Gladys and Harold

The 2's have been an interesting age so far.  The good-natured and funny side of Charlie's personality has developed more, but we've also found ourselves in the midst of negotiating non-negotiable items.  For example: wearing clothes to day care; wearing a coat outside; tasting Copper's kibble; eating M&M's ("L&L's") for breakfast; the list goes on and on.

I realize that this is just a phase and I keep reminding myself that his spunk and independence will serve him well in the long run.  I've also decided to name his various personalities as if they are visitors to our home, some of whom we hope to leave for good one day.

First is Gladys.  Gladys is funny and constantly looking to make people laugh, even at her own expense.  I appreciate a health dose of self-deprecating humor.  Wearing my slippers and trying to walk around in them is Gladys' go-to joke.

 

 

Gladys loves to look at books, listen to music, and cuddle on our laps.  Gladys will also ask for a hug or kiss at regular intervals, which we are happy to give.  Gladys can stay as long as she likes.

 

I don't have any pictures of Harold because he can be a curmudgeon at times and is typically caught in the act of saying "no" rather loudly.  I think that Harold may have a hearing problem because his listening skills are less than stellar.  Harold's latest trick is to completely undress himself (diaper included) and march around stark naked.  Harold is quick to declare what he will NOT be doing on a given day, which usually involves statements such as: "No nap.  No school.  No diaper change.  No brush teeth."  It is ironic the number of items on Harold's "no" list since they tend to be non-negotiable on my list.  I've tried every trick in the book to deal with Harold, and he finds it incredibly amusing that none of the tactics are working.  While we still love Harold, we won't be sad when we leave our house, even if he stays with us for another year or so.

 

So that is what has been going on with us lately, just getting to know the new personalities of Charlie.  Don't even get me started about the various personalities of Copper because I'm fairly certain that he spent all weekend plotting for how he was going to end his life.  His latest attempt included jumping on Charlie's train table, stealing a piece of the wooden track and eating it until I heard him chocking on the pieces of wood that he managed to bite off.

 

God bless us.

 

 

 

Love Connection

BJ and I went to the Valentine's Day party at Charlie's daycare last week, since we planned to pick him up early that day to go out for an early dinner. 

The party was scheduled to start at 3:30 and when we walked in, we saw two a table decked out with Valentine's Day decorations and full of various cookies, candies and chocolates.  We also noted that one seat was already taken at the table - Charlie was the only kid sitting down and was stuffing M&M's (or L&L's if you ask him) and Hershey chocolate kisses in his mouth.  The other kids slowly made their way to the table and most were distracted by the visitors in the room, but not our boy. 

Charlie found the chocolates, no matter how far I moved them out of his reach.  It was pretty impossible to get Charlie to look at the camera, but you'll see his shining smile among all of the treats below.

I think that it's safe to say that Cupid found Charlie and made a love connection between he and all things chocolate.  He is certainly my son.

Big (little right now) News!

For the 2 of you that follow this blog and the 1 of you that may not have Facebook, we wanted to share some exciting news:

That's right - we will have a new baby at our house in mid to late August!  Clearly Charlie is thrilled with the news! 

I haven't updated the blog much since we found out the good news, mainly because it felt like lying to not report on the one thing that consumes most of our thoughts.  I had a really easy pregnancy with Charlie and this time I was a little more nauseous and a little more tired at night...or at least that is the story I am sticking to as BJ picked up most of the parenting duties at night while I laid on the couch and asked for various items (tissues; Carmex; a sucker...no, not a sucker, that tastes disgusting; a brownie...what, did you bring me the smallest brownie available) to be delivered to me.  I may have not always seemed rational or even pleasant, but I figure that since I'll be the one recovering from a c-section and breastfeeding for a period of time, it's the least that he could do.  

Charlie is pretty oblivious to the news, which is just fine with us.  We have a really cute picture of our friend's daughter Bryn on our refrigerator and Charlie will often point at the picture, smiling and say "baby."  The other week I asked him if we should get a baby for our house and he gave me a puzzled look, put his little hand on his chest and said "Char Char baby" which is code for "are you crazy?  Charlie is your baby."  Good thing we have time to get him used to the idea.  I can't imagine my childhood or life without brothers and a sister so I know that in the long run it will be a great thing for him.

We've been calling this baby Sweet Pea since we found out about his/her presence about the same time that he/she was the size of a sweet pea so it seemed fitting.  We don't plan to find out what we are having - I can certainly understand the temptation but I think that we will try to hold off until Sweet Pea's actual arrival.

