When I’m not busy abandoning/starving* her, Caroline is still the sweetest baby ever. Notice I didn’t say “most cooperative” or “easiest” or “least likely to shatter your eardrums” because damn, that girl knows what she wants when she wants it and is not shy about screeching until she gets it. You’re eating a grape? How DARE you eat a grape! GIVE ME THAT GRAPE!

Speaking of grapes, Caroline eats ANYTHING. An-eeeeee-thing. The only thing holding her back is missing chompers – she only has two full teeth (the bottom front two) and one little sharp edge on the top, so chewing up her spicy pulled pork sandwich was a little difficult. But by golly she gave it her best shot! Her favorite things so far are mini pretzels, clementines, apples, and cheese sticks. She also decided to tolerate a spoon, so I bought a bunch of those sqeezey pouches and the little spoon attachment for them (GENIUS, amirite?) but feeding her like that takes so much…effort. Baby-led weaning for the lazy parenting win.

Despite all the eating she remains a tiny peanut sized baby, wearing mostly 3-6 month onesies and 6 month dresses. In public, strangers stop to tell me she’s so LITTLE and how can she possibly be SITTING UP in that shopping cart, since she can’t be more than 4 or 5 months old?! It blows their mind that she’s 8 months old, and then their minds are doubly blown when she smiles at them and her cuteness lasers shoot out of her giant eyes and they fall right over dead from adorable. She’s a lady-killer – especially elderly ladies at the grocery store.

I think being tiny is working to her advantage in the motor skills department. Her lack of chub makes her body easier to haul around, which explains her lightening speed crawling and her independent standing skills. THAT’S RIGHT. My eight-months-old-today baby will crawl to something, pull herself up, and then just….let go and stand. I’m only a little ashamed to admit I’ve started knocking her over (GENTLY AND LOVINGLY, OBVS) so she doesn’t get any ideas about walking, but her balance is amazing and sometimes she refuses to be knocked.

I’m betting she takes her first steps in less than 3 weeks – which would put her a full month ahead of her brother when it comes to walking (Little Evan started at 9 months, 3 weeks and I thought that was INSANE). I’m going to have two babies running in opposite directions within a month. HOLD ME.

Being attacked by a toddler in a tutu is just part of her day

Ok, so she has some KIND OF chubby bits

Someone's quickly losing patience with these monthly photo shoots

8 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to parents (isn’t specific) – Her babbling has really picked up and she says mama and dada, but I don’t know if it’s TO a parent.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Stands while holding onto something – Pulls up, stands, LETS GO. I’m signing her up for tightrope lessons for her first birthday.
Crawls – She’s a crawling machine.
Points at objects – Uh….no. I have seen no pointing. Mostly she just goes and gets what she wants.
Searches for hidden objects – Yeah, like my iPhone. You CANNOT HIDE IT FROM HER.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Pulls self to standing, cruises – Yes
Picks things up with thumb-finger pincer grasp – She can pick up small things (goldfish crackers, half a grape, bits of dog hair) and get them in her mouth, but it’s mostly a grab-with-her-fist-and-shove method.
Indicates wants with gestures – Yes, if by “gestures” you mean “high pitched pterodactyl screams”.

I will try to get some videos of Caroline doing adorable Caroline-like things this weekend, because there is no way to describe in words how weird it looks when such a TEENY TINY baby chases you down and climbs your leg.

*My supply is back to normal and I’m hoping to re-build my freezer stash ASAP. I’m SO relieved.

There isn’t any point pretending Little Evan isn’t a full-blown person-type human anymore. There’s almost no trace of baby left on him, as if every night in his bath we wash another layer off, revealing the Big Kid underneath. He carries a (toy) phone in his pocket for goodness sake. Next week he’ll be asking for the keys so he can pick up his friends for a movie. BUT I WILL SAY NO. At least not until he takes out the trash and feeds the dog.

I am constantly amazed by how much he takes in and remembers about our days and conversations. It makes me feel like all the shlepping around and packing and planning actually MEANS something to him, even if he is too young to remember it when he’s older. But when he’s still asking about “Farm? Sheep-baa? Go, mama? Friends?” a week after we went to the farm it makes me smile. It also breaks my heart that I promised him a ride on the horse-drawn carriage at Mystic Seaport last weekend but had to cancel due to my foot-sprain and every time we get in the car now he asks about the “horse-boat?” Soon, Buddy! As soon as I can walk I PROMISE.

He has a funny way of saying words that are more than one syllable that is totally adorable but means I have to serve as a translator with most grown-ups. (Kids, on the other hand, understand him even better than I do.) For example, he says “Plees. Car.” for “police car” and “Bass. Ball. Net.” for “basketball net”. He recently learned to love my singing – bless his heart – and will request songs by singing his own mini-version or with hand motions. His favorites are Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Baa Baa Black Sheep, You Are My Sunshine and Happy Birthday.

