Tarzan...No, Charzan!

As part of our bedtime routine, I typically draw the bath water and Matt helps get Charlie ready for the bath.  Our attic is a pulldown and access is in Charlie's room.  I'm not exactly sure how this started but this is a regular prior to bath.  Normally there isn't a diaper but since it's going on the world wide web, I thought Charlie might appreciate in future years, that we have a diaper on.  He eyes the cord every night and can't wait for Matt to do Charzan. 

I did tape a nudey video which is much better but I'm not posting it.  However, I will be happy to show it to family and friends!   :-)

Future Hokie

Happy 10 months Charlie from your Mommy

Charlie,

Wow!  What a month it has been.  You started off by celebrating your first Valentine's Day, which was just a date with Mommy and Daddy. We didn't do anything too special other than Mommy got extra love from all her boys.

You are now in double digits and it seems that you have really taken off this month with new developments.

You are a little more mischievous, which means the monthly pictures are a little harder to get. 

You are most mischievous by getting into Wally's food and water dish.  We try to keep you out of it but it seems that is right where you want to be.  You take off for it every chance you get and you crawl as fast as your arms and legs will take you and let a squeal each time as you go for it.  We have managed not to catch you in time which means that water is everywhere.  Luckily, we haven't caught you eating the dog food but I'm sure if we gave you any time, the dog food would be in your mouth along with everything else that is on the floor. 

Speaking of Wally, it remains to be true that you want to be with him whenever he is in the room. 

He's not so sure of you most of the time but is the most laid back dog and seems to never get too annoyed.  It's so nice to see how much he has adjusted from being the only child.  He likes to be in the same room as you so he can keep his eye on you. 

It's pretty often that we can count on Wally to give you a good laugh and sometimes, you even make your Mommy jealous of the smiles that you give him.

You are a lot more communicative.  Not as much with talking.  Although, you constantly babble and even said Dada.  Sometimes is sounds as if you are saying bye too.  You say Momma only when you are whining!  Otherwise, you just babble.  However, your point gets across.  You reach for us when you want us to pick you up.  You start whining and stick your arms up in the air.  If that doesn't work, you get louder and squeeze your hands.  You have started to whine.  You shake your head no at us too.  We typically know pretty quickly if something is to your dislike. 

Luckily, you are a pretty agreeable little fellow and aren't constantly upset. You love to play.

 

In fact, your teachers at daycare tell Mommy that you can outplay all the other babies and you just don't stop the whole time you are there, which explains why some days you come home with only one 30 minute nap. The teachers also tell Mommy that unless you have the "crud" (which has been a lot this month), then you are super happy and the happiest baby.

Your "crud" this month has been the continued sinus and ear infections. Your Mommy thinks you have had more than your share. Your reflux isn't much better and not much worse which means you still throw up your bottle from time to time.  With all that on top of teething, it's been pretty hard on you. You have 2 bottom teeth now, but 4 more that are coming in up top. You still don't sleep very well for us.  It's rare for you to sleep through the night as most nights you are up at least once, but sometimes twice, and even more. You aren't going back to sleep as well either at night and your naps aren't very good.  

As for getting around, there is no stopping you.  You pull yourself up onto everything.  You can even use a wall to get yourself up so you can cruise. 

This month you started really moving around from furniture to furniture.  You even started pushing your toy only with much coaxing from Mommy and Daddy. 

You love to go to the bathrooms, especially Mommy and Daddy's.  You love to pull yourself up on the big tub. 

 

You are still learning how to fall on your knees and bottom.  We have to watch you though because sometimes, you fly backwards waiting for us to catch you!  You still love those steps and are fascinated with dropping your toys through the gate to watch them go down. 

You are always crawling over to your Daddy for him to pick you up.  He does all kinds of tricks with you.  You like to be thrown up in the air and love to hang upside down. 

You are a little monkey!

You are Mommy's little helper.

Oh, Charlie, I love you, Stinky Face!

Dada...

is Charlie's first word and he said it tonight!

Sorry for the 2 videos.  We accidentally stopped recording so had to restart it real quick.

I tried to get him to repeat it later and he would not.  

On a separate note, the crud has struck our house again and this time got me and Charlie twice (poor boy)!!  I'm just happy that in the video, I no longer squeak like a mouse and sound more like myself and less like a man.  :-)  I felt pretty awful over the last several days.  For those of you that know me, I'm not the best sick person.  Poor Matt!  Luckily, it hasn't hit him. 

