Archives for September 2006

Allison’s Vocabulary

I’m probably not doing justice to Allison’s burgeoning vocabulary, but it’s just that. It’s burgeoning and growing more quickly than we can track. New words this week:

– Eat – usually accompanied by opening the pantry and pulling out her O’s
– Milk – finally!! It kind of sounds like “Mil”
– Raining – She really says it…and its very discernable.
– Key – She spotted Steve put his keys down today, and the word just popped out.
– Outside – This sounds like “ouuusii” but it’s very clear what she means.
– No No No – Sounds like “Naooo” but you can’t miss the head shake and insistent no’s.
– Bowl – She says this while waving her “baooo” around.
– Bunny – This refers to Annie’s cheddar or whole wheat bunny crackers. She says “buhhhie”
– Water – This sounds like “waer” – often interchanged with “agua.”
– Ball – Just that
– Gate – We tell Bisco to “go behind the gate” when we eat. If Allison spies him under the table, she’ll say “gaaie” and point to the gate.
– Dog – She says “dah” while pointing to or looking at Bisco.
– Mine – This she got from Katherine. We heard K say, “It’s mine!” followed by Allison exclaim “mi!”

The kids are so funny these days together. Katherine wants to play with what Allison has and vice-versa. They have to see what their sister is doing, and they have to eat the same foods. It’s not uncommon for them to have sharing issues – often indicated by Allison yelping or saying “no” or “mi!”  Today while cooking dinner I heard the “she took my toy” cry from Allison. I told Katherine sternly to give the pretend phone back to her sister or else lose her Bernstein Bears TV time. After a few seconds Katherine said softly, “how did you know??”

Booster

It’s here…the Graco flower booster seat for Katherine arrived yesterday. Katherine is overjoyed. We’ll have to take pictures of her reading books and enjoying her three cup holders in the back of the minivan. I took the kids to the library today. Katherine managed to spread all her books out in the back seat on the way home. I didn’t hear a peep from her, just an occasional mumble as she flipped the pages of her books.

First Week of Preschool

The first days of Eton have gone as well as can be expected. School started a week and a half ago for Katherine, with Wednesday for new kids and Thursday for the whole class. Katherine trooped off to school on Wednesday. We walked her to class to watch her wash her hands, find her locker, put her belongings away and start a project. The second day we stayed until her friend Audrey bounced out of the classroom to greet Katherine who was overjoyed to see her older friend. The third day we walked her to the classroom and barely said goodbye before she started her day. In all, the first three days were super positive.

Then came Monday – and the fourth day – which saw some tears, insufficient breakfast and a hard morning for Katherine. We attribute this to the fact that she had similar issues the fourth day of summer school. Also, she was so excited to start her carpool that morning that she really didn’t eat very much, which resulted in low energy and sadness.

Every day since she’s eaten a hardy breakfast and for a few days (until class policy changed) she ate her lunch with her friends in class. I basically told her, “once you finish your breakfast, I’ll put your freezer pack in your lunch bag.” and “you need to eat your lunch at school.” It was kind of amusing to see her chipmunk cheeks in the morning as she stuffed eggs in her mouth. And, she polished off virtually everything we packed for the two days in which she actually got to eat lunch at school.

We’ll have to find new “privileges” and “consequences” for Katherine. Her behavior is fairly consistent during the day: bounce off to school, eat lunch, rest at home for a bit, have a 10 minute fit about something and then recover for the rest of the day and evening. In general, we’ve experience 5-10 minute “issues” – hopefully these will decrease with routine, growth and parenting. She’s also having to find ways to recharge, which involves sitting around in PJs, reading books, watching her 30 minutes of Berenstein Bears or bugging her sister.

Learning to be a Younger Sibling

Allison is learning many lessons at an earlier age than Katherine. We attribute some to survival instincts, others to habits picked up from us. Today we took Allison to Gymboree for her activity class.& Steve opened the door, she marched right in, sat down in the front entry way, took off her shoes and walked into the class area as fast as her little legs would take her. I barely had time to get my shoes off and put away our stuff.

