Me Time

In the last month I finally decided that life is not going to drastically calm down as I hoped and magically leave me with time to do the projects I want to be working on. So I've had to reassess what creative projects I can be working on in the day to day flow of my life. I used to be the sort of person who would get a bug for an idea of something I wanted to do and then just do it for a whole day until it was done. That is not really possible with a baby. And it turns out it takes a lot more discipline to try to do projects in 5-10 minute chunks. But it has been really satisfying to get a few ideas out into fabrication. Here's that I've been enjoying for me.

Knitting a baby sweater for the Fall.


Knitting Baby Rattle Fruit Basket. The banana is done now, still to come eggplant, cucumber and orange. This is a great sit-down-for -15-min-project because the parts are so small and I get to see progress easily.


Felt Nory Rattle--

of course my original idea was a three day sit down project...but the modified "with Charlie version" still pleases me and I hope it gives that Nory girl down in CA some fun too.

It was fun figuring out how to make a 3-D object out of felt.

And all the stitching could be done in 5-10 min intervals!

Here's Charlie sending it with a kiss to Nory


Tomato Plant

Oh I just love these little guys!

The decimation of the Sweet Potato

Just thought you'd enjoy the blow by blow of our most recent meal around here.

Citygarden Fun

We explored some of downtown St Louis this weekend by taking a feild trip to the newly opened Citygarden.

I've always been irritated that parks have cool fountains or art installations but no one is allowed to touch, or walk on the grass. Those frustrations were finally quenched at Citygarden last weekend. We explored the sculpture park in a very kinesthetic way. There were children everywhere, touching and climbing and swimming in the fountains. We joined right in and ended up having a blast.





We all loved getting out, Jonathan and I especially enjoyed going beyond our neighborhood and seeing something more of the lovely city we have moved to.

Six Month Developments

Look Ma, both feet!

Well we have reached a couple developmental milestones around here. As his pediatrician said "he's growing like a champ." and he weighs 19 and a half pounds now. So I guess his lack of sleep isn't holding Charlie back too much from forging ahead towards being able to walk around his college campus someday.
As I type this he is going berserk in the Johny-Jump-Up.

What a fabulous invention for little boys who like to kick!

In the last two weeks Charlie has:

1. Decided to start waking up every two to three hours at night again. He has also decided to continue with the two-month trend of taking only 35-45 minute naps.
He doesn't seem to mind being sleep deprived, and carries on cheerfully with his days and nights.

For his mama's sake however, we are looking into what could be causing this lack of sleep.

2. Started rolling over both ways. But he only goes one direction, so he barrel rolls until he reaches an obstacle too big to push over. (...though that doesn't stop him from trying....) Then he grunts until I put him back in the middle of the room again. I found him repeatedly attempting to move the dresser with his head yesterday. Let's just say the dresser won over his poor head...each time! It is weird to have to remember he won't stay where I put him any more!


3. Gotten a highchair.

Mealtimes have become quite amusing around here. I've been giving him cereals and pureed fruits for the last month or so. He loves pears and nectarines, dislikes peaches, and feels neither here nor there about squash and plums. Last week, Charlie started eating solid food...sort of. Meaning he tries like mad to put the stuff in his mouth and sometimes it actually makes it! Like the hungry caterpillar in Eric Carle's book, he has eaten through one green bean, two blueberry bagels, three quarters of a waffle, four pieces of tortilla and a multitude of rice grains.

He is showing off for his Grandparents and friends in the Philippines in this picture, I'm pretty sure!
We also introduced him to the sippy cup thinking it would take him a while to figure it out...nope! This video was taken shortly after its maiden voyage to his highchair. It was love at first sight. It might even have replaced the Nalgene bottle.

The boy would certainly not starve if something happened to me! He has loved everything we've given him so far.

4. Had his first... and second and third... grown-up shower. (Our solution to his being too big for the baby tub and too small for the regular tub.) He loves playing with the water and just takes a cute little sharp deep breath when you put him under to rinse him off. Holding a naked soapy baby is a hair-raising experience and reminds me of all those stories I've heard about trying to catch a greased pig!


5. Started sitting up on his own for a couple minutes at a time. I don't think we are ready for this...but here it comes regardless. Whoa! Just what do we need to do to baby proof this place again?

Never lick a....

Didn't your mother ever tell you never to lick a....

Just thought you would get a kick out of
Charlie's latest discovered talent.

"Poo-poo"

We have been waiting for Charlie to start saying consonants, as he's had his vowels mastered for a while now. At dinner last night Jonathan was feeding Charlie his rice cereal and Charlie was eating like a pro. (We usually put him in his bouncy seat on the table, since we haven't purchased a highchair yet.) Then, suddenly, Charlie started squirming and poop started exploding out of both leg holes of his diaper. We both just stared at it and at him. I started giggling, because it was so unbelievable. Then I gingerly unbuckled him and picked him up by his feet and under his neck and quickly carried him, hoping he wouldn't drip on our white carpet, to the changing table. There were pools of poop in the seat and his diaper was not better and for some reason I found this unbelievably funny. (note: it is much harder to change a diaper when you are laughing hysterically)

Anyways all this to say, Charlie topped off the event by voicing his first consonants, which we thought very appropriate. His comment was "poo-poo".

on the magic orange Nalgene water bottle and other developments

Well, I guess I'm not really doing my job at keeping the grandparents updated....somehow a month can fly by these days and I barely notice it (and wonder how I managed to get so little done in it too!) I have, however kept these two boys fed at least...

In the toy department, Charlie had moved on from Edgar the Ugly, through a wash cloth phase, onto loving balls of yarn...

and now acts as if his life depends on the magic orange Nalgene water bottle when ever it is in view. And touching it? Well that is neigh unto heaven...

He is also getting tired of the bouncy seat, so we are considering making an exosaucer purchase or some sort of new activity center that can challenge his new motor skills. Here he is demonstrating just how boring it can be.

He has developed a really scary flop-slump-turn move that he uses when ever he is being carried with one arm over a shoulder and becomes interested in what is going on behind his head. I think both Jonathan and I almost dropped him the first time he pulled this move on us! It is fun that he has figured out that he can see more by turning around.

The last three weeks have also been huge in Charlie's sleep development. Last month about this time I had a couple days where I literally spent an hour and a half trying to bounce/soothe/cajole Charlie to sleep for a nap that lasted 45 minutes at most. We have made some big changes and he has really stepped up to the plate. First we decided to try to keep him on a more consistant routine of eating, activity then sleep. This was to avoid him always nursing to sleep, which was getting less and less successful. That was pretty easy to do...except the sleep part. He had no ability to soothe himself at all, and was becoming too aware and active for rocking and bouncing to be effective in putting him to sleep. We tried the cry-it-out method out of desperation but after two days saw absolutely no progress, so dropped it like a hot brick. Also it was way too stressful for me. Then in a late night internet search, we stumbled across Tracy Hogg's "pick up/put down" method. In short, this involves picking the child up every time they start crying and then putting them down as soon as they calm down--repeat as often as necessary until they fall asleep. The first day I probably picked up and put down over 200 times, but he did successfully fall asleep in his own bed for three naps and at that night without me rocking or bouncing him. It has continued to get better and he has been taking the normal 15-20min to fall asleep for the last week or so. I can't tell you what a relief it is not to dread him getting sleepy any more! And Charlie has been soooooo happy. He wakes up and gives great big grins when you come in his room.

Charlie loves swimming. It started in Florida and we continued the tradition here. So when our friends the Jensens moved into town from Seattle we had to try out their pool too.


Jonathan and I both have had "moments" where we feel we really connected relationally with Charlie. Jonathan reads to C before naps and C has started looking up at him while he reads. It is just the sweetest thing.

The other night I was putting C to sleep and he popped up his head and so I kissed him between the eyes. Then he grinned, lay back down and a second later was popping back up for another kiss. It was so sweet, and almost made me forget that we were there to go to sleep, not bandy kisses with smiles.

Physically, he's figured out how to roll over again...this makes wake-up time especially dangerous as it's usually the first thing he does, and he's not too good at gauging how close the crib railings are so he bumps his head a lot. He's also got the hand to hand toy transfer down.

Last Sunday Charlie had lunch...well really a nap while Mom and Dad ate lunch at his friend Nathan's house. After lunch both boys woke up from their naps and had a little interaction. Nathan is a month younger than Charlie and wanted to know, "Do you poop your diaper too?"

"Why yes, yes I do."


Vocally, this has been an astounding week. He'd been talking to the trees and faces with a soft light coo-ing sound made with all vowels. He said "Hi" to Jonathan...it was really more like "aye", but we're counting it! And then this week he figured out how to shriek and squeak and growl. Sometimes he sits there and runs through his whole repertoire of noises, and you can see him thinking and experimenting with what his voice can do.

His belly button is my favorite part of Charlie's body right now...I think it looks exactly like a cinnamon bun