Charlie is One!

I know I say this every time, but I can't believe our baby is one!  In the scheme of things, he is still a baby but so much growth happens in the first year that I always find myself looking back in amazement.  

I tucked my sweet, cuddly boy into bed the night before his birthday and gave him an extra squeeze.  I whispered that no matter how old he gets, he will always be my baby.  Charlie grinned at me and kept on sucking his thumb.  It almost pained me to lay him down in his bed.

He has had two big-boy haircuts with the clippers, which I've almost forgiven Joel for.

(Charlie at nine months old, uncut.  See all the cute blond pieces that are now gone?)

Here he is, two big-boy haircuts later.  At least Charlie still has those very smooshable, kissable cheeks.

Charlie is fun because he is usually happy.  He is entertained by everything.

Charlie recently learned what a dog is, so we spend part of every day looking out the windows for dogs.  Charlie jabbers and points excitedly but we have seen very few dogs, so sometimes I wonder if I have confused him and he thinks we're pointing at something else entirely. 

Charlie loves it when we call his name.  He'll look at us no matter what he is doing and give us a grin.

One funny thing about Charlie is that he hates noises he doesn't understand.  He has been this way since he was a newborn; I'd carry him tightly swaddled against me in the moby wrap as we would go about our day, and through the deepest sleep, Charlie would jump about a mile high every time he heard a sudden sound.

Charlie cries when he hears the musical background to Angry Birds.  Today when Charlie crawled by the printer, it randomly turned on, jabbing him into a fit of panic.  

He used to cry when he heard the vacuum, but he has since accepted that noise and has settled for the vacuum warily.

Charlie loves to listen to us talk to him.  He especially loves when we make funny noises.  Despite his aversion to strange sounds, there isn't a whole lot we can do with our voices that scares him.  I have even spoken sternly to him a couple of times when he messed with something dangerous, but he just looked at me and giggled.

He has started scrunching his face up like this.

And he frequently gets this jolly look.  Now that he has gained some weight and gotten back on the growth chart, his double chin doubles our enjoyment.

Charlie is doing all of the normal just-barely-one things, like pointing and jabbering and looking for things and figuring out puzzles of various kinds, playing peekaboo and chasing (or being chased), and liking a food one day and refusing to have anything to do with it the next.

He loves to clap.

He still loves sucking his thumb.

He is not done teething (eight teeth down, four big molars to go).

Charlie also feels the need to exercise the teeth he's grown.  Unfortunately for James, Charlie loves to chew on (and climb on, and mess up) the toddler bed.  

He loves climbing the stairs.

He is good at coming back down now, so we are not on constant alert like we have been.  We like to tease him by letting him get most of the way up and then calling him from the bottom.  He'll turn his head, grin at us, and then slide right back down.  Then someone will go to the top and call him again and Charlie will pop right back up again.

The railings are always fun.  Charlie likes to grab us through them.  He laughs and laughs and laughs like it is the best prank in the world.

Charlie loves crawling.  His balance is not developed enough to be very close to walking but I don't think he feels he is missing out.  He crawls quickly and cruises along the furniture and that is good enough for him.

Besides, there are about a million people in this house who just love carrying Charlie anywhere he wants to go.

He is easily portable.

I think the kids enjoy carrying him more than he enjoys being carried.  William, who likes to grab Charlie and then just dump him topsy-turvy in random places, especially is overly confident in Charlie's ability to right himself once set down.  Charlie has learned to avoid being carried by William but is not fast enough to be successful in evasion.

Charlie does, however, completely trust and adore Ashley.

I can't end this post without a big shout-out to Charlie's favorite blanket.

It is soft and fleecy and has bright colors.  Charlie loves it.  He rubs the corners along his face while he sucks his thumb.  All we have to do is say the word "blankie" and Charlie giggles and giggles until we find it.  If I find this blanket and scoop Charlie up onto my lap, I am guaranteed some cuddles, even if he was in the middle of something engaging.

