Growing Up!

So many new things are happening with Caroline, I hardly know where to begin. It is amazing how quickly she is becoming a little girl. Her understanding of her environment-- how things work, cause and effect, interaction with people-- is both suddenly and rapidly developing.

There are a couple of very funny "games" she plays right now. The first one happens when we go to a store and she is riding in the shopping cart (like at Target or Wal-Mart). She loves to ride in the cart, and her favorite thing to do is to giggle and smile at everyone we pass on the aisles. The funny part is that she fake giggles, sometimes repeatedly if she has to, just to get peoples' attention. Then once they look at her, she smiles and laughs. This is repeated as may times as we pass people in the store.

The other funny "game" she plays is standing up in our bed. Over the past week or two, she has started standing on her own more and more. One morning several days ago, she stood up in our bed on her own for maybe 5 or 10 seconds, and Chris and I cheered and clapped and made a big deal out of how great she was doing. Well, now it's a game. She will stand up and and bring her hands together like she's going to clap and look around waiting for us to applaud and cheer her efforts. Then she falls down on her bottom for a second and quickly stands back up to repeat the process-- and repeats it over and over. She has us trained because we clap and cheer every time!

Caroline is also standing by herself for much longer on the floor now. This weekend, we took some video of her standing for probably 30 seconds and, of course, she expected a really big cheer for that.

On a trip to Wal-Mart yesterday, we picked up a Walk 'n Ride toy for her. It's a little push walker toy that she can use now but also converts into a car that she can ride on when she's a little older. Chris put it together and within 10 seconds of playing with it, she had taken 5 steps walking behind it and figured out how to work the gearshift and all the gadgets on it. And after walking behind it a few times (with some help to control the car), she will now walk with us holding on to her arms, which she had never done before. We think she'll be pushing the thing all over the house in a few days.

Another new thing is that she is starting to love books. She has quite a good collection and will pick one out on her own and sit in the floor with it, turning the pages and babbling to herself. One of her favorite books is the Mirror Me Baby Einstein book. It has mirrors on each page. She has figured out how to hold the book and look at herself in the mirror. She gets her face as close as she can and sometimes even sticks her tongue out at her self. She also finds it amusing if you sit with her in your lap and hold the mirror so that she can see you. She will make eye contact with you and smile.

Caroline has a little ladybug toy that has wheels and balls inside that pop when you roll it. I was pushing it around for her, making the balls pop, and she grabbed it from me and started pushing it around herself. She can occasionally even put enough pressure on it to make the balls pop. And, she knows that the wheels have to be on the floor because she will turn it over if it flips right side up!

It is so much fun to watch her learn and grow!