Is it too late to wish you a happy 2012?

We're already over a month into the new year and I'm long overdue for a post. My excuse is that January was not the best month for us health-wise - nothing crazy, just a (second round of) run-of-the-mill stomach bug for Charlotte (which I somewhat successfully warded off, and James a little less so) and then colds all around. Last weekend we emerged from under our shells and hosted dinner with some friends. This weekend we basked in balmy above zero weather and did some fun activities with Charlotte that we haven't had a chance to do in awhile, like swimming (and photographed and posted ads for a bunch of our furniture on kijiji since we're doing some redecorating. We've learned that people are crazy about Ikea Expedit furniture. Tangentially, some of the stuff people do here is amazing: http://www.ikeahackers.net/ ).

Charlotte is generally delightful these days, in my opinion! She had her 18 month vaccination last week and is holding steady in the 90th percentile for height and weight. The past couple of days she's been eating and sleeping even more than usual, so we're thinking it's a bit of a growth spurt. She talks all the time, including three or four word phrases. She has memories/stories that she repeats frequently. These include a time last month when we were getting home past Charlotte's nap time and she had fallen asleep in the car, and I accidentally set off the car alarm and woke her up (poor kid!). The story usually gets told something like this: "tar, beep, youd (loud). All benner" (because we assured her it was all better, ie. not beeping any more. Is this going to come up in a shrink's office later in life?).

Charlotte's started singing sometimes, usually her take on an old family lullaby, "Bye low" - it's pretty funny though, since she often belts it out to herself in her crib after waking up in the morning or from a nap. Although her singing does not necessarily bode well for her musicality at this stage, she has correctly identified piano music on the radio several times which I think is kind of neat. One of my favourite things that she does right now is pretend to read a book. Her pretend reading always sounds like this: "yo yo yo yo yo". And then she will usually look over at us and smile, knowing she's being funny. She hasn't figured out colours yet (or she's colour-blind, we're the teensiest bit concerned since she's got so much else figured out...) and when we ask her what colour something is she'll almost always say "blue" or "geen". When we tell her what the actual colour is she'll often then continue to call it "geen" and laugh. She's becoming much more decisive and expressive about what she wants. In particular, when she wants us to join her and play she'll often point to a spot on the floor beside her and say, "sit here!"

We haven't been very good about taking photos lately, but I'll post the best of what we have.

Swamped...

...with work that is. So instead of a post, you'll have to make do with this photo of Charlotte that I took a couple of weeks ago at a nearby bakery (one of my favourite places in Edmonton).

Charlotte and Molly out for tea

Favourite things

I thought a fun way to give you a snapshot of Charlotte would be to fill you in on what some of her favourite things are these days:

At the top of the list would have to be HATS. She loves them: wearing them, cuddling with them, pointing them out in books and on people on the street. Most days when I drop her off at daycare she keeps her hat on until after I've left. She usually spends the first few minutes of the day on Rosa's lap (her favourite worker) sucking her thumb and rubbing her hat with the other hand. And when I pick her up in the afternoon, she gives me a smile but I often don't even get a hug before she's heading straight for her cubby to retrieve her hat. I don't think I've had to buy Charlotte one hat yet - she's gotten some really lovely ones as gifts in a nice range of sizes - so if you're one of our hat-giving friends, you should know that they are loved!

Her BED: Charlotte loves her bed (I take complete credit, justified or not: like mother like daughter). She's a good little sleeper, and when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap she's usually happy to chill out in her bed for awhile. Sometimes she even gets upset when we take her out of her bed. She'll lie there sucking her thumb, playing with a stuffed animal, or cudding with her covers.

WALKING and DOING STAIRS: Charlotte is walking quite comfortably now. She stills falls down regularly, but gets herself back up right away (bum first, by pushing up with her hands and feet on the floor). She seems more independent now that she's walking, and it's also entertaining for her to walk around. She drawn to stairs like a magnet, and loves going up and down. Above all, she loves BEING CHASED, especially by Daddy. When she hears James coming in the door, she immediately starts running away while going "YAHHH!" (her impression of the roaring noise James makes when he chases her).

