Katya’s Lunches–Pasta Salad and Fruit

After a week of tinned soup lunches assembled by the seat of our pants–no one was feeling well this week–I thought Katya should have something nicer.  So she got,

• Pasta salad. Leftover pasta, five odd cherry tomatoes found in the fridge, most of a mini cucumber (I ate a few slices) five or six Kalamata olives, leftover marinara chicken, and soft goats cheese.  Strongly flavored, and quite good. I used a container I bought in Japan, and it holds about 2 cups.
• Cherries
• Strawberries
• V8 juice
• The last pack of organic fruit snacks.

All left in the refrigerator overnight to help the ice-pack along. These days are more and more like summer.

 

Katya’s Lunches

For the past 6 years of Katya’s school career, certain tasks have been designated.  Until very recently, every school day Kristina has made Katya’s lunch, Daddy has made her breakfast, I have dressed and combed her, and Mum has run the last minute check to make sure binder, lunch, waterbottle, and i-pad are in order. But two weeks ago, due to irreconcilable differences of opinion between my client (Katya) and myself, things got shuffled somewhat, and I switched departments, from Fashion Consultant to Chief Lunch Packer. So far I’d say it’s been a success. Kristina much prefers laying out clothes at night, and laying in bed while Katya puts them on, and I enjoy packing lunches.

Tomorrow’s menu;

• Two pickles wrapped with nitrate free ham, goats cheese, mayo, and tortilla
• Cherry tomatoes
• Organic snap pea crisps
• Fresh Fruit*
• Juice box

*Lets take a moment here to appreciate the fruit, shall we?

In the container, which is two and a half inches high, we have

• 1 cara-cara orange
• 3/4 banana
• 1 kiwi
• 3 or so strawberries

She will eat it all.

The Bi-Annual Pilgrimage (Spring Edition)

Because otherwise how would we see our favorite people?  I mean, Doctor D. ought to count as a distant uncle, or something.

This trip was really a breeze. As far as we know, we didn’t nearly die going or coming, so that was nice.  (One time our transmission died on a dangerous hill/curve combination, and we had to walk a 1/4 mile in the rain and mud and dark, along the roaring interstate to the WV welcome center, where we spent an uncomfortable couple hours before being bailed out by a church friend’s father.)

Doctor D.  was his new usual affable self–the way he’s been since her last hospitalization. Yes, there’s a story. No, we’re not telling it.

The Professional Opinion and General Consensus  was “no surgery this year”, which is good because it gives Katya more time to grow. She’s been growing a lot. 

Usually we have to wait a long while before being brought back to be seen, but Dr. D’s office was running ahead of schedule (!), so much so that we were walking out of the appointment two minutes after it was supposed to begin.  It pays to be there thirty minutes early, folks.

We got out there in such good time that we had ample time to meander down to the cafeteria and eat a leisurely lunch before seeing Dr. Repka. It was Meatless Monday, so I had peanut curry, which was really quite good!

I have a lot of pictures from Dr. Repka’s, so I will give that it’s own blog post. Cheers!

 

 

 

What Katya Ate for Lunch

I picked up this cute container in Japan to use for Katya’s school lunches.  Kristina is usually in charge of packing Katya’s lunch, but she was at a sleepover last night (at a hotel! Oooh, fancy!) and so I helped mum with Katya’s lunch.  Guess what’s in this container? I’ll tell you:

Most of a syrupy sweet Mango.

A whole cutie orange, segmented.

A handful of red grapes.

A whole kiwi.

A handful of blueberries.

A handful of raspberries.

It was very heavy for it’s size!

Katya said it was very good.

 

Happiness on Laundry Day

Due to all the achy, stiff, and creaky people in this house, it was only a matter of time before Katya learned how to give back rubs.  On laundry day she rubbed Chad’s back–vigorously– for a good 5+ minutes!  So much love! So much cuteness!

Chad and Katya at the Wilmer Eye Institute

Since Chad also is seeing Dr. Repka  for the time being, due to a rather unfortunate and scary episode with the eye clinic at our local Children’s Hospital which led to us seeking a second opinion, he and Daddy rejoined us after lunch at the Wilmer Eye Institute.

Mum handled the bit of the hospital experience where you have to go over the entire medical history point by point. It took a while.

 

This is Chad and Katya looking on and waiting whilst Mum explained things.

