Toy Box
We are blessed to have so many toys that Charlotte can keep some at both our home and her grandparents. I just can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!
Crayons Do Not Go In the Mouth
Thanks to my friend's Tess suggestion, I decided to let Charlotte have a try at the good ol' crayons and coloring book. $2 at the dollar store should provide us lots of entertainment in the weeks to come. Labels: fun, picture, unschooling, video
1st time with crayons from Jennifer S on Vimeo.
My Day, by Charlotte Moon
(For an almost 11-month old, Charlotte is very verbose. Below, she describes her day. I'll share some pictures too. Charlotte wrote this last night, but since I already had 2 posts yesterday I waited until today to share this.) This morning, I woke up a little late. Normally I am by by 7 am, but I slept all the way until 7:11! Mommy was happy for the extra 11 minutes of sleep. Once Mommy and I went downstairs, she served me a yummy breakfast of yogurt mixed with oatmeal and banana chunks. I really like that breakfast but hope she gives me some blueberries again soon. Mommy and I played on the floor for a little while. She said something about waiting for me to get a dirty diaper before we left. I looked all over, but couldn't find one to get for her. Eventually though, we went for a walk. Well, Mommy walked and I sat in the stroller. It is too hot for her to wear me right now. We visited our friend Nancy at CVS (she's the cashier) and got some good deals on stuff Mommy said she "needed." Oh, and then we visited the consignment shop next door. I forgot to mention that we met some other people that live in our complex. First, we met Momo and her dog Coco. Momo is a mechanical engineering student at USF and she lives with her boyfriend Michael. Then, we met Hector and his wife Lydia. They are both from Puerto Rico and are now retired. Hector invited us in for a minute because we were comparing the layout of our units. I hope we get to see them again. They were nice people. I was so worn out by all the visiting and shopping, I fell asleep in my stroller on the way back. When I woke up, Mommy gave me a yummy lunch of shells and cheese with carrots. No fruit this time. The carrots were only okay, but I pretty much ignored them once the cheesy shells came along. Then, we played some more. Mommy sings songs to me and we roll the ball around too. I did have some free play time in which I climbed into her cabinets. Of course, I had to empty them first. :) Finally, I got kind of grumpy and tired, so Mommy gave me some of her special milk and then I fell asleep again. Mommy was so nice and let me stay in her arms the entire time, even though I am sure her leg fell asleep. Afterwards, we watched The Big Comfy Couch. I think that is my new favorite show! Dinner was the same as lunch. Then we did some more playing in the living room. I wanted to take another walk, but the weather didn't look so good for being outside. Now though, it is time to go to bed. I love bath time and hope Mommy gives me a bath first. Good night! **Mommy here... Charlotte was mesmerized by the Big Comfy Couch show. I've rarely seen her sit THIS still! She stayed there without moving for about 2-3 minutes, at least a couple of times!
Charlotte Meets Alivia
My friend Dawn and her husband Larry recently adopted Alivia from Taiwan. I finally had a chance to take Charlotte in to meet Alivia this week and here are the videos from the occasion. They played well together though I did have to keep an eye on Charlotte to make sure she played nice. As a side note, I think Alivia is the second most adorable baby in the world and is about 6 weeks younger than Charlotte. She has such a sweet, even temperament too... nothing like Charlotte! Warning: Make sure you stop the videos that come after the one of the babies. There might be some curse words and the content is kind of sketchy. I have NO idea why Crackle is showing those videos after Dawn's baby videos. From Crackle: From Crackle:
The Little Dipper
I've observed over the last several weeks that Charlotte really prefers to feed herself. She will tolerate you giving her the first 4-6 bites and then an occasional one every now and again, but if she can put the food in her mouth herself everyone is happier at the dinner table. I bought her some dipping tools to use for self-feeding a while ago and have never really given them to her to use. Tonight though, I needed some help in giving her the applesauce since she wouldn't let me give it to her and I wouldn't let her use her fingers. So out came the little dipper. It turns out, Charlotte was a pro at using it. I showed her a couple of times and she got the hang of it super fast. It does appear she is going to be a lefty. G-ma should like that! "Watch me put the dipper in the cup." "Now I'm going to put it in my mouth." "Ahhhhh... yummy!" 
Charlotte's First Time in the Pool
I don't have the ability to edit these videos, so please ignore my thighs. :)
At first, she isn't too sure what we are doing to her. But she does warm up to it pretty quickly.
Chair Lift
Bruce and I had fun leaving Charlotte with Grumpy and G-ma this afternoon while we took a chair lift ride up to the top of the mountain we have been staying on. Labels: picture, vacation, video
If you aren't scared of heights and want to pretend like you rode along with us, take a look at my video below.
Bubble Fun
Charlotte loves bubbles! And now, I have video evidence to prove it.
(Oh and these should make up for the lack of pictures on her 10-month post. I don't have internet access on my own computer this week.)
Bubbles 3 from Jennifer S on Vimeo.
Yummy Yogurt & Bananas
This is my first full week having Charlotte full-time. I now have the privilege of feeding her all three of her daily meals, instead of letting daycare do it.
I have been trying to figure out how I would add dairy to her diet and kept looking longingly at the YoBaby yogurt by Stonyfield Farms. I really didn't want to spend the money on it ($3.69 for a 6 pack) and asked some other mommas (blogging and real life) what they did. And yep, they all said to get the YoBaby.
So last night I bit the bullet and bought it. This morning Charlotte had her first vanilla yogurt and we all agreed that she LOVED it! She had nursed about 30-minutes earlier and only ate half of the 4 oz container, which I am totally fine with. Then, she had some bananas.
Bananas are slippery little suckers too! When she couldn't keep them in her hands, she would just lean over and suck them off of the table. I tried to get video of that, but once the camera came out she became quite accomplished at picking up the bananas.
Yummy Bananas from Jennifer S on Vimeo.
No No No
Labels: video
No-No-No from Jennifer S on Vimeo.
Crash!
I know it is wrong to laugh at one's daughter when she falls flat on her face. But c'mon. Tell me this isn't hilarious!
Charlotte is On the Move
She's about 8 1/2 months old and right on schedule, despite her tiny size. I don't know what the deal with using the knee/toe push-off combination is though... but it gets her moving!
Crawling from Jennifer S on Vimeo.
Thanks for the tip on Vimeo Steve. I just needed a place to put my raw footage so I could share it here. This works great!
My First Video Blog
Who Needs Expensive Toys
So much money has been spent on fancy electronic toys for Charlotte. And what does she decide to play with? A thrift store sneaker!
Labels: video
Pull & Bang
Charlotte likes to pull on things. She also likes to spend time in her walker, so long as it is in whatever room we are in. She has to be in eye-sight of Bruce or I. She doesn't have object permanence yet. You put her love of pulling on things and Momma and Daddy in the kitchen, and this is what you get:
Charlotte also likes to hang out in her high chair (now that we've got it assembled!). After we had a small taste of banana and brown rice, she decided to form a one-baby band. Enjoy the music!
Labels: video
Friday Night Firsts
While technically, Charlotte first tried sweet potatoes on Monday evening, tonight was the first Friday night she had them, so it still counts! Please excuse the video quality, I was trying to feed her and videotape her at the same time. I was mainly trying to capture how she likes to lean into the spoon instead of waiting for it to come to her. Labels: food, house, milestone, video
Smitten
As I mentioned previously, Charlotte has really honed the skill of sitting up straight. And while this last video isn't nearly as exciting as the first, it does show off more of Charlotte's sitting up skills. She loves to beat things now that she knows how. This includes beating mommy on the back in an attempt to burp mommy, beating the ground to make noise, and beating mommy in the nose to wake her up in the middle of the night. I don't mind the first two, but a simple noise or wiggle would be enough to wake me up! You can also see though, that she is able to pull herself back up into a seated position after leaning over to play the drums ground.
Last night while we were at dinner with our friends, Charlotte experienced another first. I wish I had pictures of it, but she sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time! This skill of sitting up is coming in handy for us. I did put a pillow in there so she wouldn't get worn out from being in the chair and so she would be more comfy. Sorry though, no pictures of the chair since I didn't have my camera on me. Stay tuned... I'll announce my giveaway winner soon! Labels: friends, milestone, picture, video
I am so in love wih my daughter. There doesn't seem to be anything she does that doesn't automatically prompt me to kiss her and tell her how cute she is. I think about her all of the time and when she is sleeping I like to look at her pictures and watch videos of her. (I hope this is normal.) It really isn't fair though for Bruce and I to keep her all to ourselves though, so here are some pictures and video from the last week or so.
Except for the drool she is constantly trying to share with others, she really is quite the little lady. Last night I was trying to help Caleb, a kindergartner, understand that Charlotte is about 6 months old. He doesn't understand fractions yet though, so I asked if he had ever had an apple. Of course, he had. So I explained that a 1 year old baby was lilke a whole apple, but Charlotte was just half of an apple. He seemed to understand that better and it helped that Charlotte had apples embroidered on her outfit.
Big Day
I've known for a couple of days that Charlotte is capable of rolling over from her back to her tummy. It's just that, she wouldn't let us see her do it. Until today. And let me tell you, once she started... she didn't want to stop! We hope you enjoy the video.
Entered in the Silly Day, Silly Picture contest.
New Baby Noise
This past weekend Charlotte started making a new noise. It is too cute to not share with everyone.
Sippy Cup Practice
We have been trying to work with Charlotte using a sippy cup instead of a bottle. I don't think we are anywhere close to making the switch, but we are getting there. This is a video of her trying to use it today. Bruce picked a time when she wouldn't be too hungry to concentrate but she was alert enough to try a new thing. I also think she is getting ready to roll over back to tummy soon because she keeps arching her back, like you'll see in the video.
