Almost 16 Months!

It really is cool to watch how much she is growing and learning every day.  Since it is summer time (hell, yeah!) I am soaking up every second and making sure that I take a second every day to appreciate this time I get to spend with her.  She has had a vocabulary explosion and is a complete parrot.  She is also learning how to do stuff and complete actions with and without us telling her to do so.  These are just a few things that I want to remember of this time in her little life. 

*She can say any animal sound you give her.  When she sees animals in TV or in real life, she is very emphatic with her animal sound that goes with it.



*She is getting good with names.  She loves looking at pictures and naming the people in them.  Her favorites are Anna (which sound more like a really loud German Ana), Jack Jack, and Leslie (Wesie) since we see them the most often.  She also knows the grandparents' names and walks around practicing.  Any time she sees a gray-headed man, she'll say Papa really loud.

*Thanks to Baby Wise, she loves to go to sleep (most of the time).  When you can tell she is getting tired (aka when she starts fussing a lot and getting mean) you can say, 'Let's go night night' and she'll say 'night night' and head straight to her room.  Before bed at night when we have the whole routine, she can say night night (very Southern bell-ish) and love you (love eww).  Talking about a great way to end a day!

*The girl loves her a cheese stick. Now when you give her one she'll say, 'Aahh, cccchhhheeeessseee' and get really excited.  She saw one in the drawer in the refrigerator once, so now every time I open the fridge she yells, 'cccchhhhheeeessseeee!'  She also LOVES mac and cheese and just calls it cheese.

*She loves a bath, but went through a phase of being a little bit skittish about getting water dumped on her head.  I figured out that as long as I told her what was going on, she does better.  So I usually wash her hair first to give her some bubbles, which she will start to ask for if I don't have any working in the first few minutes of the bath, and then I was her body.  Tonight I washed her hair and then I was going to let her play and she looked at me and said 'toes' and then held her foot up.  She knows after we wash her hair I soap up the fish sponge and we work from her head down to her toes.  She'll start holding her feet out of the water as soon as I start working on her arms.

*The girl still loves some ice.  Any time she sees ice or hears the ice machine from the fridge working she starts saying 'Ice, ice, ice, ice, ice, ice,' like a mad woman.

*We have reached the frustration time in her development where her mental need for indepence far out weighs her physical and verbal abilities.  She has started showing her anger with yelling, hitting, and kicking.  It helps to understand why she is doing this, but it doesn't make it any easier.  Where is our sweet baby?  Our sweet baby is growing up and it's our job to let her know that it is ok to be mad, but that she can't yell or hurt anyone else because of it. 

*One of the very few parts of the above statements that is pretty cute is that she can now say sorry.  I don't know where she got it from, but she says 'sah-wee' with her head cocked to one side.  Pretty dag-on precious.  Once she figured out when to use it, she'll now say anytime that someone has knocked her down or made her upset, kind of like saying they need to be sorry! 

*The girl is also obsessed with shoes.  Any time she sees her 'ssshhhoooooeeeesss' (said with some seriously pursed up lips), she wants them on.  She'll grab them and get us to put them on her.  Any time I go into her closet, she'll say 'sssshhhooooeeeessss'.  Any time she sees anyone elses shoes she'll bring them to that person and get them to put them on.

*She is getting good at completing tasks.  For instance, every time that Jason gets ready to go, she'll go and grab his sunglasses off of the table at the front door.  If he doesn't need them or isn't ready to go anywhere, you can tell her to go put them back and she will.

* She loves to brush her teeth.  Any time you say anything about brushing teeth or if she sees us doing it, she'll say 'Ahh!' and try to get up there with us.

*She has started spinning.  I'm not sure where she learned it, but she'll start spinning and then hold her arms out like she is a little dancer.

*She LOVES LOVES LOVES the Bubble Guppies.  Luckily it is a super cute show with some really good music, but all day she will point to the TV and just yell out, 'Bubble!'  As soon as it comes on she gets the biggest smile on her face and starts grooving with them. We have to limit her Bubble time every day because she would already watch it over and over.  Thank goodness for DVR!

*She is doing so well with talking and using words to help get her point across.  One thing I cannot and will not handle is a fussy, whiny kid (haha, yeah good luck to me).  So even now when she starts to fuss we tell her that she needs to tell us what she wants.  Then she can say pretty much everything she needs - eat, hungry, pease (she has been signing this for a while, but has just started saying it which is really nice), drink, milk, more, help, ice, etc.

