February 2007

Chinese New Year - February 18 through March 4

We celebrated Chinese New Year at the big bash sponsored Westchester Chinese Association, Organization of Chinese Americans, Westchester Evergreen Association, Families with Children from China and Huaxia Chinese School. This is the second year FCC has participated in this party with the Chinese American community. I was one of about 15 organizers and it was great fun (and a lot of work) to pull this together. The party was a huge success and we had about 800 attendees in total - 225 from Families with Children from China.

I was so busy at the party, that I wasn't able to take even one picture. I have put a call out to attendees for pictures and hopefully, I'll get one of Katerina. But I did get these great photos.













I do have a couple of pictures from before we left the house which shows her adorable outfit.


Katerina had a fabulous time; the crafts, the lion dance, dinner. But I think she had had it by the time the 1 1/2 hour performance came around at 7pm; young girls playing Chinese harps, dancing girls, magician, older folks dancing and chorus, etc. We had to get up (and of course we were in the middle of a row “excuse me, so sorry, yes us again” ) and leave the auditorium at least 15 times. When we were in our seats she was talking loud (excitement) about whatever was on the stage causing heads to turn around; some with amused affectionate looks, others with slow determination to let us know she was invading their space. I think she was one year too young and will enjoy it much more next year.

Life at Home
It's really been a blessing to be home and have so much time with Katerina. We've really been bonding and it's made a big difference in our relationship. BaBa is still number 1, but I am a very close 2nd. She sometimes even will reach out for me when he's holding her which never used to happen. She did the sweetest thing the other morning. She woke up early and Constantin brought her into our bed. She leaned over to me and stared deeply into my eyes. She took her hand and began brushing the hair out of my eyes. She kissed me on the face twice. It was so tender. Made mush meal out of me!
Although I haven't been working, I've been extremely busy. I swear I don't know how I used to squeeze in a job! I was very busy preparing for the Chinese New Year party, but primarily I've been organizing things that have needed attention for quite some time, catching up on paperwork, basically just getting life in order. It's terrific. I have started working with one client and am trying to build up enough of a clientele that I will not have to look for a salaried job at the end of June when my severance runs out.

Teetah
Our babysitter, Nancy was on vacation for 2 weeks. Popi, Constantin's sister, stayed with us a for a week and it was a big help. She and Rina found lots of time to bond. Rina calls her Teetah (her way of pronouncing Thea, which means Aunt in Greek) We took no pictures. (Boy, am I falling down on the job!!) She'll be back for a week sometime this month and we'll make up for it.
YaYa & Pappous
Rina has really bonded with Constantin's parents. They've been with us since early January and will return to Greece sometime in March or April. It's been wonderful to have them here and they are just so in love. For 82-year-olds, they are amazingly spry. They each walk on the treadmill every day unless it is nice enough to walk outside. YaYa (Greek for grandma) dances with Rina, gets down on the floor and plays, follows her running around the house, each of them pushing a baby carriage with a doll or stuffed animal. They wait each morning next to the baby monitor in the family room to hear her to wake up. They must have watched Mary Poppins 20 times already. They do not speak English, but communication has not been a problem. With laughter, affection, gestures and voice inflections they've been doing fine. Katerina is understanding some greek and responds appropriately.

Birthday Parties
Lots of birthday parties since the beginning of the year:

Olivia turned 3 - awaiting pictures

Katie turned 4 - My Gym in Yorktown












Emily turned 4 - Leapin' Lizards in Portchester












   Jenny turned 4 - Club Fit Briarcliff












Katerina loved her goody bag princess accessories. First dress-up experience.










What's in a NameRina has fallen in love with her full name this month - Katerina. She says it constantly and pronounces it like Cat-Tea-Rina. One evening she went on for almost 1 hour, turning her back to the audience (that would be me, Constantin, his parents and Joseph), writing with a pencil on a piece of paper, then she would turn around throw her arms in the air and yell Cat-Tea-Rina and then clap furiously....and we'd all clap furiously and shout hooray. We were having such fun, I forgot about recording the moment. By the time I brought the camera into the room to videotape, it was a more perfunctory performance. Another great photo/video opportunity lost. So she is now comfortable with her name, and we have her nickname Rina. I was so worried that someone else would give her a nickname before we settled on one. And you know it was bound to happen when you have a name with 4 syllables.

