Happy New Year!

Or, more accurately, "Happy Hmmm Hmmm!"

Cheering Section

Lately Charlie has become my own personal cheering section.

For instance, at dinner this evening as I was eating asparagus:

CHARLIE: "Yaaay! Good job Momma! You eating you veggies!"

Or after dinner when we were coloring together:

"Good job, Mama! You draw horsey! Good job!!"

This morning he even applauded me for putting my coat on. All the praise is getting a little daunting. Hopefully it won't go to my head.

Blame Family Ties

for my lack of blogging over the weekend. I purchased the first two seasons on dvd and have been working my way through all 44 episodes at record pace... I should re-surface by the end of the week...

After Christmas Letdown

Or, more likely, really short memory:

CHARLIE: (while playing with his train table) "Where Santa Claus?"
ME: "He's back home at the North Pole. He delivered all his presents yesterday and now he's resting."
CHARLIE: (looking around, baffled) "Where my presents?"

Christmas Pictures

Christmas Morning

Santa's Helpers

were hard at work this evening!

Vendetta

Charlie woke up yesterday morning with an apparent vendetta against one of his classmates.

"Teddy* hurt me," he announced as I picked him up out of his crib.

"I think you probably had a bad dream," I told him as I carried him over to his changing table to get him dressed.

Unfazed, Charlie continued: "Teddy pushed me. Teddy took my leggos. Teddy spilled my cheerios."

He then squeezed his fist tight so his fingernails were digging into his palm. "Teddy did that," he announced, opening up his hand to reveal the red marks he had just made.

"Tell his teachers to keep him away from Teddy today," I warned Mike as we left the house.

*Teddy's name has been changed to protect the innocent.

Ice

After the 20+ inches of snow that got dumped on us over the weekend we have something new and exciting to deal with, thanks to the rain late yesterday and near zeron temperatures today: Ice. I managed to stay on my feet all day until coming out of the mall this evening carrying Charlie, when I slipped. Charlie was unhurt, as Mike observed "Mama broke your fall."

Upon hearing this Charlie proceeded to yell: "Mama broke my balls! Mama broke my balls!"

Early Christmas At The Robinsons'

Here are some pics from our Christmas get-together at Phil & Sue's today. For some reason Charlie has a deer-in-the-headlights look in all of them, honestly not sure why...

Heading to Phil & Sue's in a blizzard (this was taken on the highway at 11am):


Charlie apparently fearing for his life while heading to Phil & Sue's in a blizzard:


Snuggled up on the couch but apparently still traumatized:

Opening presents:

Mmmm this popcorn is a hit (but for some reason I still don't look that happy):

Ill Fated Mall Trip

We attempted to go to the mall this afternoon for last minute christmas shopping and dinner. Not so successful. The normally ten minute trip took us 45 minutes because of the snow, broken traffic lights and various idiots on the roadways. Then when we got to the mall we had been there maybe 3 minutes -- literally hadn't even finished walking through Sears to the mall proper -- when the power went out in the entire mall and we had to evacuate. It then took us 40 minutes just to get out of the mall parkinglot in the mayhem of every person at the mall attempting to leave at once.

No, not a good trip at all.

Still Snowing...

Here are a couple pictures from my mangled camera:
Snow baby:

Still snowing:

We've only managed to go out once so far today, to the grocery store, as we are the only people alive who do a big shop *after* a snowstorm... If we make it out again today I will take a few more pics.

Blizzard & Santa Claus

It is currently snowing between 1 and 2 inches an hour with ridiculous winds but you will have to take my word for it because when I attempted to take a picture for this post, the front door blew open and in my attempt to grab it and pull it closed I crunched my camera in the hinges of the door and broke the flash. So you will have to wait till tomorrow morning for after the blizzard pics.

On an unrelated side note, Charlie was completely traumatized by his Christmas party's Santa Claus this morning and is still muttering "No sit in my lap! No sit in my lap!"

Let It Snow

We are supposed to get a foot of snow tomorrow, starting late morning and continuing through into the evening. Charlie will be happy -- he was asking for snowballs this morning. Tomorrow is his christmas party at daycare, but thankfully the party is in the morning. Mike is working from home and then going to pick Charlie up at 12:30, hopefully before the roads are too completely terrible.

In honor of our first real snow storm I ordered these for Charlie. They won't arrive in time for this storm, or the next one (sunday night) but maybe by the next one...

Christmas Shopping

For myself, of course.

