Home of Steve, Christine, Katherine, Ally, Rosebud, and Rex
Finally Pictures…
Here are pictures from Katherine’s birthday, Halloween, and other activities this month.
Busy Month
This has been an extraordinarily busy month. It started with Steve and I taking a much awaited cycling trip to Sicily. Indeed, it was a very hily ride; a common phrase from the guides was “gently rolling hills”. We did a lot of low grade hills that kept going and a couple steeper climbs. I averaged 25-30-35 miles a day; Steve took a couple extra extensions. Unfortunately, due to rain and a high guide ratio (11:1), he wasn’t able to complete a European century. But, we enjoyed a LOT of food during 3 hour lunches (seriously), wine and very nice hotels. We did some cool local tours – to watch a family make ricotta cheese, a walking tour, wine tastings and pasta making. Steve is working on publishing the Sicily pictures, the bike routes, etc.
Right after we got back, we celebrated Steve’s birthday, and I started up a consulting gig. The kids geared up for two Halloween parties and trick or treating. At school, the teachers requested that the kids dress up as people in the community. Allison chose to be a firefighter, and Katherine a doctor. After school, they turned into Tinkerbells for a potluck party and then trick or treating.
Since Halloween, Katherine caught a bad cold circulating through her classroom – and stayed home from school for three days. She’s still coughing a lot, occasionally having coughing spasms. Allison, Steve and I haven’t caught it yet…
Learning about World Affairs
As part of Halloween and their world learning at school, the pre-elementary kids trick or treat for UNICEF. The teachers explained UNICEF in circle and provided the orange boxes to the kids. Allison came home proudly with her box and told us the following:
Mom: Allison, do you know why your collecting money for UNICEF?
Allison: Because…some children don’t have clean water. They will buy new pumps. If they drink dirty water, they will get sick.
Katherine has been collecting money for a couple weeks from friends’ parents – taking over $39 to school for UNICEF.
The kids also have taken an interest in politics. Thru the fall, they’ve watched debates, provided commentary and even did a victory dance chanting “Obama Obama…” last Tuesdsay. Katherine asked us last week unprompted, “Why does the radio keep talking about Joe the Plumber??” She thought it was really funny that CNN and NPR would talk about some plumber as part of the presidential election.
Dinosaurs
Every classroom at school has “units of study” – basically topics that are woven throughout different works in a section of the classroom. Allison’s classroom is studying dinosaurs. As a result, we’re also learning about dinosaurs. Apparently, Allison has been listening pretty intently to her teacher who’s been presenting this information at circle.
Allison: The tyrranasaurus rex is a very angry dinosaur. He eats other dinosaurs. He’s like the king of dinosaurs. He’s MUCH bigger than our car.
Mom: Really, what other dinosaurs have you learned about??
Allison: The brontosaurus was very afraid of the tyranasaurus rex. His favorite dishes were leaves and bushes.
Mom: Favorite dishes, hm…
Allison: And, then there’s the bracheosaurus, the allisaurus, and the stegasaurus. The stegasaurus had plates on his back and his tail. He had four plates on his tail. He used them as a weapon against the tyranasaurus rex.
Steve and I were rather dumbfounded, since dinosaurs haven’t been a major topic in our house. Katherine kept trying to interject, but Allison kep rolling along with her narrative all the way to school.
Katherine thinks that Allison is very amusing and often says, “she’s soo cute.” Allison pushes her sister sometimes, for instance wanting to play with Katherine’s new toys or counting money in Katherine’s wallet. Thankfully, Katherine is relatively patient with her sister.
“If she likes ponies”
Before the summer, Steve and I met with Katherine’s teacher to discuss progress and the upcoming summer. Her suggestion for reading: find out what she wants to read and then encourage it! “If she’s interested in ponies, then check out books about ponies.” This may seem totally intuitive, probably because its spot on.
Katherine LOVES the Disney Fairies – Tinkerbell, Beck, Fira, etc. She saves her allowance money to go to Borders and buy the big, picture Disney books. (We buy her the chapter books to read.) Her prize possessions are the Fairy Homes and Inside Pixie Hollow. She just started reading the chapter books tonight, carefully using her finger to read the small text and turning the page corner for tomorrow.
Allison’s 3rd Birthday Weekend
Party planning began last month when I asked Allison what she wanted to do for her 3rd birthday. She said promptly, “bike on the driveway with my friends.” So, we planned a bicycle-themed party for little friends that consisted of:
– making foam license plates for bikes/trikes
– decorating butter cookies in the shape of bicycles, hearts, flowers
– pinning name on the road (pin the tail on the donkey)
– hitting a pinata
The kids had a blast decorating cookies. We had frosting, decorator frosting pens, and sprinkles on the table. The kids and adults used all the cookies and supplies – and took the cookies home with them.
Also memorable was our pinata. Steve hung it from his basketball hoop and provided the kids with a piece of PVC pipe. They must have each hit that pinata 5 or 6 times to no avail. So, he offered his baseball bat to Allison. Unfortunately, they whacked the pinata so hard it flew up and hit the basketball backboard. I think the swing also hurt Allison’s shoulder, and she cried for several minutes afterwards. Needless to say, one of the kids finally got the pinata down intact. The dads broke it apart for them.
