This is posted for the benefit of Aunt Bec to determine Caroline's eye color. Once again, she and I have been abandoned while Cheryl and Grandma shop.

Good times.

Cheryl completed her first year exams this morning, so she went out to lunch with Grandma and friend Camille - leaving Caroline and me behind. Here Caroline is pointing to her favorite parent.

Caroline had a great time with Grandma all day - lots of laughing, plenty of books read to her, and much toy playing. She behaved excellently at the restaurant we took her to for lunch and at the park and at the grocers. Unfortunately, of the three pictures I took all day, this was the best.

Caroline will be getting her fill of attention for the next five days as Grandma Z is visiting. She was hesitant and shy when we picked Grandma up at the airport (it's been 4 months), but quickly warmed to her - I haven't heard her laugh so much before today.

Our little drummer. Unfortunately she seems to like the dangerous cheese grater (now out of reach) more than these easily accesible pots.

Caroline is pointing to the picture of the ocelot on the fridge. She can imitate dogs and has started saying up and down again (according to Cheryl; I have yet to hear it). Restaurant trips may be coming to an end - we took her out to lunch and she yelled (happy yells) most of the time, irritating nearby diners.

Caroline's nose was running non-stop all weekend, although she didn't seem to mind. Cheryl and I were both feeling pretty miserable, so Caroline was less than fully entertained. We took some good walks yesterday; today was 20 degrees cooler so we only had one quick outdoors excursion. Caroline spent the day playing with her toys, tearing up the Sunday paper, bringing us books to read to her, and learning the word 'ocelot'.

All three of us have been suffering the effects of a ridiculous pollen level - Caroline has been congested and cranky all day. Luckily it finally rained this evening so the outdoors will not be so unwelcoming tomorrow.

Cheryl and I bought this outfit a while ago - it must have looked good on the hanger. Caroline looks like a shamrock. She had a bad night last night, likely due to teething. She recovered well for most of today, but from 6pm on, she was in uber-cranky mode.

We took Caroline to Cheryl's second favorite chain Italian restaurant for lunch (Macaroni Grill, recently demoted behind Carraba's which only serves dinner, as we found out the hard way today), and then to visit her buddy Steph, and then on a long walk. Although the camera came along on all our travels, it remained unused. I've been coerced into posting a picture for today, so I just snapped this one of our angel passed out in her crib in a fairly uncomfortable looking position.

Caroline's had two great nights of sleep; hopefully, she's broken of the co-sleeping need. On Sunday night she slept nearly 12 hours without waking us up at all. Last night she woke up for about 5 minutes around midnight, and slept about 11 hours total. This afternoon I've been trying to teach her to play some soccer, but she seems more interested in playing with the leaves on the lawn.

Caroline barely accepts formula out of a bottle and always refuses water. We've tried a few brands of sippy cups with no luck. One of our friends recommended a cup with a straw (designed for slightly older toddlers) that they use for their 11 month old, and it totally worked. Caroline figured it out very quickly, and apparently was quite thirsty.

We went to an outdoor movie viewing party where 40 drinking was encouraged. Many other babies attended; most preferred Olde English to Caroline's choice of Bud Light.

Baby On Board, how I've adored
That sign on my car's windowpane
A bounce in my step, loaded with pep
'Cause I'm driving in the carpool lane.

Call me a square, friend I don't care
'Cause that little yellow sign can't be ignored
I'm tellin' you it's mighty nice
Each trip's a trip to paradise
With my baby on board
- The Be-Sharps

Today was a bad day for our girl. Caroline was very feisty and cranky all day. She's no longer content to be caged and therefore frees herself pretty much at will from any sort of barrier we try to erect between her and the danger zone of freedom in the house. Jay found her wandering into the kitchen holding some of his socks after leaving her safe in her confines just moments earlier. Her return to the perimeter left her angry and yelly and pacing back and forth like an ocelot at the Asheboro Zoo.

Exacerbating the wails protesting her captivity, we think she's teething something fierce. For 45 minutes before she finally gave in to sleep, she screamed purple-faced screams of anger and pain (I think). Through dinner...through her normally delightful bathtime...through pj's...through pre-bed cuddle time... It was exhausting. I gave her some acetominophen and a few Hyland's Teething Tablets, but I don't think anything was helping to ease her discomfort. I was transported back to Caroline's first three months when she spent a good part of her waking hours mad at the cold, cruel world and I was miserably powerless to help her.

Caroline with Cheryl's classmate, Sam. We went to Cheryl's school's happy hour that featured a loud punk band. Then Caroline and I went to the Warthogs game with Camille (Cheryl stayed behind at the school to participate in a new mother focus group). Around 8:30, Caroline got very tired and I pushed her home. Caroline enjoyed all the attention but was indifferent to the baseball contest. I took only one picture today - this is it.

It's cold and rainy, so Caroline is singing to us. She puts the microphone against her mouth and says "ahhh", surprisingly in tune more often than I am.

Unlike her parents, Caroline loves the vacuum cleaner.

