Sunday, July 24, 2011

sweet sixteen

...months, that is.

Charlotte continues to amaze me. The whole walking thing is old hat now, and she doesn't seem to care what sort of terrain she's on or if there's any kind of slope. She even tries to take the stairs with just her two feet, although about halfway up, she usually gives in and uses one knee and one foot. She won't even try to walk down stairs, or crawl down them. We're trying to teach her to slide down on her belly, but she'll only go down a step or two before heading back up again.

Baby Signing Time has been replaced by Elmo (pronounced "M'Elmo") as her entertainment of choice. She's utterly mesmerized by him. She can name several other Sesame Street characters too- Ernie, Abby, and Mr. Noodle being her other favorites. We still watch BST a couple of times each week, but now that she knows all the signs it doesn't seem to interest her as much as it used to. I'm trying to decide where to dive into the Signing Time series, since the first several videos re-cap the BST signs. Should I introduce her to the more "mature" format with signs she recognizes, or should I jump to new signs and hope the format isn't over her head? Either way, I love being able to communicate with her. She makes her wants known, with both signs and spoken words, and sometimes even tells me things ("grass wet" "milk cold").

New spoken words are sprouting up every day. Today's gem was "money." We have a wedding to attend on Saturday and needed a new shirt and tie for C, so we went shopping today. Charlotte brought her money (pillow-like coins in a clear vinyl change purse), and rode around in the cart waving it at everyone, saying "Hi! Money!" Another recent favorite is "lemon-emon-emon-ade" for her newly-discovered beverage of choice, lemonade. She's absolutely crazy about "bewwies (berries)," and is in for a rude awakening now that the last of the backyard blackberries have been picked. She loves to play "ah-ide (outside, simultaneously signed and spoken)," especially is we blow some "bubbles," which are fun to "pop, pop, pop!" She signs and says "ang oooo (thank you)" at appropriate times, completely unprompted, which makes me inordinately proud.

Physically, she's still on the small side but has gotten noticeably taller in the last month. Suddenly, she stretches her 12-month clothes to their vertical limits. The size 3 1/2 shoes that I bought on her birthday no longer fit. And my next diaper order is for size 4's because the 3's have become low-riders on her narrow hips.

We're still (happily) a 2-naps-a-day household, following a roughly 2-3-4 waking schedule- Up for 2 hours, then nap #1. Up for 3 hours, then nap #2. Up for 4 hours, then down for the night. She consistently goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 each night, and sleeps until 6-6:30. Sometimes, she goes willingly into her crib for a nap and then plays for an hour before falling asleep. But, as long as she's content and some napping takes place, I'm keeping both naps. I need them. I shower and clean up the breakfast dishes during nap #1, and take a nap myself during nap #2. I do look forward to losing the morning nap, though, because it will open up such a big chunk of the day for running errands or going out to play before it gets too hot. I'd love to take Charlotte to the zoo, aquarium, or children's museum, but it's tough to schedule such an outing between naps and meals.

Egad. It's late and I'm exhausted. More another time. Be well, all!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

good good good

Charlotte finally decided that walking is fun. On Saturday, 6/25, she made the switch from crawling and hasn't looked back since. Shoes, no shoes. Indoors or out. She's comfortable on two feet and loves that she can easily carry things in her hands while making her way. My back is thankful, but her fearlessness at the beach and on playgrounds sometimes makes my heart skip a beat. I love just sitting back and watching her walk wherever she wants (within reason). The confident smile on her face is priceless. Her 8th tooth finally broke through on the same day.


We made the 15-month visit to the pedi. Charlotte is the epitome of health, albeit on the petite side. She's a little more than 19 pounds (5th percentile). I didn't notice her height (15th percentile) because she was trying to wriggle off the measuring mat. She absolutely hated going to the doc this time and started crying as soon as we walked into an exam room. As a result, we decided to skip the scheduled shots. We'll have to go back soon to catch up, and I think the only one due at her 18-mo visit will be an early flu shot.



We bought Charlotte a new t-shirt...
...with the intention of subtley announcing the pregnancy by visiting various friends and family while she wore it. We couldn't keep the news to ourselves, though, especially since I already look pregnant (I think). We ended up telling our closest friends and family at 8 weeks, and then posted this photo on FB for the rest of the world to see.

This first trimester is kicking my butt. I'm perpetually exhausted, and have had mild but non-stop nausea for about 3 weeks now. I compared morning sickness to a hangover when I was pregnant with Charlotte. This time, it feels like the flu. It's been a fairly warm summer so far, which isn't helping at all. I'd love to take Charlotte to the beach every day so we can both cool off, but the amount of gear involved makes it more of an ordeal than I can handle that frequently. Instead, we have an inflatable kiddie pool in the backyard, and now that she's walking I may put out a sprinkler (the lawn can sure use it).

I'd mention something about eating and sleeping habits, but she's just waking up. Time for breakfast!