Carolyn

Bunnies and Cookies!

Sarah Carolyn

20060219_bunnies.jpgCarrie absolutely adores Annie’s whole-wheat bunny crackers. She dug this box out of the bags of groceries on Sunday and carried it all over the house giggling with glee while we put everything else away. We found them quite by accident a few weeks ago when we were looking for her “cookies” in the natural foods section of the store, and they’ve become her new favorite snack. I have to confess, I don’t mind snacking on them either.

We had been buying Barbara’s Cinnamon Go-Go Grahams and passing them off as cookies, but our store doesn’t seem to carry them anymore. Besides, Carrie knows what real cookies are now, so I’m not sure she’d be all that convinced at this point. I baked a batch of chocolate/white chocolate chip cookies yesterday on impulse (I used half wheat pastry flour, and they were good enough that next time I think I’ll try all wheat) and every time a tray came out of the oven she signed cookie and said “keee!” I let her have a tangerine, one cookie and some milk for a snack, and she was OK with the fact that she was only getting one cookie. Actually, I impressed myself by having the self-control to stop at one cookie too!

Moon Bunny

Sarah Carolyn

Carrie has started naming her books. I know of at least 5 books that she has names for: The Going To Bed Book is “toothbrush” because the animals all “brush and brush and brush their teeth”, Spot’s First Easter is “duck” because there’s a little yellow chick on the front, The Belly Button Book is Carrie’s made-up sign for “belly button”, Peekaboo Puppy is peekaboo with her hands followed by the sign for “dog”, and Bedtime Bunny is “moon bunny”. I think there might be others but I’ve only recently noticed the trend so I haven’t kept track of which signs she makes for all the books yet. She’s very demanding about which books she wants to hear at nap and bedtime, so those are the ones I’ve seen the names of most often.

She’s also starting to verbalize a lot more, but a lot of her words all sound alike because she leaves off the end – so “ball”, “bear”, “blocks” and “book” all sound pretty much the same, as do “chair” and “shoe”. Luckily she signs to clarify things if I can’t figure it out from context.

Based on the amount of pseudo-talking she does now, I’m pretty sure the house is going to be anything but quiet for the next several years!

The Year of the Dog

Sarah Carolyn, Dogs

Molly and Murphy are thrilled that it’s the year of the dog!

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I’m not so sure they were thrilled that Carrie was petting them, but she was certainly happy about it. And in the background are the results of our weekend project. You see that nice cushiony plaid thing where a hearth should be? We made a frame to go over the hearth, glued on some high density foam, and then upholstered it. It’s a whole lot better than having that slab of concrete sticking out in the middle of the room, and Carrie now thinks it’s her very own couch. (I think I need to get a couple of bolster pillows for up against the brick, though.) The nice part is that it just fits right over the hearth, so if we ever wanted to put a fire in the fireplace we can easily remove it, but it’s too heavy and snug-fitting to be easily moved by a toddler.

15 month well-baby visit

Sarah Growing Up

Vital stats:
15 months, 2 days old
21 lbs. 9 oz.
31.75″ tall

One of my wishes for Carrie is that she won’t have to shorten every single pair of pants she buys – and since she’s currently in the 80th percentile for height, it might come true! Four shots today, this time in her arms instead of her legs. The shots are getting harder and harder for me to deal with, it’s a really good thing Denis comes along to these appointments. I try really hard to convince myself that the vaccinations are ultimately a good thing, but it still worries me a bit when they give her so many at once.

Other than that, she seems to be right on target with all the developmental stages, and it was a pretty boring appointment.

Oh, wait! She somehow has her 15-month top molars cut part-way through already, and we didn’t even notice! The other day we thought she was a bit droolier than usual, but she hasn’t been complaining at night or anything so we were shocked when the doctor pointed them out. Who knew? So now she has 5 teeth plus 3 almost-teeth.

