Karis Grace at 4 years old

Well, somehow Karis managed to sneak in another birthday this year, and she is now four years old!  Time sure does fly when you're having fun... and especially when your fun involves chasing two active little girls around!  Here is my run-down of everything Karis at this stage in her life...  

First of all, to go along with this introductory picture, Karis still loves to eat!  She enjoys fruits, most veggies (not a huge fan of broccoli or cauliflower), most meats (not a fan of roasts), and all desserts.  Karis is a fast eater, and she usually asks for more after she cleans her plate.  Because she eats fast, we also have to pay pretty close attention to her while she eats because over-stuffing is an issue that can lead to choking.  

 Karis typically eats all of her meat first (she had grilled chicken on her plate at the beginning of lunch) and then takes a little break before plunging into everything else (cucumber strips & cherry tomatoes made up the other half of this particular lunch).  Karis' basic meal schedule still includes two snacks (mid-morning and post-nap) as well as 2-3 cups of milk per day (with her meals) and some water with snacks. 

She can also independently feed herself most things with either a spoon or fork.  Sometimes if the food is difficult to spear with a fork, she will scoop with her fork, so there is still some room to improve, but it's been fun to watch her fine-tune these skills... and there certainly is incentive when you have a shake from Sonic!

 Potty training is still moving forward for both girls.  After Zoe joined our family, they both reverted for a few months and wouldn't do anything on the potty, but we've officially been diaper-less since July 21st (except at night and using cloth pull-ups for naps and at therapy).  This was a huge step for me (one that I'd been putting off), and I think I'd say it's going well overall.  We have little portable potty seats that we tote all over the house (and we even bring them in the van), and on a normal day we only have 4-6 accidents total.  Also, Karis has taken the plunge into both peeing and pooping on the potty, which is such a monumental step... Now we're just working on saying "I need to go to the potty!" when it's time.  I'll have to do a separate potty training post sometime, but suffice it to say that I do a lot of laundry these days, and we spend a lot of our time sitting on the potty.  :)  

Big girl underwear

 

Singing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" while on the potty

When it comes to playing and interacting with other kids, Karis generally loves to be included in the mix.  She enjoys playing with her siblings (though there are still some squabbles), and they get along best when they're doing something together like throwing balls, playing dress up, or even cleaning up a room.  Speaking of cleaning, Karis is quite the little helper with dusting, laundry, and carrying her dishes from the table. She is also pretty good at listening to instructions, but sometimes the stubborn toddler streak gets the best of her.  Karis' strongest love language at this point seems to be physical touch.  She enjoys giving kisses and hugs to everyone, and she's always willing to say "bye" and blow kisses, even to random people (unlike my other shy children).   

 reading at the table

 pretending to be a monkey while getting dressed (a random game we play)

 dressing up with Enoch

cooking lunch

checking on Zoe during a walk

 

playing "night, night" with Enoch

 telling me about something on our walk

Developmentally, Karis has grown a lot this past year.  She's so so close to running, doing better with stepping up and down, learning to watch for obstacles in her path (like water hoses), and falling much less often.  Karis has also come a long way with playing intentionally: she loves playing with her baby dolls, "cooking" in her kitchen, reading to her animals, and working puzzles.  Shes's still not crazy about coloring, but she is doing a better job holding crayons and making her vertical lines.  :)  Over the past few months Karis has added on quite a few new sounds, but my absolute favorite one is "mmm" because now she can say "mama" and she can make the "mmm" sound when she gives kisses.  She continues to use some sign language along with her words (all done, wait, stop), and she can say each of her siblings names well enough for them to understand ("Ena" is Enoch, "Dayda" is Alaythia, and ).  Additionally, I feel like when she is speaking in context, she's pretty understandable overall.  What I mean by this is that if she is talking to me about something we are doing (eating, reading, pottying, etc.) I can generally guess what she is asking for or telling me about.  But if she comes up to me out of the blue and wants to tell me about how her therapy went (or something else out of context), I have a hard time understanding her.  Speaking of therapy, Karis is still doing OT, PT, and ST (two sessions of ST per week).  Her therapists are all great about teaching me what they are doing with her and sending me home with ideas of how to continue working on her goals.

