Carissa at 16 months

She won’t be the “baby” much longer. . . and that’s not just because her little brother is due any day now.

Carissa is growing and changing so much! and I love it!

I’m not so much a “baby” person–although, of course, I have loved each of my “babies” more than words could tell!–but I love it when they began expressing themselves verbally, feeding themselves (yay!), showing preferences for various foods and interest in specific toys or activities. Carissa is at that very special age.

She has always been my happiest baby, the easiest baby, and while she remains “happy,” she is very passionate, so we are beginning to see other–less-desirable–passions take shape and starting to deal with those too.

But one of my favorite memories–just a few days ago–was after Daniel sneezed. It was a humongous sneeze, and afterwards, to be funny I guess, he kind of warbled this high-pitched (and very loud) jungle sound. Carissa thought it was absolutely the most hilarious thing she had ever seen. She laughed and laughed–and laughed–and did not stop laughing for the longest time!

I’ve seen our other kids get laughing, then realize it’s cute, and manufacture more laughs–for laughs–if that makes sense. But this time it was so obvious that she was completely tickled. Before long Daniel and I were laughing with her. As she kept laughing. I wanted Daniel to sneeze again, just to see her overcome with laughter like that again!

Almost every day, I tell Daniel, “She makes me laugh–all the time!” God knew I needed her at this stage of life!!!

Playtime

I’m sure with an older sister and brother, Carissa learns a lot about “play” from watching. Over the past few weeks, it has been amazing to see her transforming into a little toddler. She literally tries to do anything they do, and thankfully, she’s pretty spunky so a little fall here or there doesn’t shake her up too much. (I guess we’ll know later whether there has been any lasting damage!) The kids love to run across the couch and fall onto the other arm–she’s right there with them, laughing the whole time. They like to jump from the chair to the ottoman to the couch–so Carissa does too. Occasionally she falls, but like I said, she gets right back up and tries it again.

Many times she will fall and hold her arm or her foot or her back (or put a hand on her forehead) and simply say a solemn “Owww,” before getting up and running back to try again.

She loves:

• Stirring a pot (full of necklaces) on the play kitchen stove
• Putting “food” in and out of the play microwave and waiting for it to get finished (or sticking things in the refrigerator and going back to them later)
• Playing Ring-Around-the-Rosies with Mara and/or Micah
• Climbing all over the playground at the park or the playland at Chick-Fil-A, although a bad experience on the slide with Mara (bonking her head all the way down) has left her a bit mortified about the slide
• Pretending to talk on a cell phone, which could be a toy phone or a lego or even a domino–which is fun, because she pretends to “dial” by touching the little dots!
• “Singing” or shouting into the microphone
• Feeding her “baby” in the high chair with a bottle–or a bowl and spoon, saying “num, num, num” after each bite
• Singing her “baby” to sleep, rocking back and forth (if sitting in her crib) or side to side (if standing)–sooo sweet!
• Chasing Micah through the house with his lightsaber, and of course, sword-fighting with him, complete with sound effects!
• Dancing to any sort of music, whether from an annoying toy or a CD or the radio–she loves to dance! and it is hysterically funny, completely uncoordinated but oh-so-full of unbridled joy!
• Playing with her Radio Flyer wagon/walker: getting in and out, pushing her dolls or toys in it, taking the sides off
• Favorite toys include the shape sorter, the Fisher Price Zoo, the “beads and the white flower” (see picture), gears, baby dolls, and balls!

I have realized that I haven’t read to Carissa nearly as much as I read to Mara. So I have been trying to read at least one book to her before bedtime. Her favorite is definitely “Happy Baby Colors.” But it’s fun to see her sit down with a book like “Look and Listen” and make all the animals sounds or a book like “The Little Engine That Could: Numbers” and watch her pretend to “count” the items on each page.

