Karis is loving her ability to do things on her own. Although she tells me when she has to go to the potty, she wants me to stay out of the bathroom so she can go by herself. If she uses the small potty seat, she even takes out the little container and dumps the content into the toilet. I just stick around to help her turn on the water so she can wash her hands.
Karis loves to take off and put on her clothes all by herself. Earlier today, her shirt sleeves were wet from eating soup for lunch. She disappeared for a little bit and then came downstairs with a new shirt on and exclaimed, "No help!" with a proud smile. I loved how she took the initiative to change her shirt.
The other night, she started to get ready for bed without us asking her to. She took off her pants and underwear and put on a Pull-Up. She asked to brush her teeth and when she was finished, she found some pajamas to put on. She picked out which book she wanted mommy to read and which one daddy was to read. It's fun to watch her become independent. It definitely makes it easier for us. But, at the same time it's a little sad to see her growing up!
One way that we don't like seeing her exercise her independence is on the playground. She is so daring and takes on all kinds of things that weren't meant for her short little limbs. Thankfully, she is pretty strong and coordinated that she has had only a couple of minor falls.
Karis is rapidly catching up with her speech. We were told that most kids catch up by the time they are 2 1/2 years old and I think Karis will do just that. She is now saying 3-word sentences. Her longest string of words came out a few days ago. I had put her down for a nap (when she's cranky, I tell her she needs a nap so she can be happy). She was quiet for about 5 or 10 minutes and then called out, "Mommy! Pee-pee!" I took her out of the crib and as we were leaving her room, she said, "Me wake-up happy. Park now?" I was so surprised at how she rattled out that sentence. She was happy and perhaps dozing off for 5 minutes was enough for her. Silly girl.
Below is a photo taken at Target. Last week, we took a leisure trip to the store while Daddy and Makena stayed at home. I let Karis check out the dollar bins, run through the store and pick out a fun snack. She did great at listening to me and putting things back when I had asked her to. At the check-out line, Karis found some candy sticks with an airplane on top that had spinning propellers. She LOVED them. She immediately wanted to take them home to show Daddy. I told her we weren't going to take them home today and that she needed to put them back. She was so intrigued by them. I let her play with them for a little bit longer and then asked her again to put them back. She slowly did so, trying to hold down the button for the propeller as long as possible. Trust me, I so wanted to get back in line and buy one for her, but I thought this would be a good learning opportunity. I was so proud of my sweet girl for doing something she really didn't want to without a fight or tantrum.
This morning, Karis had her toe nails painted for the first time. She had seen a couple older girls with painted toe nails and wanted the same. It was funny painting her nails pretty pink with scabs on her toes and ankles from her recent tumbles. She's such a rough and tough girl!
