I want to start this post out by telling you that Caroline the best, cutest, smartest, most advanced baby ever in the whole world, but I know you would think I am just saying that because I am her mother and I am SUPPOSED to think she is the best and the cutest etc. And yes, that is true. But she also is a really, really awesome baby and if you were to come spend the afternoon with her you would also agree she is the best – except, of course, for your OWN baby, because obviously you feel the same way about your baby as I do about Caroline.

But I also don’t remember thinking these things about Little Evan as much. I thought he was the cutest and the best, but I was constantly worried he was behind in his development – not rolling soon enough or catching on in baby sign language class. Some of that was true – he did take longer to roll and crawl – but I suspect a lot of it was first-time mom worry-warting for no reason. In fact, I think I STILL spend a ton of time worrying that Evan might not be hitting his milestones as fast as other kids, while when I think about Caroline’s milestones I think “meh, she’ll get there.”

Wow, that was a lot of words to say what I really mean, which is Caroline is awesome. Other than refusing to take a bottle (ARG BLERG BLAH) she is the perfect baby – easy, predictable, happy, and a good sleeper. She gets up sometime between 5:30 and 7, takes a short nap almost exactly 2 hours later, is awake until around noon when she goes back down for her long afternoon nap (conveniently at the same time as Little Evan!). She wakes up again around 3 and is her happy, playful self when Daddy gets home from work and while I make dinner. We’ve started giving both kids a bath together right around 7 pm and Caroline is asleep before 8. She usually gets up to eat once at around 2 am, but occasionally needs me twice and even more occasionally she’ll sleep straight through. She still sleeps in the swing at night in our room, but it is broken and doesn’t actually swing anymore. I’m just too lazy to set up the pack’n’play. Mother of the year, right here. We run a nightlight and a white noise machine and the classical music on the swing for her to make up for it.

I have no idea how we fell into such a pleasant schedule so easily, but I suspect it had a lot to do with already HAVING a schedule with the toddler and Caroline being easy-going enough to just fit herself in. Sometimes I feel bad for that – I don’t want her to suffer from Second Child Inadequacy Issues – but she is so obviously loved by everyone she meets I think she’ll probably avoid therapy at least a few more years.

She is still kind of a peanut, wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes with an occasional 6-9 month sleeper or dress. I like to think she’s conveniently pocket-sized for those times I need to carry her while chasing a toddler across a playground. It’s nice of her to accommodate me like that.

Caroline’s favorite things include boobs, the dog, the cats, crawling, pulling up on things, eating mulch, swinging, Twinkle Twinkly Little Star, her brother, biting me with her one teeny tiny tooth and nomming on things. Dislikes include bottles, sippy cups, purees, falling on her face, the sun in her eyes and not being able to walk. It fills her with Baby Rage.

Other things that fill her with baby rage: being forced to pose for photo shoots. Although I may have gotten just a FEW shots to post. And by a few I mean a bazillion.

All my tutu pictures are out of focus, because she wanted to eat it.

There was a little girl, who had a little curl

You have a baby...in a camera bag!

7 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual. New chart this month!)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Sits without support – Yes, easily. We’ve reached the “oh just set her anywhere” stage where I don’t worry about putting a pillow behind her.
Drags objects toward herself – Yes, although it’s much more likely she’ll move herself towards an object.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Lunges forward or starts crawling – Crawls like a champ. She can do both a regular baby crawl and a funny half-sitting monkey butt scoot, where she has one leg up.
Jabbers or combines syllables – I swear on a stack of Twilight books she’s started saying “Mama”. I wouldn’t bet any money she actually MEANS mama, but she can say it.
Starts to experience stranger anxiety – My kids have never met a stranger they wouldn’t go home with, although today at the park a friend tried to hold Caroline and she was NOT HAVING IT. So maybe?

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Waves goodbye – No waving, but she can sign milk. Like I said, smartest baby ever.
Stands while holding onto something – Yes. Our hands, my leg, the couch, the bouncy seat. STANDING IS HER FAVORITE.
Bangs objects together – Well, she’s not going to be playing cowbell with the Blue Oyster Cult anytime soon but she could probably whack a couple sticks together if I gave them to her.
Begins to understand object permanence – If I am in a room and she is looking at me and I leave a room, she sometimes gets upset. She will crawl around a corner to look for me. But I don’t think she does that with anyone else, so it’s more likely “Oh no my food is too far away!”

Sunday:

Tug of War. Caroline won.

To really drive a speed boat corectly he's going to need a beer and a sunburn.

Chubby arm

Grocery shopping. My what a lot of carbs you have.

Monday:

No YOU'RE wearing mismatched pajamas!

