Corlette Gazette A little blog with news of a little girl

Jacqueline

On May 24th, David and I walked into the hospital ready to have a baby:

And at 12:27 AM Jacqueline Brown Corlette came into this world at 9 lbs 5 oz and 21″.

Obviously, it is still early days, but so far she is very calm and a voracious eater.

Jacqueline and Marcella met the next day, and it went very well.  Marcella enjoyed identifying her sister’s body parts.

After being clear that Baby Jacqueline has all of her body parts, Marcella was much more interested in all of the other items in the room.We will see if this laissez-faire attitude continues once Marcella realizes Jacqueline is here to stay.  :-)

Opinions

Marcella is getting more and more communicative with every passing day.  Part of it is that we are learning her words, and the other part is that she is learning ours.  In some ways, this communication makes our lives sooo much easier.  She is not nearly as frustrated all the time, and it is nice to know what she is thinking.  And, yet, it turns out that Marcella has her own opinions.  She is still a fairly laid back little girl, but when she has an opinion, there is no ignoring it.  My favorite instance so far is when she woke up from her nap one Saturday and needed to be wearing a different outfit.  It was imperative.  So, for your viewing pleasure I present Marcella’s first fashion statement:

I like that it is cute and comfortable.  The dress with the stretch pants is so fashionable, I truly don’t know where she gets it!

Fixing the Garden

Jane and Sam came down to help us with the house and garden.  It was fantastic to have them here, and we got LOTS of work done.

Marcella loves, loves, loves her new outdoor play area.  We had to wait a couple weeks to lay down the sod, but now that we have, the backyard looks fantastic.

We no longer have a day go by that Marcella doesn’t visit the grass.  She loves to run around and throw a ball out there.  Around the perimeter is an herb and vegetable garden.  Hopefully, I will be able to keep everything going and make Jane proud!

For Easter, the bunny brought Marcella a portable soccer goal.  Although she is a bit young for it, she loved throwing the ball in that general direction.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!  It is sooo much fun to have a place to play everyday!!!

Mardi Gras

While Dave and I went to Mardi Gras, Marcella went up to CT to stay with Nana and Poppa. She had a wonderful time with them, and was, by all accounts, a dream girl. However, it was a different story once Mommy showed up. Marcella was more than happy to punish me for having the audacity to leave her well taken care of by loving people. All was forgiven once she was what we brought her though…

And Dave and I had a fantastic time at Mardi Gras.  Thanks to everyone for showing us such a good time!!!

Planet Lexicon

In my head I have been planning on a blog for Cella’s 18 month milestone (yes, I do think about this blog, even if you don’t see any proof of that). However, I find myself with some time to write a blog entry this morning, but no cameras to download the pics that have been taken for that post.  So, instead I will share the biggest change to our world lately.  Cella can talk!  Even more than that, she can communicate.  She now has enough words that although some things are frustrating, she can communicate often enough that our world is running much more smoothly.  It is a blessing and a curse.  It makes her much less frustrated that we know what she wants, but wanting is not the same thing as geting and that makes her more frustrated.  But, overall, it’s a net gain.

However, when we went to Mardi Gras this past weekend (happy birthday Angie!), and she was going to stay with my parents, I realized that while she is communicating, the words don’t always sound English.  So, I sent a list of vocabulary with her:

- Mao = pacifier
- Hahbu = help me
- Nak = Snack
- bnah = banana
- waher = water and/or milk
- bite = she is looking for help eating
- shoe = typically means she wants her shoes on or off (often accompanied by foot stamping)

She has more words than this, and understands MUCH more, but these are the ones that make our day to day life run more smoothly.  And, she is very polite.  While we were gone, she started saying “bless you” when someone sneezes.

I have attached a video (my first, so hopefully it will work) that only illustrates how much trouble we will be in when she gets to be old enough to really talk.

