Mommy's catching up on blog entries, as promised

Mommy is trying to catch up with Charlotte's journal and her blog entries. Please see entries for the following dates:
January 14: Charlotte's passport arrives/On our way to Belle-vegas (Belleville)
January 15: Charlotte's first trip to Belleville (Belle-vegas) to visit Auntie Stacey and Uncle Art
January 16: Charlotte throws dish that shatters into a gazillion pieces
January 17: It looks like Charlotte's legs have straigtened a little...looks hopeful
Jnuary 26: NO Ricketts/Charlotte gets "toddler hightops" (new shoes)
February 6: Superbowl party
February 7: Charlotte learns new words: names of parts of a room
February 9: Charlotte mimics Mommy's morning routine

Mommy loves Charlotte's greeting

Once again, Charlotte had a busy day yesterday and went to bed later than usual, so Mommy wasn’t surprised that Charlotte wasn’t awake before Mommy had to leave for work, again. However, Daddy reported that around 5 am, he heard Charlotte playing with her activity centre through the wall that we share with her room. When Mommy tiptoed up to Charlotte’s door at 7 am, she heard Charlotte move in her crib. Shortly thereafter, Daddy opened her door, expecting to see Charlotte standing at the rail of her crib, but instead, she was lying flat on her back, arms over her head, sound asleep. Just before Mommy left, she tiptoed into Charlotte’s room and stood at the foot of her crib, hoping that Mommy’s presence would encourage Charlotte to wake up, but no luck. Charlotte sound asleep in her new Valentine's pyjamas

Daddy reported that Charlotte woke up just before 9 am. Mommy is glad that with Daddy home to watch her, Charlotte has the opportunity to catch up on her sleep, as Charlotte has another busy day today.

Charlotte and Daddy went out for their weekly Tuesday lunch with a couple of Daddy’s friends (3 men and a little lady). Charlotte enjoyed some of Daddy’s lunch; Don shared some of his home-fries with Charlotte—-usually she helps herself to Don’s French fries right off his plate.

Charlotte went down for her nap shortly after arriving home, but slept for just short of one hour, shorter than usual. As usual, Daddy waged a battle with Charlotte’s socks and lost, again.

Mommy called Daddy when she was close to home, so it was no surprise to find Charlotte and Daddy at the living room window waiting for Mommy to arrive. When Charlotte saw Mommy on the walkway, a big smile came over Charlotte’s face as she went crazy with excitement, calling “momma” and banging on the window. When Mommy opened the porch door, Charlotte ran to the front door to greet Mommy. Charlotte was all over the screen door, banging and calling "momma," and pressing her lips to the glass for kisses. Charlotte couldn't wait for Mommy to get in the door to get kisses. Mommy will never tire of this greeting when she comes home.

Mommy started the evening routine a little earlier than usual, as she had a meeting to go to. Charlotte enjoyed a bath and as expected, didn’t want to have her hair washed. As usual, Charlotte became quite animated, meowing like a kitty, when Mommy wrapped her up in her hooded kitty towel. On the change table, Mommy bundled up Charlotte and then cuddled and kissed her until she didn't want any more.

Mommy then massaged Charlotte with lotion--Charlotte always wants to rub lotion on her cheeks or tummy, but she ends up putting it in her mouth. Mommy has no idea if it tastes good, but no amount of coaxing not to do so persuades Charlotte to stop. Thank goodness this lotion is made for children, so I suspect this has been taken into account in the formula. Charlotte likes it when Mommy rubs her feet and sings the “This little piggy…” rhyme while wiggling her toes. When Daddy is there, she has each of us play with a foot and sing the rhyme—-she giggles so much during the “wee wee wee all the way home” part. When Mommy put on her pink and red kitty sleepers, Charlotte immediately started to meow like a kitty.

Charlotte jumped up on Daddy’s knee at his desk to play Sesame Street toddler games on Daddy’s computer. Charlotte was quite taken with the stories and called out “Elmo” when she saw him and any other figure that was either red or looked like Elmo. Charlotte was quite fascinated with Daddy’s portable speaker, holding it to her ear as if she were on the telephone.