Full Sentences
She is really in the talking zone. We are amazed at her vocabulary and don't know where she's picked up some words. She's constantly chattering; particularly when she is in her crib at bedtime. The conversations she must be having with Chickaree Chick, Big & Little (curious) Georges, Ba Ba Bear, Mouse, etc. Not only does she talk to them, but she sings to them. Last night she was rocking one to sleep. It's interesting that she has not yet taken to dolls; only stuffed animals.

The other night she rode her tricycle into the kitchen where Constantin, his mother and I were preparing dinner and she said "Hi Guys". As Constantin was putting on her coat recently, she said: "Wait a minute Ba Ba". And the longest sentence to date was this week's "I want that book Ba Ba, please"

She recognizes most letters - upper and lower case. This has come about primarily with the exploration we've done on a particular Learn to Read website - Starfall. It's wonderful. It makes learning ABCs and reading fun. In addition to recognizing letters, she also recognizes some words. She knows her numbers through thirteen, skipping 10 and hanging on thirteen once she gets there. So it goes "eight, nine, eleven, twelve, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen, etc."

Gimme and Mine
Katerina attends nursery school 2 mornings a week and in addition to learning how to paint, put on her coat by herself, socialize with others, she has learned "Gimme" and "Mine". We've gotten her to soften Gimme with "Gimme, please". I guess someday we'll get to "Please may I have". Sometimes she'll substitute "I want that" or "I need that" for "Gimme". And then we have "Mine". Everything is "Mine". When Constantin's mother went over to give him a hug, Katerina ran over, grabbed his legs and said "MINE!"

I'm Sorry
Rina has learned I'm sowwie from the few times she was on the naughty stool (thank you SuperNanny) for flinging food. She now spontaneously will say I'm sorry when appropriate. Last night she was bringing me something and knocked over a bottle of seltzer which spilled a little..and said I'm sowwie and the time she smacked her head into my nose when we were playing and said I'm sowwie.

Bless You: If she doesn't get a "Bless You" from someone when she sneezes, she'll say it herself.

First snowfall
We had a very mild weekend but had a least one snow storm and that thrilled Katerina. She went tubing in the backyard.













Other Noteworthy Items

Favorite foods: Still macaroni and cheese, fruit, cheese, but she's begun to eat eggs, chicken, and mixed vegetables as well. She loves her "coffee" in the morning ( a shot of decaf in a glass of soy milk) and drinks water or water with a little juice most of the time. Of course, cheddar goldfish/bunnies are still the favorite snacks. She really enjoys Japanese miso soup with tofu and gyoza (fried dumplings).

Oreo Cookies: Major milestone - ate an oreo cookie the right way on her own. Pulled the two halves apart and licked the icing. On to Mallomars.

Potty training: NOPE, not yet. She knows what the potty is for and has observed her friends using the toilet, but has no interest. Diapers suit her just fine for the time being. I really hope she's out of diapers by the time we go on vacation in September.

Things Chinese: She identifies Chinese writing as Chinese, and certain types of clothes as Chinese, and Chinese people. She will point and say "Chinese". At the Chinese New Year party, when we sat down for the evening performance, the curtain opened and the stage was lavishly decorated for the holiday. She pointed and said "Chinese".

Attack of Barney: One afternoon a friend, AnnMarie, and I were stuffing ticket envelopes for the Chinese New Year party when we hear this whining screechy sound from Katerina's room where she was with AnnMarie's daughter, Katie. We walked down there trying to determine the source. We then thought the sound had moved into the hallway and all gathered there looking up at the smoke detector thinking maybe it was coming from there. Rina and her friend went into the living room and suddenly the noise seemed to get fainter where we were and prominent in the living room. Constantin's parents by this time were also trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. We called Constantin at work and he decided he'd better come home. He drove to the house from Peekskill - 20 minutes away - and within 1 minute he located the source; it was the Barney doll that Katerina had been carrying around and was now lying on her play table in the living room! Boy, did we all feel foolish. Outsmarted by Barney...superdeedooper!

