Cheers!

Sometimes, as a parent, you just look at your kid and think, "how can this person be so incredible!?"  Last night we were eating outside on the deck, as Charlotte is very fond of dining al fresco.  Mike had not sat down yet and Charlotte said, "let's wait Mommy."  She's so conscientious. Once Mike sat down and it was OK to start eating, I raised my glass toward Mike and said, "to us!" which is our standard toast that we always make.  Charlotte, said, "No. THREE us!"  She makes my heart sing!  So, now we will clink our glasses and say "three us!" and when Happy can raise a glass we'll say "four us!"

I'm Playing a Baseball Game

We finally had our smushed garage removed, which means we had to find place to put all the stuff that was in the garage.   A lot of stuff was damaged from being exposed to rain for a month.  Some of it we threw away and some we wanted to let dry out, but there was a threat of rain so we pitched our tent and put everything in there.  Including the pack-n-play.  Charlotte thinks it lots of fun to have a camping tent in the backyard and she likes to sit in the pack-n-play and look at books.  The other day she wanted Happy in there with her.  

Also, when retrieving our things from the garage, Charlotte discovered a couple of whiffle ball bats and decided she would play a baseball game.  Charlotte's baseball game consisted of each of us hitting a large rubber ball with our respective whiffle ball bats.  Charlotte has become so much more active lately, it's really fun to see

One of two rugs drying out in the backyard.  It looks like we live in a trailer park.  Our neighbors love us.

This is What it Sounds Like

Last month, I went too see Princess, Maya Rudolph's Prince tribute band, at First Avenue.  I went with the biggest Prince fan I know, my friend Miriam, and my sister, Jessica.

Me, Miriam, and Jessica at First Ave

Princess on stage

Before you laugh, Princess is not a comedy act, but a genuine tribute to the Purple One (by the way, my friend, Rachel, says that sincerity is the new irony).  For a couple weeks before the concert I was listening to some classic 80's Prince in the car - Controversy, Purple Rain, Sign of the Times.  I was looking forward to the concert and I figured listening to loud Prince music in the car is good for babies.   I need to indoctrinate Charlotte and her future baby sister.  Of course, listening to loud Prince music in the car goes hand in hand with singing really loud in the car.   Fun for me, and hopefully setting a good example for Charlotte - don't be afraid to let go and be yourself!  So, yesterday we were driving to Easter dinner at our friend's house and Purple Rain was playing in the car while Mike and I were busy talking about something.  We could hear Charlotte singing in the back, and Mike asked if I knew what she was singing.  I listened carefully and she was singing the chorus of Purple Rain in a cute little voice.  I felt a surge of motherly pride.  Then on the way home she was singing again and I said, "oh!  I think I know what she is singing!"  She was singing The Beautiful Ones, a song that is particularly fun to sing in the car.  Here is a video of Princess singing The Beautiful Ones, fast forward to about 1:49 and watch to the end, you will see why it feels so good to belt this one out. You also will see what a bad ass Maya Rudolph as a pregnant performer.  It was inspiring.

Stop Making Sense

Sometime in the past I learned (or at least think I learned) that toddlers' difficulty with abstract thought spills over to their spatial relations.  I remember some comical examples of toddlers trying to put huge dolls in tiny chairs or being satisfied with a tiny doll in a huge chair.

I looked around the internet for awhile but could not find a succinct link or video to share.  Instead my search was cluttered by a lot of website telling parents all sorts of games they can do with their kid to develop spatial relations skills.

Regardless, Charlotte is a poster-child for a toddler's inability to compare the sizes of two things before determining if they should go together.  She daily gives Emily or me some of her clothes (or ours) to put on her baby doll or stuffed animal of choice.

However, today's request was beyond ridiculous.

You may have to look closely, but there is a doll-house sized dollhead peaking out of one of Charlotte's shirt. Clearly her abstract spatial reasoning is a work in progress. Well, either that or she is a huge Talking Heads fan.

The Language Explosion, part II



This mobile lives at the National Gallery of Art

The other night, Charlotte was  looking at a book of Calder mobiles and she said, "look at these!"   That's right, a three word phrase. And it made sense.

Word Up

In the last two weeks, Charlotte has had the language explosion.  A couple weeks ago, we actually counted how many words she has.  It's a long story.  Our pediatrician was concerned that Charlotte is not walking yet so she wanted us to see a pediatric neurologist.  It was kind of a waste of time, because he barely even examined her and then concluded that there is nothing wrong with her and she "marches to the beat of her own drum" and will walk when she is ready.  On the way home from the appointment, we were talking about how our baby is actually a genius, a non-walking 19 month old genius!  Sooo, we counted how many words she had and the number was 30.  Since then, she has added new words and phrases everyday.  She has recently shown interest in her baby doll and putting the baby to bed and saying, "night night baby."  She has always requested music, but now she requests specific songs - she says, "music cows" when she wants to hear this song about cows from the Philadelphia Chickens CD.

 listen here

Last week I gave her a cup of water and she said, "agua."  She picked up a little Spanish from the guest babysitters.  She asks to go "outside" all the time, and if we mention outside and she overhears she starts to whine, kind of like Poncho.  She says "thank you" all the time.  I am so proud.  She also says "mmm please" which could mean more please or me please, I am not sure.  And of course, she says no a lot!

Mug Shot

She put the blue washable marker in her mouth.

DIY Sliding

Scooter

This is what happens when your child's preferred mode of transportation is scooting on her butt.

Good Times

Things you can play with that are not toys.

The cat door.

Lids!

This funky bag from Bubbe's house.

1.... 2.... 3!

Weee!!!

Warrior Face Paint

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.

Movin' on Up

Charlotte's moving!  But she can only move backwards.... in the bathtub.

Then she is all about the splashing.