Development

Karsie has been a little bloomer lately. She's still a bit delayed in a few areas, but most areas she has caught up. In fact, the doctors told us that her speech is a tad bit advanced when you account for her gestational age and everything. So, we will take her development one segment at a time.

Gross Motor: Not a problem. She runs...everywhere...always. She squats; she dances; she drags heavy things around. It's amazing actually to think she didn't really move for five months and she's almost all caught up.

Fine Motor Skills: We're not really sure what the stages are for her age and situation, but she seems fairly normal. She points and picks stuff up. She even used a fork today for the first time. She stabbed the food, got it on the fork, and then picked it off with her fingers to put into her mouth. Seemed like an extra step to us, but whatever, she had fun. She's stacking blocks. She can do two and then attempts for a third. But her absolute favorite is to wait for Daddy to stack an awesome castle and then knock it down. She also can sign. She says "more" (which to her really means food), she says "please" and "thank you" and "all done." We think she said "poop" the other day, but we'll have to wait a couple more times to see if that's really what she's saying.

Speech: She's doing great according to the doc. She can say about 15-20 words, but she seems to be picking up her word development pretty quickly lately. She is also copying much more now. She used to copy the syllables that we would say, but now she's trying the sounds too. She can say her ABC's up to J by copying us. She has trouble with a few words, but she's getting it.

Eating: This is the area that's actually doing the best lately. Today was her best eating day since her drought. By far. She sat in her high chair and pounded lasagna. She really didn't pay attention to us. She focused on her food. Also, since she's learned the sign for "food" (which really she signs "more") she's more interested in food. Any time we have food, she wants some. Many times she just holds on to it, but many times she eats it. It's a huge improvement.

We're very happy and proud of our little Bug.

Next up...Thanksgiving.