Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Lazy Days of Summer (Yeah right!)

Where does the time go? It's summer time so we've been outside working on our tans rather than chiming away on our laptops so we've got a lot of catching up to do since our last update!

Soooo on April 25th Charlie celebrated his very first birthday! It was quite the joyous occasion with cake, ice cream and of course margaritas! The theme was "Anchors Away" to honor Charlie's Pap Pap who passed away in March and also because Charlie's nursery is Nautical-themed. A few of our close family and friends showered Charlie with gifts and then we took a trip to the beautiful Maymont park for some family photos. What a splendid day it was!












So now that Charlie is an old man, let me brag about all of his new skills:

1. Speedy Gonzales: Charlie started crawling (finally) around 10 months old. It started out as this strange, army crawl slither but then very quickly he advanced to the hand and knee crawl and after that it was all over. He turned into this crazy fast superhero speeding baby! Everyone tells you to enjoy the time before they start crawling and everyone is right. The other day I was in the kitchen making breakfast with Charlie right at my side when suddenly I realize that Charlie is gone. I found him halfway up the stairs! I didn't even know he could do that! So we no longer have a stationary baby and it's a bit frightening b/c he we've learned he can be very sneaky. He isn't walking yet but god help us when he does.
2. Chatty Charlie: Charlie now has an array of advanced words and phrases in his vocabulary. They include the following:
  • Momma
  • Dadda
  • Uh Oh
  • Guh Gye (Bye Bye)
  • Hot Dog
  • Duece (Juice)
  • "Do you like it?" (ok maybe he wasn't really saying that but it really sounded like it so we'll take it!)

3. Gestures: Charlie's been very good at mocking momma and dadda. When we take our index fingers to our lips to make the "underwater bubbles" sound he will do the same - only he does it with his tongue. And he will wave hi and bye - this one actually happened as a fluke when Mom was attempting to teach him the sign for "milk" - it's very similar to a wave. He will also pick up one of our phones or a remote control and put it behind his ear to pretend he's on the phone. And finally, he's clapping. This was the one thing momma has been trying to teach him for a while and he picked it up recently! When he gets excited he claps and it's adorable!

4. Phobias, Teething and Separation Anxiety Oh My! It's become apparent that Charlie is in a weird phase right now where he'll, out of nowhere, become terrified of the things he once loved. For example, bath-time: Our once favorite nighttime ritual has now become a dreaded chore. Charlie will scream his head off if even his feet touch the water to the point that I worry our neighbors will think we are beating him. We were so concerned but our Doctor assures us it's just a phase and will pass. We also learned of another irrational fear when my mother brought out an awesome bubble machine she bought. We thought he would just love it but no, he cried until we turned the machine off. Yes that's right, my son is afraid of bubbles. Daddy's so proud. As for teething, right now Charlie almost has all of his front teeth and we hardly noticed any discomfort from Charlie when those little guys came in. The 12 month molars, however, are quite a different story. His symptoms have included fevers, earaches, extreme moodiness and monster-like tantrums (I'm exagerating a bit but it hasn't been fun). This teething started a month ago and the molars have still not broken skin - please dear god - how much longer?? Around a year old or so most babies go through a little bit of separation anxiety from their parents and Charlie is no exception. As a younger baby Charlie would go to anyone but now he is glued to momma. It's kind of sweet at times but sometimes momma needs some time to get things done. So I guess with the good comes the not always so good. So far though - nothing has been too terrible - we still adore the crap out of that little boy!




Well we hope you guys our enjoying your summer! Pray for us that we survive ours!