A Quick Note

I have a lot of catching up to do! Charlotte is now a year old... WOW that went by quickly! I have lots of pictures and stories to add to the blog, but need to start finding the time to post again. Before I forget this one, I just have to make a note of it...

(background): We have been using some sign language with Charlotte since she turned 6 months old. She started really signing back at 10 months, and has been going through a "language explosion" for the past couple of weeks. She is using new signs, words and sound effects every day. Last time I counted, her "vocabulary" is now up to about 30 words/concepts.

One of the concepts that she has shown lots of interest in, is the potty. We got her a potty chair about a month ago, and she loves to take it apart and put her toys in it. We have also had surprising success at "catching" some pees and poops, when I put her on the potty after meals and upon waking. She also likes to use it on the big toilet, and we sit and read one of her favorite books together (she signs the things she sees in the books... very cute).

We were all in the living room this evening, and Christopher and I were talking while Charlotte played with a toy on the floor between us. Suddenly, she stopped and looked at us, and started to sign "potty." Christopher noticed it first, and I scooped her up and brought her to the bathroom. She sat on the big potty and made a big poop. It was quite a shock, to say the least! Usually, she will only sign "potty" when we bring it up... but for her to stop playing and TELL us that she needed to go... that was pretty amazing.

I know this doesn't mean that she's going to be potty-trained at 12 or 13 months, but I'm happy for every diaper I don't have to wash. She's quite an amazing kid! Thanks to Sarah, for the potty idea and the link to elimination communication... I think it's working, even if it's still hit and miss! And you can tell that Charlotte is so proud when we succeed at potty time. What could be better, than seeing that look on her face?

A Trip To Georgia

 
 
 
 

4th Of July At Lake Michigan Beach

We walked down to the beach with Charlotte on the 4th of July for the fireworks celebration. As you can see, she fell asleep during the walk. She was excited to wake up and see all the people around us. We parked the stroller and sat right by the walkway, so we could make a speedy exit, and see all the people coming in and going. She had fun checking out the crowd and playing with Mom and Dad.

The very first fireworks were just streaming lights going up into the sky, and we "oooh-ed" and "aaah-ed" at them. A few seconds later, the big booms started coming, and Charlotte was terrified. She was so upset, climbing and trying to get away... I felt like a terrible mother for having there!

Of course, we quickly packed up our blanket and high-tailed it out of there. Every time we would pause to look over our shoulders at the display, Charlotte would start crying/screaming again... so we didn't end up seeing much of a show. We did learn a valuable lesson though! Plans can change fast, so be ready!

She fell asleep again in the stroller on the way home, and we ended up having a nice quiet evening at home. Everything worked out in the end, since we did have a great time playing at the beach and watching all the people. We saw several people that we know, and one guy came by to tell us that Charlotte looked like Cindy Who (from the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" cartoon). I thought that was a cute compliment for our pigtailed baby! :)

July 04 2007

VIDEO POST: 10 Steps!

I can't believe it's true, but Charlotte took 10 steps across the living room floor today! We sort of "tricked" her into doing it, but she did it! I don't know if she realized she walked... and her little baby steps are so cute! Here is a video of the occasion. She spent the rest of the day crawling and cruising along the furniture, as usual. Now that WE know she CAN do it, we're not in such a huge hurry for her to keep walking, although it is cool to be able to say, "SHE DID IT!"



Of course Celeste (our cat) had to come prancing through to try to distract Charlotte's efforts... but Charlotte has nerves of steel! Check it out. Can you tell we are soooo proud of our little baby? And doesn't Daddy make a great cheerleader? :)

Now we'll just have to wait and see how long it is before she starts walking on her own, without a dangling carrot to chase.

The Phone Girl

Charlotte just loves to pretend she's making phone calls. She's even started using remote controls as "phones." I think she wants to get a job at Grandpa's new office! She's been practicing her dialing and she'll put the phone to her ear (backwards) and say "ooooOO!" really loudly. Here she is, using our cordless phone to try to call anyone who will pick up.

She's also been REALLY into playing peek-a-boo lately. She will look for any chance to play it. Last night when she was supposed to be going to sleep, she was about to lie down in her crib, when she turned over, looked through the bars at me and I swear she said, "BOO!" and started giggling hysterically. Sometimes it's spooky how close her babbling is to real words... she yells at the cat now, almost always a two syllable "word" that sounds almost like "kitty!" ... although it's really more like "eh-eh," we are proud parents!