Kisses from a friend at Stroller Strides

Chillin' in the only room with A/C and a tv - our super messy bedroom

Tuesday:

I made a mess! Look how happy I am!

My official water sprayer at Stroller Strides

Temp at 9 am. Blerg.

Sibiling bath time is now everyone's favorite part of the day - they love the tub and I love that it means it's almost BEDTIME.

Wednesday:

I started my first new knitting project in months. Very excited.

"I am just going to warn you now, I am thinking about standing up. Just so you know."

DADDY HORSE GO!

 Thursday:

Mom mom mom mom mom mom are you watching mom?

TA DA!

Maybe I should have named her Clementine

Friday:

Visiting the knitting shop means knitting for me, dancing with adorable little girls for Little Evan

This is what the clock said when I woke up from MY nap. Yay naps.

We tried out the video chat on Google+ (I love it! We should do it!)

This is literally the first time she has ever been in the crib. Ever. I had to empty all the junk out.

Saturday:

Homemade teething biscuits. They were not crunchy, but good for baby nomming.

I have no idea what's going on here.

Target dressing room self portrait. I bought it.

Aw, look at my adorable pale family.

It was one of those weeks that FELT super busy but we really didn’t do much. The feeling-like-crap for a few days didn’t help – neither did the heat – but the weekend so far as been good. I’ve got another book review to write (as soon as I finish the book)(which is due tonight)(eeek) and some BlogHer conference freaking out to do and dinner on the patio to plan and children to snuggle, so I’ll be back but probably not until Tuesday. Hope your weekend was fantastic!

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

Happy half-birthday to you
Happy half-birthday to you
Happy half-birthday my darling Caroline
Happy half-birthday to you!

Or if you prefer, the other song I’ve been singing all day

OMG HOW ARE YOU SIX MONTHS OLD ALREADY?
STOP GROWING! STOP TRYING TO CRAWL!
AND WHY WON’T YOU DRINK FROM THIS DAMN BOTTLE?

You are again (still) a delightful baby, who loves smiling and being smiling at. You’ve enjoyed both the aquarium and the seaport this week, plus Stroller Strides and knitting group – it is SO NICE that I can take you places without major meltdowns. Your teeth are still not through so I expect a few more crying fits before we’re through the woods but they don’t seem to be bothering you as much as this time last month. I could really do without the gnawing my nipple raw though. Not cool.

Although I was expecting you to be as chubby as your brother was, instead you’ve turned into a little munchkin, still fitting into your 3 month onesies most of the time. I’m thrilled, since all your cutest summer hand-me-downs are 6 month sized and I was afraid your leg chub would get so out of control I’d have to pack them all away. It’s kind of nice that you’re still small – it’s keeping me from feeling desperate for a teeny tiny baby again too soon. Also, it makes your already HUGE EYES look even huger in your itty bitty face.

You still don’t like bottles but you did eat some rice cereal so I’m hopeful you’ll like solids better than your brother did. The avocado didn’t go over very well – WHY don’t my babies like avocado?! – but I’ve got a bowl full of fruit to try out this week.

Some of your new favorite things include riding in the big girl seat of the stroller, being worn half on my hip in the Ergo (I should really figure out the RIGHT way to do a hip carry), stealing toys from your brother and play with the dog’s tail. You dislike the sun in your eyes, shoes, bottles, 7:30 pm and getting stuck under the couch.

Mobile baby is hard to keep in the picture

Look, I'm sitting up! Such a big girl!

Whoops. Fell down.

This picture is straight out of the camera, no touch ups at all

6 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usually)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Turns toward sounds and voices – Sounds, voices, music, everything. And half the time she tries to take my nipple with her.
Imitates sounds – I guess? She babbles a lot but I’m not sure if I would say she’s IMITATING anything.
Rolls over in both directions – CAN roll over in both directions, but prefers to just hang out on her belly although JUST TODAY she started barrel rolling to get across the room

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Is ready for solid foods – I dunno. Maybe. She sort of gummed an animal cracker the other day. I’m going to start offering stuff this week.
Sits without support – Yes, although she’s still a little unpredictable with the falling over.
Mouths objects – HAHAHAHAHAHA Yes.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes, but I’m not sure it’s exactly on purpose.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Lunges forward or starts crawling – Lunges and faceplants, although she is getting SUPER close to crawling and can get both knees under herself for several seconds.
Jabbers or combines syllables – Coos like crazy but nothing that I would call syllables.
Drags objects toward himself – Yes, she spins herself around on her stomach then reaches for her toys. I can scatter them around the floor and it keeps her entertained for close to an hour.

Those skills seem sort of weird, right? How is “drags objects” a MORE advances skill that sitting up? Sitting up is HARD.

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.