A New Tooth and a First Word

Charlie swinging at the park while visiting Aunt Jenn

Charlie is getting his first top tooth. I found this the other day when he kept chewing on one of his toys, then crying. I checked out his gums and sure enough, here it comes.

I thought he would be more willing to try some solid foods but so far, he does not seem interested in anything new. However, he has been eating his homemade Baby Bullet foods and, although unsure at first, has been getting used to the new tastes and textures.

We had a big weekend. Charlie is usually pretty good with adventures, but we really put him to the test a couple days ago. Kevin's sister Gina and her husband Cody came up to visit us so we decided to take the Timpanogas Cave tour. We've been before, but it's been a few years. We thought if we went on Friday instead of Saturday, we should be able to take the hike and tour with minimal wait. We were wrong.

Dad and Charlie while we wait to start our hike


We got there around noon and as we pulled up to the Ranger Station to pay the entrance fee, we saw a sign posted that said there was a 4 hour wait for tours. 4 hours! We were already there, so we decided to just hang around and kill some time until we could start hiking. We ate lunch, walked by the river, checked out the Visitor's Center, all while Charlie was going on no naps and 95 degree heat outside.

This was about half way up the mountain. Charlie is sleeping.

We finally got to start hiking which meant Charlie needed sunscreen. I gave him a good coating head to toe, but he must have rubbed some in his eyes because his eyes and nose started oozing tears and boogs. We weren't allowed to take strollers on the trail, so Kevin packed him in a front pack, much to Charlie's dismay. But, about half way up the mountain, he eventually fell asleep and got a good power nap in before being awoken by the sound of construction further up the trail.

He was so good in the cave. We were afraid he would fuss or scream during the tour, but other than a few baby noises, he was quiet and happy the whole time.

The only real issue we had was when the wind picked up when we left the cave and Charlie lost his hat. All things considered, I consider that a win!



Charlie's new bath - much safer.

 As we were winding down the weekend, Charlie was doing some of his usual babble talk when suddenly I heard, "da duh duh duh duh". At first I was so happy to hear something other than "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah", but then I realized Charlie was saying da da instead of ma ma. What the heck?!

Since then, he will usually copy us if we say it to him. I don't think he's made the connection of who da da is yet, but it is really cute to hear him learning to form his sounds into something we can understand.

Finally, he pulled himself up for the first time today. He has been crawling around like crazy and can easily change from sitting to lying to crawling. But this is the first time he's been able to grab on to something and, without any help from us, pull himself into a standing position. AH! Could I really have a walking baby in the next few weeks? No! Stay little! Ha. I do love seeing him grow up. But holy cow, it seems like he has just skyrocketed over the last 3 weeks. So many new things in such a short amount of time.

Time for Kneepads

Charlie is crawling. He's been working on it for about a month now, but after seeing some enticing power cords out of his reach, it was enough to push him from rolly-polly mobility into full on crawling.

He's funny about it, though. He won't do it if you want him to crawl to you, or if you're trying to show someone. He will only do it if it's for something he isn't supposed to have. Like power cords.

I guess it's time to baby proof for reals now. Fun.

I've been interviewing some new nanny's this week. Our current nanny is moving back home next weekend. It's funny, I didn't really struggle with leaving him with someone as a newborn. He was only 6 weeks old when the nanny started watching him. But now, finding a nanny and leaving him with a stranger again, I feel much more worried. Almost to the point that I can't make a decision. What if I choose wrong? Oh, the guilt.

I finally opened up my Baby Bullet yesterday. This morning, we had fresh bananas for breakfast. Charlie seemed to like it, but it made the banana very frothy and full of air bubbles. I didn't like that so much, because I knew it would make him gassy. Sure enough.

Today was a rough day in mommyville. Charlie woke up this morning around 7 as he usually does. I changed him, fed him breakfast, gave him a bottle, all in line with our morning routine. I laid him down for his morning nap, but he was not going to sleep. He played quietly and talked to himself for about half an hour, then he fussed. Then he cried. Then he screamed. So I got him out of bed, played with a little more, we watched an episode of Nip/Tuck, changed his bum again, had another bottle, read a story and put him back to bed for his nap. Same thing happened. He is usually so great about going down for naps. I mean, I can just lay him down, give him a blankie, turn on his sound machine and he is out. NOT TODAY. I was ready to rip my hair out by the time Kevin got home from work. After 3 attempts at a nap, he just wouldn't have it. What an imp.