BOOKS with moveable parts: Charlotte has a couple of books with parts that move or sections of the page that pull up and down. These are her favourites, but they're definitely the worse for wear. One page that's supposed to feature wagging fox tails is completely destroyed, but she'll still turn to that page, point to the torn part and say "wa wa wa" (wag wag wag).

SALMON and RAISIN BRAN (not in combo): Charlotte's a decent eater, but she loves salmon/rainbow trout most of all. She can really put it away. Raisin bran is her breakfast of choice. The last time I tried to do oatmeal for breakfast she was having none of it. She turned down a spoonful with a firm "no", pointed to the kitchen and said "wee" (raisins)?  One of several indications we now have a toddler on our hands, not a baby: she knows what she wants! Other favourite foods include sweet potato fries, peas, corn, pineapple, bananas, and Aeroroot biscuits.

CARS or any vehicle with wheels, really: Charlotte calls them "tar", makes a "broom" sound for them, and points out the "wyl". She'll imitate the sound of a car horn or truck backing up when she hears it. Often on our way home from daycare we'll pass a bike locked up in a bike rack and she'll want to stop and inspect it.

Old favourites that Charlotte still loves include her stuffed animals, especially her rabbit, and taking baths.

Our little flapper

Charlotte is starting to "daw"...

...but we still have to keep a close eye on her.

Goofing off in the suitcase before we went to Calgary for the weekend.

Just the right size.

Buzz-cut Baby

So I promised to let you know how things went while I was away in Ottawa and James and Charlotte were on their own for a couple of days...

I had a fabulous trip: beautiful wedding, happy couple, catching up with family, encouraging lunch discussing dissertation stuff with my supervisor, and 20+ degree weather. It really couldn't have been better.

With my cousin Katherine at her wedding

James and Charlotte had a great time too. Including the part where James cut Charlotte's hair... I'm not kidding. I came back to a buzz-cut baby! He told me on the phone Saturday morning while I was still in Ottawa, and I was a little less than impressed. To his credit, James' heart was in the right place: he felt bad that her hair was getting in her eyes. "But", I protested, "it was almost long enough to stay behind her ears!" I didn't mention that I'd specifically showed him where to find her hair barrettes before I left. Ah well. It's just hair. And Charlotte's fine with it. Although the fact that she has less hair around the ears may explain her recent obsession with wearing hats...

Freshly shorn. Notice the path of destruction behind her.

Sitting up tall. And wearing the sweater Grandma made her.

First steps

Yes, first steps! Charlotte took hers on Sunday evening. James and I got her to take a couple of steps back and forth between us. She thought it was a fun game. It quickly evolved into lunging for us instead of actually walking, but it was exciting while it lasted! Since then Charlotte has continued to crawl and rely on her "bee" (push toy) to get around, but the day is coming when she'll be walking on her own. 

Other firsts around here lately: first frost. The leaves have changed, and I think there are now more down than up. Fall is beautiful in Edmonton, but so short. I try not to think about that last part too much. This time of year really is lovely, and I've had ample opportunity to enjoy it since my commute to the university is a pleasant twenty minute walk, mostly through our tree-lined neighbourhood streets. But it's hard not to anticipate winter as the temperatures drop. The sad reality is that the trees in Edmonton are bare more of the year than they are in leaf!

And one more first: first ear infection. Charlotte has adjusted to daycare, and overall is doing really well with it. There are still tears most mornings (although not all!), but they stop almost as soon as I've left the room, and I almost always return in the afternoon to find her playing happily. She has, however, had her share of sickness that seems to inevitably come with starting daycare, including her first ear infection and two colds. Apart from one first miserable day with the ear infection she hasn't been overly bothered by it all.

Charlotte is over fourteen months old now and with each day is becoming more of a toddler: eager to move, curious about everything, chatty, and she's becoming quite the little climber too. She is turning into such a happy little girl, and very affectionate; we're really enjoying this stage. Her language skills haven't changed dramatically - "up" is still her only fully articulated word, along with "dada" and "mama" - but she's making new sounds, understands a lot of what we say, and generally does a pretty good job of making herself understood. Two of her favourite words are "hi" and "bye", which sound more like "ha" and "ba ba" (accompanied by waving, of course). She's pretty serious about her greetings, and the funniest thing is the way she makes sure to say "ha" and "ba ba" to us as she moves around the condo. She also likes vehicles quite a lot, and has sounds for car ("ta"), bus ("buh" - also bug), and truck ("tuh"). She also has a funny way of saying "tickle" which is also the same for "chicken" ("ticka ticka ticka")! Charlotte is also taller than ever - I haven't measured recently, but she's really stretched out lately.

