49 weeks!

Highlights from the week now ending...

• Last Sunday we had dinner with some friends from school who have a baby who is almost exactly a month and a half younger than Caroline. This family joined us for Caroline's 100th day party and I think they've been intending to have us over ever since. It was sweet to see Caroline and Jo An playing together, though Caroline was, for quite awhile, more interested in Jo An's fabulous toys than in Jo An. Periodically I get concerned that we don't have enough educational toys for Caroline or that we're not being intentional enough about teaching her. It was a wonderful evening with these friends, but they have educational posters hung all over their walls and special foam covering over their already carpeted floors to cushion her falls (we have nothing like this and we have hardwood in a big portion of our house) and Young, Jo An's mom was saying she makes sure to take Jo An to her friend's house for time with another child every day... and I started feeling a bit inadequate. We are SO laid back (for the most part). We let her explore. We let her fall. We comfort her when she does. We have done some safety proofing, but there's so much more we could/should do. And we just figure that if we keep reading to her and talking with her and playing with her... she'll learn. We do some "teaching", but not a lot. Or rather, maybe we do a lot, but most of it unconscious or unplanned. We're not overly permissive, and we are setting limits, but we are laid back. And most of the time I feel good about this. But sometimes... I worry a bit. In any case, eventually I'll get adorable pictures posted of Caroline and Jo An playing. I know I would like to be sure she gets more play time with other babies on a more regular basis. We're going to have to work on that.
  
  
• Caroline has taking to shaking her head back and forth vigorously. Sometimes she waves her hands madly as she does so. No idea where she got this or what it might mean, but she sure has fun doing it.
  
  
• Caroline has now taken 2 steps before sitting back down. 1 step at a time. 1 step at a time.
  
  
• I was listening to "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" on Wednesday night while I fed Caroline dinner while Kev was at drum practice and every time there was applause she clapped along. And when there was music she'd clap with the beat. If it faded from music to applause she'd clap with the beat and then clap faster. She's definitely clapping more intentionally now.
  
  
• Last night was actually quite a decent night of sleep. Thanks be to God.
  
  
• Caroline is speedy! I mean, really fast. When she decides she wants to go somewhere... she gets there, handily, speedily, impressively. And her knees still never touch down.
  
  
• Kev bought Caroline a new Fisher Price toy phone yesterday and Caroline has already made much use of it. She is delighted with it.
  
  
• Oh, and well, she's just generally amazing.

Pics later...

48 weeks!

Before this week's update- a few bits of old news that we forgot to share before...

When we were in Georgia for Abby's baptism, Caroline was introduced to raisins by a kind older woman at Abby's baptism luncheon who took a special interest in her. Caroline could not eat those raisins fast enough. The woman was concerned about the diaper we were going to face, but... it was keeping her happy so we let it be. I wondered if raisins were a choking hazard, but this mom/grandma was sure they were fine. And Caroline carefully (and delightedly chewed each one). We let her have some when we got home too. And then I did some on-line research and one of the sites I found said that they are SUCH a hazard that parents should wait until their kids are 4 years old before letting them eat raisins. Oops. We won't do it every day... but she likes them!

While we're on the subject of our negligent parenting in the eating department... when we were last at our favorite Mexican restaurant after we took Caroline out of the high chair to let her sit on my lap she swiped a lemon slice off the table and popped it in her mouth. (Yes, I know about nasty restaurant lemons... oh well.) We thought she'd be disgusted and spit it out right away! Nope... suck, suck, suck... and yes, I know what lemons do to teeth enamel. Oh well. We won't let it happen again any time soon. But... she likes lemons!

So, this week...

Sigh. I used to love falling back- AN EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP, HOORAY! Now... one less hour of sleep... at least. Caroline's typical 6 a.m. wake up became 5 a.m. most days this week. A few days she woke at 3 or 4 and wouldn't settle back down. She seemed to settle into a one nap a day pattern this week, an earlier bedtime, an early wake up. Aie. I've crashed between 8 and 9 the past few nights. And I ran out of steam at about 3:30 this afternoon. Kev has been getting up with her in the wee hours, but she's been perpetually nursing again so I've been awakened, frequently through the nights. And it is definitely adding up. We really should work at sleep training, try the no-cry sleep solution again... but... I'm so tired it is hard to think about doing so and she is still working on cutting so many teeth. Eventually...

But at least the sleep issue make for some good photo ops. Kev has witnessed her falling asleep in her feeding chair, but I hadn't had the privilege of that myself. While Kev was at drum practice Wednesday night she fell asleep after her last bite of dinner.




Despite rough nights, Caroline has had some quite good days. Lots of exploring, playing, babbling... The weather this week was gorgeous- 60's, blue skies, and brilliant fall color- a much better fall than last year... We finally got a chance to put Caroline in the beautiful sweater Rebecca made for her recently. And Caroline and daddy took a walk on campus while I was studying.







One significant development this week was that on multiple occasions Caroline had the same dinner as the two of us (only mashed up!) She ate, and enjoyed, noodless lasagna- eggplant takes the place of noodles- that's actually what's all over her face above; rice and beans; and, tonight, rice pasta and a homemade sauce. She eagerly ate all of it. She continues to be a GREAT eater. Though, occasionally, this week she has delighted in sticking out her tounge as soon as there is food on it. She was doing this quite a bit this morning and then she took the bowl away from me. A few shots from her messy breakfast this morning...







Last night Caroline took her first solo bath in the big tub! She did great! She loved having free reign and splashing, splashing, splashing... our little girl is growing up.

One night this week we were talking with Mamie and at the end of the call Caroline waved towards the phone and said "Bah". Her first word? Not sure.

Kev talked to his sister Janet the other day and apparently Caroline was quite talkative on the phone. Usually she just looks at the phone and smiles. More people in our lives need to get on skype. We did have a nice video chat with the Adsits last Sunday morning. Sorry to wake you, Heather and Nicole! But it was great to see you again!

A few more pics for extra measure...

our 11 month old...




such a look...


love that butt...

11 months!

the monkey moves and speaks!

Meal Time Fun Video

So I didn't mention that one way that I can often get Caroline laughing is my sniffing in her direction. She does it back and then laughs and laughs. This video shows that plus also a bit of the eyebrow raising, ceiling praising fun that we've been enjoying of late.

pics from the 47th week plus a few more from halloween!

So, last Sunday afternoon we went to the zoo. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, but we got there just before closing. So we went to the petting zoo which is one thing we know Caroline loves and zipped by a few other areas as well.





Because it was such a nice day Kev took us to a place he discovered with Caroline awhile ago- a nice greenway with a bridge to walk across. Caroline was a bit cranky for the walk, but she had some good moments, especially when daddy took her out of the stroller and carried her. What a nice daddy.





Here's the best shot we were able to get of her rapture with the chandelier/patterns on the ceiling. It doesn't really capture it though!



Some more shots in (and with!) the little chair in which her daddy once sat.






And in a pinafore her mommy once wore (I think... my name is stitched in it... if that means anything) and these tights were a hand-me-down from Abby or Anna, not sure, but they say "ADORABLE" across the butt... hilarious. Didn't get a good butt shot though.




Bath time fun! The hair!




I'm not sure if you can see it given that her eyebrows are blonde, blonde, blonde, but here she is raising her eyebrows, a face we saw frequently this week.



But really, she is quite a character, she made LOTS of faces during that meal. Here are a few more. This was the food that she was alternately accepting and rejecting all week long.






And dressing a monkey! And she sure does squirm like a monkey.

First the pants...





And then the jacket, ears, tail... the costume really!

Happy Halloween!