What a Christmas! It was 40 degrees here. Unlike last Christmas when we got ice dams for Christmas, this year we got a Texas Christmas weather-wise. We met the Garvins at the dog park for a nature walk in our lightweight jackets. Ben took our portrait. Don't mind my ill-fitting hat.
Art and Lewis got binoculars for Christmas.
We spotted this spotted owl.
We didn't get any pics from Christmas morning because we can't find our camera. Ooops. It wasn't that exciting since Charlotte still does not understand opening presents and we had to do it for her. She does understand toys and she got some fun new things to play with. Suze sent her a baby doll and Charlotte bent over to give it a kiss - pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen! It fits perfectly in this little doll cradle that my sister found in my mom's basement.
Today we went to an open house at Our Lady of Peace, the residential hospice place where Bubbe spent her last weeks. It is such an amazing place and we are so lucky that Bubbe was able to be there. The people who work there took good care of her, and of us. Before Bubbe went to Our Lady of Peace, my sister and I took care of her all day everyday. We weren't sure if moving her to a residential hospice place was the right thing to do, but one of the nurses said to us, "you need to be daughters now." That was the greatest gift, we were able to be daughters and my mom was able to be our mom. For Christmas, they had a Celebration of Life fundraiser and open house with a tree where you could buy an ornament to honor a loved one. I think that for the rest of my life all of my charitable giving go there. Mike, my sister and I brought the babies to visit with staff, eat some treats, and admire the tree.
scooting around on her butt like this (but she's much faster now!)
looking at books
taking books off the bookshelf
fruit
beans
singing
music
feeding herself
outside
Dislikes:
green vegetables
having her diaper changed, especially on the changing station*
when it is time to put away the musical instruments at music class
having her hands messed with
drinking from a cup
* Charlotte's dislike of the changing station may have something to do with an unfortunate accident a couple weeks ago. I was getting her dressed and digging in the drawer for some socks and in a flash she rolled right off and landed in the drawer! I shrieked! And Mike came running up the stairs. Charlotte was unharmed, thanks to the soft landing in the clothes drawer, but she was rightfully scared. I was traumatized. It kept flashing before my eyes the rest of the weekend. Now I change her on the floor.
We let Charlotte feed herself blueberry yogurt with a spoon tonight. She ended up with it in her hair and all over her face. However, she did manage to eat quite a lot of the yogurt. I was impressed with her dexterity. And her cute face.
Mike's dad came all the way from Albequerque to spend Thanksgiving with us. Charlotte spent most of the weekend impressing him with her verbal skills by saying "hi" all day long. We also checked out this graphic design exhibit at the Walker Art Center. It was actually a good exhibit for a 1 year old. There were lots of bright colors and large pieces to look at. This was one of my favorites:
It was a life size identity guideline, which has something to do with creating a corporate logo. Mike is really interested in personal logos, so maybe we should try to create our own identity guidelines?
Another day, another word. A very exciting time for me. Today Charlotte said "Ziggy" quite a few times. It turns out Charlotte loves early 80s comic characters. We expect by the end of the week she'll be saying "Broom Hilda," "Odie," "Cathy," "Dagwood," and "The Lockhorns."
Actually, Charlotte's babysitter has a 15 month old girl named Ziggy and Charlotte was calling her by name today. So that's where "Ziggy" really came from. It's really quite a contrast to see Charlotte and Ziggy together. Charlotte is this giant quasi-mobile ent and Ziggy is this little tiny spry, highly mobile baby, like Golem, only, you know, cuter. Charlotte may be the first baby to pass her clothes onto a baby who is OLDER than she is. In the meantime, they really do enjoy each other's company, and show it by squealing at each very loudly. I bet that never gets old for our babysitter.
But really, Charlotte's favorite word is "hi." She uses it appropriately, as she crawls or butt-hops her way over to you, saying "hi" until you say "hi" back. It's pretty cool. Unfortunately, she really doesn't have any conversational skills after that so she just wants the two of us to keep saying "hi" back and forth for awhile. While she is happy as can be about all this, I'm looking for ways we can move this conversation forward. She needs to work on diversifying her conversational content, that's for sure.
As Charlotte's language is developing, so is her sense of humor. She thinks it's hilarious to feed me or give me the bottle and act like I'm drinking it. See you at Second City.
Today she had this clear tupperware type lid. I would put it up to my face and go up to her so we'd be face to face with the plastic between us. She thought that was the funniest thing ever. Hopefully her sense of humor will evolve, but for now it is fun to see her laugh so wholeheartedly and unconditionally.
We haven't posted in awhile. No pictures today. Just words. Lots of them at that, because that's what I do. Life is busy for both Emily and me. Yet as busy as it is, it is very linear. Our days are full, but not hectic, and I do get to spend a lot of time with Charlotte. I soak it up and sense that she does too.
Here's what she has been up to since Halloween.
1. At Charlotte's one year check-up the pediatrician recommended we contact the Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) because of Charlotte's lack of interest or ability in doing anything with her legs. Muscle tone and coordination were fine, said the doctor, but maybe a visit from ECSE (specifically the physical therapist) would help spur things along.
ECSE did a home visit and the physical therapist said that thanks to a perfect storm of Charlotte's gigantic size, mellow disposition, and lack of tummy time (that last one is on me) she doesn't hasn't developed the ability to go from lying to sitting. Once she gets that ability, she should progress quickly from crawling to walking. They gave us some tips to speed the process up. We followed the tips and two days ago Charlotte went from lying to sitting for the first time. She's done it once with me but I was cooking and I missed it. I saw her on her tummy, turned to chop an onion or something, and turned around and she was sitting. She thinks she's a freaking magician or something.
Kind of interesting: her fine motor and play skills are advanced for her age. Makes sense, given that she spends most of her day in one place and can hold her interest with one toy or object for a long time. My hunch is once she gets to walking, all development in the attention, play, and fine motor areas will subside and her gross motor will catch up. Meanwhile some little bugger her age is tearing around the house running like crazy, but will soon catch up with the things Charlotte can do. It all evens out by kindergarten, but these individual variances at such a young age always interest me.
2. Language is taking off. She signs "more" appropriately and independently by pointing with her right finger into her left palm (not an accurate sign... so much for her fine motor skills). But when she signs "more" she is actually saying "feed me something I like." She can have a plate of peas in front of her and she will sign "more" in hopes of getting something different. Or one time Emily and I were at the hot food bar at our local co-op and Charlotte started signing "more" when she saw all the food. And every night right around 6 p.m. if we haven't started feeding her, she will stop what she is doing and sign "more." Good stuff.
Last night I started feeding her yogurt and she loved it, but as per usual did not want to be spoon fed. So I gave her the spoon and it was messy as can be (again with the fine motor skills), but she fed herself just fine. Problem is she isn't ready to scoop the yogurt onto the spoon by herself because the cup offers no propioceptive feedback of course. So I need to take the spoon back from her and re-load it with yogurt for her. Last night she refused to give up the spoon. And that was that. I'll be damned if I'm going to get in a power struggle with a one year-old. But tonight I started signing "me" consistently for the first time (I've signed it here and there in the past), and she gave up her spoon. I put more yogurt on it, had her sign "me" (a little hand-over-hand modeling). After that one time, she didn't fuss once and was using her new sign. She signed "me" and "more" totally appropriately and on her own, fed herself on her own, and hardly fussed.
None of this is new to me nor should it be new to anyone. I did this for ten years at my old job with all sorts of nonverbal kids of all abilities and temperament. I don't miss any of that, but I do love seeing Charlotte do it. Old boy Chomsky knew what he was talking about when he said we come equipped with a black box for language. But I've never seen it unfold in a baby with absolutely normal language skills and it stuns me how fast humans pick language up. And it is all the more powerful and suddenly more emotional when that little human is your own child. She is doing exactly what she is supposed to do and what billions of babies have done before her and will do after. But now that it is my own child, it is a sight to behold. Like my mom once said, "Your child is special to you and your family, but may not be special to the rest of the world." Yet here I am writing an essay about Charlotte.
