The Making of the Scholl Family: Carlie-Bug is One!

I can't believe it's true, but our Carlie-Bug is really a year old now! Where has the time gone? Carlie celebrated her first birthday with a donut, which she very messily enjoyed, and a letter C shirt from Hadley (she picked the color, orange!). Mama and Daddy also got her a ladybug poem decal & a ladybug growth chart, both for her room. She celebrated with a birthday party at Grammy & Granddad's house over the weekend and she will have another party at MumMum & Pops' house this coming weekend! I think there's a good chance that she'll be all partied out by the time this is all said and done!

At her well-baby visit with the doctor today, Carlie weighed 19lb, 10oz (a full pound and a half heavier than Hadley at the same age!), 27.5" tall, & 18" head circumference (25th, 10th, & ~75th percentiles, respectively)! Carlie wasn't too happy about the 3 shots that she received, but overall, she is very healthy and the doctor has no concerns at this time! Carlie is wearing 12 month size clothing, almost exclusively now, but she's growing so quickly that it's hard to say how long that size will fit her! She is still wearing size 3 diapers and size 2 shoes (tiny little feet! At the same age, Haddy was wearing size 4 or 4.5, I believe!). Carlie still doesn't say much in the way of understandable words (other than Dada and "DAT/that!"), but she is a great communicator and has started using signs and head nods more frequently! She signs more, please, and thank you, and will now nod her head yes and no! It's really very cute and it's neat to see how much she actually understands of what you say to her!

Carlie's favorite things to do this month are to play at the playground (swinging on the swings and eating mulch!), play at the sand table or the water table (also eating sand!), and to try and chase Hadley. I have to admit, she does a pretty good job of keeping up with her!

The big news for Carlie this month is that she started walking! About 2 weeks before her birthday, she took what we would consider her first steps. She did the "Frankenstein Walk" for a couple of weeks, but on her actual birthday, Carlie just decided to go-go-go and she hasn't stopped since! I've affectionately nicknamed her ATB (short for all-terrain baby!) due to her skills in going from carpet, to hardwood or tile, back to carpet again without falling...or on mulch, sidewalks, and grass while wearing her shoes! I think that's pretty good for a beginning walker!

In other big news this month, Carlie is now completely weaned from nursing! I felt as though she wasn't really getting anything anyway, so we decided to slowly cut back about 2 weeks before her birthday. We transitioned to whole milk (which she took to really well, in my opinion), and aside from a couple of crabby, clingy days, she did awesome! It probably helps that Carlie LOVES to eat (everything!), so distracting her with other yummy foods helped to take her mind off of "milkies." These days, Carlie loves veggies (cucumbers, asparagus, bell peppers, green beans) and fruits (mango, banana, strawberries), but quite honestly, there isn't a food that we've given her that she hasn't eaten! She is definitely her mother's daughter (though she loves her sweets, so she's certainly her father's daughter, too!)!

Carlie has also popped two new teeth this month to bring her running total up to 9! She got the last tooth on the bottom to give her the full set of eight in the front, and she's just started cutting a molar in the back, as well! She's been doing OK with the teething, but we've been having to get up with her quite a bit at night, so we're hoping that the tooth cuts through quickly so we can all get back to our normal nighttime sleep schedule!