I think he likes the word "blankie" even better than the word "milk", which is saying something.

Charlie hates oranges and eggs, and really anything if the mood strikes.  It is difficult to predict what he will be willing to eat.  One meal he refused to eat strawberries, grapes, watermelon, and honeydew but loved the ham.  You can be sure that the next day he would reverse all that.

My favorite thing about Charlie is that he loves to cuddle.  He loves to snuggle right into me.  If I'm sitting somewhere, he'll come and find me and melt right into me.  If I'm walking around, he'll find me and demand to be picked up so he can wrap his left arm around my neck, lay his cheek against mine, and put his right thumb in his mouth.

Even though I am sad that Charlie is growing out of the baby stage, I am excited to see where this happy, easy-going guy will go in life.

James is Three!

James turned three at the beginning of December.  He had been anticipating that day for a very long time.  He can't hold three fingers up yet, but that doesn't stop him from holding all five of his fingers out at an awkward angle and telling people, "I'm three!"

James is quick to remind anyone who says otherwise that he is indeed a big boy.  

He really believes that he is.

James still loves his moose.  I told myself a long time ago that when he turned three, I'd make sure he stopped bringing it with him everywhere we go.  But now I don't have the heart to do it.  I can wait until he's four, right?  

That moose is James's lifeline.  He is soothed by it in every way.  He loves the antlers so much that I've had to sew the ends back up three times and stitch the entire things back on twice.  The stuffing has worked its way out of a particular section the antlers thanks to James's constant stroking of his favorite part.  He likes to hold that piece of the antler under his nose as he sucks his thumb.  The fur is matted and will forever smell like a variety of food, no matter how many times we wash it.  The stuffing in the body is squashed and mashed and lumpy and much less pillow-y than it began.  James holds it around the neck so often that the head flops and lolls about

When James is upset (which is relatively often), he will sob, "I want my moosie!"  And usually the kids run and get it for him.  When he gets hurt, he doesn't even have to ask (but he does).  The kids find the moosie.  

I even let him take it to the store.  I know I am a total pushover about it.  I think I am ok with that fact.  

James gets stressed very easily, especially in new situations.  He always wants his moose and a few snuggles from me.  If he gets those things, he is back to normal pretty soon.

James has a silly side.  We all love this side of him.  He loves to crack jokes.  He delightedly points out when other people are joking as though it is the cleverest thing he's ever seen.  "You're joking!" he'll say, pointing at the person of interest and giggling.

He doesn't,  however, enjoy anyone cracking a joke at his expense.  

James has always been clever about getting what he wants.  Does he manipulate me?  Oh yes.  I play into it all the time.  He is too smart for his own good.

He doesn't get Joel nearly as often, but James gets him more often than any of our other kids did.  

One day our neighbors, who are our good friends, sent over a plate of cookies.  The kids ate them up and James wanted more.  When I told him there were none left, I was surprised when he didn't complain.  A few minutes later, James reappeared through the garage door with two cookies in his hand.  I opened my mouth to say something but James beat me to it.  "Mommy," he said quickly and sweetly, "I got this cookie for you!"

 I asked my neighbor about it and she said he rang her doorbell and asked for "a few more cookies for my mom."

She laughed and brought him two and let him know that his mom could have as many cookies as she wanted.  

James just replied, "This isn't a few."  She laughed again and sent him home.

James was clever enough to get more to eat under the ruse of doing me a favor.  Did that surprise any of us?  No.

James is very sweet as well.  Once, we were driving in the car late at night and William was a little scared.  Through his whimpering we heard James pipe up repeatedly until someone acknowledged his sentiment:  "William, don't worry.  I am right here with you!"

Or James often finds me upstairs and says, "Mommy, will you come down and snuggle with me?  Because I am all alone down there and I don't like to be alone."

