Week 80 and week 32 - Charlotte observations

So - here are a few observations on Charlotte in her infinite glory as an 18 month old:

1. Charlotte is LOUD. But only in the privacy of our own home.  She is too conscious of herself in public to be a loudmouth.  But she also can be too shy to show her mad skills to our doctor.
2. Charlotte likes to pick out her own clothes - but says NO to almost everything.  She likes the pretty girly things if she chooses anything at all.  We usually decide on something that she nixes but she wears anyway.
3. Charlotte has become painfully camera aware.  It is hard to capture her smiling and dancing freely these days as she knows when she is being watched.  
4. Charlotte is getting increasingly difficult to feed.  This has always been the case but she requires a monumental effort in DISTRACTION.  This used to be sign language DVD's but now is books and occassionally flash cards.  We often relent and let her roam around as we chase her down with a plastic spoonful of food. 
5. Speaking of feeding - you have to present Charlotte food in increasing order of what she likes hierarchy.  She likes oatmeal but she LOVES eggs, so it is oatmeal first.  And you cannot even indicate that there are even eggs until they are presented - otherwise it is an oatmeal FAIL.
6. Charlotte has gotten in the habit of standing the entire duration of a bath (a handheld shower head bath) - I am not sure the last time that I was able to wash her feet as she sasses when she is asked to sit.
7. Charlotte doesn't like hair accessories like barrettes or hats - just like her mother.  She pulls them off of her head - which is fine by me because I am not good at putting barrettes in my own (and her) hair anyway.
8. Charlotte recently likes throwing books, especially the Sandra Boynton ones with pigs on them.  I often question whether I should discipline her on things like this - but I do as I think she will hurt herself.  At the moment she just laughs at the discipline.

Regarding the pregnancy - my lower back (on the left especially) is giving me much issue in the mornings.  I cannot seem to reconcile sleeping on my side and keeping the covers on.  I have slept by myself over the past week (Matt has been in Dubai) and have 2 heavy comforters (I am a blanket person) - and yet I wake up in the middle of the night with nothing on me.  I can remain asleep under the covers when I am on my back apparently.  Oh, and I think the Cheese Curd is auditioning for Swan Lake in my belly for most of the night.  I am SO tired during the day - I am sleeping pretty unevenly at night and I need to recover.  I am driving with the wheel on my belly - too short legs and too round belly does not a good combination maketh.

We are also dogsitting our friend's boxer Dave.  

Anyway - here are the pics and stuff.

Here is Charlotte putting the buckle on her eating chair:

And Charlotte blowing bubbles with our awesome neighbors Aunt Susie and TT:

Here is Dave.  I got in a heated argument with a meddling lady in the park who thought Dave should be muzzled (even though it is not required).  At least no one should mess with us while he stays at our house:

Charlotte, at first reluctant, has grown to like Dave.  This is her double fisted petting:

Charlotte in her new bohemian dress from Grandma Kye:

And plays in the park:

I always like her sideways glances:

Charlotte tries on these new flip flops.  Unfortunately they don't fit well as she has inherited her mother's Barney Rubble feet:

Having a good laugh about it:

Week 79 and week 31 - Bali and the furnace

We went to Bali with Rebecca and Dan this past weekend - very fun!  Charlotte got her swim on as we stayed in a pool villa and then visited Potato Head, a cool bar with an infinity pool overlooking Seminyak beach.  A short 2 day trip but it was nice for Charlotte to at least nap in her own room without us having to be trapped in there with her - which was the downfall of our Krabi trip.  I didn't necessarily mind as I enjoyed the extra napping...

This is our 6th non US visit trip with Charlotte - so she has now been to Hong Kong and Macau (twice), Phuket, Krabi, Cebu, and Bali.  That is once every 3 months of her life on average.  We are crazy parents! 

We liked the Residence at Seminyak - it was quiet but very close to lots of restaurants and bars in Seminyak!  We will be back in Seminyak again soon (well, not too soon, after Cheese Curd arrives, maybe in March...).