After a little while, Charlotte lost interest and strongly urged Daddy (puts her hand behind his back and pulls forward while yelling “Daddy”) to go to her room to play—-Daddy very quickly obliged his little girl. Mommy joined Charlotte and Daddy for a few minutes before leaving for her meeting. Charlotte immediately begged (patting the floor) Mommy to sit on the floor and then she went and closed the door. We think Charlotte thinks that by closing the door, we can’t leave.


Despite Mommy’s encouragement for Charlotte to stay and play with Daddy, Charlotte insisted on walking Mommy to the front door when she had to leave—-at the door, Charlotte tried to hand Mommy her briefcase, which was way too heavy for her, but she gave it her best effort. It was so cute to watch Charlotte try to pick up the briefcase that is likely heavier than she is, but she still tried. Charlotte was much more successful passing Mommy her purse, which was still a bit of a challenge. Charlotte insisted on more kisses and then waved bye bye to Mommy without tears. Daddy and Charlotte returned upstairs to play for a little while before it was time for bed.

Charlotte's First Valentine's Day

Mommy had to leave for work before Charlotte was awake this morning—-Mommy stood at Charlotte’s door, listening for the slightest noise from Charlotte’s room to indicate that she was starting to wake up so that Mommy could go into her before she left for work. Mommy was sad to have to leave before wishing her little angel a Happy Valentine’s Day, but Mommy knew that Charlotte was in good hands with Daddy. Daddy reported that when he went into Charlotte’s room close to 9 am, Charlotte was already starting to wake up. She had a busy weekend and went to bed a little later than usual last night, so she probably needed a little more rest this morning.

Charlotte really wasn't interested in eating breakfast this morning, so Daddy brought a bowl of Cheerios upstairs for Charlotte to eat while she watched one of her little programs; however, Charlotte had other plans--she dumped the Cheerios on the floor and then carried handfuls around, dropping them on the floor; all this happened while Daddy was talking on the phone with Mommy. Daddy was not pleased, to say the least.

Charlotte insists on sitting in the new stroller she received for her dollies—-she’s going to break it, so Mommy suggested putting it away for a little while. Mommy just commented to Daddy this morning about all the toys that Daddy has stowed away in Mommy’s closet. One day they are going to come crashing down on Mommy, then she won’t be too pleased.

Charlotte and Daddy played with all the usual toys today; however, Daddy was surprised when Charlotte was quite content to sit in her toy box while Daddy read about 20 little mini books (stories 8-16 pages long) to her. This is the longest period of time that Charlotte has sat and listened to stories. Daddy really isn’t sure if Charlotte was truly listening or not; however, he was able to read a complete story without Charlotte trying to close the book on him, which she has been doing lately—-Daddy hardly gets the first page of a book read and Charlotte is closing it on him and giving him another one. I suspect she’s looking for a particular story and can’t remember what the book looks like.

Later in the afternoon, Daddy took Charlotte out to do a little last-minute Valentine’s shopping for Daddy’s girls. When they returned home, while waiting for Mommy to get home from work, Charlotte and Daddy read the new books that Charlotte received from Nana and Auntie Dale for Valentine’s. During this time, Charlotte also found the gold foil wrapped chocolate bunny she received from Auntie Dale for Chinese New Year. She wouldn’t leave it alone, despite Daddy’s many attempts to relocate it. Daddy was quite anxious for Mommy to get home for dinner, as Charlotte was getting into all her snack foods.

After much discussion throughout the day, Mommy and Daddy decided to take our little family to what we think is Charlotte’s favourite restaurant: Sushi Mountain. It was also the appropriate choice in memory of a dear friend who passed away—-her birthday was on Valentine’s Day and she really enjoyed sushi.
Daddy and Charlotte--Daddy's looking a little tired

Mommy and Charlotte--Mommy looks possessed with her red eyes (oops! Mommy forgot to turn on the red eye reduction on her camera)

As expected, Daddy and Mommy couldn’t keep up with Charlotte’s demand for salmon sashimi (raw salmon). This time, she also enjoyed Edamame. At first, Daddy furiously worked to get a number of peas out of the pod for Charlotte, but she then mimicked Mommy and pulled the peas out of the pod herself. As the restaurant got busier with more patrons, it became more difficult to keep Charlotte contained in the highchair. Charlotte waved and loudly would say “hi” to all, especially young children, who were sat close to us. Eventually, Daddy and Charlotte went for a little walk, visiting people at their tables close to ours.
Charlotte loves spicy salmon hand rolls

Charlotte was quite content to have Daddy hold her like a baby--she even started to make cooing noises like an infant

At home, Mommy and Daddy exchanged anniversary gifts and then we all exchanged Valentine’s gifts. When Charlotte opened her gift, she wasn’t all that interested in the Ty Beany Buddy Valentino and silver heart locket, tossing them aside for the familiar Kindersurpise egg—-she needed very little help to get into the chocolate; Mommy let Charlotte have just a little bit before going to bed, saving the rest for another day.

