Bad Habits

I'm not sure if it is because we are anxiously awaiting Spring, 15 months old is the new "terrible two's" or Charlie is picking up bad habits with his new "toddler" classmates, but we have been having some battles lately.  Like any responsible parent, I've been grabbing my camera to snap pictures of all said wrong doing.

Charlie is starting to get upset when it is time to get out of the tub and put on his jammies.  I would find it very hard to be grumpy while being cuddled in an elephant towel from Aunt Molly, but Charlie somehow found a way.

Lately, Charlie has done the sign for "all done", only to try to relocate his breakfast or snack to a rug in our kitchen.  I'm sick of stepping on raisins and Copper certainly doesn't need the extra fiber so we've got to break this little habit.

The other trick up his sleeve is to sign for "all done" and then beg for BJ or I to hold him so he can eat whatever we are having.  The results are in, our Cheerios taste much better than his Cheerios. 

Climbing into/on top of his toys.  I may have given Charlie the idea to sit among his stuffed animals (I planned to take a photo of his face surrounded by stuffed animals to honor E.T., but Charlie wouldn't sit still long enough), but he now thinks that every basket is meant for his bottom.

In this particular picture, Charlie managed to relocate his water and bowl of crackers to the rug in the kitchen.  He would eat a cracker, take a drink and then go play for a few minutes before returning to the buffett.  Meanwhile, we had to keep Copper behind the baby gate because his allergies (food, grass, pollen, dust, trees, cats, smoking, wheat, most items found in normal/inexpensive dog food...all items that he is allergic to) have risen to absurd levels so we are trying to minimize his exposure to any snacks that Charlie decides to "share."  Reason 872 why Copper's life worsened the day that Charlie came home.

We no longer get dressed in the morning.  Instead, we drestle (dress+wrestle) and Charlie's a fierce contender at every match.  He usually manages to escape, partially-dresseed, at least once a day.  It seems that the bigger time crunch we are on, the faster he runs away.

Anyway, we are figuring out the discipline thing with a little boy who clearly understands "no" (he finds it absolutely hilarious that we would tell him "no") but who isn't quite ready for time out.  Well, maybe he is ready for time out...so long as it is on the kitchen rug with a snack, sippy cup and if he can be partially-dressed.

Boys Night

I'm in Orlando for a conference (just one night so there's no potential for a run-in with Mickey or Minnie). so Charlie enjoyed a little bit of a boys night with BJ and Uncle Marty.  The pictures are a little fuzzy, but it is nice to know that no matter what else may have happened while I was away, Charlie was clean and fed.   

Apparently he chose to sit next to and share some raisins with Uncle Marty after BJ had the audacity to administer ear drops and I can't blame him - that kind of mistreatment shouldn't be tolerated.

Thanks for visiting Uncle Marty and for being such a good audience member for one of Charlie's first official tantrums! 

Bring Back the Fun People

This weekend has been pretty low-key after some really fun weekend visitors.

Two weekends ago, the Osterhaus crew came to stay with us and to attend one of Arch's (he's the head coach) games at the Wells Fargo arena.  It was a mini-Wartburg reunion before and during the game, except this time there were about 9 kids to keep track of.  Times have seriously changed.  After the game, everyone came back to our house and it was really fun to see how well the kids got along.  I failed to take any decent pictures (I did snap some when we all met for dinner, but will not post those because it was of certain people mid-bite...you are welcome Jen O), but I did get a good one of Paige - what a cutie! 

Paige is a little younger than Charlie and weighs about half as much so I gave a lot of "be gentle Charlie" comments.  Charlie's favorite things to carry around are these blue and green rings so he wasn't too keen on surrendering the green one to Paige.  Luckily, there was a 5 second window when Charlie didn't realize that Paige had her hand on the ring as well and we were able to snap this picture.

Last weekend, the fun continued with a visit from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Jan.  True to form, Grandpa and Grandma spent time with Charlie doing pretty much whatever he wanted, like pushing him on the tricycle and giving him a ride in the wagon.

I feel that I owe an apology to all JCPenney photographers throughhout the world.  I may have made some comments in the past about how unimpressed I've been with their attempts to capture Charlie's smile.  Well, karma would like me to acknowledge that I can barely get him to even look at the camera, much less smile.  

After Grandpa Steve and Grandma Jan left to go to the ISU basketball game, Aunt Molly, Emma, Claire and Hannah arrived to celebrate the Super Bowl with us.  Charlie had a ton of fun showing off for his cousins and even got to participate in his first craft with the girls.  Molly brought these foam sticker type things and although Charlie was into the social aspect of it, he didn't really like the things sticking to his hands or high chair tray.

