Too Cool for School

Ok, so I know he'd be even cooler without a price tag hanging in front of his nose, but I didn't actually want to buy these... :)

A Fun Weekend with Papa & Ali

My parents came in town last week to see Charlie (and us...hopefully), and we had so much fun with them. Clint was on call most of the time they were here, but it was nice for me to have some company. We kept busy, busy, busy, and as a result, Charlie napped harder than he has in a long time. They accompanied us to Little Gym one afternoon, and Charlie loved the extra attention there. He also put on a quite a show for them, Sam, and Audra in the pool one afternoon, "swimming" wildly around (and doing quite well as long as one of us was holding him up :). Charlie had so much fun the whole time they were here--the only bad part was the day after they left, when he was missing them and in a terrible mood!

One of our favorite excursions was to the Children's Museum. Charlie and I hadn't been before and we loved it. It was exhausting, but totally worth it.

The dinosaurs fascinated Charlie. We didn't do the full dinosaur exhibit, but I think that will be so fun when he gets a bit older.

And he's off! The next two pictures crack me up. Charlie was definitely a "man on a mission" at the museum. He was completely busy and independent the entire time--he really did not care if we were there or not. :)

The fire engine was probably his favorite part: steering wheels at the front, stairs in the middle, and 2 slides at the back. How could anything be better??

But, we managed to leave the fire engine for a while and enjoyed the barnyard. Charlie loved riding horses and riding his John Deere "tractor" tricycle.

"Tractor" is our current favorite word (and book).

Although he felt that it was beneath him, Charlie let us relax for a few minutes while he enjoyed the 0-2-year-old play area.

After watching Mr. Barry's tricks at Little Gym, Papa helped Charlie perfect his forward roll on the mats. Charlie loved it!

Thanks for a great weekend Papa and Ahhh. We miss you guys!

15 Months Old!

Charlie is 15 months old and loving life. He is walking, running, swimming, and talking up a storm. Some of his words I can understand (favorites are "tractor," "bellybutton," "apple," "all gone," "bye bye" and "doggie"), and sometimes Charlie says very elaborate "sentences" that seem to have a lot of meaning to him, but I haven't been able to decipher yet.

I know I think this at each stage, but I really think this is my favorite stage yet. Charlie is very independent right now, and seems to understand so much. He follows directions now (those of you who have been at playgroups with us will dispute this, but he's really pretty good at home :), and loves to try to do everything on his own (including trying to put his own dinner together when I don't do it quickly enough). We laugh together constantly--luckily for me, he has a nutty little sense of humor and is always laughing at various things that happen in our days. I love just riding along in the car with him and listening to him talk and laugh to himself in the backseat.

Charlie is still as social as ever, and although he doesn't mind playing trucks at home with me, he is happiest with he has lots and lots of people around. He loves our various playgroups, playdates, swim classes, Little Gym, and any other activity where there are other people involved. The only downside to his social ways is that Charlie usually pitches quite the fit when we have to leave social gatherings, but we are working on that... :) Charlie still loves playing trucks (especially loves sending them flying down the slide), playing with toy trains and train tables, throwing balls, chasing ducks, squirrels and dogs, and reading books (one of the few activities he will do alone for long periods of time). He has also turned into quite the little fish this summer and is getting pretty fearless in the water. Charlie can now stay under for 6 seconds and has just started to "swim" to me under water. He also does a great imitation of a swimmer when we hold him on top of the water. I think he thinks he's swimming when he does this, but it mostly just amuses us. :)

And now, here is the perky little 15 month old on one of our morning strolls around the Village lakes.

The ducks were smart to be running: Danger was following close behind!

When the ducks proved too illusive, Danger decided to take a jog on the running trails instead...

I tried to get an action shot, but unfortunately, it came out all blurry...

Following our walk, Charlie helped me get ready for the day. This included pulling out all the tissues from the tissue box and then stuffing them back in and kissing himself (repeatedly) in the mirror.

Charlie had his 15-month appointment this week and did great! He passed with flying colors--even giving our pediatrician some very sweet smiles and happily telling him "bye bye" at the end of the appointment. His 15-month stats are:

Weight: 23 lbs., 4 oz. (35%)

Length: 31 1/2 in. (70%)

Head: 19 1/8 in. (85%)

Charlie didn't really need those official stats to tell you that he is SO BIG!

And because I mentioned it above, here is Charlie preparing his own "dinner." Thanks for the help little guy! (And no, I don't give him fruit pouches for dinner, he chose that on his own. :)

One of Those Days...

Between dealing with this crazy heat (108 today!), sweet Charlie, pregnancy, home-purchasing issues, and apartment-living issues, some days seem a tiny bit onerous lately. Today just happened to be one of those days. I was dealing with mortgage and inspection/repair issues all morning, and was so glad for playgroup this afternoon to get some time to relax and visit with some of my friends. Charlie, however, wasn't so into the "relaxing" part of playgroup. Instead, he was intent on destroying the host's home. Therefore, this happened to be one of my favorite moments of the day...total peace:

When I got home, I was preparing dinner and talking to Clint on the phone about our respective days. I was starting to feel a bit calmer as I got our food prepared and felt like things were finally getting under control: dinner was underway, Charlie was playing quietly (first hint of a problem), and Clint was on his way home. I then realized that Charlie was playing a little TOO quietly and decided to investigate. I found him hiding behind his slide with a jar of cocoa in his hands, dumping it on the floor and stuffing it into his mouth. He--and the carpet--were a total mess! Here's the mess he left behind on the carpet...

...and the little mess himself!

