Tag Archives: toddler gymnastics

Weekend in Review

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I’ve been terrible about keeping up with this blog, as the days and weeks are literally flying by. Regardless, here’s my little weekend in review…

We had a great (and busy) weekend. On Friday after work, we had dinner with my closest little love, Marci, her hubs and babes, her parents and one of Charlie’s classmates and his family. I cannot rave enough about how fun this was.

First, I absolutely adore every minute I have to catch up with Marci and smoosh her ADORABLE little guy. And second, it was a lot of fun to chitter chatter with the other family. I actually went to middle and high school with the dad, so it was just great to catch up.

Funny story… it was around 8:45pm and C was turning into a wild woman. Definitely still behaved, but hyper… my mom would refer to her mood as “punchy.”

Anyway, the dad, Dave, was laying on the ground next to his 7 or 8 month old baby (who C was OBSESSED with) and Mark was laying on a spot on the floor across the room. In C’s wild, happy oblivion, she climbed up on top of Dave and gave him loving, happy pats as she said “Dada.” At first I responded with, “Yes, that’s Eli and Ari’s dada.”

Then, as the others in the room started making comments like, “Wow! Do you believe this kid? Look how comfortable she is… etc.” I started to think, “Well, no… I don’t believe this actually.”

Me: Charlie, you know that’s not Daddy, right? Look at his face. That’s Ari’s Daddy…

Charlotte: (Starts backing off slowly as she looks at his face and realizes that she is not sitting on top of her own daddy.)

As soon as she realized her little mistake, she booked it to Daddy’s arms while I proceeded to cry from laughing so hard.

On Saturday, we went to gymnastics class, which was fun. I haven’t gone in a bit, so it was nice to see how much she’s progressed. Of course, the day I join, Charlotte takes a tumble off of a 3 foot high mat. Thankfully, she really is the toughest little girl ever.

We looked at her in shock and said, “Are you okay”… she thought about it for a few seconds and said, “yeahhh.”

  After gymnastics, we decided to head over to a local farm that welcomes guests. Unfortunately, they were closed for winter; however, the gentleman allowed us to come check out the few animals they had at this location… one chubby bunny, a ton of the LOUDEST, squakiest ducks and 3 pigeons.

Regardless, it was enough to entertain C. In fact, she’s been making duck noises nonstop ever since.

   

  

  

 Before C’s nap, we were also able to get her little art station hung up in her room. I LOVE how it turned out! Now, I just need to finish her table and chairs. 

 That evening, we went to my sweet Carrie’s son’s 2nd birthday party! It was a farm theme and absolutely adorable! Charlie loved it! She played with balloons and toy animals, ate applesauce, cake and berries and got to be with mom and dad. What could be bad? 

    
    
    
    
 On Sunday, we went to Home Depot and Whole Foods in the morning. HD gave away little plastic easter eggs with wrapped chocolate bunnies inside. We’ve never given C chocolate, so we just let her play with the candies assuming she didn’t know what they were. Sure enough, when we looked down at her, she was silently indulging in some chocolate. We let her take one more bite and then called it quits on the chocolate. 

     
After our errands, we went to my parents’ house for brunch and some playtime. Then, post-nap, Mark’s Dad and Step Mom came over for a pizza dinner. 

    
    
    
    
 All in all, it was a great weekend!

Some other cute pics: 

    
    
 

Our Big 18 Month Old!

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  Our babe is an entire year and a half! People told me that once she hit 18 months, there’s a huge developmental leap, and it’s true! She’s such a big little person these days. She is full of personality and just such a wonderful little love.

Walking Update: This should really say “running update”… the child is OFF! She’s constantly walking/running everywhere. One interesting little tid bit is that she walks on her tip toes quite a bit. As a 5′ 1″ (and that 1” might be a bit of a stretch) little lady, I spend a lot of time standing on my tip toes. It’s a habit. So I don’t know if she’s seen me doing it or if it’s a toddler thing, but it’s pretty silly. And sometimes leads to her falling on her tush.

