Development at 8 months

Charlie Jo is officially eight months old, and boy is she changing fast! She's really starting to manipulate the moving parts of her toys rather than just shoving them immediately in her mouth. That, in addition to the pulling up and crawling, has really made playtime a lot more fun for both of us. Thank goodness she also figured out how to get back down from the standing up position. She used to pull up on something, get "stranded", and then cry. I spent a lot of time rescuing her.

Charlie can now crawl over obstacles (such as my legs and a pillow) and up the two carpeted half stairs in the bonus room. Going down them is not quite as easy. Corey was trying to teach her how to crawl down them head first tonight before I stopped him and suggested backwards as a safer alternative.

Charlie also has her first cold. I knew the time would come, but it makes me sad nonetheless. She HATES the snot sucker (aka the nasal aspirator) and HATES me wiping her nose. Luckily, she doesn't have any other symptoms and is trucking along with only some minor fussiness. We put her to bed a full half an hour early tonight because she was just beside herself tired and cranky -- probably because of the nose full of snot.

Charlie is meeting all of the developmental milestones set forth in the books I'm reading, and she's even reaching some pretty early. She's "protesting" (as the books call it) when we take away toys (or objects she thinks are toys) and learning to chew soft pieces of food. She's also learning that if she hangs a hand full of food over the edge of her highchair tray, the dogs will come running. They are eating biter biscuits right out of her hand, which she thinks is hilarious. We're not so sure Duke needs any more calories (he DID score 10 out of 10 on the obesity scale at the last vet appointment), but he seems to think he deserves a treat for putting up with the newest member of the family.

The dogs have overall been fairly good with Charlie. They are way more interested in getting past her to be petted by us, but they haven't really stepped on her or anything bad. Surprisingly, Duke is the one who is more nervous around Charlie. Connie lets Charlie climb all over her (but she did walk away while Charlie was in the middle of pulling up on her, which resulted in Charlie falling and screaming), even in her bed. Duke gets nervous and walks away if Charlie crawls toward him, and he has growled softly on a couple of occasions when Charlie tried to crawl up onto him. We're reading up on how to handle that because we're bound and determined to raise Charlie as an animal lover. Pacey the cat will hang out near Charlie, but the first move she makes toward him always sends him running for the hills. We're pretty sure that relationship will evolve over time as we teach Charlie how to pet nicely, but it may be a few years.

Charlie does notice the television, but she hasn't ever watched it for long. She loves to watch herself on the computer though!

More Windy City adventures

Trying on fun hats



Crawling with Auntie Ernie



Checking out the birdies with her buddy, Margie



Meeting Corey's college roommate, Dave (and his wife, Ana, and gorgeous 2 1/2-month-old daughter, Lucia)

Windy City adventures

I have been dreading having to whittle down the 8,000 photos I took last weekend in Chicago for the blog post, so that's why I haven't posted yet. We had such a wonderful time with Auntie Ernie and Uncle Andrew, and it's hard to capture that in words and a few photos. Honestly, Corey is much better at expressing feelings in writing, but since he wasn't there it's up to me. Here's just a sampling of what we did and the terrific photos we shot:

Modeling their Notre Dame jerseys



Charlie Jo telling Auntie Ernie just how much she loves borrowing that adorable raccoon sweater during lunch at Uncle Julio's



Bundled up at the Morton Arboretum



Hugging Zach's memorial tree



Playing with Margie the cat (can you see her behind the door?)



More to come!!

Off to Chicago

The girls are off for a weekend with Auntie Ernie and Uncle Andrew in Chicago (Corey has to work), but before we go, here are a few photos:

Charlie Jo and I had a fabulous time yesterday afternoon at Faith Carol's bowling match!




How many lucky kids do you know who have an ace bowler as their favorite baby-sitter?

And finally, here are two silly photos. The first was taken on the road back from Ohio a few weeks back. Corey was goofing around during a pit stop and tested out how Charlie Jo will ride in the car in a few years.



And here's a shot of Charlie "playing" guitar with Alicia. Actually, she likes to just bang on the guitar (either the body or the strings - it doesn't matter). Please ignore my thumb in the bottom right of the photo. For some reason I'm terrible at keeping it out of photos taken with my phone.

Biker chick

At a playdate today, Charlie Jo tried out her buddy's ride. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, but I forgot to bring my regular camera!

Charlotte and her cousin Jordan

Cousin Jordan came over for dinner tonight to talk about applying to law school. Charlie Jo showed him her crawling and clapping skills and then climbed all over him. He's such a good sport to let a 7-month-old use him as a jungle gym. How many 21-year-olds do you know who are that nice?

Plays well with others

Charlie had a few buddies over for a playdate today. Corey won't let me post photos of other babies for "security reasons", but I figure these are okay since you can't see his face. Charlie had such a good time with him -- they followed each other around the room and stole toys back and forth. In these photos, they were hanging out in the corner together. I think they are going to be great buddies as they grow up because they have very similar temperaments.

Crawling and Clapping

Charlie really likes to crawl and clap.

A nice first Halloween for Charlie Jo

Despite the rocky start to the day, I had a great time on my first Halloween evening.

We posed for photos with the pumpkins.  Because they had been carved almost a week ago, they were looking a little limp.

I'm a ladybug!  Can you see the reflection of my daddy in the glass door behind me?

Awww...  The pumpkin is almost as big as me.

Daddy was dressed head to toe in his flame gear and Mommy put on her Duke Blue Devils jersey because it was the only costume-like thing she owned.

Pacey tried to look scary!

For the second year in a row, Daddy soaked toilet paper rolls in kerosene and used them to light the pumpkins.  Apparently, tea lights just aren't bright enough.  Daddy is now the hero of every pre-teen boy in the neighborhood.

Cranky ladybug

Oh my. Charlie Jo was SO cranky at the Stroller Strides Halloween Spooktacular this morning. We left half-way through, and she instantly fell asleep in the car on the way home. She woke right up when I tried to whisk her inside to continue her nap, and now she's acting like the happiest child on earth.

We're looking forward to handing out candy tonight, and we will take more photos of the ladybug in action. I'm too lazy to go downstairs to get my regular camera, so here is a camera phone shot of Charlie in her Halloween day outfit. My mom, sister and I can't remember which one of us bought her this pumpkin onesie at Carters this summer, but she sure does look cute in it!

And she glows in the dark!

Charlotte's Great Granny and Great Grandpa Taylor gave her this hilarious outfit to wear last weekend. Not only does Charlotte looks like the sweetest skeleton on the block, but she also glows in the dark! I think she also looks a little bit like a cat burglar.

Trivia night hijinks

Our Monday night trivia team is special. Like special ed, that is. This week, the theme was Charlotte-sploitation. First, we had Charlotte model this lovely hat/wig combo.


She was surprisingly cool about the whole thing. Next, we demonstrated the cement-like qualities of her fruit puffs that she likes to eat. The one on her forehead stuck there for a good half hour. The ones on her earlobes sadly did not stick quite as long, but the one on her right earlobe was there for at least 10 minutes.