Since my presents aren't going to be a surprise to myself, they might as well not be a surprise to anyone else either.

I got these and these (the leopard pair at the top right) as well as a black hoodie with a white embroidered dove on it and two long sleeved tee shirts from Lucky Brand Jeans Co that I could not find on-line to show you. All will be wrapped and put under the tree so it will be almost like being surprised...

Obsessively Geeky Carseat Post

After obsessing for hours (no actually months) about Charlie's next carseat (The Britax Regent? The Britax Frontier? The Graco Nautilus? The weight limit? The height limit? The seated height limit? Does it come with a cup holder?) I finally purchased the Britax Regent after having been deemed certifiable by my co-workers due to the amount of time and energy I put into the decision.

Christmas Party

Yes, the girl writhing around on the bar would be my (former) boss, and yes I am hung over.

A Little Bit Confused...?

As I was putting Charlie to bed a few minutes ago, he noticed that I was wearing my hair down. This was apparantly unusual enough for him to comment on -- he grabbed a handful and said "Fix your hair, Mama!" Then he stopped, looked at me again, and said "Hi Mandy! Hi Mandy!" I actually had to correct him, as he was still calling me Mandy as I put him into his crib, and he still didn't seem entirely convinced when I turned out the light.

Weekend Plans

Because its never too early to think about the weekend.

Tomorrow after work we are going to head to the mall for dinner and some Christmas shopping.

Saturday we have my work Christmas party at a local Chinese restaurant which should be fun and will hopefully involve a lot of alcohol ;) Sue and Andrew and Kyle are coming over to babysit Charlie; he will enjoy spending some time with his aunt and cousins.

Sunday we are going to head up to New Hampshire to visit Grampy & Grampy Robinson.

Let the weekend begin!

Ring Around The...

CHARLIE: "I want to play Ring Around The Red Sox!"
ME: "You want to play Ring Around The what...?"
CHARLIE: "Red Sox!"
ME: "Rosie..?"
CHARLIE: "Rosie! I want to play Ring Around The Rosie!"

Oookay...

Messy Burp

Charlie threw up twice last night -- he woke up calling "Mama! I made messy burp in my cribby! I made messy burp!"

Wonderful mother that I am, when he woke up this morning and seemed his usual chipper self, I sent him to daycare.

He lasted an hour and a half before he threw up all over himself and I had to go get him and bring him home. In twenty degree weather with no shoes (those having been thoroughly barfed on.) Bad mommy.

O Christmas Tree

Charlie had a very fun time "helping" to decorate the Christmas tree this afternoon, with only one broken ornament to show for it. Here is the finished product:

First Snow

The Irony

Charlie slept until 8am this morning, after sleeping all through the night. Of course, he would do this on a saturday when I have to work, so I could not benefit from his sleeping late.

And now, what is he doing after Mike took him to FunLand and had him run around like a maniac all morning?

He is not napping.

A Shout Out

to Mandy for the updated look of my blog! Thanks!!

Lessons in Sharing

Charlie still has not quite gotten this concept down sometimes. Case in point: dinner this evening. After dinner Charlie asked for a treat, so I gave him a choice of either M&Ms or Oreos. He chose M&Ms and I settled down next to him with a handful of oreos, which of course was asking for trouble.
CHARLIE: (Immediately looking with interest at my oreos) "I have oreo, Mommy?"
ME: (handing him one) "Yes, if I can have an M&M."
CHARLIE: "No! No have M&Ms."
ME: "But I gave you an oreo so now it's your turn to give me an M&M."
CHARLIE: "No! You have plenty oreos, Mommy; eat your oreos."

Yeah, we'll keep trying...

Cousins Pictures -- Then & Now

Thanksgiving 2007:


Thanksgiving 2008:


Maybe we'll have better luck in 2009?

Frequent Flyer

I think with this last flight (Charlie's 5th) he has mastered the whole flying thing. He has finally figured out that the plane goes up in the sky as opposed to the water ("Plane go in the water! Plane in the water!" Umm no honey, not unless we are very unlucky...)He was also able to entertain himself (albeit with the the help of the dvd player)for the whole flight, leaving Mike and I free to play sudoku. This was with the exception of takeoff and landing when he needed to be in my lap ("Be careful! Be careful plane!") but who doesn't get a little nervous with takeoff?