Year in Review

Happy 2011!  We have had a very busy and fun holiday season.  Now that we are getting back to our routine, I thought I would steal an idea from my friend Liz, and do a picture year in a review.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

We hope to see you soon!

One Year

One year.  It feels so short and so very long.  I am thrilled that I get to know Marcella a little bit more every day, as she explores her surroundings and learns new skills.  But it is still hard to believe that a year ago, she was here:

And now she is here:

Marcella is smart, friendly and fun.  She is also one of the most determined people that I have ever met.  When you first meet her, it would seem like she is so laid back that there would never be any issues in our house.  And she is very laid back.  Until she knows what she wants.  And then, you had better watch it.  Because she will use whatever she has in her arsenal to get it.  She has been known to cry, throw a fit, smile and cuddle, and pretend to walk away disinterested before coming back at the item from a different direction.  She knows what is not allowed, and she will watch to see if the reaction is the same when she breaks the rule again.  She will test me, I’m quite sure.

When she is being laid back, you couldn’t ask for a better kid.  She is happier to be out doing things than sitting at home doing nothing.  Sitting in her stroller is just fine, as long as we keep moving.  She loves everybody she meets, sometimes even trying to go to them before they have even had a chance to say hi.  Marcella is very curious, and likes to sit and study new items and she is not a risk taker.  She doesn’t like to try something until she is really confident that she can finish it.  She babbles all the time, and is just starting to form words.  Mama is “I want something”.  Dada is “Fun!”.  We have not seen her correlate those words to her parents yet.  She knows that you say “uh-oh” when something falls, but doesn’t get that dropping it yourself is just not the same thing.  She claps and waves bye bye, but not necessarily in a timely manner. Food has not been an issue at all, she eats pretty much everything we put in front of her, except for spinach.  She isn’t a big fan of spinach.  String cheese and blueberries are her favorites.

Marcella was pronounced very healthy at her one year appt.  She is 32″ tall (over 99th percentile) and 22 lbs 13 oz (75th percentile).  I have broken down the development below:

Physical Development

• Birth weight has tripled – Not quite, but no one is concerned
• Stands alone – Definitely.  She started doing this in the Dulles airport on our way to France (about 10 months).
  
• Cruises and begins to walk – She took her first step June 8th and was fully walking on July 11th.  Marcella still isn’t completely steady on her feet, but she loves to practice.
• Climbs up and down stairs - She has been going up stairs for several months, but has only tried to go down the stairs once (at 10 months) and never since.
• Lowers to sitting position – Mostly she lowers to a squat, she likes to leave her options open.
• May show a preference for one hand – Definite right handed preference.
• May undress without assistance – Not even a little bit.  She is finally helping move her arms when you undress her, but has not undressed herself.
• May have 2-8 teeth – All 8 are in.

Language Development

• Says 2-8 words – As I mentioned above, she can say some things, but they don’t mean what we think they mean.
• Listens to new words – Not especially.
• Likes to sing and likes repetitive sounds – She will sing some, but not a ton.  Loves repetitive sounds. (and unrelated to language, she really loves to dance).
• Jabbers constantly – Pretty much.

Social & Emotional Development

• Suspicious of strangers and strange places – Not really.  She will get a bit clingy in a strange place, but that will typically pass in moments.  And she loves everybody, including strangers. (Funny side note – every time she flies she spends a decent amount of time, trying to catch the eyes of strangers and then acting bashful when it works.  Yea, the teenage years are going to be awesome.)
• May have difficulty separating from parents – Again, not really.  She will sometimes get upset when I leave the room, but only until she realizes that I’m not going to come back because she started crying.  Then she moves on.
• Developing sense of humor – Definitely.  She giggles when playing peek a boo and when we steal her bing bong (pacifier).
• Shows affection – As she has gotten more independent, she has become much more willing to cuddle.  But they are sudden strike cuddles while she is doing other stuff. Play with toys, cuddle, play with different toys.
• May become more negative – I would describe her as negative so much as assertive.  When she gets really worked up she will turn comfort items down until she is ready to calm down.  So, we will often place her blankie next to her, and she will pick it up when she is ready.  But still not really negative.
• Remember events - She definitely remembers things.  She will start to do something she knows isn’t allowed, and pull herself back if she sees one of us watching her (I told you, sneaky!)
• Imitates behavior of others - She will clap if other people are clapping.
• Loves an audience and applause – Oh yes.

