggy. But as soon as she heard the whirring of the gears and saw them in action, her eyes lit up, she gave us a big smile, flapped her arms, and wiggled her legs. I put her down next to the coffee table and mayhem ensued. Allison would walk around the table grabbing the gears and messing them up. Katherine would get really mad and tell her sister to stop. Finally I intervened and suggested that Katherine find something for Allison to play with. We also started dinner which saved us from further distress.

Happy Father’s Day

We had a wonderful Father’s day. We woke up super early courtesy of Katherine and played around the house until 10AM. Our friends with their children then showed up on their bikes – we popped Katherine in her Chariot and took off for the local watershed park. About half way through the ride, Katherine was slumped over snoozing in her Chariot. Predictably though she woke up on the way back because of some tough bumps that jostled her out of her nap. We went home showered, grabbed some food and headed off to a friend’s house for more play time. Katherine loved her friend Audrey’s green jeep. Audrey took Katherine for a brief ride and it was a hoot to see Katherine clutching the handle in front of her and loving the experience. While the other children played, she lurked around Audrey’s Jeep finally sitting in the driver’s seat tapping the gas. We took K home, gave her a bath, cooled her down (it was HOT today!) and put her down for a nap.

After her nap, we headed into Redmond and checked out a local children’s toy store. This is where we learned what Steve really wanted for father’s day (but didn’t get from me) – a Brio railroad set! We picked up a super jumbo railroad set (156 pieces) and Thomas train table that fits under Katherine’s crib. After a quick dinner and shopping, K and Steve spent the rest of the evening putting the table together and selecting which train parts to start with. It was really funny to see Steve put together an intricate table design and gradually take more and more parts off the table as Katherine threw them around. We finally ended up with a simple oval track and 3 train cars. ๐Ÿ™‚ I guess we’ve got a lot of upside yet still out of this table. Good news is that Katherine loved sitting on the table and playing with the track and cars.

What did Steve get for Father’s day? I’ll post the pictures soon, but Steve and K got matching t-shirts. One says “Katherine’s Daddy” and the other says “Daddy’s little girl.” Both have drawn and labeled pictures of a little girl and daddy. What was extremely cool was that Katherine pointed to the t-shirt and said “Katrine” and “daddy” – this was the first time she’s ever said her name!!

Pictures from the Last Month

We’ve been delinquent in posting new pictures, so here’s a fresh batch. You can see that Katherine is still growing like a weed. I tell people that Katherine is over half my height! 33″ at her last doctor’s appt vs. 61.5″ my height. She’s also still really skinny at just under 22 lbs. We put her in 2T clothing which fits lengthwise but is too baggy. Or we put her in 18 mo which is a tad short but fits well otherwise. It’s a great problem to have. ๐Ÿ™‚

Sense of Humor

Katherine is developing a real sense of humor. The smallest things make her laugh. For instance, we were at a local children’s store buying PJs with feet. Steve and Katherine were checking out the sunglasses which were only 2 for $5. Steve would hand Katherine a pair, help her put them on, and then she would come running down the aisle with a big smile. It was almost like she was saying “look, ma, check out the glasses!” The more outrageous the glasses, the bigger the smile. We ended up getting two pink sunglasses, including the big round glasses in the picture and a more 70’s pair. She just laughed and laughed when we got home and put them on. She kept trying to put them on my head and I would keep telling her they didn’t fit.

Blossoming Vocabulary

Taking a cue from other moms, I started a list of Katherine’s words on the fridge. She knows over 70 words now!! Many of them just come out. For instance, we got her a long shovel for playing at the park in the sand and she ran around all afternoon yesterday waving the shovel (ow!) and saying “shuvel.” Certain words make her laugh like “stinky.” We tell her that Bisco is stinky and she giggles. We also ask “is Dada stinky?” and she’ll run to and sniff Steve’s knee. This is probably not a habit worth getting into but it’s really, really funny.

She’s also putting two words together. Today she said “more juice.” It’s still sporadic but she’s getting the idea of conversation. As we put the box of train parts and table into the car, Katherine kept pointing to the car and saying “box.” I then explained that Daddy had bought the box and it contained a choo choo train. We then had an interesting dialog where I would ask “what’s in the box” and she would say quietly “choo choo ….” and then “daddy.”

