Conversing with Karis Happens Best in the Car

Karis helping me re-park the car in the garage

At home, Karis' hearing is quite awful. If the TV is on, it is as if she is deaf. She gets so engrossed in her shows (lately they are: Clifford, Curious George, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas) that she is oblivious to us calling her name... no matter how often or how loud.

HOWEVER...

In the car, we've had some pretty great talks. Here are three bits of a recent chat.

Momma was driving the family home from sister Julie's house. They picked me up from my final seminary class of the semester on the way. Lena packed a to-go meal for me.  As always, Karis didn't eat enough of her dinner with her cousins around, so she immediately asked if she could eat my dinner. I advised her that I would feed her once we stopped the car implying when we reached home. She directed her next comment to her mother saying, "Momma, stop the car please." The adults had a good laugh at her problem solving skills.

As I was eating, Karis asked "You eat it all, Daddy?" I told her that I hadn't yet finished my dinner. She then implored me, "Save a piece for me, Daddy." I did feed her a couple of small bites of the lasagna in the car.

Later during the ride home, Karis received a couple of pieces of gummy fruits. I politely asked if she'd share one with Daddy. She quickly obliged and handed me one piece (apparently she follows in her dad's footsteps being so literal). Although still thankful, I did share with Karis that the piece she shared with me was already half-eaten. Without missing a beat, she very genuinely replied, "It's okay Daddy."

AND FOR TODAY'S HUMBLING CAR CONVERSATION...
The girls were being a handful around noontime today. I thought the promise of going to the "bumpy slide" park would help their spirits (and, in turn, mine). Not so.

After getting them locked into their car seats, Makena started fussing loudly about her right shoe. It was half on her foot. As I tried to push it back onto her foot, she screamed at me. So I went in again to remove it. Again she screamed at me. I put it back on her foot about half-way and she continued to cry hysterically. Frustrated, I left her alone and prepped for the ride. In the process, I shut Karis' door a bit too abruptly.

As I sat down in my seat, Karis calmly said in a soft and gentle voice, "Don't slam door, Daddy. You could hurt my two fingers." [Sister recently had two of her fingers shut in a bedroom door by Karis' friend.] Of course I had to get out of my seat, kneel down so I'd be eye-to-eye with Karis in her car seat, tell her she was absolutely correct, and then apologized for my inappropriate behavior.

Sometimes, kids are the best source of truth for me and reflection of where I need to work on my character.

Christmas Day 2011

The long awaited Christmas day finally came.  We have been counting down the days with an advent chocolate calendar.  Karis was excited to celebrate Jesus' birthday and open up the gifts under the tree.  Makena didn't really know what was going on... but she sure did like getting a piece of chocolate every night after dinner!

We kept the girls up until almost 10 pm on Christmas Eve so that Derek could spend some time with them when he got home from church.  The girls slept in a little the next day which gave us a chance to sleep in too! 

When we woke up, I finished making a casserole and we sat down to eat breakfast with our roommate.  It was a sunny warm day here in Southern California!  

The girls opened their gifts -- actually, Karis opened all of the gifts since Makena wasn't interested in them.  

After the gifts were opened, we headed to church for our Christmas service.  The girls took naps afterwards and then we went to my sister's house for a shabu shabu dinner and more gifts!

We ended the evening by singing happy birthday to Jesus and eating cake and creme brulee.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Every year on Christmas Eve, Karis and I make a birthday cake for Jesus.  It's a fun activity to do while Derek is typically at church all day.

It's been neat having Karis more involved each year.  This year, Makena participated for the first time by helping decorate the cake.  Since they had such a great time decorating the gingerbread house, I decided to decorate this cake with M&Ms and sprinkles.

A Visit With Santa and Mrs. Claus

We no longer go to the mall to stand in crazy-long lines for a picture with Santa.  I did it once when Karis was one.  The Santa was crabby and Karis wanted nothing to do with him (click here to check out the photos).  

This year we went to our neighborhood Christmas party again.  They have cookies, hot cocoa, goodie bags, and crafts.  There's no line to take a picture with Santa and you can take as much time as you need to get the kids ready to meet Santa.   

Karis loves the train that circles the Christmas tree. 

Mrs. Claus remembered Karis from last year because she was so happy.

Like last year, Makena was afraid to sit with Santa so I jumped in the picture with her.  (click here for last year's picture!)

Lights!

