Caroline is a delightful child, although she’s also what most polite people would call “strong willed”. I mostly call her “kind of a nightmare when she doesn’t get her way” but rarely to her face. She can go from lovely and smiling and laughing to screaming her head off in a matter of seconds. It’s pretty impressive, actually. She will ask so politely for a cup of juice and in the time it takes me to say “Of course honey!” and walk to the fridge she’ll start crying and thrashing and yelling “NO JUICE NO JUICE NOOOOOO JUICE!!!!!” Because obviously I’m trying to poison her. Of course as soon as I put the juice away she goes back to needing a cup of juice RIGHT THIS SECOND or she’s going to die of thirst. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if her head spun fully around one of these days – I’ve got a young priest and an old priest on speed dial, just in case.

But hey, she’s 2 and a quarter. This is not unexpected. And truthfully, she’s easier to reason with than Evan was at this age, just because she’s so very verbal and understands so much. When she does something naughty she KNOWS it was naughty. Of course, sometimes she doesn’t care (ain’t nobody got time for that when you have a whole aisle of cereal to throw on the floor!) but she does sit nicely in time out without a fight. Actually, that might be because she doesn’t truly understand time outs, but we’re working on it.

Mostly she’s wonderful. Super cute, so very very smart, and up for almost anything. The fact that she doesn’t nap anymore is actually nice, since it means we can run errands in the afternoons instead of fighting over going to sleep. She’s going through a cuddly phase and isn’t very discriminating about who gets the cuddles – she’ll sit in anyone’s lap who holds still long enough. Caroline still don’t great at school and we’ve had exactly zero tears at drop off. I love it. She loves it. Best decision I’ve ever made.

Likes include snow, mud puddles, boots, splashing, books, funny faces, drawing, ponies, unicorns, Legos, singing, dancing, Bubble Guppies, Mickey Mouse, mermaids, sliding, climbing, gymnastics, eating, drinking Mommy’s water, talking, screaming, shouting, stomping, kitties, dogs, fish, pirates, money, cookies, and making any sort of mess at any time.

Dislikes include wearing coats, looking at the camera when I say “look at the camera!” and everything on the “likes” list depending on which way the wind is blowing.

27 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Jumps with both feet – The better to stomp as LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE.
Opens doors – HA HA! Something she mostly can’t do! But only because she’s too short!

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Understands descriptions (e.g., big, soft) – Sparkly, pink, rainbow, look a pony! Yes.
Draws a vertical line – Beautifully, but only on my walls.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Starts to recognize ABCs – It’s hard to tell? She might just be a really good guesser and get lucky sometimes. But she will sing you the ABCs as long as you don’t mind the verse of Rock A Bye Baby in the middle.
Balances on one foot – She moved up to the off-the-ground balance beam all on her “own self” at gymnastics!

We had a really, really busy weekend followed by a not-so-great night’s sleep so I’m dragging today. But I don’t want to miss another week of iPhone photos so forgive me for being unfunny and the terrible typos I am sure I won’t catch.

Sunday:

Climbing on the extremely patient Brutus

This is how they chose to watch TV.

Practicing her lock-picking skills

Monday:

A FLOWER A FLOWER LOOK IT’S SPRING

Indian Leap Falls, my favorite photo spot

Warm enough for some sidewalk chalk

Tuesday:

iPad sharing

Preschool drop off

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel is Caroline’s favorite game

Wednesday:

Checking out the basketball court next to gymnastics

Yarn store visit

Cashier: Whoa guys, that looks dangerous! Maybe you should sit in the car? Children: *blank stares* Me: Yeah, that doesn’t work.

Thursday:

SNOW. IT’S SNOWING. SNOW.

New pink shoes

Coloring while I begged for antibiotics from the doctor (not really, he took one look in my ears and said WHOA, You need DRUGS)

Friday:

11 am nap for the child who runs in circles all day

Picking out colors for a spring dress

Rescue bots, roll to the rescue! Maybe they can rescue Evan’s hand from his pants.

Saturday:

Working as a baby model while I practiced back-lighting photos

Mommy-only time at a bridal shower

My friend moved this house from Rhode Island to Connecticut, then furnished and decorated it with genuine 1700’s stuff. It’s like a museum. (p.s. She lives on the Christmas tree farm where we get our tree every year – and took that family photo up at the top of my blog!)

Next week I promise to do this in a more timely manner – although I can’t promise more interesting content. We’re all still recovering from a busy weekend, although Caroline seems to be “recovering” by only sleeping 7 hours a night. Pray for couch naps and early bedtimes.

You can leave a link to your week in iPhone photos in the comments on on my Facebook page if you want to share!

Second verse, same as the first one hundred and twenty:

Sunday:

This is her dancing stage. She dances here now.

Pizza + bright yellow lemonade = their perfect meal

WHOOO LIQUOR SALES ON SUNDAY WHOOOOOO! And at the grocery store!

Monday:

More dancing

3rd floor view

Eye-rolling practice

Tuesday:

Very pleased with her princess skirt

Pre-preschool cuddles

Valentine’s loot

Wednesday:

Read for gymnastics!

What’s gonna work? TEAMWORK.

