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Evan: “Mommy, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

……………………………..

Evan: “I feel sad” *pouty face*

Me: “I’m sorry honey, why are you sad?”

Evan: “Because I can’t put my finger in my butt.”

……………………………..

Me: “Evan, don’t hit your sister.”

Evan: “No, YOU don’t hit sister!”

Me: “Don’t talk back to me please.”

Evan: “No, YOU don’t talk back!”

Me: “EVAN. Stop sassing or you’re going to get a time out!”

Evan: “No, YOU get time out!”

Me: *pressing my face into a pillow* AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!

Evan: *sweetly* “What’s wrong Mommy?”

……………………………..

Me and E: “Good night Evan, we love you.”

Evan: “Good night guys. Love you too guys. Now get out my room!”

……………………………..

Evan: “What’s that?”

Me: “Brussels sprouts, I’m making them for dinner.”

Evan: “Oh, is it your birthday?”

……………………………..

Me: “Good morning baby!”

Evan: “No, not baby. Just Evan.”

For possibly the first time ever, I feel like Caroline ISN’T getting too old too fast. She’s been doing all the BIG milestones – walking and climbing and communicating well – since she was 10 months old (braggy mom blogger is braggy!) and the little ones don’t change much about our day to day lives. It helps that she’s still approximately the same size and weight as she was 4 months ago too, so it’s easy to pretend she’s still a baby. It also helps that we still call her “the baby” – the other day I was trying to teach Evan our full names and he keeps insisting her’s is “Baby Sister Davis”.

It’s totally cool though, because 16 months is a good age to stall out. She thinks she is a big kid but isn’t actually a big kid. She can tell me when she needs something but she can’t sass me (I don’t know how I am going to survive sass from TWO children). She sleeps through the night AND takes a nice long nap. Although there are other ages I realy like (eight months is a huge one, and honestly 3 isn’t so bad most of the time) this is our sweet spot. The perfect balance of independence and neediness that makes me feel important but not trapped in a constant cycle of baby demands.

It doesn’t hurt that she’s so adorable. At the store the other day she wandered over to a group of teenage boys with sideways baseball caps and wallet chains (basically kids that make me scowl and think “PULL UP YOUR PANTS, JERKS”) I had been trying to avoid and within seconds they were all crouched down to her level talking in baby voices. It was AMAZING. I suppose it would be possible to ignore her when she walks right up and tries to be your friend, but if you can you’re probably dead inside.

She is still wearing mostly 12 month clothes (although I am buying 18 month stuff now) but wears a size 4 shoe (which is big for someone so tiny). She loves wearing a different pair of shoes every day, which is possible thanks to a zillion hand-me-downs. She also wants to wear hats all the time, which is Very Exciting for me, since I love babies in hats but never fought a battle for them with Evan. Bring on the adorable sun bonnets!

Likes include hats (HATS!!), tickles, gymnastics, jumping, shoes, being naked, her brother, phones, yarn, hugs, talking, chocolate, cereal, juice, her baby doll, water, sand, messes, swinging, going fast, danger, sleeping, books, Daddy, being upside down and The Fresh Beat Band.

Dislikes include her seat belts, posing for photos, being hungry and being told no.

I love them together

Hold up, bro. I got this.

LOOK at those lashes!

16 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Turns the pages of a book – Yes, and is much gentler with books than Evan was at this age.
Has temper tantrums when frustrated – AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I mean yes.
Becomes attached to a soft toy or other object – Her baby. She LOVES that hideous thing. LOVES. IT.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Discovers the joy of climbing
Stacks three blocks – YES. I saw her do it today. BOOM.
Uses spoon or fork – “Tries” is a better word than “uses” but sometimes some of the food does end up in her mouth.
Learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g., the telephone) – Loves to “talk” on the phone, throw things away, help with the dishes and feed other people.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Takes off one piece of clothing by himself – Caroline can get herself entire naked in less than 30 seconds.
Gets finicky about food – She has preferences but still eats almost anything.
Switches from two naps to one – Wait, I was still supposed to getting 2 naps out of her? Crap! She’s been on a one nap schedule since she was about 9 months (because of our Stroller Strides schedule).

Yesterday was Caroline’s 15 month well-baby check-up. She got a finger poke and two shots and was pretty pissed off about it for about 20 minutes but forgave me thanks to chicken nuggets and some fruit snacks. She is willing to forgive almost ANYTHING for fruit snacks. They didn’t mention anything about her lead test results so I’m guessing they came back fine, although I’m kicking myself for not ASKING. Lead poisoning isn’t something you want to screw around with. I don’t have a specific reason to be concerned (you know, besides living in a house that’s probably full of lead paint) but I’d rather know YES or NO for sure instead of assuming no news is good news.