Charlie was QUITE proud of himself. And pretty hilarious during his bath. I think he was on a cocoa high and as a result, he was the silliest I've seen him in a while. He was fake sneezing and then dying laughing for about 5 minutes of the bath... :)

I am realizing that Charlie playing quietly is usually not a good thing. Yesterday, I was on the phone with our mortgage broker and thought Charlie was reading quietly in his room. Instead, he had made his way into our bedroom, found our files, and decided to scatter our tax returns and financial documents from the past 4 years all over the bedroom. Again, he was quite proud of himself, and I got the fun task of piecing 4 years of financials back together again (while Charlie did his best to thwart me--giggling the whole time :). Although we love our little apartment, I am ready to get into a child-proofed house!

[And this day really wasn't all that bad. Charlie redeemed himself 110% when I asked for a hug and he laid his little head down on my shoulder and patted my back. Oh Charlie, you can do no wrong!]

A Celebratory Week (and a Little Card Thief)

What a week we have had! The last week in July is always an exciting one for us, as it includes our anniversary AND my birthday (or, as Clint refers to it, "running the gauntlet"). Despite having a crazy work schedule, Clint managed to make both events feel so special and wonderful. And Charlie stepped it up as well, managing great behavior all week despite a nagging cold. Charlie's favorite part about my birthday was the card Clint gave me--it had a puppy on the cover, leading Charlie to believe that it MUST have been meant for him. He carried it around barking at it all morning. It took a bit of clever manipulation for me to get it away. :) And even though my birthday morning was spent at our 4 1/2 hour home inspection, it was worth it. The house checked out and it looks like we're finally buying a house!

A Little Chatterbox

Charlie has been talking more and more lately, and it is so much fun to see his little personality grow and develop along with his growing vocabulary. His first and favorite word is "Dada." He now knows exactly what it means and yells it every time he sees Clint. Since Clint has been sleeping at home at odd hours due to his new night/day schedule, he also has started yelling "Dada" every time we walk in the bedroom--regardless of whether Clint is in there or not. I told Clint about it and he was horrified. Since Charlie isn't really aware that Clint has been working nights, he's afraid Charlie is going to think "Dada" is exceedingly lazy. :)

Much to my satisfaction, Charlie has also started saying "Mama" with more regularity. He is pretty cute with it--he loves to say "Mama" over and over in the car so that we have "conversations" back and forth (they generally go somewhat like this: "Mama." "Yes, Charlie?" "Mama!" "Yes, Charlie?" "Mama." "I love you, Charlie." Mama.") He also says it when he has woken up and needs me to come get him. The other day, he was saying "Mama" in bed and I, making his breakfast, didn't get him up quickly enough. Pretty soon, "Mama" switched to a very insistent "Dad!" :)

Aside from Dada and Mama, Charlie says "ball" (his real first word), "tractor" (sounds more like "cracker" and refers to anything bigger than a car), "car," "dog" (although he prefers to just bark), "uh oh" (another favorite), "apple" (sounds like "ah-poo"), "hot," "all gone," "bye bye," "Papa" (he likes to whisper this for some odd reason), "Ahhh" (for "Ali"), "Dede," and "Auga" (for Audra). He has all kinds of new sounds this week, and is starting to string them together in ways that sound much more like sentences. He is also starting to try mimic me more and more. Charlie loves copying not just words, but also sounds--he particularly loves imitating my sneezes or coughs, which always makes both of us giggle.

Charlie hasn't gotten to the stage where he is saying funny things yet, so I have to rely on bigger kids for that. For example, Charlie and I ran into a 4-year-old boy at our apartment building today. He remarked that Charlie has an "amazing nose." I thought, "What a brilliant child! Even at just 4 years old, he can tell what a beautiful nose my baby has." Then, looking closer at Charlie, I realized he was blowing a huge snot bubble out of his "amazing nose." Certainly burst MY bubble. :)

A Weekend with Aunt Meggie & Uncle Foggy

Clint was working all weekend, so Charlie and I took those lemons and made some lemonade--we went to visit Aunt Meggie and Uncle Graeme (Foggy) in Austin. We had a great weekend with the two greatest hosts you can imagine. Meg had set up a playdate for us, checked out wonderful board books at the library, got a wading pool that Charlie loved, cooked for us on Friday night, took us to the Children's Museum and Deep Eddy, and took me birthday shopping and out to dinner on Saturday night (while my sweet parents babysat)! We were spoiled, spoiled, spoiled, but it was really fun!

Here's Charlie with Meg. He was distracted by a dog in the background, which is why he isn't smiling (I think this is one of the only times he was with her and NOT smiling :).

The Children's Museum was so much fun. Meg described Charlie as looking like a "drunken sailor in a brothel," and the description was quite appropriate. There were so many things to do, he did not know where to turn first!

We used the wading pool for an outdoor playdate on Friday afternoon, and then Meg moved it inside for some indoor fun as well. Charlie liked it just as much inside as out--for some reason, it thrilled him!

His favorite activity was "hammering" the floor with the back scratcher.

We went to Deep Eddy on Saturday afternoon and it was so nice. The water was cool and beautiful, and it felt so good after a hot day. Charlie just loved all the people and space at Deep Eddy. He paddled all around the pool and loved meeting new people and exploring the various areas. He really wanted to swim laps in the lanes, but we made him stay in the main pool. :)

And I am just sick that I didn't get a picture of Charlie with his Uncle Foggy! Charlie loves Graeme and loved getting to spend time with him this weekend. When he realized he had to leave Graeme at home to join Meg and I for a "ladies' lunch" and the Children's Museum, he threw quite the fit.

Thank you SO much Meg and Graeme for a wonderful weekend. We had the best time--so good, in fact, that Charlie was in a great mood for the entire car trip home!