Charlotte has a few words too: kitty, hi, birdie, moo, and it seems to me like daddy is emerging (Emily agrees) but that could be wishful thinking. It's too early to call that one. She also waves hi and bye. And loves to imitate all sorts of things: laughing, coughing, kissing, and sighing.
Totally normal stuff but totally awesome for us.
3. She still loves music and dancing. She enjoys listening to Throwback Jamz with Emily. For the uninformed, Throwback Jamz is a music station I stumbled upon for my two favorite ladies on our Comcast cable. It is a radio station on your TV that plays "all your favorite R&B and hip-hop jams from back in the day to the 90s."
4. Her favorite toys are pots and pans (real original Charlotte) and my face in the cat door. I lie prone on the basement stairs, with the basement door closed,and stick my head through the cat door. Yesterday when I was washing dishes, she went over to the cat door and pushed it open and said, "Hi!" I was like, "Ummm, hey genius, I'm over here standing by the sink, Charlotte." It was pretty funny.
5. She also likes to open and close books over and over again (again, way to be a cliche, Charlotte) and she does love a farm that Emily got from her mom's after she died. So it is always nice to see her play with those farm animal toys and the barn. Unfortunately she also really loves my smart phone as much as I do and is absolutely giddy when she sees it. She can't wait to push all the buttons on it, just like I do. It's a little unsettling. So the phone now goes straight into hiding when I get home.
6. Charlottes LOVES to be outside. Again, how unique. Winter is going to suck for the both of us. She will learn to hate the indoors as much as I hate the cold. Misery loves company.
7. Her disposition never ceases to amaze me. I don't know how to articulate it beyond this: Charlotte guided us and continues to guide us through the pain of losing her Bubbe. And as fall colors turn to dark mornings, early nights, and stark months of ice and snow brought in by the winds from the west, there is no one I want by my side more than Charlotte.
Last weekend we had a big birthday party for Charlotte, Netta and Bailey. If you bring your baby's birth certificate in to Lund's you can get a free cake for your baby's first birthday, so we got three cakes.
Charlotte loves leaves. She and Pancho have an affinity for sticks. Whenever we pass a tree she reaches out to touch the trunk and will smile and laugh as she pats the bark and soaks up its texture. At our nearby park she will roll onto her back and look up the leaves against the sky and smile, babble, and laugh as the trees sway in the wind. Next to Charlotte's changing table, Emily put some decals up of a giant tree with birds and flowers. Charlotte stares, laughs, points, and babbles at the decals. She will even happily say "birdie" every now and then when we point and look at the bird decals together. Trees just might be her favorite thing.
And to top it off, she is tree-like herself. She is not exactly overly-mobile. Plus she is a giant, in the 95th percentile for height and weight, despite being born six weeks early.
I have come to realize she is an ent. And there are worse things to be.
Ents are by far my favorite of all the critters, creatures, and characters from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's been awhile since I've seen or readThe Two Towers. But if I recall correctly ents...
contemplate and deliberate before making a decision
are cautious
observe
are as natural as nature can get
prefer peace over war but will stick up for themselves
look out for one another
are fierce warriors when called to action (still waters run deep.)
are strong, sturdy, and stable, with a tough exterior, and are not easily rattled
are verbally intelligent and enjoy a good debate
yet are quiet and unassuming and do not seek attention or the limelight
are humble.
These are all values that I respect. Charlotte may or may not acquire these values, be it with or regardless of any influence we have as parents. But based on this one picture, it looks like she is well on her ent way.
Charlotte had her 12 month well baby visit today. She is officially a giant. She weighs 24 lb 10 oz and is 30.5 inches long. That's 95th percentile all around (head circumference too!). Since her last visit, she did some major growing but maintains her proportionality from a few months ago.