I can tell that she knows where she’s going now. As we pulled into Larry’s, Katherine said “shop” several times. She then said “houme” totally unprompted as we got within a few miles of home.

The Lamb Saga Continues

It’s now unclear whether the latest shipment of lambs to our local gift store will contain Lambey. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, since the store owner ordered every lamb that the manufacturer carries. We were in Gilman Village yesterday and I was shopping for a baby gift for our new nephew. I walked into our favorite clothing store and first thing saw a lamb that looked 90% like Lambey hanging in the display. I disregarded it because it was clear that this wasn’t going to pass the replacement test. So, I continued to shop. Katherine and Steve walked in two minutes later. First thing, Katherine points to the lamb and says “wawa” (Lambey) and gets all excited. So, we got it down and asked her if she liked it. She hugged it and we were sold (or rather we bought the lamb). Of course, she doesn’t think that this is Lambey. We call it Mama Lambey. She gets a big kick out of it.

Our trip to Whistler

Overall, Katherine loved being at Whistler – the trip there was another thing. We were running late the Friday before Memorial day and got a late start. As a result, we stopped only a couple times during the 5 hour trip to Whistler. At the end of the trip, I was in the back seat singing and singing and helping K play with these magnetic boards. We have a Mr. Potato magnetic board. She would take the glasses and put them up to her eyes, Lambey’s eyes and mine. This was about 30 minutes of the trip. Needless to say we left early on Monday AM and took our time heading back home.

There were some funny moments during our Whistler trip. Katherine experienced milkshakes for the first time. We stopped at Cows, an ice cream shop in the village. Steve got a cookies & cream milkshake and made the mistake of asking Katherine if she wanted any. Did she want any? She drank almost the entire shake. We asked her “can dada have some milkshake?” and she said “no.” Finally, I said “can mama have some milkshake” and she gave me a half empty cup! Given that she was such a good traveler the way home, we stopped at a local diary and got her a vanilla milkshake (see third to last picture). Our instructions were not to drink it too fast – of course she did and got brain freeze. Poor kid. ๐Ÿ™‚

Other funny moment was having to share her chariot with another baby. We rode to and from the village with both kids. On the way home, both girls feel deep asleep which is why you can’t see Katherine’s face.

Let’s try this again

I’m going to have to provide feedback to our web site provider, since I just lost my original posting. Let’s try this post again…

Katherine needs to go back to the pool! She’s been doing little froggie pushups in her bath – pushing up and down on her arms while leaning on her knees. She then leans forward and blows a bubble or two in the water. She then sits up and laughs out loud. She’s really getting the hang of being in the water and I think she’d enjoy some of our water baby exercises now. Apparently, she’s been floating on her back in her bath – so this is a good sign!

Katherine loves her ABC book. We flipped through it at least 2 times tonight, pointing to different objects. She would point at objects and we’d say the word. Occasionally, she would say the word too. Unprompted, we got “abble” and “egh.” Once we said the word, we got “babee” and “dohl” for doll. This morning, she grabbed Patty’s house key and said “dohr” for door.

We went mountain biking on Sunday morning. We strapped Katherine into her Chariot (it’s got a neck harness and seat belt) and we went careening thru a nearby park set of trails. Luckily, we put down the clear plastic cover on the Chariot, because it got covered in mud and dirt. Nevertheless, she seemed to do well – munching on raisins and asking for “agua” (e.g. Steve’s water bottle). The only time she made any sort of noise was when Steve would go down the steeper trails with wooden bars – then we’d hear “ahhh ahhh ahh” along with the bumps. I asked her this morning “Did you have fun with Daddy biking and did he go fast?” I got vigorous head nodding and smiling. I guess that means we’ll be biking again. Unfortunately, Steve’s bike gave up the ghost and two links, so Tina towed Katherine home from the park.

