A great summer so far!

This video is of Charlie taking a spin on his cousin Morgan's bike with the training wheels at the Cape. After a few minutes he did really good and eventually was able to ride around the island all by himself. As he learned in this video, turning too fast causes the bike to tip.



This video is of him going down the water slide at the New Albany pool in Ohio. He is in the orange shirt on the steps in the beginning. He had a lot of fun!



We have had an awesome summer so far. In honor of our first year with a Duxbury beach sticker, the weather was actually nice enough to go quite early and quite a bit so we have been making our beach trips. Charlie loves it! He continues to be a little fish so we have to keep an eye on him because he has no fear. This last week for the 4th of July we took a trip to Ohio and he was able to visit everyone there. He went to the pool in the video above twice - and we had a little party by the pool one of the days - and he got to go to Zoombizi Bay with his Uncle Pat and Aunt Holly. Sami and Papaw also bought him a little pool so he was able to swim at their house (not to mention he really enjoyed swimming in Sami's bathtub). After we came home from Ohio, he went to Randi's for a day and then we headed to Cape Cod where his Uncle Jason, Aunt Michelle and cousins Morgan and Hailey were vacationing. He had a blast. He got to go to the beach, stay up late, have popsicles and ice cream, go to the kids concert and dance, and watch the sparkler show in the front yard at night. And he learned to ride Morgan's bike as you can see above. I'm so glad we are getting to spend such great time together this summer before the arrival of Charlie's little brother.

I'm just over 5 months along now and so far the pregnancy has been very similar to when I had Charlie except I'm bigger and my joints are loosening up much sooner. We are excited for another little boy and I know Charlie will be happy he has a little brother - someday. He has just started talking about the baby. Before he ignored you if you even mentioned it. He went through a bit of regression when I first got pregnant - wanting to sleep in his crib and use a binky and whatnot. Now he has turned the corner except most of the time he insists it is a sister and refers to "her" and "she." I think in the end he'll be pretty happy with a brother and although I think this next one is going to be *very* tough, I think he'll be a great big brother.

Next we head to Vermont in a couple of weeks to vacation in Quechee. Very excited for that. And Aunt Edie comes to visit and help take care of Charlie in a few weeks too so that will add to the excitement of summer for us.

Other than that, not much to report. Charlie continues to keep us laughing and pulling our hair out sometimes. We are blessed to have him.

We survived another winter!

 

 

Nothing is better than when the weather gets warmer and the grass and trees spring to life. It wasn't even a bad winter, but it's still a great feeling. Fortunately, we were able to escape the cold one week when we went to Fort Myers with Sami and Papaw. Then we had an amazing Easter weekend - it was in the 70s and 80s the whole time. It was such a nice foreshadowing of what it will be like in a few months. I've posted the most recent pics to the right.

In terms of recent developments, Charlie is now sleeping in his big boy bed and is doing great. He has been sort of potty training for awhile now. We haven't been as focused as we could be so he's about 75% of the way there. He can at least hold it for quite awhile. He is still his father's shadow. He absolutely idolizes daddy. He tries to do everything Matt does and it is quite hysterical at times. (For example, he just ran by me with an iPod band on his arm and his DVD headphones on, much like Matt when he goes for a run.) Outside of that, he just keeps popping out with some really funny stuff so I thought I would share a few stories (and document them so I don't forget!).

1. On the way to the airport to leave for Florida, we are in the tunnel and Matt's brother Jason says "Do you like tunnels?" Charlie says "yeah." Jason says "What about bridges? Do you like bridges?" Charlie says "yeah." Then Charlie says "I like frostem emmy weeps (Frosted Mini Wheats)." Apparently cereal and civic structures are in the same category in his head.

2. On the plane on the way home from Florida, the pilot comes over the loud speaker and is doing the normal spiel of how high we are flying, how long it will take, etc. Charlie is looking up at the ceiling trying to figure out where the voice is coming from and finally says "Um, yeah... I'd like a coffee and some munchkins." Suddenly we were at the Dunkin' Donuts drive through.