I was recently very sick and spent much of the day laying down in my bed.  James came up to find me and said, "Mommy, will you come downstairs with me?"

"Oh, I can't right now buddy, I'm sorry," I replied weakly.

"I will get you some water."

I laughed.

James looked perplexed.  "But mommy, you told me this morning that water will help you feel better."

James also wants to be friends with everyone, especially his siblings friends.  William's best friend lives next door and James spent all summer a little jealous of the attention William and his friend paid each other.  

One night as I was tucking James in bed, he said to me matter-of-factly, "Mommy, Alanna likes me a little and she likes William a lot."  He was upbeat about it but also spoke so I knew he knew the case was closed on that subject.

James loves to work a situation to his advantage.  Case in point: a recent bedtime conversation with him. 

James loves having a fan running while he goes to sleep.  Ashley doesn't.  This is somewhat problematic as they share a room.  However, Ashley usually falls asleep immediately which leaves our awake James able to ask for the fan to be on, free and clear.

A few nights ago, James was a little over eager.

James:  Ashley is asleep so I can go turn on the fan.

Ashley:  I am not asleep yet, James.

James:  Ashley, you need to go to sleep or you will be in trouble.

Ashley:  Sorry James, I am not sleeping yet.

James:  But Ashley, you need to go to sleep so I can turn the fan on!

Me:  Why don't you ask Ashley nicely, and if she says no then you will just have to wait.

James:  Ashley, can I please have the fan on?

Ashley:  (shakes head no)

James:  Awwww.

Ashley (to me):  Why does he even need the fan on?  He is just going to get in bed with you anyway.

Me:  Well, not until morning.

James:  I only snuggle with Mommy in the morning time.  Not at night.

James (to me):  I snuggle with you every morning, because I like snuggling with you.

This brings me to another point:  I've never let any of my children come sleep with me for as long as I have let James.  For one thing, I'm tired and don't usually notice him slyly slipping under the covers on my side of the bed.  For another thing, I don't have the heart to move him.  He is so sweet when he is snuggling.  

I mean, how can I say no to this face?  

James loves watching his favorite shows and will watch them all day long if we let him.  In the past few months he's been into Clifford and Scooby Doo.  You'd think he loves Scooby Doo for the dog, but he loves the show because he loves Daphne.  When we turn it on, James loves to say, "Mommy, you and me can be Daphne."  I am not sure why he picked her out as his favorite but he is a die-hard Daphne fan.

Very recently, James got into Spiderman--specifically the show from the early eighties with Firestar and the Iceman.  I've tried him on other Spiderman series but he doesn't want anything to do with them.  They are not the true Spidermans, apparently.

So far, James is the only one of my kids who really loves dressing up.  He has worn Everett's old Spiderman costume night and day for the past three days.  He is amazed by Spiderman's abilities.  He loves everything about the show.   He cannot be Spiderman without also wearing the plastic mask we have, also a first in our family.

He loves to knock me out.  Then he'll inform me about what being dead is all about (this has been a topic of interest for him for the past six months).  

"Mommy, I need to tell you something.  When humans be dead, they have to close their eyes.  But I'm not dead anymore!"

It was with great pleasure that we threw James a little family birthday party.

He got many nice presents from his grandparents and his siblings, including this train from my grandparents.  They have made one for the other kids and James had anxiously been waiting for his turn to receive the coveted package in the mail.

Thanks to William, James is also into dinosaurs big time.  So of course James wanted a dinosaur cake.  No problem!  That is one of the easiest cake shapes to make.  Even though he knows many complicated dinosaur names and how to tell a styracosaurus from a triceratops, he was content with a simple, vague, dinosaur shape.

Anything with candles, right?  James was so excited to blow out his candles.

Silly Papa put a trick candle in there, so Ashley helped him out.  If you blow out a trick candle enough times, it will eventually go out.  What fun.

