So it turns out Caroline is not only a genius when it comes to mobility, but a genius at EVERYTHING. I know you’re not going to believe me, because everyone thinks their baby is a genius, but it’s true. She is a tiny, adorable genius.

Caroline is super good at communicating. She can say kitty, mommy, daddy, hi, bye, cheese and yes. Then on a whim I showed her the sign for “fish” and she learned it immediately. Now she can sign fish, hat, milk, more, please and thank you. And she does! She signs please and thank you!! Plus she puts it together to say “cheese” while signing more and then sign please. I’m going to have to get out my baby sign stuff from the class I took with Evan and teach her some more. Heck, I should probably just break out War & Peace and we’ll start reading it at bedtime now, seeing as how she’s a genius and all. She also has a baby language that sounds like “ttkka ttkka ttkka!” that means “tickle tickle”, but it also means “let’s play” and “let’s go” and “I’m happy” and “PAY ATTENTION TO ME.”

It’s kind of weird, having this tiny little baby – because she is still tiny, people are always shocked when I say she’s 14 months – who acts so much like a little person. She will grab your hand, anyone’s hand really, and lead them around the mall or the store or the house or anywhere they will follow. And it’s adorable because people always LET her get away with it. She also does the back-up-into-any-available-lap thing Evan used to do so don’t sit on the floor unless you’re ready for a lap full of ginger. And today at a friend’s birthday she made every single adult hang her upside down. Which is not something people normally DO to babies, especially babies they don’t necessarily know very well, but she is both convincing and insistent. Someone suggested I tie a little sign around her neck that says “If you pick me up I will throw myself backwards” to avoid accidental head-dropping.

She still eats anything, but is on a fruit and cheese kick which is…not so good for the diapers. We’re down to only nursing before nap and before bed and she doesn’t nurse to sleep for either, so E can do it if he’s home. I’ve got 21 days left to wean her entirely, but even if I were to leave right now I suspect she’d have a rough 24 hours and then be totally over it. She drinks milk/water/juice out of any kind of cup and just generally shows up her brother’s super picky habits on a daily basis.

Likes include blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, watermelon, yellow American cheese slices, climbing, dancing, music, slides, peek a boo, shoving her entire hand in my mouth, her brother, the kitty, books, pretending to be a dinosaur, hanging upside down, running, Daddy, smiling, tickles and pretending to use the iPad while really just smearing stuff on it.

Dislikes include raspberries (who knows why), having ANYTHING taken away, shopping carts, sitting still, having her nose wiped and falling on her head. Although she falls on her head so regularly maybe that IS something she likes.

Bazillion pics now, milestones below:

Giant head bump is GIANT. Although she doesn't seem to mind at all.

Vintage sweater & hand-me-down party dress and shoes

Being hauled off to eat cupcakes. Torture!!

Maybe she's a musical genius too!

14 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Eats with fingers – Score one for baby-led weaning! She can feed herself almost anything, especially if you put it in a snack trap. She can also feed herself with a fork/spoon if you put the food on it for her.
Empties containers of contents – My floors, let me show you them. Oh wait I CAN’T because they are covered in all the things Caroline took out of containers.
Imitates others – Yes! That’s why I started signing.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Toddles well – Oh Baby Center.
Initiates games – She will grab my hand and make me play things like “pat baby’s mouth while she goes ahhhhhh to make a funny sound” or “everybody try on this hat AHAHAHA THAT’S HILARIOUS”.
Points to one body part when asked – She knows “head” and she can find MY nose, but I don’t know if she knows any others.
Responds to instructions (e.g., “give me a kiss”) – When she feels like it. TODDLERS.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Uses a spoon or fork – See above.
Matches lids with appropriate containers – I seem to remember having trouble answering this one with Evan too, since we don’t have any container/lid toys. I think she would understand the concept, since she’s a baby genius and all.
Pushes and pulls toys while walking – No biggie.

Caroline’s nursery is not actually a nursery. It’s really not even Caroline’s right now, since it’s full of toddler toys and doesn’t have a crib. But it does have nice carpet, a very comfy nursing chair, lots of pretty colorful things and a big closet full of little girl clothes. I’m pretty excited about the room in general, since in about a week I’m going to be staring down the barrel of taking care of two kids on my own (I have been SOOOO spoiled with E home and my mom here) and a fun place for all of us to hang out is going to make that a lot easier. Plus it will be PERFECT for play dates. Who wants to come over?!

Welcome!

My mom wrote “Caroline” in place of “Baby Girl” on the chalkboard tray before we brought her home.

View from the door

This room really needs to be painted. The paint is like primer, totally flat, and there are a zillion scratches and chips and scrapes on the walls. But I sort of figure it’s only a matter of time before someone colors on them in permanent marker anyway, so painting it now would be an exercise in futility. Also, I freaking hate painting.

