Knock Knock

I totally forgot to post about this!  Recently, Charlotte got very interested in knock knock jokes.  It's very funny, even funnier because I only actually remember 4 knock knock jokes, and one of them is a little too abstract for a 2 1/2 year old (the banana/orange one).  I'm going to have to look some more up online or at the library.

Merry Chris'm!

Too tired to actually blog. Terrible twos are wearing me out. But here's the good thing about having a two year old - someone in the house is ALWAYS excited about Christmas.

2009 so far

So far this year is...underwhelming (with the exception of the new president!). We got a new mattress, which is just plain awesome - I wake up in the mornings without a backache, and I am totally sleeping better at night. I can't believe that we've been putting this off for two years as a "luxury expense." It's been worth it.

Aside from that, we're just going through what the whole country is going through. This economy blows - we both still have jobs, but have the feeling that they could disappear at any minute. No yearly bonuses, no overtime, and a wage freeze. I try not to think about it too hard - it's so hard to find a legitimate job where I can work from home. Even if I wanted to put Charlotte in day care (which I don't) I can't imagine where the extra money would come from - and the extra car. Right now we have one functional car, which isn't a big deal since I work from home and Matt works literally three miles away. If there is a problem in the middle of the day, Matt can be home with the car - and car seat - in five minutes. If our company laid us both off, we'd have to find new jobs, which would probably be for two different companies, in two different locations, with two different schedules, all of which would require us to negotiate that balancing act that most families with two working parents are required to negotiate. And I would hate it. So for now, we're keeping our fingers crossed and our resumes up-to-date.

In family news, my stepsister Julie (who is my favorite stepsister, I'm not gonna lie) is scheduled for a C-section on February 9th with a baby girl. I'm very excited for her - this baby was a total surprise, but she's embraced pregnancy and upcoming motherhood with a maturity and panache that I don't think a lot of people expected. I'm so proud of her I could bust - and I'm knitting like a crazy woman in hopes that the baby blanked arrives before my niece does.

My sister, Nicole, is also pregnant. This is even bigger news - Nicole is my best friend, and my closest family member, and I'm so thrilled for her. The timing, in my honest opinion, is not great - but she wanted to do it this way, and Josh went along with her, so we're all riding it out with them. She's due July 28th, and I just cannot wait. Nicole and Josh don't want to find out the gender of the baby, and I think that's awesome. I really wanted Charlotte's gender to be a surprise, but Matt couldn't take it, so we found out. I'm going back and forth on what I think Nicole's baby is going to be. Charlotte has voted girl, boy, cat, so really, it's anybody's guess.

As for my baby girl, her new hot trick is singing. Charlotte has always loved music, but since she has been picking up on this talking thing, the ability to speak the words of her favorite songs has been a fun new hobby. She's been requesting "row, row" for some time now, but now she sings along with Old MacDonald, too. She can make her requests known, too - she's very into "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond right now. It's one of her current top three. In fact, here are Charlotte's top three favorite songs, as of today.

3. "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel
I love this song, so I've been playing it a lot. To Charlotte, the best parts are the lines where she can sing along - she sings "boom" to the line my heart going boom-boom-boom. Her favorite part is the part on each chorus when Peter Gabriel sings "I've come to take you home" or "I'm going home" - she loves to sing "home" in this sweet, wistful tone that I know she got from me.

2. "The Hoppity Song"

Her other favorite song right now is the cover of The Hoppity song, originally sung by John Ondrasik...I think that Uncle Rock does the cover that Charlotte loves, but I'm not sure. I couldn't find what I was looking for on YouTube, but this video is hilarious, and it's the right song, so even if it isn't the performer, it's appropriate. There's a part of the version Charlotte likes where he sings, "Everybody sing hi(gh)" and the chorus sings back a high-pitched "hi!" and then he said "Everybody sing low" and the chorus sings back a low-pitched "low!" Charlotte loves to say "high!" and "low!" and have us sing back. We're an easy bunch to amuse around here.

