Eating, Singing, Growing: A Charlotte Chronicle

Eating: Charlotte is still drinking the same amount as last reported, anywhere form 75% to 100% of all of her Pediasure. She's increased her solid intake significantly, taking as much as 4, even 6 ounces of solid food at a meal. Recently, she's begun to ask for "chewy" food. She has begun to realize that her food is pureed and she wants to eat Mommy and Daddy's food or the "chewy" version of her food. Today it was sphagettios, last week hot dogs. We are loving this development. It does, however, present a challenge: She chews very, very slowly and simply cant take in any volume this way so it is an inefficient way to assure her caloric needs are met.

She knows how proud we are when she eats. A few days ago she told me to take her picture because she was feeding herself (I'll post video here tomorrow.)

An eating anecdote: Last week Charlotte and I didn't feel well so we had a very slow morning, pajamas until 10:00 a.m., no breakfast, etc. At 10:30 we went to brunch around the corner. Charlotte, whom I'd had on a liquid diet for a few hours, was HUNGRY. She practically grabbed the yogurt out of my hand and had shoveled most of it into her mouth by the time I got my coffee. Then she continued to nibble at toast and drink her milk while I ate my breakfast. She chatted, flirted with the server and bus boy, and burst into song. She was an absolutely dreamy date.

It's hard to remember where we were with feeding a year ago. Here's a flashback link.

For the record, she's vomited maybe 3 to 4 times in the past 23 days. Last week it was due to either a cold or tummy bug and was hours away from any meal (so it doesn't count in my book!). Prior to that, she'd eaten so much (voluntarily) that I think she simply had too much in her tummy.

Singing: Charlotte loves to sing. She wakes up singing. She sings all day long. She knows the tunes to all her favorite songs and will sometimes make up the words. She has a little repertoire of songs for which she knows some words and that she asks for by name (Mamma Mia, Elmo's ladybug song, Hippo Hippopotome).

This past week she started singing words to songs she's only hummed before: Old McDonald, Au Clair de la Lune, and Momma Mia ("mommy mia, here I go again"). Simply too funny.

Growing: At last weight check (Her flu shot on 9/29. By the way, she'd want me to tell you that she didn't cry for the flu shot. Her daddy says she did. You decide) Charlotte weighed 30 lbs. She's either holding steady or fluctuating plus/minus 100mg. Dr. Salem, pediatrician extraordinaire, seems unconcerned. We'll see in 3 weeks what the CHOW team thinks.

My giant baby is more than 37" tall. And as she tells me daily, "'Harlotte not a baby anymore. 'Harlotte a big, big girl."