Well we made it! Two years of many blessings having our sweet baby Cara in our lives! Although she hasn't been a baby for a while now, she will always be baby Cara to us! We had a quiet birthday celebration just the 4 of us on her birthday (hopefully, if I can manage to get it all done we will be having a joint party eventually), went out for ice cream, got balloons and opened gifts, it was nice.
At her well visit she got another perfect report, because it was rainy and gross it was just her and I for this visit and that was nice to just be one on one with her. She is a TOTALLY different child when it's just the two of us! She weighed 23.2 lbs. (9th %) she is 34.5in tall (69th %) and her head is 46.5cm (23%) and don't let that 23% fool you cause this child is sharp as a tack!
As far as milestones she is hitting them completely different from Addie, but then moving faster past them than Addie as well. She throws a ball overhand like a champ(we may be in for t-ball or something, which I know nothing about), she can do a split (and it is so cute, those tiny little legs, even cuter that she knows what a split is), she can do a somersault also(which Addie still can't do, of course I don't think I could either if I tried), and loves to stand on her head (gymnast? quite possibly). What an active little thing she is, and that's probably why she is so stinking tiny! Dr. Wiley is not concerned about her weight because she is healthy and growing(anyway what woman wouldn't want to be tall and slender) but it looks like we are going to stick with whole milk for a little longer just to get that extra fat in her... Dr. Wiley even stated that she was marking off 5yr milestones for her. She didn't have to get shots this time, but she did get a finger prick and we all know that that is usually worse than the shot because they have to stand there and keep mushing your finger to get all that blood in the vial, so I, being prepared for her reaction because I do know her well after all, braced myself and her(holding one arm and leg) for the prick. One...Two...Three...nothing. Absolutely, I thought I might pass out, she didn't flinch, didn’t breathe in deeply, frown, nothing. Just sat there as pretty as you please and let nurse Susan prick then squeeze her finger until her heart was content. She let her put the band aid on (which Addie wouldn't have, she hates band aids) and then quietly asked me after she left to "take sticker off, please".
She asks for nothing without please following shortly behind the request. Thank you or thanks (whatever mood she is in) is always right after receiving whatever it was that she was asking for. Yes Ma'am, No Ma'am, Yes Sir, No Sir all follow suit. Seriously she has picked up manners quicker than we would have EVER expected and she remembers, we still have to prompt the big one every now and then! Her vocabulary is through the roof and her words are enunciated SO clearly! She has mastered 6 word sentences already and can have a complete (back and forth) conversation with you like it is nothing. It amazes me the stuff that she understands, in other words we DO NOT break down our adult language for her (and didn’t for her sister as well) and they both seem to roll with it so well understanding without skipping a beat. The other day she was asking my mom to hold something and Mama repeated her saying "hold that" and Cara responded with "hold that...this." My mom and I stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other, she knew enough to correct herself. It really floored both of us, I mean Addie has always been proper in the way she spoke and corrected herself often without prompting, but this was the first time we had witnessed Cara do it. She will promptly reply to something being done like “that’s better” or “there we go” which I just think is adorable. Today my Mom called me and said that after telling Cara that she was gonna fall off the chair she repositioned herself and then said “perfect.” Needless to say I can’t wait to get home and hear that one out of her mouth. She follows directions well, even multiple directions in one request. The fact that she comprehends certain words and can use them in the correct context just amazes me, she uses “also and too” a lot and always correctly, she will tell me “right now!” or “later”. She had one grape in her bowl and walked up to Addie and said “want last one, Addie?” then she proceeded to put the grape in Addie’s bowl and told her to “finish, that one.” She recognized that it was the “last” one and then told her to finish and I don’t recall ever hearing her use the word finish before either.
She can count to, well around 15 but kinda bounces after 10. Up to 5 we get flawless, from 5-10 gets better each time and we are still learning up to 15. She doesn't yet know her ABC's fully, even though the other day I was wearing an Old Navy hoodie and she climbed up in my lap pointed to the "A" in Navy and said "A for Addie". She is getting really good at puzzles and puts the alphabet one together well and when we sing some and stop she will fill in the blanks, but we still can't get her to recite the whole thing. We think that she knows her colors because she will pick up something and say "want purple one" or something along those lines and then pick up something purple. We can ask her to give us something "pink" and she will, but when asked to tell us what color something is she won't verbalize it. But I am pretty sure that orange is her favorite color right now because she will always ask for the orange item when given a choice.
She loves to sing, she likes the head, shoulders, knees and toes song it is so cute because she does the motions with it, but sometimes I will catch her singing it to one of her stuffed animals or baby dolls and she points to their body parts as well. She sings happy birthday to Dalton just about every night, she just adores Dalton. Most of the time though she just hums tunes and makes up her own songs. She, like her sister, loves to dance and perform for us and sometimes even the camera. She prefers to call Addie, Addieline. It is so cute, she just started calling her that one day, and we don’t even call her Adeline that much. But whenever she is referring to her or speaking to her she will tack on Addieline and she will refer to her as such 97% of the time. We were at a store yesterday and we were looking for Chris and Addie so I told Cara to call Addie she immediately yelled “Addieline, are you?!” (I asked for Addie and got Addieline, sweet).
The last two years have been simply amazing watching this little miracle grow so big, I wonder what the next two years will bring and especially with her becoming a big sister!
