4 Month Checkup – Our long skinny bean
Allison has Steve’s genes for sure. Patty, Katherine and I took her to her 4 month appointment on Friday which confirmed that she is a very skinny, tall kid. Her key stats – 24.75 inches long and 11 and 0.6 ounces. She’s in the 75% for height and 5-10% for weight!
I think we had a newer nurse at the appointment since it took longer in the room to give Allison her three shots. Poor Katherine was trying to be brave but got so unnerved that she finally clung to me and said “no shots!” Allison hadn’t napped very well, was exhausted and didn’t know what to make of the doctor’s office. The only good news is that she isn’t nauseous just as she was after her 2 month shots.
Our doctor decided to refer Allison to an ears, nose, throat specialist at Children’s Hospital to check out the wheezing. It’s continued fairly unabated for the last month or two. So, it’s best to keep tabs on this over time.
Allison is getting so social. She wants to face forward (not backwards now) to see what is going on around her. She really enjoys watching other children and gives big smiles.
We have to be super careful with Allison now. She’s very close to flipping over at will. Just a week or so ago, Katherine was playing with Allison on the mat and was rocking her on her side. Allison flipped right over. We then put her back on her belly to see if she could do it again. Katherine tried to flip Allison over – unfortunately with her arm in the wrong position – which resulted in big howls. :< Now, Allison will arch her back and get onto her side, so close to flipping over.
K for Katherine, A for Allison and B for Bisco
We’ve been working with Katherine on her letters but haven’t found an activity yet that she’ll really engage in for a longer period of time. For instance, she’ll occasionally work on her alphabet puzzle or pull out her flashcards. The kitchen magnets work for a few minutes but don’t stick too well to the fridge. ๐
Today we tried another approach – cookie cutters! She was very enthusiastic about working on letter cookies, pointing out a cutter when I’d ask her “what letter does Patty start with?” or “Which is P for Patty?” To help make things more manageable, we worked on A (for Allison), B (for Bisco or bush), C (for Christine), D (for Daddy), K (for Katherine), S (for Steve). We had a couple successes. Unprompted she pointed to and identified the Y cutter. She can reliably identify A and K. Tonight she pointed to letters in her Duck in a Truck book, saying “here’s A for Allison” and “K!” and “W” (OK that really was a U, but close…) We’re making slow but steady progress. Next step is to buy plastic, more dull cutters for Playdoh.
Big Girl Bed
We went to a local store on Labor day to purchase Katherine’s twin bed. Unlike our previous experience with her bureau, the store actually had her headboard, footboard and frame in stock! So, we bought it, put it in the minivan, purchased a twin mattress and pink sheets. This sounds very simple, but in reality it wasn’t. ๐
The night before Labor Day I dug out our pamphlets and vetted our choices on the manufacturer’s web site. Steve and I narrowed our choices down to three. The next morning, Katherine enthusiastically jabbed her finger at a bunk bed saying “I want a bunk bed!” Needless to say that wasn’t on one of her choices. I then explained that the nice white twin frame would come with a trundle that her friends could sleep on. She was so excited. Clutching the pamphlet she informed the store manager that “I want the white bed and my friend Audrey can sleep on the floor!”
Anyway she now has a beautiful white twin bed with quilt and pink sheets and matching bureau. The trundle and nightstand is on order to arrive in 9-11 weeks.
Ballerina Girl
Somehow a switch flipped this week and Katherine is digging the whole ballerina thing. For Audrey’s princess party, what was she? A pink ballerina with a Strawberry Shortcake leotard and pink tutu. What does she want to be for Halloween – a pink princess!! She thumbed thru a leaps and bounds catalog last week and identified the perfect outfit which had not only a pink pointy hat with tuile but a floofy pink dress. Sigh.
You can go to Africa when you’re not snack food
Katherine informed me last Thursday that “tomorrow is Africa day!” I was very surprised to hear this given that their classroom theme is water, but I went with it. “OK Katherine what do you do with Africa day?” She mumbled something about lions, at which point I informed her that Mommy and Daddy went to Africa many years ago before she was born. She told me “I want to go to Africa!” We spent the next hour or so talking about animals and flipping thru our Africa calendar and book. Katherine was enamored with the 2002 calendar that Steve and I created using our slides from our trip. She must have riffled thru it at least 10 times, memorizing the different animals…”this is elephant with tusks, …” and so on.
The next morning Steve mentioned that she could take it to school to share. I told her “Katherine, why don’t you take it to school on Monday?” Oh no, she had to take it today! We scrounged up a plastic bag, labeled it her “temporary sharing bag” and placed the calendar inside. She proudly carted it off to school for sharing and is supposed to bring it home next Friday.