Hobbies

Roller Queens

Roller Queens

Since it is winter break, Patty took the kids skating while I had my violin lesson and worked on school stuff. Allison wore the smallest skates they had, and Katherine wore her new purple and pink roller skates. The kids had a blast, both skating by themselves. Allison apparently clomped around the rink occasionally falling down, and shook her booty to the music. Katherine says she only fell, “Four Times…but Allison fell a hundred times!” Patty had to peel the kids out of the rink. Needless to say, they were exhausted tonight. Katherine’s new favorite place is Skate King; she just adores it.

The Plan

Katherine decided this weekend to plan out our day. I’ll decipher the phonetic writing that she taped to the wall: “First, we will watch the weather forecast. If the forecast is rain, we’ll build a fort. Then Allison will take a nap. Then we’ll go swimming.”

We get lots of little pieces of paper with scribbles on them. For Valentine’s day, we received lots of “I Love You Dad and Mom” pieces of scrap paper.

Funny Moments

Funny Moments

We get a lot of them these days. This morning, I found Allison in the TV room with Steve. I asked her to join me for breakfast downstairs. Her reply was hysterical, “I have stinky feet.” No reason or explanation given. But she felt strongly about it and reiterated it downstairs.

The kids and I made potstickers a couple weeks ago…really wontons since I didn’t have round wrappers. They were so excited to stir the filling. Allison must have dumped a ton of sesame oil in the filling, which I fished out. And, they each got their own tray with water bowls and a little filling to wrap. Katherine finally got the hang of it, as you can see. Allison made one correctly, thanks to coaching from Katherine and I. She was very imaginative with the rest. “Look Mama, I made a double double.” or “Look…I made a burrito!!”

This morning Katherine asked me in the car, “Mom, what’s a fault?” I guessed that this had to do with an earthquake reference (Busytown?). So, I asked her if she had heard of earthquakes. She launched into a whole explanation, “We put our hands on our heads and wait for the safety lady to hold up a sign….” Then upon being asked again, she said…”That’s when astronauts in space shake the earth!” My explanation of plates moving against one another probably didn’t sink in. But, she was very interested in my story of Loma Prieta.

Sunday with an E

Or, is it Sunda-e? Katherine went to a birthday party yesterday at Build-A-Bear, and it was just the bees knees. She picked the $10 bear, which allowed her to pick an outfit for the bear. I heard her ask the employee, “How much do I have left on my tag?” I told her later as we shopped, “Remember Katherine, you only have $10 to spend!” The reply was priceless, “Yes, Mama, I know…”

Swimming Picture

I have to include it in the blog because its just priceless. When Allison does ready-downs and swims in the water, she keeps her eyes open. The person to whom she’s swimming sees Allison bug-eyed coming up for air, often with a big smile on her mouth. You can see her in the ready-down position, where I’m about to let her go to swim to Steve. 🙂

Catching up on Pictures

Catching up on Pictures

It’s getting more time-consuming to review pictures because…the kids have our hand-me-down old Canons. Since last fall they’ve been snapping pictures, and we have winter pictures scattered across four cameras. Here’s a quick summary of the last month or so…

I need an ambulance

I was reading the paper after dinner last night while the kids played in the family room. Here’s the exchange that I heard as they were playing doctor:

A: “Katherine, I need an ambulance”
K: “Why’s that??”
A: “You hurt my feelings”

Katherine is fired up to give Allison or “Al” a tour of Eton tomorrow in advance of the Friday interview. Fingers crossed!

Katherine’s Teeny Violin

Katherine was in a real state yesterday. She was home from school due to holiday and exhausted from the weekend. I took her for a ride to Issaquah with pillow and lambey to pick out her rental violin. It turns out to be a 1/10 size violin, and it barely makes any noise!

C: “I hope you like you’re new violin”
K: “It’s great. I wish the case came in pink…or white…or red though!”

The kids slept like rocks last night and woke in great spirits. Allison slept so soundly she fell off her bed and made a huge “BOOM” sound. We found her on the floor crying. In the morning, Steve found blood all over the sheets from a bloody nose. Poor kid.

What a Day

What a Day

Today was an extraordinarily challenging day, full of experiences for the kids but hair-raising for me and Steve. We started the day off with a visit to the Symphony for Katherine (part of the Discovery music series). Steve took her with some family friends. Apparently, despite some fidgeting, she made it through the hour-long program. Then we came home, rested for an hour and then headed to the Bellevue Aquatic Center. I have to download the pictures from the water, since I think the kids took about 100 pictures… Katherine had a meltdown at the pool; Allison pee-ed on a chair after a trip to the bathroom and then spilt milk at Crossroads. Needless to say, we came home, and the kids went straight to bath and bed. This was probably the most challenging day in a LONG time.

You hurt my feelings

Allison has picked up so much from Katherine, as evidenced by this conversation:

– Me: “Please get in the car, Allison” (Allison promptly sits in Katherine’s booster seat)
– Me: “Allison, that’s not safe. You need to be bigger to sit in a booster.”
– A: “You hurt my feelings!!”

She’s also started to tell Katherine, “You’re not being nice.”

Katherine, for her part, has started to call Allison “Al.” Funny enough, the nickname sort of fits.

A Crazy 6 Weeks…

A Crazy 6 Weeks…

It’s been a crazy November and December with birthdays, family visits and various crises happening. After the big push around Steve’s and Katherine’s birthdays and Halloween, we then had Thanksgiving. Steve’s Mom broke a hip, and then we had my birthday. I also played my first gig in…only 15 years! And, we had a couple community events at Eton to attend. What else could possibly happen? 🙂

I’m going to post a bunch of pictures to catch up and just summarize our big developmental milestones.

I go poop I get chocolate!!

