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Birthdays

Happy Birrrrth-day!

Katherine has had a busy couple weekends since our vacation – including two fun birthday parties and a couple playdates. In preparation for these parties, we sang “Happy Birthday” many, many times. Katherine has sang this song to Lambey, Dad, Mom, Grandma, Mickey Mouse. She loves the song – and the part about blowing out candles and eating “cake.” (Party pics are from her friend Sid and Audrey’s parties these past few weekends.)

4 Word Sentences

It’s amazing how quickly K’s verbal skills are growing. Just this past weekend, I explained we had to look in Audrey’s garage for my keys. She nodded knowingly and said “Mama’s keys in garage.” Holy Cow!

Katherine is also showing amazing retention. We’ve been reading this book “How Dinosaurs get well soon” since she’s been a year old. At times, we’ve read it several times a night. For weeks at a stretch, we might have skipped the book. Lately we’ve noticed that she knows the words, exclaiming “Atchoo”, “Open Wide!” and “No” at key points in the book. So, Steve has started to pause on pages to see what she says. Now, she says “tissues over floor” and “medicine out door” and when prompted provides the right word. It’s a hoot!

 

Katherine Language

Now that New Year Day is over, things are looking up. We’ve had an amazing 2-3 days with Katherine. It’s going to be tough to go back to work tomorrow and leave her at home all day. One small consolation…I bought and inserted pictures of our family in frames to take to work. Also, we are scheduled to start a family evening class with a local toddler group – part education for parents, part socialization and fun for the children – and a Kindermusik class on Saturday mornings.

Katherine Language

It goes something like “daba daba yib … yib….” and many other sounds as well. She’ll point at Bisco and say “dao.” We still don’t have a consistent “mama” but we get plenty of “dadas” and “da”. She’s definitely talking to us! We’re just not sure what she’s saying.

I think Katherine gets pretty frustrated sometimes with us. For instance, she was yawning by 4PM today when we were shopping. I popped her back in her crib for a late afternoon nap, but she must have spent 10 minutes crying intermittently before I heard a thump. It turns out that she had dropped her lamb and one of her shoes on to the floor. I got the picture and took her downstairs for a small snack. She was very hungry and ended up eating a bunch of green beans, cooked chicken and a fried egg – she had eaten less than 3 hours earlier!

Stranger Anxiety

Katherine has been definitely going thru a bout of stranger anxiety. This first showed up over the holidays whenever she saw Steve’s sisters’ in-laws. She’d seen them before, but they would look at her directly, and she would cry very hard.

This happened again last night. One of our PEPS friends, Frank, looked at Katherine and said “hello.” She just cried and cried until we distracted her with toys. For at least an hour, Frank would avoid any eye contact. Finally, towards the end of the evening, she walked straight up to him, smiled and handed him Bisco’s toy. What was really weird was that she was fine around all the other adults – they held her and she didn’t have any issues.

Katherine also attended a birthday party for her friend Mac yesterday. She spent the first 20 minutes of the party wanting to be held or right next to us. She then ventured to play with her friends in an inflatable house with plastic balls. Once we were fully into the party, she joined other children playing with toys and even riding on a plastic rollercoaster. We put her on it a couple times and she was pretty excited to zip up and down the curves and then coast for 20 feet on a plastic cart with wheels.

More New Foods

I gave Katherine a fried egg for the first time this afternoon. She loved the yolk and ate the pieces as fast as she could pick them up. She would also pick up an egg pieces, place it on her spoon and then try to get the spoon to her mouth!

The other new food that she just wolfed down was a carrot cake cupcake at the party. I crumbled the cupcake and gave her maybe 6 or 7 little bites. Steve took her away to get cleaned up. After they were done, she walked back, stood next to my leg, raised her arms and pointed to indicate that she wanted more cupcake. I guess while she didn’t want to eat her own birthday cake, eating someone else’s birthday cake was fun.

Sporting New Sweaters

We’ve had record low temperatures, snow and ice over the last week. In addition to her cool new boots, I bought Katherine a couple new sweaters to see her thru the winter. On of the sweaters has this matching cupcake hat that looks really cute on Katherine. Check out the pictures to see her new duds – a whale sweater, a striped sweater with matching color hat.

Are You Watching Her??

Steve and I must say this to each other at least several times a night now. We can’t turn our backs on Katherine. She’s a little speedy toddler now who can stand up without any assistance and who is on the verge of running. From a sitting position, she can stand in one of two ways. She can go from a sit to squat and then to a stand. Or, she bends on one knee to push herself up. She used to walk in a wide stance. Now, she places her feet more in front of each other and she can walk quickly from the family room to the front door in no time flat.

One of Katherine’s favorite past-times is rummaging around the brown leather bag near our front door. She bends over and reaches in for one of Bisco’s red retractable leashes. She used to put the leash in her mouth but has learned that we’ll take it away from her if she does that. Instead she’ll walk throughout the house clutching the leash, perilously close to tripping on the nylon. We’ve clipped it to Bisco several times and Katherine is well aware what the leash is for. She will tug the leash and try to take Bisco for a walk!

We’re also teaching her to be gentle with Bisco. She’ll pat him on his back and occasionally pull his hair. Bisco is a total sport. ๐Ÿ™‚ We’ve also caught Katherine try to hug Bisco. She places her cheek next to his fur and then gives a big grin. It’s just adorable.

Happy 1st Birthday Katherine!

Our log entry is a good week late, but better than never. One of our big commitments was to celebrate not only Katherine’s first birthday, but our getting to Katherine’s first birthday as well! To that end, we hosted two celebrations – the first a Chinese dinner that my Mom cooked on Katherine’s actual birthday and the second a big party at our house with lots of kids and parents.

The dinner with family was very nice. Steve’s immediate family attended and Katherine opened her gifts. She surprised all of us by saying “Kevin” very clearly! She also played with her cousin upstairs in our TV room. They competed for a push toy, and Kevin ended up next to a wall trying to keep it away from Katherine. This was especially note-worthy because this was the first time that Kevin and Katherine really interacted and were able to “play” actively together.

About 35 adults and 15 children/babies attended the Saturday party. No other word can describe it except chaotic. Kids were running around. Parents were milling around eating the food and attending to their children. This was sort of like trial by fire – everyone barely fit in our house and our friends, family, and PEPs group got a chance to meet one another.

A couple funny things happened at the event. First, Katherine slept two hours before her party. As a matter of fact she was sleeping when the first guests arrived. Steve took her picture as she snoozed. Second, she passed on her birthday cake (not like her mom at all!). We put the cake in front of her; she squirmed and wouldn’t taste the frosting. Oh well…we also had a storyteller come and tell a few stories to the kids. I think some of the children enjoyed the stories; others looked rather dazed. Anyway, Katherine started to squeal halfway through.

After the party and a 90 minute nap, Katherine woke, we ate and opened gifts. Katherine had a blast. She took all the cards from the gifts and brought them over. She also grabbed paper and tried to rip it off the boxes. The gifts were all very nice and we put many away for a later surprises. She’s now busy enjoying her “Little People,” her caterpillar, little books, wood puzzles and all of her other toys. I’ve tried to put a bunch away in her closet, but boy does she have a lot of stuff…

Katherine’s First Year Checkup

Katherine is still a skinny beanpole – 90% height at 30.5″, but only 19 lbs still at 25%. Here’s a picture of happy Katherine on the scale before the 3 shots in the arms. She had a blast on the table ripping the paper and walking all over the room.

Happy Birthday Sid & Audrey

Katherine’s good friends Audrey and Sid celebrated their birthdays today. Their parents hosted two very nice parties with lots of good friends, food and fun for everyone. This morning we headed down to the Aquarium where the children played with arts and crafts, opened Sid’s presents :), and then visited the fish. One of the more momentous parts of the party was when an Aquarium employee came in dressed as a fuzzy otter. The children were very excited, running up to the otter and giving it hugs. Sid loved the otter, reaching towards it and hugging it.

