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Archives for 2003

Christmas is so much fun!

Climbing Everything in Sight…

Katherine is climbing everything possible. This past week, she’s climbed the stools in our house: put right foot on stool, pull left foot up. Crouch like a frog on the stool and figure out what to do next. She’s practicing putting her right leg on the wheel of her trike and climbing into her seat. We’ve even seen her crawl awkwardly into her little Gymboree chair. She puts her right foot in, stands up as much as possible and uses the back of the chair to turn herself around. Steve and try not to hover and to let her explore, but we worry that she’s going to go tumbling. So far, we haven’t had any accidents, and she’s been pretty good at climbing down backwards or sliding on her bottom off the stool. It’s funny, because we can see her think to herself “I wonder how to climb this…”

Christmas is so much fun!

The best part of Christmas so far has been the bows. We bought a big shiny package of bows at Costco and put them in three Christmas boxes. Katherine discovered these this past week. Her evening routine is to open the boxes, throw the bows up in the air, finger them and then put the top back on (maybe!). She’s pulled bows off of packages, and figured out that she can reaffix the bows if she presses hard. The bow for Patty’s present never had a chance. Katherine must have pulled it off and put it back on the present a least 4-5 times.

We can read again

For a while, it was virtually impossible to read to Katherine before bed time. She would just want to run and run and not stop for anything. Recently we’ve altered our routine, where I’ll feed Katherine, Steve will come upstairs and then we’ll read a couple books. Katherine sits still and likes the touch and feel books and now some peel back books with colorful pictures. If we read too long, she’ll squirm off my lap and head to her crib.

Next year: Santa Training

We headed to Nordstrom this past Sunday to visit Santa. We knew that Katherine might be a bit off put by Santa, although he did his best to be welcoming and friendly. But…when we got to the front of the line, Katherine started to walk to Santa, and then turned and grabbed my leg. I lifted her up and carried her to the chair. In a nutshell, she wigged out – totally cried, kicked her legs and wanted nothing to do with him. So, Santa said “bye bye” and make a big deal about leaving. Katherine sat on Steve’s lap with me on arm of the chair. Santa sneaked from the back and put his arms around me and Steve. Katherine had no clue and we think we had a nice picture taken. The nice helper said “next year, you may want to do some Santa training.” visit the mall, read books and get her used to Santa.

I do think we’re jinxed with the Santa pictures. This is the second year out of 2 years that we’ve suffered some sort of camera damage visiting Santa. Last year, I dropped Steve’s Coolpix on the garage floor and broke it at the shopping mail getting Katherine out of the car. This year, Steve packed his Nikon equipment in his carrying case. He pulled out his flash and the display was cracked. These Santa photos are getting very expensive.

We’ll post pictures of Katherine in her very spiffy outfit and red, wool full length, black muffed coat once we get the pics off the camera.

Flying Katherine

Katherine was on a tear this week. We bought her a medium Patrick the Puppy from Zany Brainy last weekend, during their going out of business sale. We’d been eyeing Patrick for years and decided now was the time to buy since this was likely our last chance. Katherine loves Patrick. She hugs him regularly, laying her little cheek next to him. She also learned that she can fall into him, so she now flings herself onto Patrick. Literally, she’ll walk towards him and fall straight into him. As Steve said, Bisco is now even further down in the food chain, after Patrick and Spanish-speaking Elmo. ๐Ÿ™‚

She and Steve play hide and seek now with each other. Steve hides in the nursery and she’ll walk as fast as she can after him. It’s very cute. When she sees him, we say Hurray and raise our arms. She raised her arms sometimes too.

Katherine has moved two naps a day to one pretty regularly now. This past week she would fall asleep around 11:30A to 12:30P for an hour and a half. To make up for this, she sleeps a bit longer and doesn’t wake up anymore at 6:30A in the morning.

No Longer the Screamer – Just Peas Please

We braved the local mall salad restaurant yesterday. Unlike our previous experience, Katherine was virtually sedate by comparison. She sat relatively quietly in her high chair, occasionally chirping at us. No screaming at all. That said, she did manage to make a mess still (sigh), which we tried to clean up before we left. She ate a few foods like Mac and Cheese, plain pasta, white beans and green peas. She ate probably a third of a cup of green peas. I put a few down and noticed that Katherine picked them out and then would stuff them into her mouth as quickly as possible. Steve and I went back to the salad bar twice more to get peas before she was full.

I bought and defrosted some peas last night to see if it was a fluke – nope. She ate even more peas, delicately picking them up with her pincer grasp and putting them in her mouth. Wow!

Fascination with Crayons

We went to a holiday tea yesterday afternoon, and Katherine got to watch her older friends play with PlayDoh and draw with Crayons. I think Katherine managed to ingest both. Thankfully, both are non-toxic. Steven and I took turns watching her, and Katherine went everywhere. She would wander down the hallway, check out the holiday boxes and walk after her friend Audrey on her trike. The kids watched a Rudolph video, and Katherine stayed on the sofa for maybe a minute. While the kids were watching, she shook the crayon container, picked them up and carried crayons all over the room. She had such a wonderful time that I took out our crayons at home. She seemed to get the concept of drawing, but she was more interested in eating the crayons. We’ll try again next month.

Tickle Katherine

Katherine and I have a new game. We play this little piggy, and when we get to the last toe, I tickle her tummy. She loves it, and has started to play with her other toes when I recite the rhyme. Patty and I have been reading “where’s baby’s belly button” and showing her nose, etc. for the last several months. I ask her periodically to point to her nose. We’re still not there yet, but maybe it will happen soon.

Christmas Shopping

Katherine was very patient with us this weekend. We probably shopped 6 or 7 hours for gifts. She would sit in the shopping cart and look around. Every once in while, we’d let her walk around for a bit if things weren’t too crazy. She really enjoyed exploring a local children’s bookstore in Issaquah. The play area with the Christmas tree, cushions and stuffed animals were soooo interesting. She spent quite a bit of time investigating while I talked with the owner. Thankfully, she didn’t cause any damage. ๐Ÿ™‚ We have two more gifts to buy and then we’re DONE! This was also an exciting weekend for shopping, because we turned Katherine’s car seat forwards. Funny enough our first or second trip out she fell asleep!

Moving at the Speed of Katherine

Moving at the Speed of Katherine

Taking pictures with our Canon Elph has become very difficult. The lag between pressing the button and having the picture taken can take up to say a second. In that period of time, Katherine has moved on to some other activity, and we’ve missed the picture.

Katherine is learning to cry to get our attention – either to get her milk cup or to have us pick her up. She will “wahhh wahhh” and we basically try to determine what she is saying. She’s also interacting with us and problem solving. Today, she played with her shape blocks and carried them one by one to Steve. As she handed to Steve, she would say “Dad!” or “Da Da!” and give us a big smile!

It’s so fun to see Katherine grow up and start interacting with us. Mom and Dad take turns trying to make her laugh and exposing her to new sights, sounds, and experiences.

Quality Weekend with Katherine

We had a wonderful weekend with Katherine. We got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday. Katherine’s been getting up earlier and earlier these days. We suspect that she’s trying to spend more time with us before we go to work in the mornings. ๐Ÿ™‚ Anyway, at 5:45AM she managed to wake me up. Steve took duty until I got around a bit later, and we had a nice time playing until I headed off to the gym. Katherine took over a 2 hour nap! Afterwards, we did a variety of errands from getting dog food, people food, a new shower part and generally catching up from last week. Katherine finally dozed off in the car, we made dinner, got Katherine to bed and watched a fun movie – the Italian Job.

Along with Katherine and Patty, Steve’s been fighting a bad cold. He’s been hacking away and we were determined to stay home today and get some rest. This is especially critical since he’s got yet another business trip this week. So, we stayed indoors (windy, rainy day!), played, baked cookies and had some friends over in the afternoon. Katherine played with her older buddies, Derek and Adam, and had a good dinner. She’s now snoozing away, and I expect that she’ll be back up for a snack in a couple hours.

Katherine and Bisco

They are becoming fast friends. Katherine regularly visits the bag by the door to get Bisco’s leash. She loves it when we put the leash on Bisco. She will then stand or sit next to him and sometimes pet him as well. Before dinner, I also caught Katherine giving Bisco a piece of bread that was supposed to tide her over to dinner. I gave her a small piece; she wobbled around the corner to the family room, extended her arm to Bisco giving him the bread! She also realizes that he loves her orange ball. Steve would give her the ball, and she would walk to the couch and hand Bisco the ball!

