A Day of Discoveries

Today Charlie discovered that if the slider is unlocked he can slide it open by himself. Then once it's opened he discovered he could access the entire backyard.

He discovered that if he turns his crawl into a bear-crawl then his knees don't have to touch the prickly grass.And finally, he discovered he could ride the Daddle without a second adult hanging onto him.

As promised...

In a previous post I promised to keep our faithful readers updated on any more weird things we think up for Charlie to do. Tonight pants-free time turned into full on naked crawling. Matt's determined to make it painful for Charlie to continue to crawl. He sort of outsmarted us though when he grabbed his walker and just scooted around the house - I think his knees only hit the ground for about 2 seconds.

Charlie's New Friend

Charlie's been kind of weird lately about letting people he doesn't know very well hold him. Our friend Alyssa was in town this weekend and when she first got here Charlie wouldn't get very close to her. By the end of her visit though he had warmed up to her and was all about posing for pics in her arms.

Thanks for coming by Alyssa - it was great to see you!

Hershey's Presents...

Me, Brad & Cheryl. I know this is supposed to be Charlie's website, not mine, but stay with me and I'll show you how I can make this about him. Charlie's Grandma Cheryl, Charlie's Great-Aunt Teresa, and Charlie's 1st Cousin once removed (impressed that I figured that out?) Denise and I went to the Brad Paisley concert last week. It was a fantastic concert and we got to see it from about the 12th row! Thanks Charlie for the Mother's Day present!

View From the Horse

Part of Charlie's routine each day is to climb up on his horse and gaze out the window at his new swing-set. Uncle Pete and Aunt Vanessa bought Charlie this horse so I wanted them to be able to see that it gets used everyday, just not necessarily for its intended purpose.

It's Called Pants Free Time

Our new obsession these days is trying to get Charlie walking on his own. For a while we thought the walker was the answer, hoping that he would eventually let go and walk alone. So far that hasn't worked.

Last week Matt decided Charlie needed to walk the equivalent of 5 laps around the living room, each day, holding our hands for support. So far that hasn't gotten him any closer to walking either.

So tonight Matt invented Pants Free Time. He's hoping rug burn will motivate Charlie to get off his knees and start using his feet. Each night after his bath he has to go pants-less until bedtime. I'll keep you posted on his progress...and on any other weird things we think up for him to do.

This is him being sad about being pant-less.

This is him being indifferent 30 seconds later.
This is him moving on with his life and having a good laugh at something really funny his mom probably said.

Batbaby

Grandma Cheryl bought Charlie a Batman mask. Matt put it on first to show him how it's done. Charlie left it on for about 1 millisecond before he ripped it off.

According to Matt if Charlie's anything like his dad in about 2 years from now we won't be able to get it off of him...

Secret Mother's Day Omelet Ingredient

Matt says it's love, however I think it may have been salt. Matt, Charlie and I spent the night with Matt's parents at the lake last night. Matt, Charlie and Grandpa got up early and made me and Grandma a special breakfast.

Matt knows how much I love omelets so he gave it his best shot. Despite its appearance it actually tasted pretty good.
On the way home our fancy monitoring system in the van alerted us to the fact that we had low pressure in one of our tires. Sure enough, we pulled over and could hear the air gushing out.

Unfortunately the fancy system only alerts us to problems, it doesn't fix them. Thankfully my husband is handy and had members of his equally handy family following us. They supplied the tools and a blanket and Matt supplied the manual labor and we were back on the road in no time (I supplied nothing...unless you count the wet wipes we used to clean our hands with).

Things Not to Give Your Baby When He's On Your Back

Apple juice. Don't give your baby anything sticky, like apple juice. It will end up on his hands, which end up in your hair. It will end up running down your back. And eventually, the cup will end up being dropped and you're left with the task of bending down with a 21 pound child strapped to your back.

Charlie and I went on an hour long hike today along the Spokane river. We have no pictures to prove it but we have very sticky clothes to show for it.

Every time we've ever put Charlie in his backpack he's loved it. Today was the first time he hated it. We got about 15 minutes into the hike and he started wailing (which is when I gave him the juice). He made it about 15 minutes more and then the wailing started again. Luckily the other mom I was with was having similar issues so she was cool with turning back early. We were shooting for 5 miles but I think we only made it about 2.

Once I got him back in the car and home and on his swing-set again life was fine. Sometimes I just don't get this guy.

Very Much Not Afraid of the Dark

One of Charlie's new tricks is to go into a room and push the door closed behind him. He especially loves the laundry room for whatever reason. There's no window in there so when the lights are off it's pitch black. Charlie has no fear though, he'd play in there all day if we let him. The other day Matt handed him a flashlight so he could see what he was doing.

These pictures were taken in the dark but my flash is so bright it looks like the lights are on.

This kid has tons of toys but all he wants to do is sit in a dark room and play with a flashlight. Crazy.

The Reconcilers (said in a monster truck like voice)

Today was Bloomsday over here in Spokane. The firm I work for sponsored our team, The Reconcilers (if you speak accounting you'll agree our name is pretty clever). After today we might have to rename ourselves to the Wreckoncilers though. Rikki and I rammed our strollers into each other about 900 times. I included this picture because I thought it looked kind of cool. Hard core people, not us, discard their sweatshirts right before they start. Apparently the Goodwill comes along and collects them after the race. We were equipped with strollers and backpacks though so there was no need for us to help decorate the Spokane streets with our clothes.

This is me at mile 4. Even though there's no photographic proof, Charlie and I made it the entire 7.46 miles. We have shirts to prove it.

Charlie did really well and didn't fuss or cry until about mile 7. I just handed him his apple juice though and he was good for the last .46.

Where was Matt during all this you ask? He was at home with Rikki's husband playing the new Wii. They actually tried to convince us they got just as much exercise with all the virtual boxing, golf and tennis they were doing. Though I agree you do work up a sweat boxing I still find it hard to believe.

Update: Our times are in. I finished in 2 hours and 21 minutes. That's 30,745th place out of a possible 39,382. Not too impressive if you look at it that way but how about this way: I placed 6th out of people with the same last name. Now that's impressive. I mean Charlie only placed 7th (somehow he registered 1 second after me).

Stats aren't available for kids under 13 but I do know that Charlie and I averaged 19 minutes a mile and the average for 1 year olds was 20 minutes 6 seconds. I guess I have a pretty fast 1 year old! Oh wait, I think what it really means is the mommy behind the stroller is slightly faster than other mommies of 1 year olds...

Oh and for the record, you're not allowed to run with a stroller. If you're caught you get banned from Bloomsday for 5 years. So I think we did OK for just being a couple of walkers.

1st Professional Styling

I took Charlie in for his first professional hair-cut today. He's had it cut by me and his great aunt Claudine before but this was the first official time by a stranger.
He was pretty good, however he did keep leaning away from the woman cutting his hair. Must have thought if he moved 2 inches to the left or looked in the other direction she'd give up. She didn't though.

This is the after shot. Or maybe I took it before? Hard to say, he kind of looks the same.
This is him waiting patiently for me to pay. I just wanted to include it because I think he's looking especially cute today in his new sweater (which was hand-knit by our friend Maleah!).

And this is the after-after shot of him playing at home. His bangs look crooked but I'm hoping its just the way they're lying on his head in this picture.