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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.

Every letter makes a sound, the A says ahhh…

Every letter makes a sound, the A says ahhh…

For the last couple months I’ve been working on letter sounds with Katherine. The conversation would go like this…

Christine: “Katherine, what sound does Aaaallison start with?”

Dead Silence

Christine: “It starts with ahhh…Aaaallison starts with ahhh..”

Dead Silence

I was starting to wonder whether Katherine had entered her “sensitive period” for phonemic awareness or not. I was also wondering how long I’d have to have one way conversations…which is pretty unusual with Katherine. Thankfully, we borrowed a great Leapfrog DVD from Audrey two weeks ago which has worked wonders in a very short period of time.

What’s up with the Letter Factory DVD? Well, it uses Leap, Lily, Tad and a Dr. Quigley to sing the entire alphabet and the letter’s sounds. The great news is that Katherine has learned many sounds of the alphabet. If I ask her what sound a letter makes, she can make the correct sound about half the time. When we ask her what sound a word starts with, she can also nail it half the time. The bad news is that this song is stuck in my head and it probably will be for the next few months!

Katherine is also very excited to identify her letters. She can identify half of her letters now…mostly those associated with our names like A for Allison, B for Bisco, D for Daddy, K for Katherine, L for Lambey, M for Mommy, P for Patty, Q for ??, S for Steve, W (upside down M!), X for ?? and Y for who knows!

Yesterday we hit a big milestone as well. Katherine wrote her first letters! She was busy scribbling with her big pencils on some paper. She turned to me and said “Mama, I wrote an A!” I looked casually over and there was an A!! I came home yesterday afternoon to find another piece of paper on the table with several As, an M (or W) and X on it! Needless to say, Steve, Patty and I were very proud of Katherine and she just beamed at us.

Finally eating cereal!

Allison has been working hard to get her hands on some food for a while now. Whenever we hold her at the table, she’ll pull the plate towards her and reach for food. Now she can eat as well…we started rice cereal last Monday and then switched to oatmeal on Friday. Katherine was probably the most excited of any of us. She tried to help by shaking the formula for the cereal, getting the bib and then trying to convince me to let her feed Allison!

Allison has eaten a good meal maybe three or four times over the last week. She’s very strong willed about food and milk, only eating when she is super hungry. This perhaps helps to explain why she is still only 5-10% in weight (13 lbs 0.5 oz) and 50% or 25.5″ in height at her 6 month checkup. Sigh.

Katherine’s birthday
Katherine celebrated her birthday three times last week! The first time was actually on her birthday after Steve and I got home from PuzzleHunt. The second time was at Patty’s sister’s house. The third time was with her friends this past Saturday at an arts and crafts studio in Bellevue.

My mom was a huge help over PuzzleHunt weekend, watching the kids on Sunday until dinner time. Yes….we were solving puzzles for two straight days and didn’t even finish by 5PM when Steve and I had to leave! Anyway, that aside, we got home to find Katherine running around and fired up to open her twelve gifts. She had been planted by the dining room table all day, counting her presents and telling my mom about the chocolate ice cream cake in the freezer. It took her about 10 minutes to rip thru the gifts and then she spent the next hour or so examining games and puzzles from family.

Saturday’s official party was more riotous, with kids running around making dragon masks, butterfly wings, fuse bead artwork and tiled flower pots. Katherine came home with artwork, with lots of help from mom. She also got lots of cool gifts (some to remain in the toy closet for a couple weeks) and had a great time.

Another preschool cold

We’re on our fourth preschool cold this year. Katherine brought it home and promptly gave it to her sister. For the last week, we’ve had runny noses, interrupted sleep (primarily Allison) and some general crankiness. Steve and I are fighting it…fingers crossed we don’t get the full blown cold. As a result of all this interrupted sleep, Allison has been getting up regularly during the night. Steve and I were just exhausted and decided to try formula at night. Allison got up only once last night at midnight to drink formula before waking up at 6AM. We’ll have to try this again. Maybe Allison will decide that formula isn’t worth waking up for and sleep through the night. If that doesn’t work, then it’s time to Ferberize!

Preschool Progress

As you can see, we had a wonderful Harvest Fest right before Halloween this year. I co-chaired the event…learning all about how to manage a preschool project! Anyway, Steve’s parents were able to attend and it was a very special event. Katherine was at first standing in the back of her class until Miss Julie pulled her forward to the stairs. Katherine was a trooper and sang “The Cat came back” and “Earth my body” while mimicking the hand motions of her classmates. It was way too cute.

Last Thursday we had our first student-led parent teacher conference with Miss Tammy. Katherine showed us almost 10 different works from around the classroom in an hour. First she led off with a water project that involved many steps (a) fill the pitcher (b) pour water into bowl (c) use dropper to put soap in bowl (d) use hand mixer to make suds (e) use sponge to wipe mixer (f) pour water into sink. She also showed us how she washes her face in class – which was hysterical – and how she sorts, matches various objects with different works. She’s learning different shapes by feel and stacking the pink cubes in order. She’s learning the basics of counting through 1:1 correspondence. Steve and I had a blast watching Katherine’s progress which Miss Tammy said was phenomenal. (Yes, we’re very proud parents!!) I’ll have to make a point of dropping by the classroom and watching thru the 1 way mirror more often.

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2 Month Checkup & 4 Shots!

Allison has been growing up a storm. She measured 22″ (0.5″ growth) and 9.5 lbs (over 1.5 lbs increase). She’s a bit shorter than Katherine at 2 months – at 50% height and 25% weight. Her pediatrician looked her over and pronounced her in great health. We’re still waiting for her chirping, wheezing to go away entirely. Mom and Patty think that it’s letting up and less severe, but I really can’t tell anymore.

