Like father, like son

^Scott ~ 1976; Charlie 2011

When Scott's mom sent me this picture of Scott I think I laughed out loud. So now we know where Charlie gets it from!

Catching up

A scattered view into what we've been up to so far this summer...


Zach has spent a lot of time playing with our neighbor Payton, who just turned 5. They're becoming good buddies, as they like to do a lot of the same things, including playing Zach's current obsession: kickball.

We had two random 100+ degree days, so I threw these two goofballs in the pool. Charlie loved it... he was quite pruny when I was finally able to get him out.

A fun summer tradition - the Grand Old Day parade, viewed from the comfort of our friends' Aaron & Jen's front yard. Kasey & Zach scored lots of candy in the front row, while the babies chilled with the dads in the shade.

A moment when I tried (futilely) to get a nice picture of my boys together. Charlie isn't exactly in to sitting still.

Yes, Zach still likes to play cars. If he's indoors, it's usually cars (or some sort of ball game, including using our front door as a pitchback); if he's outside, he's all about kickball.

His bunk bed is up! Zach had been sleeping in the top bunk placed on the floor, but now it's up where it belongs. He slept in the top a couple times, but seems to have settled into the bottom bunk. So far he's only fallen out once...

One of his father's day art projects - Scott's dad has quite the collection of baseball hats, so we thought he needed a Zach Willard original.

He's getting very, very sleepy... and he's out. I have seen countless pictures of friends' kids sleeping in their high chairs (and even one on the toilet!!!), and I always was amazed that was possible. And now I've seen it happen live! We have been experimenting with Charlie taking just one nap per day; this was day 4. I know it looks terrible, but he's actually doing well with this new routine. Part of the reason he was so tired that day was that he hadn't been sleeping well due to some stomach/diaper rash issues that I won't describe in detail. I'll just say he seems to be on the mend now. :)

Coming soon... our trip to visit the Klicka's in WI, and pee-wee sports adventures!

14

I'm not going to talk about how fast time is flying, how I can't believe Charlie is already 14 months old. I'm not.

Instead I'll focus on things that have changed in the last month, and it sure seems like a lot. The biggest one is that Charlie is now officially a walker. No more crawling for this guy. The lightbulb went off a week or two ago, where suddenly he just was much steadier, had no problems standing up from sitting, and off he went.

So now we have now reached what is one of my favorite stages, that I remember so clearly from when Zach started walking. The "wow - the world is my oyster and I can go anywhere I want and it's so cool so I'm just going to keep giggling" stage. We went to the library the other day, and I let him roam where he wanted, among the stacks and then outside the library in the indoor park area. Everywhere he went, he just laughed and smiled the whole time. He'd pause to wave at strangers that smiled at him, but otherwise he just kept trekking. Didn't matter where, this boy was on the move. I love this... so easy to make him happy!

We're also starting to hear more words. We think. I still don't think I could declare what Charlie's first word is/was; he's been saying things that appear to be words for a while, starting with "ma" and "da" sounds. But he not only uses those words for us (especially when Scott comes home - he usually does "dee da!"), but babbles them somewhat meaninglessly. So are those his first words?

I've also suspected he's been trying to say "pooch" for quite a while (we generally refer to Koskie as "the pooch" as opposed to using his name). He does it a lot when I get him up in the morning, since it's usually me and Koskie there to greet him. I think Scott got it on video... listen carefully toward the end and you'll hear a "pooo" sound. :)

The other word we're starting to hear regularly, used appropriately, is "ball." It comes out as "bah" of course. While at my parents house last weekend, Scott was showing Charlie a book of birds, and he was clearly saying bird too! It's going to be fun to hear what comes next.

Charlie's funny little personality continues to emerge. My favorite lately is his reaction when he is scolded; I start laughing when I'm trying to show him my serious "do not pull the toilet paper off the roll" face. When you tell this little boy no, he has one of two reactions, or some combination of the two:

- reaction 1: he shakes his head back and forth with you, with a serious look on his face. I guess he agrees he's not supposed to play with the blinds.

- reaction 2: he cries, the most fake cry you've ever seen/heard, complete with the absolutely perfect classic pout - lower lip protruding. Cracks me up every time. I've tried to get it on video (yes, I'm a good mom, I run for the camera when my kid is doing something he shouldn't), but of course I haven't managed to catch it yet.

So yes, we've reached the stage that Charlie is discovering all sorts of trouble. Remember me mentioning the game he likes to play where he knocks a ball around with a mini-bat? Well, that bat is now up where he can't reach it. Turns out when you give Charlie a club-like implement, he likes to hit people with it. Like his brother. Sigh. See how in this picture Zach is shrinking back from Charlie, who appears to be innocuously showing his brother a harmonica? Zach's learned that lesson the hard way - he's not going to get smacked again.

Another side of Charlie's personality that is emerging is his fearlessness. His older brother is and has always been a fairly cautious kid, so I suppose we should have expected the opposite the second time around. His exploratory and adventurous spirit, combined with stubborn determination often result in this:

Apparently the left side of his face is a target. The injuries pictured are from two separate incidents; fortunately the bruise on the bridge of his nose and the road rash on his left cheek (also from two different falls) have faded in the first picture, otherwise that would look really bad! Nothing slows him down though.

If I had to pick one word to describe Charlie's personality, it'd probably be goofy. He is smiling and laughing all the time, and clearly loves to make us laugh. And he does so pretty easily.

^His obstactle course game, this time with the now-contraband bat.

A little bit of Savannah

I took 195 pictures during my girls' weekend in Savannah, so I decided to challenge myself to pick less than 10 that represented the trip. Not an easy task, but here we go:



^Our first day we took a trolley tour to get an overview of the city, and to see the gorgeous architecture and gardens.

^ We also ate at the famed Mrs. Wilkes Boardinghouse - southern-food at it's best, served family style. I've never seen a spread like it. That night we walked along the Savannah River.

^ Saturday we headed to Tybee Island, to climb the 78 steps to the top of the lighthouse and then spend the 90+ degree day lounging on the beach.

^ Before heading to the airport Sunday, we explored Forsythe Park and the Bonaventure Cemetery, a very historic and beautiful cemetery. They don't make 'em like that any more!

So that's it -10 pictures! Close enough. I realized during this exercise that these pictures may represent Savannah (although there's so much more to it, what a beautiful city!), they don't represent our trip well. My friend Cindy took all the "people" pictures - us enjoying some yummy meals and taking advantage of Savannah's lack of an open container law. Being able to get a beer "to go" and walk around town with it is a great way to beat the heat! :)

This trip was a fantastic way to spend time with friends I don't see often enough, and just relax... I'm so happy to have a husband who is supportive of me taking time away, and a mother-in-law who flies across the country to hang out with her grandsons! And I look forward to many more adventures like this! :)

Charlie's games

I've been impressed with some of the games Charlie plays to entertain himself. He started out throwing a ball and crawling after it, over and over again (he has a pretty good arm!). He also uses any sort of a club-like object, such as the Zach's toy golf clubs, miniature bat, or giggle stick, to knock the ball across the room, again to chase after it. He'd play these games by himself for quite a while.

So I had to laugh when I saw what appears to be his latest game. I even managed to get video of it without him noticing (sorry about the bad angle, but I was basically hiding). This may be the type of video only a mom would be find amusing, but hey, it's short: