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Archives for March 2003

Katherine Finally Gets an Ultrasaucer

As the title implies, we finally caved in and bought an ultrasaucer. We were hestitant to do so, given that too frequent use or over-reliance can lead to bow-leggedness. However, after letting Katherine try her friend Sidney’s exersaucer, we were convinced that she would benefit from occasional use.

We took her to first Toys R Us and found the selection fairly limited, and then to Babys R Us in SouthCenter. While they didn’t have the model that Sidney uses, we found one that Katherine seemed to enjoy. We use the saucer perhaps 10 minutes in the morning, when Steve makes coffee, and Patty uses it occasionally during the day. Thus far, her favorite toy is the orange smiley shakey “thing” that Katherine can reach and bend into her mouth.

Interesting to note is that Christine and Katherine watched Steve assemble the saucer – no small task- and that Katherine almost lunged at the saucer to get in it. She almost seemed to know what Steve was doing and was very enthusiastic to try it out!

Katherine in Her High Chair

Now that Katherine has strong neck and head control, we felt it was time to try her in her high chair so we wouldn’t have to hold her while eating. As you can see, she had a fun time in her chair. She generally tolerates it for about 10 minutes or so, after which she starts to scream and squeal! We try not to respond right away, so not to encourage this behavior. That’s easier than done though.

Katherine Goes to See Michael Jordan

On March 26, we took Katherine to our the last game that we have tickets to this season – Sonics vs. Wizards. It turned out to be Michael Jordan’s last game at Key Arena before he retired this year. We managed to get several OK pictures of Michael. We also tried to put earplugs in Katherine’s ears since it gets kind of loud. She was quite the sight with bright orange ear plugs sticking out of her ears. They also lasted a total of 10 minutes. She would swivel her head around, and the plugs would just fall out! Anyway, she lasted a full quarter and halftime. We left during the third quarter when Katherine started to melt down.

Katherine Visits Woodland Zoo

On Sunday we took Katherine to the zoo with the Sarins. We borrowed the Sarin’s Kealty Joyrider jogger as the one we purchased for Katherine has not arrived yet. We bundled Katherine the pink fleece full body suit Patty purchased for $9. We think Katherine enjoyed the trip to the Woodland Zoo though most of the pictures of Katherine show her looking like she’s just humoring us.

Christine and I went to Africa in Aug of ’01 as a last big vacation before we decided to have kids. It was hard for both of us to see all of the animals in a cold, wet zoo having seen them in their native surroundings in Africa. The Thompson gazelles looked lonely because in Africa they travel together in large herds (50+). On the other hand, there is no way we could take Katherine to Africa at her age. The Woodland Zoo gave us an opportunity to show her the animals we saw in the wild. Some day, we’ll take Katherine to Africa to see them in the wild. Hopefully, by the time Katherine is old enough, Africa doesn’t because so commercialized that the experience is lost.

After about a half hour, Katherine started to fuss. We made the mistake of changing her diaper in the cold (~45 degrees). She didn’t appreciate the cold and every time went downhill from there. Christine and I carried her around for a while. Finally, Tina had the magic touch and was able to get Katherine to fall asleep in her arms.

Katherine’s favorite animal was the bears. The Northwest discovery room allows visitors to look through Plexiglas at the bears. Katherine was fascinated by the biggest “Bisco” she had every seen.

Katherine Learns New Skills

Katherine is quickly becoming a little girl. This week Katherine started to demonstrate the skills of a toddler. She’s been able to roll over for a couple of weeks now but until recently she had trouble rolling over from her stomach to her back. She now rolls over without a struggle. She’s discovered that by rolling over and over she can move across the room. She definitely wants to be mobile and investigate the house. She also is able to drag herself a couple of inches at a time while on her stomach. She grunts and strains and moves a couple of inches. She definitely has the will to move but lacks the strength and coordination.

On St. Patrick’s Day, dad had a beer. Katherine is totally fascinated with glasses now. She’s been watching Christine and I drink from glasses and wants to emulate what we’re doing. Christine and I have noticed that Katherine watches us very closely and tries to imitate what we do. So, dad drank the beer and gave the bottle to Katherine to play with (no beer left). She proceeded to place the beer bottle in her mouth. Dad thought this would make a good picture to haze Katherine with when she gets much older.

Changing Katherine’s diapers is a challenge now. She grabs your sleeves with a death grip, smiling the whole time. It’s a game for her. Another new behavior for Katherine is that she loves to grab her toes, also making changing her diaper a challenge. It’s amazing how flexible Katherine is. She can put her toes in her month and bend her legs above her head.

On Saturday, Christine, Katherine and I went to our sign language class at the LeVines. We’re learning sign language (American Sign Language) so that we can communicate with Katherine before her verbal skills kick in. Babies can communicate with sign language before they can talk. This allows us to communicate a couple of basic concepts (eat, change, hot, danger) at about 8-9 months.

Before the sign language class, Katherine got to try Sidney’s exercise saucer. Christine and I have debated about whether or not we should get an exercise saucer. We’ve read on the Internet that the legs of some babies bent outward from sitting in the exercise saucer with prolonged use. Katherine had such a great time that Christine and I decided to purchase an exercise saucer and just limit her time in it.

Katherine is growing like a weed. At only 4.5 months, she now wearing clothes for 6-9 month old infants. During out visit to Orange County to visit the grandparents, we purchased a couple of outfits for Katherine. Katherine wore the matching red Polo outfit for the first time. Dad, not to be outdone, put on his matching Polo shirt.

Birthday Party for Aunt Pat and Mrs. Chang

We had the extended family over to celebrate Aunt Pat and Mrs. Chang’s birthdays. We had 13 people over for dinner: Agnes Chang; Amy and Kevin Olbright; Dave, Trina, and Will Fiala; Art and Pat Fiala; Bill and Dottie Bush; and Christine, Katherine and I. We roasted 4 chickens and ended up only serving 3. We plan to use the extra chicken meat to stock our freezer full of Chicken Noodle soup.

We got a late start with dinner as we spent too much time at a cool children’s bookstore in Issaquah. Everyone arrived around by 6P and we sat down to a chicken dinner. By this time, Katherine was completely exhausted. She had a long day, being entertained by Grandma and Grandma Bush and wandering around Issaquah. She didn’t get in her full nap schedule. By the time dinner arrived she was so worn out she couldn’t fall asleep. Christine and I took shifts trying to get Katherine to sleep but there was just too much going on. Katherine wanted to be social and hang out but she needed her sleep. Christine and I need to manage her sleep schedule better when guests are in town so this doesn’t happen again.

This was the first family gathering that Will and Kevin played with each other. They used to play with each other’s toys but this was the first time they actually played with each other as playmates. It was fun to watch though it increased the decibels in the house a couple of notches.

After dinner, Christine took her mom to the airport for her red-eye flight back to Dulles. Mrs. Chang was an invaluable help and we thank her for helping us take care of Katherine while we went to work.