Grand time with the Great Grands

This summer was full of Great Grandparent visits for Charlie.

In July we visited Great Grandpa Pat in San Francisco.


It was a wonderful three days filled with lots of second cousins (or are they once removed?)

and great Aunts and Uncles.

Here is Great Aunt Alice doting on Charlie!

We ate the traditional Dim Sum lunch and had a wonderful, wonderful time.

When we left it was with feelings of regret that we don't live closer and can't spend time with our wonderful family more often.

In August we visited Great Grandpa Elmer and Great Grandma Ruth in Waxhaw, North Carolina.

They were just so happy to see him that they didn't stop laughing all weekend.


The time was also full of good meals and Uncles and Aunts(both great and not)

Grandpa and Charlie having a horsey ride--there was some debate as to who was giving who the ride!

And speaking of rides, Charlie is getting bad ideas from his Great Uncle Morris' motorcycle keys!

Charlie just loved Great Uncle Morris.

Uncle Erik also came to see Charlie...so Charlie took the opportunity to wake him up

And take him for a stroller ride,

And spend some quality time making scrunch faces with him on the floor.

I really wish we didn't live so far away! We love our family and miss them already.

Sleepless in Saint Louie

Ever pulled an all-nighter and had that sick headache feeling in the morning? That is becoming me....every morning. Though we have gone to the baby sleep clinic this week and now have a plan to help Charlie start learning to sleep longer than 2-3hours at a time at night and for more than 30 min during the day, it isn't going to go into effect until Labor Day weekend when we have some time to devote to it. And even then, it will be a slow process with many sleepless nights down the road for us.

It is funny to me how much time during the last three months that we have spent trying to elongate his disappearing naps. So far, approaches such as patting him back to sleep, and turning him over at 20 min (like a hamburger patty) have only had success for a few days or weeks. We have now officially given up on trying to get him to sleep longer, and just praise God when he naps for longer than 35 minutes during the day.

Anyways, when you have a baby who doesn't sleep well at night and doesn't nap either you can't make up for your lost sleep, so here's what I've been doing to cope.

Praying....lots and lots of praying around here, especially for my emotional stability, patience and that I would be able to still have joy and hope in the midst of a situation that I'm sure cannot continue on for the forever it feels like it will. Your prayers are of course highly appreciated!

Swimming....I'm not sure why, but going swimming with Charlie when I feel exhausted always perks me up. Charlie also he loves the water so I know we'll have fun.

Laughing....this one can't be forced, but when I find myself enjoying Charlie and Jonathan for any reason I try to milk all the fun out of it that I can. These little moments of joyful living are what carry me through when I'm discouraged and depressed. For our mutual delight, I offer here the latest little moment I'm treasuring up in my heart.

Clicks and Implosives

One set of Charlies grandparents are linguists, which means they know more about the sounds language makes than most. I showed my Dad a video and he commented on Charlies excellent implosives (sounds you make while breathing in). "Too bad he won't ever need to use them again!" Apparently as babies develop they make all the sounds possible, and then as they get older they narrow their set of noises to the ones they hear in the language around them. Since English doesn't use implosives, he probably won't be making them for much longer.

This week Charlie started clicking his tongue. I would never have noticed, except that I've had to sing a few songs in Swahili...and there are clicks as consonants. It made me sad to think about all the wasted potential of sound-making that clicking represents. Just because boring English doesn't contain all the sounds of the languages, should his world of sound be limited? So, to celebrate the amazing way language development is sprouting up in my son, I've been clicking back. We have clicking conversations now.

AND, if he ever moves to Africa, that will be one less thing he needs to learn!

New Noises New Face

Charlie started screeching this week...so loudly it hurts to be in the same room as him...for no apparent reason other than that he figured out he can do it.



Also newly discovered is this scrunch face, which he makes even when he is not slightly tired, as he is in this video.

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?