The Nye Family: Look who's walking ...

Charlotte took her first steps on August 13th. For the following several weeks, steps were few and far between. Her crawling was way too fast and effective to encourage walking! But following a recent promotion from the "infant II" class at school to the "creepers" class, in which every child but Charlotte was walking, she has taken off! Nothing like a little peer pressure.

Taking steps a couple of weeks ago

Still a little hesitant in this video ... 48 hours later she is walking confidently all over the house!

A few other things we want to remember about Charlotte at this age:

- She no longer eats whatever we put in front of her and is shying away from jarred baby food. Her favorite foods are yogurt, bananas, orzo, rice, and spaghetti; if we would let her, her entire diet would consist of Sesame Street organic crunchin's cheese crackers (which she calls "mum-mums" - we think this is her word for "snack")

- She refuses to drink any substantial quantity of liquid from a sippy cup, so we are still using a bottle. We are in the process of transitioning from formula to whole milk

- She has become extremely opinionated and throws temper tantrums / screams when she doesn't get her way (at least she is quickly and easily consoled)

- She is an excellent sleeper at night and has even started to take good naps during the day. She is pushing back her bedtime to between 6:15 and 7 PM and sleeps until 6 AM most mornings. She is now taking a morning nap and an afternoon nap (finally!!)

- She is now wearing shoes! She went from refusing to wear shoes to demanding we put them on her first thing in the morning, all within a 24 hour period

- She loves riding in her wagon, taking walks in the stroller, and riding her ride-along push toy

- She loves pushing buttons and flipping switches, especially the on/off switch for the iMac powerstrip in the office

- Nothing makes her more excited than a cat or dog, especially her brother Brutus

- She has a little sense of humor; for instance, she thinks it is so funny to offer food to someone (or Brutus) and quickly take it away before he/she can get a bite

- Lately she has really enjoyed reading books. Some of her favorites are Dr. Seuss's The Foot Book, Brown Bear Brown Bear, Good morning Good night, Spot's Colors

- She waves goodbye and says "bye-bye"; other words include "mum-mum" for snack, "mama", "dada" and "ball"
- Her latest trick as of yesterday is shaking her head "no"
- This past month she has gotten lots of new teeth! She now has four teeth on the bottom and one on the top (her right front tooth has broken the gum)