*She has about 16 teeth in her head.  She's working on the 15th and 16th (her upper canines), but she can tackle anything food wise we give her.  It is crazy to see her smile or laugh and see all those teeth!  It wasn't too long ago that she had those two little nuggets and that was it!

*Changing her diaper has kind of become the same concept as the bath - as long as you tell her what is going on, she's happy as a clam.  Through the use of the play-by-play, you can now tell her to put her legs up and she'll swing them up and hold onto them and say 'legs'.   She can also say 'tuta' (stolen from Leslie and Will) and reach down and pat it.  I guess that is the same as little boys (aka all males) reaching down there and just playing with their twig and berries just to make sure they are there.  

*She has a snack when she wakes up from her afternoon nap (we are beginning the work of dropping that morning nap and getting her down to one a day) and as soon as we ask her if she wants a snack she yells out 'Nack!'

*She still loves to read books and it is crazy what all she knows now.  You can ask her to find stuff on a page and you can see her eyes moving all over the page and then she'll point out what you asked.

*When the dogs start barking she'll say, 'Hush!'  I wonder where she got that from?!

I'm pretty sure she is doing a thousand other things that we think is awesome and intelligent and precious, but this will do for now!  We have one smart, precious, sassy little girl!

Mo mo mo...

Now that Caroline is walking and talking all over the place, I love getting quick little videos of her cuteness.

We made it!!!

Today I picked Caroline up from her last day of daycare until August!  Even though we LOVE where she is, I am so excited about her getting to sleep good naps and getting to spend the whole summer with her. 

I love time lapsed pictures, so let's compare:

Here we are the morning of the very first day.  Notice that my eyes are swollen from all the crying I was doing (and was about to do).  She was just 5 1/2 months here! 

And here's our hot mess this morning.  She is now a big 15 month old.  Walking and talking and sassing all over the place.  Now notice that my eyes are closed because I'm smiling so big that my cheeks aren't leaving room for anything else!  We made it!

Wrapping Up 1 Year of Daycare

This is a note to myself for the future when I have to do the daycare beginning again (and no, not the near future) and all other parents that have the big 'D' hanging over their head with a baby on the way or a little baby that is going to have to head to daycare pretty soon.

I was very blessed and lucky to have a husband and a family that was there to support me and allow me to stay home for a full 12 weeks with Caroline and then go back to work for a few weeks until summer hit.  So unlike a lot of parents that have to send their kids to daycare when they are 6 weeks old, Caroline was 5 1/2 months before I had to drop her off for the first time.

I wrote a post about the madness of finding Caroline's school and I also wrote a post a month into the school year about how it sucked, but that we were doing ok.

Now that summer is so close I can almost taste it, I want to reflect on the year and what role daycare has played in our lives (so I can reread this is in August when we have to start this whole thing up again and down the road when we have another little one that I am going to drop off for the first time).

The bottom line of that second post was that taking Caroline to daycare every day sucks.  When I get down to that very bottom line, that hasn't changed.  In a perfect world I would be able to stay home or only work part time so that I could spend as much time with Caroline as possible.  Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen - which I have totally accepted.  I do love being a teacher and while I am at school I work really hard and like to believe that I am good at what I do.  That doesn't make me miss Caroline any less.

I remember asking my good friend Alexis if it ever got easier to drop your kid off at daycare.  (This was during the early days when I would show up to school crying because I had cried all the way from C's school to mine.)  She assured me that it did and she was right.  Over the past year, it really has gotten easier.  There are mornings when I know she is tired or that she doesn't feel good and I want nothing more than to just take her home and let her get in her bed.  Other than that, dropping her off has just become what we do.  We are moving so fast in the mornings that it really does help that I don't have time to think about it.  Jason gets her up and gets her breakfast going while I get showered and dressed and start packing us up.  Then we wipe her down, make sure everyone gets sufficient kisses for the day, and we are off.  I like to have dance parties in the car, because that always makes her wiggle a bit in her seat with a big smile and the occasional laugh.  That is enough to get me through the day.  Then I put in my 8+ hours and wrap things up so I can get in my car and go get her as soon as I can.  When I am at work, I really am able to be at work (which I didn't think would be possible).  I have her picture all over my desk and my room and I think about her all throughout the day, but I am able to focus on work, because I know she is being taken care of.  When we get home, all I want to do is watch her play for a little bit, listen to her talk and laugh, and hopefully let her get a litle bit of a nap.  Then we eat dinner, play for a bit, jump in the bath, and get ready for bed.