Fifteen Months Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

What an amazing month it’s been! You’re definitely turning into quite the little toddler. You have 5.5 teeth (that 6th tooth has been about to pop for three weeks now!) and are solidly into 18 month clothes, although there are a few 12 month things that still fit you.

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I’m very happy we chose to teach you to sign, since all you say at this point is “mama” (when you want something and I’m not getting it fast enough), “dada” (when you want to charm daddy) and “uh-oh” (when you throw your cup off the high chair tray…on purpose). Not that there’s anything wrong with only having three words – you’d just be a much more frustrated little toddler if you didn’t sign! You know 70 signs now, adding “sad”, “grumpy”, “frog”, “swim”, “fruit”, “vegetable”, “boy”, “girl”, “mommy”, “pig”, “orange” (the fruit), “car”, “work”, “home”, “wind”, “rain”, “silly” and “tree” since last month. It’s so cute when I tell you that Daddy’s home and you sign “daddy home”! You’re also getting really good at animal noises, saying “mmm” for cows, “baa” for sheep, and “meh!” for cats. To the dogs’ dismay, you think they just pant, and refuse to entertain the notion that they might say “arf”, “woof” or “ruff”.

20060114_legos.jpgI’ve noticed that your imagination has started going wild this month. You give your dollies, bears, and mommy “tea” out of your tea set, and you even go as far as giving your lovey doll the extra binky that’s always in your crib. It’s very, very sweet. You also love to talk on your toy phones. When you have your toy cell phone in the car (thanks to Uncle Dan) you sit back there with it up to your head saying “ah-ah? ahhh. ah-ah-ah.” Is that what we sound like to you when we talk on the phone? Another super-favorite toy is the Lego Duplos set that your Aunt Jeannie gave you for Christmas – the one you’re not “supposed” to use until you’re 2. Well, you can’t quite put them together, but you sure can take them apart – and you love to take them apart, especially after Mommy builds something fantastic. In fact, there are never two Legos stuck together anywhere when you’re through with them.

20060109_profile.jpgYou’re big into doing things yourself. At dinner the other night you actually used a fork to stab food and got it to your mouth all by yourself! You’re also protesting having your food cut into little bits. Your Grandma keeps telling the story about how she remembers being really little and wanting the whole waffle, rather than the little bites she was being fed. So I try to be sensitive to your need to have the whole whatever and if it’s something that isn’t dangerous I’ll give it to you whole…or at least in bigger pieces. You still eat anything we put in front of you, usually in copious amounts, but I’m expecting the picky toddler phase to start any day now…

Sleep is a challenge sometimes. You don’t protest going to bed all that much, but you do sit up there and babble to your doll, read your book and play with your aquarium sometimes for as long as an hour. I guess you need time to yourself just as much as we do, and the only time you really get to yourself is when you’re in your crib. It’s only a problem when I hear “uh-oh” over the monitor a couple of times. That usually means you’ve thrown both binkies and your dolly out of the crib out of boredom, and since you won’t go to sleep without those things I have to come to their rescue.

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Just remember, you may be 15 months old and fast becoming a little independent, headstrong child, but you’ll always be my baby!

Love, Mommy

Cinderella

Sarah Carolyn

20060122_swiffer.jpgThis is why people have children in the first place, right? To do the household chores?

Just kidding! No one needs to be calling CPS on me. Carrie loves the Swiffer – she cried when we took it away so she could eat dinner. Now if I could just get her to vacuum, dust and fold (instead of unfold) the laundry, I could knit more. :)

Carrie has also been really into the Itsy Bitsy spider song lately. She asks for it by signing “again”, putting both her arms straight up and waving them back and forth. That’s the motion she does for the whole song – it’s supposed to be the “out comes the sun” part of the song. Unfortunately, she uses the “again” sign every time I finish it, so I have to sing it over and over again. And then she pouts when I tell her we’re all done. She’s very much into repetitive things, and can watch little video snippets of herself on my computer over and over until I finally tell her enough.

