Letter to Charlie - 10 months

Dear Charlie

Yesterday you turned 10 months old.

You are changing from a baby into a little boy before our eyes at the moment and it is quite amazing to watch. You're not walking yet, but you are extremely proficient at cruising around the walls and furniture, crawling and climbing up on to everything. I will be very pleased when you decide to get down backwards though, as charging forward is still your preferred approach.

In the last two months you have learned a few new words - like Lily, Grandpa, quack, nigh nigh, bye bye, bath, more and no - and you have figured out how to clap. You are particularly (and justifiably) impressed with your capacity to clap and have a tendency to crawl into the centre of a a crowded room, sit up, look around and clap (clearly waiting for applause). It kills me with cuteness.

You have also taken to food in a big way over the last two months and mostly eat what we are eating now. In fact, you get rather offended if we offer you something different and will even spit it back in our faces if you are sufficiently annoyed. You are also an excellent drinker and just love your water, which can only be a good thing.

Sadly, for me, you are not such a great sleeper. At least not during the night. Your nose is always a bit snuffly and this tends to wake you up. Rather than getting upset about having trouble breathing or feeding you seem to decide that since you're awake you may as well have a bit of a play... and, to be honest, I really quite disagree with your timing. Another issue is that you seem to want a bit more of your own sleeping space than your sister ever did. She was only settled when tightly wrapped up in someone's arms, while you seem to like spreading yourself out - often diagonally across the upper-middle part of the bed. This makes sharing a bed with you quite interesting at times...

I am, however, happy to report that after a short bout of grumpiness while you were cutting two new teeth, you have returned to your extremely sunny disposition. You spend most of the day smiling and love to have a good laugh. In fact, you are becoming quite the little clown in your attempts to make us laugh with you. You play peek-a-boo by putting blankets over your head or popping up from behind doors or furniture, and you will repeat almost any action that gets a laugh out of Lily.

We just got back from a holiday in Queensland and you had a great time. You loved the spa at the hotel we stayed in. One afternoon we went down to the pool and I had decided not to pack your swimmers and to take you out on the grass for a play instead. Well, we got to the gate and you started kicking your legs and shouting "bath, bath, bath!" and I realised that I'd have to rush back upstairs as you can be quite a stubborn little person at times.

You also loved the beach, it was like a giant sandpit for you to play in. Unfortunately you also enjoyed diving face first into the sand with your mouth open ready to scoop up as much sand as you could manage... The resulting gritty taste was apparently not much of a deterrent either.

Next month we are going to be moving to Melbourne, which will be quite an adventure. It is strange to think that you won't really remember your time growing up in Canberra. I think you'll enjoy Melbourne though. Hopefully we'll figure out how to go car-free and we can walk, cycle and catch trams everywhere. I think you'll like that.

love
mama
xox

Fairy house

We've had a lot of freezing cold, cloudy days this winter and have spent far too much time indoors as a result. But today was glorious. The sky was blue, the sun was shining and it actually felt kind of warm (for winter).

So we spent some time in our garden, playing on the swings, digging in the dirt and building a fairy house.

I have been meaning to build a fairy house with Lil for ages, but I always think that I need more time and stuff. Of course that's ridiculous. She got right into it with the aid of leaves, sticks, flowers, shells and berries - all of which were not only right in the garden, but right in the very spot where she chose to build the little house.

I have to admit that I'm not the best at playing (I get sooo bored of 'mums and dads'), but I really enjoyed this too.

Charlie: 8 months

Dear Charlie

You are now 8 months old. What a difference two months makes in the life of a bubba! At six months you were my mellow little zen master. Now you are a determined, adventurous, impatient little bundle of energy. What happened?

Well, to start with, you mastered the art of crawling at 6 and a half months. A week later you figured out how to pull yourself up to standing. Then a few days later you worked out how to cruise along the furniture. Since then you seem to have decided that since you can move, you must, all the time.

Nappy changes have become a bit of an ordeal as you object, fervently, to remaining remotely still. The car and the stroller are no longer your friend. No, you must move, explore and discover, even in the middle of the night. Oh Charlie, it's been a bit of a full on two months.

