Much better

Charlotte is feeling much better today. She hasn't had a fever since 5am, so hopefully we are in the clear! It is kind of scary having your kiddo run high temps! She never really had any symptoms that would lead us to believe she had something scary going on, but when her temp was 104.2 in her armpit (roughly add a degree to get an accurate temp = 105.2), I was pretty worried. But she seems to have come through it ok, so we'll keep our fingers crossed and a bottle of Tylenol near by.

We took little sickie to the Minnesota Zoo yesterday. She loved the meercats (like Timon on the Lion King, funny little prairie dog like animal from the African desert). They have a glass enclosure where they all run around and Charlotte loved sitting on the ledge watching them. They weren't shy at all and they would come scratch in the dirt next to her. She thought that was great! She also loved the monkeys with the red butts (who doesn't?!) and the giant aquarium the size of our living room full of fish. She loved watching them swim by, especially the old shark that didn't have any teeth. Kristi especially liked the tank full of seahorses! If she didn't have such a bad record of keeping things alive (Charlotte not included), she would probably get a few. Charlotte was afraid of a few things, and a little clingy since she was still running a temp, but overall I think she had a good time. Some people have said we are bad parents for taking our sick kid to the zoo (you know who you are!), but really, what sounds like more fun when you feel a little under the weather: moping around at home with all the same stuff you always play with, or being carried by your mom and looking at neat animals? Charlotte picked the second one.

Charlotte has a new word. She can say "ball." Which suddenly made us realize that most of her words start with the letter "B." Baby, bird, bean, breakfast, and now ball. Her only non-B words are hi and uh-oh. I guess we'll have to start working on some new ones!

Sickie

Poor poor Charlotte is so sick...she has had a cold for over a week now, and we had to pick her up early from daycare yesterday because she was running a fever. Last night her temp was almost 104! She is so miserable...(not to mention her parents!) So much for our anniversary trip to Duluth this weekend!

Here you go Auntie Laura!

Auntie Laura was requesting some more new pictures, so here you go! This is from when Lisa and Travis were here.
Charlotte and Uncle Travis have a special bond. She loves his goofiness! Charlotte likes Lisa and Travis' birds. Here she is feeding Cheerios to Piper. She probably fed him at least 20 Cheerios! They were surprisingly both very gentle with each other.

She is playing in Matt's hammock that is hanging up inside from the rafters of our sunroom! It's a nice place to relax.

Pizza face!

Lisa and Travis (Kristi's sister and brother-in-law) visited this weekend on their way from Iowa to Duluth for vacation. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant together. It was fun! Travis was very brave in trying everything even though he doesn't like weird food. And it was his birthday! Happy Birthday Travis!
Here are some pictures from while they were here of the center of attention. Funny how we don't take pictures of anyone else!

Our little politician

I don't think we've mentioned in past posts that Charlotte LOVES to shake hands. She will stick out her hand with all of her fingers splayed out and say "HI!" until you shake her hand. Then she holds her hand out to the next available person and says "HI!" waiting for another handshake. She will continue doing this until she's shaken all available hands. Sometimes she starts over at the first person and does it all again. She should go into politics.

three updates in a row!

Since people keep telling me they check the blog every day, maybe we'll post something small every day (or at least until that gets old or we forget or we are too busy...). So here's today's Charlotte update:

Buhp not only means "bird," but it now also means "bean." We had a southwest bean soup for dinner, and Charlotte only wanted to eat the kidney beans and black beans out of it. Every time she ran out of them on her tray she would yell "BUHP!" And then sign "more."

Also, she likes to whisper now. She will do it if you whisper to her. She thinks it's really funny. We think it's pretty cute.

Words

Charlotte knows a few more words.
Buhp = bird
Baf = breakfast

Don't tell me those aren't real words! She says them consistently when you ask her about them!