Katherine Talking and Walking

Katherine is officially mobile. When we left for our biking trip, Katherine could walk 4 or 5 steps between me and Steve. When we came home, after much practicing, she could walk 8 to 9 steps. Now she can easily wobble in Frankenstein fashion 14 or 15 steps. We play a game of “go to mommy” and “go to daddy” where she will beam and walk between us. Not only is she mobile, she can now squat and then stand back up again. For instance, if we duck behind the coffee table, she will grasp the table with one hand, squat down, peer at us from under the table and laugh at us. Tonight, I caught her walking to Bisco who was lying on the floor. She leaned down, grabbed his head, ears and then nose – at different times. I tried to explain that she needs to be gentle, but that didn’t work out too well. It’s fortunate that Bisco is very patient. He just stayed on the floor looking very resigned.

Katherine is also expanding her vocabulary. Today, I came home and Patty informed me that Katherine says “Up.” She confirmed this by lifting her arms up, looking up at me and saying “Uph.” It was very sweet. So, I spent the rest of the evening saying Up and Down. And we’re continuing to say Thanks (which I’ve heard a couple times as “Tanks”) and we think she is trying to say Bisco as “Bith.” She babbles a lot now, talking to herself as she plays with her toys and walks around.

Everyone Sings in Our House!

With Steve out of town this week, I’ve taken the opportunity to practice my violin warming up for a few minutes each night with some nursery songs and a few scales. For some reason, Bisco has real issues with the violin. He simply purses his muzzle and howls “AWHOOOO” non-stop. Even when I play simple songs, he’ll hop on the couch and moan.

Last night, I took my violin out for the first time in months. Katherine spied it and clung to my leg looking at the violin curiously. When I started to tune, Bisco rushed over and started to howl. Katherine really enjoyed the show – Bisco howling next to me as I tuned and played the violin. Tonight, I took out a harmonica that we got at Sid’s birthday party, and the same thing happened. I want to make sure that Katherine grows up with music (As they say at Tiny Tots “it’s a musical life!”), so hopefully she’ll develop a love for stringed instruments. I took her hand and let her touch my violin and bow, she was so curious!

Curious Katherine

We call her “Curious Katherine” because she wants to check everything out. Tonight, she wobbled behind one of our chairs and found the gymboree parachute that was collapsed. She picked it up (strong!) and dragged it from behind the chair as if telling me “Mom, I want to play with this!” I opened it up and she crawled through. After staring at it, she grabbed the tag and one end and started to roll the parachute back and forth watching it roll across the floor.

During our trip to the Bay Area, she investigated everything around her. On the plane, she would check out her roundabout seat (not that she doesn’t sit in it everyday!) and she would peer at the people around her. She even stood on Steve’s lap and giggled at the people behind her over his shoulder. At the hotel, she checked out all the rooms and found bath salts next to the bath tub. I moved them to a nearby table, thinking she couldn’t reach them. Not only did she reach them, but she also then dropped the bag scattering the bath salts everywhere. I turned around from filling the tub and saw her stick a salt granule in her mouth. Holy Cow! Yes, we managed to get it out of her mouth.

Katherine goes to her first wedding

My previous roomate from Tempe, Sueling, got married this past weekend, so we all headed down to Los Gatos on Friday and came home on Sunday. Katherine was a trooper on the plane rides and drank lots of water to relieve her ear pressure. I’m not sure how parents travel with children, because she only slept one hour on Friday. With all the new experiences, Katherine didn’t want to miss a minute and stayed alert thru the airport, flight and to San Jose. She did sleep to the hotel, but promptly woke up as we carried her to the room. Coincidentally, Steve’s parents  were in town too for the Stanford homecoming weekend, so they visited Friday and saw Katherine’s new developments. For dinner, we went to the California Cafe in the old town shopping center, sat out on the patio with other families and then walked back to the hotel room to watch the last out of the World Series first game. It was a beautiful evening, and Los Gatos is a very “tony” town as Steve’s mother described it.

On Saturday, we had breakfast with Steve’s parents at a local, Southern establishment. We headed back and stopped at the first annual glass art pumpkin festival. Local glass artists sold all sizes, colors and types of glass pumpkins to help raise money for hosting schools. Since we were staying right across from the Los Gatos High School, we stopped by and found a large, colorful pumpkin created by a Stanford grad only several years ahead of us. Since they wouldn’t ship, Steve had to visit a local store to double box the pumpkin for delivery home (it arrived in one piece!). It’s about 18″ in diameter and while orange in color has all sorts of blobs of colors all over it. The artist, when she found out we were from Seattle said, “bringing glass back to Seattle…that’s like taking coal to Newcastle!” I’m not sure how many people can afford the glass art she was referring to! Also, when Steve and I were debating one largely orange pumpkin and the one we bought, another woman explained that the colorful one was better because we could display it all year and it would go with more stuff. Pretty good rationale, so we bought it.

We returned to the hotel. Katherine took a nap, and we headed off to Sueling’s wedding only 6 or 7 miles up highway 17. The wedding was held at a small and tucked away facility with english cabs, a train, play houses and a refurbished barn! The ceremony was beautiful and in front of a lake with fountain with us sitting amongst the trees. (Katherine and Steve stayed outside the ceremony area so she wouldn’t disturb anyone – although it turned out she was quiet throughout.) We ate appetizers, rode in the train, and talked with others at the wedding.  For dinner, we partaked in a 9 course dinner; we were just stuffed and Katherine was bleary eyed, so we had to leave prior to the cake cutting for nap time. She slept for 45 minutes in the car, and then we headed later to Mountain View to synch up with old friends, James, Lily and Kristina. After a short visit, we drove back to the hotel and hit the sack.

On Sunday, we woke early and headed to Albany for a visit with family. We visited with my Uncle Richard, Aunt Susan, and cousins Henry and Ronald. It was good to see everyone, after 7 years! Katherine played or banged on their piano, walked around their house and we enjoyed catching up.  Unfortunately, we had to leave after only an hour and a half to make it back to the San Jose airport in time for our flight.

Santa Barbara Vacation

Steve and I booked our bike tour vacation to Santa Barbara late last year. This was a Butterfield & Robinson “Moderate to Challenging” tour that included staying at some wonderful hotels, eating great food, drinking and tasting all types of wine, and riding 25-30 miles/day for 4 straight days. While I didn’t set any speed records, I did managed to finish all the rides without hopping a ride in the sag van or walking my bike (except for one really nasty steep hill). Wahoo! Not bad considering the 50-60 work weeks, a year old infant, and being 5 pounds over my ideal weight. ๐Ÿ™‚

We arrived in Santa Barbara just in time to check in to the Upham hotel – one of the oldest hotels in Santa Barbara. We walked around the corner to Carlitas, a wonderful Mexican restaurant with killer margaritas (Steve). After stuffing ourselves, we wandered leisurely down State Street to the pier and back in time to watch Alias. Perhaps one of the funniest (not ha ha) moments was realizing that Steve’s luggage had gone to Honolulu and wouldn’t arrive to our hotel until late the next morning. Poor Steve ended up riding the next day in borrowed shorts from our guide and Merrills.

Day 1 wasn’t too bad. We biked 14 miles in the morning with a great downhill ride, stopped by a winery for tasting and ended up in Los Olivos for lunch. After a nice lunch with our group members, Steve and I headed off out of town, up a very steep hill and then along rolling hills back to our first hotel. Another 14 miles later, we arrived at the Santa Ynez Inn – a 2 year old Victorian inn with a pretty amazing suite. We unpacked and prepared for a wine tasting at the hotel – which was very informative – and then a phenomenal dinner at the Inn. Steve managed to restrain himself during this whole day, only purchasing a handful of bottles at the first winery and at the tasting event. Besides Steve’s biking apparel, the toughest aspect of day 1 riding was the seat of our hybrid, upright bikes. I guess it would be an understatement to say that we were not used to the …uh…pressure points on the seat. Our bottoms were very, very sore on day 1 and day 2, and partially day 3. By day 4, we were just numb. I think it’s worth describing the dinner on day 1; it was a wonderful blend of wines matched perfectly to each course, starting with a fennel/dill salad and ending with a veal (like butter) and fig tart. After the dinner, we went upstairs and got our first real night of uninterrupted sleep in 11 months.