Her favorite past time was crawling up and down cushioned steps, looking for balls and…now riding a “train.” Her teacher had fashioned a train cart out of rolling cabinet that she pulled around the classroom. Allison, perched on a bridge when the train started, almost did a double take and hurried down the stairs. She watched and, when the teacher asked for riders, marched straight up to the cart and sat down on the edge. I pushed her back a bit – she sat happily and waved to me and my mom for the ride.& I peeled her out afterwards and she lurked, until the teacher made the rounds with the next batch of kids. She then toddled up to the train and made as if to sit again on it (while it was still moving!) The teacher stopped, Allison perched herself on the edge in front of another child, and finished her ride. She would have ridden again, but I removed her from the play area!

More Words Today

Allison shocked my mom and I today. We were showing her a picture from tulip season of our family. She obligingly said, “Mama, Dada, shissher” to describe who was in the picture. Then, we said, “That’s Allison.” She then said, “Allishha” a couple of times – referring to herself!

She also has learned from my mom the number “thee.” My mom will say, “One, Two…” and Allison will chime in with “thee!” They play the game with “A, B” and then “C!” too. Allison has also learned the number five in Chinese, which sounds like “whhooo.” She delights in being able to interact with us using more and more words.

Other fun words yesterday and today:

– “abble” – referring to a platic toy apple
– “buush” – pointing to a bus

Her new trick in the bathtub is to wash herself using a little bath towel. She holds the towel to her belly and twists her body back and forth. It’s so cute.

She’s also starting to shake her head to emphasize that she doesn’t want to do something. Today, my mom asked her to give something to Mama. She promptly turned away and shook her head!

I’m pleasantly surprised by how self-sufficient she is. I spent an hour today sorting through clothes to pull together her fall wardrobe. Allison would wander in, walk around the clothes, go to the playroom, drag a toy to the nursery and play by herself. She must have spent 10 minutes just putting Tinker Toy sticks and rounds in and out of the cardboard cylinder.

Allison’s Third Molar

Well, it happened again. Allison’s new molar appeared this past Monday. Four days later, her nose started to drip and she showed full fledged cold symptoms last night. As a result, Steve and Katherine are off camping with a bunch of other family friends & kids this weekend, while Allison recuperates with me at home.

New Words & Development

We have more new words and really funny behavior…

-“Shhisser” – for sister
– “Wuck” – for truck
– “Uuuh Ohhh” – says this a lot now

Tonight I decided to wash Allison’s little blue bath seat. While I was rinsing it off in the tub, Allison appeared by my side and started squaking and pointing to let me know that she really wanted her red flower pot. I handed it to her, and she made motions as if scooping water from the tub into the pot. Since the tub hadn’t filled yet, she went in search of another source of water and found…the toilet! I managed to grab the pot just in time – as she reached into the toilet with it to scoop water. Yikes!!

Allison’s comprehension continues to grow. She knows the names of various books and calls them out. For instance, she’ll call out “Baa Baa” as we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear. When we read Sheep in a Jeep, she says “UH OH” when we turn to the third page which says “Uh Oh, the jeep won’t go!” We also read the Ready, Set, Go book, and she exclaims “goooh” after I say “Ready, Set.”

I asked her tonight to point to the bus and firetruck in her popup book. She proudly jabbed the correct pictures.

Obsessed with Shoes

Allison is absolutely obsessed with “Shus.” It doesn’t matter if they are her, Katherine, my or Steve’s shoes. She picks them up and delivers them to their rightful owner.

Allison also found her stash of shoes in her closet. Stash includes her little leather Robeez which she loves to carry around in their plastic, handled bags. She also discovered Katherine’s old, size 4 black patent Mary Janes. I kept them, as Katherine wore them maybe two or three times. They’re in pristine condition and the perfect size for Allison outings this fall.

Anyway, Allison is overjoyed by these shoes. She stood on her tippytoes this evening, reached for the Mary Janes and tried to put them on her feet. I helped her strap them on, and she walked up and down the hallway – white cotton PJs and black, patent Mary Janes. Quite a sight.