Sweet Sisters

How did we get from this:

January 2012

to this??

August 2014

Karis starts Kindergarten next week and I'm going to miss watching the girls play together all day. I don't know who will miss Karis more, Makena or me! 

Celebrating Sissy

Karis was so excited to celebrate Makena's birthday. She came up with lots of ideas for her party. She also drew cards and pictures for Makena and tried to find something to give to her (even though she knows we go to the store to buy presents, she likes to find things of hers to give to others). 

She made a card and planned to give her Fluffy. Then she made a card and taped a bracelet and other small toys to it. I finally offered to take her to the store so she could pick out a gift. We went to Michael's and looked around. I made a few suggestions, but she didn't like any of them. She then found a soft, stuffed, purple unicorn in a bin of stuffed animals. She found the perfect gift! She proudly carried it around the store. She knew Makena would love it.

Makena was so excited when she woke up on her birthday. "Am I four today?" she asked excitedly. She put on a dress and ate some chocolate chip pancakes. 

She then opened up her gift from Karis. I should have videotaped it rather than take pictures. I hope I captured the sentiment through the next few photos.

Karis loved seeing Makena open her gift. And she was right, she loved it. After breakfast, it was off to church where she would tell all her friends and teachers that she's four years old!

Playmates

The kids have been playing so well together. The girls are so sweet to Kyle. They put up a lot and exercise as much patience as expected for a 3 and 5 year old. Kyle loves to play with them and is always watching and observing them. 

I love that they play together and find ways to enjoy the same things. Here are some pictures of them playing together one afternoon.

These Are A Few Of Their Favorite Things

These days, the girls love to do crafts. They love to cut, color, glue and play with beads. They also love coloring books and drawing with markers. One of our most recent projects was making paper fairies and mermaids. It was Karis' idea. I drew them, they colored them, and then I cut them out. They played with them for hours. 

Here are some of their other projects:

Their latest obsession is Strawberry Shortcake. They watch the show every day and love to read the books and play with little figurines. Their second favorite TV show is Care Bears. 

I love that they have been enjoying a lot of the same things. It's fun to watch them play together and I love how their relationship is developing.

Update on the Sisterhood

It's been awhile since I've talked about the girls' relationship with each other. I think it'll be neat for them when they get older to read about it so I hope to do it more regularly. Since we've been in Texas, they have definitely gotten closer to each other. We didn't have a lot of toys out when we first moved in so they basically just had each other to play with. The age gap seems to be shrinking as Makena is catching up in motor skills, speech and understanding. That definitely makes it more fun for Karis to play with her. 

Their favorite thing to play is "Mommy-Baby." It usually starts by Karis saying, "Let's play Mommy-Baby. I'm the baby. You be the Mommy." And then Makena will respond excitedly with "Yeah!" They make up all kinds of scenarios -- the "baby" cries or crawls around and the Mommy takes care of her or the baby will crawl up onto the loft and be scared and the Mommy will help her down. The best is when Karis tells me, "Being the Mommy is a lot of work." Yeah, you're telling me!  =)

When they're in their room, one person will close the door and whoever is out in the hallway has to say the magic words for the door to open. The magic words are "I love you, sissy!" Derek and I don't let the girls play with doors because there has been too many smashed fingers, but I let them play this game. How can I keep them from calling out, "I love you, sissy!" to each other.

I love when they call themselves best friends. When we first started going to our new church, Makena didn't like going to Sunday School. Thankfully, for half the class period they combine the two classes and play in the indoor play area. Karis will hold Makena's hand or put her arms around her as they walk through the hallway. Teachers tell me they always stick close to each other. Karis has told me that she worries about her in Sunday school. What a great big sis!

When Karis started preschool, it was obvious that Makena missed having Karis around the house. But to my surprise, Karis came home from preschool one day and told me she missed Makena. That surprised me because Karis loves going to preschool and her day is filled with all kinds of fun activities but she still thinks about her little sis. 

There are plenty of tattle-telling, unwillingness to share and an occasional "You're not my best friend anymore" but we won't talk about that right now. For the most part, they play well and enjoy being together. 

Big Sisters

Kyle has the best big sisters.  I love how much attention they give to the little guy.  

The other day Karis wanted Kyle to watch TV with her. 

Karis likes to hold Kyle.  

I left Kyle in the kitchen for a few minutes and when I came back, I found Makena reading him a book. 

Roommates

In preparation for baby brother’s arrival, the girls are now sharing a room.  We put up our second crib in Karis’ room last Monday.  After about 30 minutes of giggling and talking, they took their first nap together.  Yay!  But, it’s been downhill since then…  On most days, they aren’t able to settle down to fall asleep for a nap.  It’s frustrating because I can’t make them fall asleep.  And even though Karis can easily skip her nap, Makena definitely needs one (and so do I!).

Makena is a light sleeper and Karis hasn’t mastered how to quietly get up and leave the room in the morning. Makena has been tired all week and she definitely hasn’t gotten her usual amount of sleep. We’re still trying to figure out how to make this sleeping arrangement work.    

I am however thankful that they both like sharing a room.  I tried to make it more fun by putting up some new decorations and “pinking” up the room.  It also helps that they have been playing really well together, especially now that Makena can understand Karis and communicate with her.  They’ve been great play buddies to each other.  