January 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR
It's been a hectic month. I became the Coordinator for the Westchester chapter of Families with Children from China, and in addition to reviving a chapter that's been dormant for over a year, plans for the Chinese New Year party - February 24th - are underway.

I also made a decision to join Healthcare Innovation Partners, a consortium of 8 independent consultants and try to build a practice that will meet my financial needs but yet give me more time at home with Katerina.

Constantin's parents are visiting until the end of March and we will baptize Katerina while they are here.

NANOOK OF THE NORTH
Katerina had pneumonia in December and is just recovering from RSV. Poor thing is miserable when she's sick.
DEVELOPMENT
Katerina is talking up a storm. She has begun speaking in full sentences, asking questions, and answering questions. She can recite (and sing) the entire alphabet and recognizes many of the letters. Her favorite letter is W. The other day we were driving in the car and she started yelling W, W, W. I looked all around and realized she was looking at the WALK sign. She does confuse M with W, however; today we passed McDonalds in the mall and she yelled out W.
She know parts of her body, such as nose, in 4 languages: English, Chinese (she takes Chinese language lessons and listen/watches Mei Mei CDs & DVDs, Spanish (the babysitter is from Peru and teaches her some basic words) and now Greek since Constantin's parents are visiting and speak only a few words of English.
Katerina calls herself RINA and the nickname has stuck in school, with her friends and now we call her Rina most of the time.
For the past several weeks, she has been responding to "I Love You" with "I Love You". Last night she put her arm around Joseph and gave him an unsolicited "I Love You". Tonight she walked over to Constantin, grabbed his legs and said: "I Love You". And me? Chopped liver!

November through December Update

THANKSGIVING
November began with the excitement of the upcoming holidays. As usual, we had Thanksgiving at our house. The usual suspects enjoyed the day with us: Cousin Larry, Gail, Kara, Cousin Donna, Judith, Jessie & Ben. As an added treat, Aunt June was with us. This was the first time she had Thanksgiving with her children since moving to Florida 10 years ago.



MOUSE

Katerina has fallen in love with Mickey Mouse! And this was just from a coloring/sticker book. She had yet to see an animated cartoon. She became obsessed with "Mouse" as she calls him. We began taping the Mickey Mouse clubhouse cartoons and no matter how many she sees, it's always "More Mouse". I got a Mickey Mouse Christmas DVD which she wanted to watch over and over again. I took her to the Disney Store in the Westchester and she walked in with her mouth open, looking upwards where Disney characters were dangling from the ceiling and let out a whispered, in awe, WOWWWWWWWWW. She certainly is my daughter! Can't wait to go to Disney World with her.

SWING
Constantin felt that Katerina was not able to get enough exercise during the chillier months because she could not play in the park. So, how do we resolve this problem? We purchase a swing/rings/trapeze contraption and hang it between the kitchen and dining room. Doesn't everyone?

CHRISTMAS
Returning from Florida on December 15th it was a mad rush to prepare for Christmas. I decided to put thoughts of everything else on hold prepare for Katerina's first Christmas. We decorated and she loved the tree. She was fascinated with one particular ornament of a panda bear which my mother purchased for Katerina in China when we were there to pick her up in March.

Keeping with tradition, Joan & Dan arrived from Florida a few days before Christmas and Joan & I had our annual last-minute shopping adventure along with our annual Christmas lunch at Epstein's Kosher Deli (go figure). Katerina joined us the next day and had a ball at Bloomingdales. From that day on, every time I pull into a parking lot near stores, she says "shopping".

As usual, we celebrated Christmas Eve with George and Deb. It was a lovely relaxing evening. And as usual, we went to Uncle Bobby and Aunt Susie's the next day. Because Bobby was working that day, the festivities did not begin until 4pm. Joan & Dan and Teri were there as usual and George & Deb came late after visiting her family in Long Island. Special this year was that Len & Diane joined us. They were in Pennsylvania (her family) and around NY (his family) and worked it out to spend Christmas with us.