After the party, we headed downstairs with friends and checked out the fish and animals. Steve and Katherine inspected the tide pools and jellyfish. We wandered thru the exhibits looking at seahorses, salmon, otters, and seals. I’m not sure if Katherine really took it all in, but she did peer thru the glass at the big fish. We should visit again in a couple months, to see how things progress.

This afternoon, after a nice nap, we headed over the Audrey’s carnival party. Lots of children played with carnival games and hopped up and down in a blowup house and ate cupcakes, ice cream and hotdogs. A clown came by and performed for the kids and blew up balloon animals.

Katherine watched the other children play. She decided pretty quickly that she wasn’t really very sure about the clown. (We hustled out of the clown performance once Katherine started making noises.) Steve also took Katherine into the bouncy house to see how she would react. She wasn’t too sure what to do, and so she would crawl over to the netting wall and look at me (what am I doing in here?). Once Steve picked her up and jumped up and down with her, she had a much better time.

All in all, Katherine had lots of new experiences today-from looking at big fish to participating in a carnival. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Katherine Takes Her First Steps

We saw Katherine take her first couple steps tonight. We think the trick is to distract Katherine with a toy, in this case her beloved green pinwheel (courtesy of her friend Sid). I held the pinwheel just out of reach on top of the coffee table. Steve held her up, and we encouraged her to get the toy just to see what would happen.

After a few tries, she took a couple wobbly steps forward, grabbed the table and tried to get the toy. (On one try she accidentally bonked herself on the padded table, so this wasn’t such a great idea.) Katherine may have been motivated lately by other children who she’s seen walking. Or, she may be getting more balanced; it’s unclear, but nonetheless very exciting.

Katherine Plays with Legos

Katherine has been picking Legos out of her blue Lego truck for a while now. Tonight she crawled over to her truck and took some out again. Steve showed her how to pull them apart, and put them back together again. We would hand her Legos, and she would grasp them and pull them apart. For the most part, she was successful if we showed her which ends to pull – on other occasions, she would try and pull one Lego apart or pull the Legos the wrong away. But, she really seemed to enjoy being able to play more actively with her toys. She got a big kick out of playing with the truck and seeing her stuffed animals in the truck or Steve stirring up her Legos.

Happy Birthday Francesca!

One of Katherine’s PEPs buddies, Francesca, turned 1 this past weekend. We went to her birthday party and had a wonderful time. Francesca showed us how she can walk (wow!) and shared her toys with her friends. One very cute moment occurred with Francesca stood on top of one gift to reach the curly ribbons on another gift. Both girls eventually ended up standing side by side playing with the ribbons before Katherine edged Francesca off the box.

More Adventures with the Chariot

We went cycling again this Saturday to prepare for our upcoming trip. We started at Redmond Town Center, went up the Burke Gilman trail and stopped for BBQ sandwiches in Woodinville. All was going well, especially since Katherine fell asleep in her trailer. I stopped by a nearby store to say hello to a friend, Katherine woke up, and we hit the trial again. Despite the best of intentions, we made it only to the 10 mile mark before everything let loose. Katherine had had enough. She was hungry, wolfed down a whole serving of bananas, drank milk and was generally very unhappy. We tried to give her a break by stopping at a nearby children’s park on the trail. She seemed to enjoy this, but didn’t have the wherewithal to make it back to the car. Steve and I flew back up the trail with Katherine screaming bloody murder. Other cyclists seem to find the screaming Chariot Doppler effect pretty funny. ๐Ÿ™‚ Anyway, I stayed at the willows lodge for 30 minutes until Steve could get back to the car and pick us up. Katherine also showed us why we call her our little Houdini. At the children’s trail, we pulled off to find Katherine holding her bike helmet! Holy Cow.

Redmond Park

It turns out that Patty has been taking Katherine to a nearby park in Redmond to see the animals that the park service imports during the summer. We stopped by the park with Audrey and her parents to see the park ourselves, and it is quite a cool place. The ponies walked over to say hello. The sheep and goals were pretty friendly too. Katherine loved the animals and seemed to like talking (er…loudly) to them.

