not a baby anymore

caroline went back to the plastic surgeon today to check on her wound. we waited almost 2.5 hours in the waiting room for a 5 minute visit where he removed the last 2 stitches that had yet to disappear and told us to put moisturizer on it. i didn't mind the wait though. pickle was having all kinds of fun in the waiting room. she made friends with all the old people, watched dr. phil, and explored the waterfall / indoor pond. then she discovered a triage room just off the waiting area. she would bolt for the triage room and then dissolve into giggles when i stopped her. she was so amused by it. we just kept doing it over and over, with her laughing up a storm each time. it made me realize that i am in denial about the fact that she is a toddler and not a baby anymore. - of course she does all sorts of toddler things. she is super-chatty. she says "momma", "daddy", "puppy", "kitty", "hi", "bye", "juice", "thank you", "this!" and probably a few other things regularly. she will also mimic your speech which is something Q never really did. the other day at the fair we were watching the ox draw and i pointed and said, "big cows" to which she immediately replied, "big cows." - she really loves to play with the lego duplo blocks and she actually builds towers with them. she'll sit with the full bucket in front of her and hunt for the size brick she wants. again something Q didn't have the patience for until recently. - she will get down on the ground and play cars and trucks with Q, but she goes crazy for dolls and stuffed animals. she has not let go of this olivia the pig doll we bought her at target yesterday. it may be "the one" - this was about the age that Q latched on to bluebeary. - looking back of photos of Q at this age, I remember him as a toddler, doing toddler things. but caroline is still a baby in my mind. but obviously she's not really. where did the time go?