Charlie moved up to the two year old room at daycare a few weeks ago and it's been going really well.  He suddenly seems like a big kid and there are a couple of things that I want to remember about this age:

• Charlie refers to himself in the 3rd person as "Char Char"
• He is obsessed with repeating certain events - lately it has been the hair cut that he got weeks ago (which he cried through, despite a sucker and M&Ms)
• He focuses on which car BJ and I take to work because we frequently switch vehicles.  I think that the inconsistency drives him crazy so we revisit the topic and establish who is taking the car and who is taking the "big" car every morning
• He pronounces "yes" as "des" and usually says it in the loudest voice possible
• He loves ice cream and M&Ms, but he pronounces it like "L&Ls"
• When he wakes up in the mornings, he has started to turn on his lamp and music player before going to the gate at his door and asking for me
• He demands to be the first person to go our basement.  He will frequently tell us to "waip" at the top of the steps until he is at the bottom.
• He likes me to chant "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie" while he is jumping on his trampoline.  I may have created a monster.
• He would really like to hug and kiss Copper.  The feeling is not mutual.
• Every morning he tells us that Linda (the cook at the daycare) is going to bring him cookies for breakfast.  It sounds like a great deal and I'm thinking of getting breakfast at the daycare for myself.
• As I change his diaper in the morning, I ask if he had any dreams and he always responds "des."  When I ask him what was in his dreams he has started telling me cookies and monkeys, which could be really awesome or kind of scary.
• He has started to play hide-n-seek, but his only hiding spot is behind the drapes in our basement.  When we start to discuss where he might be ("I wonder if Charlie is in his bed..."), he will always respond with an answer.  I hate to tell him that he shouldn't be giving us so many clues.
• He likes to pull all of our DVDs out of the entertainment center and frequently brings one of the Lord of the Rings (BJ's movie, not mine) to one of us.  We started telling him that it was scary because there were "bad guys" in the movie.  Last night, Charlie and I went to Fareway after dinner to get groceries and he pointed at all 3 of the meat counter employees and declared them to be bad guys.  I had to explain to the meat counter that we had nothing against them personally and assured Charlie that they were good guys.

Whew, well that was quite the brain dump.  Anyway, thank you for all of the congrats we received via voicemail, email, text and Facebook.  Sweet Pea and I are going to have some Chips Ahoy and milk because Sweet Pea gets what Sweet Pea wants.  

Lots of Snackin'

I realize that I haven't posted since Christmas but there hasn't been anything too exciting going on lately.  In fact, when I looked at the pictures that I've taken lately, it seems like all we've done lately is a lot of snacking.  Even the nights when Charlie eats a big dinner, he is relentless in his quest for "nacks." 

 Realizing that I am taking a picture, Charlie reverts to his squinty eye/underbite smile.

We try to give healthy options, but occasionally he finds my bag of Oreos and indulges in one or two, the evidence of which is overwhelming.

Who can blame them?  They are America's favorite cookie and we're nothing if not patriotic.

Christmas 2011

I've fallen into some type of blog-induced coma following Charlie's birthday and the only reason I can think of is the high volume of cream cheese-based and chocolate-covered goodies that I've consumed have rendered me virtually useless.  Although the last few weeks are a little foggy, I think I can finally put together a few memories from the last few weeks.

The weeks following Charlie's birthday were filled with what I call "guess where I hid the apple slices" game that Charlie began.  A common hiding spot was the back of the little model gator that my parents gave him for his birthday.  The gator is usually parked in Charlie's barn so I gave him credit for the good hiding spot.



 On nights when Charlie was feeling particularly tired, the hiding spot that he chose was ridiculous.  On the seat of his tricycle, which sat two feet away from me.  We still went through the production of trying to find the apples but it took a lot of acting on my part.  I'm constantly trying to sniff out the smell of any rotting apples that I may have overlooked, but I think that we are in the clear.

 In addition to hiding his apple slices, Charlie continued to practice his beautiful smile, adding a move that result in him pushing in both of his cheeks to the point that his eyes aren't even open.  It is quite the look.

 Enjoying another one of his birthday presents - a tunnel that he typically likes to use to hide all of his toys.  Maybe I should be concerned about his desire to hide toys and food?  I guess as long as he doesn't find the candy bars that I have hidden in the pantry then I should be OK. 

 We went back to Cascade to celebrate Christmas with our families and the picture below is the only picture I captured of Charlie opening a present (this one was a big truck filled with little cars...perfect for the two-year-old obsessed with modes of transportation).  My lack of picture-taking is shameful. 