Charlotte of course did not sleep on any part of the plane ride but managed to doze off moments after stepping into our taxi in Singapore!  The entire plane ride she was entranced not by any of her old standby toys (or new ones especially procured for the plane) - she loved the airplane seat belt.  Assembling.  Disassembling.  Assembling.  Disassembling.

She got her 18 month jabs on Monday.  She was told she was advanced for knowing 40 ish words, though she was too shy to demonstrate any knowledge to the doctor.  She just was smiley and shy.  She cried after her shots for about 30 seconds and then (like I would have done) forgot all about it.  Charlotte was pretty tuckered out by all her swimming and screwy sleep schedule (she is maybe the only 18 month I know still on two naps) - so she was cranky pants until Tuesday when she realized she was back in her comfortable routine.

In pregnancy news - the furnace is turned on!  I think this happened at week 30 with Charlotte where I was just hot all the freakin' time.  Matt laughs at me as I look like I have just stepped out of a sauna... constantly.  There are frequent showers. 

Oh, and my back hurts - this is also new.  Not to be complaining but my belly is bigger than before and I wake up and it is sore.  The good news is it is the only place that is sore - the rest of my arthritisy symptoms seem to be gone but seriously, who likes back pain?

I also am suffering a bit of a cold - nothing too serious but it makes me tired.  Like nap-every-day-during-the-third-trimester tired.  How did I work during this period with Charlotte?

Went to the doctor this morning.  After a nice warmed ultrasound gel on my belly we found the cheese curd to be 1.77 kg - almost 4 pounds.  And CC is also head down which is fabulous too!  I did daily inversions and they seemed to work (though who knows, she could have moved herself to the right position anyway).  Now I just got to get her head engaged there...

Here is Charlotte swimming in our pool villa:

And Charlotte drinking (and disliking) Coke at the Tuesday Night Pizza Club:

Here is Charlotte and Aunt Becky at a German restaurant:

Our villa!  Matt wants a house just like this!

Charlotte arranging our massages for us:

Breakfast!

Perusing the menu at Ku De Ta:

Similar melancholy expressions at Ku De Ta:

Walking (and walking) to Potato Head:

Charlotte and Daddy swim at (Mr.) Potato Head...

... and then swim at our villa:

For Aunt Nicole - Charlotte wears her onesie from the Loveless Cafe in Memphis:

And is happy to be back home in Singapore... for a while....

Week 78 and week 30 - We have a life, kind of

First off my apologies for another late entry - Aunt Becky is here from WI and we have been busy.  In my third trimester now and given the choice between updating this here blog and sleeping last night - well, you can see what I chose to do.  Plus my whole workflow is all screwy now that I take video on my S95 and it takes forever to upload to youtube.

Anyway - we had a crazy busy weekend plus!  We started at Vivocity with a dim sum lunch with some mom friends.  We were eying the German place next door as they seemed to have a lederhosen clad German band in time for Oktoberfest.  We shopped a bit then asked at the door about the band.  The biermadchen said they were not playing again for a couple of hours -even though the sign said that they were playing from noon to ten in the evening.   Hmmph.  False advertising.

Anyway - we were back the next day to reach out to Matt's 'roots' of German/polka music.  Charlotte seemed to embrace the festivities well - she even courteously clapped at the end of each song.  We then headed to back to our neighbor TT's birthday party - they hired a purple digger which was seriously cool (and I think the 3 year old [in his mind Matt] thought it was especially cool).  We took pictures with the digger and I helped to take some pictures of the party which was good fun.  Charlotte and Daddy were fashionably late as Charlotte was tuckered from the day before and needed a good nap as two days of crap napping equals one cranky baby.

Tuesday night Aunt Becky arrived and Wednesday we headed to the zoo!  That was great as Charlotte has learned all these animal signs recently.  It was warm but not unbearable.  We took a great picture with the orangutans but the zoo folks make you buy their photos now (you cannot take your own pictures - capitalists!).  The picture was so cute though that we bit (and bought).  I will try to scan it in as I only have a hard copy - but needless to say the last time we went to the zoo I was pregnant with Charlotte so it was nice to visit again when she knew what she was seeing (and lucky for us there are clear unobstructed vistas to the animals at our zoo - so it was easy for her to see the animals).