Tomorrow I go to Ottawa for two days to attend my cousin's wedding, and James and Charlotte will be staying behind - a first for all of us. I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends, and James is looking forward to some quality time with the munchkin. We'll let you know how it all goes...

Above photos by our talented sister-in-law Anne MacRae http://web.me.com/annemacrae/home.html

Photo Update

In the playhouse at the public health centre (waiting to get immunized)

Opening and closing the patio doors: a favourite past-time.

 

 

 

Listening to Daddy's "muh" (music)

Getting so tall. How do you feel about walking, kiddo?

A good part of every day is spent bombing around our place with her bee.

August

I really need to post more regularly because when I sit down to post after more than a month I feel like there's so much to catch you up on. There have been some big events around here over the past few weeks, so I'll do my best for now, and I promise to post more frequently from now on.

On August 9, James was called to the Bar. It was the culmination of three years of law school plus one demanding year of articling (combined with an intense first year of parenting) - definitely an achievement worth celebrating, if you ask me! We were so happy to have James' parents, Granma, brother Sam and his wife Anne here for the occasion, close family friends Ken and Georgia, and my parents too. It was a lovely ceremony at the courthouse, followed by a reception at the firm and a nice family dinner to cap off the day. Charlotte was at the bar call too - or most of it, anyway: she got tired of sitting and not being able to explore the courtroom, and my Mom kindly offered to take her out and kept her happy in the foyer for the last few minutes. In the evening a friend put Charlotte to bed and stayed with her for the evening so we could enjoy a leisurely late dinner. In addition to celebrating James' accomplishment we just really enjoyed the chance to visit with family. Charlotte seemed to enjoy it too. No surprise there - apart from the half hour bar admission ceremony she was generally the centre of attention!

 The other big event of late has been my return (turn, more like) to work and Charlotte's start at daycare. I'm teaching a course this semester at the smaller local university, conveniently located just a fifteen minute walk from our place, and also working on finishing my dissertation. In order for this to happen, we placed Charlotte in daycare at the start of September. I'm not going to lie - we're still in the adjustment phase, and it's been tough. The first day was pretty good, the second day a little less so. Then there was the long weekend, followed by a bad teething day (the only really bad one she's ever had) - it was a non-teaching day so I stayed home with her. The first day back after four days away was so rough that the staff were concerned that Charlotte might be getting sick and called James to pick her up at 2:30. They hadn't been able to get her to sleep, eat or drink. But when she got home she was happy as a clam and put food away like usual, so we knew it was difficulty adjusting rather than sickness. The upside of this is that we've been really impressed with how the staff have handled it and the care they've given Charlotte. She's in a daycare at an elementary school just up the street. She's in the youngest room, for 12 to 24 month olds, and there are three staff for ten children (in theory -I've never actually seen more than eight there at any one time). All three are so calm and gentle and because Charlotte's been having a tough time they've been giving her a lot of one-on-one attention. The last two days of the week went better than Wednesday. She has a blanket from home there now for nap time, along with a couple of familiar books, and most importantly, she brings her Rabbit with her now. It's an adorable fat rabbit that Uncle Dan and Aunt Sarah gave her for Christmas. Charlotte is really into stuffed animals and blankets these days (anything soft), and the Rabbit is her favourite (with the pink bear her great-grandma gave her a close second). She's been clutching it so tightly at daycare that she's made permanent little handprints. Kind of heartbreaking, but it's definitely helped! Because my schedule is flexible she's only going for about six hours a day, with a 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap in the middle, and I feel really fortunate for that. I'm expecting tomorrow to be a rougher go again, but hopefully by the end of the week she'll be starting to feel a bit more settled and secure there.

I'll save an update on Charlotte's emerging abilities and personality for next time, except to say that she's becoming more and more affectionate which has been really gratifying for us. It's so sweet and affirming when she crawls over and puts her head on our legs, or snuggles her head into our shoulders, or ever so often, plants us with a full on kiss!

Last week the weather was the hottest week of the summer, hitting 30 degrees.