 The fun of opening presents resulted in Charlie konking out during the Chiefs football game on BJ's chest.  I think about 10 minutes into the nap BJ started to feel the heat of the additional 33 pounds that was sweating on his stomach but I told BJ that if he moved Charlie and Charlie woke up, BJ was going to get him back to sleep and the risk of missing some of the Chiefs game made holding the hot toddler seem like the better choice.

 Our first attempt at a family picture on Sunday morning.  We thought that the angle looked a little odd, but we were pleasantly surprised that Charlie had a semi-normal smile.

 Attempt number 2 where it looks like BJ's holding me captive and Charlie is starting to display his goofy, underbite/side smile trademark.

 A picture of the Gehl cousins in attendance at Christmas.

 Then we forced Grandma and Grandpa to join in on the picture-taking festivities.

Santa came to our house on Sunday night so we had the fun of opening Santa gifts on Monday, the 26th.  It's a little bit of a blur, but between Santa, the grandparents, and aunts, Charlie received many nice gifts and is a lucky little boy.

Happy New Year!

Two

I guess that it was inevitable.  Three hundred sixty-five days after turning 1, Charlie turned 2.  BJ and I took the day off yesterday to have a "fun" day with Charlie.

We started the day by visiting Monkey Joe's, an indoor inflatable play place in the area.  Given his love for jumping and acting like a crazy kid, Charlie had a great time. 

 Peeking down one of the slides before racing down.  Charlie wanted to go down every slide, including the slides that seemed far too big for him.  The boy has no fear and, thankfully, the inflatables kept him protected.

 After some fun time at Monkey Joe's, we headed to the mall to meet Santa.  Charlie was talking it up about how he was going to sit on Santa's lap and give Santa a hug and a kiss.  I thought that Charlie might become a little apprehensive when he saw the whole North Pole get-up, but his enthusiasm remained.

Waiting in line with BJ...still acting brave about seeing Santa.

 Getting closer in line...the bravery was starting to fade at this point, so much so that Charlie refused to have his back turned completely to Santa.

 Charlie and I talking about Santa and how he was a nice guy...Charlie was starting to think that this whole Santa character was a little suspect.

Finally - it was our turn and Charlie was not about to be handed over to a stranger.  We settled on a walk-by meet and greet.  Charlie did give Santa a high-five, but when retelling the story today has indicated that he gave Santa a hug and kiss.  

 Following Monkey Joe's, a visit with Santa and lunch, Charlie was a tired boy on the way home.  Unfortunately, he only slept for a few minutes in the car and not at all the rest of the day so he was pretty tired for his party this morning.

 My sister Molly and two of her three girls came last night to help us get the party started.  Charlie and Hannah enjoyed a snack while watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." 

 We tried, in vain, to get a decent family picture before the party got underway.  Below are the results of this attempt.

 Charlie enjoying lunch with Grandma Kathy, Nana Jan, Claire and Hannah.

 Eyeing his cupcake while we all sang Happy Birthday. 

 Charlie was all over the frosting and the M&M's that decorated his cupcake.  In fact, I think that he ate a few crackers and M&M's for lunch today.  He did have his two vitamins this morning so I guess one lunch that is primarily M&M's is OK.

Charlie was a lucky little boy and he received some great gifts (a backpack, bulldozer, play tents, bath toys, little lawn mower).  BJ and I have decided to fully embrace his love for jumping so we gave him a trampoline.  I think that he liked it since he jumped on right away and proceeding to jump and shout with joy for the next couple of minutes.

 In fact, Charlie spent a lot of time on the trampoline again later this evening, adamant that the balloon bouquet deserved to participate in some of the fun.

Within the last few weeks, Charlie suddenly seems like a little boy instead of a toddler.  In some ways, I can't believe that he is 2 as it doesn't seem that long ago since he was born, but in other ways it is hard to remember life before he was here.  Copper remembers life before Charlie and he thinks that it was much better, but I thoroughly disagree.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving back in Cascade.  Charlie's obsession with lawn mowers and the four-wheeler was in full force so Charlie was lucky enough that BJ and Papa Steve indulged him.

Charlie and BJ on the first four-wheeler ride.

It didn't take long for Papa Steve to fire up the lawn mower...never mind that it was stored away for winter...

The second four-wheeler ride.  By this time, Charlie took over driving and Copper refused to miss out on the action.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with both sides of our families and Charlie loved spending time with his cousins.  He also developed (in time for these pictures) this underbite/scrunched up smile.

 The unique smile continued in this picture with Hannah and Tyler.

We hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I am particularly thankful for a certain underbite/off-center smile.