Growing up

Its official. Charlie is growing up, and I can't stop it. Everyday he does or says something new, tells a joke, learns a new trick, grows a bit taller. Here's proof:

1. Charlie does not cry when he wakes up any more. He now just says, "mommy?" or "mommy come!"

2. Yesterday morning when I got Charlie out of bed he told me he had a dream about driving cars. I asked him if he was racing them and he said "yes." 

3. Matt had a Bonnie Raitt song in his head this morning, so on the way to drop Charlie off at daycare he sang, "I can't make you love me...." and so on, and Charlie said, "that's right dad."

4. Tonight before bed Charlie was doing his usual dramatic play; this generally involves him grocery shopping, making food, cleaning house, or going to work. Tonight he decided he was going to work so he grabbed the car keys, Matt's wallet and left for work in the kitchen. A few minutes later he came back, took Matt's debit card out of his wallet, tucked it under his arm, gave the wallet to Matt, and said, "come mom. Grocery store."

5. Last night I got out of class early so I called to make sure Charlie was still awake. He was so Matt put him on the phone. Here's how our conversation went:

Charlie: Hi mom

Me: Hey Charlie, what are you doing?

Charlie: Playing cars

Me: Oh that sounds like fun, I'm glad you're still awake.

Charlie: What you doing mom?

Me: I just got out of class and now I'm headed home.

Charlie: Oh.

Me: Can you stay awake until I get home?

Charlie: Yeah, sure. Love you.

My heart melted.  

Lastly, today when I picked him up from Shirley's house he gave me a big hug, cupped my face in his little hands, looked me in the eye and then gave me a kiss. 

a little bit of charlie

Ever since Charlie has been able to sit up on his own, he and I have played this game where we shake hands and I, in a rather Holly Golightly way say, 'how do you do?' and Charlie laughs. It had been a while since Charlie and I played this, so yesterday morning at breakfast I took his hand and did the usual, and instead of laughing Charlie said, 'nice to meetcha momma.' It was adorable- I have no idea who he learned that from, but I loved it.

This morning I made oatmeal and put entirely too much cinnamon on it. Instead of wasting it, I tried my best to eat it...very slowly. I swear it tasted like soggy cinnamon bears. Charlie asked for a bite and ended up eating half of it. I guess my disaster is Charlie's delight.

Charlie's tube came out of his right ear tonight after bath. He discovered it while I was reading him Where the Wild Things are. Right in the middle of the book he casually said, 'look at this mommy' and wiped the tube (and a bit of ear wax) on Matt's arm. He is such a little scientist.

It's been a while

Yesterday Matt, Charlie, and I visited Mollie at an art bizarre that was taking place in the neighborhood and I had a very strange encounter with a man who looked like Weird Al (except an older shorter version). Here's how it went:

Weird Al: You look like an elf.

Me: Who me?

Weird Al: Yeah.

Me: Um, okay.

Weird Al: I think its a compliment.

At least he wasn't trying to insult me... I knew I should have auditioned for Lord of the Rings, think of how easy it would have been for Make-up. They wouldn't have even had to spend the money on prosthetic ears. 

Uh oh

Charlie loves apricots! He and I have been splitting at least one every night this week at the end of dinner (if Charlie had his way we would split five of them). I wash the apricot, split it in half with my fingers, take out the seed and hand one half to Charlie.

Charlie cups his half of the apricot in his little hands like it is very fragile and watches until I take my first bite. He then will usually take little bites of his, while looking to see how much of mine I have left. Tonight however after his first initial bite, Charlie shoved the rest of the apricot in his mouth and chewed it up as best he could. As Matt and I told him that might be too big of a bite and maybe he ought to take some out, Charlie swallowed the mass (which caused him to squeeze his eyes tight), successfully got it down his little throat, looked up at Matt and I, and said "uh oh."

  

Daddy go bike, mommy Charlie go car

Yesterday Matt rode his bike to work and Charlie and I left shortly after him in the car. When we drove over the Sellwood bridge we could see Matt riding his bike on the bike trail and Charlie loved it! Here is how the rest of the drive to daycare went:

Charlie: Yay Yay daddy!
Charlie: Daddy go bike!
Me: Yeah daddy is riding his bike, that is so cool!
Charlie: daddy cool!
Charlie: Papa
Me: is papa cool?
Charlie: Yes.

(at this point we are over the bridge)

Charlie: Cars!!
Charlie: Car Truck!
Me: Do you see cars and trucks?
Charlie: Yes. Cool car.
Charlie: daddy cool- go daddy! Yay daddy! More daddy?
Me: we'll see daddy after work.
Charlie: daddy go bike, mommy Charlie go car!
Me: Yep, daddy rode his bike and mommy and Charlie drove the car.
Charlie: Yes.

Thank you weekend

Today I went on a little hike with Charlie, Matt and my dad, took about a two hour nap, walked to the park with Charlie and played until we couldn't play anymore, walked home, and ate a fantastic dinner off the grill.

The house is clean, I am rested, and I only have to do a little work tonight (maybe two hours). 

Sleepyhead

Work is killing me. I wanted to go to bed at 7:30 last night but kept myself awake until 10:00. Charlie decided it wasn't a good night for sleep, so he kept Matt and I up for most of the night.

I am tired, I can't catch up on work, I can't catch up on housework, and I just want a nap.

Olympia

This last weekend we visited some family in Olympia, WA. and had an early Easter Celebration. It was a great weekend and was very nice of Dan and Jeri to have us all there.

Charlie loved finding little crabs under rocks off the Sound

Dying eggs with grandma and cousins

Looking for hidden eggs

It took Charlie a little while to figure out what was going on when he woke up. He just walked around the house and said, "what is this?" He soon caught on to the idea of looking for eggs and didn't even mind when I took all the candy out of his eggs and put them in a bag. When we got up on Monday and started getting him ready to go to daycare, he found his Halloween basket and started walking around the house. Poor guy- just when he started getting the hang of it the fun was over.

Hair Cut/Lessons Learned

I am not going to go into detail about this, but Charlie got his hair cut this last week and it didn't exactly go as planned. Next time we're going to take him to a professional and if you want a word of advice, never give a grandpa the scissors to cut your child's hair- no matter how many times he asks. And never agree when your husband says he can fix it.

Charlie looking at the camera while he kisses me.

Charlie loves to eat yogurt with a huge spoon

This is the look we get quite often when we try and take C's photo

He looks like a big boy with his short hair:(

He is still so cute though

Zen and the art of giving up the bottle

This weekend Charlie said goodbye to the bottle... well kind of. Matt and I took all the bottles and donated them to Charlie's little cousin Izzy. Charlie is not very happy with us and has been saying, "milk?" all weekend. 

Last night he kept waking up insisting on milk, and when we brought it to him (in a cup) he was heart broken. He would cry and throw his head back, and then ask us again for milk. When we assured him milk was in his cup, he would ask for water or juice. It has not been an easy transition for Charlie (or Matt and I).

So far he has only taken a few drinks of milk out of a cup (thanks to a game Matt invented), but we are hoping that by tomorrow he will stop making that face of disgust whenever we offer him milk. In the mean time, he has been eating non stop especially on things like yogurt, cottage cheese, and O's in milk.

I am confident in this transition-- tonight my yoga teacher said I was having a hard time disconnecting body and mind. For Charlie, it is hard disconnecting milk and bottle. Like my teacher said, it takes practice and time, and will one day happen naturally. 

Namaste

I sleep therefore I am

Charlie was given a steroid today for his croup. His cough sounds better, but he is literally running around the house right now. I'm giving Matt one more hour of sleep, and then it is my turn.

ahem

I got a new computer:)

Catch Up

 
 
Hello Hello.

I figured since Stacia can post a blog four days after having a baby, I should try and post after three months.  Things on our side of the street are going well. Charlie is growing up fast, and Matt and I are enjoying watching his personality develop.  He recently started saying two words together like, "more water," "me milk," "read book" and "more cracker." He also started repeating everything Matt and I say, and telling us "no, no, no."

Games are a big part of Charlie's life right now as well, and this week he started a game with the book, There's a Wocket in my Pocket. The book is basically a series of rhyming questions, and Charlie answers "no" to all of them. For example:

Me: "Did you ever have the feeling there's a ZAMP in the LAMP?"

Charlie: "no"

Me: "Or a NINK in the SINK?"

Charlie: "no"

And so on. I have no idea why he started the game, but it is quite cute.

What else? The holidays were great, but to be honest I am still behind with things and unfortunately I can't blame it on the bad weather any more (for those of you who have not received your holiday card from us we promise it will be there shortly).  Ha, I am glad people are patient with me:)