Not a day passes that Rich doesn't say, "Carol is so much fun at this age. I am enjoying her so much! She is hilarious!" And I agree. She is mobile. She doesn't miss a thing. She wants to keep up with her siblings in every way. She is starting to talk, although many of her words would be unintelligible to anyone outside our family. She's got some clear ones, like Mama, Dada, Sissy, A-ai (Addie), nigh-nigh (nite nite), nahnah (nurse), nana (banana), bapa (apple), mah (more). But there are many more. She says jink (drink), E (eat), mmmm! (when she wants some of your food or when she gets some), ah! (hot), toe (with a shaky voice, meaning COLD). A lot of time it is the intonation of the word that makes the meaning clear. She says Wow! Our family's latest favorite game is saying words for Carol to try to repeat, and try she will.
In addition to talking, aspects of her personality are emerging. She might best be described as precocious. She is always looking out the corners of her eyes with little silly looks at us. Flirting, perhaps, it should be called. She likes to dance, and since it is summer she spends most of her time at home naked. So she dances naked.
She is nearly potty trained. She stays dry at night a lot of the time, and I have now taken her out in public twice in underwear instead of a diaper. She stayed dry once, had an accident the other. If she could talk a little better it would help, some times she says "poopoo" when she needs to go potty (not just poopoo), but sometimes she just fusses and fidgets, and we sometimes don't get it. During church yesterday she was fussing so Rich let her down, and a minute later she started crying, saying poopoo, and I realized she was standing in a puddle. After taking her to the bathroom and changing her I was opening the stall door in the bathroom and she bumped her head and started to cry. I asked, "Did you bump your head?" She pointed to a spot on her cheek and said a jumble of baby words that sounded like, "kissuwhyhew." So I kissed her right there. Then she pointed to another spot on her forehead and said "kissuwhyhew." So I did. She pointed to 6 different places and told me to kiss her right there. So I did. Delight.
Last night right before I went to bed I heard Carol awake calling "Mama! Mama!" I went in and told her, "You need to go night-night." I hugged her without picking her up, and she laid her head on my shoulder for a minute. Then she raised her lips to mine, gave me a kiss, laid down, and said nigh-nigh. I handed her her cup, saying "Cup" and I handed her her bear. She said "day-day" which means bear-bear. Usually I say "Cup, bear bear." But since I didn't she finished it for me. Rolled over and went to sleep. (This may be normal for some 18 month olds, but it is not normal for her. Usually going to sleep is a bit of a struggle, as she remembers the days I nursed her to sleep every time she was tired.) Delight.
One day she brought me an open tube of hair conditioner, stuck her finger in the goo on top, proceeded to stick it in her mouth, and said "Mmmm!" Then she tried to share it with me, telling me "Mmmm" as she offered me a finger full as well. I wouldn't quite call this one delightful. More... alarming. =) Oh well. She survived.
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