 

During the Super Bowl, Claire, Hannah and Charlie discovered that a partially deflated air mattress made the best bouncy toy that one could hope for.  There was parental supervision, but let's just say that during one particularly simultaneous flop by Claire and Hannah, I caught Charlie and we both fell over.  It may have been the best moment of Charlie's life so far.  If I wasn't so concerned with catching kids as they came flying off of the mattress, it would have made for a great video.

We rooted for the Steelers at home as Uncle Mike rooted for them from the Super Bowl.  Check out the intensity below...I think Emma had to stand up at one particular time when we thought that the Steelers were going to make a comeback. 

Thanks to all of our visitors for bringing the fun.  Charlie is always upset when visitors leave and has seem thoroughly unimpressed with my attempts to entertain him this weekend.  I'll try to bring back the fun people soon Charlie, I promise.

Finally, Charlie had a touch of the flu this week so he stayed home with me on Friday and bonded with the pink fuzzy robe.  What can I say, it's the best friend that me or Charlie Boy could ask for.

Sleepyhead

This was the scene this morning at 7:45 when I was trying to wake Charlie up to start our day.

Feet crossed?  Check.  Bed head?  Check.  Mouth open and drooling?  Check.  Hands tucked under the belly?  Check.

Charlie usually wakes up around 6:30 and he woke up around 6:00 this morning, but went back  to bed. 

I felt bad waking him up, but on a positive note, it was much easier to get him dressed for the day when he was  still half asleep.

Sweet dreams!

Waiting...

for Spring.  I've tried to tell Charlie that no matter how much he looks out our window, we'll be waiting for spring for awhile.  He is a persistent little boy...

We had a fun weekend last weekend.  We surprised my sister on Friday night to help her celebrate her birthday, which was on Saturday.  I did manage to snap a few pictures before we left on Saturday morning, but because a special request from the birthday girl, I will not post those pictures.  For the record, Molly looked a lot better in the pictures than I did and I was still willing to post them...

From Mollly's house, we went to Galena to spend the rest of the weekend with BJ's family.  It was a really relaxing weekend and we all felt like we were able to spend more time together than we had in awhile.  As I have been known to do, I completely failed to take any pictures.

We don't have anything going on this weekend, but we'll probably spend more time at the window...waiting and watching for spring! 

Color Coordinated

After realizing the minimal damage that Charlie could do to his orange shirt while eating spaghetti, I wondered why I don't color coordinate more of his outfits with dinner.

In other news, walking is apparently for the birds - Charlie is "running" as fast as he can and climbing on every unsteady surface that he can find.  The other night, he pushed his bilingual activity table over to the couch, stood up on the table and proceeded to climb over the armrest of the couch.  And I was worried for his safety when he was harnessed and buckled into his bouncy seat, which sat 3 inches off of the floor...I may be dressing him in a helmet and protective gear from here on out. 

Reunited...

and it feels so good...at least for Pete.  We had the pleasure of keeping Pete at our house this week while his real family took a little trip to Colorado.  Pete settled in right away and was OBSESSED with Copper.  Pete ate Copper's food, would get a drink when Copper was getting a drink, tried to keep up with him during walks and tried with all of his might to curl up next to Copper.  It is a pretty well known fact that Copper is not considered a good dog.  In fact, he's been known by most of our neighbors (both in Solon and Kansas City) as the "mean dog."  Surprisingly, Copper tolerated Pete pretty well.  I made up this entire story about how Pete believed that Copper was his long lost dad and how Copper didn't believe that Pete was truly his son.  I may have been a little sleep deprived this weekend. 

Below is Pete sleeping like an angel on the couch, two inches behind Copper.

Below is a picture of Copper looking completely unimpressed as Pete laid two inches behind him.

And finally, evidence that Copper was OK with Pete laying so close to him, as long as it was by his butt and not his head.

Little Pete, Petey, Petey Gonzalez, and the other nicknames that we called you this week - you are welcome to come back whenever.  And although Copper won't be attending any father-son events with you anytime soon, I think he misses you a little.

On a final note, we had a great New Year's Eve Pajama Party (complete with a Snuggi thanks to Molly and Otto) and a houseful of people.  I didn't take any photos because I've been a little disorganized.  That and I've been making up stories about Pete and Copper in my mind all week.