3 Months old

It's hard to believe Miss Charlotte has already been in our lives for 3 months!  Well sometimes it seems like I just had her yesterday and other days it feels like we've had her around forever.  She is blossoming into quite a talker..... mostly to me but that's ok!  Actually she seems to talk to other people too but they never slow down enough to listen.  It just melts my heart when she will talk or smile at Lillian..... and Lillian doesn't even realize how special it is.  Charlotte has been getting stronger every day as she learns to lift her head and recently I have walked into her room to find her rolled onto her side.  

In other news, Lillian is a great big sister!  She asks to touch the baby everyday and when I do leave the two of them alone I can often find them cuddled on the floor together with Lillian practically laying on her.  The other day I walked in on a "tea party" and Lillian really enjoys "feeding" baby Charlotte.  I had a bit of a proud moment when she decided to breastfeed her baby Lucy doll.  

Since our trip to Northern California, Lillian has been speaking in full sentences; yes I realize she was doing it before but she had greatly improved!  She can actually have a full conversation without much translation needed.  As she is becoming even more independent we have had to put new rules in place, especially when it comes to the baby.  The most effective so far is our stop signs.  They have been placed on the front door, the fridge, Charlotte's bed and a pocket chart with crafts/games on the back of their bedroom door.  The signs were posted at eye level and they mean, "stop, ask first".  The idea came when we were woken up by the sound of her unlocking and opening the front door!  Now even if we are leaving the house she sees the sign and stops and asks.  She has become quite the little helper.  

Grocery shopping has become a new fun venture.... she has a little mini clipboard and we make picture lists of items we need to get.  She walks next to the cart holding a handle and we get things off her list then she colors in the picture.  She really is learning quite a bit even on those trips and we often review numbers and we count how many of each item we are getting as we put it in the produce bag.  Looks like I'm going to need to start lesson planning our days more providing more preschool curriculum.