18 months

Wow! One and a half years old. You sure are growing up and you could not be any cuter!

You just had your 18 month well visit. You weighed 22 pounds 6 ounces (25%) and were 32.5 inches tall (80%). This is the first time that you or Katherine has measured over 10% in weight.

You are such a chatterbox and your vocabulary continues to explode. I laughed at your 18 month Dr. visit when the nurse asked if you knew at least 5 words. I would guess that you say at least 150 words (in toddler language) and probably at least 50 of those would be easily recognizable by anyone, not just mommy. You talk all. the. time. Poor daddy can barely get a word in between mom, Katherine and you. And yes, you love to talk on the phone too.

You still do some signs but don't seem to need them too much with all of your talking. My favorite though is when you try to do the sign for "I love you" as you say "Ah View". You also love to blow kisses. When anyone is asleep you put your finger to your mouth and say "shhhh".

You love to explore and are quite a daredevil. You are not scared to climb and tumble. You run really well. You have figured out how to move the stool or a chair so that you can climb new places. We have reached the point where you can reach into the kitchen drawers and whatever is on the counter.

You are becoming more independent and exerting that independence more. You do not hesitate to tell mommy "no" and to run off when I want you to come. You have thrown a number of tantrums. So, this month you have experienced a lot of time out time.

You have also learned how to really make Katherine mad. You go up to whatever she is doing, grab a toy and run off. Stinker! We are really getting into the sibling conflict and it goes both ways. Mommy is trying so hard to help you all play nicely. Many times you all do so well and will play together in Katherine's room for an hour without needing any help from me. You all are going to be such best friends. You copy everything she does so I am really encouraging her to be a good role model.

You are still nursing several times a day and show no sign of letting up anytime soon. I actually left town for 48 hours and you did pretty well with me being gone except when you woke up in the middle of the night. You are still waking up most nights and I am really tired of it as I am really tired! I sometimes let you cry but you are pretty stubborn. What really gets me is when you don't cry but just say "mommy, mommy, please" over and over.

You enjoy playing with cars and vehicles so for Christmas you got a wooden set (actually borrowed from a friend as I am sure it will be a short phase if you are like your sister). You love to push them around while making car noises.

You are still a really good eater. You eat pretty much anything and are getting really good at feeding yourself with a spoon. Typically for breakfast you have 2 scrambled eggs and a little bagel or English muffin and some fruit. For lunch you have a hot dog or meat (I am super strict on only getting them at Whole foods without all the junk in it), a veggie and a fruit. You also will sometimes have cheese or yogurt. At dinner I try to feed you what we are having and you do pretty well with that. You have discovered junk food and like "pips" (chips), "tookies" (cookies) and "kacker" (crackers). You like to drink water, juice and milk.

You have recently discovered that you can feed Hooligan all by yourself. You can take her bowl to the laundry room, open her food bin and scoop it up. You love it. You also love to pick up her full food and water bowls to carry across the den. This has resulted in some big messes.

You really love Hooligan. You are much more interested in her than Katherine ever has been. You love to pet her and hug her.

You enjoy dressing and undressing yourself. Usually this means that you take off your pants and try to put them back on. Yesterday though you took off both your pants and your diaper while in time out. Luckily it did not get messy. You also love to try to put on any of mommy or daddy's clothes that you can find. You thought my boots were so funny. I love how they go all the way up to your bum. You could barely walk.

Notice what you are carrying. You have recently become obsessed with wipes and washcloths. You want a wipe to hold every time I change you and then you want to carry it around the house. After a few days of this I started giving you a wash cloth so I would not run out of wipes. It is an interesting obsession.

You are enjoying crafts and drawing more. Everything ends up in your mouth so we have to be careful and you can't be unsupervised yet. If you ever find a pen you will write on any paper you see around. You are doing much better at school and in the church nursery. Before Christmas you were really having a hard time getting dropped off but now there are no problems. In fact, this week you will begin going to school 2 days a week instead of 1. You have learned to tell secrets and it is so cute. You get really close to me or daddy and whisper nonsense words. I love it!

Caroline, you are such a silly, fun girl. I love your snuggles and kisses and everything about you.