Talking Update: The child is a chatterbox. I forsee many a report card comment about spending too much time chattering and socializing in class (just like her mommy received). Her comprehension is amazing. We can give her 1 and 2-part instructions and she goes right ahead and does it. Sometimes she shocks me with the words she knows. The best way I’ve found for teaching her words is through books. We go through picture books and identify the images.

I say, “Where’s the lion” and she points to it. Then, “What does the lion say?” And in the most feminine, high pitch voice, she squeals, “Raaaa!” She can do this with tons of animals (monkey, bear, giraffe, dog, cat, frog, fish, lion, pig, etc) and other objects (baby, milk, pine cone, tree, cup, ball, and the list goes on).

In terms of words she says, her vocabulary is a bit more limited, but still impressive (to me!):

  • Mom, Momma
  • Dad, Dada (she used to call Mark “MA” so this is a welcomed new lesson)
  • Baba (baby)
  • All Done (she said this today and it was clear as day)
  • Mosht (toast)
  • Chssss (Cheese)
  • Ornch (Orange)
  • Hot, Hot, Hot (this is Charlie’s favorite word that she uses nonstop. She touches EVERYTHING and anything remotely warm makes her say “hot” for 20 minutes)
  • Pom (Pom Poms – I have little tissue paper flower pom poms hanging in my office)
  • Mor (More)
  • Ba (Bear)
  • Liii (Lion)
  • Sssssss (Steffie – my cousin)

I’m sure there are more because I’m literally shocked daily, but it’s so hard to remember all of them.

New Tricks:

  • She is a wizard with a fork and spoon!
  • She can do “downward facing dog” and is working on a somersault     
  • She blows bubbles in the pool. AND, even crazier, she graduated to Level “Baby 2” in swim class and now goes in the pool without Mark. She has 2 others in her class with her and she sits on the pool step (in the water) by herself while the teacher takes the other kids for their turn. This to me is mind blowing. SUCH a big girl.    
  • She can point out every part of her body.
  • She loves to play dress up with Mommy’s hats and of course, look in the mirror or at pictures of herself in her “costumes”      
  • She “counts”… aka points at objects and makes a noise to imitate counting.
  • She can play the harmonica… with her nose.  
  • She’s the toughest “tough girl”
  • She can take her shoes and socks off on her own.
  • She loves to take care of her “baby” (her baby doll). She gets baby all wrapped in her swaddle (and by gets I mean that she demands that Nana, Dada or I wrap her up) and carries her EVERYWHERE, rocks her, pushes her in the stroller and/or grocery cart, and gives her tons of smooches.        
  • She loves her puppy and kitty. I actually haven’t noticed her pulling the cat’s tail recently… so hopefully she’s going to stop that. She’s very sweet with Toby. Gives him hugs and pets.    
  • She helps unload the dishwasher (sometimes even when we don’t want her to)
  • She throws away trash (and picks up any and every little speck of dust that comes in her path) and closes the trash cabinet door after.
  • She can wipe her own hands, face and nose (not perfectly, but pretty well) and cleans up spills with paper towel.
  • She knows the hand signals for “wheels on the bus,” “no more monkeys jumping on the bed”, “Take me out to the ball game,” “Patty Cake,” and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”… hmmm… I’m sure there are more.
  • She’s obsessed with music. LOVES, LOVES, LOVES music.
  • She pretends everything is a phone and puts it to her little ear for a chat. She also LOVES to “work” at mommy’s desk.  
  • She’s a hilarious dancer.
  • She LOVES to brush her teeth. In fact, sometimes she refuses to drink her milk because she just can’t wait to brush her teeth.