She just loves to laugh and play, and it's funny to see her get so excited and start scrambling around, laughing like a little maniac.

She's been getting even better about using her signs, and it's really neat when she points things out to me. As we went into the grocery store today, she started saying, "fan." I looked, but then I told her, "I don't see any fans in here... are you talking about the lights?" (because she was looking up at the ceiling, where she usually finds fans to talk about). She immediately started using the sign for light. Then, as we were going through the parking lot to go home from the store, she started signing "bird," and I didn't even notice that there were about 20 seagulls just yards away from us. They were eating dead mayflies off the pavement (ick!), and more birds just kept arriving. We stopped, watched and talked about the birds eating for a few minutes, until there were closer to 50 or 60 birds there. It was really neat, because if she hadn't said that, I probably wouldn't even have noticed the birds at all.

It's amazing how much difference one little person can make in your life. She's in love with her baby dolls right now, which is great... she will even sometimes play with her doll in the crib for over half an hour, letting me sleep in just a little bit longer. Of course, she does expect me to kiss and coo all over her babies as much as possible... she just watches me with delight when I kiss the doll's feet or make her play pat-a-cake. As soon as Charlotte gets her baby back, she gives her big hugs and sloppy kisses... sometimes even a raspberry! What a good little mommy she is!

Use the slide show feature below to see more pictures of Charlotte on the phone and using her sign for "light." (her signs for light, milk and bye-bye are all very similar, but we're learning to differentiate the nuances and context pretty easily). When she goes to tell us she's "all done" eating, she reaches her arms up so high, I want to say, "Don't shoot!" because she looks like she's a victim of a hold-up... but she's so proud, you can't help but be pleased right along with her. I'm going to try to get more of her signs on camera soon...

First Swim!

After several very hot days (for us anyways), we decided to get a little wading pool for the yard. We put just about 3 inches of water in the pool, dressed Charlotte in her swim diaper and bathing suit, and let her splash around in the water.


She wasn't sure what to think at first, but she did enjoy splashing around and playing with her ducks. She likes to squeeze the duck and squirt water. She also likes to try to drink out of the cups (of course).

She stopped to pull on her bathing suit a few times, like she couldn't figure out why she was wearing clothes in the bathtub, or why it was outside. We did add a few more toys after these pictures were taken, along with a big sun umbrella, which she made me hold up for her, while she used it as a handrail to practice standing up and crouching down to splash.





I think she really enjoyed her time in the pool, and after she was done, she even remembered to use one of her new signs to let me know what she wanted to do next: "milk." It's exciting to see her actually trying to use the signs now. She learned the sign for "light" today, and maybe "airplane," but we'll have to work on that one some more... she's not quite at the stage where she notices the planes flying over. I'm sure she will start noticing that soon, since we have an airplane and glider that go over our house for sky tours several times a day, when the weather is good.

A Growing Vocabulary

Charlotte is having a great time exploring her world, and learning to tell us about what she's thinking about. She's still taking her baths in our big kitchen sink, and loving every minute of it. These pictures show her having fun with her toys, and hamming it up for the camera... you can't tell she's been practicing!

She loves to play with her rubber duck, and some Tupperware gadgets. She's always discovering something new.

We've been using some sign language with her for the past few months, and she definitely understands what we're saying to her. She will use a sign every once in a while, but we've been waiting for her to really start signing back. We have noticed some big changes this week.

She started signing "fan" at our neighbor's house, and hasn't stopped since. Every time she sees a ceiling fan, she uses it, and she's now figured out that there are other kinds of fans too. Since it's been so hot, we have several fans going around the house, so she always has a fan to talk to us about. She will twirl her little hand in the air, and blow with her lips.

Now that she sees how we respond to her signing, she's starting to actually use more signs. She will use the sign for milk when she wants to nurse, "all done" when she wants to get out of her feeding chair (also sometimes says "ah-dah" at the same time). She's working on the sign for "drink," when she wants her water cup, and sometimes remembers to use the sign for "more," although she does resort to verbalizing frustration quite a bit too.

