Three

On July 25th we celebrated three years of Charlotte. Charlotte's birthday fell on a Thursday this year and it turned into something of a birthday week: my parents and sister Amy were up for a visit the weekend before Charlotte's birthday (to help celebrate my birthday), and James' Mom flew in from Toronto the night before Charlotte's big day and stayed through the weekend. I didn't plan much in the way of a party: Charlotte's still fairly shy and I knew a big party wouldn't be her thing and, to be honest, with a two-month-old taking up a lot of my attention I didn't have much creative energy to put into it. We had a nice birthday lunch and fun afternoon playing with two little friends. Granny's visit made the occasion really special. The chocolate cupcakes I made for the celebration were also a big hit with Charlotte.

A happy birthday = waking up to a visit from Granny.

A rare family shot, taken on Charlotte's birthday.

Charlotte has reached a number of milestones in recent weeks. With all the outdoor play this summer, as well as her physical development, her coordination and agility have improved a lot. She can climb almost all the different play structures at the various parks in our neighbourhood independently, she can use a "big girl" swing (although still opts for the "baby swing" more often than not), and now enjoys climbing up slides even more than going down. She's also learned to ride a tricycle in the past week - something I didn't realize was a learned skill until she first got the trike a couple of months ago. Charlotte is also (huge sigh of relief) potty-trained. We haven't had battles with her over food and sleep, for the most part, but potty-training was a struggle. It wasn't that she couldn't get it, it was that she didn't want to - which was extremely frustrating! Using the washroom is still far from her favourite thing to do, but she is and accidents are becoming more and more infrequent. Charlotte can also dress and undress herself, apart from needing some help with buttons and zippers.
 
Reading books together is one of Charlotte's favourite activities. Some of the ones getting the most airtime these days are Madeline, The Paper Bag Princess, and the original Curious George books - some of James' and my early favourites from childhood. Charlotte's level of comprehension is improving a lot, evidenced by her questions - we're in the "Why?" stage. We've just recently started watching movies together, and Charlotte's developed a bit of an obsession with the Finding Nemo and Cars movies. I got a popcorn maker from Charlotte and George for Mother's Day and it's been fun to have the occasional movie night. All in all, Charlotte is seeming more like a preschooler than a toddler. Incidentally, she'll be starting preschool in a little over a month.

"Cheese!"

Next week George will be three months old. He had his first set of immunizations last week and is officially off the charts as far as weight, exceeding the 97th percentile! Our not-so-little guy is already pushing 17 pounds. He is doing great all around. Any problems with digestion are all but gone. He's sleeping well at night and is also a better napper than Charlotte was. George smiles a lot and has been starting to laugh in the past couple of weeks. Tickles and "hide-and-go-seek" are the easiest ways to elicit laughter from him. Once he's been fed he's usually contented and demands little from us until he's getting close to his next nap or bedtime. George is fascinated by his hands, and is getting better at manoevring his hand into his mouth to suck on. He's a sweet little guy and Charlotte has warmed up to him and begun initiating interactions with him, showing him toys or books to try and entertain him and keep him happy.
 

We head to Kelowna on Sunday for a week of holidays with my family. We're looking forward to some relaxation, family time, free babysitting, and hopefully sun.

Eight weeks

George is coming up on eight weeks now and continues to thrive. He's growing like a weed. At his six week check-up he weighed 13 pounds 5 ounces, so I'm guessing he's closing in on 14 pounds now. This kid is huge! Charlotte was big, but I think at two months George is going to be roughly the size that Charlotte was at three months. The cloth diapers we used for both kids come in two sizes, the first up to 15 pounds and the second 15-35 pounds: we switched Charlotte up to the second size at three months and I just switched George up to the larger size today. He's not at 15 pounds yet but he's close enough that the larger size works better. He usually only does five feedings a day, but he's obviously getting what he needs!

George is smiling and starting to coo and "talk" more and more. He's pretty relaxed and low maintenance. After he feeds, he'll usually be awake and content for about 30-45 minutes before starting to get tired and fuss. He likes his tummy, and he fell asleep on his tummy a couple of times in early days (unlike Charlotte, who hated "tummy time"), so we started putting him down for naps on his tummy occasionally: against medical advice, I know! I was definitely more paranoid/conscientious the first-time round... Then, over the past week, I discovered that the solution to a problem we were having with him rousing from his naps after only half-an-hour was to put him down to sleep when he was awake rather than rocking him to sleep. This problem was especially bad when he'd be up to feed at 4:30 in the morning, after a long sleep stretch, and I could only manage to get him back to sleep for half-an-hour before he'd be up again. We've been putting him down awake for some of his naps for awhile now, but I hadn't tried this at night. So a few nights ago, when he was clearly tired and wanting to sleep, I put him back to bed while he was still awake and after a few minutes of fussing he fell back to sleep for close to four hours! It's continued to work since, so fingers crossed that this pattern persists.

Smiles.

Cousins

I've been doing a lot of baby-wearing with George. We did some with Charlotte too, but used the stroller a whole lot more. Early on baby-wearing seemed to help George settle. I'm not sure if it helped his gas pain, or if he just found it secure and comfortable. Whatever it was, it worked, and I've continued to go to it as a pretty sure way to get him to sleep when he's fussy, especially in the early evening when he needs another nap to get through the day but has a difficult time falling asleep. I've also found it practical since it allows me to have my hands free to help Charlotte with various things, make meals or do housework, while still keeping George close. George routinely has one nap a day in the carrier while Charlotte and I go to the park, run errands, or do some other activity. One other reason for all the baby-wearing is that Charlotte is not keen on sharing "her" stroller. I think we'll probably pick up a double stroller soon, but for now the baby carrier is working well.

Charlotte is doing well. She's still not overly interested in George, although she's gentle with him. She's become a very imaginative little girl, and most of my day is spent having conversations with her personifying her stuffed animals and dolls.She tests her limits and pushes our buttons not infrequently these days, as I imagine most nearly-three-year-olds do, but she also loves to laugh and spontaneously tells us she loves us. We hear our words echoed in her conversations with her stuffed animals; reassuringly, it's usually positive. Charlotte has learned many of the letters in the alphabet by playing with fridge magnets and reading books. She likes visits to the library - especially when we take the bus. Socially, she's interested in other kids but is shy about engaging with them. Some of her very favourite people are her grandparents, and she's enjoyed some quality time with them over the past couple of months, with more visits coming soon.

Everything tastes better outside.

Our first visit to the Leg this summer.

Happy Canada Day!

Fun with Granny.

George

Our little guy will be four weeks old tomorrow, and although I'm sure we haven't taken as many pictures of him as we did of Charlotte (one of the cruel realities of not being a first-born), I do have a backlog of photos to share. He's a sweet baby, and is generally pretty easily settled when he gets upset. The one exception is diaper changes: he hates them, especially when he's just woken up, and screams bloody murder. It's endearing most of the time, the way he cries and works his little arms and legs - except in the middle of the night. Fortunately Charlotte, whose bedroom is right next door to his, doesn't wake up to it.

George already seems to be turning into a thumb-sucker, like Charlotte was. 

Photo credit: Charlotte.

Hanging out on the floor with the baby.

George weighed a solid nine pounds two ounces when he was born and at his first check-up at two and a half weeks he had already gained one and a half pounds. I'm guessing he's over eleven pounds now. He's outgrown two small sleepers that Charlotte wore as a newborn, and fills out his 0-3 month sized clothes. He's come through the groggy newborn stage and already seems to be settling into a pattern with periods of alert wakefulness followed by 1-3 hour naps. We anticipated that he wouldn't be able to match Charlotte when it came to sleeping through the night, but he's doing pretty well there too, saving his longest sleeping stretch for nighttime.

The biggest challenge as parents has definitely been juggling the demands of two kids. When she does pay attention to him Charlotte is always gentle with George, but in the first couple of weeks she was clearly uncertain about what this all meant for our family dynamics. Fortunately James has been able to give her a lot of attention, and between my parents and his she's had a grandparent around to spoil her with attention for much of the past month. I did have close to two days on my own with both kids last week when James was in Regina for work, and although I was a bit nervous about it it went better than I expected. George sleeps happily in the baby carrier and in his car seat, making it easy to take Charlotte on outings to the park or library, and Charlotte played well independently when I needed to give George attention. The days are long though, and we've been so fortunate to have family helping out.

I can't wait to see the relationship develop between these two.

The first time Charlotte asked to hold George.

Papa: the source of George's middle name (Douglas).

Aunt Jenny came for a whirlwind visit to meet George and catch up with Charlotte.

Charlotte was enthralled with the sister-brother dolls that James' Aunt Jill made for her and her brother (and less excited about George).

George looking alert and dapper in his sweater made by a friend of mine.

James' Mom goes home to Toronto tomorrow, marking the start of our new normal for the next few months: me on maternity leave at home with the two kids. Since Charlotte had been in daycare since she was just over thirteen months, being home full-time is a change for both of us. To be honest, as much as I've welcomed the practical help from our parents, their visits have also helped pass the time. The side of me that loves routine is a bit nervous about the unstructured summer looming ahead. We'll be calling our local friends to make plans, and I am looking forward to having more time for a social life even if it will revolve around kids for the next while. The fact that our long winter finally gave way to beautiful spring weather at the beginning of May has also helped: we're spending a lot of time outdoors and loving having a yard (however small) and frequenting the neighbourhood parks. We're also finding our new neighbourhood very friendly, so hopefully we'll also make some new friends.

Growing Up

There have been a lot of changes around here in the past six months: I finished (and successfully defended) my dissertation, meaning that for the first time since James and I met over a decade ago neither one of us is a student; we bought a new home and moved in last month; and we've been watching my belly grow and are anticipating the arrival of a new family member in May. It's been busy, at times overwhelming, but mostly exciting.

Charlotte is also changing all the time, growing up in so many ways. She continues to grow like a weed: at just over 2 1/2 years old she's about 35 pounds and now wearing size 4 clothing. We're pretty sure she's going to be tall like her Dad.

Charlotte made a smooth adjustment to the new house, and loves all the extra space to run around. Since moving we've noticed that her energy level seems to have grown with the space: she's constantly running and jumping, climbing, spinning around, and doing "somersaults". We moved her from her crib into a big bed last week and that's gone pretty smoothly too. She had never climbed out of her crib, and so far stays put in the big bed too, despite the fact that she can climb out by herself. She'll call out to us, but has yet to come find us!

We're also in the midst of potty-training, and she's doing pretty well. We'd tried for about three days over Christmas with absolutely no success, so we put it off, but she's taken to it in the past couple of weeks. We've discovered that smarties are a great motivator where Charlotte is concerned, although it's still a work-in-progress.

Charlotte moved up to an older room at daycare in December and is really loving it. It was overdue - she was the oldest in the baby room and at a different stage than many of the others - and she's enjoying the more toddler-oriented activities as well as interacting with kids on her level. She's becoming more confident and independent all the time. I love to see her playing happily when I arrive to pick her up in the afternoon. She often runs over and enthusiastically shows me what she's doing.

Charlotte's becoming a better conversationalist all the time. She seems to enjoy language, and will invariably repeat new words or phrases when she hears them. Occasionally she'll surprise us with her statements. At dinner the second evening in our new house - after a busy day of housework and unpacking - Charlotte turned to James and said: "Did you keep busy today, Daddy?" After going through a busy stage where it was hard to get her to sit still for long, she's really enjoying books these days. We're moved out of the board book stage and recently Charlotte's been enjoying "Green Eggs and Ham," "Curious George," and Robert Munsch.

James loves to tease Charlotte, and she teases him back. He's also starting to pass on his taste in entertainment. She's way more interested in his video games than I am, and she watched her first full-length movie with him a couple of weeks ago: Mega-mind. Ever since, she's been asking to watch "the blue baby" again. Her favourite show is Max and Ruby, although she seems a little less obsessed with it lately. For the longest time, she would pretend one of her hands was Max and the other was Ruby, and make them converse with each other (sometimes side characters Louise and Morris would even make an appearance - it was pretty elaborate). Occasionally, though, she would reassure us that her hands were not Max and Ruby, "they're just hands."

 Although initially Charlotte seemed threatened by the idea of a new baby in the family - especially as far as my attention is concerned - she's been warming up to the idea in the past couple of months. We'll see how she does in a couple months when the idea becomes a reality!

Two

We have a two year old! Charlotte had her second birthday in Toronto, at Granny and Grandpa's house. We spent a little over a week there at the end of July. It was very relaxing for James and me and a lot of fun for Charlotte - she got tons of attention, and had a backyard and paddling pool to enjoy. We caught up with some extended "family" and friends and enjoyed the down time.

We've enjoyed a lot of outdoor time this summer, and Charlotte's become much more agile. She's really into climbing - at the park she'd far rather climb the stairs up to the top of the slide than go down it. We've also continued to swim regularly. In June and July when I was working long hours finishing my dissertation James and Charlotte frequently went swimming on their own together. Charlotte loves the pool and it's been known to cure a bad mood...

She continues to talk up a storm. Her latest words are "frustrated" and "excited" (I'm trying to help her name her emotions!). It's kind of endearing to hear her exclaim "I'm frustrated!" as she flings a toy. She's also enjoying playing imaginatively with her toys, talking to them and describing what she's doing with them.

As September begins, I can't help but think back to last September when she started daycare. She couldn't walk, could say a handful of words, and had a tough adjustment to the new routine. This fall, we're so thankful that she's settled in well and thriving. Whether it's a function of the socialization she's had at daycare, or simply part of her maturing process, she's become much more comfortable around a variety of people. When we were in Toronto in July, and in Calgary last week for my cousin's wedding, we spent a lot of time with big groups of family and friends (a change from our quiet day-to-day lives in Edmonton) and Charlotte did great with all of it. She soaked up the attention from grandparents, aunts, and uncles, and adjusted easily to new environments. It's fun to see her growing up.

Looking intent.

Cheese!

She's put miles on this thing...

Love this place

Make-belief

Photo update

This is just a quick photo update to let you in on some of what Charlotte's been up to recently:

Charlotte was baptized in May.

Our families came from east and west (and south) for the baptism, and we had a lovely long weekend together.

Cuddles with Daddy on a Saturday morning.

Charlotte informed me that she was "working".

Doing the puzzle all by herself.

sleepers + thumb + B-I-N-G-O = good times

Exploring our "garden".

Pretty serious about her first Happy Meal.