15 month stats:

Height: 28 1/2 inches (about the 10th percentile)
Weight: 20 pounds, 9 ounces (25th percentile)
Head circumference: 46.8 cm (75th percentile)

Big head, teeny tiny baby. She continues to freak people out in public by climbing, running, standing on tall things and generally acting like a toddler while still looking like she’s barely old enough to be walking. Evan was 20 pounds at only 6 months (HOLY CRAP!) and 23 pounds and 31 inches at 15 months, so it looks like Caroline is destined to be a gymnast or a jockey instead of a linebacker. Or maybe a rocket scientist, since obviously her brain is gigantic. I kind of love that she’s a peanut though – it’s saved me a fortune in baby clothes.

If I may venture into “horribly braggy mommy blogger” territory for a minute, I was kind of annoyed the doctor wasn’t more impressed with Caroline’s skills. I know there’s a huge range of normal when it comes to developmental milestones, but when I told her my 15 month old can follow directions like “Go find your milk and bring me the cup” she could act a LITTLE bit like it’s a big deal. That’s on the BabyCenter chart for 22 months! Tell me she’s super smart! Encourage me to sign her up for gifted baby classes immediately! VALIDATE ME!!!! The doctor was mildly impressed when after using her stethoscope to listen to Caroline’s heart and lungs Caroline took it from her and tried to listen to her own heart. Maybe she wasn’t impressed as much as she was blown away by the ridiculous cuteness because OMG SO CUTE AND SMART.

Ahem. Sorry. It’s just hard not to do cartwheels of joy when I talk about my kids sometimes. I’m awful.

In other news, the doctor said she’s getting her molars, so this is probably the LAST time I’ll gush about how awesome she is for a few weeks.

All of the photos for this post are labeled “Caroline 16 months” because this morning I asked E “How old is Caroline now?” and he said “16 months”. It sounded right enough until I went to look up her 15 month milestones and realized THIS was her 15th monthday and I was getting ahead of myself. I guess when you abandon your baby for a week to go on vacation you forget things like her age. At least I got her name right.

(Speaking of vacation, I’ll be back to annoy the crap out of you will a zillion vacation pictures soon. You are going to HATE IT.)

From all of my parent’s reports, Caroline handled my absence pretty well. There might have been some crying and she had a few problems staying asleep all night but she luuuuuuvs her MorMor and Bumpa and is never going to forgive me when they go home. She ate like a horse and didn’t crack her head open so I’d say it was a raging success. Although it doesn’t really matter one bit, since I am NEVER LEAVING HER AGAIN. That week was fantastic but holy cow did I miss my babies.

Caroline is officially in the middle of a growth spurt and can no longer stand in front of our fridge when I open the doors or she’ll get conked right in the noggin. This makes her extremely angry, since standing in front of the fridge begging for food is one of her favorite hobbies. Other hobbies include jumping up and down on top of tall things and giving people heart attacks.

Likes include grapes, juice, clapping, kicking, standing on one leg, jumping, somersaults, slides, dogs, her grandparents, being held, OUTSIDE, animals, stairs, singing, basketball, hockey, dancing, noodles, apples, squeezy food pouches, shouting really loud and chairs.

Dislikes are bedtime, falling on her head, not being allowed to drink bath water, and not having food within reach constantly.

Cruisin'

Get out of my way!!

Crazy warm weather means bare feet on the patio

15 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Plays with ball – She’s an excellent kicker, but her throwing skills could use some work. No way she’s getting recruited for the Red Sox with her lousy aim.
Uses three words regularly – “Bah” means 15 different things, all involving food. But she also says mama, daddy, dog, hat, kitty, hi, and sings the Bubble Guppies theme song (sort of). She also signs hat, fish, more and please.
Walks backward – Yes. I made her do it so I wouldn’t accidentally lie to the interwebs.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Scribbles with a crayon – Yes, although she’d rather eat them.
Runs – Fast.
Adopts “no” as his favorite word – I have yet to hear her say “no”, although when she MEANS “no” there is absolutely no doubt about it. LITERALLY minutes after I wrote that she looked into my face and said “NO” when I asked if she wanted a carrot. Goodie.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
“Helps” around the house – She likes to sweep, throw things away and pick up toys.
Puts his fingers to his mouth and says “shhh” – She’s a super good mimic, so I probably could get her to do that…but I haven’t seen her do it yet.