Charlotte is 1 1/2 Today!

Charlotte turned 18 months today. We went to her doctor for a check-up, and she is right on track developmentally. She's still in the 90th percentile for height and head measurement, but her weight has dropped back down to where she was several months ago, and she is now at the 55% percentile. I think it was a combination of the flu, learning to run, and weaning her from the bottle that caused the weight loss. She refuses to drink milk from a cup (unless it is very chocolaty). Hopefully she'll grow out of that, although I never did!

Her Dr. was impressed by her vocabulary, so I decided to make a list to see how many words she uses regularly now. Her favorite word right now is EAT! EAT! EAT!

CHARLOTTE'S VOCABULARY – 18 MONTHS
1. Eat
2. Food
3. More
4. bite
5. Juice (often for anything drinkable)
6. Milk
7. Waters (always plural)
8. Baboo (bottle)
9. Popper (binky)
10. Cereal
11. Crackers
12. Apple
13. Orange
14. All done

15. Nose
16. Eyes
17. Mouth
18. Ears
19. Hair
20. Head
21. Belly
22. Butt
23. Toes
24. Pee-pee
25. Poop

26. Shirt
27. Shoes
28. Socks
29. Pretty (jewelry)

30. Bed
31. Book
32. Bath
33. Brush

34. Cat
35. Dog
36. Bird
37. Bug
38. Dino and "di-sau"
39. Duck
40. Fish or Pishy
41. Turtle
42. Money (monkey)
43. Rat (giraffe)
44. Elmo

45. Go
46. Up
47. Down
48. Upstairs
49. Out
50. Outside or 'side
51. Play
52. "De-doo" (thank you)
53. Uh-oh!
54. Yes
55. No
56. Uh-Uh! (yes or sometimes no)
57. Sowee (sorry)
58. Awesome!
59. Owee
60. Mine
61. Bye!
62. Two (she counts along when I count for time-outs)
63. Pie! or Five! – when we say "gimme five"
64. YEAH! (after giving five)
65. Hi
66. Uppy (when she wants to be picked up)

67. Mommy
68. Mama
69. Daddy
70. Dadda
71. Jacksey
72. Money or Mitey for Mikey
73. Baby
74. Shawee (Charlie)
75. Josh

76. Car
77. Ball
78. Hello (her word for phone)
79. Beep (thermometer)
80. Cheese (camera)
81. Watch it! (TV – new 2/27)
82. Bubble
83. Pop!
84. Buckle (car-seat and stroller)
85. Hot (cooking)
86. Soft (gentle)
87. Box
88. Kiss

Candle-Lit Dinner for 5?

Our family has been battling the flu for 2 weeks now. First Mikey got it, then Jackson, then Charlotte, and now me. My fever struck last Wednesday right after my knitting class and spiked pretty quickly. Jeff took the next 2 days off of work to watch the kids while I hibernated.

Today my fever was down to 99.5, so it was time to rejoin the land of the living. I took the morning Charlie duty so that Jeff could catch up a little, and decided it was time for some real food. I think the day before I had a piece of celery and a few bites of pizza.

It's still very strange to me that I love to make breakfast foods so much, especially since I won't eat most of it. It's along the lines of my fascination with watching cooking shows about lobster and rack of lamb.

Today we had sausage, heart-shaped "Ace in the Hole" (eggs in toasted bread), and home fries. I decided to try something new - pink pancakes! They turned out to be a lovely shade of hot pink inside and made great valentines. (Editor's note -- we all loved them, and the kids especially thought they were AMAZING. -- Jeff)


We even had some strawberries in the fridge (hard to keep them around with Mikey and Jackson in the house), so I made some strawberry syrup as well. I even managed to eat a few!

Later, after taking a bunch of cold medicine and pain killers, we thought we could all use a few hours out of the house. We went to a VERY ROMANTIC movie: "Paul Blart - Mall Cop." Our first choice was sold out, but the kids LOVED IT. It was quite funny, and the music was a blast from the past. I almost forgot my tummy ache for a while.

By the way Charlotte's hair now fits in pig tails - "HOLLA!"

Anyway, I was in no condition to go out tonight, and honestly I don't especially like to go out on Valentine's night. I hate the crowds and the price fix menus. After a long nap, Mikey anounced that they needed to go to the store to buy me som "Balemstime Day" flowers. Jeff was going to make dinner and was planning on saying he was going out to pick up some ingredients. Mikey is great at spilling the beans.

I ended up making Chicken Mole Poblano while Jeff wrangled the kids and surprised me with a beautifully set candle-lit dinner table set for 5. When I brought the food out Mikey was bouncing in his chair saying "FANCY DINNER, FANCY DINNER!!!" They were very excited to be eating off of the good plates and drinking blood-orange soda out of tiny cordial glasses. We ended dinner singing a few rounds of "Happy Valentines to You!" while the kids blew out the candlesticks and clapped. I must say it wasn't the most typical romantic candle-lit Valentine's dinner, but I was with the 4 people that I love most in the world, so how could I have spent my evening any better? We may have to do this every year. . . minus the flu.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fever Watch - Day 3

This is what 3 consecutive sick days in our house looks like. Each of the kids has topped 104 degrees at some point in the last few days. Charlotte is currently in the lead at 104.5. YIKES! I'm glad we recently stocked up on kid's Motrin! Jackson has now missed 2 days of school breaking his 100% attendance streak.

The boys temperatures are more or less back to normal, but the coughing has started. I keep wondering, when it's going to hit me. . . because it ALWAYS DOES!

Thank goodness for warm blankies and good DVDs!