Daily Schedule:

  • 7/8:30: Depending on when she goes to sleep and what her plans for the day are, she wakes up between 7 and 8:30 (she has slept as late as 10:30/11ish before) – the girl LOVES her sleep.
  • 8/830: Breakfast
  • 10: On non-school days, Charlotte takes a morning rest/nap. Sometimes she falls asleep, sometimes she just has quiet play in bed. Regardless, we typically only let her sleep 30-60 minutes in the morning. On non-school days, Charlotte skips this nap and comes home zonked.
  • 12: Lunch
  • 1/2: Depending on her mood, Charlotte’s afternoon nap falls somewhere between 1 and 2/230. She will typically sleep anywhere between 2-3.5 hours. Usually it’s around 2.5. Again, this depends on whether she took an AM nap, what she did all day, etc.
  • 6: Dinner, Bath (on bath days – she bathes every other day and on swim days)
  • 7/8: Charlotte goes to bed most often around 7:30/7:45ish

School Schedule: Charlotte goes to school from 9-12:30 on Thursdays and Fridays (on these days, she eats a snack and lunch at school and does not nap)

Favorite Foods: Mealtimes are kind of my least favorite lately. Although, the past few days, Charlotte has been pretty good. But she’s SO toddler when it comes to food. Some days she loves something, others she hates it. Some days she refuses to taste anything, some days she’s adventurous. Some days she eats three huge meals, other days she fizzles after breakfast. The gist is that it’s not always easy. In fact, the only meal that’s “easy” is breakfast… ever.

favorites

  • Cheerios or pretty much any other cereal
  • Oatmeal with cinnamon
  • Quiche
  • Cheese Sticks
  • Oranges
  • Crackers (she rarely gets these)
  • Yogurt
  • Cottage Cheese

sometimes loves

  • Toast with cinnamon
  • Pasta with Sauce (only lately)
  • Bread
  • Taco ground turkey meat (lately)
  • Berries – used to be her fave, now only sometimes
  • Non string cheese cheese (hit or miss)
  • Mac & Cheese
  • Grilled Cheese
  • Veggie shakes
  • Egg bread (my version of French toast)

Favorite Toys:

Favorite Books:

Size:

  • Clothes: 18/12-18 Months (sometimes the pants and shirts are too short depending on where they’re from)
  • Diapers: Size 4
  • Shoe Size: Toddler 4.5

Teeth: Charlotte has so many teeth. I want to say she has 16… although I haven’t gotten a look to see if her 2 year old molars are making their way

Weekend Review (& the First Night of Chanukah)!

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We had another busy, busy weekend! On Friday, I met my mother and sister for a manicure (what’s better???).

I painted my nails “dutch tulips”… a nice Christmasy red for Chanukah 🙂

 I even made it back in time to play with my little bumpkins and put her to bed.

On Saturday, Charlotte had her very first gymnastics class! My little babes is growing up so fast. I can’t believe all of these new activities and experiences she’s been having.

Charlotte was a bit overwhelmed at class, but after getting some good bouncing in on the trampoline, she lightened up (her grip… she was a clingy koala for most of class). And of course, in her sudden, post-jump excitement, she started running towards all the people and stepped right off of the mats and faceplanted on the only foot of hard surface in the dang place.

  
  
  
 After gymnastics, I headed out for brunch with my girlfriends to celebrate one of my sweet girlfriend’s birthday! It was delicious and a blast.

  
 Then, we made our way back to the gymnastics place for open gym. Round two was really great for Charlotte. She had an absolute blast.

  
 That evening, my friend Jenna and her two boys came over for a visit. Mark took all three kids to the basement playroom and gave Jenna and I a good hour or more to chat and catch up. It was perfect.

 Then on Sunday, we headed to the nursing home to wish Mark’s grandmother a happy 97th birthday! Charlotte was a bit overwhelmed by the home. She wasn’t super comfortable, but did manage to give Grandma Dina a couple birthday smooches.

  
  
Finally, after Charlotte’s nap, it was time to go to Grammy & Grampie’s for the first night of Chanukah. And let me just say, Charlotte had a blast. We didn’t have a booster seat, so we sat her on top of a couple medical books and strapped her in with a belt. It worked perfectly and she loved sitting at the table like a big girl.

When it came time for presents, Charlotte absolutley LOVED opening her gifts and found a ridiculous amount of joy lugging around the gift bag containing all of her new items. In fact, she hasn’t stopped lugging around said gift bag.

  
  
  
 It was a blast! All in all, a very fun and eventful weekend.