First Snow of this year

and hopefully the last! 

Hurry up Spring!

Happy 9 months Charlie from your Mommy

Charlie,

Another month has flown by. This month has been probably one of you busiest with many firsts. You started crawling, clapping, pulling up on your own to a standing position and even got your first tooth! You stay pretty proud of yourself most days as you are constantly doing something new.

 

 
Here you are on the morning of Jan. 29th after you woke up and showed off your first tooth:

 

You had a well check-up so here are your stats:  You weigh 21 pounds 9 ounces (75th percentile) and your length is 29 and 1/4 inches (90th percentile).  Your head circumfirence is 18

You are still a big boy.  You are wearing mostly 9 month clothes.  If the outfit is a separate, 9 months fits you perfectly.  However, because of your length, you need 12 months in one piece outfits.  I'm noticing that it may not be long before you are out of your 9 month pajamas though.  The

This month, you were probably the sickest that you have been.  You had RSV, MRSA, Strep, Reflux, and a yeast infection all at once.  You were pretty pitiful but were well within a few days so we were just lucky that everything came and went so fast.  Well, the reflux didn't really go away.  Last month, your Mommy and Daddy were hopeful that you were getting better and even tried to stop some of your medicine but apparently, you weren't ready because this month has been awful for you.  You were back to throwing up every day to every other day.  Mommy hates it when you feel so bad.  Daddy and Mommy would do anything to make this go away for you.

It was also a sad month because your Great Grandpa passed away.  (More on Great Grandpa later.) 
You got to meet him once this summer. 

Your Mommy went to the funeral but you stayed home with Daddy.  (We decided that you shouldn't travel since you were recovering from your sickness.)  Mommy hadn't been away from you for any period of time with the longest being for work during the day.  You did just fine with your Daddy.  In fact, when Mommy got home, you seemed to really want your Daddy.  Mommy missed you lots and couldn't wait to get home and get kisses from you.  Luckily that only lasted a day and you were back to yourself and happy to be in your Mommy's arms. 

You love your brother Wally and we can always count on him to give you a good laugh.  You have started becoming interested in his toys, which is stressing him out!

 

You also love your brother's dog door.  We are constantly having to move you away from it.  One day, you are going out the door through the dog door, it's a matter of time.  Hopefully, you won't fall out on your head like you seem to be heading.  You also like to shut the door on Wally.  You seem to be particularly fond of his food and water too.  Something kind of funny about Wally but your Daddy and Mommy call him the Doo Doo detector.  He always lets us know when it's time to change your diaper as you can see from this video of how he gets his good sniffs. 

(Do you see how you are obsessed with the vents.  I don't know why they are so interesting to you.)

You have mastered picking up food finally and getting it to your mouth.  Mommy and Daddy really need to thank your daycare friends.  It seems that one of your friends was dropping food for you from their chair which is how/when you decided to start feeding yourself a little.  You need to work on your pincher skills because sometimes, it's pretty hit or miss on whether they actually make it in your mouth but every day it seems to get a little better.  You are also working on getting better with your sippy cup.  You love cheese!  You started eating american cheese slices and you love it.  You have also started stage 3 foods.  It seems that Mommy hasn't found any clear dislikes but your favorite food is any kind of fruit.  I think you have a sweet tooth!  Mommy always loved applesauce and still does and it's pretty clear that you do too. 

Your Mommy and Daddy have started baby proofing the house because you are into everything.  We just can't seem to stop you.  The first baby proofing that we did was put a gate at the top of the steps and it is wonderful.  You seem to go straight for the steps whenever you are down and crawling and you go full speed.

 

I don't think you've actually said your first word but you are close.  You babble up a storm. 

You are still LOVING those baths.  It seems to make you happy every night to get in there.  You used to be such a kicker and while you are still a busy boy, you are starting to sit back and just relax.  One of your favorite toys these days are the bath books, esp. Silly Frog.

It's pretty clear to Mommy that she should have taken more pictures this month.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of pictures taken on our cell phones.  Mommy and Daddy don't have any fancy cell phones though so I can't use them to put on the blog.  I'll try to do better next month.
You keep me smiling, my sweet baby!