Caroline is 11 months old today. Sticking to our 12th of the month routine, we took her to the doctor today. We are happy to report that she has no eye problems despite some bad genetics favoring strabismus. This evening she wandered around the front yard helpfully picking up stray leaves.

Caroline and I went to the zoo today with some mothers and children from the MBA Partners' Association. We saw bison, polar bears, gorillas, monkees, snakes, elephants, and my favorite, an ocelot. Caroline enjoyed interacting with the other babies, but I think she was pretty indifferent about the animals. It's a very nice zoo, and it's close by, so I'm sure we'll be going back when she can appreciate it. For now, I'm going to work on getting her to say "ocelot".

Caroline took on the dandelions on our lawn and won. She's still fighting sleep, but goes down much more quickly now; it's still painful for those few minutes of heartbreaking wails, but she forgets all about it as soon as she wakes up.

I like this picture.

Caroline and I took Cheryl to the park for her first time today. Caroline seems to really enjoy having Cheryl push her on the swings.

We spent the afternoon at Cheryl's program's Spring Fling, with various sporting events, inflatable fair games, and other babies to play with Caroline. She evetually found some pointy sticks, and a for a few minutes before she started putting them in her mouth (and I quickly took them away) she ambled around threateningly.

Caroline made it another night in her crib. She woke up a few times but cried very little before going back to sleep. She also took a nap in her crib this morning. We gave her an early bath this evening because Cheryl has to head back to school tonight. Right now she's struggling and failing to reach toys that have slipped under the couch.

We went to the park around noon today. Unlike last time, there were plenty of other kids and moms there. Caroline was a bit younger than most, and wasn't able to play on most of the equipment, but did enjoy strolling around, picking up sticks and trying to eat rocks.

Caroline made it through the night in her crib. She woke, stood and cried about 3 times; each time after we hugged her and put her back down she went back to sleep more and more quickly.

Caroline's wearing her new summer pajamas tonight, ready to take on the chore of fighting sleep. We're once again trying to get her to sleep the entire night in her crib, and have been very unsuccessful so far. Last night she cried from 10 to 12, falling asleep for brief periods usually slumped in a corner. At one point she was asleep in the middle of her crib completely folded in half - her feet were underneath her head. Cheryl forgot the plan during a trying 3am cry period and brought her to bed. Tonight, so far, we're standing firm.

We're overdue for Mom's little update on Caroline's development:

1. She walks. Well. She can also crawl around like a champ.
2. She lets herself out into the restricted zone by pushing on the SuperYard XT (aka the Freedom Perimeter) when she desires more liberty. It's unnerving to see a wee person move a sheet of plastic that is about 4x her size.
3. She talks. Ok...I'm probably exaggerating a bit, but the girl does say a few words on and off, and understands simple commands. When she wants to. Just like her daddy.
4. The sleeping? Trouble. We're trying to break her again and get her to sleep in her crib, but she's wearing us down with her ability to sit up and stay awake for what is probably hours. Poor thing. Her Grandma Zukowski believes we are making her distrust us; we believe that we need to sleep in order to be good parents, and that her explicit trust of us during the day signifies that Grandma's fears are unnecessary.
5. Breastfeeding is over. I'm a little sad...but I've learned that you can lead a baby to the breast, but you can't make her drink. She's finished, and I've accepted that.

And if anyone has tips on teaching a strong-willed, super-active baby who hates formula how to drink water from a sippy cup, we're all ears. Caroline needs fluids, and we worry (probably unnecessarily) that she isn't getting enough. No signs of problems, but summer is coming, and I want to keep my girl well-hydrated.

This shirt is still a little too big (it was the smallest size the store had), but I have a feeling that Caroline will be wearing it a lot this spring.

Yesterday evening we asked Caroline to go to her Nemo stuffed animal, and she immediately went. We were pretty sure she just got lucky and didn't really understand us, so we repeated the direction a few times with similar results. When I asked her where Nemo was this morning, she went from the other side of our living room and grabbed him. Of course, she doesn't understand anything really useful, like "stop ripping up our W-2 forms" or "don't chew the remote controls" or "mow the lawn." Luckily, the grass isn't very long yet, so she has a week or so to learn that last command.

We took advantage of the good weather by playing outside this afternoon.

Caroline loves the Sunday paper advertising circulars. She kept us up most of last night after a scary tumble from the bed - she slept fine after some crying, but Cheryl and I were pretty worried. Thankfully this morning, she's her normal self and we haven't found any bumps or bruises on her.

The weather was dreary, so it was Karaoke reading lessons for Caroline this afternoon.

Just for the record, neither Cheryl nor I smoke. We also have never used the mop bucket that was perched on the door above Caroline. Sadly, the wine we drink does come from a box.

Caroline was definitely not pleased with the wine switcheroo, but you'd think she would have realized I was making the switch because I poured it right in front of her. My next prank - when Caroline pushes open the door, she's going to get this bucket of dirty diapers dumped all over her. Oh, the hilarity!

It's Caroline's first April Fool's Day, so I'm going to play some tricks on her. First off, I'm filling her morning bottle with Franzia Cabernet from a box (instead of the Shiraz she's accustomed to for her eye-opener). Won't she be confused!