charli likes...

Here's some things Charli likes that I keep forgetting to post about.

1) Brian playing banjo. Sometimes while I'm feeding Charli, Brian will bring the banjo over behind me, to try to keep her looking in the right direction (e.g. mouth towards me). When he carries it over, Charli gets this huge smile on her face and watches him the whole way. After she's finished eating and cleaned her off, we let her strum the banjo a little - very exciting! She doesn't smile when I get the banjo. Maybe my playing hurts her.

2) Peekaboo! Charli likes peekaboo now. Mom (my mom) has been playing peekaboo with her since she was about 1 week old, to little effect. Now it actually makes her laugh - Mom will be so pleased!

3) Having hair in her face (other people's hair). It tickles her. Of course, people tickling her this way run the risk of having their hair pulled. Hard.

4) Her pacifier! She doesn't suck on it very much, but it's a great chew toy...

before you can walk...

Today, Charli started crawling. Here is a crummy example - she actually crawls better than this, but you can still see a whole leg-arm-leg-arm sequence. We kept trying to get her to crawl to get a toy so we could video her, but when she actually wants something, she still breakdances over to it - she's faster with the worm than with the crawl.

breaking in the backpack

Today we went on a short hike in Marin to try out the new backpack.

Boy does it take us a long time to get ready! We tried to go last Sunday, but we ran out of time before we were supposed to be down in South Bay to have dinner with some friends. We were planning to leave 2 hours early so that we would have time to stop and walk around the reservoir with Charli's new ride, but instead we left right about the time we should have left in order to get to dinner on time. This might have been the first time I have ever gone to a dinner party right at the time it starts. I actually felt a little bad. No one is ever actually ready for guests right at the moment they said the party started.

Anyway, the hike was good! It was a little windy, but carrying a giant backpack sure warms you up! We didn't hike very far, but we saw a lego buddha and we had a great view of San Quentin. We had some Clif bars by the lego buddha - Charli thinks they are pretty OK. We brought her a bottle, but we cleverly forgot to bring a nipple, so we had to dump the water out of her sippy cup and put milk in there. It worked out fine, except that we felt dumb.

As far as a backpack exercise, it was definitely a success. We got a lot of practice adjusting the straps, and I realized after we got home that the reason the carrier is not "hydration compatible" is because, most likely, the person carrying the baby is not alone, and therefore does not have to be the one to carry both baby and water (and food and diaper bag, etc). Indeed, the next time I use the backpack, someone else will carry everything that can possibly be detached. Hooray!

I posted a page of pictures from the hike here.

new ride

Another day hot like balls. Man is this weird weather! Poor Charli gets so hot she can barely sleep. For that matter, I've been so hot I can barely sleep.

This morning we went to the farmer's daughter's market at the ferry building for the first time in a long time. It is a LOT bigger than the last time we went. We just got all our stuff in the area where they have all the vendors outside, which is not that big, and then we were walking around some more and I saw a blueberry vendor - I was all "was that there the whole time? how did I walk right by a blueberry vendor?" Then Brian pointed out that actually we were at a completely different set of stalls, that we just hadn't walked around. We still didn't, because by that time I was looking for breakfast. We came across another few stalls just south of the ferry building, and they were selling breakfast stuff, so we got some, and in the process of trying to find somewhere to sit, we realized that there are about a thousand stalls out in back of the ferry building, too. O well.

Check it out! In the afternoon, we went to REI to outfit Brian for his Mt. Hood trek. We also managed to outfit me and Charli, in case we want to do some hiking in Tahoe while Brian is gone, when we go to meet Kim and Brent at that part of the PCT. Charli's new ride is so cool, we might try to go hiking next weekend! Brian's got it on in this picture, but you can actually adjust where the straps attach to the pack in back, so that the pack fits me, too. How cool is that?

danger danger

Holy cats, batman! I was putting Charli to bed tonight, and it's hot as balls out, so I was moving the fan so it could blow on her a little in the crib. I put her in the crib while I was doing that, and I looked over, AND SHE HAD PULLED HERSELF UP AND WAS STANDING NEXT TO THE CRIB RAIL! As soon as I looked at her she fell back down, and she didn't do it again, but I guess tomorrow we'll be putting the crib mattress down to the lower height...

In other news, Charli has also started imitating people - it seems she imitates Maria mostly. Not me so much - I tried to show Brian, and she wouldn't do anything I did. :( I'm sure she's absorbing all kinds of cuss words, though, which she will bring out when she starts talking. We really have to get the cuss jars going. I'm thinking a sliding scale: $1 for words that aren't really cussing, but which I probably don't want to hear coming out of her, like 'piss' and 'hell'. $5 for real words. $10 for f-bombs! I mean, we really are trying to discourage ourselves here. Charli's going to be able to go to any school she wants...

Thursday morning, Maria and I were saying that soon Charli was going to be able to sit up on her own. Thursday afternoon, she did it (but it was hard work). Today, it's like she's been doing it all her life. Roll all around, sit up, roll all around, sit up.

