People often ask how Charlotte and Bailey get along. When Charlotte’s spitting up, she’s Bailey’s favorite food source. When Charlotte’s not eating, Bailey mostly leaves her alone.
But now that Charlotte’s growing more aware, she’s becoming a bigger fan of her dog friend.
Bailey also makes a good foot rest.
Coming soon: Thanksgiving pictures.
No new videos to share. We got incredibly lucky that the first two times I turned on the camera, Charlotte decided to roll over and laugh hysterically. I’m going to take a cue from Axl Rose and not release a follow-up until it’s absolutely perfect.
But while you wait, here are a few plain old still photos.
(And if you haven’t seen the videos, scroll down immediately.)
We’re still low on plot and weak on character development, but today’s baby videos have one thing every good show needs: a laugh track. We didn’t have to tell any jokes, either. All it took was one sneeze.
I can’t wait for allergy season. Our house will feel like the Married With Children studio audience.
Less laughing in this scene, but still plenty of noise. As for the ending, Charlotte does all her own stunts.
Little Charlotte’s growing up. Today, she turned four months old. This latest milestone inspired me to break out the video camera and take a quick refresher course on YouTube uploading. As soon as I turned on the camera, Charlotte started showing off.
The rest of these clips are reminiscent of the first animated movies, which were exciting for their novelty but lacking in both plot and action. Now that we’ve mastered moving pictures, however, expect some better clips real soon. (Or lots and lots of uneventful ones.)
We’re not sure what she’s saying, but it feels like she’s making a statement. That statement: “I am in charge.”
Charlotte loves the water.
She loves the water so much, in fact, that I think she’s intentionally making messes to ensure a second daily bath.
Maybe Mom will let us get that hot tub.
Or, if we play our cards right—and by “cards” I mean “scratch-off lottery tickets”—maybe she’ll get that shore house.
Let’s end with an unrelated picture of the still-ongoing staring contest between Charlotte and her dog.
Back in 2000 in Los Angeles, I went to see Mark McGwire and the Cardinals play the Dodgers. This was after his 70-homer season but before he was widely discredited as a cheater. Every time he got up to the plate, the entire stadium went flashbulb crazy. I always wondered how anyone could concentrate with all those lights.
We’re working on getting the right photo for our holiday card. Charlotte and Bailey now know how McGwire felt.
I hope we don’t drive them to performance-enhancing drugs.
Here’s one of the first-thing-in-the-morning shots.
And here’s a just-woke-up-from-a-nap.
We even tried to pose her during election night.
“Yes We Can, Yeah. We Did. Peace. Put Down The Camera.”
For now, we’ll just make sure she’s wearing Christmas socks at all times.
We still need to post Charlotte’s Election Day photo diary. But in the meantime, here are some random baby and baby/dog pics.
Someone should write a buddy comedy starring these two.
Bailey uses the leaves as camouflage. Back to the baby…
Charlotte looks hungry.
(Bingo.)
We’ll be back with that Election Day diary later this weekend.
At halftime of the Giants-Cowboys game, I ran out to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials, like 1% milk and Bubblemint flavor Orbit Gum. While I was gone, Ellen and Charlotte had themselves a photoshoot.
Charlie did her neck exercises…
…admired that baby in the mirror…
…and did some light reading.
I’m sorry I missed it. But at least we’ve got the pictures (plenty more to be posted later this week). And I really did need the gum.
Charlotte Lynn English has earned several nicknames. Two of them are Charlotte Hornet (after the now-defunct NBA franchise; when she cries, we say she’s stinging) and Charlie B’s (which is short for Charlie Bananas, which has no real meaning and is absolutely not a nod to Johnny Bananas of Real World/Road Rules Challenge fame).
We were able to find a costume that suited both pseudonyms.
(Charlotte appreciated the significance.)
In wardrobe, she was a great sport.
Then she got into character. Here she is playing the Charlotte Hornet, stinging loudly.
Ellen and I had talked about getting beekeeper outfits. But since our general Halloween festivities were so minimal, we would have ended up just hanging around in beekeeper outfits, which would have scared the dog and neighbors (and the Queen Bee herself).
Charlotte eased into the trick-or-treating game.
Her Great-Grandpa showered her (us) with candy. At this point, the bee had lost her boots. (Later in the evening, Bailey would steal a boot, and I had to bribe her with the false promise of a Fun Size Nestle Crunch Bar.
And by dinner time, her pink Winnie the Pooh hat had replaced her antennae, and she called it a holiday. We’ll start planning for Halloween ‘09 tomorrow. Anyone have any family costume suggestions?
Ellen dressed Charlotte in purple velvet today, and Charlotte loved it. Here’s proof…
(That hair is looking mighty red.)
With an eye on Christmas Card season, we’ve been working on posing Charlotte and Bailey. In addition to starring in the photo, Bailey serves as Charlie’s manager.
“What’s that, baby? You can’t hold your head up any longer?”
“Photoshoot over. No more pictures.”
At just over three months, Charlotte isn’t walking yet. But she’s sure getting good at sitting around.
Projectile spit-up on a chair enough times and it’s yours.
This seat’s perfect for dog watching.
Coming next weekend: A minute-by-minute photo diary of baby’s first Halloween.
