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Swimming

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.

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. ๐Ÿ™‚

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…

More On Swimming

More On Swimming

I’ve finally downloaded a gazillion pictures from the camera, so you can see what the kids have been up to this summer. First three pictures show a very happy Katherine diving for pennies, floating around the pool and waiting for her turn to jump off the diving board. What did we do or say to help enable the turnaround? Besides leaving the pool area, I talked to Katherine about the need to swim well (for pool parties among other things), how she overcame her fear to learn how to bike, and how her Grandma Dottie used to be a champion high school swimmer. Funny enough, Katherine told me after class that she told her swim teacher, “My Grandma used to be a champion swimmer.” Her teacher who has probably heard it all said, “Cool.”

Training Wheels

Katherine has been begging all summer to ride her bike without training wheels. This seems to be an opportune time, especially since she’s outgrowing her 12″ wheel bike. Steve has raised the seat as far as it will go, and it’s time to give the bike to Allison.

Last weekend, after more practice on a balance bike (doesn’t have pedals), Steve took off the training wheels of the little Trek bike. They spent half an hour riding around the neighborhood before Katherine asked him to put the training wheels back on. They then went for a Huge Ride to the Redmond Ridge Community Center – a good 1.5 miles in each direction. Not only was Katherine pooped afterwards, but also Steve since he had to push Katherine on her pink bike up a few big hills on the way there and back. This was also Steve’s first ride on his bike since breaking his collarbone.

We’ll probably keep practicing sans training wheels over the next couple weeks. Once she gets this down, we’ll head back to the bike store and buy a new pink bike.

What did Allison do while Katherine practiced? She lounged in Dad’s camp chair drinking water and eating almonds. ๐Ÿ™‚

Blue Angels

It was an ambitious idea that kind of worked. It all started when Steve and I talked about whether the kids would be ready to watch the Blue Angel show during Seafair. The kids overheard and asked, “can we go see the blue jets?” So, we hauled the kids into Seattle and parked near Steve’s old office building in Leschi to see and hear the show. We ate lunch at Perks and got a great spot on the pier to watch the show. Unfortunately, the sun, blaring music, crowds and boats were just too much for Katherine. So, Katherine and I ended up standing underneath Steve’s old office building overhang. Allison and Steve were in the parking lot, and we *really* experienced the show. Most memorably we got buzzed a couple times by a huge plane before the Blue Angels, and we saw the Blue Angels go flying by over Lake Washington and the boats quite a few times. This conversation with Allison afterwards says it all…

Mom: “Did you like the Blue Angels, Allison?”

Allison: “The blue jets were LOUD!”

Company Picnic

This was a surreal experience for me, but the kids loved the MS company picnic. Despite the 85+ degree heat, big crowds, a huge field to walk across and long lines, the kids had a nice time. Their favorite part…free ice cream! They also bounced in the toddler bouncing houses, checked out the bigger kid rides (but didn’t try) and wandered around until Allison’s nap time.

Bowling

Last summer our potluck group raised a nice chunk of change for a kids activity. This funded a nice bowling expedition to Tech City Bowl. Just imagine 4 and 5 year old kids hurling 6 pound balls down the lane…Anyway, it took almost an hour, but Katherine’s bowling group of three finished a game. She scored a whopping 60 something, largely because she kept putting her hand over the line thereby negating several of her second bowls. One big highlight for the kids was the $3.50 milkshakes. Next up…Jump Planet!

Idylwood Park

Katherine and Allison have several favorite parks that they love to visit. Among them is Idylwood Park on West Lake Sammamish. I took them a couple weeks ago and they had a blast with a couple little friends. Memorable moments:

  • Katherine and Allison lounging in their “hottub” (pool made out of sand)
  • Allison walking into Lake Samm up to her shoulders (ack!)
  • Katherine falling and taking her sister with her into Lake Samm (only 4-5 inches of water)
  • Allison surfacing, only to have her sister accidentally push her down again
  • Me grabbing Allison who said thru sandy hair and water, “I’m OK…I’m OK!!”

Developmental Milestones

Allison is a full-fledged two year old. She has a sunny disposition, a larger than life sense of humor and a great deal of persistence. She freaks out when a family member (often me or Katherine) does something that she wants to do. Examples: putting on her shirts, putting her straw in her sippy cup, going to get something. What we hear is, “I can do it…Noooo…Noooo…Don’t do it…I can do it!!”

She’s grown very attached to certain pieces of clothing, asking about the whereabouts of her A shirt or her warm shirt which is pink with stripes. Allison revolts at wearing some of her new summer clothes and ironically loves her hand-me-downs.

Allison speaks in full sentences and is aware of phonics when asked. For instance, today I asked her what letters the words Grandma and Lamby start with. She thought hard and answered each after some consideration. On the other hand, she still gets some of her lower case letters mixed up, telling me that a “u” was a “n.” We counted to through thirty nine in the car.

Katherine and Allison can play together for a limited amount of time without intervention. After about 5-10 minutes, I will often hear “noooo …. nooo…Katherine took my <toy>” or I’ll hear “Mooommm…Allison messed up my <toy>.”

If they’re in good spirits, they’ll decide to do pretend play together. Latest game is putting on ballet shows on top of the train table. Allison can now fully outfit herself in hand-me-down ballerina and shoes from Katherine and pretend to do first position (with feet right next to each other!) Katherine loves trying to teach Allison first through fifth position and tapping in her shoes.

Speaking of which, Katherine is turning into quite the helper these days. She is turning the corner to five, which means a greater adherence to rules and desire to help other family members. Katherine makes her own bed now when asked, puts away toys in her room, helps with clean dishes and laundry occasionally.

Allison receives lessons in not only ballet but academic works. In the picture below, you’ll see Katherine teaching her sister how to write a capital A. I caught Katherine telling Allison, “you go up, down, then across.” Allison, who desperately wants to keep up, kept muttering to herself, “up down across” as she wrote As, then Bs and Cs and other letters on the dry erase board.

Just about Normal

Just about Normal

We’re almost to week 5 after Steve’s injury, which means he’s almost back to normal. I still hear the chunk-klunking sound from the ice machine every night, and Steve still ices his shoulder regularly. But, he can now finally give the kids their baths. According to our doctor, we’ve got one more week until he’s pain-free. Fingers crossed we reach that milestone soon.

An Up and Down Week

This week has been one of extreme moods for Katherine – first apprehension and worry and then upmost satisfaction. Given recommendation of several folks, I signed Katherine up for group swim lessons with a private instructor this past week. Ms. Susie was fabulous and lived up to expectations.

Day 1 – Katherine got in the pool and followed teachers’ instructions…until it was time to jump in the pool at the end of class. I had to carry her to the diving board, with her crying up a storm. Teacher grabbed both arms, and plunked her in the pool. Katherine’s face didn’t even get wet.

Day 2 – Katherine went to class and whined for the first 10 minutes. She hopped out and started crying. I finally left the pool area (took a walk) after handing her to Ms. Susie. Katherine must have cried for another five minutes before doing everything the teacher asked, even jumping off the diving board. I re-appeared at the end of class to find her in good spirits.

Day 3 – Steve delivered her to class and tossed her in the pool to the teacher. Katherine did everything without complaint. I showed up in time for the jumping, and Katherine exclaimed proudly that she did everything!

Day 4 – At Katherine’s request, I sat by the edge of the pool and cheered her on. Everytime she did something with the teacher, she’d look up afterwards to make sure I saw her do it. Today she even went “googles down” to dive for pennies. Ms. Susie grabbed her arms and pulled her whole body into the pool from the diving board.

Katherine can now go goggles down, and swim from the teacher to the poolside seat (about 3 feet) underwater. She’s much more comfortable in the water, working with the teacher and/or a kickboard. We’re going to class again week after next to help solidify her learning. Meanwhile next week we’ll visit some other pools to play and practice. I’ll be sure to post pics of Katherine in the pool with her shark googles – which are hysterical. She would pull them down before working with the teacher. Then after finishing and while watching the other kids, she’d pull them back onto her forehead.

Exhausting Weekend

Tough Weekend

Steve and I had one of those weekends. The kids were exhausted on Saturday and Sunday, with Allison not wanting to nap and Katherine desperately needing a nap herself. Yesterday we had planned to go swimming – but that plan went by the wayside after Katherine screamed outside of napping Allison’s nursery. Katherine tried mightily to convince me that she didn’t wake her sister, that she only opened the door to find her sister awake already. That all said, it was pretty clear that swimming was not to be on Saturday.

Sunday morning we visited with some friends over brunch. The kids hung in there, despite Katherine and Steve both being awakened by Bisco at 6AM! After brunch, Katherine napped, Allison tried sooo hard not to nap and Steve finally took Allison for a drive around the neighborhood. We finally got to the gym mid-afternoon just in time for a much awaited swim.

Despite Katherine’s excitement and enthusiasm, Allison cried and cried at the pool. Once I handed her to Steve, she started bawling and continued to cry through her swim. I hopped out the pool, showered her off (more crying), toweled her (more crying) and finally plopped her on a towel with a biscuit so I could dress in the dressing room. At this point, she quieted down and knawed her treat. We’ll have to try this again sometime…Sigh.

Probably the high point of the swim was the new camera casing that Steve bought for our Elph. It worked really well and was just as easy to use as the regular camera without the waterproof casing.

Ma Ma MAAA

Allison is getting Very Vocal these days. It’s unclear if this is natural development or a byproduct of hanging out with Katherine. Anyway, Allison’s newest trick is to cry very loudly, “Ma Ma MMMAAAA!!” She does this in the kitchen, on the changing table, even when I’m holding her!

She also will yell (no other way to describe it), “awa aWA AWAAA!” This goes on for minutes at a time. We offer water (agua) but she’ll push it away. Allison typically does this when she sees running water, water in a cup,`an empty cup, a spray canister or anything that could hold liquid. Sometimes she really does want water – our water!

 

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!