Sesame Street

To date, Katherine has shown no interest in TV whatsoever, including the Baby Blah series. This afternoon while she played in the TV room, we popped in a Sesame Street DVD with Ernie teaching the 123’s with lots of music and dancing (think Elmo in metallic pants). Katherine was entranced for 5 whole minutes. She sat on Steve’s lap and watched the DVD until she got bored and headed back to her toys. While we’re pretty happy that she’s not too attached to TV, it’s good to know that she has an attention span when she wants to focus on something.

Eating Everyday Food

Katherine is getting accustomed to eating the same food that Steve and I eat. She ate a couple wontons last night – stuffing and peel. Tonight, we made her tofu and spinach in soup stock and she wolfed it down. We also gave her egg whites for the first time today in the form of scrambled egg. She tentatively ate the first bite. I then spread the egg on her tray and she two fisted it a lot of it into her mouth. No allergic reactions so far.

Tanks!

Katherine now loves to give things to me or Steve. It may be a book, or a Lego or her Little People or whatever. We say “Thanks” and I think it’s finally taking hold. Derek played with Katherine, following her around and picking up her bowls and handing them back to her. I would ask Katherine “what do you say?” and she would say “Tanks.”

Little People

Katherine loves the Little People she got for her birthday. Quick explanation: it’s a line of Fisher Price toys with people who fit in buses, go to zoos (along with Little People Animals) and go to the amusement park. She carries this yellow plastic bus all over the family room. If it’s not the bus, she’s got an animal or person in her hand…What’s pretty exciting is that she’s finally got the hang of cleanup or putting toys in something. So, she puts almost anything in her bus and her Lego bin, whether it fits or not. ๐Ÿ™‚

I also played with her today and showed her how to roll her Little Person wheelchair seat into the back of the bus thru the rear door. She imitated me. How cool is that?

 

Are You Watching Her??

Steve and I must say this to each other at least several times a night now. We can’t turn our backs on Katherine. She’s a little speedy toddler now who can stand up without any assistance and who is on the verge of running. From a sitting position, she can stand in one of two ways. She can go from a sit to squat and then to a stand. Or, she bends on one knee to push herself up. She used to walk in a wide stance. Now, she places her feet more in front of each other and she can walk quickly from the family room to the front door in no time flat.

One of Katherine’s favorite past-times is rummaging around the brown leather bag near our front door. She bends over and reaches in for one of Bisco’s red retractable leashes. She used to put the leash in her mouth but has learned that we’ll take it away from her if she does that. Instead she’ll walk throughout the house clutching the leash, perilously close to tripping on the nylon. We’ve clipped it to Bisco several times and Katherine is well aware what the leash is for. She will tug the leash and try to take Bisco for a walk!

We’re also teaching her to be gentle with Bisco. She’ll pat him on his back and occasionally pull his hair. Bisco is a total sport. ๐Ÿ™‚ We’ve also caught Katherine try to hug Bisco. She places her cheek next to his fur and then gives a big grin. It’s just adorable.

Happy 1st Birthday Katherine!

Our log entry is a good week late, but better than never. One of our big commitments was to celebrate not only Katherine’s first birthday, but our getting to Katherine’s first birthday as well! To that end, we hosted two celebrations – the first a Chinese dinner that my Mom cooked on Katherine’s actual birthday and the second a big party at our house with lots of kids and parents.

The dinner with family was very nice. Steve’s immediate family attended and Katherine opened her gifts. She surprised all of us by saying “Kevin” very clearly! She also played with her cousin upstairs in our TV room. They competed for a push toy, and Kevin ended up next to a wall trying to keep it away from Katherine. This was especially note-worthy because this was the first time that Kevin and Katherine really interacted and were able to “play” actively together.

About 35 adults and 15 children/babies attended the Saturday party. No other word can describe it except chaotic. Kids were running around. Parents were milling around eating the food and attending to their children. This was sort of like trial by fire – everyone barely fit in our house and our friends, family, and PEPs group got a chance to meet one another.

A couple funny things happened at the event. First, Katherine slept two hours before her party. As a matter of fact she was sleeping when the first guests arrived. Steve took her picture as she snoozed. Second, she passed on her birthday cake (not like her mom at all!). We put the cake in front of her; she squirmed and wouldn’t taste the frosting. Oh well…we also had a storyteller come and tell a few stories to the kids. I think some of the children enjoyed the stories; others looked rather dazed. Anyway, Katherine started to squeal halfway through.