It's been a great year with James.  I had to call poison control on him one time, but that was manageable.  James found a small bottle of children's liquid ibuprofen (I don't know where) and opened it (I don't know how) and drank it down.  The poison control rep said he could drink the whole bottle and be perfectly fine.  Thank goodness.  When I asked James about it, he simply said, "But Mommy, I had a cough!"  

I'll close with one final gem.  

One day James found something of Everett's, probably an intricate lego creation.  I discovered this and said, "James, that is Everett's and he doesn't want anyone to play with it."

"But Everett's at school!"  James insisted, with a twinkle in his eye.

William's Preschool Field Trip

William had a preschool field trip at the beginning of the school year.  He was thrilled.  I couldn't stay away--his class was going to a place that would also entertain James, and how could I miss William's first field trip?

It's a good thing the parents were welcomed, or I might have just followed the bus in secret.

Where did they go?  Our local apple orchard.  Now, this is not just an orchard.  The owners have built an entire enterprise here--there are games, food buildings, live animals, enormous in-ground bouncy pillows, and the list goes on.  

William and his class stopped for a photo before they went into the farm.  I am amazed they got all these four-year-olds to sit for the picture.  They all seemed pretty antsy to get in there.

After tasting some different kinds of apples, the kids were all invited to go on a hay ride.

A nice person in front of me volunteered to take our photo.  William is not smiling but he was having a lot of fun.  There were many fun things to look at, including a herbie volkswagen look-a-like.

We did a bunch of other activities, including those enormous bouncy pillows.  I've never seen anything like them, but they are much better than trampolines.  

Preschool was officially over, but the boys and I had to stay for some more fun.  

For instance, we had to do this:

It is exactly what it looks like--the most fun slide in the world.  The kids slide down on burlap sacks.  It is fast and fun and even safe.

It is, however, a long, steep walk back up to the top.  Even though I volunteered to help, James insisted on carrying his own sack by himself all the way up   You can see him in this picture about halfway up, the sack slung over his shoulder.

I think it is the ride back down that makes the climb all worth it.

We had some pretty pink cheeks when all was said and done.  I think we did this for almost an hour.

One of the other fun parts of this farm is the giant corn pit.  It is usually pretty crowded but it wasn't on this day.  We enjoyed the relative quiet and we didn't even mind getting corn kernels in our pants.

These boys are pretty good buddies.

Even Charlie was interested.

The boys' favorite part is the leaping.  There aren't too many places in their little worlds where they are allowed such unabashed jumping.

My favorite thing about Charlie, especially at this age, was how he'd always press his cheek against mine when I held him.  

But I love cuddles from my other boys as well.  We have so many kids in this house, I could cuddle all day if I wanted to.

Usually I do want to.  And usually my kids want me to as well.  But "getting things done" takes precedence (too?) often, for better or for worse.

I was glad to share this day with William.  He laughs all the time, is agreeable, and constantly a source of fun.  He sparkled with delight through the activities, especially when we finished our day with a fresh apple cider donut!

Obstacle Course--Keeping the Kids Busy

One beautiful evening in October, Joel was gone and the kids were getting punchy, so we set up an obstacle course in the backyard.  We played and ran on that thing for quite some time.  The kids got their energy out and as I recall, they all had a great night's sleep!  That sounds like a win-win to me.

William didn't seem too frustrated that he wasn't as fast or as agile as his older siblings, but he is almost ready to give them some pretty tough competition.

Everett really got into it, but that is no surprise--he is fully vested in any sort of competition.

Ashley loved it as well.  She just loves moving her body around.  

She especially loves moving like a cat.  Here she is traveling the course like a speeding feline.

She even convinced everyone to have a go at it, cat style, but I think that even though her brothers agreed, they all figured they would do it their own way anyway.

I think we'll do this again (at least, that is what I told myself on that day, but here we are almost three months later and we have yet to set up another obstacle course).  

But I really mean it this time--we will have to do this again!