Day 2 started from the hotel. We rode thru wine country and past some very nice wineries, stopping at Fess Parker and a couple other places for snacks from the sag van and pictures. We then continued a low grade climb that culminated in a killer downhill and then a flat run on new asphalt to our winery for lunch and then a van ride back to the hotel. This was more of a challenging ride than day 2. Between the long, low grade climb and tasting wine and our sore bottoms, getting to lunch was a welcome event. Again, Steve purchased more wine and then decided to make the unprecedented B&R ride back to our hotel – for a total of 52 miles. With his newly arrived bike shoes and gear, he made it back in about 2 hours. This wasn’t too bad considering that the asphalt was very warm and apparently the bike tires were sinking not riding over the surface. One humorous event occurred about 5 miles into the ride after a nice steep hill. We arrived at the top and Steve said, “I think I lost a shoe.” Yes, Steve had strapped his Merrills to the back of his bike with a bungee cord, and one disappeared never to be found again. I also gave in and finally started to draft Steve on the new asphalt as we rode against a brisk wind for 8-9 miles. At one point, I said “we could go faster” and Steve pulled aside to give me an idea of why we were going so slow. Anyway, this was a very picturesque ride. We felt like we were in the Bay Area with brown hills, trees and scrub. We also saw all sorts of veggies being grown, from red peppers to squash to zucchini. For dinner, we wandered into Los Olivos (very small town) for dinner at a Cajun/Californian restaurant. Steve was dragging from his ride, and I was watching all the babies in the restaurant thinking about Katherine. At one point, I was gazing at a child (maybe 7-10 mos) old and realized that I recognized his dad. Noah Wiley and David Crosby were sitting right behind Steve eating dinner. That was our big brush with fame on this trip. ๐Ÿ™‚

For Day 3, we hopped in the van and rode to the “Coastal Bike Trail” perhaps 2000-3000 feet above sea level. We cruised down a hair-raising hill that lasted a good 10-15 minutes; it was so steep that my right hand hurt from pumping my brake down the hill! I also remember hearing one tour member screaming “I need a tranquilizer.” The fun continued along the Coastal Bike Trail where we saw a coyote and solar powered bike trail lights. We rode near Hope Ranch where we saw beautiful, million dollar homes and found ourselves ascending another fun, steep hill. Funny enough, we ran into a resident walking her dog who informed us “Sorry, the hill keeps going. you know, there’s nothing wrong with getting off your bike and walking.” ๐Ÿ™‚ I didn’t give into the temptation, but went into my granny gear and swore all the way up the hill. At the top, we cruised down a gorgeous, palm-lined road with expensive homes and then dove down another hill to arroyo beach. Here we stopped, as advertised in our trip notes we could use bathrooms there. What they didn’t say was that this beach had a very picturesque cafรฉ nestled next to the beach that served hot mochas and clam chowder. We stayed 20 minutes there, confounding our guides who realized that they had “lost” 8 members of the tour somehow. Thankfully, our guide who was riding that day found us, and all was well. We hopped back on our bikes, rode along the beach to Santa Barbara and lunch on State Street. After a huge lunch with more wine (surprise, surprise!), we took a walking tour of Santa Barbara, which was extremely informative and enjoyable – what I didn’t realize is that Santa Barbara has a very rich history with diverse architecture that dates many, many years back. On a more practical front, we bought Steve new shoes and indulged our parental guilt at a children’s store on State Street. Steve selected two dresses for Katherine, one that she’s going to wear to a wedding and then her birthday and one pink velvet dress for the holidays. I test drove and then selected the smaller of two Silver Cross rocking horses for Katherine’s birthday (more to come on how she reacted to this!) and a Rody which is a plastic inflatable rocking horse more appropriate for Katherine’s age. Our shopping extravaganza was cut short as we realized that we had to ride up more hill to our final hotel – the San Ysidro Ranch. I huffed and puffed up more low grade, and then higher grade hill the remaining 6-7 miles. This Ranch is chock full of history, where very famous people have stayed, married and honeymooned. The Ranch dates back to 1920s when it was really a ranch and then it was converted to a resort with a spa and gorgeous restaurant, where we had a very tasty dinner that evening.

