11 Month Update

Charlie Boy turned eleven months old today and I'm still frantically looking for a way to make time stop or at least slow down.  I tried to capture the obligatory picture in his chair next to the stuffed cow, but he was not feeling it.  He could sense that the hamburger/noodle casserole was near completion and the thought of waiting a second longer to enjoy his dinner was almost too much to bear.

Charlie is a crawling fool and is starting to walk around the coffee table and the couch.  He also loves to pull himself up to a standing position by pulling on my pants, which is normally fine, but if I happen to have a pair of flannel pants or sweatpants from the Cedar Falls Wal-Mart (fall of 1998, the sweatpants were $12), the pants often end up around my ankles.  Reason 871 why I shouldn't be
wearing those pants in public anymore. 

He loves being "chased" around our living room.  He scream with excitement and then crawl about 3 feet away before stopping to turn around to make sure that we are chasing him.  If we corner him he just comes towards us, ready for a mouth-open, slobbery bobbery kiss.  Charlie also loves when our ice machine is in use.  It used to scare him a little bit, but now he frantically crawls towards the fridge so as not to miss out on any of the action.

Charlie has also started to shake his little booty when he hears music and I always yell "shake what I gave you" which causes him to laugh and BJ to shake his head.  I look forward to many dance parties in our living room.

I think Charlie's really close to getting his first tooth, but his lack of teeth do not present much of an obstacle when eating.  He loves hamburger, roast beef and chicken breast.  His favorite meal seems to be any kind of pasta/meat casserole and he regularly eats faster than I can cool it down for him. 

Charlie also seems to have acquired the gift of gab and he will regularly join any conversation, talking louder and louder until he is acknowledged.  He still loves to say "da da" and rarely says "ma ma".  Whenever I tell him to say  "ma ma", he giggles and says "da da" which is further proof that he and BJ have a major conspiracy against me.  In Charlie's defense, there is no need to say "ma ma" when he knows that I will pretty much respond to any noise that he makes.

This past weekend marked the first night that I was away from Charlie overnight and it ended up being two nights.  BJ and I met our good friends Nick and Catherine for Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington DC.  The rally was an experience, but we quickly agreed that none of us would have been able to protest during the 60s because after an hour and a half standing in the same spot in the sun, we started talking about how hot we were, how thirsty we were and what time we were going to leave the rally and find a bar.  That being said, it was great to be a part of it and really nice to catch up with Nick and Catherine.  As with most once in a lifetime experiences, my camera spent most of the time in my purse, but I did capture the following random photos.

BJ held my camera above my head to try to capture the crowd...let's just say that it was large.

This was basically my view - bums in front of me.  

Nick and Catherine - there is no other couple that we would have wanted to eat and drink our way through the DC area!
We were really excited to see Charlie on Sunday so thanks to mom and dad and Steve and Jan for taking such good care of him over the weekend.  He came back a very happy little boy and probably a little spoiled.