Bits & Pieces

Some facts and stories about our kids, some of which are a bit old...

Charlie:

Charlie's feet stink. It's amazing. And I know where he gets it, unfortunately.

His lack of fear is becoming more evident daily. He has managed to climb to the second rung on the ladder of Zach's bunk bed. And I'm not taking him to the park too often, as I learned he will now try to walk down the slide. The big kid slide.

Charlie has decided that only one kind of sippy cup will do. The rest he just takes a sip or two and then throws it in disgust. We have about 5 different kinds of cups, since Zach couldn't have cared less. I guess we won't be using those any time soon.

Charlie thinks it's a fun game to point to me and say "da da." I say, "no, ma ma!" and he laughs and laughs.

He has two teeth coming in towards the back on the top. He won't let me poke around, so I'm not sure if they are molars or just eye teeth in a sorta weird spot. These will add to his top 4 front teeth and 3 bottom front ones.

Zach:

After I explained what Memorial Day was to Zach (see, old story), he said "I know who I am going to remember!" Since we have been very fortunate to not lose anyone close to us since Zach was born (knock knock knock), I was pretty curious where he was going with this. His answer: Harmon Killebrew!

These days Zach doesn't want to go anywhere without friends. When I ask if he wants to go to the zoo/park/Children's museum/beach, his answer is always "are any of our friends coming?" I guess Charlie and I aren't entertaining enough these days.

Zach once called Charlie "madagascar head."

His fascination with math continues. We often have exchanges like this, usually in the car:
Zach: mom, what's 30+20+20?
Me: 70. (it's much easier to answer those questions than "what's one thousand plus 9 million two hundred plus 90 plus twenty hundred?)
Zach: (pause) so 3+2+2 is 7?
Me: yes.
Zach: (a minute or so later) so is 3+2+1 6?

On an outing to Burger King for breakfast with Scott, Zach got the french toast sticks for a special treat. As he began eating one, he held it out to Scott and asked him to remove the dog hair. Scott decided to just pick off the hair and leave it at that, but a second later Zach said "is there a dog at Burger King?"

the two random pictures on the left are from a children's museum outing. Charlie was fascinated with that exhibit; I guess he'll be an ice fisherman someday!)

More fun on the lake

Our weather recently has been an example of why you always hear the phrase "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" around here. But we were still surprised when we headed to our friends' lake cabin last weekend, to find visible moisture everywhere. Due to recent rains, the lake was a lot higher than usual, and see that lovely pond out the kitchen window? That's not usually there - the river was running fast. See the condensation on the lovely concrete floors on the screen porch? Turned that room into a skating rink, which was a bummer, since it's a fantastic spot to hang out in.


But hey, what's a little heat and humidity when you have a fantastic lake at your disposal?

We were laughing with our friends at how things have changed over the years. When Scott and I bought the big inflatable oasis island many years ago, we envisioned lounging on it in the sun, using the drink holders for our adult beverages. And while we did and still occasionally do that, now the island is a source of enormous fun for the kids. The inflated part is a great launching pad for jumping into the mesh side, and the kids rocket back and forth constantly, wrestling and giggling. That is, when they're not fighting over whose turn it is on the jet-ski. And another big change - not only do all the kids (the big ones, anyway) want to go on the jet-ski, they want to go fast! When I took Zach out, he was even telling me how to drive!

After a day in the heat, the kids zoned in front of a movie while we got dinner ready and little ones in bed. With the fantastic new "cabin" the Brodds built, there's now lots of room for us to spend the night, so we gave it a shot. And I'd call it a success - even with 3 kids sleeping in one room, we had a pretty good, if short, night. And we were back in the lake by about 8:30 AM... the only way to stay cool!

Summer Days

As you've seen on previous posts, our summer has been filled with lots of big adventures. But then there's the day-to-day summer fun...

I took the boys to the zoo a couple weeks ago. It was the first time Charlie has been since he's old enough to even notice there are animals around. He seems to be an animal lover, so I was curious to see his reaction. He definitely noticed them, if they were close enough and/or moving; he'd point and babble in his little language. My favorite was his reaction to the polar bears; one was quite close to the glass, and when I pointed it out to Charlie and made my best polar bear noise, he gritted his teeth and shook his fists. I decided that was his interpretation of a growl.

Zach got to ride the rides at Como Town (part of the zoo) for the first time. I suspect that'll be a regular part of our zoo outings now! Apparently it was a good morning for both boys, since this is how they looked on the ride home:

I'm a little concerned to see our next water bill. As it has been in much of the country, it's been crazy-hot here. So we've had the sprinkler, slip 'n slide, and kiddie pools out pretty regularly. I'm amazed at how much fun "big kids" can have in an inflatable kiddie pool!