3. Randi, Charlie's day care provider, sometimes has to take Charlie to the baseball field with her because her son has practice. I meet them at the field to pick Charlie up. He hops out of her van, looks at me and says "I need my glove, Mom." Um, he doesn't have a glove. We get past that and head over to the bleachers. We sit in the bleachers and he looks at me and says "I need to be out on the field!" I tried to explain to him that he wasn't on the team but would be some day and he goes over the fence starts pulling on it and yells out to the kids on the field, "Hey guys! Open the gate!" It sort of broke my heart. Some day it will be his turn...

Hot Dog Dance

The video above is sort of long but we found it pretty cute. Not only does Charlie appear as a promising future underwear model, but he has got the dance moves to make the ladies go extra crazy. He is dancing to the theme song to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, one of his favorite shows. And if you ask me, there is maybe nothing cuter than a little boy in his Mickey Mouse briefs. Too precious.

News of late is around potty training. Charlie is doing really great. Still working on doing #2 in the potty regularly. You have to catch him when you see the faces and get him to the potty - he doesn't think to go himself. But other than that, he does great. I've even ventured out in underwear. My favorite part of the whole process is when he flushes and says "bye bye." Other news... I'm afraid he probably isn't too long for his crib. Sniff, sniff. The other day he told me he wanted to sleep in his big boy bed. I talked him into sticking with the crib but we think he will likely climb out soon and even if not, he is getting awfully big for the crib.

We had another great weekend. We threw a birthday party for Grammy at our house and Charlie got to play with his cousins and sing. We made valentines and cookies for lots of people and delivered them. And it was nice enough to play outside which was a treat. Then tonight we went to the Boyers for lasagna (yummy) and Charlie played with Caroline. They love each other!

Funny story from last weekend. We were eating leftover pizza and I looked over and Charlie was holding his napkin pinched in half with his fingers. When I asked him what he was doing, he said "Shhhh. There's a lady bug in there. I don't want to scare it." I had a moment where I thought if it was really a lady bug that he had picked out of the pizza, I was going to puke. Of course, I opened the napkin and it was a squished tomato :) He keeps us laughing.

Happy Holidays!

Charlie was absolutely spoiled this Christmas and New Years (and so were we). In addition to having gifts galore, he got to spend time with his family. After going to the church service on Christmas Eve, we had dinner at our house with the Boyers and Grammy. This is when the loot started rolling in. Grandma and Grandpa Boyer from Pennsylvania even sent gifts to our little guy - too kind of them. Charlie wasn't so keen on Santa coming into our house - he needs some security clearance or something so Daddy met the reindeer in the yard to get the presents Christmas Eve. Then Christmas morning, Charlie got to open all of his gifts with Sami and Papaw in Ohio via Skype. They got to see him open all of his stocking stuffers and gifts and then find his play kitchen awaiting him in the toy room. That Santa really did seem to know all the right things to get. Maybe he's not so bad after all.

We spent Christmas day at Uncle Jason and Aunt Michelle's where all 6 of the Roberts cousins got to have dinner together and open presents from the exchange. Then we headed down to Duxbury for the big Roberts Christmas gathering at Grampy and Patty's. Let's just say that Charlie quickly found all of the little dishes of chocolate and worked the crowd to get as much of it as possible. This may have been what lead to him waking up the day after (in Duxbury, where we stayed over) with a green stomach. Fortunately that little bug was pretty mild and only really lasted two days because Sami, Papaw, Jeremy and Julia arrived the day after Christmas and stayed with us for four days. Charlie played lots of Mario Kart on the Wii with his older cousins. After dropping the Warner clan off at the airport, we headed to Quechee, Vermont where we stayed in a 4 bedroom condo with the Roberts families. The cousins had a blast and Charlie is still in withdrawal. He went sledding, to a farm where he saw animals and took a sleigh ride, and he went swimming. We were all very tired when we came back but we had lots of fun.

