From Sunsets to Bluegrass: Weeks 44 & 45- To Infinity and Beyond!

These past couple of weeks have had some huge milestones including first words and some major mobility accomplishments. Karis is well on her way to infinity and beyond!!

Week 44

Dinosaur Noises
Along with her Tarzan noise, Karis has also adopted a low kind of growling noise which we have dubbed her dinosaur noise. She definitely picked it up from us because this is the noise I make right before I start chasing her!

And the winner is...
"Dada"!! Yup, I'm pretty certain Karis said her first intelligible words that have more meaning than just sound making. Even though she said "mama" earlier (like 5 months), it was very clear she was saying "dada" in reference to something rather than just playing around. However, it was interesting that the first pointed time she said "da" was pointing at our neighbor's dog. Now she says "dada" quite often in reference to me and Greg. So it turns out Greg and I are both winners. I win because I guessed this would be her first word (either "dada" or "hi") and Greg gets the coveted first word claim to fame. I do want to mention that experts say it is verbally easier to say dada than mama, just sayin'!

Karis the Explorer
Now that Karis is more and more comfortable on her feet she has really taken to exploring far off territories like the undersides of the tables. She loves creeping around and picking at the smallest thing (or trying to put tiny specks of who knows what in her mouth!). She certainly has a way of pointing out when it is time to vacuum!

Little Gamer
Karis has really started to show interest in playing more structured games now. Currently, she loves playing "hide and seek" with her magnets where she hands me her magnet to place somewhere on the kitchen table (our table is metal) or the fridge and she will creep around to retrieve it and give it to me to hide again. She gets super excited to play with me and is happy when she successfully finishes her goal.

We also play a similar version with me putting her ladybug figurine around the house (while she is looking, she isn't that skilled yet to really find a hidden object!). Also, Greg taught her how to "throw" the ball which really is her lifting it above her head and letting it go.

NO!
Karis really isn't that rebellious yet, but she has learned how to shake her head "no". Most of the time it has nothing to do with her actually wanting to communicate "no" which makes it completely hilarious because it is totally out of context. One of my favorites is asking her if she loves us and her giving us a hearty "no". She does, however, use it often to refuse food which is definitely intentional. Of course she would learn to say no before saying "yes mommy!".

Finally Four Hours!
So at four months I tried unsuccessfully to move Karis to a 4 hour schedule. Now, 6 months later Karis has finally developed to the point where she can stay awake for 2 hours easily and finally is not waking up 45 minutes into her nap. Thus, we finally made it to a four hour schedule which also means instead of five feedings she is getting four. This has really helped her eat better feedings each time (before she would sometimes eat for less than 30 seconds a side which was very frustrating). Just goes to show that I needed to wait on Karis instead of rushing her too soon. Here is my big girl's schedule now: (this is tedious and more just for my own reference, so feel free to skip the dirty details)
6:30am- wake up (she wakes us up on the dot, we NEVER sleep in past 6:30, it's like she has clock in her room or something)
6:40am- feed, get dressed, brush up while she plays in the room
7:00am- play downstairs while I make her solids and make myself breakfast
7:30am- eat solids
8:00am- play while I clean up and then we play together and read
8:30am- naptime
10/10:30- wake and feed
10:30- playtime with mommy (sometimes she will play while I do some random chores)
11:30- lunch (solids)
12:00- playtime and reading
12:30/1- naptime
2/2:30- wake and feed
2:30- independent play
3:30- snack (solids)
4:00- afternoon walk
4:45- get dinner ready (this is the hardest part of the day because she is tired and clingy while I'm trying to get dinner together. For now we've done a lot of cooking on the weekends and leftovers during the week or make ahead type things that I can do during naps)
5:30ish- daddy comes home and we eat
6:30- playtime with daddy
7:15- bedtime routine (bath, PJs, feed, story, pray and sing)
7:45- bed!
It has been really nice to have more flexibility but also predictability. Karis can stay up 2-3 hours between naps and not having a power nap means we can go out after 2:30 until bedtime if we need to be somewhere or doing something. Little Miss is growing up!

Out and About
We spent another beautiful weekend out and about enjoying the weather!

Mirror, Mirror
Karis has always loved the mirror, but this time she decided to really check herself out. What a little ham!

45 Weeks
We had a fun derby week with friends to visit and life to live.

Monkey See, Monkey Do
Karis has come to love imitating mommy and daddy. Greg will often put toys on her head and on his head which she thinks is both weird and funny and she will try to balance them on her head herself. She also will wave back to you and eagerly participates in raspberry blowing contents as well as opening and closing her mouth (like fish) if you initiate.

Another Toother
Karis broke in her seventh tooth this week. Lateral incisor 7 came poking out mid-week.

Mama's Little Helper
For the first time Karis chipped in a helped with the chores! I was doing Karis' diaper laundry, pulling out her inserts from the dryer when she crawls up to the dryer, reaches in and starts handing me the inserts. I was so blown away and thought it was so sweet and fun (although highly inefficient). Now every time I'm doing laundry Karis is there helping me pull the dryer items out into the basket. What a sweet girl! If only I could now get her to clean up her toys...

Diaper Duty
Although I lucked out for awhile, Karis has now started rebelling against diaper changes, trying to roll over and crying out if I don't let her. Alas!

Scolding Sadness
I have come to realize that Karis really has a sensitive spirit. Often I just need to verbally warn her and she will stop what she is doing and on occasion will even cry. Well, something we noticed that she does now is respond to our correction by shaking her head "no" then for some reason taking out her sadness or frustration by biting at whatever is in front of her. Often this happens at the table and she'll bite down at the edge. However, sometimes she is by something like the coffee table which has resulted in her banging her own little head on the edge. So sad but at least I know she understands me when I say no.

Derby Friends!
We had the privilege of hosting two friends this past weekend who were visiting from Cali. We went to UCLA with Mitchell and had the joy of making a new friend, Catalina while they were visiting the South for a conference.