Home From Charlotte

We had a wonderful time in Charlotte, complete with a delicious turkey dinner, lots of kids free shopping (atleast for myself and Mandy), a trip to the movies, and lots of fun watching the cousins play together. Charlie misses cousin Ben and the cat very much, it is arguable which he misses more.

Thanksgiving Pictures

Oblivious Per Usual

Charlie was, as usual, oblivious when I tried to explain to him this morning that we were going on a trip tomorrow:
ME: "Charlie, we're going to get on an airplane tomorrow and go visit Aunt Mandy and Uncle Joel and Cousin Ben and Cousin Rebecca tomorrow, for Thanksgiving."
CHARLIE: (watching tv) "Look at that monkey!"
ME: "So you're not going to school tomorrow; we're going to get up early and go have a fun weekend with your cousins."
CHARLIE: "That monkey's grumpy! Mama look at that grumpy monkey!"
Well, as usual, I tried.

Oversight

Today, it turned out, was the daycare's Thanksgiving day dinner. To say I "forgot" that it was today is a little bit of an overstatement, because while I did take note at some point in the last month that the daycare had an upcoming thanksgiving day dinner, it did not register with me enough to actually forget.

So, since I a) didn't send anything in for it and b) sent Charlie with his usual lunch, his teacher assumed that I did not want him to have the thanksgiving day dinner, most likely because of some (phantom) allergy related reason. So while the other children got to partake of turkey and stuffing and all the fixings my poor kid got a turkey lunchable.

Oh well, I suppose he is still too young to be scarred by it...

Snails Continued

Charlie continues on about snails in his crib, for the third day in a row. Last night he moved briefly on to spiders, but tonight he is solidly back on snails, and elaborated when I put him to bed tonight: "Bugs in my mouth, Mama."

I am beginning to wonder if I need to change his sheets...?

Fresh

Today Charlie said to Mike, in response to some comment or other of his: You're fresh! You're a fresh boy!"

Snails

Charlie is forever coming up with new and innovative ways to keep us all sleep deprived. His latest, which kept us all up from midnight to almost 4am last night and which he continues to run with tonight, is that there are snails in his crib that are biting him. This has necessitated multiple occasions of taking everything out of his crib to show him that there are no snails, and multiple reminders that snails don't even have teeth.

Wish us luck tonight -- we all need sleep!!

Photo Shoot

Haircuts and Portraits

This morning we got Charlie's hair cut in preperation for pictures this afternoon; having his hair cut, it appears, continues to rank right up there with getting shots -- he cried the whole time despite being bribed with lollipops.

He enjoyed his photo shoot considerably more (see above pictures). He was very happy to climb up on the stage and pose for the camera ("Cheese!" he would say whenever he was asked to smile.) The main problem seemed to be the holding still part -- the photographer would get him situated and then would come at him with her feather "tickler" in hopes of getting him to smile. Charlie, however, would shriek, get up and run. We did, however, manage to get a few good shots.

Eating Like a Bird

After our allergy appointment this morning we bought lunch and headed over to my old job to eat with my former co-workers. I had bought Charlie a grilled cheese sandwhich and myself a greek salad with tunafish and balsamic dressing. Charlie decided, of course, that he would much rather have my salad than his sandwhich, so we sat together sharing it.

This turned out to be much to the amusement of my co-workers because Charlie does not actually like salad -- he is more a fan of the dressing -- so his eating salad meant that he would put a bite in his mouth, chew it up, and then regurgitate it right back into the salad, which I continued to blithely eat.

It was, they noted, like a mother bird feeding her baby, except in reverse.

The Allergist

So while my agenda for Charlie's allergy appointment this morning was to have Charlie re-tested for his egg allergy, it turns out the allergist had a completely different agenda. Namely, that Charlie needed to get his MMR vaccine, which has eggs in some way, shape or form in it. This, apparently, was more important than re-testig him for his egg allergy, which I was reminded was a severe allergy. ("What," the allergist asked, "happens when he is exposed to eggs?" "Nothing!" I replied for the one milliionth time.)

It turns out that getting your MMR vaccine when you are supposedly allergic to eggs is a big deal. They first had to give Charlie a skin test to see if he reacted to the MMR vaccine, which involved poking him with a little bit of the MMR vaccine (or the antigens or antibodies to it, or something), a control prick, and then a prick of histamine. Charlie did not like this procedure at all because, aside from all the pricking, the histamine produced a large itchy hive. Once they ascertained that Charlie had not reacted to the MMR vaccine, you would think they could then go ahead and give him the shot, right? Nope. They then proceeded to dilute the vaccine and give it to him in 3 stages (read 3 different shots) with a half hour wait in between each shot and again after the last one, apparently still looking for a life threatening reaction.

