Not Helping with the Dishes

Ever try to unload the dishwasher with a baby on the door? Try it sometime. It doubles the time you would normally spend on the task which makes the fun last that much longer.

Charlie still has no interest in walking, but as you can see he's pretty fearless when it comes to climbing into appliances.

An Evening at the Park

We live by the most fabulous park for walking. In the summer and fall Charlie and I used to go there to walk on their paved walking trail because it has mile markers so we'd know how far we'd gone. Now that Charlie is old enough to enjoy the play equipment though the park has become even more fabulous.

We held him at the top of the slide and took turns catching him. By the end he could hardly control himself he was having so much fun, he'd wiggle away from us and go down by himself before we were ready for him.

After we let him play for a while we walked on the trail for about a mile. Charlie talked to himself in his special Charlie language for most of the way. We're pretty sure he was telling us how badly he wants to come back tomorrow.

Pictures for Aunt Katie

Just wanted to put up some pictures of Charlie reading his new book 'Put Me in the Zoo' while wearing his new thermal onesie, both gifts from Auntie Katie and Uncle Cage. If I could have worked the tub toys and the puppet in I would have. Stay tuned I guess.

This is Auntie Katie on the left (drinking a beer and looking drunk at a child's birthday party, shameful!).

Thanks again for the great stuff!

The Big 1.0

On Sunday we had a combined birthday party for Matt's cousin Jodi's kids and Charlie. This is Tristan, he turned 3 on March 1. This is his little sister Alanna, she turns 2 March 27. She likes to tell people they're twins and she just turned 3. Adorable.

And we all know Charlie, he turns 1 April 6.

Notice the 3 fingers Alanna's holding up...someone must have asked how old she thinks she is.

I know what you're thinking, Charlie's mad about the stupid hats. I'm pretty sure he's not though. He didn't have a problem with it until he pulled on the strap under his chin and let go. Snapping the band against his little baby skin must have really hurt because he really wailed.

Uncle Cage and Charlie.

Blowing out candles...

Learning the hard way that fire hurts when you grab it...

That's the story of the party. See the post below for the cake story.

The Cake

He started out very timid. Looking at the adults wondering who was going to spoon feed him like he's used to. The he looked to Tristan and Alanna (who were turning 3 and 2 respectively) and watched how they were using a fork and feeding themselves. Then it finally hit him that he was going to have to get the cake in his mouth, by himself, with no adults help and no utensil.

Once he figured it out he went insane and dove in with both hands. He even went as far as to lick and chew his plate when he was done.

When there wasn't a drop of icing left on the plate Matt kept him strapped to his chair and carried him straight to the bath.

He was pretty messy to clean up but it was so worth it to watch him enjoy it so much!

Double Ear Infection

Charlie was diagnosed with his first ear infection yesterday. He's been sick off and on for several weeks now but just these last few days he's been getting worse. I'd go in his room at night and he'd be sitting up crying with his eyes closed clutching his pacifier.

It's about the most impossible feat in the world to get the doctor's office to allow you to make an appointment. I've probably called their office 3 times in 3 weeks and gone over various symptoms with various nurses and they all say the same thing 'there's nothing we can do for him'.

So anyways, I finally described a symptom they could do something about so they let us come in. He got some medicine and is already starting to feel better.

On a completely unrelated note Charlie and Matt have discovered how fun it is to push Charlie around the house on his cart. He's even gotten brave enough to stand up and Teen Wolf it. We bought the cart thing so he could push it around and learn to walk...I guess since he's got no interest in walking its new purpose will do just fine.

Hoops

The weather over here is finally warming up enough for us to go outside again. After a little stroll around the neighborhood with the Grandparents, Matt and his dad shot some hoops in the driveway. Charlie watched the ball very closely and for some reason laughed every time Matt took a shot. This kid's going to have a great sense of humor someday... Look at that expression! He wants to get up and play so bad!

How about that expression? He looks so protective of Grandma Cheryl. Like he's thinking who is this man standing so close to her?

Picture didn't turn out very well but thought I should include it so it doesn't look like I'm making up the basketball part of the story.

St. Patty's Day

Since St. Patty's Day was spent skiing Matt and I didn't feel the need to dress up. Charlie, however, insisted on sporting his new green and white tee-shirt. Doesn't he look grown-up?

Grandma's Spectacles

We spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Ring on Friday so Matt and I could ski on Saturday. Charlie found all kinds of fun things to do while exploring their house. The list includes playing with Grandma's glasses and surveying the room from on top of the fridge.

First Goose-Egg

Is that what it's called when you get a large bruise on your head and it sticks out a little? Regardless of what it's called that's what Charlie has. He pulled the camera off the end-table and it hit him in the head, hence the pictures of him crying below.

I learned that just by picking him up and comforting him, as opposed to taking the object that caused him pain and using it to take pictures of him (photos 1-3), he calmed down (see photo 4). Kids are funny that way.

Parenting at its Best

Whenever I leave Matt and Charlie alone for even a second I always return to find at least one of them wearing some kind of crazy accessory. Matt simply wearing the Darth Vader mask is actually a welcome alternative to his original idea. About a year ago, before Charlie was born, we were at a Toys R Us that was going out of business and selling off all their displays. Matt was planning to buy the 4 foot high inflatable Darth Vader mask to hang over the baby's crib. Once I caught on to what he was talking to the employees about I put a stop to it, even though the baby wasn't born yet I was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.

For those of you not familiar with the Darth mask the box around Matt's neck is a voice changer. Anything Matt says with the mask on comes out sounding like Darth. Charlie and I are equally freaked out by it.

Sunglasses are an accessory that I can handle and that no baby should be without.

Future Actuary?

Matt's working from home today so he offered to keep an eye on Charlie while I showered. When I came out I found Charlie playing with one of Matt's calculators. Always a dull moment in the home of an Actuary and an Accountant.

So Many Books So Much Time!

Charlie's teaching himself to read while I write about it on the Internet. Such an efficient little partnership we've created!

And for those of you who want to ask, yes, Matt has the same outfit and there is a definite possibility he'll come home from work today wearing it.