Here are two videos that show how much Makena loves to sleep!

Update on the Sisterhood

I wish every moment when the girls are together, they're laughing, sharing, and playing well together...

But they're still young...  Although there are many fun moments, often times the laughing is due to inappropriate behavior like, banging their forks on the table at dinner, climbing in and out of the laundry basket (after they've thrown the folded clothes out of it), or drawing on themselves and each other.  See Exhibit A:

 

It's fun to watch them play more and more with each other.  Makena for the most part just follows Karis' lead.  But when Makena does something to get our attention, Karis does it too.  Even though watching after both of them is tough sometimes, it is nice that they have each other's companionship.  

The other day, Karis and I went to get Makena from her nap.  Karis wanted to go in the crib and asked for some books.  I tossed a bunch in and then ran downstairs to finish making dinner.  

It's fun watching their love for each other grow.  When one cries, the other will go get her sister's lovey for her.  When one gets a snack, they make sure she gets some for her sister too.  My sweet, little girls...

Update on the Sisterhood

The girls have been so fun together. They have their moments when they actually enjoy doing the same thing or something together, like jumping on the bed or sitting together and eating a snack.  I love hearing Makena giggle at/with Karis.

But still, there is lots of sibling rivalry, competing for attention and tattle-telling. We try to encourage Karis to teach Makena some new things, instead of doing things she's doing to get attention. I can't wait for the day when they'll go off and play together. Makena of course loves to play with Karis right now, but Karis still doesn't feel the same.  Hopefully one day soon she'll enjoy and appreciate having a little sister.

Every now and then Karis will just want to hug and hold Makena. You would think it would make me happy to watch it, but it actually makes me nervous because I can't tell if she's hugging Makena or putting her in a head lock!

Makena loves to watch and copy us, especially Karis.  She tries to act like a big girl just like Karis. She likes to drink out of a regular cup, use markers, and walk down the stairs (as opposed to crawling down backwards). She gets into plenty of trouble that way!

Makena is definitely holding her own with Karis.  She also keeps bopping Karis on the head and I think she's paying back all the times Karis did that to her when she was a newborn.  =) 

Sweet Moments

I took the kids to the petting zoo today.  On the drive home, I was trying to keep Karis awake by touching her leg, asking her questions, etc.  She barely talked to me because she was so tired (she went to bed really late last night).  Well, she did perk up when I asked her if she wanted cookies when we got home.  She said she wanted five but we discussed it for a little bit and decided on three.

Anyways, I kept looking back at her so I could snatch Fluffy out of her hand if I saw her eyes drooping (from past experience, if she falls asleep in the car for even a few minutes, she won't take a nap... and today she REALLY needed a nap).  It was quiet again, so I looked back one more time and saw this:

Karis was holding Makena's hand as she slept.  It melted my heart and I smiled the rest of the way home... until we pulled into our neighborhood.  Karis got excited and yelled "home!" which woke up Makena who cried the rest of the way.  I guess that's what you call short and sweet.

Update on the Sisterhood

The last couple days, Makena and Karis have been so cute together. I usually take one of them with me when I get the other one out of her crib after a nap or first thing in the morning. They get so excited to see each other. Makena smiles real big and Karis does her little girly laugh.

Karis now likes to eat breakfast and dinner when Makena does. They keep each other entertained and Karis no longer has to watch TV during each meal.

We put an inflatable pool in Karis room and filled it with balls and stuffed animals. Karis always wants Makena in it with her. Even at the park, Karis wants Makena to be with her.

I love that Karis is starting to enjoy having a "live-in playmate." Now, don't get me wrong. She still pushes her, takes her toys away and sits on her when she's crawling, but she has been having a lot of good moments of being a great big sister.

We're Still Working on "Sharing"

Today's Pics

Hanging on the couch together... doing their own thing. One day they'll actually be playing together. I can't wait!

Update on the Sisterhood

If you see Makena...

Karis is never too far away. She's either burping her:

Or, shoving... I mean, giving her a bottle:

Sometimes she's giving her a hug:

...or a kiss on the head:

And her newest thing is brushing her hair (with a toothbrush):And Makena just takes it all in.

The only frustrating part is when I'm trying to put Makena down for a nap. Karis wants to come with me to her room and she makes a lot of noise. It's not too conducive for Makena to fall asleep. If I tell her she has to leave the room, she'll fall to the ground and cry. If I take her out of the room and close the door, she'll lay on the ground outside the door and cry and she's just as loud as if she was inside the room. I try to sneak away to put Makena down or I'll tell Karis "I'll be right back; I'm going to put Makena in the crib." She seems to now understand that that means if she lets me do that, then I'll come back downstairs and [finally] get to play with her.

Karis is still having a hard time learning to share mommy, but she has been nicer to Makena. She still occasionally hits her (often at the end of the day when she's just about had it with me holding her) but now she'll give her things and turn the music on for Makena when she is sitting in the bouncer. It's a start.

Resemblance

Can you tell which one is Karis and which one is Makena?

You probably can tell. We have just been amazed as we look back at old pictures of Karis. When Makena was born, we didn't think she looked like Karis at all. As Makena has put on some more weight, they are starting to look very much alike!