Watch out Cupboards

 

 

This week Charlie advanced to being able to actually open the cabinets in the kitchen. What a wonderful development! Our pots, pans, tupperware and cutting boards will be a little less clean for awhile. Charlie took a trip into the big city with me yesterday and had lots of fun at backup day care. He was mesmerized by the big aquarium with all of the bright colored fish and the day care workers were mesmerized by the amount that Charlie ate during the day. Apparently he happily ate lunch for over an hour. Good thing we bought a house with lots of cabinet space because it looks like we will need to buy lots of food! Another development is that Charlie is eating almost exclusive table food. While this is somewhat liberating, it has required far more cooking than I bargained for. Turns out he loves pizza. So he is definitely American. (He ate two whole pieces the other night!)

 

 

 

Papaw came to visit this last weekend and I learned so much! I'm officially the plumber in the house as I helped him fix the bathroom sink. Mommy is so glad I discovered all of the really dirty pipes behind the pedastal sink. I also learned how to install gates (hopefully I don't figure out how to uninstall or open them now). And I can now ram my head into the back of the fireplace in the playroom as much as I want because it is covered in foam. It was a wonderful visit very focused on improving the safety in the house! Although we did make a very important trip to Walmart where Papaw bought me my first toy cars. He noticed I didn't have any and felt that was remiss. The old man can be very clutch...

Since Charlie is standing up against everything and is starting to get brave enough to let go from time to time, safety became a major concern. Walking does not appear too far off. He's also made great progress in eating table food and now can eat almost exclusively table food for many meals. He is starting to reject his baby food - who can blame him? He recently had a doctor's appointment and not surprisingly, he continues to be a good grower. He weighs 23 lbs, 7 oz and is 30 inches tall which put him in the 86th and 92nd percentiles for weight and height respectively. He is still a lot of fun as he'll now play little games like peek-a-boo and race for things (on all fours of course). Hard to imagine he is 9 months already. How time does fly. In any event, he loved seeing his Papaw and is anxiously awaiting Sammy's arrival in a few weeks!

He's turning into a little boy.

It's been a while since I have provided a real update. That is largely because when I'm not chasing Charlie all over the house, I have little energy left for blogging. He is certainly on the go. He has to be one of the fastest crawlers in the East and to top it off, he has started to pull himself up to standing on things. This has lead to the first of many bumps and tumbles, try as I might to catch him. He should be a very tough guy - with a very tough head - when all is said and done. He also surprised us when we went to get him from his crib the other morning to find him sitting up. He hasn't been able to sit up from the laying down position before so this is new. While exciting, it brought about some struggles with going to sleep that we haven't had before. Charlie is addicted to sitting and standing up so no matter how tired he is, he feels uncontrollably compelled to pop up to a sitting or standing position. As you can imagine, that makes it hard for him to sleep. Yesterday, he fell asleep sitting up and then fell forward with his head between his straddled legs and napped like that. Good thing he is flexible. If he doesn't grow out of this soon, we'll have to look into a program for him. Something like AA for sitters/standers.

I also had a moment the other day. I went to pick him up from day care to find him sitting in one of those little red and yellow play cars. Of course Randi was right there with him to ensure he didn't fall, but he had ahold of the steering wheel and just looked like such a little boy. I thought about trying to swaddle him (which would be hilarious). This all goes so fast. You can see how those crazy people in Arkansas ended up with 18 kids. (Fret not, you will not be seeing me on the Today show. I'm just saying...)

So now we are taking bets on when Charlie will be walking. So far by 11 months is the consensus. Since he turns 9 months next week (what???) I guess I've got almost 2 months before I start to really have to run.

Open Wide!

Charlie shows off his eating skills. No need for airplanes or choo choos here!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Charlie, who turned 8 months old this week, records a special birthday message for Matt. Recently, Charlie started eating Cheerios on his own and he is going to start eating meat this week. (I think he's really excited. I'm not - it looks disgusting.) He continues to be a talker. We went to the grocery store yesterday and I swear it took me twice as long waiting on Charlie to finish all of his "conversations." Like father, like son :) He's also powering through a little cold right now. So far, no fever. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

The Wounded Soldier

Charlie demonstrates his first version of crawling. Not the most graceful attempt, but I can assure you that he gets wherever he wants to go rather quickly.

Hanging on to these images

 

 

I've decided that I need to keep these pictures handy for when Charlie gets older and is driving us crazy or getting into trouble. So I can remember just how sweet, and innocent and adorable he was. Are you kidding me with this face? It's just too much.

Not many substantial updates. Still working on crawling and getting closer everyday. (So, yes, I won the bet!) We have the playroom partially set up so Charlie has been enjoying the freedom to roll and explore. Naturally he is attracted to the heating vents. I really don't know why we buy them toys. I will try to get some video of the crawling attempts this weekend.

Charlie's day care was closed this past week so he made the rounds staying with Grammy and Aunt Lynn, then backup daycare in the city and then Aunt Tina and the cousins. He did really well - showing off his flexibility. Next week he is back to Randi's to see his friends again.

I posted new pictures to the right for your viewing pleasure!