Katherine is officially mobile. When we left for our biking trip, Katherine could walk 4 or 5 steps between me and Steve. When we came home, after much practicing, she could walk 8 to 9 steps. Now she can easily wobble in Frankenstein fashion 14 or 15 steps. We play a game of “go to mommy” and “go to daddy” where she will beam and walk between us. Not only is she mobile, she can now squat and then stand back up again. For instance, if we duck behind the coffee table, she will grasp the table with one hand, squat down, peer at us from under the table and laugh at us. Tonight, I caught her walking to Bisco who was lying on the floor. She leaned down, grabbed his head, ears and then nose – at different times. I tried to explain that she needs to be gentle, but that didn’t work out too well. It’s fortunate that Bisco is very patient. He just stayed on the floor looking very resigned.
Katherine is also expanding her vocabulary. Today, I came home and Patty informed me that Katherine says “Up.” She confirmed this by lifting her arms up, looking up at me and saying “Uph.” It was very sweet. So, I spent the rest of the evening saying Up and Down. And we’re continuing to say Thanks (which I’ve heard a couple times as “Tanks”) and we think she is trying to say Bisco as “Bith.” She babbles a lot now, talking to herself as she plays with her toys and walks around.
Everyone Sings in Our House!
With Steve out of town this week, I’ve taken the opportunity to practice my violin warming up for a few minutes each night with some nursery songs and a few scales. For some reason, Bisco has real issues with the violin. He simply purses his muzzle and howls “AWHOOOO” non-stop. Even when I play simple songs, he’ll hop on the couch and moan.
Last night, I took my violin out for the first time in months. Katherine spied it and clung to my leg looking at the violin curiously. When I started to tune, Bisco rushed over and started to howl. Katherine really enjoyed the show – Bisco howling next to me as I tuned and played the violin. Tonight, I took out a harmonica that we got at Sid’s birthday party, and the same thing happened. I want to make sure that Katherine grows up with music (As they say at Tiny Tots “it’s a musical life!”), so hopefully she’ll develop a love for stringed instruments. I took her hand and let her touch my violin and bow, she was so curious!
Curious Katherine
We call her “Curious Katherine” because she wants to check everything out. Tonight, she wobbled behind one of our chairs and found the gymboree parachute that was collapsed. She picked it up (strong!) and dragged it from behind the chair as if telling me “Mom, I want to play with this!” I opened it up and she crawled through. After staring at it, she grabbed the tag and one end and started to roll the parachute back and forth watching it roll across the floor.
During our trip to the Bay Area, she investigated everything around her. On the plane, she would check out her roundabout seat (not that she doesn’t sit in it everyday!) and she would peer at the people around her. She even stood on Steve’s lap and giggled at the people behind her over his shoulder. At the hotel, she checked out all the rooms and found bath salts next to the bath tub. I moved them to a nearby table, thinking she couldn’t reach them. Not only did she reach them, but she also then dropped the bag scattering the bath salts everywhere. I turned around from filling the tub and saw her stick a salt granule in her mouth. Holy Cow! Yes, we managed to get it out of her mouth.
Katherine goes to her first wedding
My previous roomate from Tempe, Sueling, got married this past weekend, so we all headed down to Los Gatos on Friday and came home on Sunday. Katherine was a trooper on the plane rides and drank lots of water to relieve her ear pressure. I’m not sure how parents travel with children, because she only slept one hour on Friday. With all the new experiences, Katherine didn’t want to miss a minute and stayed alert thru the airport, flight and to San Jose. She did sleep to the hotel, but promptly woke up as we carried her to the room. Coincidentally, Steve’s parents were in town too for the Stanford homecoming weekend, so they visited Friday and saw Katherine’s new developments. For dinner, we went to the California Cafe in the old town shopping center, sat out on the patio with other families and then walked back to the hotel room to watch the last out of the World Series first game. It was a beautiful evening, and Los Gatos is a very “tony” town as Steve’s mother described it.
On Saturday, we had breakfast with Steve’s parents at a local, Southern establishment. We headed back and stopped at the first annual glass art pumpkin festival. Local glass artists sold all sizes, colors and types of glass pumpkins to help raise money for hosting schools. Since we were staying right across from the Los Gatos High School, we stopped by and found a large, colorful pumpkin created by a Stanford grad only several years ahead of us. Since they wouldn’t ship, Steve had to visit a local store to double box the pumpkin for delivery home (it arrived in one piece!). It’s about 18″ in diameter and while orange in color has all sorts of blobs of colors all over it. The artist, when she found out we were from Seattle said, “bringing glass back to Seattle…that’s like taking coal to Newcastle!” I’m not sure how many people can afford the glass art she was referring to! Also, when Steve and I were debating one largely orange pumpkin and the one we bought, another woman explained that the colorful one was better because we could display it all year and it would go with more stuff. Pretty good rationale, so we bought it.
We returned to the hotel. Katherine took a nap, and we headed off to Sueling’s wedding only 6 or 7 miles up highway 17. The wedding was held at a small and tucked away facility with english cabs, a train, play houses and a refurbished barn! The ceremony was beautiful and in front of a lake with fountain with us sitting amongst the trees. (Katherine and Steve stayed outside the ceremony area so she wouldn’t disturb anyone – although it turned out she was quiet throughout.) We ate appetizers, rode in the train, and talked with others at the wedding. For dinner, we partaked in a 9 course dinner; we were just stuffed and Katherine was bleary eyed, so we had to leave prior to the cake cutting for nap time. She slept for 45 minutes in the car, and then we headed later to Mountain View to synch up with old friends, James, Lily and Kristina. After a short visit, we drove back to the hotel and hit the sack.
On Sunday, we woke early and headed to Albany for a visit with family. We visited with my Uncle Richard, Aunt Susan, and cousins Henry and Ronald. It was good to see everyone, after 7 years! Katherine played or banged on their piano, walked around their house and we enjoyed catching up. Unfortunately, we had to leave after only an hour and a half to make it back to the San Jose airport in time for our flight.