Day 4 had the hardest ride yet. We started at the ranch and went straight up the Santa Barbara hills. Going up a double digit grade (or so it felt), I finally hopped off my bike and walked up 40 or 60 feet. I got back on and managed to get up the rest of the climb – perhaps a couple thousand feet. We then headed downhill and after a little backtracking we arrived in a small beach town – Carpenteria. We headed along the beach and ate a beach cafe, and relaxed before going to the Santa Barbara Polo Club to watch a club match. We learned that polo is indeed a very expensive sport- each match requires over 50 ponies. And the only way to end up with a modest fortune is to start with a large one. ๐Ÿ™‚

After wandering around and admiring the ponies, we headed back to the ranch – uphill again of course. What was encouraging is that we did the ride back to the ranch more quickly than the day before; however, it was still a relief to get back. We went into town and had a nice meal with the guides and group on our last night.

It’s a Musical Life

When Katherine was just an infant, I purchased Tiny Tot subscription concert tickets. They are essentially short (less than 1 hour) performances geared to babies and toddlers. The kids are free to talk, cry, move around during the concert. The first concert included children of the Symphony players and conductor as well as two women who told a funny story that incorporated the four seasons and a story about a musical family.

Katherine was entranced by the show. She stood on my and Steve’s laps throughout and stared at the women. During the singing, she started wobbling one leg (which is her Elvis-like version of dancing) and getting pretty excited. Her friend Sid also attended and she played with his shoe a bit. I can’t wait until the next performance!

Katherine Takes Her First Steps

We saw Katherine take her first couple steps tonight. We think the trick is to distract Katherine with a toy, in this case her beloved green pinwheel (courtesy of her friend Sid). I held the pinwheel just out of reach on top of the coffee table. Steve held her up, and we encouraged her to get the toy just to see what would happen.

After a few tries, she took a couple wobbly steps forward, grabbed the table and tried to get the toy. (On one try she accidentally bonked herself on the padded table, so this wasn’t such a great idea.) Katherine may have been motivated lately by other children who she’s seen walking. Or, she may be getting more balanced; it’s unclear, but nonetheless very exciting.

Katherine Plays with Legos

Katherine has been picking Legos out of her blue Lego truck for a while now. Tonight she crawled over to her truck and took some out again. Steve showed her how to pull them apart, and put them back together again. We would hand her Legos, and she would grasp them and pull them apart. For the most part, she was successful if we showed her which ends to pull – on other occasions, she would try and pull one Lego apart or pull the Legos the wrong away. But, she really seemed to enjoy being able to play more actively with her toys. She got a big kick out of playing with the truck and seeing her stuffed animals in the truck or Steve stirring up her Legos.

Happy Birthday Francesca!

One of Katherine’s PEPs buddies, Francesca, turned 1 this past weekend. We went to her birthday party and had a wonderful time. Francesca showed us how she can walk (wow!) and shared her toys with her friends. One very cute moment occurred with Francesca stood on top of one gift to reach the curly ribbons on another gift. Both girls eventually ended up standing side by side playing with the ribbons before Katherine edged Francesca off the box.

More Adventures with the Chariot

We went cycling again this Saturday to prepare for our upcoming trip. We started at Redmond Town Center, went up the Burke Gilman trail and stopped for BBQ sandwiches in Woodinville. All was going well, especially since Katherine fell asleep in her trailer. I stopped by a nearby store to say hello to a friend, Katherine woke up, and we hit the trial again. Despite the best of intentions, we made it only to the 10 mile mark before everything let loose. Katherine had had enough. She was hungry, wolfed down a whole serving of bananas, drank milk and was generally very unhappy. We tried to give her a break by stopping at a nearby children’s park on the trail. She seemed to enjoy this, but didn’t have the wherewithal to make it back to the car. Steve and I flew back up the trail with Katherine screaming bloody murder. Other cyclists seem to find the screaming Chariot Doppler effect pretty funny. ๐Ÿ™‚ Anyway, I stayed at the willows lodge for 30 minutes until Steve could get back to the car and pick us up. Katherine also showed us why we call her our little Houdini. At the children’s trail, we pulled off to find Katherine holding her bike helmet! Holy Cow.

Redmond Park

It turns out that Patty has been taking Katherine to a nearby park in Redmond to see the animals that the park service imports during the summer. We stopped by the park with Audrey and her parents to see the park ourselves, and it is quite a cool place. The ponies walked over to say hello. The sheep and goals were pretty friendly too. Katherine loved the animals and seemed to like talking (er…loudly) to them.