By the end of it poor Charlie was pretty much beside himself, depsite the lollipops administered after each shot and the promise of Dunkin Donuts afterwards.

As for whether or not we will ever get the OK to give Charlie eggs? Who knows.

Weekend Activities

This week my "weekend" is friday and saturday, because I am working sunday so I can take the friday after thanksgiving off without having to use a personal day.

So I am kicking off my weekend tomorrow by taking Charlie to the allergist. The allergist grudgingly agreed at our last appointment that we could re-test Charlie for his egg allergy after he turned two, probably just to get me off her back, seeing as our last appointment we went around in circles. (Allergist: "Charlie will never outgrow his egg allergy unless you completely elimintae eggs from his diet until he turns atleast 5 or 6." Me: "Charlie has never had an allergic reaction to eggs or anything with eggs in it." Allergist: "But if you don't atleast try to significantly limit his exposure he'll never outgrow the allergy." Me: "But he's never...") Please wish for me that tomorrow's appointment is somehow more productive.

Saturday we are taking Charlie to get his hair cut in the morning and then for professional pictures in the afternoon in his new holiday duds so we can get our christmas cards made and sent out in a timely fashion this year. Wish us luck with that endeavor too.

Mom Of The Year

Last night Charlie slept terribly -- he was up from 12am to 3am straight. He has a cough that woke him up, and once awake he was shrieking, playing, and generally carrying on noisily in his crib. I had given him Childrens Dimetapp before bed and it hadnt done anything at all, so I resorted to Vicks Vapo Rub. Two seconds after I rubbed it on his chest, Charlie started yelling:
CHARLIE: "Take it off! Take it off! Hurting my chest! Too hot! Too cold!"
ME: "Do you want more?"
CHARLIE: "No!!"
ME: "Then go to sleep!!"

Not exactly one of my finer moments as a mother.

Contrary

There is no other word to describe Charlie this evening. After a rough night of sleep last night and not much of a nap at daycare today (both thanks to bad dreams and a cough) he was in quite a state by dinnertime tonight. Dinner itself was an ordeal:
CHARLIE: (picking at his spaghetti and meatballs) "Don't want this. Want sandwhich."
Then, two minutes after I place a turkey sandwhich in front of him and he has painstakingly picked it apart and eaten none of it: "Don't want this. Want chicken nuggets." Then, 30 seconds after I place chicken nuggets in front of him: "Don't want this. Want cookies."

Nice try.

Charlie the Menace

Charlie was an accident waiting to happen today, even more so than usual. I didn't even get to witness most of it, because I worked and got home with only 2 1/2 hours to go till bedtime. But in those 2 1/2 hours Charlie outdid himself.

When I got home he was trying to hop up and down on one foot in front of an Elmo video. Unfortunately Charlie does not know how to hop up and down on one foot. He kept accidentally hopping up and down on *no* feet -- basically leaping up in the air and crashing down on his bottom.

After dinner Charlie decided he was going to play on his slide -- i.e climb to the top of it and swan dive off of it into his ball pit. Then he decided to make things interesting by climbing to the top of the slide, turning around, and keeling over backwards off his slide. I had to catch him and drag him away from the slide, enticing him with a game of kickball, which I erroneously thought would be safer.

About two minutes into the game Charlie dove for the ball and crashed head first into his toool bench. I felt a wave of Mommy guilt for luring Charlie away from the slide only to have him hurt himself anyway.

At that point I decided it was time to go upstairs to start his tubby. I turned the water on and left the bathroom for one nanosecond to throw Charlie's socks in his hamper, only to hear "AAAAAAAHHHH!" coming from the bathroom. I rushed back in time to see Charlie's feet sticking out of the tub; he had leaned over the side to get a toy and toppled in.

As soon as I fished him out he bolted out of the room. "Play catch you!" he yelled, wanting me to chase him. He promptly ran headlong into a laundry basket on my bedroom floor and went sprawling.

At this point I marveled that not only did we not end up in the ER tonight, but we never have.

I'm sure I just jinxed myself.

Rainy Saturday

Aka boring post.