We were outside this evening, checking on our flowers and tomatoes, when we heard some particularly noisy crows about a block away. I started talking to her about them, and showing her the sign for bird (index finger and thumb moving like a bird's beak). She started doing it right along with me! It was actually more of a modified version of the way she tries to snap her fingers, but she definitely knew what she was saying. We walked around the neighborhood, looking at birds on telephone wires, in yards, flying all around and singing. She kept signing "bird," and looking at them... it was so much fun. Then we saw a big dog sleeping in his yard, and she did her "oof oof" bark.

Although it has it's challenges, life with Charlotte is exciting and entertaining every day. I can't believe how fast my little baby is growing up. She is just a delight!

Can you tell we are proud parents?? :) I have found a new feature that I can include in our blog, to share more pictures... a slide show! When you run your mouse over the picture below, you should see a bar appear across the bottom, allowing you to scroll through the pictures, or push play and watch them change. It stops automatically at the end of the "roll." CLICK HERE if the slide show doesn't work, and you still want to see more pictures.

10 Months Old!

On June 11, Charlotte turned 10 months old. I can't believe how fast time is flying past us!
Her weight was 17 pounds, 12 ounces, the same as her weight almost a month ago. I think she must be getting taller, because her pants are all falling off her little hips suddenly, and that's even with cloth diapers! She eats a lot, but she's obviously burning a lot of calories too.

We spent good parts of the day out in the yard. Charlotte took her babies for a stroll in the doll buggy, and stopped frequently to point at the big tractors that kept going past our house. They are redoing the drainpipes a few blocks away, so that gave her a lot to watch.

She also enjoyed seeing motorcycles, bicycles and people walking by with their dogs. Whenever she sees a dog (or sometimes a cat, bird or squirrel), she sort of "woofs" under her breath. She doesn't open her mouth, but it does sound like she's barking. She will also try to snap her little fingers, since that's the way she sees Mom & Dad get our cat, Celeste's attention.

Of course, she had to stop and check on our flowers. Here she is, checking to see if the marigolds have good strong roots. Mom really has to get busy and get these in the ground!



CLICK HERE or on the slideshow above to see more pictures from this day. The slideshow should go automatically, but if you hover your mouse on the picture, you get a bar at the bottom to scroll through the pictures...hope it works!

The Wonders of Nature

Charlotte just loves to be out in the yard. Here she is, cheering for the flowers we found on sale at the local market. We walked up there with the wagon and got all of these. While there, she was waving and greeting all the other flower- shoppers. It was a lot of fun. Now to finish planting them all... I didn't realize how many flowers there really are in a flat!

A big rainstorm came, and we played outside while we were waiting for it to start. After it started raining (huge raindrops), we all went out on the porch to watch it fall. Charlotte liked watching and feeling the raindrops hitting her little fingers.

Charlotte has another new baby now... we rescued her from the "free" bin at a yard sale. She is floppy, instead of having the hard plastic body that her other baby has. This makes it easier to tote her around and bang her feet together, etc. Charlotte seems to love her babies equally though... what a good little mommy she is!

This new baby, we are naming Dolly, also has eyes that open and shut. Perfect for the phase that Charlotte is going through now... she loves poking and playing with eyes!

She's also a great buddy for naptime!

A Quick Catch-Up

Charlotte is doing very well, and keeping us quite busy. I can't believe she's almost 10 months old already! The time really is going by so quickly.

I have some more pictures and stories to tell, but we had a small incident with my laptop, in which the power cord caught on fire... guess I was typing too fast! :) So until the new (special order, of course) power cord comes in the mail, I'll be borrowing Christopher's computer when he can spare it.

Lots of new things are happening, and Charlotte seems to be changing every day. She has been dubbed "the smiliest baby in the world," by our friends' son, Ethan Machida, because she is (almost) always ready to socialize and meet new people. I do try to only take her out in public when she's in good spirits, so this also helps her reputation... but everyone at our local grocery store really loves to see her come in.

This week, she learned to wave and say "haaaaa!" to people, when they wave and say hello to her. It is so cute! I want to try to capture it on video before she stops doing it. It's funny--I used to think I'd always remember what she did and when she did it (how could I forget?), but now I realize how fast time flies by. Even though I want to hang onto every precious moment, I have to be prepared for tomorrow, when everything changes once again, and she's amazing and challenging me all over again!