Little Evan took a four hour nap at some point last week and woke up 2 full inches taller. All the 24 month summer clothes I bought him are too small, and he’s safely in a 2T or even a 3T and a size 6 shoe. He’s still in a size 5 diaper and will probably be in them for a while. We’re taking a casual approach to potty training that’s not stressing anyone out but is also going to take a looooong time. But we’re OK with that.

Favorite things include books, running, pointing out basketball nets, his baby sister, boats, horses, Daddy, his friends, napping with his blankets, taking pictures, splashing and the iPad. Least favorite things include being tired, hearing no, water when he can’t touch the bottom, swallowing strange food (he’ll put it in his mouth and chew it up), and being buckled in the stroller.

Damn those birds! Why are they so angry?!

Eyelashes & rosy cheeks

So much attitude for someone who can't wipe his own butt.

27 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Jumps with both feet – Yes, jumping has always been one of his strong points.
• Opens doors – Yes, both the regular doorknob kind and the lever kind. Like, for instance, on our back screen door. Which means he can escape the house.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Understands descriptions (e.g., big, soft) – I’d say about 80% of the time yes. He knows a bunch of colors, and big and small, and mama’s vs. dada’s vs. baby’s, and a bunch more. You can say “Evan, go get that round thing over there” and he will go get it.
• Draws a vertical line – He’s not too interested in drawing, but he can use his finger to make a straight line on an iPad (totally counts).

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Starts to recognize ABCs – Starts, yes. I’m thrilled to see this on the “advanced” skills for his age, because it seems like TONS of my internet friends have toddlers younger than Evan who already know almost all their letters. I was worried I’d been failing Evan somehow by not doing alphabet drills before and after every nap time. But how do you FORCE a 2 year old to learn his letters when he’s busy kicking balls and playing Angry Birds? Now that he likes playing with his VTech magnet letter thing he recognized a lot more of them.
• Balances on one foot – Yes, and I know this because he puts his pants on like a REAL PERSON now. I almost cried the first time I realized I didn’t have to make him lie down to get dressed.

This is the first month I actually had to count on my fingers to figure out how old Little Evan is, which then sent me into all sorts of fits of emotion. He is officially old enough that I just say “He’s two” when people ask his age – and more importantly, HE can say “TWO!” when people ask his age. And then I die a little from the cuteness.

I have already forgotten why I even MENTIONED seeing a speech therapist to the pediatrician. Evan is talking constantly now, with new words every single day. Some times he still needs a little mommy translation when he’s talking to strangers, but after just a few days with him my parents understood 90% of his speech. He also has a really good memory, which is something I guess I didn’t know about toddlers. He talks about things that happened days or even weeks ago – and is going to be heartbroken EVERY MORNING for the next few weeks when Mormor and Bamba and Hersh (their dog) aren’t here to play with. So I guess his memory isn’t exactly perfect.

Little Evan is now MORE of everything. He is more fun and more loving but also more trouble and more tantrumy. He wants things but then he DOESN’T want them. He loves things but then he HATES things and then he LOVES THEM SO MUCH HE HATES THEM. It’s a little bit exhausting, the mood swings, but I’m getting used to them. It’s good practice for when he’s a teenager.

Favorite things include: sippy cups of milk, his blue blankets (which he calls buh-byee), talking to his sister, hockey, bubbles, his grandparents, dancing, pretending to drive the car, sleeping (SERIOUSLY. HE LOVES TO SLEEP) and helping daddy get a beer. Least favorite things include: being told no, being tired, sitting in the shopping cart, boo boos (especially on his feet), and seeing either of us leave the house.

Look at those eyelashes!

26 Month Milestones (if you’re super perceptive, you’ll notice these are the SAME milestones as 25 months – apparently BabyCenter got lazy after 2 years old. WTF BABYCENTER?)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Stacks six blocks – Do Legos count?
• Walks with smooth heel-to-toe motion – Yes. And he runs in a smooth motion too, instead of the crazy high-knees march, which makes him look SO MUCH OLDER.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Uses pronouns (e.g., I, me, you) – I’ve never heard “you”, but he uses names (mama, baby, Mormor, dog) combined with another word. And he identifies himself as “I”, his things as “mine”, and uses his own name “Ef-ahn”.
• Washes and dries own hands – He can wash and dry his own SELF, including emptying the tub, putting away his bath toys, and drying his hair.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Speaks clearly most of the time – A lot more that he used to, but not “most of the time.”
• Draws a vertical line – He doesn’t really like drawing, unless it’s on the walls. But some of the lines are pretty straight.