To say she was overwhelmed with gifts would be an understatement. There were so many that we decided to save some for New Year's day which is the traditional gift opening day in Greece.

VISIT FROM GABRITSOS COUSINS

What a treat. Cousin George & Iliya with kids, Christos and Sylvia were visiting from Greece. They spent an afternoon with us which was incredibly enjoyable. I had never met the kids before and none of them had yet to meet Katerina. It was very special for Constantin, because it was the first of his family, with the exception of his sister Popi, to meet Katerina. They adored her. How could they not? The kids were particularly taken with her and asked their parents on the drive back to NYC if they could have a little sister from China.

NEW YEAR'S
We had a quiet evening at home. I stayed up for the Times Square ball to drop, but Constantin was out by 10:30am. Joseph worked at Briars and came home at 12:30am sporting a shiny hat and noise makers! His first grown-up New Years celebration.

MORE GABRITSOS COUSINS
Alatia & Sevi were visiting from Greece and spent a day with us and stayed until the next morning. Georgia came up with them but took the train back to NYC in the evening. Again, Constantin was delighted that his cousins were able to meet Katerina and she was in rare form. Georgia had her dancing all over. I've got some great videos.

SPEECH
First full sentence: Come on, follow me! Cute moment: When she spotted Aunt Susie she started asking for Uncle Bobby. "Uh Bobby", "Uh Bobby" in escalating tones. When responding in the affirmative it's "Uh huh"; wonder where she got that from.

HEALTH
During December, while I was in Florida, Katerina came down with pneumonia. Unfortunately, this prevented her and Constantin from coming down for Dad's service. She had a high fever and was very listless for days. We were warned by Dr. Traister that we could expect her to come down with everything this winter since she has not yet built up immunities for germs in the US. Apparently, they have different germs in China!

Catch Up - September & October

These past 2 months have gone very quickly. Back to school for Joseph, Dad arriving for a visit on Sept. 14 and leaving on the 28th. Mom arriving for a visit on the 30th and leaving October 16th. And of course, it's budget time at JHHLS with the customary bloodbath.

School DaysAfter the Montauk trip Katerina started going to a daycare center for socialization (Sept 12) 2 mornings a week and the Rising Star program in Ardsley for Chinese language (Sept 16) on Saturday mornings. Her daycare program is for 2-year-olds and has only 3 other kids in the class. One of the kids, John, is an adoptee from China and is in our playgroup that meets at Kathy Miller's house. The first week or two she was fine going to school; just a little whimpering when I or Constantin would leave. But she has become increasingly upset each time we go to the school. According to teacher Laurie, she's fine when we leave, but now when we turn the car into the lot she starts with the "No, No, No". This morning, 10/31 she started acting out at home and was throwing fits about everything after I mentioned we were getting dressed for school. It's too bad she missed the Halloween parade. I am trying to get her into the Briarcliff Nursery School which I much prefer and should hear in January if she's been accepted for next fall. We are currently attending a Mommy & Me class at BNS on Saturdays, after Chinese class, and supposedly that will give us more of an edge of getting in. Can you believe we have to think of these things for a 2-year-old?? We decided to discontinue swimming lessons until the spring or summer and replaced the time slot with the Mommy & Me class.

Joe's Birthday Party - September. 22
Katerina experienced her first birthday party and was quite delighted with the candles and the singing. Joe's birthday is the 22nd and we had a nice dinner & cake. He celebrated on Sunday, the 24th with his friends, brother, and grandmother and we had another cake. He is 17 now. We gave him $ to put towards a new iPod nano.








Mom's Birthday Party - October 1
Mom came up for a visit on September 30th and we celebrated her birthday that night at La Panetiere with Lou, Dale, Bobby & Susie, and again the following night at home. Katerina once again enjoyed the birthday cake and candles and has begun to sing the song or some facsimile of the song.

















Autumn Moon Festival - October 6
We celebrated Autumn Moon festival at Kathy Miller's house. Although we could not see the moon that night - too cloudy - we did eat mooncakes. They sound better than they taste! There are many different ways to celebrate during the Autumn Moon Festival but "whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them. "

The nicest celebration I read about on my Yahoo Listservs was an FCC group in South Beach Florida who went out to dinner and then walked 10 blocks to the beach holding balloons and lanterns and with glow sticks inside. At the beach, they released the balloons to send good wishes to the birth families in China.