I am so looking forward to continuing to get to know Marcella throughout the coming years.

Long Overdue

I owe you all some updated pics of Cella.  I have month 8, 9 and 10 pics, in addition to her nine month appt stats.  However, I’m jetlagged and exhausted, so I’m not quite up to all of that.  Cella and I got home from France/England yesterday where we had a fantastic vacation with David and our friends, Amy and Adam.  I would like to promise you that I will post all about the trip, but let’s be honest, that might never happen.  In case it doesn’t, here are a few highlights.

 

 

This last picture just makes me giggle.  In France, they have grand rondonee (basically long walks) that are fairly well marked and go all over the French countryside.  Dave, Cella and I went on one, and, as you will see below, she fell asleep.  We ended up walking very close to this cow, so I took a picture of Dave with the cow (because cows are funny).  It wasn’t until we got home that I realized I had gotten Cella in the picture as well.  And also, the adorable donkey ears…

Milestones

So much changes so quickly!  Marcella has been going through a series of milestones in the past couple of weeks, and true to form, she is jumping in with both feet.  Cella cut her first two teeth at the same time Valentine’s Day weekend.  It made her a little grumpy, but once they were through, she was back to her old self.

Cella has been scooting around for awhile now (probably since 2/10ish).  At first, she would only scoot very short distances.  Then she moved to the inch worm.  Cella would get up on all fours and rock her knees forward (but not her hands) and then drop on her belly.  Then she would push herself back onto all fours (in a new place forward from where she had been) and repeat.  She had gotten pretty good at it.  Cella would inch down the hall that way. And then on Sunday night (3/7) she crawled.

She has been moving more slowly since then, but she is definitely moving along.

During the snowstorm, we also moved Cella into her highchair and out of her bumbo.  She is enjoying it, and now I don’t have to worry about her toppling out of it!

She has been eating like a champ, and is slowly starting to figure out her sippy cup.  Cheerios aren’t going so well, but we are still working on that.

Last, but not least, we had to drop her crib last week (3/3).  David called me upstairs while getting ready for the work the day before, and Cella was standing in her crib.

We both giggled about how big she was, and then I went off to work, and David laid her back down in the crib.  Apparently, she promptly crawled back over to the edge and got up on her knees.  Yikes!  That night I couldn’t drop the crib by myself, so everytime she started making noise I jumped up.  The next night we dropped the crib.  It doesn’t look like she will get out anytime soon!

After a crazy month of snowstorms and sickness, we seem to be getting back into our groove.  I can’t wait to see what happens next!

PS – The other thing that we did was transfer Cella into her big girl carseat.  I don’t have any pictures of it, but her head was about to hit the top of the infant car seat. However, I do have another picture for you.  Marcella has started hanging out on her side when she is playing on the floor.  She looks so hip!

The Storm that Wouldn’t Stop

We were supposed to go to CT this past weekend to visit with family.  But the weather had other plans.  DC got approximately 25″ on Saturday.  The city had just barely dug itself out on Tuesday when the snow started again.  We were stuck inside all day today… again.  We haven’t gotten any pictures of the new snow, but during the last storm this picture was taken.

It hadn’t stopped snowing yet and she is over 2′ tall!  It was quite the day.  This next one wasn’t her favorite.  I suppose I wouldn’t like being stuck in the snow either.

Dave and I couldn’t stop giggling over this one.  Ralphie…

In other news, Cella loves eating solid food.  She has tried all kinds of things and, so far, will eat just about anything.  And, boy, does it make her happy.