Letter From Mum to 6-month-old Charlotte

Dear Charlotte,

I can’t believe you are already 6 months old!

You have changed so much in the last 24 weeks, and especially in the past month:

• You are getting so much bigger!  You now weigh 6.15 kg and are 65 cm tall. Though you are still pretty small, you have finally grown out of most of your tiny 'newborn' clothes.
• You have perfected your ‘raspberry’ technique and are now known to execute it at some inappropriate times - like yesterday in the grocery store at the lady that passed by and only gave you a smile and didn't stop to compliment you.  The young girl that witnessed it thought you were quite amusing!
• You still love having a bath and have developed a taste for wet washcloths and protest loudly when it is taken from you.
• You have started sleeping on your side and seem to love to pull the blanket up close to your face. You have also somehow figured out how to move around the crib on your back like a little crab, and are never in the same spot that you started out in for your nap. I don't think it will be long before you start rolling over on your own. (Hours after writing this, you flipped yourself over on your tummy, and gave yourself -and me- a good scare... more practice required, I guess).
• Last week you started on cereal, and although your little digestive system is having a bit of trouble adjusting to the new food, you were very enthusiastic about this new way of eating, but at the same time, you get frustrated that it's not as fast as drinking from a bottle.  I'm still not sure whether you are just interested in chewing on the spoon, or you actually like eating ‘big girl’ food.
• You discovered recently that your toes can reach your mouth and you love putting them there.  I can’t decide whether you just like chewing on them because you can, or if you are practicing yoga from our ‘Mums and baby’s yoga class’.
• You have also learned that you have a little voice and you have been practicing your sound and volume checks... “Testing, testing, one, two, three, SQUEEEAAALLL”.  Mostly in the produce section of the supermarket. You also seem to feel that this is the best way to talk to Rosie - the ‘Wolf’ that lives in our house - though Rosie seems to disagree and leaves the room whenever you start ‘talking’ to her.
• You continue to love going out and seeing new faces, especially as everyone is so nice and constantly giving you compliments.  You thank them by giving them big smiles, which always seems to get you more compliments.

Each week with you becomes my new favourite week, and I can’t wait to see what you will be doing or discovering next.

love, xx

Mum

Tiggy's Crocs

“Check it out you guys, Mum bought me some new Crocs today - because they were on Sale!!!

They won't fit me until the middle of next year, but look at them compared to Dad's! Man, he has big feet. Thanks, Mum, can't wait to learn to walk so I can take them for a spin out at the Isleville Water Park or jump over the cockle shells at Pūrākaunui.

Aside from that, there isn't much going on today. I went for a ride in the Jolly Jumper which was fun but right now I'm still getting over my busy weekend.

Love all you guys heaps, xx Tiggy.”

PS: Get well soon Aunty Lucy - I hope your knee feels better in the morning after a big snooze. At least you'll have plenty of time to catch up on your Dr. Phil and Oprah.

Pirates & Fairies at Lunenburg

“Hi, guys,

I've just arrived home from a weekend in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where I was totally distracted from drinking my bottle because I really wanted to hang out with all my cousins. My big cousin Lucy looked after me heaps and Sydney played me tunes from the singing frog that's tied to my bouncy chair, and man, Sam has such a funny smile! I kept touching his hair and laughed so hard I almost wet my britches ;)

I had a couple of firsts this weekend; like, I saw my first big yellow flower and wondered how it tasted. I saw my first deer and was mesmerized by their flicking tails while they were eating grass beside our cottage and I saw my first spider and made raspberry noises at it because I discovered that it made him flinch and move around his silky house. Dad told me he was living in Charlotte's web, so maybe I'll charge him rent next year when I'm big enough to go out on Gumpy's boat.

I especially liked watching the fire the grown-ups made so the big kids could roast their marshmallows, (once they'd finished their dinner of course). That fire stuff was warm on my face and made me blink my eyes and was kind of like how the Sun would look if only I didn't have to squint - oh, and the sparks came off the logs and made me think of little fairies!

Speaking of fairies, Lucy's teeth are wiggly and her Mum had brought the special pillow in case one fell out and the Tooth Fairy had to come and pay her a little visit - but it didn't, yet! Almost ;) 

My mouth is a little bit tender at the moment and I dribble lots because I'm busy growing teeth. Now I know that they're all going to fall out anyway, I wonder what's the bloomin' point? But at least next year I'll get to chew some of Aunty Kelly's Oatmeal Cakes or Aunty Carolyn's Chocolate Brownie - so having teeth won't all bad I suppose.

Oh yeah, and guess what - we saw real Pirates trading their loot at Mahone Bay, right under the noses of the English! One of them even had black denim jeans and a Def Leopard T-shirt on... Man, it was cool to see their cutlass' and their eye patches and the Jolly Rogers everywhere, but we didn't see one Parrot or buried treasure or anything. Oh well, maybe next time. I did get to see a pony with a carriage on the back who was being tail-gated by some New Brunswicker in a red Corvette, so that was kind of funny.

Speaking of firsts, Mum has been feeding me cereals for the first time this week as well. (Dad tried too, but most of it went in my ears and up my nose so we made a little mess).

Bunnies in my tummy...

My poor wee tummy isn't used to anything other than the Formula I've been having since I was about four weeks old, so I feel like I have a family of bunnies living in my belly at the moment, which makes it hard to have a sense of humour about it all. 

Mum gave me some prune juice this weekend though, which makes my tummy rumble, but at least bunnies don't like prunes either and now they're moving out. I let my nappy have it when we stopped off at the kennel to pick up the Rosie-dog. Haha, Dad almost cried when he used half a stack of Wet-Ones to clean my bum, then I piddled on his car seat right when he thought that he was done!

Anyway, it was a great weekend with all my Aunties and Uncle's and cousins and I loved everything that was going on - but now that I'm home I can focus on my bottle and feel like I can sleep for more than 10 minutes because there's nothing exciting going on. 

Speaking of sleep, man, I'm really tired. I think I'll take a little rest. Li-li is waiting for me with Bunrab in my crib so I hope they let me share the blanket.  I am dying for a decent sleep. Night guys, thanks so much for an awesome weekend. Talk to you all again soon, 

xxooxx Tiggy.”