"One and a Half"

Caroline is now 18 months old, or as kids like to say, "she's one and a half." She actually has been "one and a half" for a couple weeks now but I have failed to make a blog post about it. So, what's life like with an adorable 18 month old?

AMAZING, though sometimes chaotic. Caroline is learning to speak and is constantly saying things. The problem is, 75% of the time we don't understand what she's saying. I think that's frustrating her because she wants to communicate with us so badly, so she does get upset. When she's upset we give her "quiet time" which is usually one of us sitting on the sofa forcing her to stay on our lap, and usually the wiggling and screaming stop within a minute. The worst parts of her tantrums are the hair pulling (OUCH) and slapping my glasses off my face (I'm blind as a bat) but we're working on it :)

Everything other than those moments of chaos? Wonderful.

She's doing very well using her words. She knows dog ("doh") and cat ("tat") very well and makes sure to point them out to us every time she sees them. We're teaching her what sounds animals make and she has woof woof ("ooo ooo") down with her meow meow ("mow mow") getting better every day. She tells us when she wants juice ("ju") and grabs it out of the refrigerator for us. When she wants to read a book she points at it and says book ("boo") if it's out of reach, or carries one over to us and raises her arms to sit in our lap and read. She sings the nakie baby song, the song we sing before baths, with us ("nay nay"). She says night night ("ni ni") and is really good at falling asleep in her crib these day, not on the couch like she used to. She knows no ("no no no no noooo") a bit too well and yes ("ya!"), but often uses the wrong one to answer questions. She's doing a wonderful job communicating with us, so hopefully as she gets better she'll have less tantrums like I mentioned above.

She loves "talking on the phone." If you put something up to your ear and say, "hello," she'll grab the nearest object, put it up to her ear, and answer ("hewo"). She walks around the house having intense conversations on her "phones." We don't know where she got it from because we rarely speak on the phone, but it's adorable! I'm going to Target today to buy her an actual play phone; I can't wait to see how she reacts!

Her favorite toys are not actually toys. She'd rather have her makeup brush, her travel sized shampoo bottle, her plastic cup we use for baths, or her daddy's Captain America shirt than any toy in the house. She loves playing with books, has regained interest in her excersaucer (every time I go to pack that thing away she starts to love it again), and her zebra that she rides on. 

She's still enormous. I'm currently packing away some 2T clothes but she's fitting comfortably in most. I'm not buying her anything smaller than 4T because she's growing so fast. When we're at a playground and parents ask how old she is they are shocked that she is only 18 months old. Their child, the three year old she's been playing with, is smaller than her. It happens a lot. She's one of the youngest in her current daycare room but also one of the largest. She has her 18-month checkup next week so we'll get exact measurements and percentiles then, but I'm pretty sure they'll all indicate, "your toddler is HUGE."

She looks normal sized… until you remember I'm 5'10" and Josh is 6'4"...

She loves watching cartoons and Disney movies. When she sees Cinderella's castle at the beginning of the movie, she sits down and stares at the TV because she knows it's going to be amazing. She loves the Little Mermaid, Tangled, Cinderella, and especially Frozen. I sing "Let it Go" to her all the time to calm her down and she tries to sing along ("de de doooooe"). She also loves to "sing" her ABC's and dance along to her favorite songs, like The Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She is getting so good at Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes; she especially loves showing us her toes.

She loves food but is often picky about it. Her favorite foods are pasta, black beans, apple sauce, rice, tacos, BACON, pancakes, goldfish crackers, and Texas Roadhouse rolls. She still doesn't like sweets and looks absolutely offended if you try to feed her one (she probably gets that from me). She loves her juice and is going through an anti-milk phase, but she'll eventually drink it if it's there. 

She loves giving hugs and kisses these days. If I ask for a hug, she'll run to me with her arms wide open ready to engulf me with an enormous hug. And those kisses, they're our favorites. She goes right for the mouth. If I ask for a kiss, she'll go right for my lips, pucker up, and go "MUAH," often leaving drool all over my mouth, but it's so worth it. She has the sweetest heart and is so full of love. She has a habit now of kissing everything. We were in Home Depot this weekend and she was kissing price tags on shelves, she kisses Ellie constantly (and then gets upset that she has a mouth full of fur), and she kissed a dog statue in Macy's this weekend while petting it (germs are good for the immune system, right? sigh).

Every time she hits an age milestone I always say it's my favorite age. Toddlerhood is definitely proving to be the most entertaining and fun stage so far. She makes me and Josh laugh constantly; I don't think we have ever laughed or smiled so much. She makes us incredibly happy. The other day I showed up to daycare to pick her up in the Altima and saw our Jeep already in the parking lot. Her daddy had shown up to her daycare early, in the car without the carseat, just to see her, hug her, and hang out with her until I got there. That's how much we love her. I still miss her every day she's at school and wish I could be home with her every day, but Josh and I are both helping to provide for our family which is what works best for us (those student loans aren't going to pay for themselves). Plus, Caroline adores her school, her teachers, and all of her friends so I know we're doing the right thing by having her there.

Being a mom is still hands-down the best thing everrrr. I'm so proud. I'm proud of all of the things Caroline has accomplished and proud of what a sweet, kind, and smart girl she is. I'm proud to call myself her mom. And I'm proud of myself and Josh for rocking at this parenthood thing. Motherhood is honestly the bomb, especially when you have a munchkin as awesome as our sweet Caroline.