Here are some pictures.  Will post a half dozen videos and commentary during this week!

Hi there!!!  Sorry it has taken so long to post the commentary!!!  Karina and I are doing wonderful!  We have many more good days then bad – in fact we have really no bad full days these days…..instead there are just portions of days that can really be classified as less than pleasant.  And that is true with all children so I would have to say that we are both fully adjusted at this point. 

Karina is a bundle of energy.  She loves loves loves the pool.  We have been many times and by her second visit she was already jumping into the four foot section of the pool while holding my hands.  She is such a daredevil….just plain fearless.  We also visited Blackberry Farms for the 4th of July after the parade.  The majority of the pictures below are of Karina enjoying Blackberry Farms.  It is the perfect size for a four year old and she loved the carousel, ponies, train ride, tractors, and animals.  We will def be going back. 

Karina is learning so many words.  It is amazing how many new words she picks up every week.  She is counting to 15 and we are working on being able to get to 20.  She can identify about 1/3 of her letters.  She is able to tell me the names of about three different colors, red, yellow, and purple.  We are working on the other colors orange, green, and blue.  The colors have been the hardest so far.  She has learned how to ride a big girl bicycle with training wheels and loves it!  Just this past week she has learned the difference between jumping and hopping and can now do both.  She can sing the letters of her first name and can say her full name first and last.  I want to teach her to say her address soon.  I am so impressed with her achievements!  In fact, as I was typing this we just had a discussion about hard and soft and after a few good examples she went running around the room touching things and telling me if they were hard or soft….the tv was hard, her blanket was soft, the floor was hard, her chair was soft, etc.  My favorite was when she ran over to me and touched my calf and said, “hard mama” and I moved her hand to my belly and said, “soft”  Very funny, 

Areas that were problems now either are not problems or are much less problematic.  Her eating is still very good.  We have figured out that she def does not like corn, tomatoes and broccoli.  But loves cucumbers, romaine lettuce, and carrots.  She will eat seafood salad, steak, chicken, soup, rice, potatoes, and so much more.  She really is a good eater and I have been very careful to not let her have much in the way of processed sweets.  For the most part she eats fruit as dessert and snacks.  Raisins, apples, bananas, mango, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, kiwi, oranges, pears, you name it if it is a fruit she loves it.  Maybe about once every two weeks (usually on an outing) we will get an ice cream or something like that.  I was wondering if I was being too restrictive until just this past week when she was at the pool with a friend who decided without my consent to give her a couple of ice creams.  She was difficult and whiny (saying she wanted ice cream) during meal times for the next four meals.  So clearly avoiding the sugar and junk food items except occasionally is good for her and good for me.  Nap time is not an issue at all anymore.  She may whimper a little when I tell her it is time for nap but she will go and take off her shoes and get the books and lay down.  And it is good because I can tell she really needs her nap.  She is so refreshed when she gets up from her nap and with all the good food she is eating she is growing like a weed.  Learning to leave a place that she wants to stay at, is gettting better.  About 80% of the time she will come away with no problem, or will be unhappy about it but still will listen.  Still about 20% of the time she will pitch a fit.  I have learned that it is good to make sure I always allow enough time for her to fully enjoy something – if it is the park I never take her unless I have 35 minutes for her to play at least, 2 hours for the pool, half a day for the Children’s Museum and the zoo, etc.  Then as it is getting close to time to go I will give her updates that we have to leave in five more minutes, etc.  If I am pretty sure she will pitch a fit I get in range and grab her hand so that even if she is unhappy I can still steer her toward the exit and the car.  If I can’t get in range and I can tell she is considering not listening I begin asking her if she wants her bath, books, and bicycle.  When she says yes I tell her she has to listen.  I am confident that her behavior in this area will continue to improve as she learns how to deal with disappointment and frustration better.  It is hard to not feel compassionate as she is sobbing that we have to leave the pool….but of course I keep telling myself that these emotions are a part of life and learning to deal with them is just as important if not more important than learning about your letters and numbers.  Bedtime, which was only an occasional problem a month ago, is not a problem at all now.  We both know the routine and I stick to it like glue.  In fact, when I forget something Karina reminds me.  The only thing I can think of is that occasionally Karina will wake up much earlier than usual.  I usually will hear her playing in her room with the dog and that is okay.  But if she wakes up more than 45 minutes earlier than her earliest normal time I will call from my room that it is too early and she must get back in bed right away.   I am all for rising early but no way are we getting up at 4:45 or even 5:30 for that matter. 

The first picture is of Karina waiting to go to her Saturday morning gymnastics class.  Don’t you just love that belly?  I have said this to her so many times that recently I needed some clothes and we were wheeling the cart into the Kohl’s dressing room and as soon as I took off my shirt out of her mouth comes….”look at that belly.”  I laughed and shushed her at the same time.  Anyway, she loves the gymnastics classes and in a few weeks when this one ends (it is a Mommy and me geared for 2-3 year olds) I will sign her up for the four year old class – the one without Mommy.  Hopefully, she will listen well to the teacher and play well with the other kids.  Our park district does not allow parents to stay in the class with the kids as it is a distraction.  I will of course be peeking through the window at her though.  I want to use this class as an experiment to see if she is able to be away from mom, pay attention to the teacher, and interact well enough with the other kids.  If the answer is yes then I know she will do well in preschool.  I was worried in the beginning when we were still dealing with pinching and hitting issues that if I sent her to preschool and she did this to any of the kids there she might get asked to leave and not come back.  I didn’t want that to happen since having a disruption like that I imagine would be traumatic and wanted to make sure she would behave and be able to refrain from those behaviors in school before putting her in the mix with other kids.  Will report back how the independent class goes in the future. 

I have realized that Karina is so cute and has such a great personality and so many quirky adorable mannerisms that it would be very very easy for her to grow up and be spoiled rotten because I have noticed that so many adults seem charmed by her and give in to her because she is so cute.  I am so glad that as her mom I can cherish the cute things about her but ensure that she grows up emotionally healthy.