One Month To Go

Exactly one month from today is Baby #2's official due date, February 28, 2012. Things are feeling very real all of the sudden. We have sort of settled on two boy names but are worlds apart when it comes to girl names. We're moving Charly to a different room, a bigger room, so the baby can have Charly's old, smaller room, yet we haven't begun to move a single piece of furniture or paint a single swatch on any wall. We have some newborn diapers and a few neutral newborn outfits but suffice it to say, one could argue whether or not we're as ready as we could be.

We often wonder about Charly, and the inability to keep her in the loop regarding how much her life is going to change. She is kind of the Queen of the Castle right now, strutting from room to room, bossing Elliot ("Eta") around, bossing us around, jabbering up a storm, getting out whatever books, or coloring books, or puzzles, or building blocks she feels like and leaving them strewn about the house. There are days, when we're being bossed around by her, that we think this baby couldn't come soon enough! Somedays Charly needs a wake up call! But then we feel sorry for her, thinking about how much of her world is going to change and she doesn't have the slightest clue.

We talk about the baby all the time with her and we both know that she knows that there is a baby inside her mom. She likes it when it kicks and moves. She acts excited and talks about "Baby" things all the time. She practices feeding her baby Mel gave her at Christmas and she's interested in the bottles that Kelli recently dusted off and replaced in our kitchen cupboards. She shakes her head at the mention of a "Girl" but repeatedly tells people she wants a "Boy". We're asking for her help in deciding upon names, but she's not much help.

A few weekends ago, I took some pictures of Kelli's bump. We had fun, but Charly wanted nothing to do with any pictures. She didn't make it into even one. Well, sort of one, but not really. It was more by accident. And once she realized I had a camera she was done. She doesn't like being photographed anymore, which I suppose is silver lining for our hard drive.

Speaking 'Charly'

Charly talks all the time. We don't always understand her, but she talks all the time. At home. She's pretty reserved in public. Some words she says loud and clear. Like:

boy, baby, snow, moon, sun, cold, burr, Papa, Grandma, remote, George (for Curious George), purple, blue, pink, cup, cake, please, thanks, excuse me, 'What doin'?, off, on, book, read, touch, watch, sheep, cow, toot, poop, pee pee, shower, hi, dump (in reference to her building blocks, not something else), truck, Beau, bow, cat, ear, eyes, nose, honk, hair, ouch, mine, sad, crying, couch, chair, sleep, come, monster (usually in reference to The Monster at the End of This Book iPad app), game, Hawkeye, hot, heart, marker, Mama, Dada, stop, away, home, eat, don't, bite

Then there are others. Words that she says quite frequently, that took Kelli and I awhile to decipher. Words like:

• "Eta" - Elliot (our cat)
• "Popeye" - her pacifier
• "Binka" - her blanket
• "Ca-cai" - color (in her coloring books)
• "Heta" - heavy
• "Mutta" - muffin
• "Cackle" - tickle
• "Hooj" - huge (usually in reference to a full moon, which she's obsessed with, or her mom's belly)
• "Mimi's" - M&M's
• "Waawaa" - water
• "Coi" - car
• "Pod" - iPod (or if she's lucky, iPad, which she gets really excited about)
• "Tay-tay" - her Uncle Taylor
• "Bane" - her Uncle Blaine
• "Shrooz" - her cousin Cruz

There are more. Plenty more. But that's all we could think of off the top of our head. Today is a snow day, school was cancelled, and tonight we're supposed to go to Rock of Ages with Beau and Ashley. We just hope the snow stops long enough to get a babysitter to our house.

Santa Came!

Charly may have wanted nothing to do with the jolly guy in red this year, but she sure accepted all the gifts he brought her with a big ole' smile!

 

She loved her building blocks.

 

And her Elephant and Piggie book.

 

But Mom had to read it because it was too early and "bite".

 

Her Curious George DVDs were a hit, even if she couldn't take her eyes off A Very Monkey Christmas, which she insisted play while she opened presents. We tried deleting it off our DVR but I think it's burned in permanently from the thousands of times it was played this December.

 

Little People are very cool. As is her Little People dollhouse. It has sound effects for the doorbell and the washing machine (both harmless), and the toilet and the shower (both kind of odd choices)! Thankfully the makers of Little People keep their minds out of the gutter, unlike me apparently. Charly thinks it's cool and has to get it out at least once a day, even though at the time she would have rather played with the screwdriver I used to take the box apart, to "fix" everything in the house.

 

And the biggest gift Santa and Mrs. Claus (plus 1) carried up the stairs from Santa's Basement Workshop . . . (drum roll please)

 

A kitchen!

 

She's a master chef and always remembers to wash her hands.

 

Her stocking was filled with "mimi's" (M&M's) and colors. The girl could color for hours on end. And read. Toys are not necessarily her thing. But give her a pack of Crayolas and an Elephant and Piggie book, and the girl is occupied and content. 

We had a lot of fun on Christmas morning and can't wait to see how Charly shares the spotlight next year!