“This is a reindeer who is missing Santa because he’s at the North Pole where there is ALL the snow.”

Thursday:

Evan agrees we have to do SOMETHING about Caroline’s hair

I need new sneakers

On the lookout for spies

Friday:

YOU CAN’T SEE ME!

Making a masterpiece at Stroller Strides

Sorting puzzle pieces is more fun than the puzzle

Saturday:

The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Evan

Stupid dryer.

Story time

  One of these days it will be warm again and we will go outside and I will look at things that are not inside my house. I have pictures from last March of the kids playing outside in t-shirts, so hopefully I won’t have to wait too much longer. Neeeeeeeeed sunliiiiiight.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!

The list of skills Caroline has mastered is pretty long, but the list of skills she THINKS she has mastered is hilarious. She’s like a walking internet meme. Eating yogurt? NAILED IT (as long as you don’t mind that she’s covered from head to waist in just as much yogurt as she got in her mouth). Dressing herself? NAILED IT (even though both her legs are in one leg-hole of her pants and her shirt is on backwards). Reading books? NAILED IT (all our books go like this: “One day…kitty, uh oh, look! The end.”) Torturing her brother? NAILED IT. For real. Every. damn. time.

Because of the snow plus more snow, this is only Caroline’s second week at school but so far she loves it. When I picked her up today she told me she loves her teachers and loves baby school and wants more. I’m thrilled she is happy there and thrilled I don’t have to even pretend to feel bad about enjoying my childless mornings twice a week. My hope is she has the opportunity to be a leader in her class, since at home she get bossed around when it comes to play time. I’m trying to make sure she gets to develop as her own little person (especially since the brother-copying at home as gotten OUT OF CONTROL in both good and terrible ways).

As well as Caroline tolerates winter (she is a true New England December Baby) I am so looking forward to the adventures we’re going to have when the weather warms up. Now that she’s big enough to walk/eat human food/drink from a regular cup/stay out all day without a nap we can go on longer and more interesting day trips. It’s like hanging out with an adorable little friend instead of dragging around a reluctant baby. She can still be a major handful (Confidential to the people at Target the other night: SO SORRY. AGAIN. SORRY.) and is by no means an angel but she can be reasoned with 75% of the time. And by reasoned with I mean bribed, mostly. Some weeks are better than others but there are whole entire days where I don’t have to scold or put her in time out because she listened to my requests and followed through. I suspect this is just an up-phase and we’ll be back in a down-phase of listening soon – but at least in a few weeks we won’t be trapped in the house anymore.

I think she’s finally gone through a growth spurt, since her 18 month clothes are officially too small. We’re moving up to all 24 month stuff but even some of her 2T clothes fit. She’s still squeezing her feet into her size 5 sneakers, but I think they’re probably too small. Don’t tell her that though, because girl NEEDS her ” pink ‘parkly shoes!!”

Likes include apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, peanut butter, noodles, drinking from a straw, The Backyardigans (she knows all their names), singing, dancing, shouting, Brutus, Blushes, her brother (mostly), Daddy, splashing, reading, puzzles, swimming, princess skirts, eating snow, rock’n’rolly music, school, Monsters Inc, cuddles and pretending to be a kitty cat named Ninja who meows instead of talks.

Dislikes include nightmares, cleaning up, wearing hair clippies, being hungry and not getting her way.

26 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Stacks six blocks – Piece of cake.
Walks with smooth heel-to-toe motion – She’s too busy skipping, running and dancing to do much walking.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Uses pronouns (e.g., I, me, you) – Me me me me me me mine me mine allll day.
Washes and dries own hands – Like a champ.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Speaks clearly most of the time – Other parents can understand her. Childless grown ups less. Her teachers understand more than I do.
Draws a vertical line – She’s must more interested in coloring in the entire page blue (ALWAYS BLUE) than drawing a stupid old line.

Snowpocalypse! Snowtastrophe! Snowmygod! But the most exciting part of this week was actually that Caroline started preschool:

Sunday:

Saving money on my grocery bill is my new addiction.

Pizza helpers

Her hair is getting ridiculous

Monday:

Twin jammies

Twin couch nap

Twin box playing

Tuesday:

This is how she lives her whole life

Puzzles are WAY more interesting than saying goodbye to mom

The non-snow we got on Tuesday seems like a joke now

Wednesday:

Back to their Olympic training

Weirdo #1 says “Take a picture like this Mommy!”

Weirdo #2 says “TAKE MY PICTURE TOO!”

Thursday:

I pulled up in front of the school and threw them out. They loved it.

I love the gym on base – totally empty at 9 am.

Emergency snow storm supplies: APPLES

Friday:

Caroline “fixed” a lawnmower

Evan ate cheese

I made “OMG” faces at the blizzard

Saturday:

Banana bread baking

Flying dog flies out of the snow once he realized how deep it is

Official toddler measurement: WHOA.

There’s still a travel ban on state roads and highways so we CAN’T go anywhere – not that we were the least bit tempted. We have electricity, Netflix streaming, lots of (boozy) hot cocoa and homemade pizza for dinner. E got home from work before the storm hit and gets to stay with us until Monday, so basically the storm is the best thing that’s happened in two weeks.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!