1. "Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond
For those of you who aren't from Massachusetts, let me explain that "Sweet Caroline" is played at Fenway Park every game between the 7th and 8th innings. During the 7th inning stretch they play "God Bless America" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (as do many parks, I believe) but a few years ago the music director started playing "Sweet Caroline" because they really liked it. A sort of call and response has grown during the chorus - after the line "Sweet Caroline" the whole park goes, "bum-bum-bum", and then after "Good times never seemed so good" the park says, "so good! so good! so good!" Charlotte has learned these, and requests the song by singing, "Ba, ba, ba." To add to this, my mother-in-law got me a Wally the Green Monster doll that plays the chorus to "Sweet Caroline." (That sentence is such a Boston Red Sox fan in-joke that I can barely unravel it - sorry if you don't care.) Charlotte loves Wally, of course, and will request him by singing "ba, ba, ba" and pointing. She can be appeased by either squeezing Wally's hand so he plays, or by playing "Sweet Caroline" on the stereo. We do a lot of both.

Here is a video - it's kind of dark, but Charlotte is holding Wally, and sings the response *almost* in the right place.




Matt says that today Charlotte made her first two-word sentence that didn't consist of the word "hi" or "bye" as the first half. Apparently when he microwaved his soup for lunch she said, "Ha noo-noos," which means "hot noodles," if you don't speak toddler.

I think that's just about all the news that's fit to print - and I have some baby stuff to knit, so that's it for now.

It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

But in a good way.

Charlotte is REALLY walking now. Charging up and down her room, the house, outside, at my grandparent's house, everywhere. She's no shrinking violet, either. Charlotte will fall flat on her face and get right back up again. Matt's big fear right now is that she's going to fall on her face and get a black eye right before her one year-old pictures. Which we actually need to make an appointment for. Crap.



In this video, two things are apparent. 1. She inherited my Dennis-the-Menace cowlick. 2. She is way into Halloween-themed books. Her two favorite books right now, completely of her own accord are Spooky and Where is Baby's Pumpkin?

My sister just got a puppy a couple weeks ago. Her husband surprised her and brought him home on the first day of school (she's a teacher in a public Montessori school, teaching grades 1-3). His name is Marek, and he's just a bitty baby. Right now he's 10 or 12 weeks old, and he and Charlotte met up close and personal for the first time today when I went to walk him. Considering how into dogs Charlotte is, I thought she would be more excited - she loved meeting my buddy Anthony's dog Drina last Friday. I think the fact that Marek is her size and was on her level made her a little nervous. Still, Charlotte graciously accepted his tentative kisses, and then they both just kind of observed each other.

Marek is super-photogenic, and very laid-back, for a puppy. He came from a shelter and is some sort of lab/terrier mix. Which is shelter-speak for "he probably has some pit bull in him, because this is, after all, a city shelter." Nicole and Josh are doing a great job with him so far, and he's very well-behaved. I can't wait for Charlotte and Marek to play together when they are both a little older and understand how to be gentle. Well, hopefully they'll understand how to be gentle.

Let's see, what else? I'm kind of stuck on something good to get Charlotte for her first birthday, which is in, ulp, 6 days now. We are having a mostly family based party on Saturday the 27th. Matt's parents and my dad won't be there, so it will be a little weird, but both sets of my grandparents, all my siblings, and my two best friends will be there. And some assorted aunts and uncles. I think it will be just a low-key picnic, provided the weather is nice, and maybe some t-shirt decorating. I loved all the decorated onesies that we did at my baby showers, and would love for Charlotte to have some more.

I knit Charlotte a blanket that is almost done - it's going to be small, more of a lovey than a blanket, but I didn't get it done before she was born, and I didn't get it done for her first Christmas, but dammit! I'm going to get it done for her birthday. She's also been interested a little in dolls and her stuffed animals lately, picking them up and kissing them, and occasionally rocking them. I cleaned up my brother's old Cabbage Patch Kid (after asking him if he wanted me to save it for future generations of his - he said to give it to Charlotte) and ordered him a new outfit off eBay. I also ordered him some cloth doll diapers, and I'll put those together for Charlotte in a little bag. Matt wanted to have some hand in the selection of the birthday present, as is only natural, but has no ideas and doesn't want to spend any money. Great. This weekend we're going to head to the nearest Toys R Us, which is forever away, and try and figure something out.