Birthday Dinner for Grandpa Orr

Aunt Pat and Uncle Art graciously hosted the family tonight to celebrate Grandpa Orr’s birthday. Both Grandma and Grandpa Ramsay were in town to meet Grant – the newest member of the extended family – and to spend some quality time with family.

We really enjoyed catching up with everyone and watching the babies and toddlers interact with one another. Both Kevin and Will were active, playing with all the wonderful toys in the backyard, from the sandbox to the basketball hoop to the swings. Katherine spent much of the evening watching the two toddlers (especially from the high chair) and socializing with the adults.

Grant, who is a month old, snoozed, ate and generally hung out with Trina, Aunt Pat and Grandma. He is a very adorable baby, with a wonderful disposition. Mandy managed to sneak some food when folks weren’t watching, although she didn’t get any carrot cake…this time. ๐Ÿ™‚

Highlights for Katherine:

  • Steve and I took turns pulling Katherine along in a plastic wagon. The faster we went, the more she would clutch on to the side of the wagon and kick her legs. We could tell that she really enjoyed this because she would start panting (this is her new “thing”) sort of “ha ha ha ha” and give us a big smile.
  • Katherine enjoyed the kiddy swing. Dad pushed her several times and then would grab and release her feet. Katherine thought this was extremely funny and would laugh at dad every time.
  • Katherine got to play on the teeter-totter with Will and Kevin. Will was initially a bit concerned that Katherine shouldn’t be on the teeter-totter (perhaps being too young), but Aunt Pat convinced Will to get on the other side and play with Katherine. Afterwards, he and Kevin both huddled around Pat and Katherine saying “Hello, baby Katherine” and peering into her face. It was a very cute moment. Katherine then crawled over to the basketball hoop, which she managed to face-plant into (mild crying) the pole, but she recovered fairly quickly.
  • The adults all took pictures of Grandpa Orr with the children. Kevin and Will both held plastic balls. Katherine eyed Will’s red plastic ball and grabbed Will’s shirt to try and get to it. Once Will lowered the ball, both children grasped the ball and stared at each other for several moments. I think we managed to capture this on film …er …RAM.
  • Grandpa’s birthday cake had a rainbow with the birthday inscription. This is perhaps a testament to how much we’ve read the “What makes a rainbow” ribbon book, but Steve and I listed off to Katherine all the animals that make a rainbow- Red/Ladybug, Orange/Fox, Yellow/Baby Chick, Green/Grasshopper, Blue/Bluebird, and Purple/Butterfly. Yep, we’ve read this book wayyyy tooo many times!

Many folks in the family were sporting new cars. Jason and Amy just bought a mini-van and Art and Pat a SUV. Both are great for kids. It seems like our children now drive so many of our decisions. It was great seeing everyone. Between us we shot 244 pictures the best of which appear to the right.

Other New Developments This Week…

Katherine’s teething continues in earnest. Patty told us that Katherine has a new tooth about to emerge on the bottom right gum and another up top. I stuck my finger in Katherine’s mouth last night, but didn’t have much luck finding them. The problem is that Katherine would chomp down, and those teeth really hurt!

We’ve got a new game in the morning where Steve and I take turns showering while the other plays with Katherine in the bathroom. She’s now learned that if she crawls to the shower and stands up (with palms on the glass) she can sometimes see the person in the shower. She also crawls to the drawer and pulls it out and pushes it in. yes – we’ve got to put in the drawer locks.

We took Katherine shopping last weekend (or maybe the week before?). Anyway, we hit the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, where we got a couple autumn outfits and some much needed 12 month jammies. She should be all set for the next several months or two more major growth spurts. We also stopped by a toy store, and picked up a toy that Steve and I had been looking at for a while. It’s kind of like a bead maze where the beads move on these wires (this toy’s been around for a while, so you’ve likely seen this thing). Katherine’s still a bit young to grok it entirely, but she does like to spin the beads around and move them up and down a bit. Nevertheless, it’s a great toy for the rest of the family. It’s also a nice change of pace from the other two standing toys that she plays with which are battery operated. (Speaking of which, we think the Leap Frog table is possessed. It will randomly start playing music at weird times of the day, even if we haven’t touched it in hours.)