Charlotte opening her Valentine's gift

Our first Valentine's Day as a family

Mommy dressed Charlotte in a new pair of pink and red striped sleepers with a soft pink kitty on the front, saved especially for Valentine’s Day. Mommy and Daddy tucked Charlotte into bed shortly after 8:30 pm—-goodnight my special sweet Valentine, who’s sweeter than chocolate!

Please stay tuned--LOTS TO COME very soon

Mommy has been working on lots of blog entries, photos, and video clips. She promises to post these really soon, so please keep checking in.

One of Mommy's dear friends summed up Mommy's situation quite nicely: it's hard to blog about life in between living it. She hit the nail right on the head. Although, Mommy does like recording all the details of each day to the best of her ability (some days are easier than others) for the day when Charlotte has lots of questions...and we know that day will come--we will have hopefully have the answers, just maybe not all of them.

Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends and family and those who have been following our journey via Charlotte's blog.

This is a busy week: it started with Auntie Dale's birthday on Feb 13, Charlotte's 22-month birthday on Feb 13, Mommy and Daddy's 13th wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day, Charlotte's first Valentine's Day with Mommy and Daddy, 6-month anniversary of Gotta Day (first time Charlotte placed in Mommy's and Daddy's arms in China) on Feb 16, Mommy's good friend's 60th birthday on Feb 20, concluding with Family Day holiday on Feb 21. Lots to celebrate and enjoy time with family and friends. We are so blessed and fortunate to have so much to celebrate.

Charlotte mimics Mommy's morning routine

Very early this morning, Mommy thought she heard the familiar sounds of Charlotte playing with her activity centre in her crib. Mommy was too tired to get up out of bed to investigate, but it wasn’t long before the noises stopped. Just moments before 7 am, Mommy heard noises again—-this time, they were definitely of Charlotte playing with the toy on the activity centre that makes a “boeing” noise—-Charlotte was awake. Mommy quietly opened Charlotte’s door to watch her play in her crib—-it took quite a few cues from Mommy for Charlotte to realize that Mommy was standing at the partially opened door. Charlotte was quite excited to see Mommy, dancing and waving, asking for “high 5s,” and puckering up for kisses—-Mommy just loves all this. This greeting from Charlotte is so heart-warming and helps Mommy get through her day when she isn't with Charlotte.

Charlotte is a smart cookie—-as Mommy was talking to Charlotte at her crib railing, Charlotte pointed over to the humidifier to remind Mommy to turn it off. The humidifier is definitely helping Charlotte sleep at night. This morning Charlotte’s nose wasn’t running, so Mommy was hopeful that Charlotte was now over her cold—-this would mean that Mommy’s cold will end relatively soon as well, as Mommy seems to be about a day or so behind Charlotte.

Once again, after a brief period of not doing it, Charlotte insisted on bringing her red plush blanket with the kitty on it to the change table to put under her head while Mommy changed her diaper and got her dressed for the day with Daddy. Mommy and Daddy decided that Charlotte wouldn’t attend her “paint” play group today, as Charlotte doesn’t seem to be enjoying the class, not really understanding what to do with the paint and loosing interest really quickly, despite Daddy’s attempts at trying to engage Charlotte. Since Daddy was the one who would have to take Charlotte to the class, Mommy let Daddy make the call not to go.