One of our neighbors helped me by sewing this onesie for Karis  because she no longer fits into most typical onesies (2T is the biggest you can usually find in the stores).  The reason we need onesies for Karis is that if she dirties her diaper/pull up during nap, she likes to play in it as soon as she wakes up... which gets pretty gross real quick!  So we always put her to bed in a onesie with some bermuda shorts.  :)

 Karis is also still in AFO braces.  I had a hard time finding shoes this time to work with them because they really need to tie (otherwise she just slips them off any chance she gets).  Thankfully, I found some at WalMart that I made a few changes to, and they've been working well.

Daddy gave Karis some pig tails a few months ago, and I thought they were too cute!  I usually just put her hair in a regular ponytail because Karis really dislikes having her hair brushed and fixed, but every once in awhile we fix it, and then (after she endures it) she likes to get up and spin and show everyone how pretty it is.  

And to end, here are a few birthday smiles.  We sure do love our Sweet Karis!!

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Karis Grace at 3.5 years old

Now that it is 2017, Karis has officially reached the 3.5 year old mark.... and I'm not sure when the last time I actually did an update on her was, so it's about time!!   Here are some things that I'd like to remember about my Karis Grace at the 3.5 year old stage.

First, Karis has really blossomed lately in her desire to play meaningfully.  She loves being a mama to her baby dolls by changing their diapers, nursing and burping them, putting them to sleep, feeding them, etc.  Another favorite for Karis is dressing up.  She absolutely loves putting on any and every piece of clothing she can find.  In fact, she prefers to wear about 7-10 items at once.  :)   Karis also happily joins in on any games that the other kids play, such as phone, digging in the dirt, play-doh, stacking blocks, cooking in the toy kitchen, etc.   In addition, she loves to be held and to sit in laps, especially when that involves reading stories and singing songs (ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Tea Pot, Sunny Sunny).  And when Daddy comes home, wrestling and being tickled become her two main endeavors.  When we are out and about in town, Karis is always a social butterfly.  I can always count on her to wave hello to strangers or say "bye" to the store's cashier, and she never cries when I drop her off at therapy or school.  She is also my bravest child so far - almost any place or new thing sounds like fun to her (like the 20' slide at the pumpkin patch that she slid down at least 5x).

  

Developmentally, Karis has been learning a lot of new skills and really working hard at her therapy sessions.  She currently has one Physical therapy, one Occupational therapy, and two Speech therapy sessions per week.  I still love all of her therapists, and they care about Karis so much - I'm so thankful for them!  With PT, Karis has begun walking independently (no more walker), and she is currently working on things like: going up and down steps without losing balance, jumping, running, etc.  Below is a video of her running at the refuge... she is so so close!!  For OT, Karis is working on fine motor things such as: peg puzzles, coloring (vertical and horizontal lines), cutting with loop scissors, and manipulating other small objects.  A big leap for her with OT over the past year has been her growing understanding of purposeful play - meaning that she now sees purpose in putting the puzzle back together or putting all of the shapes into the bucket.  With ST, Karis has improved so so much over the past 9 months!  She is now speaking in 2-4 word phrases, and she can repeat almost anything you ask her to (or at least give it a good try).  There are still a handful of sounds that she can't pronounce clearly (mainly throat sounds like "k" or "g"), and she is working on saying the ending of words (like the "t" in cat, or the "f" in woof).



As for other more general things, Karis is a pretty good sleeper.  She typically naps for 1-2 hours in the afternoon, and she enjoys listening to me read a story before naptime and bedtime (usually she will fall asleep while I read for the naptime reading session).  At night she will sleep from 8 pm until around 6:30 or 7 am, but randomly (maybe once or twice a month) she will wake up multiple times at night crying because she wants water.  On those occasions, she will take one long drink and then go right back to sleep without any fuss.  Now that she's in the big girl (toddler) bed, she does sometimes fall out of the bed, but she either just crawls back in herself or unconsciously sleeps on the floor until the morning (we often have no idea when or how she fell out when we find her on the floor).  Also, on a side note, all of our kids are currently sharing the same bedroom (Enoch sleeps in a loft bed over Karis' toddler bed.) and it actually has gone better than I expected at first.  After I read to the kids at night, they stay awake and sing songs or the girls answer Enoch's silly questions (like "Are you my silly goose?"  "Are you my sweet pea?"  "Are you my monster truck?").  Eventually they all get quiet and drift off to sleep, and I personally think it has made them better friends overall.

snuggling after nap time.  Sometimes if she wakes up early from nap I can go lay down in my bed with her and we can both get a 20-30 minute snooze.