Allison’s Birthday
Allison celebrated her birthday this year with a small family gathering and a little party for a handful of girls. Despite fairly low key events, we ended up with two very tired kids today!
Steve and I were thinking back to Allison’s first birthday when Katherine delighted in opening Allison’s gifts. Allison didn’t really seem to mind. She just loved the attention of having a birthday. When Allison turned two, I remember Steve holding Katherine back so Allison could open her gifts. One moment stands out for me: Katherine wriggling and crying as Allison opened her dollhouse. Now at three, she clearly wanted to open her own gifts. Katherine sat to the side and watched. Her biggest concern: would Allison share her gifts? I guess this is one of the first times that Allison has received interesting gifts that Katherine wants to share! Throughout the day, we’ve had conversations with both kids as they’ve debated and argued about whether they shared or not.
We’ve got a ton of pictures from the weekend that I’ll post tomorrow, when I have time to process the pictures.
Mother’s Day
Like every year, I woke up to find two kids sitting on top of me and breakfast served in bed. This year’s breakfast: cold cereal, cut fruit salad, coffee, juice, veggie sausage….and a big decorated cookie. ๐
Katherine sat next to me and talked all thru my breakfast. Allison practiced jumping off the bed.
For mother’s day, the kids gave me a new purse. Their thinking: the bigger the purse, the more I can carry on their behalf! New additions to the purse include Band-Aids, various lollipops collected this week and hair bands.
Skinned Knees Every Day
Now that the weather is finally almost spring like, the kids have started to bike more and more around the driveway and neighborhood. Katherine still needs someone to start her off on her bike, while Allison is self-sufficient and fairly possessed on her training wheels. Yesterday Katherine went for a bike ride with Steve around the neighborhood. Katherine ended up riding all the way to the local choo-choo train park (in Redmond Ridge) and back – probably a 3 mile trip total with a couple pretty big hills. Steve jogged next to her in street attire and shoes (ouch), while Katherine “slowed down” so he could keep up. (Note: she is a very fast cyclist once she gets going.)
Allison meanwhile had a total of 3 Band-Aids on both knees yesterday. She probably skins a knee once a day, whether from running full tilt on the driveway or biking. Katherine managed to even scrape her hand, trying Allison’s 18 inch bouncing ball on the driveway.
We also added Band-Aids at the Ice Cream Social this week at Eton School. This was our third social and probably the busiest yet. Steve was about an hour late, and I spent the full hour making sure the elementary kids didn’t mow Allison over on the playground. From kids running around fueled with sugar to Allison climbing a fort popular with lots of boys, I was convinced she was going to get hurt somehow. She did skin a knee somehow. And, Katherine somehow got a cut on her finger. Luckily we escaped further injury. The kids were exhausted the next morning.
Allison’s Development
Allison is a busy kid these days. She has swim lessons, soccer class and music class – and we’re thinking off adding gymnastics back now that she’s 3. One of her greatest joys is preparing for soccer. Allison received a soccer jersey and shorts that she wears with pigtails to a 3-4 class every week. After class she leaves the jersey on for the rest of the day. ๐ For her birthday, we gave her a set of small Pugg soccer goals. My mom got her a size 3 soccer ball, which we saw her moving down our lawn to the goal.
Her other favorite outdoor activity is weeding. Yes, bending down and picking small weeds! Our neighbor has a big maple tree which lost many seeds last year. These helicopter seeds blew into our beds and germinated into small 2″ trees. We had them all over the beds. Allison was a huge help picking them the last couple weeks. She’d gather up her plastic bucket, find a spot on the bed, hunker down and pick until I told her it was time to go in. She would say, “we don’t want trees all over our yard! look there are more weeds!”
Allison is still a very easygoing kid and likes to entertain the family. She spent this morning’s car ride playing with her new “silly” toy from McDonalds. She would move the doll arm and the toy would start blaring music. Allison would yell out, “Dance Mama Dance” and then go off in Spanish. Thankfully Steve understands what she’s saying, because I have no clue!
Last week, I took her to her third study at UW I-Labs. The researchers asked Allison to participate in defining a new protocol for a behavioral experiment. Allison was very patient throughout the 20 minute process, interacting with the research assistant. I think she was a bit puzzled by the repetition – “Allison where would you put the horse if you wanted it to be green? etc. etc. She answered most questions accurately, but began to get confused at the end of the experiment.
Katherine’s Development
Katherine’s big area of focus is emotional development. We’re working on identifying feelings these days and sympathizing with others. It’s gratifying to see progress. For instance, Steve was teasing me about something the other day. Katherine piped up, “That’s not nice. You’ll make mom feel bad!” On the other hand, she’s also working on testing boundaries, for instance around sassing, which we’re working on.