It's also been pretty incredible to watch you develop so quickly from a baby to a mobile little person. Your determination is inspiring and I love watching you explore the world with such intense curiosity. Currently you are obsessed figuring out the mechanics of your food. You examine the teat of your water bottle with incredible focus and perform all sorts of experiments in order to understand how the water comes through. You do the same with any food that you are given too, which can get rather messy at times. Unfortunately you are also determined to perform the same thorough examination of my nipples and I haven't been very supportive of this endeavour. Some things are just going to have to remain a mystery little one.

Another obsession of yours in our stairs. We have a rather steep, wooden staircase in our house that you have just worked out how to climb. It is terrifying to watch you do it, but I don't have the heart to stop you once you have succeeded in getting to it. Fortunately it comes off the entryway and there is no reason for it to be open all the time. Of course, if anyone leaves that door open for the merest second then you are off and racing. When this does occur your sense of pride and achievement at reaching the top is almost worth the stress.

Winter came early to Canberra this year and brought a world of germs to our household. For the last month you have been a snuffly little thing. We have all been sick, actually, which has made us a rather tired, grumpy household. Fortunately when your good moods have been with us they have been as radiant as ever and have provided a glimmer of sunshine for all of us in what has been a bit of an ordinary month.

A daily guarantee of Charlie-happiness has been bath time. You continue to love the bath and hearing the water running has the power to drive away any Charlie-sadness. Once in the bathroom you will try to throw your body into the bath, while kicking your legs in excitement at the prospect of the joy to come. Now that you can sit up by yourself you are a little less focused on flooding the bathroom and will now play with toys instead. Of course, now that you can crawl and stand you try to do this in the bath too, and that hasn't always turned out so well.

The other morning I went into Lily's room to give her a good morning snuggle and she turned to me and said: "Isn't Charlie amazing, Mama? We are so lucky to have him."

She's quite right little one, you are amazing and we really do feel so lucky to have you here.

I can't wait to see what you do over the next couple of months. I fear that walking is not far away...

with all my love,
mama
xox

Charlie: 6 months

Dear Charlie

Last week you turned 6 months old. As if on cue you also cut your first tooth, sat up by yourself for the first time and are within moments of crawling. This growing up thing happens so fast, doesn't it? Too fast really. You won't be a baby for much longer.

You continue to be a little ray of sunshine in our lives Charlie. Your smile lights up the room and your placid nature never ceases to amaze me. I have to be careful not to underestimate your determination, because once you set your mind on something, you never ever give up.

Watching you figure out how to crawl at the moment has been incredible. You spend ages essentially doing push ups on the rug, pausing briefly to execute a perfect 'plank' position and occasionally flipping yourself up into a sitting position for a bit of a break. The other day Lily looked over at you and exclaimed "Look, he's doing 'dogward down'," and indeed you were (well, downward dog, I suppose). It's rather impressive really.

I have been working on my own upper body strength too. You weigh about 9 kilos now and I'm certainly getting a good work out carrying you around every day. Fortunately I seem to have adjusted to this now and you don't seem nearly as heavy as you did a few months ago. The human body is truly amazing.

I wish that I was finding the time to write you a more detailed monthly letter the way that I did for your sister, but life is simply more hectic with two of you. A lot more, actually, and so I'm not. But I want you to know that I am enjoying every second of your life and that you amaze me in countless ways every day.

with all my love,
mama
xox

Four

Lily turned 4 on Monday and we had an Enchanted Wood party to celebrate.

There were many Silkies, but we also had a rabbit, an Angry Pixie, a Dame Washalot and a butterfly.

She requested a Fairy Toadstool cake, and I happily obliged (and it worked! Yay!).

I finally finished sewing the fabric garland that I cut out for her first birthday party.

They made paper plate masks and decorated biscuits.

Her new swing set was a big hit.

I can't believe she's already 4. Although sometimes she seems 15...

He's wearing pink socks!

I went shopping the other day with Charlie and while we were waiting in a checkout line the woman in front of me struck up conversation.

"How old is your baby?" she asked, as Charlie started his charm offensive.

"4 months," I said.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked. (Wouldn't it be nice if there was another pronoun? 'It' just sounds so odd.)

"He's a boy. Charlie," I replied, hoping that by giving him a name we could move on to talking about him as an individual, rather than as a gender class.

"It's hard to tell," she said, pausing for a moment. "Do you have a girl as well?" she asked in a knowing tone.

"Yes," I replied.

"'Cause he's wearing pink socks," she said.

