Daddy's #1 Fan

I shot this the other night before supper. Charlotte was having a ball watching Ben mow the grass. They'd giggle and wave at each other each time he passed her favorite window. When he moved to the side yard and she was having difficulty spotting him, I moved her piano over to the other window so she could see him still. I was cooking dinner in the kitchen and heard her cheering him on, "Go, go, go, go, go!!!!" I am so glad she kept it up while I recorded!!

Adventures in Potty Training

I read this week that the average age for potty training in the 1950s was between 12 and 18 months. Today, it is closer to 30-36 months. Read more interesting facts here.

Mothers potty trained earlier out of convenience. Cloth diapers were the norm then, and before the mid-50s, everyone had to rinse them out by hand & hang dry by the fireplace. The sooner the kids learned to use the toilet (or chamber pots), the sooner mom could quit hanging soiled diapers all over the house!  Today, we have modern conveniences like laundry machines (for the 5-10% who cloth diaper still) and disposable diapers. Out of sight, out of mind... right?

Maybe I gave up on cloth diapers, but my hope is that I can potty train Charlotte a little earlier than the new norm so that we can quit filling landfills with disposables. A girl can dream, right??

This week, she got familiar with the potty...

She's not too young for chores!! Haha! Just kidding! We bought this brush when we first moved into the house & Charlotte started playing with it before we even unwrapped it from the packaging. She drags it around & bangs it on the floor. So this is her "toy" brush & we bought another one to use for cleaning. I think it says a little something about her ability to mimic what she sees, since she knows what those brushes are for!!! :o) Yes, we're the weirdos who let their child have a toy toilet brush. Does that really surprise you?? hahahaha

Animated

Playing the piano & singing along at Grandma & Grandpa's house

Working on farm animal sounds

Gangnam Style!! 

(no, she's not playing with a garbage can - it's her hamper)

One Year Checkup

Charlotte finally had her one-year checkup after rescheduling. And, wouldn't you know it, she woke up that morning with a fever, so she didn't get her vaccinations. BUT, Dr. did the rest of the exam and Charlotte passed with flying colors!!

She is now 22 lbs, 1 oz (75%ile) and 32 inches tall (98%ile). She's grown an entire foot since birth and has tripled her birthweight! She also had a little blood drawn by way of a toe prick to check iron levels for anemia and lead levels since we live in an older home. They should have those results early next week.

Her doctor had me fill out a questionnaire regarding milestones and, for now, she's way ahead. He wanted to know if she could say two or three words with meaning - she says over 20 words with meaning and signs  more. It blows my mind how much she understands. It's like you can hear the slurping noise her internal sponge makes with every new connection.

She loves to read and be read to. We probably spend 90 minutes each day reading. Her attention span for books is remarkable - she will sit still and listen to as many books as I'm willing to read to her. I'm also noticing that she's familiar enough with her books to know when they end - she starts peering around my lap for the next book as I read the last page of the current book! She wanders into her room, grabs a paci (or two or three), and will sit and entertain herself with books for a while!

Today she hounded me to show her flash cards!! She dragged them into the bathroom while I was blowing my hair dry, brought them to me instead of a book before her nap, & carried them into the kitchen while I was cooking dinner. She gets so excited when we get to a card she can say - key, owl (owww), ruff ruff, and she makes the cutest little licking motion for "ice cream."

Ben and I can't get enough of her telling us about our faces (she'll gladly do it to yours, too - just ask grandparents, her doctor, our cats, other kids, parents at the library...). She knows hair, nose, eyes, ears, and teeth. Just in the last week she's started putting the "s" sound in nose and eyes... simply adorable. But her most heart-melting new communication is signing "I love you." It's not an "official" ASL sign, but it works for us and she uses it consistently. She folds her little arms in front of her (hasn't quite got the hang of crossing them in an X), and gently sways, like she's giving herself a hug. Oh MY is it the most precious thing ever!! I'll have to work on getting that one on camera for you all to enjoy!

Oh, and did I mention she's a walker now??? Every day she crawls less & walks more. It'll probably be one more week until she uses walking as her primary mode of mobility - for now she's about 50/50 around the house.

She's growing quickly, folks! Better not blink - or else you'll miss it!

Giggles

It's never too early for bathroom humor!!