Mommy was a little sluggish from her cold this morning so was a little later getting ready for work. As usual, when Mommy’s in the bathroom, Charlotte likes to be right beside her, usually standing on her little stool. Charlotte was quite fascinated with Mommy shaving her legs. At one point, Charlotte started to position herself as if she was going to shave her legs. While Charlotte was investigating the cream on Mommy’s legs, she got a little too close and rubbed up against Mommy, getting a big splotch of shaving cream on Charlotte’s right leg. Charlotte stood there, looked at it, and then went to the side of the tub and grabbed the wet facecloth that was hanging on the side of the tub and wiped off all the cream without being asked to do so. She handed the cloth to Mommy and then carried on moving the stool to another position to get a better view of what Mommy was doing. The shaving complete, it was time to jump into the shower. Charlotte went to see what Daddy was doing as Mommy got into the shower.

While Mommy was washing her hair in the shower, she heard Charlotte’s little tinkling voice laughing. When Mommy wiped the water from her eyes, she realized that Charlotte had opened the shower door at least 2 feet and water was sprinkling out of the shower onto Charlotte, likely her face. Yikes! Mommy envisioned a huge puddle of water awaiting her exit from the shower—-much to her surprise, there wasn’t. At this point, Daddy came to see what all the laughing was about. As usual, Daddy lifted Charlotte up so that she could watch Mommy over the top of the shower doors. Mommy showed Charlotte how she doesn’t cry when water rolls down her face, hoping that at bath time tonight Charlotte would do the same—-we’ll see.

Charlotte always laughs when Mommy gets out of the shower, wrapping her hair in one towel and wrapping a towel around her, usually accompanied with a little wiggle to which Charlotte giggles. Today, Charlotte decided that she, too, wanted to have her hair wrapped up like Mommy. It took a few tries, but Mommy got a towel wrapped around Charlotte’s head—-Charlotte moved her head in different directions, trying to knock it off her head.




Charlotte eventually settled to have the towel wrapped around her neck, holding both ends of the towel under her chin. When it was time for Mommy to brush her teeth, Charlotte brought the stool over to the left of Mommy and then motioned for her toothbrush. Charlotte doesn’t really try to brush her teeth anymore—-she enjoys sucking the water out of the bristles. This makes Mommy think that perhaps Charlotte might like to drink water from her sippy cup occasionally, instead of milk. Mommy also wondered if she should invest in a child’s electric toothbrush to encourage Charlotte to move the toothbrush around her mouth and to ensure that some of the teeth are actually getting brushed.

As Mommy got her clothes ready, Charlotte kept taking Mommy’s underwear out of the drawer and running away, usually to Daddy. Charlotte does the same thing with Daddy’s socks when he puts them on his feet—-it’s quite a game with Charlotte, usually accompanied with a lot of laughter.

Later in Mommy’s morning routine, it was time to do her hair. Again, Charlotte was up on her stool beside Mommy—-she, too, wanted Mommy to mist her hair with the spray bottle and put a headband in her hair. Mommy wonders when Charlotte will mimic Mommy putting in her contact lenses—-right now, Charlotte just looks up with a puzzled look on her face. Mommy hopes that Charlotte doesn’t decide to stick her finger in her eye, not understanding why she’s doing it but doing it because that’s what she thinks Mommy is doing.

Charlotte likes to watch Mommy apply make-up while trying to take items out of or put items into Mommy’s make-up bag. So far, she’s not asked for any to be put on her face—-that day will come, but hopefully it’s not for some time. Charlotte eventually joined Daddy sitting in the hall outside the bathroom so that they could watch Mommy get ready. Charlotte disappeared for a moment only to return with Mommy’s bottle of gingerale; she gave it to Daddy, asking for some, which he obliged—-Charlotte likes to drink little sips out of the cap of the bottle.


Grooming complete, it was time to go downstairs. Charlotte and Daddy said “goodbye” to Mommy, as Charlotte was motioning to put on her outer clothes to go out as well. As Mommy put on her boots, she could hear Charlotte and Daddy laughing on the other side of the closed door—-for a brief moment, Mommy thought about going back in and staying home today to play.

Daddy and Charlotte had a good day, as usual, playing with Charlotte’s puzzles and toys, reading books, and watching a little TV. Mommy figures that Daddy must also play a little on-line poker, which gives Charlotte just enough time to get into Mommy’s office desk drawer to remove writing instruments and accessories, which Mommy finds usually after Charlotte has gone to bed for the night. Daddy always insists that he keeps an eye on Charlotte and claims he doesn’t know how these items get removed—-Mommy knows the answer and tries not to make a big fuss about it as Mommy is grateful that Daddy is able to stay home and look after our beautiful daughter.

Lately, Charlotte has been pulling out a lot of books for Daddy to read, but quickly looses interest in the story before Daddy gets too far into it—-Charlotte is generally interested in turning the pages, but she has her favourites that she will linger on for more than a split second. Today, Charlotte let Daddy read, or should I say sing/lyrically read, the complete book (32 pages) of rhymes with Mother Goose. It is very easy to engage Charlotte with this book—-she frequently sings along and moves to the rhythm.

As usual, Charlotte removed her pants and socks early in the day; Daddy, as usual, put the pants and socks back on Charlotte. As this is a vicious cycle, Daddy gave up early in the afternoon; hence, Mommy came home to a little girl who was wearing just her onesie—-thankfully, it had long sleeves.

When Mommy arrived home and was removing her boots in the porch, she could hear Charlotte yelling about something in the house. Mommy was surprised that Charlotte didn’t run to the door to greet Mommy—-Daddy had put Charlotte in her highchair, as she was getting into everything while Daddy was trying to cook dinner. As soon as Charlotte saw Mommy, she went crazy with excitement in her chair, waving and bouncing around. Charlotte was really generous with her kisses—-Mommy wondered if Charlotte was going to try to lick her lips again…whew, she didn’t. Then Charlotte started asking for a bath. Mommy had to explain a couple of times that she had to eat her dinner first before having a bath.

Charlotte gobbled up every kernel of corn and most of her rice. Once again, she wasn’t that fussy about the cooked salmon; however, she did eat a few pieces that Daddy snuck onto her fork when she ate some rice off Daddy’s fork. Charlotte threw a couple of pieces of salmon only after Daddy had tried to feed it to her—-one of the pieces landed in Daddy’s glass of water and another landed on Daddy’s plate. Not sure if this was luck or good aim on Charlotte’s part. Charlotte drank some of Daddy’s water from his glass—-for the longest time, Charlotte refused to drink water, so maybe it’s time for Mommy to try again. Charlotte has started to dump her food from her plate onto her highchair tray, preferring to have food placed on her tray for her to pick up rather than fed to her on a fork or spoon.

After dinner, Charlotte scrambled upstairs for her bath. Charlotte now holds the railing of the small staircase just before Charlotte’s room and walks up the stairs one at a time—-I don’t think it will be long before Charlotte is walking up the stairs like a big girl, graduating from crawling as a toddler.

Charlotte enjoyed her bath as usual, except for when it was time to wash her hair-—Charlotte did not remember that Mommy didn’t cry when water splashed on her face this morning. Charlotte began fussing even before Mommy brought any water near Charlotte’s hair, so Mommy decided to cheat and just wet Charlotte’s hair with a face cloth-—Mommy decided to leave the battle for another day.

Charlotte really likes being wrapped up in her bunny towel and makes cute little noises as Mommy dries her off while she lies on the change table. As usual, Charlotte enjoys Mommy rubbing body lotion on her legs and arms. Tonight, Charlotte wanted Mommy to count her toes and fingers while she was rubbing lotion on her hands and feet. Mommy dressed Charlotte in her cute Christmas angel jammies—-Charlotte immediately pointed to the angel and tried to say “angel.” Last time she wore these jammies, she pointed to the angel and said “Santa.” Regardless of what she calls the object, she knew that they were Christmassy, which is pretty good, since she was looking at objects that are upside down to her when she’s wearing the top.

Mommy wanted to play with Charlotte on the floor for a few minutes before Charlotte went to bed, but she wanted Daddy to join us on the floor—-she was quite fussy and adamant and wouldn’t give up coaxing until Daddy stopped playing his on-line poker game to play with us on the floor of Charlotte’s room. As usual, Charlotte wanted Daddy to get right down on the floor, leaning on his elbow that brings their faces in line with one another; tonight, for the first time, Charlotte wanted Mommy to do the same, but she settled for sitting in Mommy’s lap, as she usually does. Daddy showed Mommy how he lyrically read the book of rhymes with Mother Goose to Charlotte; Mommy chimed in and sang the rhymes with Daddy, until Daddy had to leave for a couple of minutes. Charlotte was quite upset and didn’t want Mommy to continue singing her book without Daddy.

