Fashion Plate

There is a lot going on here.  Obviously using baby wipes as socks, a jacket, and a hood is worth noting, as is bleeding the family budget on wipes dry by using 20 wipes for this project.  And you may think this is a weekend morning, given the pajamas.  But this is around 4:30 two days ago on a Wednesday afternoon.  We got home from work/daycare and before we even had time to put our coats, hats, and gloves away, Charlotte was asking to change into her pajamas.  When Emily came home later she wasn't surprised.  She said Charlotte was lobbying very strongly (in her best two year old way) that morning that she wear her pajamas all day and not change into regular clothes.  Clearly this stayed with her all day and she got home with pajamas on the brain.

Perusing the Library

Today Charlotte was really into wearing a hat... it started at the Riverview Coffee Shop's play area, which had a fireman's hat she put on.  And as always, she was into books, making her Suze proud.

Rude

Charlotte has no table manners.  For the last two nights she has insisted on wearing her hat during dinner.  Right when dinner was served she ran to the basket where she keeps her winter clothes and got her hat and asked one of us to put it on.  Your guess at to why is as good as mine.

Another Day at the Office

Emily shot this video yesterday and e-mailed it to me this morning.  This is Charlotte leaving the house for the day. She has a work bag the same way Emily or I do, some keys somewhere, and then to do her own thing she is carrying a toy kennel with a stuffed dog inside.

This is a sad week for me because I go back to work Friday.  But it was another great summer thanks to Charlotte.  Last night I went for a run with a couple teachers from the school I worked at two years ago (I hang out with those folks way more than I do the staff at my present school, part of the reason I'm bummed to be going to back to work).

At the end of the run my friend and I were talking about how fortunate we are to have such a family-friendly job.  He is probably the least sentimental person I know and he said, "I love my daughter so much it hurts sometimes."

I watch this video and I know exactly what he means.


Edit:  Hey, this is Emily.  I was planning to blog that video, but Mike beat me to it.  Dang it!  I was going to post it with the picture below.  This is what I look like when we leave in the morning.  I am a bag lady, which is story in itself.  Anyway, this might be how Charlotte got the idea that dragging a big bag around means, "bye bye."

Multiple bags satelliting around her.

One Cool Kid

Happiest Baby on the Block

Actually, Charlotte was the only baby on the block until a few weeks ago.  But seriously, she is a very happy baby.  She loves to play, and eat, and talk, and take a bath, and go for walks, and read books.

Superbaby!  

Any self-respecting child born in the aughties needs to know about digital self-portraits.

Me, with my new bifocals.  I am officially old.

Ode to Bubbe

Until recently, every Friday my mom (aka Bubbe) would come over to watch Charlotte while I worked from home.  It was really nice for us.  Bubbe never shows up empty handed and each Friday she brought another dress for Charlotte.  We have a variety of sizes and seasons to choose from. Charlotte is wearing one of my favorites, a cable knit sweater dress.  In an effort to reproduce this photo of Art and his overalls, I staged this:

Charlotte was very cooperative and didn't try to eat one of the dresses until I was done.

My Real Live Doll

Baby girl clothes are sooooo irresistable!  We have plenty of clothes that were gifts or hand-me-downs, but I still want to buy an outfit for Charlotte once  in a while.   This is one of my current favorites - a dress over jeggings.  She's really working it.

Robot Slumber Party

Make fun of Emily and me all you want, but we do have a robot collection.  Here are two of the robots whose arms I could manipulate so that they are imitating a sleeping Charlotte.

More importantly, the close observer will note that Charlotte has put on a goodly amount of weight and looks like a regular old newborn and not a premie.  She has her next pediatrician's appointment tomorrow and the professional prognosticators out west have the over/under for her weight at 9 pounds 2 ounces.  I'll put my money on her being over.

Less importantly, take note that Charlotte's pants match her shirt.  Emily is always more than mildly surprised when I dress her in matching clothes.  I do take time to make sure my own clothes match in the morning before I go to work.  But her present level of surprise that I am NOT dressing Charlotte in an orange top with green stripes and pink plaid pants leads me to one of two possible conclusions.  Either I am doing a miserable job of dressing myself for work (oftentimes I do ask Emily if my slacks and shirt go with my sweater), or Emily  secretly wants me to be one of those clueless dads who dresses his kid in comical combinations because stuff like matching clothes just doesn't matter.

Well I don't think Emily will be too disappointed.  Even though I can match shirts and pants for newborns, I am pretty sure there will be millions of other parenthood traps where I will be comically clueless.