Oh, and Charlotte is now babbling, "Ma, ma, ma!" and it almost certainly means "Mumma." She also has a long drawn out "Haaaaa," which we think is meant to be "hi!" There is a word for kitty, but it is impossible to type out. Imagine if a one year old was trying to say "tzatziki sauce."

And now for something completely different, I swear.

In an effort to get out of the funky/kinda-depressed/lonely/self-loathing posting cycle I've been in lately, I decided to make another bullet-point update list of stuff Charlotte has been up to in June and July. It was awesome to revisit this stuff. She's really gone from little baby to baby-with-an-agenda this summer, which has FLOWN by. We're moving in 3 weeks (!!!!) and a close, close friend is getting married in 10 days, so that's kinda hectic. As much as I'm dreading moving with an 11 month 1 week old baby, I'm sorta looking forward to the new place. We'll have a washer/dryer in the actual apartment (yay cloth diapers!) and wall-to-wall carpeting. As much as I hate wall-to-wall carpeting from an aesthetic standpoint, I think it will be awesome for Charlotte to fall face-forward on, and it will be easier to clean than hands-and-knees hardwood.

In June and July, Charlotte...

* Crawled all over the damn place.

* Made her first trip to Syracuse.

* Went to two bridal showers, a retirement party, a housewarming party, and two birthday parties.

* Met a jillion new babies. Or, you know, 3.

* Started eating tiny cubes of tofu, pears, cucumbers and overcooked pasta.

* Stopped sleeping through the night. Again.

* Started hanging out at the playground, especially with Daddy.



* Went swimming for the first time - in a lake!

* Went to Yankee Candle and had a scary fall.



* Loves bathtime, splashing, and bath toys.

* Ate out at two restaurants! Red Robin for dinner (three times!) and Sylvester's for brunch.

* Started pointing at things! So cute.



* Started using the baby sign for "more." Except she thinks it means "Snack/cheerios." So I guess that's what it means now.

* Is *thisclose* to talking - we think she's said "kitty" and "hi!". And I think she's saying "Mom" sometimes when she says "ma-ma-ma-mamamama!"

* Waves bye-bye.

* Still loves story time!

* Thinks standing and clapping is actually a hobby.

* Favorite toys are the piano, the mailbox and of course - Tigger. (as an aside, ooh, I found Tigger online! Auntie Heidi strongly recommended getting another Tigger *just in case* and here he is! I might have to consider this.)

Video of Charlotte in her playpen with her piano...

The next step is sleep.

I have been wanting to post something else because, frankly, that last post is kind of upsetting. However, I haven't had much time to post anything because, once again, our sleep schedule is out of wack and Charlotte isn't doing a lot of napping or easy bed times, which means most of my non-Charlotte time is spent either working or making sure this house doesn't devolve any further into chaos.

So, in lieu of an actual post, let me now list the things Charlotte would rather do than sleep:

* Stick her arm out the side of her crib and scream because she can't roll over.

* Sing to her toys and stack Ikea faux-Tupperware.

* Scream "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!!" Not in an upset way, in a "hey-can-you-hear-my-voice?" way.

* Suck on Tigger's ears.

* Suck on Tigger's paws.

* Throw binks out of the crib.

* Pull the tag of the playpen up from underneath the floor and twiddle it with her fingers.

* Pull herself up in her crib.

* Pull herself up in her playpen.

* Pull herself up in her crib, let go of the rail, fall on her butt and applaud wildly.



* That's my sister in the video. Little does she know that she's on the internets.

Next, she'll be getting a job to help with the rent.

