Christmas

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? 🙂

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. 🙂 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!!”