Meet Charli (10 Months)

Ten months! The last few weeks have been busy ones with lots of traveling. Charli and I have visited NJ twice, PA once and of course driven through NY for each trip. We celebrated Easter with my Mom's side of the family and she found her first Easter egg and proceeded to stick it in her mouth. I wasn't concerned about this until two minutes later when her darling face was dyed neon pink. It was pretty fantastic but the 'mother' part of my brain figured it was not so safe so we switched the real egg for a plastic one for her to gum.

She got to see Great-Grandma and all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles this month (which is quite a feat considering some live overseas and there are 12 uncles and aunts all involved in different life stages and commitments).
The last week was spent in NJ saying goodbye to my parents and youngest sister and helping pack them up for another four years (yes, that's a long time) overseas but THAT is a post for another time. Yesterday she and I returned home to see Joel and our international student, Y, and join life here in CT again. It's always a bit chaotic stepping away and then back into 'regular' life but in the midst of it all she's been doing great.


Hot topic: Taking steps! Today she took a few steps by herself 3 separate times. I tried to get it on video the next time which ended in her face planting. Since the fall she's been a bit hesitant to try again for some reason.

Mobility Stats: Moving. Quicky! She still wants to hold on to something but takes fast steps and can often keep up with a close-to-normal walking pace.

Teeth Stats: You can see the bottom two through the skin on her gums so they're coming soon!

Language Stats: She's figured out that saying 'ma-ma-ma-ma-ma' gets her a response from me so she uses it frequently when she's hungry. Definitely going to be a singer as she's been working on varying her pitch... practicing vocal warm-ups already.

Favorite thing to do: Play with a singing, light-up chair that Grandma got her. It's in NJ and she can't wait for our next visit.

Easiest way to get her laughing: Playing with her Daddy.

Newest development: Taking steps of course!

Meet Charli (9 Months)

Nine months brings with it constant change and seems like a transitional age as she's no longer a newborn but not quite yet a toddler. Every day is a new adventure for Charli as she changes so quickly. Meet Charli at nine months old:

Hot topic: Food. She's eating 2 meals a day (which is a change from this) and goes bonkers over Cheerios and multi-grain crackers. Tonight, in between double-fisting Cheerios into her mouth, she had her first meat ever- roast chicken

Mobility Stats: She still refuses to crawl but easily scooches around furniture.

Teeth Stats: You can see the bottom two through the skin on her gums so they're c

oming soon!

Language Stats: No words yet but she's always chatting about something, making all kinds of sounds. Since she first started making sounds she's made a chirping noise when happy. Today a bird outside her window actually chirped back and forth with her a few times. It was pretty fantastic.

Favorite thing to do: We let her stand holding onto the back of a dining room chair and place another one within arms reach. She loves going back and forth between them. This usually lasts for 15 minutes and then I hear a desperate little cry as her arm inevitably gets stuck. Chair hopping of course would easily be beaten out by 'eating paper' but I'm learning to keep all paper goods out of her reach so she seldom gets that extra fiber added to her diet these days. However, in the past months her tummy has seen small amounts of Joel's business cards, an electric bill, The Economist, Family Circle and tissue paper (yes, the kind you wrap prezzies with and yes, it melts incredibly fast when wet).

Easiest way to get her laughing: Playing with her Daddy.

Newest development: Snuggling. She's always loved contact with people but she's usually such a squiggle bug. Right before naps and putting her to bed though, she's starting to like just being held by us. Best feeling ever!