Happy Halloween

We eased into the Halloween festivities by carving pumpkins a few nights ago.  I'm not sure who was more disinterested - Charlie started trying to eat bits of newspaper and BJ kept sighing as though he was being tortured.  Ahhh, family memories.

I was busy explaining that pumpkin seeds may look like they would be good to eat, they were gross and presented a choking hazard.  I think he started to shred the newspaper while I was giving my lesson.  We have got to work on increasing his attention span.

I was trying to get a pick of Charlie with his pumpkin but he was more interested in patroling the neighborhood from our deck door.  Good luck trying to tp our house or let your dog relieve him/hersellf while Charlie's on the watch - he's vigilant my friends.

BJ and I won't win any contests, but the last pumpkin I carved was in 2nd grade at Emily Kearney's house so it had been awhile.

After much debate over what his costume should be (more like me tossing out ideas to BJ and him shooting every idea down), I bought a puppy costume for Charlie.  I knew that we wouldn't take him trick-or-treating, but the daycare planned a halloween parade through the hospital and I plan to dress him in as ridiculous/cute costumes as I can before he starts voicing his opinion. 

Here he is thinking - this feels OK, but I think there is something on my head.

Here he is thinking - this is not OK.  Both of you are laughing and I hate my costume.  See, I'm already voicing my opinion.

I decided to stop by the daycare earlier today to help him get ready and loaded up for the Halloween parade.  I thought seeing his little friends in their costumes would be a good distraction.  It worked for a few minutes.  Please see the progression below.  Happy, then sad, then fine without the "ears" on, then sad the minute I try to put his ears back on.

Here's to hoping that everyone has a successful trick-or-treat and that no one makes you wear a puppy costume.

More, Yes More, Fun With Cousins

This post is late for no reason other than the fact that since it gets dark around 6:30, I feel the need to be completely lazy after Charlie goes to bed around 8:00.  The amount of laundry that was done today was enough that BJ and I should have been ashamed of ourselves.  Let's just say that if we wouldn't have done laundry today, Charlie would have had to wear his halloween costume to church tomorrow and the general public would have been exposed to my pink fuzzy robe.

But enough about the depth of my laziness over the last week.  We had a great weekend last weekend when my sister Molly, brother-in-law Mike and nieces (Emma, Claire and Hannah) came for a few days.  They arrived on Thursday night and kept Charlie at home while I went to work for a few hours on Friday.  We spent a few hours at the mall on Friday afternoon and Charlie had his first trip to the play area.  I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been dreading this day.  I realize that from now until years from now, we will probably have to extend all mall excursions by about 30 minutes to allow him to have ample playtime in the petri dish known as the play area.  Charlie had a great time and his crazy Horsfield cousins entertained him during their entire visit. 

I did not have my camera with me, but my sister Molly sent me these pictures of Charlie playing.

Charlie loved going down the slide and would arch his back and cry until I put him at the top of the slide again.  I think 10 months is a little early to throwing fits, but maybe it's a good thing that he is so passionate about something at this early of an age???  Denial can be a mom's best friend.

We all went out for pizza on Friday night and came back and watched Jumanji.  It was good that we had so much fun on Friday because the Horsfield visit was cut short when the flu bug struck them sometime during the middle of the night on Friday.  Despite my bleach/cleaning efforts, I think that they caught it from BJ and Charlie, which was a bummer.  Before they headed home, I gave Emma her birthday present a couple of weeks early - a hair straightener.  I cannot believe that she will turn 11 next weekend.  I still remember watching a movie with BJ in Cedar Falls and getting the call from Molly that she was born.  That day does not seem that long ago, but the fact that she asked for a hair straightener makes me feel very old. 

Unfortunately for Copper, we have not found the fountain of youth as that is Pete and not Copper in the picture.

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful.  I snapped the picture below after Charlie ate the equivalent of 2 adult dinners.  He ate chicken breast, rice, carrots, green beans, an individual serving size cup of applesauce and (when I didn't have anything else to offer him) about a cup of leftover goulash.  He may have even licked the tray when I wasn't looking and yes, he drank an 8 ounce bottle 45 minutes later.  We were at the table for over an hour and he was so happy after his tummy was full that I had to snap a picture.  At one point, BJ was getting ice cream out of the freezer and said that we should just "cut him off".  I told him that those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and that was the end of that conversation. 



Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday and it will probably go down as our quickest visit to a pumpkin patch with Charlie ever.  It was really cute - there were pony rides, hay wagon rides, petting zoo, a corn maze and Charlie was blissfully unaware of all of it.  In fact, he fell asleep on the way to there, so he was a little out of it during picture time.  We left with a little pumpkin for Charlie's room and a larger pumpkin that we will carve as a family.  BJ cannot wait.

I don't know why I even bother with socks and shoes - they are off within minutes.  It may be a long winter for those chubby feet being shoved into socks and shoes.

It is completely inappropriate to put a 10 month old baby's face through this cutout and I was totally offended that there was a wooden cutout of a woman holding pumpkins in front of her chest.  That being said, this may have been the 2nd picture that I took.

The fun of the pumpkin patch was short-lived when Charlie was replaced for a few hours on Saturday night with a baby that I will call Pukey McGee - a nice baby, but not nearly as cute or good-smelling as Charlie.  Thankfully, after a couple of icky hours and a few loads of laundry, Pukey McGee left and Charlie returned.

In other random news, Charlie continues to prove that he is irresistible as he has been bitten twice at daycare within the last week.  Ann didn't see the latest chomp happen, but when she realized the marks on his arm, she "CSId" the marks in comparison to the two teeth-filled mouths that were in the room and was able to conclude her investigation.  Sticking to daycare policy, she refused to identify the perpetrator, but assured me that she had disciplined her.  I asked if she bit her back and Ann looked horrified.  I wasn't being serious.  Well, not completely serious.

Finally, Charlie's outgrown all of his baby hooded towels, but we've found another good use.

10 Month Update

Charlie Boy turned 10 months old yesterday and snapping a decent picture of him should become an Olympic sport.  We took a couple of pictures tonight right before his bath so he wasn't moving as quickly as he was earlier in the day.

I'm sure I've already written this, but he really seems more like a little boy than a baby.  He was crawling over me the other day and tooted loudly twice in my face before proceeding to giggle.  I gave him my best stink eye (no pun intended) told him that it was inappropriate.  I have a feeling that that may have been the beginning of many toot/giggle/reprimand conversations between he and I because God knows that BJ won't be disciplining that kind of behavior.

At 10 months, Charlie is a crawling machine and is starting to pull himself to a standing position.  Lately, he will suck on his bottom lip or tongue while he's crawling around and other than me worrying that he'll chap his lips or skin, it's pretty cute.  Charlie is busting out of most of his 12 months clothes, but the 18 months clothes are a little too long, so we'll be sporting some rolled sleeves and pant legs for awhile.

He still loves looking at books and listening to music.  At times, it seems like he eats a lot of table food, but very little the next time.  He has also started dropping food to watch Copper gobble it up, but to make matters worse, he usually holds his little hand off to the side, raises his eyebrows and wait for one of us to say "don't drop it - you eat it" before smiling and dropping it on the ground.  After we say "no" he has even had the audacity to try to give us a high 5.  He finds himself very funny.  Despite Charlie's generosity with his food, Copper remains convinced that Charlie is the worst thing that has happened to this family since he was neutered back in 2003. 

Charlie started the bad habit of rubbing his nose or mouth on my shoulder when I am holding him, which normally wouldn't be a big deal except for last Thursday, or Booger Day as I now call it.  I had a meeting out of office on Thursday morning so I quickly gave Charlie a hug as I headed out the door in my black suit.  I sat through the two hour meeting while facing three people across the conference table the entire time.  When I went back to the office, someone said, 'Oh Carey, you have some lint on your shoulder."  I slowly looked down and realized, with horror, it wasn't lint, it was a booger.  I guess Charlie just wanted to send a little piece of him with me during my meeting.

Below are a couple of random pictures I snapped while he was crawling toward me and while he pulled himself up to watch the water fill his ducky tub.  I was singing rubber ducky and he was shaking his little butt the entire time.

We were back in Cascade this past weekend to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary.  I failed to snap any photos, but we had a photo session with both families on Saturday, so I figured that Charlie deserved a break from the papparazzi-like atmosphere.
Here's to hoping that you all had a great, booger-free weekend.