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I got this new little seat for Charlotte that hooks to the counter. She really, really likes it, much better than the high chair for some reason. I also got the placemat that catches food–the name of it is “Tiny Diner” so now that’s what we call Charlotte when she’s eating.

She finally started eating breakfast along with lunch and dinner, and we’ve been trying all sorts of new things. Charlotte can’t really pick up little pieces of food by herself yet, so I try to give her things that she can grab easily, like pieces of rice cakes, or pieces of toast made from rice bread, since she hasn’t had wheat yet. I made a batch of quinoa with squash, and she likes that a lot, and yesterday we tried some white bean puree, which was part of our dinner the other night. That went over pretty well too. It seems like she eats well as long as she has something to hold onto herself, and as long as she gets sips of water every few bites.

Charlotte has been pulling herself up a little bit around the house. Whatever she grabs has to be just the right height for her to get up. The arm of the couch is perfect if she is sitting on the couch. She pulls up onto our legs if we are sitting on the floor, too.

Here’s a link to another video:

Charlotte and Squeaky Bun-Bun

Brian likes to name Charlotte’s toys, and he named this bunny Squeaky Bun-Bun. It squeaks, obviously, and Charlotte has figured out that it squeaks if she bangs it on the floor, so it’s one of her new favorite games.

We took a trip to the beach, which was fun and very dirty for everyone involved. Charlotte liked the water and playing in the sand. We discovered that diaper changing is really hard at the beach, and that Charlotte eats sand very well–much better than she feeds herself food! We went to a calm beach without too many waves, and the water wasn’t that cold.

I still can’t figure out how to put videos in the actual blog posts, but these links should go to the videos I posted on YouTube:

Charlotte plays in the sand

Charlotte plays in the water

Summer weather has finally arrived around here. Yesterday it was hot and sunny and we went to my parents’ house to go swimming in the pool. Charlotte spent probably 45 minutes in the pool–a few minutes in this floaty thing, and then she was happy splashing and kicking for awhile while my dad held her.

She was fascinated with this snorkel:

My grandparents gave Charlotte this rocking chair with her name and birthday on it. I put her in it today and she seemed to enjoy sitting in it. She got a little nervous when I rocked it, though!

Charlotte and I went on a trip to Boulder last week for five days. It was a lot of fun–we visited friends out there and enjoyed some hot summer weather. Flying alone was pretty exhausting since Charlotte has gotten really squirmy even since our trip to Spain.

I managed to fit Charlotte’s little inflatable pool in my suitcase, and she really liked playing in it in Erena and Shuka’s backyard.

And we went to my favorite burrito place:

Charlotte has been pulling herself along the floor with her arms for the past few weeks, and just in the last week she has started to figure out how to get up her hands and knees to crawl. It’s not very graceful but she is starting to move fast. She got over to her bookshelf and pulled some books onto her head so quickly the other day. We are totally not ready for her to be moving around! We did a big childproofing shopping trip today to get gates, corner protectors for the coffee table, cabinet locks and things like that. We are going to gate off the living room and childproof that room. Then there’s an area between the kitchen and dining room which has a door at one side. We have a playmat and some toys on the floor there, and we’re going to put a gate on the other side so we can put her in there while we’re in the kitchen.

Well, after many attempts, I managed to take this picture of Charlotte’s growing teeth. She has two very sharp little teeth poking through her bottom gums. Last week she seemed out of sorts and was not napping very well at all, and we think that was why.

Charlotte has green beans on her face here. She didn’t like them at first, but the taste seems to have grown on her. She really likes sweet potatoes and apples. Peaches are really not a big hit–I used the frozen kind and cooked and mashed them, but I think maybe they are too tart for her liking.

We spent last weekend in Dixville Notch, NH, at the Balsams resort for my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. It’s way up there in NH, close to the Canadian border. We had so much fun and got to see the whole family. Charlotte loved all the new faces to look at and people to play with.

We had some sunshine Saturday afternoon and Charlotte went in the pool–her first time swimming. She seemed to like it. (Thanks to my cousin Jennifer for getting a good picture!)

View of the Balsams across the lake:

This is the room where the first vote for president in the country takes place.

View from our room: