Micah and Christine

Charlotte in motion:

Charlotte’s personality is surely coming through these days. She delights in small things that she picks up. She plays and talks with them endlessly. When we are out walking, she is likely to stop frequently to pick up a leaf or twig that catches her eye.


When we need to convince her to stay still for a diaper change, we give her a “treasure.” This is usually a remote, camera, or other exciting object that we don’t normally let her play with. Without that distraction it would be extremely difficult to change her.

She is still not ready to walk without our assistance, and for now that’s ok. When we really try to get her to walk on her own and “trick her,” she has taken as many as five steps on her own. Then she collapses in a heap on the ground, wailing that we are not supporting her. For now, we simply allow her to hold on to one of our fingers, and she will walk and walk and walk... She begs us to walk her around, and she probably spends 2 hours a day in that activity.


Charlotte loves to play with the blocks and stacking rings we bought her at Ikea. She likes them enough that I am considering re-purchasing them once we get back home to North Carolina. Her hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills are definitely improving, because now she is pretty good at putting the rings on the spindle. When we first gave these to her at the beginning of June, she struggled to do much with them. Look what she has been making lately:


Chomper update:

Charlotte has five teeth now. She has three on top and two on bottom. Sometimes she bites us, and it hurts. Those little things are sharp!

The spoken word:

When Charlotte was four months old and my grandmother brought her little dog to our house, Charlotte just delighted in watching it. She now has a full-blown obsession with dogs. Whenever we go out for a walk, Charlotte will spot dogs before we do. Her first word was, “oof.” We weren’t sure at first, but now it’s unmistakable. When she sees a dog, she grins and says, “oof, oof.” Shortly after saying, “oof” she began saying “do(g).” It is her own little unmistakable word for dog.

She has been babbling a long time, and “ma ma ma” and “da da da” are said frequently. In the last few weeks, it has been very evident that she is saying those words to talk about her parents. Two weeks ago she looked at me, pointed her little index finger at my chest, and with a sly little grin said, “ma ma.” Oh, it melts my heart!


Also, when Daddy gets home from work, or Daddy talks to Mommy and isn’t paying attention to her, Charlotte will authoritatively demand that “Da da” pay attention to her.


Charlotte’s vocabulary so far:

Oof: Woof
Do(g): dog
Ma-ma, ah-ma, na-na: Momma
Da-da, Da! Da!: Daddy
Da(t): Cat (I have heard her actually get the c sound out twice.)
Ish!: Fish? She also says this occasionally in the bathtub, so I’m not sure what that means.
Good: Good? Not sure. She says this occasionally when eating, and it always takes me aback a little, because she sounds like such a little person.

Charlotte babbles to us frequently, and her “words” are sounding more and more conversational. It’s so fun to see her grow up! She is also pretty good at telling us what she wants. When she wants us, she does this whine that sounds half-monkey, half-cry.

She has also mastered shaking her head back and forth with purpose when she doesn’t want something. We haven’t heard “no” yet, but this nonverbal version is just as clear.

Little foodie:

Charlie has oatmeal for breakfast every morning. I make her oatmeal with whole milk, then add either yogurt or applesauce with some cinnamon. Occasionally she gets fresh fruit on her oatmeal. This is great because it is easy and it is something that she will consistently eat.


Charlotte is somewhat picky with her food these days. One night we ate cheese ravioli with peas for dinner. She ADORED both of them, and I was so glad to have a new meal to feed her. Then the next day, she would have nothing at all to do with the ravioli. (Still likes the peas, though.) Same with oranges. We fed her an orange on July 4th and couldn’t get it into her mouth fast enough. I have offered her oranges each day this week and she has staunchly refused them.