Mommy tucked Charlotte into her crib at about 8:10 pm—-for some reason, Charlotte didn’t really want to hug her stuffed kitty that she has been sleeping with for the last couple of weeks, but she did eventually with some coaxing from Mommy. Mommy quietly closed the door and hoped that Charlotte didn’t start fussing in about 10 minutes as she has for the last couple of nights—-Mommy sat quietly waiting for Charlotte to cry out, but she didn’t.

Charlotte learns new words: names of parts of a room

Charlotte slept through the night and awoke a little later than usual, about 8:20 am, despite getting to bed much later than usual the night before. So, Mommy and Daddy were assuming that Charlotte would be more than ready for her morning nap when the time came.

Mommy got Charlotte dressed and ready for her day with Daddy before she went off to work. When Mommy went into her room to say goodbye to Charlotte and Daddy, Charlotte patted the bed, asking Mommy to sit down beside her. Mommy obliged and explained to Charlotte that she had to go to work, while kissing Charlotte profusely. When Mommy started to go toward the stairs, Charlotte insisted on going downstairs as well, all the while drinking her bottle. When Charlotte saw Mommy put her scarf and coat on, Charlotte wanted to do the same. Mommy and Daddy tried explaining to Charlotte that she would be going out later in the day with Daddy. Mommy was afraid that Charlotte would start fussing, but she didn’t.

As Mommy was putting on her boots in the porch, she could hear Charlotte and Daddy on the other side of the closed door singing as they climbed the stairs to start their morning activities and routine.

Daddy reported that Charlotte did not have a good morning nap; apparently, Charlotte awoke and fussed every 15 minutes until Daddy gave in and got her up. Daddy attributes this to the window blind that he couldn’t close, but Mommy doesn’t think so. Lately, Charlotte has needed a little extra comforting and soft encouragement to close her eyes and to go to sleep when she’s been put in her crib. Not sure why, but it usually does the trick.

After lunch, Daddy took Charlotte to a little play group at the local community centre where the gym is set up with all sorts of play equipment and toys. Daddy reported that there were far fewer people in attendance at today’s group, about one-tenth the number that is usually there. Unfortunately, Charlotte didn’t show much interest in a lot of the toys; she went down the slide twice and didn’t really show much interest in playing with the other children. She wandered out of the gym and went to watch people swimming in the pools. Daddy brought her back to the gym, but very shortly thereafter, she wandered back to the window to watch the pools again. Daddy took this as a sign that Charlotte really wasn’t interested in participating in this program today, so packed up and took Charlotte shopping at the Pickering Town Centre for a Valentine’s wedding anniversary gift for Mommy.

Upon returning home, Daddy and Charlotte played downstairs for a little while before phoning Mommy at work. Again, Charlotte showed no interest in talking to Mommy on the phone; Charlotte just wanted to push the buttons on the phone.

When Mommy arrived home from work, she didn’t even have the outer screen door to the porch open and she could hear the loud taps on the living room window by little hands—-Charlotte was calling “mama” and banging away. Charlotte was so excited to see Mommy; she couldn’t wait for Mommy to get her boots off and in the door to give her a kiss. Charlotte kept pressing her little face up against the screen door, puckering up for kisses. Once again, Charlotte greeted Mommy at the door without her pants on.

As soon as Mommy got her coat and scarf hung up, Charlotte began asking for a bath. Mommy explained that we needed to eat supper first, which Daddy had on the table within a couple of minutes of Mommy walking in the door.

Once again, Charlotte didn’t eat all that well at dinner—-she’s getting very good at “casting” her food, occasionally hitting Mommy in the arm or head. Charlotte was anxious for dinner to be over so that she could have a bath, which she continued to ask for during dinner. As Mommy was cleaning up Charlotte in her high chair, Charlotte started to yawn, which Daddy reported she had done a few times leading up to Mommy’s arrival. Both Mommy and Daddy figured Charlotte would be fast asleep before she even finished her bottle tonight.

Daddy and Charlotte have been working on the parts of a room. Today Charlotte said “floor,” “ceiling,” and “wall,” while pointing to each; she is still working on “window” but points to it correctly.