We finally had Charlie's two year doctors visit yesterday. Good news is that he is still a big boy (37 inches tall and 33 lbs, 4 oz) and that his speech is *very* advanced. He is speaking well above the level of a 3 year old. I had nothing to compare him to and people kept saying this to me so I guess it is true. The doctor said they are usually looking for kids his age to string 2-3 words together into phrases and Charlie is stringing many full sentences together with context and changing pronouns appropriately and everything. (I wouldn't be a mom if I didn't brag just a little :) The bad news is that his behavior is very much at his age level. So we have lots of tantrums, screaming, kicking, etc. It can be very trying. The doctor gave me some good advice though and something tells me that Charlie is going to put in some good time on the naughty step. I will make this child an upstanding citizen if it is the last thing I do (and at this rate, it just might be). Well, that is about all for now. The latest pictures are posted above. My New Year's resolution is to photograph adults, including me. It's going to be so sad not to have any pictures of us later in life. Anyway, Happy 2010!!!

2nd Birthday!

From Fall 2010

We are bad bloggers! Charlie has had a great fall. Pictures are to the right. He enjoyed Halloween in Ohio as we were there for Steph's baby shower. He didn't end up going trick or treating but he did have his first appearance in his Buckeye football player outfit that will fit him for a few years to come. He loved wearing his helmet (backwards - for some reason all hats are backwards) and "mowing the lawn" with the walker at my parents house. We also spent Thanksgiving in Ohio and had a great time visiting with everyone - it was such a treat to get to go back after only 3 weeks. He did much better on the flights because we bought him his own seat and brought his car seat. Getting on and off the plane was much more complicated though.

The kid talks up a storm. We don't have a good comparison of course since he is our first but people are always commenting that they can't believe what he can say. He has even started conversing with us a bit. The other day I asked him what he did at day care and he responded that they "crunched in the snow, rode bikes and ate crackers." I thought that sounded like a pretty awesome day myself! Then I wrapped a gift for Matt and put it under the tree and he told Matt "Your birthday party is coming up Daddy. Mommy put a present for you under the Christmas tree." I thought that was a pretty smart connection to make.

Speaking of birthday parties, he turned 2 a few weeks ago. Hard to imagine. We were lucky enough to have Aunt Edie in town. Charlie had so much fun with her and she helped me out BIG TIME on the party preparation. It was lots of fun and so nice to be surrounded by loved ones who care so much for our little guy. He made out on bday presents too. He even woke up at 5 a.m. yelling that he wanted to go see his tools in that pail (the Handy Manny tool set that is attached to him pretty much all the time now). He also got a stuffed animal from Randi - a sock monkey - that we have added to his entourage of stuffed animals that he takes around the house. Edie helped him name him Rodney and he has joined Max (a monkey), Frog, Bear and Giraffe.

Charlie is really enjoying all of the Christmas excitement with one exception. He does not really care for the guy in the red suit AT ALL. The other day Matt came home and Charlie was in the tub and I said "is that Santa downstairs?" and Matt heard me and said "ho ho ho." To call what happened next a freak out really does not do it justice. The kid was trembling, crying hysterically and wanted out of the tub pronto. He then wanted to go straight to his crib. No stories. No rocking. Just to bed. I really think he was traumatized. Needless to say, we are making alternate arrangements to have the gifts delivered because Santa just isn't welcome here this year. Maybe next year. In lieu of Santa, he has grown quite fond of Frosty the Snowman though. I think he would watch it on loop all day and love it. He even woke up at 2:30 the other morning singing (and I really mean screaming) the song. It was cute the next day, but not so much at 2:30 in the morning.

We have quite the festivities lined up over the next week. Tomorrow we are going to church and then Grammy, Uncle Matt, Aunt Nicky and Caroline are coming over for dinner. Then on Christmas, we are going to Uncle Jason's and Aunt Michelle's for an early dinner and then to Grampy and Patty's for the evening gathering of the Roberts family. We are staying the night at their house and then the day after Christmas we get to pick up Sami, Papaw, Julia and Jeremy at the airport. Papaw is going to fix our gate at the top of the stairs - as Charlie reminds me every time we go through it. They are staying to visit until next Wednesday when we drop them off at the airport and then head to Quechee, Vermont to spend New Year's with all of the Roberts cousins. It should be lots of fun. With all of the action, we will probably be ready for a vacation when it is done!

Sorry for squeezing so much into one post. I promise to post Christmas pics and video shortly after the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A special thanks for a special gift

He Bleeds Scarlet and Gray