Caroline's Eighteenth Month

CEC is Halfway to THREE!


This month saw us celebrating C's second Christmas and starting a New Year with excitement in possibilities.

Our little talker continues to surprise everyone with her verbal abilities, which this month includes sentences. No soliloquies or anything (yet), but it all started with "I see Scarlett" (her infant room teacher at school) and "these my babies," which technically isn't proper grammar, but we're going to count anyway. And it took off from there.

Other words of the month included:

• caterpillar
• Big Bird: "What's going ON?" (from Where are the Ts?)
• what Zombies say (BRAAAIIINS), and
• what Pirates say (ARRGGHH).

She sings and counts and dances, and generally cracks us up.
This milestone month also brought a trip to the doctor, where she showed off for "Doc-y Hawk-y" (Dr. Hawkins), who acted appropriately impressed :)
The stats:

• 33.5" long (95th percentile)
• 27 lbs, 7 oz (85th percentile)
• 19.25" head circumference

01-03 Loving on Baby Nathan

01-04 Trying on Mommy's shoes

01-06 C's favorite part of the day

01-10 Teaching Daddy to blow bubbles

Ladies & Gentlemen, we have a bow!

01-20 Bundled up for school

After-bath choo-choo time

18 months old

Definitely her daddy's silly girl

Read more...

Caroline Counts!

As promised, video evidence of our little girl counting up a storm. Although we hear 1 to 10 so much, the repetition has been echoing in our dreams, capturing the whole thing on film is a bit harder.

And as you'll notice by especially the first of the two renditions included below, a major issue in getting good video is Caroline's fascination with - well... Caroline. Let's just say that she gets a bit distracted by the prospect of seeing herself*.

So there we have it. Caroline counts. Look for more videos (Caroline Sings! Caroline makes funny faces! And maybe... Caroline Dances!) coming soon...

*Distracted by TV and movies? Definitely her father's child :)

Read more...

Just Another Evening...

Though it may seem to regular readers that our lives are filled with holidays, museums, and parties, in fact, it is often the mundane details of the day to day with CEC that we enjoy the most. In that vein, here is a video of Caroline eating dinner in the days leading up to Christmas. Nothing special - just practicing using a fork and chowing down on lasagna, potatoes, and corn.

*And please ignore the state of our living room. We were in full present-wrapping, package-mailing, mess-making mode. Rest assured, things are somewhat (at least temporarily) back in order.

Read more...

Christmastime Visitors

On Christmas night, Santa came for an unprecedented second day in a row, and most importantly, brought Grandma and Grandpa with him!

Once they arrived, all concern for the whereabouts of momma and daddy vanished. It was, as it should be, all about Gamma Gamma and Grandpa. Caroline did not let them out of her sight for long, and insisted that every activity and routine be done within eyeshot of her surprise playmates.

Caroline was showered with gifts, hugs, kisses, and all kinds of love, and we got to take trips to the National Gallery of Art, the National Christmas Tree, the National Arboretum, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception*.

Busy busy and fun fun.

We miss you Grandma and Grandpa!

*Check out all that "National" stuff - we definitely live in DC!

Read more...

Christmas in Motion

In addition to the photographic evidence of our wonderful holiday, we managed to capture a few videos of our star in action celebrating and enjoying the day:

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!

Read more...

It's the Holiday Season...

...with a whoop-de-do and a hickory dock... (and don't forget to hang up your sock)*

Christmas at the Connors House was a days-long celebration of food, presents, family, and so much fun!! As soon as the tree was up in early December, we knew that Caroline was going to love the holiday, and in fact, the tree itself was a source of great joy:

• Day 1 - Tree goes up. Reaction: "TREE!"
• Day 2 - Lights on tree. Reaction: "Lights! BRAVO TREE!"
• Day 3 - Ornaments on tree. Reaction: (with amazement) "BRAVO TREE!"

Christmas Eve
Caroline and family began the official celebration with a trip for the "family service" at our church. For readers who haven't recently (or ever) been to a "family service," let's just say that it is wildly entertaining, but probably not the best time for solemn reflection. So... perfect for us with munchkin in tow.

That said, the youngest member of our clan truly played the part of an Angel. She sat, pretty quietly, and was entertained by the presence of her very own Santa Claus (aka Bob), Baby Clay, and Josie. Though the arsenal of snacks and milk that Mommy packed (ah, we've learned so much in a year in a half) might have helped helped too.

CEC did want to show off her shape identification to the back half of the sanctuary by excitedly - and loudly - announcing all the amazing things she saw:

1. STAR!
2. LIGHT!
   (and the best...)
3. CROSS!

Needless to say, those around us were very amused (and I dare say impressed), and she got lots of compliments post-service on her smarts and good behavior.

12-24-08 At home pre-church

The famous CEC smile was a bit elusive after church.
Doesn't she know that Santa is on his way?

Hooray! Another family photo!

Back at home, it looked like Santa had found our good little girl, and brought her some wonderful things. Mommy and Daddy couldn't wait for morning to come...

Christmas Day

...and morning definitely does come early at our house. The human alarm clock went off at better-than-sometimes 5:30 AM. After some sustinence in the form of oatmeal and blueberries, it was on to presents!

Good morning Mommy!

Is this a present or a chair?

I love these! I'm getting in

Fun new things to play with

Christmas Day Number 2!
Yes, Santa Claus made his way to Battery Lane twice this year. Apparently, the Man in Red came by Grandma and Grandpa's house in Florida, so they brought all of the goodies he dropped off up for their eldest granddaughter.** So nice!

Wow! The babies are set!

Caroline was so excited about the new gear for her baby dolls, and
got right down to business making sure they were comfortable and well-fed.
Such a good little mommy!

The whole holiday could not have been more perfect. Mommy and Daddy were thrilled with seeing Caroline start to appreciate our favorite time of year, and loved spending time with so many of our favorite people.

As Santa (and according to CEC, Gamma Gamma, Gampa, Uncle Matt, her teacher Keashia, Baby Clay, Sarahbeth, etc.) would say, "Ho Ho Ho!"

*A little Andy Williams never hurt anybody
**More on the visit coming in a future post

Read more...