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

Good time Charlie with the Harley

End of Summer

 

 

Here we are at the end of summer - sigh. It went by way too fast. I think the fact that it rained most of June made it go by even faster. We have already had mornings sub 50 degrees. Now we have football season to look forward to. This was a great summer with Charlie. We have had lots of fun since the last post. The most recent pictures are on the bar on the right. Let's see... Sami and Julia came for a visit. Charlie *loved* seeing them both and still talks about them going to the beach with us and he even says it is "Julia's turn" on the slide from time to time. Our trip to the beach with Sami and Julia was to celebrate Charlie's cousin Hailey's 1st birthday. Charlie says Hailey "Hwee-hwee" which we think is the cutest thing ever. Still trying to catch it on the camcorder but no luck so far. He sort of freezes up when I turn it on.

We went to the Marshfield fair with Uncle Jason, Aunt Michelle and Morgan and Hwee-hwee. Charlie had so much fun on his first rides. It took him awhile to understand that you had to get off the rides. Every time it would stop, he would say "again!" We visited Grampy, Patty, Chris and Sam and did another beach trip. Charlie loves the beach - the sand, the water, everything. It was on one of these trips that he acquired his much loved backpack. He had been asking for one for awhile, from seeing the kids at day care with them. Chris was nice enough to dig an old toddler backpack up and give it to Charlie. It's adorable - it has a little frog in the front pocket. I'll have to get a picture of him with it on. He loves to wear it. We've spent lots of time with Uncle Matt, Aunt Nicky and Caroline. Charlie is smitten with Caroline and now thinks that it is totally appropriate to tickle random baby's feet. He's very sweet with her though. He says "gentle" every time we go around her.

He has a great vocabulary now and can communicate very well. He can repeat about anything you say to him. That did come back to bite us already as he shared his first curse word (s*&t) with his friends at day care. It was when he spilled some water though so we are taking some comfort that it was said in context. He's starting to talk in sentences too. Just yesterday he spit out his apricot chicken and told me "I don't like it." He is pretty obsessed with the potty and can tell us when his diaper needs to be changed, but hasn't managed to do it in a preemptive way just yet. He loves reading stories and doesn't totally understand pictures just yet. He tried to ride a bike in one of his books the other day and looked at a flash card with a ball on it and said "ball....throw it" and then chucked the card across the room. He knows who his favorite football team is and says "Go Bucks", "O-H-I-O" and "I'm a Buckeye." He seems to remember who got him each gift and says the person's name when he grabs it (ex. books from Aunt Edie). Oh and he's taken to a new comfort item. He randomly decided he wanted to sleep with a giraffe that my parents got him for Valentine's Day when he was 2 months old and now is enamored with "Mr. Giraffe" and sleeps with him every night. Behaviorally, he's focused on sharing, which is a concept he's not taking too naturally. He's so big and strong to that he can really come off as a bully, pushing and pinching other kids. So we are practicing with him quite a bit.

That's the big summary but I'll end with two quick funny stories. First, this morning I went in to get Charlie and he looked at me and said, "Daddy working" and I said "no" and he said, "Daddy golfing" and I said "no" and then he said "Shhh. Daddy sleeping." I like that he already knows that those are the most likely options. Second, we were at a block party on Labor Day weekend and Charlie grabbed a ball that belonged to a younger boy. He didn't want to give it back and the mother of the little boy said it was fine because her son was easily distracted. Immediately after they walked away, a little girl and her mother walked up and Charlie held out the ball to the little girl and said "here you go" and then looked at the mother and blew her a kiss! I'm afraid we have a little Don Juan on our hands over here...

Sorry for the long update but it has been awhile. We are excited for Papaw to visit this weekend. Charlie has been saying "Papaw coming on a plane."

Welcome Caroline!!

 

 

 

 

Last Sunday Charlie was VERY excited to finally meet the latest addition to our family - Caroline Lynette Boyer. After days of anticipation for Uncle Matt and Aunt Nicky, Caroline decided to come very quickly. Unfortunately, I was still down with a cold and so we had to wait until last Friday to meet her in person. Charlie and Caroline hit it off right away. He loved tickling her tiny, tiny feet and he got to hold her and kiss her on the head. Of course, since the poor little thing spent the last few days in the hospital with a fever and virus, I guess she'll learn to steer clear of our petri dish. Even when he looks healthy, he is apparently dangerous. Ugh. We felt awful, but thankfully Caroline is on the up swing.

Since the last update, we also visited Ohio and got to practice our roll call several times. Charlie can say everyone's name and loved visiting. Julia stayed with us most of the time so we spend a lot of time talking about her still. We went to the pool in New Albany where they had the coolest little kid spray park. Charlie had a blast even though he ended up getting a fever and a cold that he shared with everyone - including me. Pictures of our visit are to the right.

We also ventured up to Northern New England and visited Queechee, VT. We had an awesome time at the Lake and the pool and enjoyed morning walks up and down the mountain. He loved the beach and swimming in the water and insisted that everyone get in with him. Charlie loved visiting with the Stegmans and especially the dog, Shelby, who he chased relentlessly for two days. We are continuing our vacation week at home and are headed to the beach tomorrow - yay!