            Katerina's Birthday - October 13th
Yes, it was finally Katerina's birthday and she was primed for candles, singing, and cake. We did so on her birthday, Friday night with just us and then had a birthday party for her on Saturday. It was kind of a last minute idea to have a big bash and we invited family, of course, her playgroup, Chris, Kate, Tess & Finn, George & Deb. We re-arranged the dining/living room so that there was a big play area for the kids. All told, we had 6 kids (not counting Finn) and 12 adults.


Birthday Friends:  Katie, Sonia, Dani, Ally






















Fall Fun
Had a few opportunities for fall fun over the past month. On the morning of Katerina's birthday party, we attended an open house/fall festival at the Briarcliff Nursery School. On the day after, we went pumpkin picking with George & Deb, Mom & Aunt Susie. On Oct. 22 we attended a "Build your own scarecrow" event to benefit White Plains Hospital pediatric waiting room. At home, we carved 2 jack-o-lanterns and painted pumpkins.

Health & Behavior

Speech: There is progress, but not as much as I had hoped. She's starting to put 2 words together and getting good at the word, please. "Open please", "Up please". She's also fond of saying "Stop it" when she's not in the mood for something like tickling.

Growth: She is 30.5" and 21.5 lbs. She is starting to grow out of the 6 to 12 & 9 to 12-month clothes. Doing very well in 12 to 18months, but your straight 18months or 18 to 24 months are too big. Her shoe size has grown from size 3 to size 4.5 or 5.

Sleeping: She's been great going to sleep at night, although she stays up for quite a while "chatting" with her crib pals; Elmo, Chickoree Chick, and Baby Tad are still her favorites. She really really loves anything Elmo! Basically, we put her in the crib after story time somewhere between 8:30 and 9pm. On occasion, she is still up at 10pm. She wakes between 7 and 8. She has still been taking a 1-hour nap in the afternoon up until recently because it's been too cold for Nancy to take her for a walk in the stroller, which lulls her to sleep.

Behavior: Someone must have told her that she's now 2 years old because the terrible two's are upon us. She is very obstinate and throws a minor fit when she doesn't get her way about anything. I'm not sure how to best handle this. I keep reading that we should choose our battles and that toddlers need to be able to feel in control, but what about the making of a brat where they think that if they throw a tantrum they can get what they want? I really need to research this carefully, because I think the way it is handled now, will set the stage for a long time to come.

Naughty Stool: One of her favorite tricks is flinging food off the high chair or table. We have decided to focus on correcting this particular behavior and have begun putting her on the "naughty" stool when she does it. It's amazing how quickly she understood what the naughty stool is all about. She knows she must sit there and she now whimpers, keeps her hands in her lap and waits to be released. We have her sit for 2 minutes - I read the time should = the age and then we have her say I'm sorry, give her a hug and a kiss and she helps clean up the mess. It seems to have diminished since we've invoked the naughty stool and when she does it, she does it with full knowledge that she shouldn't. She looks at us with a defiant face, flings the food or drink and then gives us a "so there" look. And it's off to the naughty stool.

Eating: We are trying to introduce new foods with iron. I think she's ok with protein because she has a lot of dairy; cheese, milk, pudding. She eats a tremendous amount of fruit, some veggies and she continues to love macaroni and cheese, any kind of pasta and rice. She's hip to the mix up the meat with rice or pasta and proceeds to push the meat to one side. We tried lentils one night and she tolerated them. The doctor emphasized that she should be eating meat, chicken, and spinach for iron.

Other Activities
10/7 - Nancy & I took an Infant/Toddler CPR class
10/17 - Went to Baltimore for a 2-day conference. The first time away from Katerina overnight.