Charlotte is growing in leaps and bounds! I just realized that she is now officially too big for 80% of her 9 month size clothes. Thank god we have so many damn clothes. Part of what encourages us to buy so much clothes is that we don't have laundry on site, and we go to my sister and brother-in-law's house or my friends Kelly and Chris's house to do baby laundry once a week or once every other week. So it's actually kind of important to have enough clothes to get through two weeks without needing to do laundry. Right.

Biggest news here is that Charlotte started crawling last Thursday! June 12, to be exact. I was in the office (thus fulfilling my fear that I will miss all her major milestones on the one day a week I have to go into the office) and I called Matt on my break to say hi. He was saying that I would have to call Nana and tell her that Charlotte might start crawling when we were visiting, and just as he was saying that, he said, "Oh, wait...no, she's crawling now. She just crawled."

When I got home that night he showed me the little video he took on the camera. "You should put it on YouTube," he said.

"I can't! She's crying the whole time! It's like you're torturing her!" The video is hilarious, but I don't think I am going to post it - it really does seem like
Charlotte's crawling towards him against her will, wailing the whole time. She has this hilarious crawl. She sort of goes into downward dog pose, then hands and knees, and then she moves her hands and kinda hops her feet forward. Soooo funny.
Charlotte did this for one whole day before she decided that not only does she want to cral TO things, but she also wants to BRING things with her. She's spent the last couple days trying to crawl with toys in her hands.

On Friday, Charlotte also started clapping, spontaneously. It's awesome and hilarious. Matt and Charlotte and I went to the new Red Robin in Holyoke with Nicole and Josh. It wasn't even open yet, but Nicole had gotten coupons to go on their training night and get a free meal. It was pretty chaotic, but Charlotte did a great job. She sat in the highchair and ate Cheerios and tried to pick our waiter's pocket. She also clapped on command - I said, "Hey you guys, Charlotte can clap now! Show them how you clap!" and she did.

This weekend we went out to my Mom's house in upstate New York to hang out with my siblings and their assorted partners. On Sunday, Father's Day, Bob (my stepfather) had invited his daughter to come up with her 8 year old.

We had a blast on Saturday. We took Charlotte to the beach for the first time, dressed in her new bathing suit that Matt got for her. We sat her in the water and she loved it right away. There was a slight meltdown when Charlotte tried to put a handful of sand and rocks in her mouth and a whole bunch of grown-ups (myself included) freaked out and swooped in on her. That startled her so badly that she burst into hysterical tears, complete with the I-can't-catch-my-breath-and-stop-crying hitching cries. She did stop eventually and I took her out in the water and dipped her down to her chest. She then happily sat on the beach blanket with Nana and ate her beach toys while me and Matt splashed around for a bit.

The whole weekend was great - it was awesome to be in the woods and hanging out with my family. Mom's house has a little apartment over the garage, so we could unpack the pack n' play and just not worry about bothering anyone with all the baby crap. The one downside to the whole thing was that Charlotte was so excited and overstimulated that she hardly napped and barely ate practically the whole weekend. We managed to get some food in her at the end of each day, but she would go from 7 am to 4 pm with just a couple ounces from her bottle and a few handfuls of Cheerios. It was very stressful to me because it was so hot and I was so scared that she'd get dehydrated. It bugs me that people get so nonchalant about it - "Oh, when she's hungry, she'll eat." No, people. That's not true for babies. Toddlers, yes, adults, yes, but not babies. They don't understand their drives or appetites yet. It's entirely possible that she could get too hungry and too dehydrated if I don't keep trying to feed her. Seriously.

All in all, though, it was wonderful. Seriously something to look back on and remember fondly.

Next post I may try and untangle the whole Mother's Day/Father's Day/expectation experience of this year, but for now, I'll just leave with a video of Charlotte's first time at the beach.

busy

Bullet point entry because I'm lazy.

* Charlotte started sleeping the whole night, in her crib, in her room. I'm excited and proud, but also sad. Seriously, she's getting so big!

* Her feet smell, well, for lack of a better term, footy. I've never met a baby with stinky feet before.

* Now that Charlotte has a whopping 2 teeth, we've introduced her to Cheerios. She takes her solid-food duties very seriously.