20 Months of Caroline!!! (Caroline's adventures at 19 months)

Dearest Caroline, 

I have loved every minute of the twenty months you have been in my life. I'm sure I have mentioned it before, but your daddy teases me because I love all over you when you are around and then spend my time without you (usually when you are asleep) looking at pictures and oohing and ahhing over you. 

You have been talking so much lately, and occasionally, a sentence or phrase bursts out. You went up to Ms. Jaimie (our dance teacher) the other day and said, "I do ballet!" and then twirled. 

Your favorite words of the month are apple, cow, cat, and shoe. (Though you say so many more.)

You started eating whole apples this month, and there for a few weeks, they were by far your favorite fruit. You would open the refrigerator, open the crisper, pull out an apple, and then sit down at your table and eat the apple down to the stem. Last Sunday, I pulled out a tomato to slice for salads and found that it had a bite mark on it. Apparently, you had grabbed it, bitten into it, and then replaced it once you discovered it was not an apple. 

I'm not sure where the cow obsession came from, but I think it might have started when we took you to the state fair. Ever since, you have had the opportunity to see them several times (both at the school petting zoo and at the church petting zoo during Trunk-or-Treat), and you go right up to them and give them big hugs. 

We have had a neighborhood cat wandering around the house lately, and you are very interested in him. I'm not sure if the cat is lost or just out exploring, but I set out some milk for him yesterday, and you were very curious why I would give the cat your milk, "Cat has my milk....mine.....". 

Even though you still fit your sandals, I bought you a new pair of shoes (your third pair ever) since it is getting to be a bit chilly. I was originally searching for a nice pair of plain, white, closed-toe shoes, but I fell in love with a precious pair of Lelli Kellys. I'm not sure who loves them more. The first few times you wore them, you could hardly walk because you were so distracted by the flowers and sparkles, and you couldn't stop touching and pointing to them. 

Sometime over the past week, you have suddenly struck me as being more like a two-year-old than a toddler. I can't quite pinpoint what the change is, but you are definitely getting bigger. You LOVE to help me and want to be part of every thing I do. There for a little bit, we had you eating by yourself at a little table beside our big table, but that has stopped. You are back at the big table, and you love to point out that you have the same food that I have. I'm even considering getting one of those caged step step stools for you to use while we are in the kitchen. 

Your daddy is in charge of getting you up and in the car in the morning. You had been having such a rough time waking up, so this month, he started leaving your door open as he gets ready for work so you can wake up more gently. As a result, you have started getting up all by yourself. The other day, you greeted my by bringing me my phone while I was in the shower. 

You have always been fond of spicy foods, but this month, you have had several hilarious incidents where you have been served EXTREMELY spicy foods, and you have proceeded to eat it with gusto. This alone might not be so silly, but every third or fourth bite, you grab your tongue, squeal, and exclaim, "Hot! Hot! Hot!" as you reach for some water. You then repeat these actions until your plate is clean and proceed to beg food off of our plates. When served food that is hot (temperature) you let me know it is "Hot! Hot! Hot!" and then blow on it before taking a bite. Always a helpful child, you try to blow on my food as well. 

Also, disciplining you has been especially hard on me this month. The few times I have fussed, you have thrown your arms around my neck and shower my face with kisses. It has been very difficult to suppress a huge grin and not just totally melt. 

I love you bunches, my dear sweet baby. Sweet dreams in your newly reconfigured big-girl bed. 

xxoo,

Mommy

This afternoon, I was cleaning out Caroline's closet and packing away clothes that she had outgrown. To my surprise, I found that she still fit her Halloween shirt from last year!

She wouldn't let me put on her headband, and I added the tutu and leggings from her costume for an added effect. 

"Boo!!!" 

Happy Halloween!!!!

Caroline's 18th Month

Hey Big Girl!

You turned 19 months today and have grown so much, I can't even begin to describe all the smart things you can now do. You can buckle the top harness of your car seat and attempt to snap the bottom as well, string beads, remove a single banana from a bunch, peel it, eat it, and throw the trash away. You pour liquids with little to no spills, and at home, all of your liquids are now drunk from a regular cup (with the occasional water in a sippy cup exception). You can climb the stairs to a normal-sized playground slide (5 feet or so?) without assistance and go down all by yourself, and you can climb into a belt-seat swing independently and push off the ground with your feet to get it to swing back and forth.

You absolutely love to climb. The other day I turned around to find that you had climbed up the barstool and onto the kitchen counter!

This past month has been incredibly busy, but even with all the weekday craziness, we were able to have a bunch of fun on the weekends. We hiked Gorges State Park in Sapphire, NC, enjoyed a lot of watermelon at the cabin, crashed several neighborhood block parties, had lots of fun at the library, art museum, and the local brewery, bought brand-new-sparkly shoes, celebrated friends'  birthdays, and climbed up the 475 steps to the top of Amicalola Falls!

End of Summer Update (17 months)

Hey Baby Girl,

This month has been a massive photo fail for me. Our house has been under major renovations, and so you and I have been spending most of our days on the back porch. We occasionally venture inside, but very few rooms are "livable" -- most are either stripped down or packed with furniture.

You had a blast this summer at camp, and you were sooooo excited for school to start back after the two-week break. Over the break, you got to go to your first baseball game of the season. We had lots of time to go to the park (you love to stop and smell the flowers), and you finally got big enough to push your own cart at Trader Joe's. Unfortunately, you have had TWO unfortunate incidents with a Sharpie recently. You got to start off the school year with the big kids, but you are off with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bob for a couple of days this week while the contractors try to finish up the house.

I took a few movie clips of you the first two or three days of the month (showing off body parts, rolling out play dough, and catching a ball), and I just now uploaded a clip from last week (pouring). I can't believe how much you have grown! You are getting so big.

xxoo,
Mommy