With all of that happening on any given week day, the time I have to sit down and let her crawl up into my lap and read a book together is about as good as it gets.  Alexis once told me that she is a better mom because she is a working mom.  She has more patience because she doesn't have to deal with the same things all day long.  Now, I totally understand where she is coming from.  If I was home and read 50 books a day, I don't think reading a book to her would be so awesome.  Now every single book I get to sit down and read to her gets my full attention and there is nothing else I'd rather do in this world.

Another thing that I have learned this year is that you can't put a price tag on your peace of mind.  When we were looking at daycares, price was one of the first things we talked about.  How in the world were we going to find $700 in our bank account?  I had friends tell me that somehow, there is enough money to write that check every month.  Our life has changed in order to make sure we have that $700 a month and every month, it is right there for us.  Even though $700 is a lot of money, I pay every single cent knowing that Caroline is loved, taken care of, learning a ton, gaining invaluable social skills, and having tons of fun.  She gets excited when I ask her if she is ready to go to school in the mornings and when we get there and I open that door, she yells to announce her arrival and the kids that are already there yell out, 'Carowine is he-uh!'  Ms. Val and Ms. Nita absolutely love her and tell her that every day when I come to pick her up.  She doesn't sleep as much as we'd like, but if that is the only thing I have to complain about, I think we're doing ok.  I also think that once she starts walking, she will wear herself out and she'll start napping like she needs to.  They have an awesome curriculum and do crafts every so often that we proudly hang on our fridge.  Since they are a five-star center, they do things as well as they can be done.  They are regulated through the state and even though I would totally trust them if they weren't, it makes me feel good to know that they have other people to answer to that are making sure they are doing what is best for our kids. 

So at the end of the day, we are all doing great.  Caroline is happy and is in a great place with great people while her Daddy and I work hard to make sure she has a good life.  We all live for the weekends and those precious moments when we get to spend the days in our PJs catching up on sleep and laughter.  And right around the corner is what I have been looking forward to since August 17th - SUMMER TIME!!!

Walking and Talking!

Every day Caroline is walking more and talking more!  Just want to make sure I get these down since I am thinking about it.  She is 14 1/2 months and these are some things that she is up to.

*She weighs about 22 pounds.  We went to the doctor this past weekend for a virus that has given her bumps on her face.  The girl has some of the craziest skin!

*Since her tubes, she has been so healthy.  I know it could be a coincidence with the time of the year, but either way - I am a believer!

*She is talking so much now.  When we say a word she can do a pretty good job of repeating it back.  Of course, this is where being her momma and dadda come into play, because they may not sound like words to anyone else.

*One of the big things she was fussing about was that any time she wanted us to pick her up or she wanted to eat and needed to get up into her high chair, she would just fuss because she didn't know how to tell us that she wanted to go up.  So we taught her to say 'up' and she uses it all the time now.  It is so precious because she really emphasizes the 'p' and sometimes even gets going and says 'up-a'.  She is even starting to pick up on saying 'down' because she would get up and then fuss to get back down.  We are getting there.

*She loves the boys and they love her and are so good with her.  She can say 'Iley' and 'Arley' now when they come around.  She gets really excited as soon as they walk in her room when she wakes up and she has to be put down to go 'pat-pat' them.  She is also getting pretty good at reinforcing any 'no' way me throw their way!

*The girl loves her some ice.  She can say 'ice' and points to just about any cup we have because she wants us to share our ice.  If you need her to be entertained for a while, just give her a cup of ice and she is good for about 30 minutes.

*She has started giving real kisses.  In the mornings, I usually have her in my arms because I take her to school, so I give Jason a kiss before I leave and lately she has started giving real kisses of her own.

*She is starting to get quite adventurous with her climbing.  She loves to get up on the furniture and she can turn herself around and slide off of it on her belly.  She can also climb up her slide by herself and slide down.

*When you get the toothbrush out, she says 'Ahh!' and reaches for the brush to work on those pearly whites.  She now has all four of her molars (hallelujah!), so she has 12 teeth total.

*She still loves to read books, but walking has opened up a new world.  She just walks from wall to wall and one piece of furniture to the next. 

Speaking of walking, here she was on April 21st (13 1/2 months) doing her first bit of good walking.  Before this she had taken 2 or 3 steps, but this was her first time really taking controlled steps.



