Adventures with Charlotte

Happy Birthday, Bamma!

Charlotte has had many, many adventures since I last wrote. I’m not sure where to begin so I’ll just go in chronological order.

Occupational Therapy: Charlotte had her quarterly evaluation last week. She still tests at her birth or gestational age (15 or 14 months) for fine motor skills and shoulder girdle strength. Cheryl will keep monitoring her, but is not recommending therapy.

Dentist: We met Dr. Charlie Czerepak last week. Because of her acid reflux, Charlotte had her first dental appointment earlier than most toddlers. Dr. Charlie was adorable with her—he came into the waiting area and talked to me for a minute. Once Charlotte smiled at him, we went into the exam room. Charlotte sat on my lap and Dr. Charlie examined her many teeth (seriously, I’ve lost count) by quickly brushing them. We chatted about dental hygiene and that was that. We’ll see him again 4 months. Meanwhile we’re trying to get the urchin used to twice daily brushing.

Eating, Vomiting: Charlotte is steadily taking in 50-70% of all Pediasure that we offer orally. Fore two weeks she vomited every day after breakfast. This week she’s decided it’s more fun to vomit after lunch. But, we’re holding steady at one vomit a day. I’m working on a strategy to reduce even that.

She’s not doing much with solid food at all, not even her favorites. Okay, that’s not exactly true. She’ll nibble a crumb of a chicken nugget. Cheese and hotdogs get plastered on her forehead or on the top of her head. Goldfish crackers are especially good for tickling her ears.

And, her newest trick? Well, she likes to feed me! She methodically places a cracker in my mouth, watches me chew, and opens my mouth to see if the food is still there. If the food is gone, she puts another cracker in. This can go on for minutes on end. She giggles a lot!

Other adventures: The fun stuff. Well, Charlotte has finally shifted to one nap a day. So, we can do some fun things. Last week we went to Fantasy Kingdom—a big indoor playroom with a castle, village and dress up. Today, we visited the butterflies at the Peggy Noetebart Nature Museum. I don’t know who had more fun, me or Charlotte.

Charlotte crashed Eli's Bar Mitzvah party on Saturday. Our friend Carol gave in to the little monkey (Charlotte, not Eli) and gave her an entire balloon centerpiece. As you can tell, Charlotte was in heaven. She walked around the room forever, getting tangled in the ribbons, falling down, standing up, and moving on. Giggling, giggling, giggling.

And, Daddy and Charlotte had their first coloring session together. Daddy drew a kitty cat. Charlotte loved it. She drew scribbles. Daddy loved it.

We’re having a blast!

That’s about all I can think of.