Weight: 19 pounds, 5 ounces (25-50th percentile)
Height: 31.5 inches (95-98th percentile)
Head: 17.75 inches (25-50th percentile)
Caroline is ONE! Well really she is 13/14 months by the time I have gotten around to writing this! But still, I can't believe my baby is this big already!
Her first year, her personality has been noticeably more timid than the other two kids. She has been more shy around adults and peers and more apprehensive around loud toys and new settings. At 13 months, this is still the case in general but we are seeing her become more brave and almost outgoing as she gets older. She is no longer frightened by the ball popper toy that used to terrify her. She doesn't cling to and hide behind my legs around new faces anymore. And she will wonder off and explore new places only glancing back every now and then to make sure I'm still around. I have loved her timid sweetness but I am also proud to see her venture out.
Caroline is a mommy's girl and I adore it! It is clear that she loves George very much but she also shows a strong preference towards me. Even when she is hurt, she will bypass George and walk further so that she can be comforted by me. It warms my heart watching her do this because it was exactly the opposite with the older two kids. At this age, they both showed a strong preference towards George. I'm grateful that at least I got one little buddy.
At 13/14 months, Caroline is amazingly verbal already! Based on our experience with Bailey, I have been very watchful for this and I am so thankful to see her progress in this area. Her first word was "wow" at a little before a year. Then she quickly moved on to saying "ball," "puppy" and "baby." Now she also says "Dadda," "bye-bye," "papi" (for paci), "Moo" (for cows), "Eeww," "touch," "hot," "boo(k)," and has approximations for "soft touch," "all done," "shoes," "peek-a-boo," and so many other words. She is constantly repeating or attempting to repeat the words that we say and I am continually impressed by how easily she picks up new words and even phrases. You can tell that she is concentrating hard and storing them in her little head.
Even when she isn't saying actual words, I am impressed at how well she communicates what she wants and how many connections she makes between things. If the big kids are going outside and she wants to go too, she goes and gets her shoes, takes them to the door, and reaches up for the door knob. When I get her up from nap, if she is ready to be awake, she points over to the noise machine for me to turn it off and then directs me to the lights or the window. When it is time for bed she says "bou, bou" for book so that we will sit down and read. If she thinks that she needs a snack she taps on the snack cabinet until I open it and then pulls something out and hands it up to me. All this makes her feel and seem like such a big girl rather than a baby and while I love how smart she is, it also reminds me how fast time is going.
Her knowing what she wants has also lead to her throwing fits when she doesn't get it. At a year she would sweetly and daintily stomp her feet and make little grunting noises and cute pouty faces if she didn't get what she wanted. Or she would plop down on her bottom and look up at you with big fat tears rolling down her face. Now she throws full on fits when she doesn't get her way. Currently, it usually revolves around her wanting a snack or drink that the big kids have or wanting to do something impossible like fit her whole body into a tiny box. Thankfully she can still be easily distracted. (Unrelated to this paragraph, but I just love the back of this sweet girl's head! I think her hair is so pretty and cute!)
Caroline loves playing with her baby dolls. She likes to spend time hugging them, playing with their eyes, giving them pacies, and having them naked. She has just started having her babies make "waawaa" noises and then she gives them big hugs. It is precious to watch her begin to play imaginatively. She is also very attracted to real babies and shows a strong interest in them. In this first picture I love the look of Caroline resting her cheek on the baby's head. Caroline has always been comforted but the touch of skin and so when I am rocking her or trying to calm her down I have always rested my cheek on her cheek or her head. It warms my heart seeing her repeat this same motion of endearment towards her babies. I love this sweet girl so much! Another one of her "babies" is a white lamb stuffed animal that her great grandparents Norma and Lee gave her. It plays "Jesus Loves Me" when you pinch the ear and she adores it, even asking to take it with her to bed on several occasions. We sing/hum her "Jesus Loves Me" before we put her down for bed and naps and we have caught her rocking and swaying with her lamb while it is playing that same song just like we do to her. It is beyond precious to watch!
