8 Months

Charlotte turned 8 months old yesterday, and she continues to grow so fast! She's mastered crawling and pulling up, and even does a bit of cruising here and there. She can pull up on anything - an empty laundry basket, your pant leg, or even the wall - and she's soooo proud of herself when she does.

Her mobility has us in official "redirection mode," constantly keeping an eye out for what big people things (or 3 year old things) that she's found that she shouldn't have. Elizabeth's in on the patrol too, as yesterday she exclaimed "Danger! Danger! Danger! Charlotte's in the bathroom without any company!"

I got permission from the GI doc to start her on fruits, so she now has bananas too. She's still a good eater, although when she's done, she's done, and there's usually very little warning. She'll eat and eat and eat, and then refuse any more. I suppose she's tolerating all her foods alright, but still has outbreaks that look like she's had cows milk (which I'm doing my darnedest to avoid), so I wonder if she's having a sensitivity to another food as well. Its really hard to pinpoint anything.

She has two teeth (the two front bottom ones) and constantly gnaws away at anything she can get in her mouth.

She thinks her big sister is SOOO funny. It warms my heart to see the two of them together. Elizabeth gets downright obnoxious trying to make her laugh. My husband and I find it to be annoying at times, but find it hard to calm Elizabeth when we see how amused Charlotte is by it.

So, all in all, we're still chuggin' along with lots of laughter and smiles, a little stress and a few tears, but lots and lots of joy.

Preachers' Kid

So you know its bad when your three year old is sitting at the dining room table with her dinner in front of her, waiting for the rest of the family to join her, saying over and over again to herself "thanks be to God...thanks be to God."

She apparently has a certain affinity for this phrase lately because I've overheard her saying it several times today. I asked her once "do you need help getting down from the stool", to which she replied "yes". Then I helped her and she said, "*sigh*, thanks be to God."

Not really sure what this is about, but I find it pretty funny. I suppose there are worse things she could learn from us and our vocation.

Great Expectations

Elizabeth has recently learned how to button and unbutton her clothes by herself. Last week, we were in a Mexican restaurant, and she needed to use the restroom so I took her. I stood and watched in amazement as she fiddled with the button on her shorts until it finally released, did her thing on the potty, carefully got herself dressed again and all buttoned up, and washed and dried her hands. All by herself. The only thing she needed me for was to open the heavy door.

Feeling kind of nostalgic, I looked her in the eye and asked, "Elizabeth, why are you growing up so quickly?" To which she replied - in a sort of pastoral care tone of voice - "Mom, I have to grow up so I can be a fire fighter."

Ah, yes, my child. As much as my heart sometimes aches when I'm forced to acknowledge the constant passage of time, you do have to grow up. I suspect that your vocational aspirations will change a hundred times over your lifetime, but regardless of where they settle, you do have great things to be for yourself and for the world. And that necessarily requires you becoming increasingly independent. Increasingly independent from me. I marvel at how, just three short years ago, you and I were one. You needed me for everything. How things have already changed so much.

I was retelling this story yesterday at a pastor's retreat, and one gentleman reminded me that Elizabeth's response was probably very similar to what Jesus' would have been, had Mary asked him the same question. "But Mom, I have to grow up so I can do the important work of God."

Regardless of what's to come, she already doing the work of God. Every day. In bits of wisdom like this, and in so many other ways, she is bringing about the realm of God in this world. And, I, like Mary, ponder these things in my heart.

All In A Day's Work

True story. I promise. Not embellished at all by a proud mama. I promise.

In 24 hours this weekend, Charlotte:

(1) ...finally cut her first tooth. Her bottom middle left one. Now she's found it, and she spends much of her day looking like a lizard, feeling her newest form of entertainment.

(2) ...learned to crawl. She woke up from nap yesterday, and just started doing it. She never went through a stage of army crawling or scooting or anything. She just woke up and started crawling. She's much more peaceful now. It was clear that the inability to get around was causing her much frustration.

(3) This is the one that I'm gonna sound crazy about, but its true. We've started doing her baby signs with her, not really expecting her to do any of them for another month or so. We mostly focus on it at meal times. She has gotten into a habit of letting out this bossy-sounding frustrated squeal when the food isn't coming fast enough, and I've been saying, "no, how do you ask kindly?" And then I say "more, please" while showing her the sign, and then doing it with her hands. Well, Friday night, we were going through this whole scenario, and I said "how do you ask kindly?", and she totally looked me square in the eye and said "Mo." And then she did it after every bite. And she's done it every meal since. Even when we don't switch fast enough during nursing.

This is after her father came home from work and was kissing the girls hello, and she said "hi da da." Its possible that was coincidence. Possible.

But the rest is 100% true.

I promise.

Elizabeth's Travels

Here are a few of the highlights from her trip across the country without her mama. I'm still trying to decide if I was crazy in letting her do such a thing at 3 years of age, or if it means I just have that much confidence in her as a strong, independent young woman... She did great, but I'm starting to miss her so much it almost hurts! Can't wait till she's back safe and sound in our home tomorrow.


She made "play-doh" out of the chocolate icing on her piece of my uncle's 50th birthday cake.

She and Pa hiding in a pool toy together.

Playing with my cousin's guitar.

The highlight of the whole trip..."Mama...I got to drive the plane! But for pretend, not for real..." Brought to you by the nice folks at Southwest Airlines. (And you'll notice he's wearing an Aggie ring...nice Aggies.)

7 Months

Elizabeth has been in Illinois with her Amma and Pa for the past week visiting my grandfather and cousins. The rest of the family has used this time for a mini "stay-cation", so I've been away from the computer. Nevertheless, Charlotte did turn 7 months this weekend, so here's the post, even if a little late.

- She now sits wonderfully without any support indefinitely.
- She can even get herself from her tummy to sitting and back to her tummy.
- She's starting to get mobile, as she persistently utilizes any combination of sit up/move to tummy/roll over a few times/sit up again/reach/move to tummy/reeeaaaccchh to get whatever she wants within a several foot radius. She'll throw in a bear crawl or an army crawl every now and then too.
- No teeth yet, but I swear any day. Her middle bottom gums are swollen, and every week or so she has a run of several days where she's just plain cranky about it.
- She plays really well by herself. Rusty and I were just commenting this morning that we think we probably take that for granted. Elizabeth certainly wasn't that way (I think it probably goes with the territory of being the first child). But Charlotte will sit and play with her toys all by herself for 20 or 30 minutes, depending upon the time of day.
- She's loving her solid foods. I mean loving. She now eats peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, and squash. I've kind of stalled out on introducing a new food each week because my freezer is full of these foods that she needs to eat up first. I need to call the GI to see if she's allowed to start fruit before we have our next appointment at 8 1/2 months, or if we need to stick with the veggies.
- She's learned how to do this high-pitched squeal/yell that she thinks is so funny but every adult in her life finds highly disturbing. I know it will pass as soon as she finds something new, but for now its her "thing" and we're just trying to live with it without reinforcing it too much. (Plus, I have to admit that as long as it doesn't stick around too long, I actually find it to be kind of cute.)
- She seems to have fallen into a consistent night time sleep/wake pattern, falling asleep by 6:45 or 7:00 and waking at 5:30 or 5:45. I'm not too excited about the 5:45, but it actually works out well for our family's morning routine, and it could be worse. Just her body's natural rhythms, I suppose.
- She's still as sweet as ever! Lots of talking and babbling, with "da da da" being her favorite syllable for now.