Mommy gobbled up her dinner and scooted Charlotte upstairs, without much coaxing. Charlotte has gotten quite good and fast at walking up the stairs just like we do, one foot per step, as long as she is holding onto our hands. Once in the bathroom, Charlotte as usual got the stool positioned for Mommy while Mommy filled the baby tub with water, making sure that there were lots of bubbles for Charlotte.

Charlotte really enjoys her bath time, but really dislikes getting her hair washed. Mommy continues to try to find fun ways to get the task done, but it usually ends up with Charlotte crying briefly. Mommy hopes that this part of bath time will become less stressful for Charlotte as she gets used to water once swimming lessons start and when she starts going to the beach at the cottage.

Bath time over, Charlotte and Mommy retired to Charlotte’s room to get ready for bed. Mommy noticed that Charlotte’s hands and feet were especially wrinkly. Charlotte helped Mommy put lotion on Charlotte by rubbing some on her cheeks and tummy; for some reason, Charlotte has taken to eating the lotion on her hand, which I doubt is very good for her, but it is a baby lotion, so I’m sure the makers have taken this into account in manufacturing. I can’t imagine that it tastes very good, but it must not be bad, as Charlotte has done this several times, despite Mommy’s constant requests not to.

Mommy and Charlotte worked on a few puzzles with Daddy. Whenever Charlotte places the monkey piece is its proper position, she always makes the sound and actions of a monkey—-it’s so cute to watch. Unfortunately, Mommy can never seem to catch this on video. I think Charlotte has become camera shy—-when Mommy brings the camera out, Charlotte stops doing what Mommy is trying to capture on film.


Mommy let Charlotte play for a few minutes past her bedtime as it seemed like Charlotte had got her second wind from her bath. Charlotte has got quite good at sorting shapes and placing them in the correct hole; sometimes she completes the task really quite quickly.


Usually when Charlotte sees her bottle she is quite willing to get into her crib to go to sleep, but not tonight. Charlotte settled down as usual in her crib with her bottle and kitty, with lullabies playing softly in the background and her light projections on the ceiling. Mommy was surprised to hear Charlotte cry less than 15 minutes later. Charlotte’s cry was unusual—-it sounded like she was very distressed so Mommy went in to her immediately. Charlotte had finished her bottle and was standing at her crib railing—-everything was fine. Mommy laid Charlotte back down in her crib, covered her up, and stroked her hair for a few minutes while chatting softly to her. Mommy kept an ear for Charlotte until Mommy fell asleep. Around 12:30 am, Mommy woke up hearing noises-—it sounded like Charlotte was playing with her activity centre in her crib. Eventually, the noise stopped, but Mommy was now awake, tossing and turning, unable to get back to sleep.

Superbowl party--Charlotte enjoys all the festivities

Charlotte awoke Mommy about 5:30 am, crying out in her sleep—-Charlotte settled down within in a couple of minutes; she likely had a bad dream. Despite the disruption early this morning, Charlotte awoke on schedule, a little after 8 am.

Charlotte awoke from her nap after 1:30 pm, but played in her crib for a little while. Charlotte was quite animated when Mommy went in to get Charlotte out of her crib, which she didn’t want to do right away—-Mommy had to convince her. For lunch, Daddy gave Charlotte a yoghurt to eat on her own while he was on the phone—-bad decision; Charlotte got it in her hair, on her clothes, on the floor, and all over the tray of her highchair—-not sure how much she actually consumed. Mommy had planned on giving Charlotte a bath before going out, but now she definitely needed one. Mommy had quite a job getting Charlotte cleaned up enough to be able to climb the stairs, which she did quite enthusiastically—-Charlotte loves her bath time.

Charlotte put up quite a fuss when it came time to wash her hair—-no short-cuts could be taken today, as she had yoghurt embedded in her hair. Mommy tried laying Charlotte in her arm in the tub, but Charlotte just wiggled and screamed the whole time, so much so that Daddy came into the bathroom to find out what all the fuss was about, which was more than usual. Mommy tried to show Charlotte that there was nothing to be afraid of—-for a short time, Charlotte actually laid on the bottom of the tub, with her ears in the water, but Charlotte was too upset to realize that everything was okay. There was nothing Mommy could do to calm down Charlotte except finish the job and resume playing with toys. Charlotte was fine once the washing was finished, chattering and laughing as if nothing had happened. When Charlotte began to shiver, she stood up and proclaimed that bath time was “all done.”