Charli is playing very independently, although she likes to have people around, and has started crying when I (or Brian, or Maria, or whoever) stand up to go somewhere else, like the kitchen. She's getting cuddly again, too (also known as "clingy" when you're trying to put her down). For a long time (it seems), she didn't want to just be held - you had to be playing with her or she would be very wiggly. Now sometimes she'll put her head on your shoulder and give you a little snuggle. It's lovely. :) Reminds me of when she was a little baby, so long ago... *sniff*

Last but not least, Charli can really get around. Here's a long video of her doing so:

tickled

Do it again!

happy father's day

Who got to sleep in on Father's Day? That's right! Mom!

We had a lovely father's day. Everyone called to say nice things to Brian, and they were well deserved. He's a terrific dad!

First we tried to go to Stacks for breakfast, but we got there around 9:45 and the line looked pretty long, so we decided to skip it. Then we thought we'd try Modern Tea, but turns out they don't open until 10:30. Finally Brian thought of Le Zinc (open 9 or 9:30, never a line, and lovely breakfast - I don't know why we don't just go there every weekend), and we drove over there instead, got rock star parking, and had a great breakfast. Charli and Mambaw spilled water all over Brian - it was a chilly father's day surprise! They just wanted to make sure he didn't fall asleep.

After that we bought Charli another big bottle (orange!), and then we came home and puttered around and watched Tiger Woods play golf on tv, when we weren't watching Charli do cute things. I gave Brian a diaper vest (brilliant!), so I wouldn't have to get up early and cook him breakfast in bed (and because I love gear). Charli wasn't napping very well, so I took her on a walk to the store for some roasting veggies (and maybe some ice cream). She slept the whole time and then she was much happier and we could all watch her be cute again.

For dinner, Brian roasted a fantastic chicken (citrus brine - yes, we're trying new brines, aren't you impressed?), and we had a terrific dinner of roast chicken and vegetables and salad. It was fabulous! For dessert, we had the rest of the chocolate cake, and Bi-rite creamery mint chocolate chip ice cream AND coffee toffee ice cream (having personally determined yesterday that one pint of ice cream was insufficient). Two great homecooked dinners in one weekend... That might be a record for us.

Here is a priceless father's day trick that we were very fortunate to get on video. You will like it. :)

having fun with mambaw and grandpa lawler

Mambaw and Grandpa Lawler arrived on Friday and we've been having a terrific time, taking it easy and watching Charli do cute things for the most part. We got back from the airport while Charli was napping, so everyone had a little while to relax.

When Charli woke up, she warmed up immediately to Donna. It took her a little longer with Jerry, but that's not to say it took a long time. They were best of friends after about an hour, discussing wrist exercises and comparing how far they could stick their tongues out.

As soon as the grandparents got here, Charli got out the new trick bag, and started reaching for people. She reached for Donna shortly after she got here, so Mambaw was first. Charli also displayed some serious focus. She was a few feet away from me, and eying the camera I was holding. Trying to encourage her to crawl, I told her if she came over to get it, she could chew on the camera - I figured if she didn't crawl, it would take so long she would get distracted by some other toy on the way over. Well, she was NOT distracted. She inched her way over, getting her knees up under herself and then flopping down on her stomach, to the tune of a few inches each time, and she stared fixedly at the camera until she got all the way over to me and I felt obliged to let her chew on the corner. She also exhibited some complex wrist action - very similar to some of the physical therapy Jerry has been doing. Probably we mentioned it to her at some point, and she was just trying to help Grandpa Lawler do it right. After all, we can see she's very fond of him.



For dinner, Brian grilled salmon in a soy-brown sugar marinade (same as he made me for mother's day), and it turned out, once again, absolutely fantastic. We got two different kinds of salmon (how many kinds? two), farm raised and wild, to try and do a side by side comparison (of what? salmon). Unfortunately, Brian's indicator of which kind of salmon was which sort of cooked itself into oblivion, so we couldn't follow through with our test (o, were we testing something? yes, two kinds of salmon. o, how many kinds? two). We pretty much determined both kinds were dam good (kinds of what? SALMON. how many kinds? TWO).

For dessert, we had Bi-rite chocolate cake (meh) and Bi-rite creamery strawberry balsamic vinegar ice cream (decadent pint of creamy goodness). You know, life just doesn't get much better than this.

paper

Today we celebrated our paper anniversary! That's right, friends, we made it a whole year - I know some of you had your doubts about how stable Brian's and my relationship is... or maybe not. I would post a picture, but we don't seem to have any with both of us. I'll just have to post one of Charli - I have a lot of those.


We celebrated by having Maria stay late with Charli, and we went out for a lovely early dinner at Ame and followed it up with Indiana Jones and cheesy aliens! Unfortunately, we ate so slowly at Ame that we didn't have time for dessert. Fortunately, we were full, so it was OK. Everything we had was good, but I have to say: their dinner rolls are AWESOME.