And we can't forget kickball - the summer sport that has become Zach's obsession. Sometimes he's outside playing against just his dad, and other nights our driveway looks like this:

We continue to have our weekly "bocce nights," a no-longer-fitting name for our Thursday night barbecues with friends. It's been amazing how much the group has expanded; we've been over-run by people aged 6 or less.


^ We try to take a picture of all the kids each week. Sometimes we get imperfect but still cute pictures. The week we hosted was not one of those weeks!

I'll close with some random pictures from this summer:

(Yes, I've read the warnings about letting babies play with plastic bags. What can I say? He loves them.)

Brotherly love

Our boys are starting to figure out how to really have a good time together, which is so fun to see. These videos are two brief moments I managed to catch on my phone; the first is Charlie laughing as Zach does what we call "smoochy smoochy" to him; the second is Charlie running up to Zach for a snuggle at the mall.

15 months

Our littlest man is 15 months old today, and the adventures continue. Charlie is reaching the stage where we're hearing more words, or at least things that sound an awful lot like words. Some of his favorite, most-repeated ones are "uh-oh" and "ow." He doesn't always use ow appropriately, but when he does it's almost always accompanied by him patting his own head, the location of most of his injuries. He has also learned that hitting results in someone saying "ow," so the other day when I used that particular exclamation of pain in reference to something unrelated to him, he reached over and smacked me.

He's also starting to echo back to us, particularly things like hi, bye-bye, and just today "night-night." Charlie has been making a woof sound whenever he sees Koskie or any other dog, and today I think I heard the first "Zah" sound when he was talking about Zach. And funnily enough, he just mastered the official sign for more - bringing his fingertips together instead of his customary clap. Either one works though - he definitely finds a way to let us know what he wants!

Whenever Charlie rides on Scott's shoulders, Scott is always amazed at how he doesn't hold on. I don't know if it's his general fearlessness, or if he just really trusts his dad, but rather than wrapping his arms around Scott's neck or head like Zach does, he just bounces around, occasionally rubbing Scott's hair. He loves it up there, where he can see the world.

Charlie's love affair with Koskie continues. He literally uses him as a couch; he'll walk over and just plunk down on top of our sleeping dog, sit there and bounce a bit. He's constantly making a cooing sound at Koskie, poking him in the face while babbling away. He also likes to use him as a step stool to get on or off the couch. Our patient pooch just takes it all. It isn't just Koskie, Charlie seems to like all dogs; when the dogs across the street are outside, he just heads right down the driveway and toddles across the street to go visit. And boy did he think our friend's Chihuahua's were cool! (if only they'd thought the same of him.)

Let's see, what else? Oh - Charlie also loves shoes. Particularly wearing them on his hands. As a result we find his and Zach's shoes all over the house. Unfortunately he also likes to throw them into bodies of water, so we have to keep an eye on the toilet, the tub, and Koskie's water bowl. And while he absolutely refuses to wear his own hats when we're in the sun, he is a big fan of swiping Zach's.

Charlie would also like to be a climber. We've had to remove the stool from the kitchen, and replace the 2-step stool in the bathroom with a smaller one. If he could just figure out where to put his foot, he'd be up in Zach's top bunk; fortunately for us he just sticks his entire leg through the opening and gets stuck there. One of these days he's going to manage to get himself in the tub too.

Charlie's 15-month doctor check-up is tomorrow; I'll update this with the relevant stats!
15-month check-up on 7/18/11:
- Height: 30 inches; 10-25th percentile
- Weight: 21 lbs, 10 oz; 10-25th
- Head: 19.75 inches; 95th
Our regular pediatrician was out of town; the doctor we saw today proclaimed him "healthy as a horse!"

Adventures in Duluth

We spent about 24 hours in Duluth last weekend and I took enough pictures to fill several albums. It was such a gorgeous day, and Duluth really is a picturesque town. The lift bridge just looked so cool against the bright blue sky...


^ How many kids can you fit in one stroller?



^Oh how I wish Zach's eyes were open in this picture!!!



^ He got a kick out of the cars driving over him.


^Indecisive about getting his feet wet, but he did it!

Our hotel was made for kids - a waterpark inside; a pool, playground, bounce house, and miniature golf course outside. Not to mention the fire with s'mores!

The kids seemed to have just as much fun in our rooms though.


We managed to get rooms next to each other, which had great balconies overlooking Lake Superior. So after all four kids were fast asleep, worn out from their fun day, we adults got to hang out and have a few drinks and watch Mother Nature put on an amazing show:

^ Blurry, I know, but still cool!


A few attempts at a family photo - they didn't turn out too badly!



And check out this group shot - we made one and only one attempt at this, and I think it turned out pretty well!



One of the best parts of the weekend... seeing this smile:

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