Then we got down to business.

Katya was up first, and did quite well. Here she is with  Alex Christoff, counting the dots.

Side note to say– between Katya’s improved language skills, and Alex’s improved ASL skills, I am no longer needed as an interpreter for the alphabet slides! I’m happy to be out of a job.

Then the dilating eye drops. Katya is no longer frightened, but she does have difficulty prying her eyes open after getting drops.

Then it was Chad’s turn! He looked super cool in his glasses. I include this picture also because Mr. Christoff looks so wonderfully dynamic.

Chad got to read numbers out of a book.

After a relatively brief wait for their eyes to dilate we piled into a small exam room to be viewed by Dr. Repka Himself. Chad’s eyes checked out alright–no glasses needed!– and Katya’s optic nerves looked a bit better! So everyone was all happiness.

Then we left the city heart to go to Menchies. No pictures of the White Citrus froyo. We ate it all. :-)  And then, the next day, we went home.

Baltimore Anniversary

So Katya’s One-Year Checkup was this month.

Things got a little hairy in the car, because Chad and Katya brought along their pet guinea pigs. (I haven’t mentioned that Chad has got guinea pigs now, have I? Well, he has. But these are some toy guinea pigs gifted to them by an awesome family friend. The live ones stayed home.)

There was a slight mix-up with our lodgings, so we unexpectedly ended up at the Ronald McDonald House, which was very different.  The locks on the room doors were far superior, being key pad and code which silently unlocked the door, as opposed to the Childrens’ House’s noisy key-card system. But the Ronald McDonald House did not have filtered water available.  But it was fine.

Daddy took Chad to the aquarium and to visit his friends at a small church school while mum and I did the morning hospital thing.

Katya’s appointments went well. I should have taken a picture of her with Dr. D, but…

 

 

After her Plastic’s appointment, we went up to 10S to see Payton from Child Life, and the nurses. Katya was happy to see the nurses–though the ones she knew best weren’t there–but what made her really happy was to see the cleaning lady! When Katya saw that cleaning lady, her whole face lit up and she ran over and gave her a hug! Katya very seldom initiates hugs, even within the family, so that ought to tell you a great deal about the depth of her feelings. But Katya always has approved of cleanliness.

 

Views From Spring Break: The Bridge

We had to take Katya to a doctor over Easter Weekend, and drove through this cute little town, with the most amazing bridge! I had forgotten my camera at home, so all photos are stolen from Mum’s FB. In all fairness, I did take 3 of the four.

The bridge ran through the middle of the river, instead of merely crossing it–something that this picture doesn’t show at all.  It does show a cool mill.  If I can gain access to Mum’s phone, I will put up a better one, later.

 

Katya loved jumping to make the bridge rock and sway. She was rather giddy with happiness.

 

 

It was cold and windy, and we later took refuge in a used book shop–yes, purchases were made– before taking a recommendation for a local eatery. After all, what’s the fun of traveling if you always eat at the same chain restaurant?

 

 

 

Bubble Wrap!

Katya learned a new skill today– popping bubble wrap! She has always been afraid of the “pop” noise, but today, when I gently insisted she try with hunter’s muffs, she was brave enough to push past her fear of the pop. She is now carefully popping *all* the bubbles, and is very pleased with herself.

That’s my girlie!

A Fine-Arts Experience

Katya’s school helped organize a sensory-friendly concert. The program was “Ferdinand the Bull”, and “Peter and the Wolf”. Both were accompanied by an orchestra and narrated, and the latter was a ballet!

The venue had gone to lengths to make the morning a fun one. They had a story-board * available online; the noise level was just right; you were allowed to switch seats and move around; there were crafts in the lobby; and even two of the bathrooms had been switched to be “family”.

Chad loved it all, and especially enjoyed Ferdinand the Bull. He was so into it, I wish you could have seen him!

Katya seemed to prefer the ballet. Her favorite character was the Duck; Chad’s was the Cat.

Here we are being introduced to the villainous Wolf.

We had a real good time.

*A story board is a board or book, usually with pictures, that explains how an event should go. Like the “My First Trip to the Dentist” books you can find at the library, only more individualized. A story board would have pictures–if at all possible–of the *actual* dentist’s office and staff your child would be seeing.