I felt like saying, "He was wearing a pink jumpsuit earlier today and his penis didn't even fall off!" But instead I just smiled nervously, hoping that our conversation was now over.

Remedial feminism needed

My mum dropped over the other evening and Lily asked her where her partner was.

"She's still at work," replied Mum.

"Why," asked Lily.

"She's not on holidays like you," replied Mum. "Today was a work day for us."

"Ladies don't work," said Lily.

"What!?" I said. "Of course they do."

"Mama doesn't," said Lil to Mum.

"Yes she does," replied Mum. "She works at home looking after Charlie and you, and she works on her PhD. Some people work at home looking after small children and other people work outside the home."

"You know T? Well, her papa looks after her at home and her mama works in an office."

"And who looks after M and E?" I asked.

"Matt," replied Lil.

"And what does Claire do?"

"She works with papa," replied Lil.

...

And so it went, but oh my goodness! I can't believe she said those words!

First of all, why "ladies"? I always call women, women. Where does she get "ladies" from? It's such a horrible restrictive word.

Secondly, bloody invisible PhD, you're always causing trouble.

Thirdly, argh. I'm totally going to have to get a job (once Charlie's bigger).

[And I still don't want to talk about the Pink Disney Princess Lunchbox.]

School's back

(Watermelon, banana, corn thins & tahini, choc-chip cookies, tempeh, salad)

Lily goes back to school (well 'holiday program') today and I have to admit to being just a little bit relieved. I am the kind of person who prefers one-to-one interaction and it turns out that goes double for children - especially when one of them is as much of a highly-strung extrovert as Lil. I have found the summer holidays a bit full-on.

And, yes, that is a Pink Disney Princess Lunchbox. I don't want to talk about it.

My baby girl is getting so very big these days. Here she is this morning helping with the dishes. She is quite determined to do absolutely everything for herself these days.

3 and a half months

Dear Charlie

You’re just over three and a half months old now. I had intended to write you a letter at two months and again at three, but time simply got away from me so I thought I’d write one now while I have the chance.

We’ve been busy lately. First we moved house, then it was Christmas, then we spent a week at the South Coast with your grandmas, and then after a week at home we drove up to Sydney to spend a week with a couple of your other grandparents. All this change must have been pretty unsettling, but, remarkably, you have taken it all in your stride.


You have remained an incredibly serene, happy little person. I have started calling you my ray of sunshine, because your enormous smile lights up the room. We get to see a lot of it too. You seem to smile most of the day and if you’re not already smiling, then it is pretty easy to get one out of you.

Some of things that will make you smile are: blowing raspberries on your tummy; watching your sister dance; Papa coming home from work; seeing my face when you wake up; singing (especially The Wheels on the Bus and Fly Me to the Moon); and kissing your hands and feet.
Your smile is at its proudest when you are standing and, at the moment, that it fairly often. You are very strong for such a little person and can already stand up by yourself when holding on to a chair or our hands. It is very cute to watch.
While your smile is pretty fabulous, my favourite thing to do at the moment is to make you laugh. Baby laughter is truly one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. Luckily it is pretty easy to get a giggle out of you, little one. All I have to do is bounce you up and down on my lap and sing, or swing you up and down in the air.

Sometimes swinging you around can feel like a bit of a workout, as you have grown so much over the last few months. You were 3.59kgs at birth. You gained a whole kilo within 10 days and weighed 6kgs by your six-week check up. That put you in the 97th percentile! Now, at three and a half months you weigh 8kgs. I love your gorgeous chubby tummy, but you certainly do get heavy to carry around.



I feel so blessed to have you in our lives munchkin. You are a joy to have around and we all love you so much. You seem to love us right back too. You beam with happiness whenever you see us, and have even figured out how to kiss. The other day you grabbed my face in your chubby little hands and planted a big wet kiss right on my lips. I felt like my heart was going to explode.

I’m looking forward to another month full of smiles, laughter and kisses.

love mama
xo

Mouths of the babes

As we were driving to the shops this morning Lily piped up from the back seat to say, "You're kind of a kid, aren't you Mum?"

"Yes," I replied. "What makes you say that?"

"Well you're little."

"That's true."

"Why?"

"I just am," I said.

"Are you going to grow into a bigger adult one day?" she asked.

"No darling."

"Why not?"

"I'm finished growing."

"One day I'll be able to pick you up."

"Probably"