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. ๐ 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!
