Carly at 16 months

My girl, my sweet girl, is 16 months old today.  I am sharing a boat load of pictures because:

She's adorable

and

because Grandma's. ;)

I take a lot of pictures every week so I have a lot to choose from for my weekly "Around Here" posts.  Well, all the ones I don't use have to go somewhere! And for the months of April and May, the ones of Carly will go here.

I've mostly child-proofed our main living quarters (kitchen, dining room, living room), but not completely, so Carly still gets into our DVD's and our family games.  Lately I tell her if she gets in her games then she's going to go in her pen. (Remember the bright colorful gate I bought for her first birthday?) She gives me a very sad look, then walks away, sulking, from the games. It's pretty funny.

Carly continues to learn more signs. 

Currently she knows:

more

all done

water

wyatt

jack

logan

mommy

daddy

crackers

cookies

milk

wait

toothbrush

help

goldfish

eat

bath

kitty

Carly signing "please

Carly signing "up"

Carly is my girl. She'd pick me over Josh or the boys for the most part, which is a nice change from Wyatt who, at this age, adored Josh.  I am still nursing Carly and don't have any plans for stopping.  I think that if I knew we were having one more baby, I might have a stronger desire at this point for quitting and having more freedom and "getting my body back"... but since she's our last, I am in no hurry to quit breastfeeding.

She is very smart.  I can talk to her, using full sentences, and she will obey.

For instance, I can say, "Carly get me the towel off the floor," and she'll hand it to me. 

She'll clean up her toys, put the remotes on the table or find wherever she left her water bottle.

She is teething four molars, one is nearly all the way through,

and she has eight other teeth. Four top, four bottom.

She loves brushing her teeth, standing on the stool and tapping it on the sink like a big girl.

She also loves reading and being read to.  

She'll grab a book and then bring it to you.

Then she'll pat on your lap like, "Pick me up! I want to sit there!"

Her favorite books are David books.

My favorite is when she takes a book to her big brothers & they scoop her up for a story.

Carly sleeps with a taggie, and some quiet piano music playing in her room, along with a fan. She doesn't sleep with a blanket yet. It just makes me so nervous!  

When she wakes up, she finds a taggie to carry out with her, and she prefers to be held for a while after waking up. She doesn't like to be set down right away.

She still naps twice a day most days, with her better nap being the morning one.  She wakes up around 6:30 with her brothers (sometimes earlier) and then goes down around 9:15 after we've taken the boys to school.  She wakes up between 11 and 12 and goes back down around 1 or 1:30.  

I think this summer her schedule may naturally shift as we won't have to work her naps in around school drop off & pick up. 

She loves bath time.  She enjoys them alone, or with one of her brothers.  Her favorite thing is to fill those little toys (see the crab above?) with water and to squirt them. 

 Carly knows all her facial body parts (eyes, ears, mouth)

 And Wyatt taught her to "beep" her own nose. So every so often she'll touch her nose and say, "Meep!"  

 Carly is a real trooper about living her life in the stroller.  

She and I walk the boys to and from school everyday, which means we walk there & back, and there & back again. Four times in total.  As long as she has a little snack pouch full of Kix or Cheerios or Goldfish, she's a happy camper. She likes to bark at the dogs we pass and see all there is to see. 

She is also in her stroller for baseball games & practices because I get so tired of chasing her and missing the action of the games. Thankfully she mostly doesn't mind, unless she's tired. 

 Carly is the apple of everyone's eye around here, and she is really a huge sweetheart. She'll often give snuggles and hugs unprovoked, and you can bet that every time you ask for one, she'll give you a sweet little pat with her hand and lay her head on you.

 Even though she's sweet, and at times very girly, she is also very active, and won't be stopped when it comes to something she's put her mind to.  So when she wanted a nerf gun that was in the bottom of this tote, she found a way to get it. 

 She still loves shoes.  And these Saltwater sandals are both our favorites. 

I recently went through her summer clothes.  

I can't wait for her to wear all her rompers & tiny tank tops!

 Carly found her Cabbage Patch wig the other morning and she wanted it on. Still cute as a button in it!

 I started singing to make her smile, and she signed along with me.  

"Itsy Bitsy spider" of course.

Also, I love her new princess pajamas so much!!!

 I pretty much love all her clothes so much.

I mean, how cute are these little bohemian shorts from my sister?!?

 She's our sweet sunshine girl.

 And everyday she's getting "so big", as she tells us.

I'm so grateful she's our fourth because I truly do know how fast the time goes.

I'm cherishing every minute, every stage, with her.

***

• link to the twins around 16 months, for comparison (holy moly, Carly looks like them!)
• link to a post about being a working mama when they were 16 months (such heartbreak!)
• link to a sad, sad Logan when mama went back to work after summer break :(
• link to Wyatt at 16 months (we were weaning from breastfeeding at this age for him)