It goes without saying that Caroline adores her big brother and sister. For awhile now she will randomly come over and give me and George hugs on the legs but lately she has started doing this with Ainsley and Bailey too. It is really sweet to watch although it can cause hurt feelings when she doesn't spread the love evenly. As a typical little sister, Caroline always wants to be doing what the big kids are doing and they are usually nice and include her. I don't know if it is personality or the age difference but her and Bailey seem to have a more equal play and sharing relationship while her and Ainsley seem to have a more dominating "i'm big and you're little" relationship. Both kids are sweet with her 90% of the time but the way Ainsley plays with her is more directive with attempts to be helpful (whether she wants it or not) while Bailey plays more collaboratively and equally and requests us to help if Caroline needs it. Caroline loves both of them but it is interesting because depending on her mood, she definitely prefers one style of play over the other. Ainsley happened to be out of school the morning that I was snapping these pictures and just couldn't resist not being in some of them. Sweet sisters!
At a year Caroline was still nursing 4 times a day - when she woke up, before her am nap, before her afternoon nap, and before bed - now at 14 months she is down to just nursing twice - when she wakes up and before bed. It has been more of a struggle to wean her down than I remember with the other two because she isn't very interested in milk. She refuses it during the day and only sometimes drinks it as a replacement for the nursing times she has dropped. Plus, she really likes to nurse still. For convenience on a few upcoming things I'm going to hold on to both feedings for another month or so but then my plan is to try to wean her completely. I just think that the longer I wait, the harder it is going to get. That said, I know it will be a bitter sweet to see this phase of her and my life go. Some of my favorite moments with her are after she is done nursing. In the morning, we climb back into our bed together while she eats and when she is done she usually just lays there sleepy and still in my arms like she is delaying to start of the day just like I want to do. Sometimes she will be still and make sweet little baby noises and sometimes she wants to zonk right out again. Sometimes she rolls around between George and I and pats us each on the arm or the back. She is so cute when she lifts her head because often she acts like getting up is the hardest thing to do and she lets her head fall heavy on the bed or pillow again. At nighttime she nurses in the rocking chair in her room and when she is done she usually snuggles her head into the nook between my shoulder and neck. Depending on how she napped that day, she is either sleepy and still in my arms or she plays with her paci and makes sweet high pitched singing, chirping, and "baba" noises while resting her head on my shoulder. With the busyness of her little body these days, I cherish these moments of calm and snuggle and even though some convenience will be gained, I know that I will miss them when they are gone.
Caroline thankfully is a really great eater of table food. She pretty much likes everything that we have given her but her favorites tend to be avocado, meat (chicken, turkey, beef, fish), cheese, yogurt, raspberries, and peas. She also loves all snack crackers, chips, and pretzels that she can get her hands on. She does this little birdy mouth trick that is pretty cute that I fall for every time! It is usually when I'm cooking and she will walk over and pat my leg and then tip her head back with a big wide open mouth for me to stick something in. It started with shredded cheese but now she does it all the time and it is so cute! And being the youngest she has tried a record breaking number of desserts so far! It cracks me up especially compared to how strict we were with sweets with Ainsley. But if the big kids have a cookie or cake or ice cream, she wants some too and I'd rather let her have a small taste than having her feel left out. So lucky third child perk!
On the day that she officially turned 14 months, Caroline got a concussion and gave us quite a scare. Bailey and Caroline were at home with a sitter and Caroline was standing up on the seat of her pottery barn chair and Bailey pushed her playfully and the chair flipped over backwards and Caroline hit the back of her head on the rug covering the hardwood floor. She immediately started vomiting and the sitter called and I rushed home and then rushed her to the ER. They watched her at the ER for 5 hours but other than a big hard bump on the back of her head and the initial vomiting, she didn't show any further signs of brain trauma so they let us go home. When we got home, she started throwing up again after a few hours, so we had to take her back to the ER to be monitored again. This is when I started getting pretty scared because her vomiting again meant that there might be more trauma than we originally thought and meant she might have to get a CT scan, which is a ton of radiation. But when we got back to the ER, they checked her out really good again and there wasn't any other signs of further problems so after a few hours they let us go home and monitor her at home. By now it was 11pm so we had to wake her up every few hours to make sure she was ok. Then the next day we went to the pediatrician for a followup and thankfully again she checked out just fine and was able to keep food down after that. Whew! It was a scary stressful 48 hours and we feel so fortunate that she is alright!
"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness to the skies."
Psalm 36:5
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