Kiddo Update

I haven’t updated about my kids in awhile, so I thought I’d write something about each of them and end with some photos from the end of December and this month.

Jonas
I’ll start with Jonas because I think our middle child definitely should get to be first some of the times! Jonas’ vocabulary is growing in leaps and bounds. It seems with each passing week, Jonas is able to communicate better and use his words to tell us what he needs. While we were in Houston, Jonas picked up on one Chinese phrase – “hua ju-an”. “Hua ju-an” is a steamed bun that both Sean and Jonas really loved eating, and they often had it for breakfast.

Jonas is becoming quite the copy cat – mostly copying his brother. Jonas’ latest trick is climbing into his bed. It used to be that when Jonas would get upset because he couldn’t get his way, he’d run into Sean’s room and throw himself on his brother’s bed. He learned this behavior from Sean as that’s what he did. I don’t what changed, but Jonas now has changed to running into his room and climbing into his crib. I didn’t know he could do it the first time until I found him crying in his crib when I thought he was playing. My husband observed how he gets in – he climbs on his mattress, swings his little leg (it barely goes over the top of his crib), and then proceeds to head drive into the crib. Luckily for us, Jonas has some self-preservation because he has not attempted to climb out of his crib by himself.

Karis
I thought I’d be writing that she’d be crawling at this point because she started rolling over so early (3 months), but she isn’t. I have to remember what our old pediatrician said, “Babies grow and development at different rates. Sometimes they focus on one area for some time, like fine motor, before they grow and develop in another area, like gross motor”. Karis isn’t crawling, but she’s able to grab objects pretty well and put them into her mouth. She loves her exer-saucer, so she spends most of her time in it jumping up and down and grabbing objects. She doesn’t mind being on the ground, but the girl is a mover and doesn’t seem to have the patience to sit up by herself for long periods; as soon as she’s on the ground, she lunges forward to grab something and ends up on her tummy. She doesn’t mind being on her back or belly – she’s often rolling or grabbing for toys. Unfortunately, she doesn’t last too long because she gets frustrated that she can’t get to where she wants to be to get the toys she wants. It feels like time is going both slow and fast at the same time. I expect by the time she’s 9 months (in two months), she will be crawling, but it seems like she has a long way to go to get there. At the same time, I can’t believe she’s already 7 months old already. I’m eager to get to when she’s self-sufficient in mobility because I think she’ll be less frustrated.

Karis is becoming more aware of her environment, and she definitely is a social butterfly. She knows when she is left alone in her exersaucer and the girl will squawk and cry to let you know that she is not okay with being left alone in the room. She lights up when she sees her brother or us in the room as she jumps and bounces excitedly in her exersaucer. If she’s lying on the ground or in someone’s arms, she’ll kick her legs excitedly and squeal with delight if she sees her brothers or us. It’s quite a sweet moment. Along with facial recognition comes separation anxiety. Karis is starting to exhibit signs of separation anxiety, as seen with our first few days in Houston. She was clingy and didn’t want anyone else to hold her except for me. This was compounded by the fact that we were in a new environment and I think she was uncomfortable from teething. Fortunately, she seems to adapt fairly well and was back to her cheerful self by the second and third day.

Sean
One thing that I’ve noticed about Sean lately is that he’s become more emotional. When he gets frustrated or upset, he’s more apt to burst out into crying. It’s a big surprise to me, and I don’t know if it’s a phase he’s going through, something he’s picked up from Jonas, or both. It leaves my husband and I a little stunned sometimes because Sean is not generally a crier. We hope that as we help him get through this period that he’ll start settling back down to his old self.

Sean has grown leaps and bounds with his fine motor skills. He is able to write letters, and recently, he’s starting to draw pictures. Some of Sean’s favorite things to draw are trains, trucks, and cars. Are you surprised? I love how Sean is now able to draw and label his pictures with the right word with right spelling. He’s learning to spell more words, which I think is amazing. He continues his love for words and art, and it’s evident from what he brings home from pre-school.