Some of my favorite playtime stories:

• She and Micah will sit and roll the ball back and forth to each other. Before she rolls the ball, she asks, “Ready?” just like I apparently do. And then (this totally cracks me up!): As she rolls or throws the ball, she will say, “Bock! [bonk]” With each of the kids, Daniel and I have always played “ball” with the kids, and in the middle of the fun, we will bounce the ball off the kids’ heads just for fun, saying, “Bonk!” All our kids just laugh, and of course we laugh, so it’s become a fun  little thing we do quite often. Again I had no idea exactly how often! Carissa rolls the ball and says, “Ready?. . . Bonk!”  I suppose you have to be there.
• Seeing Carissa walking through the house, with Micah’s Phillies baseball cap hanging down over her eyes, carrying the ball, saying “Ball! Ball!” trying to find Daddy or Micah to play “ball” with.

Foods

Although she eats pretty much anything and everything, she is my healthy girl! My all-things-fruits-and-veggies-girl!

• At her first birthday, she ate probably more broccoli than cake! She loves her veggies.
• Give her mixed vegetables, and she will pick out–of all things–the lima beans and eat them first! (Is this my child?!)
• She loves fresh red/green peppers, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and even onions! Cooked peas, green beans, black beans. . . Not carrots or corn as much, but I think they are still hard to chew.
• She loves grapes–wow, she loves grapes!–peaches, strawberries, oranges, but oddly, not blueberries. She will chew them, and then spit out the “skins.”
• She eats an entire banana almost every morning for breakfast, and begs for more throughout the day. I limit her to one/day. For breakfast, in addition to her banana, a piece of toast and a sippy of milk, she will eat something like this: a fried egg; a bowl of oatmeal and applesauce; a one-egg omelet with cheese; a couple pieces of french toast/waffles (no toast on those days).
• Her favorite lunch seems to be PB&J sandwiches, and she typically eats a whole one, cut into tiny squares, and served with veggies and yogurt.
• She will eat hot dogs and fries, not the healthiest, but she does like them. I struggle to get her to eat chicken nuggets. (Quite frankly, all meat has the potential of being left on her tray. Not sure why.)

Overall, she is a great eater! and I love it that she is mostly feeding herself by this stage.

She loves to “go!”

Anywhere.

If someone leaves–without her, she often bursts into tears and begins a conversation in jibberish, pointing at the door and the window, trying to explain how terribly she had wanted to be a part of whatever was happening.

She loves going outside: stroller rides, riding in the van, running/pushing her Radio Flyer down the sidewalk, going to the park. . .

So lately, when I’m packing up the diaper bag and calling to the older kids: “Put on your shoes” and “Do you have your sunglasses?” and “Go potty one more time,” Carissa will be “jumping” around the house, in the way that only a 16-month-old can–more like crouching down and stamping her feet–as she shouts with the most humongous smile ever: “Ready[to] GO! Ready [to] GO! Ready [to] GO!” over and over. . . until finally we are walking out the door.

Verbal:

• Common words: Baby, ball, bye-bye, nigh-nigh (night-night), down (yes, she thinks she’s already in charge of the dogs), cack-ca (animal cracker), bippy (bottle/sippy), mick (milk), jeez (cheese), peppa (red pepper or cucumber). She still signs “all done” and “please” but now she can say them too.
• If she says, “Baby” (and particularly if she is sad or tired), it often means “Baby wants her . . . [special blanket, doll, or sippy].”
• She has names for all of us. She has said “Daddy” very clearly for probably 6 months or so now; it was one of her very first words–and it wasn’t “Dadda”–she went straight to “Daddy!” (always with an exclamation point, especially when he comes home from work, she runs through the house shrieking, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” and doing the same “jump”/”crouch and stamp”). She says “Mommy” too, which is good, since “Mara” is “Mama” and could otherwise be confused with “Mom-ma.” She calls Micah “Bubby,” which made me realize how often we call him “Buddy”–I had no idea! And occasionally I will hear a “Min-ah” word, similar to the way Mara used to say his name. She is “Baby.” She has always been “Baby.” And I’m not sure exactly how to fix that within the next three weeks . . .?
• My favorite, of course! “I love you,” with a little lip-smack of a kiss planted on my cheek! Nothing better!

I love you too, Baby!