After the party and a 90 minute nap, Katherine woke, we ate and opened gifts. Katherine had a blast. She took all the cards from the gifts and brought them over. She also grabbed paper and tried to rip it off the boxes. The gifts were all very nice and we put many away for a later surprises. She’s now busy enjoying her “Little People,” her caterpillar, little books, wood puzzles and all of her other toys. I’ve tried to put a bunch away in her closet, but boy does she have a lot of stuff…

Katherine’s First Year Checkup

Katherine is still a skinny beanpole – 90% height at 30.5″, but only 19 lbs still at 25%. Here’s a picture of happy Katherine on the scale before the 3 shots in the arms. She had a blast on the table ripping the paper and walking all over the room.

My Name is Katherine, Hear Me SHRIEKKK!

That pretty much sums up Katherine’s new verbal skills. She started shrieking this past Thursday. It goes like this….she stands or runs around the house, babbles to herself, ex. “da da ba ba shriek!!!” It starts at a moderate volume and ends at an ear splitting volume. She’s not hungry, angry, or tired. We’ve read that some children like to do this because they like to experience the sensation of shrieking in their throat. We’ve also heard that lots of verbal discussion and shrieking signifies intelligence. Whatever the reason, we hope this phase passes quickly, or we grow more accustomed to it.

One byproduct of this is that we will be eating out less often. Saturday evening, her piercing verbal skills reached such a volume that we got our meals to go. On Sunday, we went to brunch at a salad restaurant and she was on a tear. She dropped all of her food on the floor and screamed bloody murder for no apparent reason. The only saving grace is that other kids were screaming too. ๐Ÿ™‚

Mobility Increases

Katherine’s walking skills are progressing. She can now turn and walk the other way, without having to fall and get up again. She can stop and start with ease, bend over and pick items up, and stand on her tiptoes when looking in drawers or boxes. She can carry toys around (ex. her puzzle box) and even suck her thumb while cruising around. We probably see her spending more time on her feet now, than crawling around.

She truly is “curious Katherine.” She opens virtually any drawer she can get into and repeatedly tries to open the same drawer. Katherine understands when I say “uh huh” or “no” or “Katherine that’s not your drawer.” She’ll look up, go back to her drawer and then reach for her bottle drawer one or two minutes later. We’ve placed spatulas and brushes in our draw handles to prevent her from opening them (you have to see this…). Our baby proofing service arrives in a couple weeks; we’re hoping nothing happens before then!

Halloween (chatter chatter)!

For those of you in the NW, you know that Halloween was eventful this year because it was sub-freezing. Our thermometer read 28 degrees at 7PM (holy cow!). We visited four neighbor houses with Katherine bundled up in her red winter jacket with her black kitty cat cape on top of her jacket. Steve and I cut short our trick or treating (no, we didn’t collect candy), and spent the evening wondering where all the trick or treaters were. We only got 40 which is low compared to our all time high of 80. And, a bunch of these kids didn’t even want candy! They were on a scavenger hunt and asked for some pretty strange items.

Katherine was a bit taken back by the whole experience. The doorbell would ring and kids would talk to her in all sorts of costumes. One little boy who knows Katherine had a ghoulish mask and spoke to her from it. Her face fell and she started to cry. ๐Ÿ™‚ Apart from that, she would stand next to me as I crouched holding her and the candy bowl, and watch me hand out candy to her friends. Unfortunately, we were supposed to go to a party that evening but Katherine was congested so we didn’t go.

Quality time with Katherine

Since our team at work launched our new product, we received Halloween day off. I spent the day with Katherine running errands and having her rest to get over her congestion. We went grocery shopping and bought her new shoes. Her starter walking shoes (size 3) were starting to get a bit small, so I bought her two new pairs of Stride Rites (size 4). One is a pair of white/pink everyday sneakers; the second is a pair of patent black Mary Jane Stride Rites. They are both adorable on her. I can’t believe our toddler is wearing sneakers! Katherine loved the shoe store. They have toys in a big cardboard box and she would peer in and want to pull out all sorts of toys. I cooked dinner and we had a nice time with Steve that evening.