First Trip to Montauk 9/8 to 9/10

Montauk is absolutely our most favorite place. I grew up loving Montauk and have over forty years (YIPES) of memories. Constantin independently developed a strong attachment to it as well before we met and even purchased a timeshare at Gurney's Inn while my father was heading up that effort, and prior to our meeting. We have had some of our best times out there and spent many weeks in spring & summer with Promise whose ashes have been scattered from a jetty into the inlet dividing Gin Beach and Gossman's. And so it was especially exciting to introduce Katerina to Montauk and vice versa. It was love at first sight.

Joseph is also a devotee. Before he moved in with us (probably 7 or 8 years ago when he was 9 or 10) I took him out there for a weekend; just me & him. We had a blast riding bikes, sailing on the lake, sitting around a bonfire at night on the beach, eating clams, kicking our shoes off and seeing if we could get them over the high wire, blasting music with the moonroof open - TubThumping by Chumbawamba was our favorite.

Fun around the pool area.






Katerina had her first experience at "Lunch". We stopped both on our way out and on our way back.

Labor Day Weekend

For people with no plans this weekend we certainly were extremely busy. We started out on Friday night going to Kryssy and Richard Egnor’s for dinner. This was our first dinner out at a friend’s house with Katerina. Although we all intended it to be an early evening, we didn’t get home until after 11pm. Kryssy and Richard are definitely “kids” people and Katerina (and Joseph) had a great time. She was performing – dancing, hopping in circles, giggling – all those things we adore. It was a delightful, comfortable and fun evening; great dinner, too.

Saturday was a miserable, rainy day. And what do your typical All American (or Greek American or Chinese American) families do on a rainy day? They go to the mall. I never knew what a great place malls are for kids, but next to a playground, it’s the best! So off we went to the Westchester and dined in the food court on vegetable lo mein. We strolled the promenade sometimes with K in the stroller and sometimes walking, running &/or falling down. As you can see, she fit in rather nicely with the mall sculpture. She’s quite a poser!


Sunday, unexpectedly, Aunt Kay called and was in town for a few days visiting with Tommy & Janis. She and Ray were on their way back to Florida after spending 3 weeks in Europe. They wanted to come see the newest addition to the family. Aunt Kay’s niece has 4 kids from various Asian countries; Korea, Vietnam, and China. Janis’ sister has 2 girls from China. Even Ray’s cousin’s daughter is in the process of adopting from China. It’s funny how many of us are out there. Even in our own family! It was a beautiful day and we sat in the backyard having coffee and cake. They only stayed a short time but it was a great visit. Katerina took to Aunt Kay right away and brought her in to see her room.

On Monday, Christopher and Kate called and were suffering from cabin fever. They jumped (figure of speech when you have a 2-year-old and a 6-week old) into the car and drove up from Merrick, Long Island. Another beautiful day. We went to Muscoot Farm for a while, had some take out and then the girls began their meltdown from not having naps. Finn, the 6-week old, was precious although he doesn’t do much yet. I’m glad we skipped that real early time and jumped right into the terrible two’s.






Are they just the cutest??



































Katerina is definitely enjoying her ice cream. And here's Joseph sneaking some bites on the way to the trash can. BUSTED!



























Has anyone seen the limo?

Back to work on Tuesday, unfortunately, but looking forward to the upcoming weekend in Montauk. We’re taking advantage of off-season prices and got a 1 bedroom townhouse, oceanfront at the surf club. Chris & Kate may come out as well, which would be a lot of fun.

Genius Child Alert 9/5/06: Katerina has just understood the relationship been the computer mouse and cursor, and when she did, she let out a delighted WOW! She’s fascinated with the computer and loves to sit on our laps when we are working on one, so I bought a couple of educational games and we were playing one last evening where the mouse moves the boat in the water and she got the hang of it.
Another notable event 9/7/06: We’ve been trying to get Katerina acclimated to the toilet and bought her a small potty. Yesterday, Nancy had her sit on it for ½ hour and she left us a little pellet. Nancy saved it for us until we got home from work. We made a big fuss. At least she knows what the potty is for; however, I believe she thinks of it as an interesting alternative, not as the primary objective.


Katerina getting cozy with all her pals. That's Elmo, Chickoree Chick and Baby Tad in case you were unfamiliar with the clique.

Just Some Cute Pictures