Charlotte at a Year (warning--this is a gushing babylove post)

Charlotte turned one two Tuesdays ago (February 9th) , and I am no longer going to wait for pictures to post...they will come eventually.   For those of you who haven't seen her in awhile, she is nicely round with lots of light brown curls and big blue eyes.  Some have told me she looks like a Maurice Sendak baby or an Anne Geddes baby.  If you remember Solomon as a baby, just picture him as a girl with curly hair and toned down eyelashes.  In the mean time, I'll tell you what she's been up to.

Charlotte is talking more everyday.  Yesterday she said "baby"  (meaning a doll) and "mine" (meaning the same doll).  When I asked her if she wanted to kiss the baby, she did.  Two days ago she said "flower" and "get it"  and so we looked at the flowers together.  Just last Thursday at her one year check-up, I put her work count tentatively at three (her favorite being "hi" along with a wave).  She is learning to talk a lot like Nova did--lots of words and even sentence structure, but not a lot of articulation.  

She is walking, sometimes very fast, and on her birthday she climbed an entire flight of stairs for the first time.  Now it is one of her favorite things to do.  Sometimes Solomon will spot her during her stair-climbing.  Solomon and Nova continue to be just great with her.  Both enjoy helping her and playing with her.  Charlotte likes to wake them up in the morning.

Putting things in boxes and other containers is another recent fascination of hers.  Right now she is putting a cloth diaper in a cardboard box.  Unfortunately, trash cans often strike her as the perfect  
receptacle.  At the photographer's Charlotte put her little sweater into the trash when no one was looking; we finally found it half an hour later. Pitchers of water also appear to her to be good places to put books.   This containerizing has been a challenging habit.

She loves music and chasing games and cuddling.  This morning I showed her the little 1/16 size violin.  She touched the stings and said "mine" (don't worry, we don't locked in instrument decisions at age one).  Every now and then she gives me a mischevious smile and runs the other way.  All in all she is just a delight!        

Forthcoming Posts

When I finally get my pictures off my camera, there are a few posts I hope to do.  Here's the list. 

A Weekend Away
Charlotte is Walking!  (at 9 and 1/2 months)
Homeschool Art Adventure
Family Felting and Fun Party
St Lucia Day
The Importance of One Child Outings
Christmas Collage
Family Photo?
Resolutions!
Book Making
A Trip to Zumbrota
Making Felt Balls, Take Two
The Loppet

Charlotte is One

Felt Balls for a First Birthday

I love felt balls.  Round, soft, warm, bouyant (yes, they float), and beautiful, I could hardly ask more of a ball.  I was inspired to make a handmade gift for my (almost) one-year-old by Amanda Blake Soule's lovely blog, Soule Mama.  She also happened to make felt balls for  her one year old, using the knit-then -felt method.  Since I am a novice knitter, I went for the straight felting method.  Following these directions, I produced three rainbow-hued, baseball-sized balls in about an hour.  If time permits, I will add pictures via needle felting.