When it comes to food, Karis is still a big eater.  There are very few foods that she doesn't like (broccoli, spicy food), and she always asks for a second helping.  Our fairly routine meals include: oatmeal with berries for breakfast, lunchmeat and cheese on a tortilla wrap served with carrots or celery or a bell pepper for lunch, and then a dinner with a balance of meat, veggies, and carbs.  And just like clock work, every morning between 9:30-10:00 she fervently reminds me that it is time for snack (her favorite of which is a banana).  She loves soups and casseroles best because they're so easy to scoop with her spoon (which she now does independently!!).  We do watch very closely while Karis feeds herself though because she sometimes stuffs too much in her mouth which sometimes results in choking.  Karis is also now learning how to drink from a cup with no lid, and she's getting much better with her fork.

This is a video of two of her most endearing traits right now - her laugh and her love of giving kisses.


Of course, it's not all roses with our 3.5 year old little girl.  Karis has definitely entered the testing phase.  For months after she learned how to clearly say the word "NO" she said it all the time.  Thankfully we've worked past that milestone, and now her boundary she is testing is quick obedience... meaning that she looks for your eye contact and concentration to be sure you mean what you say when you give her a command.  When she plays with other kids, Karis can sometimes be rough (by hitting or taking toys away), but it seems to be attention seeking more than anything, and she is always willing to be gentle after a reminder or two. Overall though, these little quirks are pretty similar to those we've walked through with Enoch, and we are so thankful for our little girl.

Karis loves to get in on the action whenever Enoch is working on a project.  Here she was carrying cups of water from the ditch over to a hole he was digging in order to make a pond.  She loves helping and getting his attention when she does a good job.  :)

My little selfie buddy who is always ready to say "cheese!"

Kissing her lamb (this toy walks and sings "Mary had a little lamb."  It used to scare Karis, but now she thinks it's cute and silly.)

She has really caught on quick to the potty training concept.  She typically potties on the toilet 1-3 times per day, though she isn't quite telling us when it's time to go to the bathroom independently yet.

pretending to sleep with Enoch

"talking" on the phone

Looking big!

Karis does well swinging in a big girl swing, but dismounting is still a tough task for her. 

This little monkey is bad about pushing a stool over to the counter where treats are cooling off and stealing one.  I think she had just taken a chocolate chip cookie here and then climbed off the stool to sit down and enjoy it.  

This was Karis' first time to walk like a big girl during an office visit (her eye check up).  She did great, and now she often walks when I need her to.

Karis had her blood drawn after her 3 year check up, and her blood work and thyroid looked good, praise the Lord!  Poor thing did not appreciate the process though.

On a fun ride at the pumpkin patch where a four-wheeler pulled a little train of barrels through a pine grove.  

And one last video.  I love how she helped the monkey climb the steps and then slide down.  :)

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FFF: Karis' Eye Surgery

In early December of 2015, Karis had eye surgery on both of her eyes to fix her strabismus (crossed eyes).  Before surgery was necessary, Karis' eye doctor had tried other means of straightening out her eyes (like patching and glasses and even bifocals).  However, none of these treatments were ultimately effective (though the patching did have some short term benefits).

In the Fall of 2015, when we learned that Karis would need surgery, we changed eye doctors to one who was in our state and who also had a better bedside manner.  To be honest, the new eye doctor also had a much smoother office visit system, which made our appointments with him almost effortless (given that I was bringing a few extra kids along for the appointments, this was a BIG deal to me!!).  Anyway, the new doctor did due diligence with Karis in hearing her story, asking about our concerns, giving his recommendations, and then preparing us for surgery.

On the day of surgery, we had to leave our home around 4:00 am in order to arrive to the hospital before 7:00.  Hugh and the kids dropped Karis and I off at the hospital, and then they headed off to eat breakfast and play at a children's museum (which they all loved!).  Karis (who hadn't eaten since dinner the day before) was a trouper in every sense.  We had quite a few lengthy waits in different rooms, met innumerable doctors, nurses, and staff (all of whom she heartily greeted), and eventually I had to give her to a complete stranger so that they could put her under general anesthesia.  Not once did my sweet girl cry or complain!  Now I, on the other hand, boo-hoo-ed like a baby, especially during the final round of questions from the anesthesiologists.

waiting... waiting... and waiting some more

right after surgery

Her surgery lasted around one hour as expected, and everything went great.  After she began waking back up, they allowed me to hold her and comfort her.  She was so pitiful, and was hardly consolable when I first found her because she wasn't all the way awake yet.  After one dose of morphine however, she calmed down and then when she was finally 100% awake, she seemed to not be in pain.   After another hour or so of checking vitals and learning about how to care for her, they released us just in time for Hugh and the kids to have finished lunch and be ready for a nap on the ride home.  Karis wasn't interested in eating lunch, and she wasn't able to keep her post-surgery apple juice down either, but after we got home, she was willing to eat.  The rest of that day Karis was somewhat tired and lethargic.

Groggy at dinner that first night after surgery.

The next morning, however, she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as normal, only with very very red eyes!  The redness was mainly on the insides of her eyes, where the doctor had altered the eye muscle.  Over about 2-3 weeks time, the redness faded.  We did use eye ointment for the first week to prevent infection.  Karis was over-joyed when we no longer had to put it in her eyes!  At our one week visit to her doctor, he said everything looked great, and we really haven't had any trouble with her eyes since then!  We will go back to her doctor in a few months for one more check up, but at our last visit he said he didn't expect that she would need glasses or more surgery.  :)

These two photos show how red eyes were in the first few days after surgery:

And one last look at a before:

And after:  

It's amazing how I didn't even notice how much her eyes were crossing before surgery!  Now when I look back at photos, I am so so thankful for the Lord's provision of Karis' eye doctor's skilled hands!!!  Praise God for a smooth and successful surgery for our sweet girl!

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Karis' Gross Motor Developments (2 yrs)

Over the past few months, Karis has really taken off in her gross motor development!  She is one busy girl now, with lots to do all the time.  (maybe that's why I have had no time to blog....  ;)

Here are a few videos of her progress. 

This first one is when we first started working with her on walking with a walker.  Her PT is behind her, and Hugh is cheering her on.



This one is of her walking in her new walker that we bought w/ our PT's advice.  She does so well in it now that if she has enough space she can even run in it!  We took it to our large church gathering last week, and she had so much fun being mobile and roaming around visiting with people.



 And this video is of her getting in and out of the little rocking chair in our family room.  She is so proud of herself and really enjoys mastering skills like this (as you can see in the video)!  She does still need me to steady the chair for her so it doesn't tip over, but not for too much longer.  :)


We are still working on a legit crawl though.  She still has a hard time with activities that use her core or her arms.  But we've seen some small steps with that as well. 

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FFF: Karis is Learning to Crawl!

Sorry I've been absent lately!  We are in the final days of getting ready for baby Alaythia's arrival, so we've been busy, busy beavers... and napping beavers, too.  ;)  Among all the preparations though, Karis decided that she was ready to start moving!  So for the past week, she's been perfecting what we call the inchworm (similar to the army crawl).  Here's a video:


Isn't she cute?!!?!!  We are so excited for this new phase of learning for Karis and thankful she is increasing in her desire to be engaged in the world around her!! 

This new skill has mainly developed during our potty training times because she gets sat down in the hallway and prefers to be in the bathroom with Enoch and I.  She can go a little further than in the video, but she doesn't have unlimited range yet.  Enoch isn't sure he likes this new development when they are on the floor playing together because he is almost always her #1 target, but he's learning to be more patient and I'm learning how to referee.  ;) 

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FFF: Karis' Recent Therapy

Here are some things we've been working on in therapy lately:

 

Learning to stack blocks into a tower

Chewing on "hard munchables" like raw carrot sticks
(this strengthens Karis' jaw muscles and gives her practice biting)

Working on standing, and especially transitioning to standing
(as mentioned here)

Wearing kinesio tape on belly & back

(this reminds her muscles to work and helps support them similar to a girdle... our PT applies it on Thurs and we remove it around Mon or Tues so her skin has time to breathe before it is re-applied on Thurs.  It can be tricky to remove, but we think it is worth it!)

Karis has also been working hard at learning how to use her spoon.  This is a special spoon that our OT ordered for her, and she just loves using it!  It has a slightly curved handle and is on the smaller side of spoons since her hands and mouth are still petite. We typically support her elbow and lightly hold her hand to help guide it; however, just last week she began showing some increased coordination, which our OT and I were both so excited about:

We've also been working a ton on talking/verbalizing, and Karis is now quite the little chatterbox!  Her main sounds are "ba" "da" "aaah" and lots of yells.  ;)  Our ST (the one who comes to our home to work on the talking side of speech therapy) told us a few weeks ago that she wanted us to begin making Karis verbalize something before receiving a bite of food for mealtime (this was to capitalize on her fondness of eating).  Prior to this, Karis had been using sign language very well before bites (bringing her hand to her mouth for "eat" or "drink"), so our ST knew she understood how to communicate the idea of wanting a bite or drink.  I worked on verbalizing with Karis for a few weeks but had a difficult time getting her to make any sounds except yells.  Then, what do you know, but I was out of the house for a day helping some friends as they delivered their first baby, and Daddy took care of both kids... sure enough, after just a few meals with him, Karis was verbalizing before bites!  Our ST was so pleased the next time she stopped by!  These days when I say "Karis, do you want a bite?" there is a quick "ba, ba, ba" response and an open mouth (she doesn't even mess with signing anymore).  So now we are working on verbalizing before other things as well like when she wants a toy or wants to be picked up, etc. and we are also working on increasing the types of sounds she is saying.  The only challenge with this new development has been our level of noise during our church service.  We used to sit at the back and slowly eat through a bowl of cheerios.  Each time Karis was ready for a bite, she would sign "eat" quietly, and I'd give her another bite.  Now, instead of signing, she says "ba, ba, ba" in a not so quiet tone.... let's just say Mama's getting quick and we are working on learning the word "wait" as well.  ;) 

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FFF: Karis Grace 12-16 months

Here is a much over-due update on my sweet Karis Grace.  As I type, she's about to be 17 months, so this update is covering from around the 12 month mark to the 16 month mark... and a lot has happened in this little one's life!!

Eating- Karis is doing a great job eating table food these days.  She eats 3 meals per day with an additional afternoon snack on most days.  At each meal/snack, she gets a cup of milk, which she is doing well with (though we still hold it for her when she drinks).  Her breakfast is usually cut up pieces of fruit (grapes, strawberries, peaches, etc.); lunch is typically cooked veggies, also cut up (peas, carrots, green beans, etc.); and dinner is almost always black beans and sometimes a little dessert.  Snack often consists of yogurt or graham crackers or cheerios.  She was really struggling with constipation a few months back, but the black beans (and also maybe the yogurt, which promotes good gut health) have pretty much fixed that issue.  So far there isn't much that Karis doesn't like to eat.  As she gets more teeth, we'll continue expanding her diet.  (And I'll note that she is also officially weaned, which happened without much fuss when she was about 16 months old.)

 chomping on a carrot while Mama preps for dinner

Sleeping-  Sweet Girl typically gets 2 naps per day, one starting around 9:30 and the other starting around 2.  Neither are especially long yet (45-75 min on average), but she has learned to play contentedly in her crib after the morning nap and sometimes after the afternoon one as well.  Bedtime is usually around 6:30 or 7, and she wakes up around 7 or 7:30 in the morning (though she often plays and talks in her crib until 8 when I have breakfast on the table).  We've recently had to re-sleep-train her, as she had become quite accustomed to being rocked to sleep.  Now our nap/bed time routine is to change her diaper, turn on her fan, read a story, and sing a few lines of 'Amazing Grace' to her before laying her down awake in her crib.  This has been going well, and she is consistently able to fall asleep by herself (unless something crazy happens like a poopy or one of her limbs getting caught between the crib slats).  However, just this month we've realized that she is quite confident that ONLY mama can perform said routine, and no one else will do.  So we are (again) re-sleep-training her a bit so that daddy can also put her to bed. 