Don’t Drink The Water

Sarah Carolyn

20060114_smile.jpgWhen you’re eating out with your toddler who is used to hard plastic straw cups, it might be a good thing to keep a paper cup out of grabbing reach – even if it’s just water and has one of those nifty plastic lids. Paper cups crush very easily, and toddlers have surprisingly strong grips. I’m just saying. Because if you don’t you may find yourself buying pajamas at the nearest kids store so that the toddler in question, who is now completely soaked, doesn’t freeze to death in the bitter winter weather. (This warning doesn’t apply to you if you’re one of those super-organized moms who actually carry a change of clothes everywhere.)

Today we went to look for a new pair of shoes for Carrie at the Stride Rite outlet that’s a half-hour away from here. Unfortunately, they only had a couple of styles that even came in the size we needed and they didn’t fit her correctly. I’d say the whole trip was a disaster except that we bought three gifts, some 24 month onesies that actually aren’t white, and exchanged some things Carrie had gotten for Christmas for bigger sizes. I do so love the Carter’s outlet!

And here are the pajamas we had to buy, along with my silly monkey who thinks this is what one should do when instructed to “smile for the camera”. At least they’re really cute pajamas. (They’re Little Me brand in case anyone cares.)

Ice Cream!

Sarah Carolyn

My youngest brother gave us an ice cream maker for Christmas – it’s meant to be taken on camping trips, because it doesn’t require electricity. We rolled it around the living room floor for 20 minutes several nights ago, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor after with tasty homemade vanilla ice cream.

Apparently, it left quite an impression on Carrie.

Yesterday, she totally skipped her nap, and after letting her chill in her crib – she was playing quite happily for about 2 hours – I brought her back downstairs. She started playing with a spoon and bowl from her tea set, so I asked her if she would like a snack. She carefully put the spoon and bowl in one hand, and started to sign with the other. I was expecting her to sign “eat”, but instead she signed “ice cream”. We had a little talk about how ice cream was a “sometimes food”, and I gave her a couple of more appropriate snack options to choose from, and she was fine with it.

But I was totally floored. I guess because Carrie isn’t verbal yet I haven’t been giving her enough credit about how much she understands and has opinions about. I’m good about giving her choices, like whether she wants a pear or a banana with breakfast, but I hadn’t really expected her to start voicing opinions without being given choices yet. It’s both wonderful and terrifying to realize what a smart little cookie she is. (And cookies, baby girl, are also “sometimes foods”! Even if Mommy was this close -><- to baking a batch this afternoon.)

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Sarah Carolyn

Is it possible for a 14-month-old baby to be an insomniac? Because it’s 10:30 and Carrie is still awake. I put her down sometime between 8 and 8:30 – her usual bedtime – and she’s been up there playing with her aquarium, kicking the mattress, and generally not sleeping. Not crying, not fussing, just not sleeping. I’ve been in to check on her a few times, and she’ll happily cuddle up with her doll and let me tuck her back under her blanket…but then a few minutes after I leave her room the aquarium music turns on and the kicking starts up.

Wait.

Shhh.

The aquarium stopped and I don’t hear any kicking. Be very, very quiet. I think she’s finally asleep!

Dog Chair

Sarah Carolyn

Target has a fantastic new toy aisle! They have some great wooden toys, including some kitchen stuff/play food that I hope is still there in a year or so – Carrie’s still a bit young for it. They also had some “critter chairs”. My mom had pointed these out to me on the Pottery Barn Kids site, but $100 is way too rich for my blood! The ones at Target? $30. I still wasn’t actually going to buy one, because I didn’t really think I could justify it, but how on earth was I supposed to pass up this blue puppy?!?

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It was so cute when we put it in the living room – Carrie can’t decide if it’s a chair or a dog, so she alternated between sitting on it and kissing it on the nose. And then she dragged it into her playhouse, where it takes up almost all the available floor space. She sat on it and babbled on her phone, drank from her teacups, and then stood up and kissed it on the nose. I think she likes it.