Can you believe it? Actually, I can. People always say it goes so fast, and it does, but I feel like I got to spend a lot of time with Charlotte and I really savored every moment. Last night, I made a video with highlights of her first year. The keen eye will notice a few things about this video: Charlotte was F-ing tiny when she was born; the proportion of videos from her first month of life compared to the other 11 months shows how completely enchanted we were with her, or it shows how we had more time to make vidoes when other people were caring for our baby; that we could not find the Flip camera when we got home from the hospital and did not find it until early 2011; Charlotte has always been very "vocal"; she is really funny; and Charlotte is no longer tiny. In fact, yesterday at the park we were on the swings with another mom and baby. She asked me how old Charlotte was and I said, "she'll be one tomorrow!" and when I asked her how old her baby is, she said 14 months. Charlotte was a giant compared to this other girl. Poor Charlotte, she is going to be the tallest girl in class, just like mommy. We'll see how tall she is when we take her to her 12 month appointment this afternoon.
By the way, I just learned that today is the most common birthday. Having something to do with New Year's Eve....
Charlotte loves music. She does a little bouncy dance and waves her arms in the air like she just don't care. Here she is showing off with her pitch pipe and her new drum.
First, we have reports from Suze that Charlotte scootched all the way to the kitchen today. It is not exactly crawling. She basically uses her arms and drags her body behind her. It's pretty awesome. We should attach Swiffers to her clothes so she can pick up all the pet hair while she scootches. Of course, when I got home she refused to do it. Oh, the life of a working mom! Wah.
Second, Charlotte said her first word about 2 weeks ago. I've been holding out on sharing this piece of news because I wanted to have a video to go with the announcement. Alas! For weeks, Charlotte had been saying something that sounded like, "cat" but it was not very specific. Sometimes there wasn't a cat nearby or it just sounded like she was scat singing or something. Then one morning, Mike went in her room when she woke up. They were hanging out and in walks Nacho Grande and Charlotte said, "Cat!" Then she did it again. And when she came downstairs and the cats were sitting in the window, she said cat at again. Very exciting! And ironic. You see, I do not like the the cats. Earlier this summer I was looking for a new home for them (sidebar: my mom died and her cat, who is old, needs a new home. My cats are young and more likely to be adopted, or so I thought. This was right after the tornado in North Minneapolis and there was an overabundance of pets without homes. So, we kept out cats and my sister kept my mom's cat. The end.). Charlotte has been increasingly paying attention to the cats. She would reach out to pet or grab a handful of them, and she would clap at them. It actually made me hate the cats less. Then a few days later, we were listening to a CD with children's songs and there was a song with meowing and Charlotte meowed in response to the song. Looks like we've got a cat person on our hands!
Over the weekend we took Charlotte to The Fair. We had our turkey sandwiches (and I did not share with Charlotte), saw lots of animals, Mike and Suze bought some honey and we checked out the crafts. Charlotte was a trooper. I think she enjoyed the animals and that we carried her around a lot.
Charlotte checking out a goose or a goose checking out Charlotte
Rooster
After the fair we went home and Charlotte did not take a nap. Then we went to a BBQ at Josh's house. Charlotte was watching her great uncle Dick eat a corn on the cob and she was so interested! So I gave her a corn on the cob and she held it in front of her face while she moved her teeth up and down. Eventually, she figured it out and put it in her mouth.
Charlotte figuring it out
She didn't get much off the cob since she barely has any teeth. But seeing her little teeth marks on the cob was the cutest thing.
Charlotte is still figuring out how to get from one place to the other. This afternoon she backwards scooted herself under the couch. We thought it was funny. She did not.
I think it is Bailey, Charlotte, Netta. That swim suit on Charlotte is actually a size 3-6 months, hence the sausage casing effect.
Sorry if this is a redundant post for those of you who also read my sister's blog.... but I have to document the Nawrocki Carroll's visit on our blog too! The other night we all had dinner at the Garvin's. Last summer, Calvin asked me if Art was his cousin and I said not technically, but he is like an honorary cousin.