Yes. It’s that time again. It’s potty training time, and Allison is done! We started in November and are pretty much done with the occasional incident. In all, it took 2-3 weeks. Chocolate from Grandma Chang was the big incentive. Not only did Allison get a Hershey’s kiss, but Katherine also every time Allison went potty the first couple weeks. Needless to say, Katherine was a big cheerleader.

Tie Shoes and Growing

Katherine has been on a massive growth streak. She now comes up to my bicep – a full 3′ 6″ tall and close to 40 pounds. As part of this, she needed a new pair of sneakers at Thanksgiving, and we went to Stride Rite to get them. By Monday or Tuesday of the following week, she announced and demonstrated how she could tie her shoes! I guess a bunch of 2nd and 3rd years wear tie shoes, and one or two them taught Katherine how to do it. She also practiced (I believe in Practical Life) at school. Now she ties her shoes and Allison’s tie sneakers. Allison won’t wear her expensive Velcro Nike sneakers anymore; she wants to wear Katherine’s old hand-me-down New Balance sneakers with tie laces.

The 12″ Wheels

The neighbors must think it the funniest thing to see Katherine pedaling around on her little pink bike. It truly is too small for her, being the smallest size bike available (12″ wheels). She’s told Steve that she wants a bigger bike, but she doesn’t think Santa can fit it down the chimney. Little does she know that I have a new 16″ pink bike from REI smuggled away in my mom’s garage for Christmas morning. Anyway, Katherine can now ride…without training wheels. This happened last week after the last day of school. She convinced Steve to take the training wheels off. The next think I knew, Steve was running down the street after her, while she pedaled by herself into the driveway!!

Allison’s Development

There is nothing this child will not try, a true testament to her desire to keep up with Katherine:

– She tries furiously to pedal her trike, but she’s still a bit too short. After a couple revolutions, she’ll turn to me and say, “push me, push me, I want to go with Katherine!!”

– She now works easily on 24 piece puzzles, the little ones that you get at the drug store for $3. 🙂 She occasionally needs help with one or two pieces. She can breeze thru the big US Map without any issues and remember the names of her favorite states.

– She wants to do everything herself. If she can’t reach something, she’ll lug around a big wooden stool. I’ve even caught her putting the little rubber stool on top of the wooden stool for greater reach. Upon intervention, she’ll holler and cry for a few minutes and then set upon her next project.

– Steve put together the junior bed, which the kids played with for a bit. Allison decided that she wanted to sleep on the big bed though. The junior bed is now in our “get rid of” pile awaiting the right opportunity. Allison has tried to sleepover in Katherine’s bed a few nights. That only lasts 30 minutes until Katherine kicks her out of bed, “Mom, she makes so much noise. I can’t sleep!!”

Swimming Like a Fish

Swimming Like a Fish

Allison has been taking her swim lessons the last two weeks with great results. My mom described her as a fish – moving her arms to reach her swim instructor with face underwater and eyes wide open. We’ve all been very pleased…including Allison who put her windup frog in the tub tonight and said “Ready….Down!”

We’ve learned lots of little tips to make swimming easier, such as us moving forward with Allison facing backwards in the water so she doesn’t get water up her nose. I’ve learned how to hold her in the water, so she can move her arms and legs without grabbing me. We’ve also learned how to hold her and proceed with “Ready…Down,” so she enters face first into the water from the side of the pool. Like her sister, Allison now jumps off the side of the pool. 🙂

Developmental Updates for Allison

Allison is definitely two now! We have moments of stubbornness and upset, but she is still open to discussion and distraction. Other updates:

– Allison can count up to 5 or 6 items with 1:1 correspondence pretty reliably.
– She engages in all sorts of conversation with us and Katherine.
– Her spatial and matching skills are progressing, sorting through 48 insect puzzle pieces to find 4 ladybug pieces, 4 spider pieces, etc.
– She’s finally starting to outgrow her 18-24 month clothes.

Developmental Updates for Katherine

Katherine has really been turning a major corner to age five. Steve and I attribute better listening and higher energy levels to a weeklong regiment of iron drops, then a move to Flintstones Complete with Iron and more iron-enriched food. How did we figure this out? I took her to the pediatrician, who recommended a blood test to measure iron levels. Katherine did not appreciate the blood test, but she braved through the tourniquet and needle to receive a dollhouse bathroom set. As we suspected, her iron was on the lower side. We’re going to keep up the vitamins and such – fingers crossed the energy sticks. Other news:

– Katherine loves Kindermusik class and the glockenspiel (think small xylophone).
– She makes her own PB&J sandwiches for lunch, adds soy chips, a few chocolate covered edamame (iron rich) and stuffs them into her Princess lunch bag.
– Katherine enjoys washing dishes, surprising my mom who asked her to wash not expecting Katherine to actually do it!
– She’s eating a lot more food. My mom says it’s the B-12.

After a hard first couple days missing her old third year friends, Katherine is enjoying school and bringing home lots of intricate works. Today she brought home a rainbow letter work for the sound of the week “A.” Per teacher instructions, she drew a picture on the back of the “As.” What did she draw? A picture of Allison in her crib, looking out her window to flowers outside. She also brought home a full on cut and pasted picture of the new food pyramid, another piece of paper with grains, one more with protein, etc. She seems to have a greater appreciation of eating a well-balanced meal!

Camping At Lake Wenatchee

The highlight of Katherine’s summer was our camping trip over Labor Day. We stayed two nights, with both girls in bright pink sleeping bags and delighted at the prospect of sleeping outdoors.

Highlights for the kids: s’mores, hot chocolate, tent, flashlights!, playing with inflatable tubes in the water, ice cream in Leavenworth…

Lowlights: horseback riding for Katherine (Allison loved it), waking up bright and early due to various camping noises, packing/unpacking…