After dinner, we bundled up the kids and drove to Tustin where we heard there was a neighborhood with lots of Christmas lights.  Because the girls enjoyed them so much, it was the first time I thought the decor and lights were actually fun and not just obnoxious.  We had a great time watching their excitement and wonderment, while walking and holding hands in the cold.    

The girls loved all the bright lights, the different types of Santas (e.g., penguins, Grinch, Dora), and the music.  We'll definitely do this again next year!   

Dancing with Frosty

Christmas lights make her sleepy.

A Little About Karis' Personality

When the girls were little, I don't know how many times in my head I would say, "This too shall pass." From spitting up to sleepless nights to throwing food...  I had to remind myself that it was just a phase and the girls will soon outgrow it.  Well, there's one thing that I hope Karis never outgrows.  

Karis embraces new situations, new people and change.  I noticed this about her when she was really little and it still continues today.  She is always excited to see what's next.  I feel like she goes into every situation with a clean slate.  I love how confidently and openly she checks out new situations and people.  

At church, she has been in the "2-year old" Sunday school class for over a year.  She started going a couple months before she turned two, when she outgrew the nursery.  Every Sunday, she had the same teachers, same toys, same set-up and saw familiar faces.  Today, since she is now three, she "graduated" to the 3-year old class.  I wasn't sure how she was going to react, but in Karis-style, she was so excited to check out her new room.  She quickly embraced her new teachers and loved the attention she received for just having a birthday.  So much so, that Makena pointed to her back (for me to put a name tag on her) and walked into the classroom too.  She wanted to join the fun!  

Here is a picture of Makena after we dropped off Karis in her room. 

Here is a picture of Karis and her new teacher.  Her teacher really enjoyed her and is excited that Karis is now in her class.

Here is the craft that Karis worked on in class.

I hope that I can be more like Karis when I go places and meet new people.  I typically have lots of assumptions, pre-conceived ideas, and negative thoughts before I even get in my car to leave the house!

Our First Gingerbread House

One of Karis' friends gave her a gingerbread house kit for her birthday.  It was the perfect activity for a rainy morning. 

Karis kept saying, "Mommy, we're doing a good job" while putting the candies on.

Makena was more interested in eating the candy.

She even took a bite out of the roof before it was assembled.  Notice the lick marks as well.

The finished product!

Good enough to eat!

Celebrating Our 3-Year Old

Our sweet (not so) little birthday girl:

Karis was so excited to have a party.  She wanted EVERYBODY to be there, so we invited her favorite friends, young and old.  The theme was Curious George since that is one of her current favorite shows (along with Clifford).  

I created a spread of a few of her favorite things:  Pirates Booty, chocolate chip cookies (which she helped me make), cupcakes, licorice and lollipops.  

We had a bounce house in the front yard for the kids to enjoy. 

We had a couple of crafts.  One was with foam stickers which Karis loves to play with.  We have them all the time and every day she works on a "project."

We had mac n cheese and chicken nuggets for the kids.  My sister made a chili bar with two kinds of chili and a bunch of toppings.  It was a huge hit!

Afterwards, we sang Happy Birthday to Karis and she was enjoying every second of it. 

The adults enjoyed the red velvet cake while the kids had cupcakes. 

We opened the gifts a few at a time all throughout the rest of the day.

Thanks to my sister for also taking great photos to capture the day.

It was so much fun watching Karis enjoy herself on her birthday.  We made a big deal about her being three and she was so proud.  At the end of the day, it was late and Derek was putting Karis down for the night.  I'm not sure how it came about, but Derek told Karis that "tomorrow isn't your birthday" and Karis (exhausted and crashing from a day-long sugar high) started to cry.  

I guess she really did have a good day!

Sweet Dreams

Karis finally got a big girl bed! 

When we tried to move her out of the crib, we put her in a full size mattress.  Some days she would sleep in it, but other days she would want to be back in the crib.  So we decided to take down the crib and put the crib mattress on the floor.  She was excited to be out of the crib but also liked the comfort of having the same mattress.  She slept on it consistently without a problem.  But, she has been sleeping on her crib mattress on the floor for awhile now and had clearly outgrown it.  

We got a great deal on a twin size bed (thanks to Groupon!) and now she looks so small in her bed.  She loves her new bed, her new sheets, and crib rail.  I'm sure she's sleeping a lot better now with all that extra space!