 

Sleeping in the big crib now that Enoch has a big boy bed!

Size- These days Karis fits into 12-18 month clothes.  (Her legs are long, needing a 18 mos size in pants, but her waist is small, needing more like a 9 mos size...)  She wears a size 3 or 4 in shoes, and she's about to jump to a size 4 in diapers.  She technically lost a few pounds around the 12 month mark, but we've been diligently adding them back on with all that food she's now consuming.  At her 15 month doctor check up, she weighed 17.5 pounds and was 28.5 inches tall (both hitting around the 25th - 30th percentiles on her charts).

Playing-  Karis' number one choice when it comes to playing is still Enoch.  She can't get enough of the boy!  When they're both awake, playing usually consists of them sitting together in the floor and entertaining one another (my main job is keeping them nice and gentle).  Sometimes he even reads to her, which she thinks is just grand. :-D  When Enoch is napping, I have mama-Karis time for 1-2 hours.  On any given day, we play a little, do some at-home therapy, and sometimes a few of my chores.   Karis is not quite able to entertain herself when Enoch isn't around, but I think that skill will come soon, especially as she learns how to interact with her toys more.  Speaking of toys, these days Karis is more interested in her toys, specifically ones she can pick up and throw.  ;)  Her favorite toys right now are blocks, rings from a ring stacker, Enoch's Thomas trains, and board books.  She also loves being tickled, and she really enjoys one on one attention from Mama or Daddy. 

 

 Enoch & Karis playing together while Mama cleans the kitchen.

Developmental Milestones-   Here are a few notable milestones:

• scooting around in circles or backward on her bottom
• standing a little (we practice standing everyday, twice a day with a standing frame that our PT is allowing us to borrow.  It basically gives her enough support to allow her to stand 20 min without getting too tired.  Our goal is 30 minutes.)
• pushing up from laying on her back, onto her side, and then into sitting
• giving kisses and hugs
• giving toys to people when asked to "give"
• putting toys into a container/bucket when asked to "put in"
• turning pages in a board book when asked to "turn the page"
• learning to touch animal pictures in a book when asked to "touch doggie" and then showed where doggie is
• throwing toys (she has moved out of the mouthing stage mostly, and is now very interested in throwing anything that is given to her... just another stage for our OT to be patient with.  ha!)
• learning to use a spoon with her yogurt (this is something our OT is working on with her because it involves fine motor skills)
• using a straw cup (our old speech therapist helped us a ton with this, and we still see her every once in awhile when I have questions about feeding)

Karis wore her eye patch everyday for 3 months, but the doctor told us at the end of Sept that she can stop wearing it because her weak eye is stronger now and is working as it should be with only her glasses.  :)

therapy tape to engage and support her ab muscles

Current Therapy-  We took the month of August off from therapy in part for a break to our schedule, and in part because Karis had begun forming the bad habit of wailing whenever she was forced to work at therapy... and she would continue wailing until the work stopped.  I was concerned that she might learn the lesson that crying = no more work, so we withdrew from therapy for one month and practiced the "no ma'am" command a lot at home while we were working with her.  Thankfully she learned the command and has pretty much come out of that phase (though she does still cry when quadraped happens).  When we started the new Fall schedule for therapy, we decided to drop down to one OT session every other week and one PT session every other week (they alternate weeks, so we go to therapy once per week now).  And we found an amazing speech therapist (to work on speaking, because our other speech therapist mainly handles feeding) who comes to our home once every other week now also.  She has honestly been such a blessing and has seen such good progress from Karis.


Extra pictures-

11 months - smiling after getting a clean diaper

12 months - enjoying her birthday cake

14 months - celebrating Cow Appreciation Day

15 months - cheering on Enoch as he uses the potty

16 months - heading to the eye doc with Mama

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