Charlotte's Web

From Month 8

Charlotte has been changing so quickly lately that I thought it warranted a mid-month post! And it did, but, that goal was a bit too lofty for me. Heck, I'm lucky if I get a post up before the next month is due! Please click READ MORE to hear more about Charlotte's 8th month of life.

From the middle of March Charlotte has been pulling herself up on anything and everything she can (including other small children...). You can see the video of one of her first times pulling herself up during a nap in a previous post by Rick. At playgroups she will use anything around her to get up and sadly that ends up being whichever smaller baby is nearest. In the mornings she now does her own little circuit of activities in the house all on her own. She heads over to her music table, pulls herself up, and practices piano along with other activities to improve dexterity. She then wanders to the freezer where she plays her own game of pull off the clippy magnet and try to put it back on, and then pull it off and then hide it somewhere else. She then will settle down with her bag of garlic and try to drag it around the room. She has a fascination with remotes, wires, cords, and plugs (not sure where she got that from...) and is always attracted to them. In the blink of an eye she can get to the other side of the couch or room with the right incentive.

Our quiet little girl has become quite the chatter box, and she was quick to let everyone know that she is a Daddy's girl! Her first word was "Da-Da." and she went on saying da-da non-stop for about 3 weeks straight! Then abruptly she stopped saying it and started saying "Ga-Ga." Interestingly, this coincided with her visits from both grandma's. I don't think this was a coincidence, but then that means I am stuck with hoping for third place- but right now it looks like "ma-ma" is losing out to "duck."

This month Charlotte started her swim classes and her sign language classes. She LOVES the water and is very much a natural at the whole swimming thing. Rick takes her twice a week to a class and we try to go the open swim another time during the week for fun. She sings songs, floats on her back, does submersions under the water and gets to play with other babies. Rick absolutely LOVES the sign class that they are taking. He came home from the first day super excited and very impressed that he learned over 40 signs. We had already introduced some basic signs with mealtime and are looking forward to all the new ways we can sign with Charlotte. It is very fun watching which signs she will chose to use.

Charlotte had a nice long visit from Grammie (Rick's mom) who came all the way from Buffalo. It was wonderful to see how Charlotte connected and interacted with Grammie. Rick and I appreciated the help and enjoyed the visit. Grammie got to meet Charlotte's friends, go to her playgroups, swim classes, sign class and we even took a special trip to the Cal Academy of Sciences. Over Easter weekend Nana (my mom) came up to visit as well. Grammie and Nana decided they wanted some time to spoil Charlotte without Rick or I there so they sent us out on our first date night since Charlotte was born. They did the whole bath and bedtime routine and we heard that Charlotte went down without a fuss! Thank you so much! On Saturday morning Rick, Charlotte and I ran the "Running of the Bulls - 5k" with our friends Isa, Johan and baby June while Grammie and Nana cheered us on. Charlotte was a champ in the stroller, and afterwards Charlotte adn June ahd a wrestling match before getting pictures taken with the local cows and a bull! One of the coolest things was that Charlotte got her first official race t-shirt, well onesie to be exact, but still very, very cool! The rest of our weekend was spent at easter parties with some of our baby friends, we even got a nice family photo with the Easter Bunny!

Rick and I are absolutely amazed by what a wonderful little girl Charlotte is. We love her so much and are proud to be her mom and dad. Not a day goes by that we don't stop and share how happy we are to have her in our life. Happy 8 month Birthday Charlotte, mommy and daddy love you very much!

Enjoy some pictures from Charlotte's 8th month of life!