While Mommy dressed Charlotte, Mommy and Charlotte practised saying “touchdown” (a word she learned at the Grey Cup party) while raising our hands in the air in preparation for this afternoon’s big football game. Charlotte would get quite excited and proceed to dance, shout, and wave her arms around.

When we arrived at Wendy’s mom’s, Charlotte made the rounds, saying “hi” to everyone, but especially David V who gave her a cheesie, one of her favourite snacks. At the Grey Cup party, Charlotte was quite fond of David, so it was not surprising that she would gravitate to him again. She frequently wanted to sit on his lap and to share her treats with him, as she did at the last party.

Charlotte received 2 Valentine bears from Joan—-she couldn’t decide which one to get for Charlotte so she decided to get both; Charlotte’s a lucky girl.

Charlotte befriended Jackie (Wendy’s mom) earlier in the evening, drinking her gingerale from a straw. At dinner time, Charlotte befriended Eileen, eating her French fries and then later eating some of her chocolate chip cookie (later in the evening, Charlotte found the spot in the kitchen cupboard where the cookies were stored to which she helped herself and then wanted to serve to others). Everyone was so happy to cater to Charlotte’s every wish—-Mommy and Daddy are so blessed to have such wonderful friends to share this beautiful journey of life with Charlotte.

For dinner, we enjoyed pizza, chicken wings, and other finger foods. As Mommy was preparing a plate of food for Charlotte and Daddy, Karen (our lawyer) taught Charlotte who was now standing on a dining room chair how to “demand” food: bang her hands on the dining room table. The two of them would giggle and laugh every time Charlotte banged the table, which wasn’t very loud or hard.

Karen, wearing her cheese hat (Wisconsin fan), shows Charlotte how to demand food by banging on the table.

Charlotte really didn’t eat much, but she had been snacking since arriving, so Mommy wasn’t worried. For dessert, we had vanilla custard and mango custard cream puffs from a Japanese bakery in the Pacific Mall—-they were really good. Charlotte enjoyed a little bit of Mommy’s cream puff and then enjoyed some of Daddy’s when he had one later in the evening.

At the appropriate times during the game, Charlotte would shout “touch down.” Mommy and Daddy would get her to do it even when there wasn’t one just to hear her cute little voice.

At half-time, Charlotte distributed her Chinese New Year red envelopes and wished everyone a happy new year in Mandarin, with Mommy’s help. Charlotte hasn’t had much chocolate to date, but tonight she gobbled up a couple of the chocolate coins and wanted more. After moving the bag with extra coins several times, Mommy had to eventually hide the bag to get Charlotte to leave them alone. For dessert, we had home-made apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Charlotte had a couple of mouthfuls of ice cream and then didn’t want any more—-she was more interested in finishing off Jackie’s gingerale.

Charlotte enjoyed playing with Marcel and Wendy who are really good with small children—-they don’t have any problems getting on the floor at a child’s level and playing with them. Charlotte enjoyed discovering the contents of one of Wendy’s mom’s kitchen drawers. Eventually, the drawer was put on the floor and Charlotte climbed right inside to get that much closer to all the interesting things-—all sorts of balls, spinners, and small toys.





Just after 10 pm, once the football game was over, Charlotte was still going strong. While everyone was getting ready to leave, Charlotte decided to put on Wendy’s boots-—it took some engineering and strength for Charlotte to walk in them, but she eventually succeeded. When it was time to leave, Charlotte didn’t want to take off the boots.

Charlotte fell asleep by the time we got to the 401 and was sound asleep when we pulled into the driveway at home. Mommy carried Charlotte into the house and started to take off Charlotte’s outerwear when she started to cough and gag. While Charlotte lay on the change table, Mommy rubbed and patted Charlotte’s chest and back, which helped to settle Charlotte’s coughing. When Mommy was sure that Charlotte wasn’t going to spit up any more, Mommy and Daddy tucked Charlotte into bed. Mommy and Daddy weren’t far behind Charlotte going to bed, as it was after 11:30 pm—-it had been a long day. Mommy hopes that Charlotte doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night as she has the last couple of nights.