Just because I want to remember

Sweet C is growing and developing so quickly... I left so much out of the last update... I don't want to do the same in a few weeks... so... several bullets of recent moments we want to remember... not everything of course... but what comes to me in these few minutes...

• Caroline rode on a carousel for the first time late last month. She was at the mall with me and was pining after it. So when daddy arrived to pick us up, we gave it a whirl... and SHE LOVED IT. Minor meltdown when we insisted it was time to move on...
  
  
• At a more recent mall trip with C she discovered escalators... oh my goodness... i think we could have spent all day going up and down them. Maybe I'll remember that for a rainy day. Never did make it to the play area at that mall... but that was for a lot of reasons. Who needs a play area?
  
  
• C is entertaining herself for longer and longer stretches now. The other day she spent a long time playing with her baby doll. First with my help, dressing her in a onesie she has outgrown and putting socks on and taking them off (alleluia for a good use for socks without matches!) and then trying to get the baby to sleep. Apparently her baby is as sleep resistant as she is because she spent a good long while in our big, red chair covering the baby up with a cloth diaper and shushing it. She'd lay her head down next to the baby to show her how to sleep. She herself was ready for a nap, but not yet ready to succumb. I was very happy to let this play continue. I watched as she treated the doll in gentle and loving ways and felt quietly affirmed. Of course just yesterday she aggressively threw the doll to the floor... so I know not to put too much weight on it! We haven't ever done that!
  
  
• She has started making sound effects. For example, last night she was enjoying dropping a piece of orange onto her tray again and again and each time she'd drop it she'd say something like "Plop!" in a high pitched voice. We have video...
  
  
• We are making major strides in potty training though we're not really trying. She uses the potty several times a day, usually productively, usually at her request. If you follow me on facebook then you know that she has discovered that asking to go potty, and signing for it, and punctuating this with "POO!" is a GREAT stall technique... She's already faking us out in order to get out bedtime or whatever other activity she's not interested in! At 18 months? Lord have mercy. I'm grateful for the suggestions on facebook that this suggests she is very smart. We are already discerning between true and false potty requests, but we mostly honor them... want to reinforce the positive behavior. Less diapers... good thing.
  
  
• For the past week or so, bathtime has been a battle with C most nights, a battle that Kev wages. But two nights ago she had a blast in the bath once more... and even laid down on her tummy and kicked her legs. Sweet! Because we had plans to join Sam, Ethan, and Fiona and Sam's mom at the pool at her apartment complex the next day. She has only been in a pool one other time, at about 7 months. She LOVED it. Wanted me to let her go. Right, not happening. Though late in our time there I was letting her sit next to me on one of the steps and she scooted under a bar too low for me. I quickly walked around it just as she slipped and went totally under. With my help she was quickly back up... The verdict? Not a peep, a squeal, nothing. Well, a little sputtering, and a look of confusion. She asked to get out of the pool a minute or so later so we thought maybe she was spooked, but then wanted back in right away. This is great as we're headed to Florida for a family reunion next week and the pool is where we'll want to be... not so sure about the gulf coast beach... but the pool definitely! Time to buy some pool toys and safety accoutrements!
  
  

Friends, she is a wonder. Our hearts swell with pride.