This is her less than a month later (5.15) looking like she has been walking her whole life!



I know I have said a hundred times that she gets more fun every day, but it really is true.  It is so much fun to watch her learn and grow and become her own little person! 

Sidenote:  There is less than a month before it is officially summer time!!!  WHOOP WHOOP!!

New Tricks

Ever since Caroline's first birthday, I feel like she has exploded with what she is saying and doing now.  Just wanted to document what she is up to as a 13 month old!

*She can now do wuff wuff (more in Riley's 'the wind is moving' style), mmmm-ow, and moo when asked what a dog, cat, and cow say.

*Today she said blueberry clear as day and 'slinky' because she plays with a Slinky Dog all the time.  She has said 'bubberfly' a couple of times.  She has also said, 'Oh, boy!' a few times.  Talk about cute.

*She can help me bring the mail in.  I get her out of the car every afternoon and she can open the mail box, I get out the mail and hand it to her, she holds onto it for dear life, we walk into the garage and she can push the button to close the garage door, and then we walk in the house and she can put the mail on the entry table.  Then she claps for herself after I say 'Good job!'

*When I take her with me grocery shopping she is in charge of holding onto whatever we are going to get.  She does really well with the fruit/veggies that are bagged up.  She'll hold onto it like she is hugging it, until I pick something else out.  Then she'll put it beside her in the seat and wait to hold the next item.  By the end of our trip, all of our items are stacked up on either side of her in the front seat.

*She loves to say 'No ma'am' either before or after we say it.  She is getting pretty good at it and it is really clear and quite country sounding.

*She has taken two or three steps now on her own.  She is not very confident with it yet, so we've got a while before she takes off, but not too long.

*She has her first molar.  It is crazy to see her laugh and see that thing poking through back there.

*She is a full-on kiss blower.  She'll hold her hand up and then say 'mmm-ma'.  It makes saying thank you pretty confusing, but it is awesome.

*One time we were playing on the floor and I got her and laid her on the ground and started tickling her.  She belly laughed and got hiccups and loved it.  So now she'll be sitting there playing and just throw herself back and lay there until she gets tickled. 

*She loves to go outside.  I can't wait for her to walk so we can really go outside and play.  For now, she'll stand by the door and just fuss until you take her outside.

*She LOVES the dogs.  She waves to them when they come into the room and she is getting really good at pat-patting them.  When they go away she'll point to them and sign please until I get them to come back so she can pat them some more.

*She loves drinking out of a straw.  We forgot her sippy cup somewhere and I just let her try my straw to see what she would do and with a few sips, she had it down.  Now she is a fan of juice boxes and just cups of water with straws.  Sometimes she won't drink her milk out of anything but her straw sippy cup.

Here are a couple of videos of her doing some new 'tricks'. 



When we hear her in her room and she is up from a nap, we usually see her standing like this in her sleep sack with her bobo.  On this particular day, she was in a really good mood and didn't want to get out of her crib.  So I left her for a minute to go get my phone and when I came back, this is what I found!



She has been able to do 'Patty Cake' for a while, but her she is on video with the last couple of moves.



For Christmas, she got a Vtech alphabet train from her Uncle Matt, Aunt Tiffany, and Alex.  That thing is awesome and she plays with it every day.  She isn't quite strong enough to make it move by herself when she is sitting on it, so Daddy tied a string to it so we can pull her around.  Mimi was up during her Spring Break and gave her lots of rides.  Her she is with her hair blowing in the breeze!!



This is one of my favorite things that she does right now.  I think I have talked about it before, but I was finally able to video it.



A while ago, Mimi gave Caroline her very first Duck and Goose book - Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin.  Those are the CUTEST books.  Their faces are PRECIOUS.  Well, we have found that pumpkin hundreds of times since we got it and it is one of Caroline's favorites.  The reason she loves it now, is that she can nod her head yes and shake her head no throughout the book.  Her is Mimi reading her the book and Caroline getting her shake on!

Easter

Jason's parents came up late the Saturday night before Easter and stuck around until Sunday afternoon.  They were able to be here for the 'Easter Bunny' and a little Easter egg hunt in Bethabara Park. 

Taking a ride down the new slide that the Grammie and Grandpa brought!

Grandpa reading a book with Caroline.

Excited about finding that egg!

Grammie and Grandpa with Caroline

Daddy and Caroline