Regarding the pregnancy - my back is officially sore when I get up in the morning - I don't remember this with Charlotte.  The cheese curd seems to be doing splits in the southernmost region before I retire at night.  I am doing inversions on my short sofa to try to ensure cc is head down.   My belly seems unusually big for where I am in the pregnancy.

Here is Charlotte showing off her mad squatting skills while playing in the sandbox...

Charlotte walks the 4 greyhounds twice a day with Imee and the greyhounds' auntie:

Charlotte also loves sliding - ahh, life's simple pleasures:

Charlotte modeling her new outfit - the posing is all hers!

Charlotte at dim sum - there was not much sitting:

Clara - what an articulate cutie!

Charlotte not so sure of the supertall dude at Oktoberfest:

Charlotte and TT on a shirtless playdate Sunday.  Charlotte was engaged which was surprising:

The birthday boy and his mom:

TT's cake - impressive use of biscotti I must say:

Festive Bucky gets in on the action:

Our family on the digger:

And at the zoo...

Charlotte likes the primates:

The Drakes.  If you look closely to the right there is a zebra there (we were dodging the rain at this point):

Our family at the zoo - before our faces melted off:

And a couple of videos...

Here is Charlotte dancing to the German music - notice she claps at the end of the song!

Charlotte says her name - finally!

Week 77 and week 29 - Some kind of wonderful

Charlotte is back in the sleeping groove!  Hurray hurray!  Maybe she got up once this week - getting up meaning that we (this time Matt) actually got up to tend to her (or was it last week?  I am not sure).  There are 14 teeth in - six more to go and all of those pesky molars are in (thank goodness) - so maybe there will be less pain.  One can only hope. 

We had an usually eventful week.  We went to Tanjong Beach Club on Saturday to celebrate Christine's birthday and as reluctant as I was to take Charlotte off of her afternoon nap schedule - she loved the beach!  She of course loved chasing the dogs around and playing with the sand.  Silly mommy forgot her swimsuit but luckily Traejen graciously loaned us his swim trunks.  Christine's mom took Charlotte in the pool - and she loved it!  A great day that resulted in 5 hours of napping on Sunday!  I think we may have found Charlotte's weekly routine....

Sunday we tried storytelling by our house - Charlotte was the only kid and didn't really have the attention span for it.  A good trial for $5.  I think if there were other kids she could have modeled their behavior (assuming that they would be undividedly listening). 

Monday was Matt's birthday - he got this amazing angry birds cake at work and we went to Hooha's for a steak dinner.  Nice and lowkey - just like Matt!

Monday Charlotte helped me get ready to go to work (I am sometimes working at Matt's).  We jammed out to my Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack on audio cassette.  Who says you can't dance to '80's music?

Tuesday I took Charlotte to a baby yoga class - there were 3 other kids and there was a lot of running around.  I did not realize it was so mommy participatory as my pregnancy prevented many moves.  Our teacher Sam was accommodating to my limitations - she had the patient yet bubbly disposition of teaching small kids - something that I probably will never have.  Charlotte was a star with her daddy-taught 'tuck your head and roll' technique that also made her a standout at My Gym.  Who knew I could give birth to someone with athletic skills? Hmm.  I suppose a subconscious decision on natural selection.  Anyway - the class was fun - I hope to go again soon.

BTW - I have a new niece - Sabrina Smith was born on Matt's birthday (Oct 3).  She looks a lot like her daddy...

A very busy week indeed!

Sassy Charlotte drinks her milk in her new dress!

Charlotte points on a swing:

Charlotte is excited that the twins and Eddie visit our park!

The birthday girl and her T:

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Kvatching with T:

Char loves swimming!

Char with daddy on his birthday morning!

I made Matt dirt for his birthday:

Charlotte not too sure about storytelling:

Matt's amazing Angry Birds birthday cake!

Char and her impressive tuck and roll at baby yoga class (she is well on her way to protecting herself if she ever catches afire):

Happy at the park!

And now - the videos!

Charlotte in the pool at the Tanjong Beach Club:

Dancing at the Tanjong Beach Club:

This is the cutest video of the week - Charlotte lecturing herself in the mirror, dancing to my Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack, and brushing her hair: