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Archives for February 2005

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.

Catching Up on Family Events

Our family blog is woefully out of date. I’ll also try to catch up on family events, not just Katherine developments, given everything that is happening.

December was a very busy month….

  • Our family flew to DC to help my mom finish packing and move to Redmond. Katherine learned how to use a camera and got into all sorts of things – packing tape, bubble wrap, etc. We got back to Washington just in time to spend a few days with Steve’s parents before New Years!
  • Steve was working hard getting ready for the launch of his product at CES among other activities.

January was even crazier…

  • Steve went to CES (see his blog entries), caught the crud that’s going around, which developed into a bronchial infection just in time for our vacation!
  • Steve, Katherine and I went with the LeVines to Oahu and Maui for a week. The trip was long, even traveling first class, and the passengers behind us told us about how hard it was to travel with their 4 children years ago. (Hmmm…) Katherine and Sid played on the beach. Steve and Eric learned to surf. Steve caught a sand crab, which we didn’t get a picture of unfortunately. Katherine developed a strong appreciation for sea creatures and learned all about sting rays, sharks, dolphins, etc. The trip back was more hellacious since we got in at 1AM, but in all the trip was well worth it. We learned a ton about how to and how not to travel with Katherine to a vacation destination, just in time for #2.
  • Our radiologist confirmed that #2 will be a girl. ๐Ÿ™‚

Our focus in February is on pre-schools and getting ready for the next child.

  • Steve and I have gone to six open houses so far for preschools and I’ve submitted 3 applications for next September. Fingers crossed that plan A or B pans out for next year.
  • Katherine is growing up so fast. She now sleeps thru the night in her junior bed. We moved her stuff to the old guest room this weekend, so she has her own room. I’m also weeding thru Katherine’s old baby stuff and figuring out what we need to do before May.
  • Katherine just started gymnastics class and she’s fearless. She loves the balance beam and jumping into a foam pit that the gym uses to teach equipment to more advanced kids.

Katherine Developments

Katherine is talking like a little person these days. Today while in her car seat, she recited the days of the week and months in the year. According to her calendar, her birthday is in February and the months of June and November don’t exist. Also, there are only 5 days in the week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. She’s trying really hard though. ๐Ÿ™‚

She’s also picked up different songs that she changes at whim. She recently started singing the Old MacDonald song, “EIEIO”, where the farmer has a chicken that says “moo,” and all sorts of other non-farm creatures. Other favorites are John Jingle Heimer Schmidt and the Bingo song – repurposed to sing about Katherine and her dog Bisco.

Katherine loves to crack jokes. After the December Tiny Tots concert, she will say that Mama plays violin and Dada plays the sippy cup! Sometimes, he plays the trombone or tuba. She finds ridiculous ideas funny and just starts to crack up. For instance, Steve was reading a book about a girl who has diarrhea among other troubles and is moody (learning about emotions). Katherine just laughed up a storm tonight – and I don’t think she has any idea what that is!

She really started speaking in full sentences right before the holidays (5, 6, 7 word sentences), and her verbal skills are continuing to progress. She asks “Why” all the time. Tonight, she asked “Why Santa in sleigh?” She’ll keep asking until she gets an answer that makes sense. Along with this is her attempt to reason or negotiate with me and Steve and do Everything Herself (ex. “Me [insert verb] myself”).

Key areas for development are still around sharing and resisting the urge to grab toys from others when she’s excited and a bit of stranger anxiety when she’s not with a primary caregiver. We’ll keep working on it.