From an academic perspective, she can decipher different words in situ. On Friday, we sat at a light watching a school crossing guard. Katherine asked what she did. I asked her to read the back of the vest, which she did – “School Zone.” She will also occasionally read a few pages at night with Steve. She also practices basic addition/subtraction at school.
A Crazy 6 Weeks…
It’s been a crazy November and December with birthdays, family visits and various crises happening. After the big push around Steve’s and Katherine’s birthdays and Halloween, we then had Thanksgiving. Steve’s Mom broke a hip, and then we had my birthday. I also played my first gig in…only 15 years! And, we had a couple community events at Eton to attend. What else could possibly happen? ๐
I’m going to post a bunch of pictures to catch up and just summarize our big developmental milestones.
I go poop I get chocolate!!
Yes. It’s that time again. It’s potty training time, and Allison is done! We started in November and are pretty much done with the occasional incident. In all, it took 2-3 weeks. Chocolate from Grandma Chang was the big incentive. Not only did Allison get a Hershey’s kiss, but Katherine also every time Allison went potty the first couple weeks. Needless to say, Katherine was a big cheerleader.
Tie Shoes and Growing
Katherine has been on a massive growth streak. She now comes up to my bicep – a full 3′ 6″ tall and close to 40 pounds. As part of this, she needed a new pair of sneakers at Thanksgiving, and we went to Stride Rite to get them. By Monday or Tuesday of the following week, she announced and demonstrated how she could tie her shoes! I guess a bunch of 2nd and 3rd years wear tie shoes, and one or two them taught Katherine how to do it. She also practiced (I believe in Practical Life) at school. Now she ties her shoes and Allison’s tie sneakers. Allison won’t wear her expensive Velcro Nike sneakers anymore; she wants to wear Katherine’s old hand-me-down New Balance sneakers with tie laces.
The 12″ Wheels
The neighbors must think it the funniest thing to see Katherine pedaling around on her little pink bike. It truly is too small for her, being the smallest size bike available (12″ wheels). She’s told Steve that she wants a bigger bike, but she doesn’t think Santa can fit it down the chimney. Little does she know that I have a new 16″ pink bike from REI smuggled away in my mom’s garage for Christmas morning. Anyway, Katherine can now ride…without training wheels. This happened last week after the last day of school. She convinced Steve to take the training wheels off. The next think I knew, Steve was running down the street after her, while she pedaled by herself into the driveway!!
Allison’s Development
There is nothing this child will not try, a true testament to her desire to keep up with Katherine:
– She tries furiously to pedal her trike, but she’s still a bit too short. After a couple revolutions, she’ll turn to me and say, “push me, push me, I want to go with Katherine!!”
– She now works easily on 24 piece puzzles, the little ones that you get at the drug store for $3. ๐ She occasionally needs help with one or two pieces. She can breeze thru the big US Map without any issues and remember the names of her favorite states.
– She wants to do everything herself. If she can’t reach something, she’ll lug around a big wooden stool. I’ve even caught her putting the little rubber stool on top of the wooden stool for greater reach. Upon intervention, she’ll holler and cry for a few minutes and then set upon her next project.
– Steve put together the junior bed, which the kids played with for a bit. Allison decided that she wanted to sleep on the big bed though. The junior bed is now in our “get rid of” pile awaiting the right opportunity. Allison has tried to sleepover in Katherine’s bed a few nights. That only lasts 30 minutes until Katherine kicks her out of bed, “Mom, she makes so much noise. I can’t sleep!!”
Katherine’s Party
Part one of Katherine’s fifth birthday occurred this morning. We took the girls to Pump it Up where a bunch of kids from class and a couple little friends stopped by for bouncing. We have many pictures to slog through, but I picked just a couple representative pictures for now.
When I asked Katherine what was her favorite part, she replied, “the whole thing…I loved the whole thing.” This referred to a full hour of bouncing, pizza, juice boxes, a butterfly cupcake cake and balloons. Katherine was excited to show Allison how to bounce and even took her to the water fountain several times for drinks. Allison did end up with a very wet shirt, but loved playing with the big kids.
I think many of her friends had told their parents what Katherine loves now: arts and crafts. Katherine spent the whole day lugging all her gifts around the house and trying out different parts of each arts and crafts kit. She even gave up stories tonight to color in a velvet picture. What else? She toted around a Lego ambulance that she constructed almost by herself! And, she spent a good half an hour playing with a Calico Corner dollkit which matches Allison’s house nicely.
All in all, it was a fun but exhausting day.
This is “Baking Soda”
I often have these surreal moments when I know that Allison is trying to say something, but it’s not coming out right. This afternoon we played with a USA puzzle, one that has say 12 pieces instead of 50. As she worked, Allison muttered to herself, “these are the lines…this is the boot (e.g. Louisana)…this goes here…and this is baking soda.” At that, I had to interrupt and ask, “what is baking soda?” She pointed to a state and repeated herself. Thinking hard, I finally figured it out, “You mean …Minnesota!” Allison then replied, “OK…OK…it’s Minnesota” The wierdest thing about this is that I hadn’t told her this, so this must be from Mom and/or Patty.