Katya on the Couch

When we first adopted Katya she didn’t understand the pleasure that a pile of warm towels can bring. Her first laundry day she was a bit upset when I tried to lay her down on the couch, but when she realized how nice those towels felt, she actually lay still for ten whole minutes until they cooled off.  Now all I have to do is yell, “Hey Katya, towels!” and she comes running.

“Warm!” she says.

 

A January Walk

Yesterday I took Katya and Chad out for a walk, after Katya got home from school.  The woods were wet, muddy, brown, and very beautiful.

Katya wanted to take a different path than usual, and so we headed up a steep muddy slope on a thin foot path. Within the first two yards, I discovered that Katya has a fear of slipping. “Katya, look at–Katya, look at me. Do you want to go back? We can go back down?” “No, no, no. There!” said Katya– I translate–pointing up the path. “Are you sure?” “Yes!” “Then stop screaming!”

But it was hard for her to stop screaming. It was a narrow muddy foot path, surrounded by bushes, saplings, grasses, and the odd thorn. Katya’s plant recognition is not sufficiently developed to the point where she can identify prickers vs sticks or stalks at a glance, and she knows that bushes can poke, so she was in a constant state of twitch, shrieking every three steps or so. The muddy path posed an additional problem, because at any moment Katya felt that she could be pitched headlong into one of the aforementioned perils.  But she did *not* want to quit!

We must’ve taken a wrong turning, because we ended up on the golf course.  Katya was *so* happy to be able to turn around without worrying about bushes and sticks and things.

The way back down was a challenge for me. Chad has been climbing down hills since he could walk, and has mastered the sideways “crab walk” necessary for descending steep slopes with dignity, but Katya’s early life was spent on flat surfaces. Her unsteadiness led her to grip tightly to my hand, depending on me to keep us both upright, a difficult task when she kept stepping on my foot!

Apart from a muddy shoe, we made it down without mishap. We cleaned our shoes off in a snow pile, and Chad and Katya had a snowball fight.

We arrived home at the best time–just in time for supper!

Katya, Just Eleven

Just like that, she’s a pre-teen!

2015 has been a big year for Katya. She’s had two surgeries, reads fluently on a first grade level, and has become “Katya the Brave”. Just this month she climbed a huge milestone when she came to me for help when she was sick!

Katya at Just Eleven:

Favorite–

color (blue)

pattern (stripes)

food (soup, vegetables, anything)

dessert (chocolate)

music (nearly everything)

activity (jumping, baths)

subject (music)

weather (sunny)

animal (n/a. Dislikes all animals, hates dogs. Approves of food chain.)

book (Piggy and Elephant, Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, Richard Scary)

movie (Frozen!)

Other;

secret talent (hiding things)

worst thing (animals, crowds)

New Skills:

speaks at level of (15 month old–some words intelligible to family!)

reads fluently at (first grade level)

says thank-you 50% of time without prompting

manages fear of (balloons, sparrows, lanyards, sudden motions, conversations about food,  getting clothes wet, the dark, talking, school,  pigeons, vomiting into a puke bowl, aprons, forests,coughing, and gold fish.)

Hopefully Katya has a great year in 2016!

 

 

 

 

I Backtrack to Baltimore

I got distracted by shiny Christmas sweaters, but here is Katya with Dr. D., getting her picture taken. Oddly enough there were no observers at our appointment. Usually there are at least one or two people standing in the corners.  But this time it was just Dr. D., which was nice, because instead of being “Dr. D., Teacher” or “Dr. D., Colleague”, he was just “Dr. D., as Himself”.

In this picture, Dr. D. was showing Katya how to tip her head, but she didn’t understand quite what he wanted, and mirrored him instead.

After Katya’s appointment we took her up to say ‘hi’ to the nurses, which was great, even though some of them were out on lunch break, so we didn’t get to see everyone. When we got to the floor (Hello again, 10S!) Katya said “Six! Six!” and wanted to go see her old room! Mum was surprised that she remembered her old room number. We brought the nurses some chocolate from Trader Joe’s, because nurses are awesome and deserve chocolate.

We also ran into Payton from Child Life! It was great to see her again, not only because Child Life was so instrumental in getting Katya through her hospital stay, but also because Patyon is just a nice person.

Though Katya was pretty mellow while we went to appointments and visited people, later she laughed and laughed, and was so happy. Weird as it may sound, it was good to be back–under pleasanter circumstances.