From behind the glider

My favorite corner

The chair is from Babies R Us (this one is better than the defective one, but the seat is ALREADY kind of lopsided so I don’t recommend it, no matter how comfortable it seems in the store) but the ottoman came with our old glider that’s still in Little Evan’s room. My mom recovered the ugly beige with one of the cute fabrics I bought. Curtains are Ikea, pillows are from Target, blanket on the chair was a gift from my friend Amanda, tutu (hanging on the wall) and ribbon mobile are two of my craft projects.

Man, those moldings REALLY need a coat of paint. Yikes.

Here’s the most important nursery planning tip ever: BUY A DRESSER INSTEAD OF A CHANGING TABLE. Or at least buy a changing table with drawers. Those open shelves are useless. This one is from Ikea and it’s just the right size. Lamp and shade also from Ikea. If you can’t read the banner, it’s actually Charley Harper Flash Cards spelling out “Caroline” held on a ribbon by wooden clothes-pins. There mirrors were on clearance at Target for $1.25 so I bought 4 (the other two are on another wall) and painted the frames in bright colors to match the room. I hung them at toddler-height so Little Evan can play peek-a-boo with himself. (p.s. The child sized broom courtesy of a toddler who felt it REALLY belonged in this picture.)

The wall behind the main door

The floor pillows are my FAVORITE thing about the room. The fabric on top of the front pillow is what inspired the color scheme and the pink and orange fabrics were from Caroline’s baby shower. I’m terrible at sewing but my mom is AWESOME and after I tracked down some nice big fluffy pillow forms (Ikea! $6.99! It was cheaper than buying poly-fill!) she whipped these right up for me. Now they’re perfect for lounging around on the floor during play time. Mirrors are the other two I bought at Target and the baby hats/bows/booties are all just hanging on a ribbon with clothes pins. I went a little clothes-pin-crazy in here.

TA-DA! This is where the whole room started. So in case you were wondering, the theme of the room is orange, pink, green, blue, brown, birds, nature, vintage, nursery rhymes, and transportation. I have a hard time making choices.

I bought a yard of this fabric at Ikea. But it wasn’t at my local Ikea, it was during my super awesome fantastic amazingly amazing trip to Minnesota so it’s extra special. The frame was another freebie from after a garage sale that I spray painted orange.

Toddler play corner

Built-in book shelves. Please note my awesome variety of pretty much every book series ever written for children. And maybe one TOTALLY CHILD INAPPROPRIATE book by Edward Gorey.

Evan is in love with his little table and chairs (a Christmas gift from his grandma and grandpa)

Other stuff in this corner: Lamp & shade, easel, and abacus from Ikea. Animal shaped bins are from Target, various plastic toys from EVERY PLACE IN THE WHOLE WORLD THAT SELLS TOYS.

He really wanted to be in EVERY picture.

The canvas on the wall was super cheap at Target (on clearance, less than $5). It was bright and happy and figured I couldn’t even MAKE something for less. The table my doll house is on is actually an old dining room table from Ikea (this one, purchased by E at least 7 years ago, painted by me 5 years ago) that he shortened the legs on to make it toddler height. Hanging toy storage in the corner also from Ikea (they should really pay me commission or something for plugging their stuff, right?) The rocker Little Evan is sitting in was my mom’s when she was a child. It had an unfortunate run in with her dog that left it a little worse for the wear but it’s still functional. Plus it means a lot to have vintage stuff like that used by my kids.

A few details...

1. Vintage airplane mobile (my brother’s when he was a baby) It plays “Fly Me To The Moon”
2. Bebeh feet!
3. Vintage fabric birds hanging in the window over the doll house
4. Beautiful hand-made teether from Little Alouette. LOVE LOVE LOVE everything from Amy’s shop, plus she is an extremely nice person (I met her at The Creative Connection). I’m sitting on my hands right now to keep from ordering this little owl shaped teether. Or just getting three for $35. But Caroline can’t even see her hands yet so it seems a little excessive. For record, I’d get the owl, the hippo and the fawn. Just, you know, FYI.
5. Vintage tea cup from my Aunt Susan
6. Vintage dress (mine when I was little) hanging on the wall. Too pretty for the closet!
7. The “LOVE” sign is a wood cutout I bought for $1 at Joann’s and spray painted with a little help from some blue painter’s tape. The bird has a pull string that makes it play music and flap it’s wings (vintage from my childhood).
8. Easter ducky (also from Aunt Susan) sitting on nursery rhyme books from the baby shower

Thanks for visiting!

So in the end, it’s not really a design-magazine worthy kind of space but I’m totally in love with it. Better yet, the kids seem to really like it.

Oh my God, saying “the kids” sounds so weird. I have KIDS.

If I missed the source for anything you’re wondering about, let me know and I can tell you where it came from. Full disclosure: the two or three Amazon links do go through my associates account so I get like, 4 cents or something if you purchase the item by clicking through my link.