The toughest part of the checkup were the 2 shots in each leg and the aftereffects. That evening, before Steve arrived home, Allison just melted down for 30 minutes crying and crying. The next day she urped once with my mom, another time in the afternoon and then once more after her bath. Yes – vomiting is a side effect of the vaccinations. ๐Ÿ™‚ She also melted down for another half an hour that afternoon at a friends home. I’m so glad that vaccinations are over for the next several months.

Summer Camp

The fourth of July was eventful. Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey came to visit from Boston. Katherine was sooo excited. She took them to the Museum of Flight and raspberry picking. They showed Katherine how to make yummy pies.

The most apprehensive part of the weekend was….summer camp! Katherine headed off to 4 days of Montessori preschool just down the hill. As she put it, “I only cried a little bit.” Despite our description of preschool, she was under the impression that I would stay at school with her. The first day I walked her down to the little classroom and watched as the teacher told Katherine where to find the bathroom, the snack table and the pets. A few minutes later, when the teacher was showing Katherine one of the tanks, I gave Katherine a kiss and told her that I’d be back soon. Apparently she cried a few times that morning because she wanted me to play with her there. As I pulled up to pick her up I saw the children hold hands, cross the little walkway two by two to the gated playground. Poor Katherine had a tear stained face and was first in line with an older girl. I arrived at the gate to find Katherine standing a few feet away “Mommy!!” On the way home she told me “boy told me to go away. I covered my eyes with my hands and cried.” I asked the teacher about this the next day to find out if there were sharing issues to learn that Katherine had been watching the children work on their projects – and that not all were comfortable with that. This was a great opportunity to teach Katherine a coping skill although it was too bad to see her sad about this experience.

Thankfully, Katherine still wanted to go to school the next few days – with a few tears here and there during the morning. The last day she clung to me, and the teacher had to carry her crying down the stairs to the classroom. I talked to the teacher afterwards who said that she needed to work on putting things away, but did extremely well given that she never had been in daycare and that she had no accidents during the week! Needless to say we’re working on consistently putting project materials and toys away.

Picking Fruit

It’s been a great summer for picking fruit. After our first strawberry adventure, the girls and I took the grandparents strawberry picking. Then, over the Fourth weekend, the entire Chang family went raspberry picking at Remlinger Farms. Allison stayed in her car seat with a blanket hanging over it for shade as she sat below the bushes. Katherine ran up and down each row, picking raspberries, putting them in her little cardboard box. Occasionally she would drop her box of fruit and we’d hear her loudly exclaim “Oh no…I dropped my berries!” After filling a box, she’d find Jamey and dump them into one of two cardboard boxes. The raspberries tasted GREAT, and I made some pretty tasty freezer jam. We had enough left over to freeze at least 5 or 6 pounds of fresh fruit.

Learning to Swim

Katherine is now a regular at the community center pool where my mom lives. She’s learning with Patty how to blow bubbles and kick in the water. The pool is zero entry which means that she can run into the “small pool” and then splash around. Typically she’ll then get out and demand to go into the “big pool.” Our goal is for her to be a lot more comfortable in the water – hopefully we’ll get there by the end of the summer!

Our Weekend

Over the last several months, Katherine has found it a bit difficult to let go of both Mom and Dad. Case in point we went to the movies in January and she howled when we left. This month we’ve made a real effort to have extended family take care of Katherine, so she becomes more comfortable in a non primary caregiver environment. Coincidentally, Steve and I played in the annual MS PuzzleHunt with a group of friends this weekend, which turned out to be a great opportunity for her to spend time with my mom. They had a great time – no separation anxiety, no tears or asking Mom or Dad to stay home. I asked her afterwards “did you have a good time?” and she nodded. After PuzzleHunt on Sunday afternoon, Steve’s mom dropped by and took Katherine out for a couple hours – again she had a blast. We feel like we’re making progress.

Speaking of PuzzleHunt, our team (Killer Bees) came in 4th place. Not bad given that 60 odd teams played… ๐Ÿ™‚

Becoming a “Big Girl”

We have the most interesting conversations with Katherine these days. A few days ago, Steve and Bisco were wrestling and Katherine declared “Mama play with Bisco.” Listening from the kitchen I heard the following exchange…

Steve – “Mama is carrying the baby right now. She can’t play with Bisco…”
Pause
Katherine – “Mama put baby in car seat. Mama play with Bisco…”

She is also very proud to be able to do the things that we take for granted, like spitting. Now after we brush teeth, she takes her little plastic cup, tries to gargle and aims for the sink. She makes it most of the time. Sometimes her PJs get a little damp before bed.

Pie Book

Katherine now goes to the library every week for Story time and the ritual of picking out and returning library books. The first couple times we had to keep explaining the concept of borrowing books and how she has to keep the paper covers on. Now she gets it and really enjoys reading different books. On one of our first trips, I picked up a book called Sweet Dream Pie because it was written by the same author who wrote Silly Sally – a favorite book. The “pie book” is for a bit older children, and it’s story line is a bit fantastic; however, it’s now on Katherine’s hot list of books including Officer Buckle and Gloria as well as The Old Woman who ate a Trout (Pacific NW version of the spider book). She’s memorized her favorite parts of these books (like all the sweet ingredients that go in the pie!) and requests to read them again and again at night. Before her nap we hear her dragging her books into her junior bed and the thump of the books on the floor when she’s done with them.