Like Father, Like Son

A belated Happy Father's Day to BJ, my dad and Steve.  Charlie is a lucky little boy to have BJ for a dad and BJ and I are lucky to have the chance to see our dads as often as we do. 

In what will forever be known as "Poor Planning of 2011", I was in New York City last weekend, so I missed the Heart Walk (BJ's biggest work event of the year) and Father's Day.  When I was originally asked about going to NYC, BJ and I both agreed that we had "nothing" going on the weekend on June 18th...oops.  Anyway, while I was gallivanting in NYC, many friends and family came to Des Moines for the Heart Walk so I'm sorry that I missed it, but I'm glad that everyone had a great time and that the walk went well.  A special thanks to Steve and Jan for watching Charlie while I was trying to be hip in NYC and BJ was busy with work.

Charlie's obsession with lawn mowers continues.  If we see someone mowing their lawn on our walk, it is a topic that stays with us for the entire walk.  If a neighbor is mowing their lawn, Charlie will stand completely still and watch for the duration of the event.  Needless to say, when BJ mows our lawn, it is a camera-worthy event.

 Trying to keep up with BJ...those little legs move fast, but sometimes not fast enough.

Every time that BJ and Charlie would pass each other, Charlie would stand and wave but this time he thought that the magic of it all required a high five.

Pure excitement watching BJ mow the backyard.  At this point (45 minutes into the lawn mowing process), BJ suggested over the sound of the lawn mower that perhaps I could grab a broom and start to sweep the sidewalks.  I pretended like I didn't hear him and instead pulled a weed (note that it was a singular weed).  I swept the last time that BJ mowed the lawn and the next day my side kind of hurt so it wasn't a risk that I was willing to take.  Come to think of it, I could have hurt my back by bending over to pull the weed so I should really be more careful when in the great outdoors.  Looks like I'll be sticking to sitting on the deck with a cold beverage from here on out...the risk of frostbite from the beverage is a risk that I am willing to assume.

Rambling

So it's been a couple of weeks since I've updated the blog and it's probably because we haven't been up to anything too exciting...as is obvious in the string of pictures and captions below.

Charlie's favorite spot to snack has changed from the rug in the kitchen to anywhere where BJ is sitting.  Charlie will run as fast as his little legs will carry him (usually dumping most of his snack) just to eat his "nack" by BJ. 

Copper continues to sulk and demand more attention than any child or dog could possibly need.

This was the scene the other morning when I got out of the shower.  Charlie has figured out how to open all doors in our house so he opened the closet in our bathroom, pulled out our TP stash and did a little redecorating.  The picture doesn't really do it justice and clearly I need to teach Charlie that he should wear black when TPing and should run like heck once the job is finished...not dawdle to admire his handiwork.

The weather here last weekend was great so we took Charlie for his first zoo experience.  I'll be honest, Copper frequently spends time behind a baby gate when Charlie is on the loose (for both of their safety) so for all I know going to the zoo and looking at the animals on the other side of the fence was the equivalent of Charlie staring at Copper.

We rode the train, which wasn't that exciting, but Charlie liked waving at all of the people that we passed.

The highlight of the trip - feeding the goats.  Charlie could have spent all day doing feeding the goats and letting them lick his hands, but I only had enough Purell to last us around 20 minutes.

On Tuesday night, Molly and the girls came to spend the night before their outing at Adventureland on Wednesday.  True to form, Charlie basked in the attention and even had his first Oreo experience with them...looks like I'll have to be buying two packages from here on out.  One for him and one for me.

The next string of pictures are completely random but Charlie was being very goofy tonight during my dinner (he had already eaten but wanted to sit next to me).  At first, he kept pointing at me and saying my name, so I would do the same to him which he found hilarious.

The pointing soon gave way to leaning in for a smooch...and possible a bite of my spaghetti.

Next, Charlie started repeating everything I was doing which worked well until I wiped my nose in an effort to persuade him to wipe his nose.  Turns out, he figured out pretty quickly when to stop playing the "copycat" game.

Finally, in a picture that I am certain that I will regret posting tomorrow...I decided that it would be fun if Charlie and I sat in his crib.  I'm not sure why this made sense at the time, but BJ heard the giggles and snapped a picture.  I think it was due to a combination of a very long week at work, not a lot of sleep and the fact that I am leaving for a trip this weekend and will be missing my boy that I felt the need to act like a complete fool for a few extra smiles tonight. 

Other than laughter from Charlie, the other benefit to this little adventure was that I realized it was pretty tough to get in and out of his crib so I think we have at least 3 more months before he'll figure it out.