Dear Charlotte,
You have turned
into a literal mover and shaker this month.
You are scooting around the house, waving your hands like you just don’t
care, and are itching to explore every inch of the world around you. I love your sweet smiles, giggles, and even
when you “yell” at me, because I know it means you’re finding your voice in this
world. You are at one of my favorites
stages right now; you’re not totally mobile, can somewhat indicate what you
want and when you need it, but still love a good snuggle and hug.
You cannot wait
to be totally mobile and I wouldn't be surprised if you’re officially crawling
by next month. You are scooting with
reckless abandon, but can’t quite figure out how to coordinate those knees and
feet with your hands. Watching you move
around a room is like watching a Cirque du Soleil production; your movements are
a combination of rolling, scooting backwards and sideways and using your arms
to inch your entire body into a position.
And then you have to stop to chew on your toes or socks for a minute,
naturally. You routinely get yourself stuck under a chair, or the TV stand, or between the coffee table and the diaper basket and it’s funny to look over and see those arms and legs doing their best, but going nowhere.
Outside of
rolling around a room, nothing makes you happier than sitting upright with a
bin of toys. We have a small bin or
basket of your toys in most rooms in the house and simply pulling them out, a
quick stop in your mouth, and then throwing to your side or maybe putting them
back in the bin, can keep you entertained for quite a while. You can pass the toys from hand to hand and even
lean quite far if one is too far out of your immediate reach. And when you’re ready to move to another
activity, or if you’re dying to see more of whatever your sister is getting
into, you’ll topple yourself over and start the scoot.
Related to that,
we had a “buy one, get one” coupon to a local shoe store, so you have your
first pair of (soft-soled) shoes. The
reasoning behind getting shoes for a baby that can’t walk was two-fold: I knew those socks would take a beating as soon as you were crawling as I remember
vividly with your sister, and you have a love affair with your feet and
socks. You wouldn't even need toys if we’d
let you chew on your socks all day; and I’m serious when I say that would likely
be your preference.
You’re
still a very happy baby and have recently started using your arm and hand
motions to let us know when something pleases you, or when you’re about to
issue a warning cry. It’s adorable to
see those little arms start to wave around and the big smile creep push those
chubby cheeks upward. Your giggle is
still one of my favorite sounds in the entire world and I’m pretty sure that
the sound of you and your sister laughing at the same time is akin the voice of
an angel. You also get those hands
going, clenching and unclenching your fists (aka jazz hands) when you are ready
to let us know something is about to upset you.
Most often this happens when we put you in your high chair, but don’t
have your dinner immediately ready and on the table. Or when we’re approaching the last bite of
food in your bowl, but you’re still hungry; I don’t know how you can sense
that, but you can, and you let us know if “madam requests more.”
You’re growing physically as well and that belly seems to get rounder, those legs longer, and those cheeks chubbier by the day. You lost most of your baby hair and it’s being replaced with blonde locks that you love to play with, especially when nursing. Often times you’ll play with an area of hair in the same place on each side of your hair and when you’re done nursing will have a bit of a mad scientist look about you. You seem to have either more or darker hair in the front and because of how you play it’s often pushed forward a bit, making you look slightly like you’re rocking the Justin Beiber look from 2-3 years ago. We had family pictures taken a few weeks ago and you wore a teeny tiny bow for the first time and looked so cute. It hardly phased you, but with as much moving and shaking as you do, I think we’ll wait before making it a permanent fixture.
You still
utterly adore your sister and the times when you see her for the first time
after any sort of absence are amazing to watch.
She runs to you in your room at daycare each afternoon and you gets
those arms flailing as soon as you see us; the best part is when you two
exchange a big hug. Although Anna is a
little jealous of some of your new / her old toys, you love nothing more than
to watch her play and you squeal with delight when she’s around. It has been nothing short of a pure pleasure
to watch you start to find your personality, and I’m thrilled that I have
another happy girl on my hands. You had
a little bout of a cold this past month and even through the snot, the coughing
and the mild fevers, you still mustered smiles, coos and laughs. You’ll continue to have good days and bad
days, but I hope you’ll always remember to smile, because a positive attitude
will take you far in life (ask your Gigi).
And on those bad days, if you can’t smile, I’ll always be here to help
you find one.
Mom
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