Our anniversary is actually on Sunday, but it's much easier to get Maria to stay late on a day when she's already here. Plus, Brian's parents are going to be here then, and I don't want to dilute Brian's first Father's Day with our 1-year anniversary...

blah blah blah.

Nanananana. Bababababa. Dadada. Nananana.

One day, Charli started babbling. It was yesterday.

projectile vomiting and french fries

Two completely separate firsts, fortunately!

We've had such a lovely weekend. The weather has been great, and Charli has been great, too. Yesterday we had breakfast at Stacks early and once again, Charli didn't go to sleep on the way over or while we were there, but she was fine the whole time. I let her try a little bit of my waffle; it ended up in her seat. She fell asleep on the way home, though, and had a short morning nap. Then we did nothing for a while, fed Charli lunch, etc etc, and then she got tired and fussy and I was going to try to put her down for a nap. So she had some bottle (a ton, actually), and we went downstairs and we were sitting in the rocking chair, and there was a *blaarp*! It was everywhere. Brian had to come down with rags. I never seen so much barf. It got on the chair arm, seat, and back, and on the floor, and on the shelves, and on me, of course... The funny thing was that it totally woke her up. Once she that was done, she was the happiest, smiliest baby you have ever seen. I guess she thought it was funny.

So since Charli was so wide awake, we went shopping to get Brian all kinds of new pants, now that he's so skinny. We went downtown, and Charli fell asleep, and slept the whole time we were shopping (a highly successful shopping trip, I might add). After that, we went to an early dinner at Nordstrom, which turned out to be surprisingly nice. Charli woke up, and was good AGAIN. She also had a whole french fry! *sniff* She's just like her mom...

Then we came home and stopped at the swings on the way back, and Charli had some dinner, and a bath, and went to bed just like the little angel she is.

Today we had brunch at Boulette's Larder with Daisy and Jim and Kojo and Jason and Tracey. Jason and Tracey are moving back into their house at the end of this month! *gasp* It's been almost 4 years since we started demolishing their house... It was mid-July, 2004, when I went over there to help take down the chimney.

Boulette's Larder was surprisingly disappointing, but Charli was really good again. Daisy and I had read some great reviews about this restaurant's breakfast, and we were psyched about trying it out, but I guess it's all about managing expectations. Their salads were really good, but I had chicken and biscuits and gravy, which turned out to be 1/2 a roast chicken and a couple of biscuits, and not any real gravy - just some stuff drizzled over the chicken. The chicken was good, but not as good as Range. Actually, the last chicken Brian made was as good, if not better. The biscuits also were good, but not as good as Mission Beach Cafe. So I was dissatisfied, and Brian and Charli and I walked to Yerba Buena Gardens afterwards and got smoothies and listened to music. O! I forgot to mention - Boulette's Larder DOES have awesome beignets.

We didn't do too much else the rest of the day, but it has been a really nice weekend. I have no pictures for this post, because I really have to get to bed, but Brian watched the baby most of the day so that I could get my new computer syncing with the website again. So, there are LOTS of new pictures on the website! Enjoy!

Art in the park...

We made the walk over to Stax this morning for our Saturday brunch.
Charli was awake the whole time but was very good. She has been
really happy the last couple of days - even more than usual - perhaps
in anxious anticipation of Mambaw and Grandpa Lawlers' arrival.

The picture here is of a new art installation in the little park just
outside the restaurant. I thought it was a really cool piece so I
thought I would share it. Charli would have liked it more but she
couldn't put it in her mouth. Too many sharp edges you see...

On the "crawl watch," we are still in breathless anticipation of
Charli's first "steps". At this point she spends most of her time on
her stomach reaching for things, getting those things, then putting
them in her mouth. Then she gets up on all fours (refer to previous
videos) and wobbles a bit. But as yet, no forward motion. We still
have plenty of backwards motion though, so she is still perfectly
capable of getting herself into trouble.

That's al I have for now...

chicken

At Charli's 6 month checkup, the pediatrician said I could start introducing meats into her diet. So on Sunday, I cooked up a chicken recipe in this baby food book I got - it's got chicken, onions, sweet potatoes, and apples, in homemade chicken stock with no salt. I think it tastes pretty good, although the texture leaves a little something to be desired. This may be a good thing, because if things continue on as they have been the past 2 nights, I will be eating most of it. As far as I can tell, Charli HATES CHICKEN. She hasn't barfed it back up, so maybe she doesn't hate it as much as she hated cauliflower and potatoes, but she sure won't eat much of it. This is unfortunate, because although I only made one recipe in case she didn't like it, and the recipe said it only made 4 servings for a 7 - 9 month old, it ended up being like 20 or 22 ounces. I have a TON. 4 servings my eye - maybe for a 20 pound 9 month old who eats chicken enthusiastically. It's about 90 servings for Charli. :(

All the world is a toy...

You could spend lots of money on toys, but you would only be heading
for the disappointment of having your child have a better time playing
with the wooden spoon from your kitchen that you got for $0.49.