It has been rainy and windy all day today. Charlie miraculously slept until 7am and then cuddled relatively quietly in bed with us until eight, watching Curious George. We didn't manage to get out of our pjs until almost 11am, when we decided to go to Kids Club FunLand, the only indoor playground in the area (you would think with sucky Massachusetts winters there would be more, but no.) Charlie had a fun time playing ski ball -- anything that involves throwing balls is right up his alley -- and playing in the tunnel gym. Unfortunately he is not quite at the stage where he will go in entirely without one of us -- he would climb in and disappear, only to start yelling a few minutes later: "MOMMA!!! MOMMA!! DADDY!" where upon one of us would have to climb in in search of him, only to find him perfectly fine. "What you doing in here?" he actually asked me once, after I came in after him. Ummm, coming in after you because you were screaming your head off for me, derr.

Now Charlie is down for a nap and we are contemplating going out for Mexican food when he wakes up, taking a walk to the restaurant if the weather cooperates.

Big Butts

This evening in the car Charlie was singing along with one of his childrens' cds when all of a sudden he said, "Mommy, I want to sing Big Butts! I want Big Butts!"

Oops -- which one of us was it that got him listening to Sir Mix A Lot?

Dreams Of A Two Year Old

Charlie woke up sobbing last night -- I went into his room to comfort him and he explained, "Bad dream Mama -- someone pushing me!"

Poor kiddo. I suppose it is the first of many...

Beach Bums

Cancun was a blast! Here are some pics:

Please stay tuned....

to Mandy's blog for now for updates and pictures of our trip to Mexico; I can't upload my pictures to her computer so I will have to wait till I get home to post them. Rest assured we are having a wonderful time though!!

The Comprehension of a Two Year Old

Tonight at dinner I tried to explain to Charlie that I would be going away for a few days, and that he would be spending a fun weekend with daddy.
ME: "Charlie..."
CHARLIE: "What?"
ME: "Tomorrow Mommy is going to take a plane ride to see Aunt Mandy for a few days and you're going to stay here with Daddy."
CHARLIE: "Mommy, you want a meatball?"
ME: "No, honey... So mommy will be away for a few days but I'll talk to you on the phone and I'll see you very soon..."
CHARLIE: "I got Coke in my mouth!"
ME: "Okay bud? So Mommy's going to go away for a couple days but I'll be home before you know it and you're going to have a special weekend with Daddy."
CHARLIE: "There're bubbles in my Coke!"*

In retrospect I lost him after "What?"


*It was caffeine free and I only gave him a tiny bit, I swear.

Congratulations President Obama

From Charlie

Bugs In There

This evening Charlie and I were reading "Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes" at bedtime when he all of a sudden thought a little girl in one of the pictures was picking her nose. He sat bolt upright, pointed, and shouted: "No picking nose!! There're bugs in there!!"

To The Inventor Of Daylight Savings

You obviously didn't have any children.

Please explain to me and my child, who has been up since 4:30am, why you decided to bestow this misery on our houseold.

Doesn't Take Much

Sometimes it just doesn't take much to make Charlie happy. This evening we were out to dinner and we ordered him a make your own sundae for dessert. The waitress brought it out and put it in front of him and Charlie's eyes lit up: "OH!! WHAT IS THIS?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" he exclaimed before digging in.

Trick Or Treat

The trick or treating this evening got mixed reviews. On the one hand, Charlie had no problem trotting up to strange houses, knocking on the door, saying "trick or treat", getting petted and pinched by old ladies, and getting his candy. On the other hand, he was absolutely terrified of the other trick or treaters. We did our best to stay clear of them but even still we only lasted about half an hour before Charlie was ready to come home. Once safely upstairs in the bathroom while his tubby ran, he sat down in my lap and told me morosely, "The costumes were too scary, Mama." My poor little pumpkin! Here is a video of him trick or treating; if you crank the volume all the way up you might be able to hear him say "trick or treat" and "thank you", but probably not.

Doggy on the Train?

As Charlie and I boarded the train on the way home from daycare today he started yelling and pointing: "I pet doggy! I pet doggy!" I looked hurriedly and saw no dog, but Charlie none the less continued to carry on about petting a doggy. Finally I looked more carefully in the direction he was pointing: it was a woman in a heavy fur coat. Who graciously did allow Charlie to pet her once she realized she was the 'dog' he was referring to.

Later when we were at home I asked Charlie, for Mike's benefit, if he remembered what he had seen on the train. "No I don't," he replied flatly, and returned to what he was doing.

Hmmm, maybe he was embarressed by his mistake.

Charlie's First Brussel Sprout

... was not a big success. He took one bite, spat it out into my hand with an offended look on his face, and then proceeded to lob the rest of the brussel sprouts on his plate across the table.

Hmmm, well that is sort of what I wanted to do with them too...

Charlie's Letters

Okay, ignore the fact that it is mostly scribble and it is on a pumpkin. Note the "G" up near the stem, which Charlie called me over to show me ("I draw Gorilla mommy!") amd the things that look sort of like "J"s in the middle/left of the pumpkin, which could be backwards Ls (or scribble) except that Charlie told me they were "baby jaguars" as he drew them, which is Charlie-speak for the letter J. Note also the many vertical lines which could be, just well, nothing, except for Charlie telling me he was drawing "iguanas" which is Charlie-speak for the letter I. He also drew several backward Cs ("I draw C for Charlie!") but they are not very visible in this shot. Maybe next time I'll give him a pen and paper instead of a pumplin and marker?

Talking To Himself

Charlie has recently discovered the pictures of himself on the refrigerator and has started having conversations with them:
"Hi Charlie! Look, Charlie -- I got bagel! You got bagel too? You want my bagel?"
I suppose it is good that he is sharing...

Pumpkins

While Mike carved our Jack O' Lantern this evening, Charlie decorated his own.
Mike's pumpkin:

Charlie's pumpkin:

The 'Why's Have Begun

A whole new line of questioning has finally opened up for Charlie now that he has mastered not only the 'where' and the 'what' but now finally the 'why':
"Why you still eating, Mama?"
"Why we going this way?"
"Why you doing that?"

Because... Because... Because...

Carrots for Breakfast?

We went to IHOP for breakfast this morning. Charlie was looking forward to his chocolate chip pancakes until we got there and he saw a picture on the wall of their steak dinner with a side of carrots. This precipitated a broken record request for carrots, never mind that the kid has never willingly eaten a carrot in his life: "I want carrots... I want carrots... I want carrots..." This persisted right up until his food was brought -- I had to tell him he was having chocolate chip carrots and sausage carrots in order for him to eat his pancake and sausage links. This evening at dinner I offered him an actual carrot and he promptly spat it out with the appropriate choking and gagging noises. Behold the power of advertising...

Informant

Charlie is starting to be old enough to tell me interesting tidbits about his day. This afternoon I picked him up after his halloween party at school.
ME: "Miss Nicole said there were 2 monkeys in your class -- who else had a monkey costume?"
CHARLIE: "Gracie was monkey. She got time out."
ME: "Why did she get a time out?"
CHARLIE: "She took my book, she got time out."
ME: "Oh I'm sorry bud. What costume did James wear?"
CHARLIE: "I WANT CHEESE CURLS! I WANT CHEESE CURLS!"

Okay, he is informative up to a point.

Benefits of having A Two Year Old

An excuse to make Rice Krispy Treats:

You may place your bets now as to how many will actually be left by tomorrow morning for Charlie to take to daycare for their Halloween party.

Realizations

I came to the realization on Sunday that Charlie, at two and a half, is more coordinated than I am. This realization occurred during a game of catch, where Charlie caught the baseball every single time and I missed it every single time. I am grateful that Charlie has inherited his father's gross motor coordination rather than mine.

I came to the realization on Monday that while Charlie has inherited his father's coordination he has inherited my singing ability. Or more aptly my singing disability. This realization occurred while we were on the way home from daycare and Charlie was singing his ABCs and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" -- I marvelled that I could not have sung more off key and out of tune myself.

I attempted to get both Charlie's gross motor coordination and singing ability on video so you don't have to take my word for it, but Charlie is at a stage where he basically just throws a tantrum every time I turn the video camera on. I will however, keep trying.

"Yes Sir!"

This is Charlie's phrase of the moment. I have no idea where he got it from, seeing as I can not remember Mike or myself saying "Yes sir!" to anything, ever. Except today, in imitation of Charlie. Typical usage is as follows:
CHARLIE: "Daddy, will you read elephant book?"
MIKE: "Which elephant book do you mean? You want Little Elephant's Trunk?
CHARLIE: "Yes sir!"
I suppose this will serve him well if he decides on a military career.

Charlie Monkey

Rocking Horses

This is the rocking horse I have earmarked to get Charlie for Christmas:
Radio Flyer Rocking Horse
This is the rocking horse I have earmarked to get Charlie for Christmas if we unexpectedly come into a large sum of money:
Ridiculously Expensive But Gorgeous Rocking Horse
Yeah I'm thinking he'll be getting the first one...

Charlie's First Baking Lesson

We had a fun (and very messy) time this afternoon making sugar cookies with confectioner sugar icing:

Outright Brag

This evening after dinner Charlie re-discovered his alphabet magnets. To my surprise he knew every letter: "'K'! For Kangaroo! 'A'! That's a 'D' for doggy!" I tried to be sneaky and handed him a '5': "That's a number, Mommy!" he chastised me. He seems like he is on the way to learning to read already. Now if he could just learn to sleep through the night Mommy would be *really* proud.

Budding Artist

All day today Charlie has been carrying around a pen and spiral notepad. "I drawng Mama!" he says about every 3.5 seconds. "I draw lion! I draw rhino! Look! Look! I draw camel!" I dutifully look at his completely incoherent scribbles and exclaim appreciatively over what a good drawer he is. He pushes the pad of paper over to me. "Mama, your turn! You draw alligator!" I obligely attempt the requested alligator until Charlie interrupts me: "No Mama, that not right! It needs a tail!"

The Boy Who Was Afraid of Everything

Charlie has suddenly morphed from the Boy Who Was Afraid of Nothing to the Boy Who Was Afraid of Everything. He is afraid of your usual run of the mill two year old stuff: "It dark down there! Turn on light!" "Monster under bed in there!" as well as your somewhat weird stuff: "Scary elephant! Elephant bite me!" and your oh-my-god-you're-really-going-out-of-your-way-to-be-scared-stuff: "That scary house!" while pointing to a completely run of the mill house on the way home. God help me when Halloween rolls around in a couple of weeks...

Questions Not To Ask

When Charlie was a baby I got in the habit of asking him rhetorical questions -- rhetorical in the sense that I would ask a question with no intention of actually getting an answer, such as "What do you want for dinner tonight?" Then without really waiting for (or expecting) an answer, I would continue blithely,"How about chicken nuggets?" with Charlie pretty much oblivious to the entire exchange. I've discovered recently that I can't do this anymore. Now the conversation goes like this:
ME: "What do you want for dinner tonight? How about--"
CHARLIE: "I want blue and purple cookies!"
ME: "Umm, blue and purple cookies...? We don't have blue and purple cookies -- how about spaghetti and meatballs?"
CHARLIE: "NO!! I WANT BLUE AND PURPLE COOKIES!!!!"

Charlie's First Cannoli

After the circus we stopped by Mike's Pastries on our way home for their Florentine cannolis. Charlie was very appreciative.

The Greatest Show On Earth

We just got back from taking Charlie to the circus. For the most part he seemed to enjoy himself thoroughly -- he sat and munched on popcorn, head bopped to the music, clapped, and oohed and aaahed appropriately at the wide variety of animals and stunts. The only part he didn't like was the pre-show antics of some of the clowns: they were pretending to hit each other with golf clubs and poor Charlie was completely undone. Hours later when we got home he was still talking about how the "clowns need a time out."

Mommy & Baby

Pet Requests

Ever since Jessica and her dog Topaz left on Tuesday, Charlie has been asking for a dog. This afternoon's conversation went like this:
CHARLIE: "I have a doggy, Mama?"
ME: "Maybe when you're older, honey."
CHARLIIE: "I have a dragon?"
ME: "Umm, the house isn't big enough for a dragon."
CHARLIE: "I have a worm?"

In Less Than One Month....

Mandy and I will be here .
Let the preperations begin: I scheduled a hair appointment for the weekend before, I bought moisturizer with sunless tanner in it for my face, I am heading back to the tanning salon for a few sessions over the next few weeks, not to mention making sure my wardrobe is up to par. Time to get ready for vacation!!!

Lunch With a Dog

Jessica and I had a delicious lunch on Newbury Street this afternoon. Jessica's dog Topaz felt the need to get in on the picture:

Charlie & Topaz On The Beach

My Day Unraveled.

So here was the plan for today:
Go to work; have a nice productive day getting everything off my plate for my upcoming 3 day weekend. Leave around 3:15ish and go pick up Charlie from daycare. Stop by an ATM on the way home to get some cash so we can order pizza tonight. Get home, get Charlie fed, tubbied and to bed in time for Jessica to arrive sometime around 7ish.
Here's how my day actually went down:
Go to work, get one eval and two treatments done before my cell phone rings at 9:30am. Charlie has tripped over a toy firetruck and busted his lip wide open. Can I please come and take him to the dr. Call the dr -- they say to bring him right in. Catch a ride from the other OTR (thank you Melanie!) to his daycare, pick him up. Can he come back if the dr says he is ok? I ask. Umm no because what if he bumps his lip again? they say rather diffidently. Bundle Charlie, stroller, all of Charlie's crap in Melanie's car and drive to the drs office. Spend an hour having the pediatrician look at him, then the surgical specialist guy. No, they decide, it is not worth it to give him stitches -- he would need to be put under general anaesthesia. Just have him eat soft foods for the next few days and it should heal on its own. (Charlie by this point has completely forgotten about his lip and is his usual rambunctious self.) So I bundle Charlie into the stroller and head back to work where I, wonderful mom that I am, sit him in front of an entire tray of brownies (they're soft, right?) while I write up my eval and other paperwork.
Now I am finally home, with my half assed day done, and Charlie is down for a late nap. Oy. Hopefully the rest of the day will be less hectic!

My Semi-Annual Plea for Sleep

Pleeeaaaaase!! Let Charlie sleep through the night tonight!! He has woken up every single night this week from approximately 1am to 4am. He cries, I go into his room, he hugs me while looking glassy eyed over my shoulder -- if I ask him what's wrong or what he's looking at I get no response. Then he lies down, I leave, he cries. Lather rinse repeat. Last night I timed it -- the first time I went in it was 1:11am, the last time was 3:48am and there were eight times in between. If I don't go in right when I hear him, he becomes hysterical. This morning when I asked him why he hasn't been sleeping he said: "Scary animals, mama."

So Mike hid his big stuffed elephant (it is in that general vicinity that he is always peering when he wakes up) and I moved his new elephant mobile (also in that general vicinity) to where he can't as easily see it. Tonight for the first time in 3 nights he did not ask me as I was tucking him in if "the animals were sleeping too" so maybe that is a good sign? I dunno. My poor kiddo and my poor sleep deprived self!!

Ring Around The Rosy

Or, as Charlie calls it, "Pocket Posy Game", is Charlie's new favorite past-time. I mean, really -- running around in a circle and then falling down on command? And singing a little ditty to boot? What's not to love? We had to do it oh, about 80,000 times today. Possibly more. Jeez, if he thinks Ring Around The Rosy is fun just wait till he gets introduced to Duck Duck Goose...

Doggy Visitor

Today I attempted to explain to Charlie that we are having a dog staying with us over the weekend:
ME: "Mommy's friend Jessica and her doggy are going to stay at our house this weekend."
CHARLIE: "I get doggy?? Big black doggy?"
ME: "Well, she is big and black but she is just staying with us for a few days -- she's just visiting, then she'll go home."
CHARLIE: "I get doggy! I get animal! ROOAAAAR!!! CHARLIE GET RHINO!!!!!!!"
Hmmm, not sure how the dog morphed into a rhinocerous there....

The Monster Under The Bed

Charlie is afraid of the dark, and specifically of monsters under the bed.* "Turn light on!" he says to me before he will venture into the only-sort-of-dark livingroom to play.

At Grampy & Grampy Robinson's this afternoon he peered mistrustfully into their dark bedroom from where he was eating lunch in the kitchen. "Shut door! Monster under bed in there, Mama!"

"There is no monster in there, honey," I try to tell him.

"No Mama! Monster in there!" he insists.

I get up and shut the door.

"Thank you," he says, obviously relieved.

*We will not be assigning any blame in this post as to why he is suddenly afraid of monsters under the bed.

Happy Birthday Becca!

Take One:


Take Two:


Take Three:

Cool Kid

Charlie busted into the bathroom this morning wearing nothing but a Red Sox tee shirt and diaper -- Mike was in the middle of getting him dressed. "Mama, look!" he shouted, displaying his shirt, "I got Red Sox shirt! I so cool!"

Baby Got Back

Southwick's Zoo

Random

Sometimes the things that come out of Charlie's mouth are, well, random. This afternoon we were outside looking for Charlie's "baby ball" -- a little rubber ball that he loves to throw around outside, and since it is well, little, he loses it about twice an afternoon.
ME: (walking down the sidewalk with Charlie.) "I wish I could see but the sun is in my eyes."
CHARLIE: "Sun in eyes?"
ME: "Yeah."
CHARLIE: "Sun in eyes! Coke and donuts! Coke and donuts!"
Your guess is as good as mine...

"Oh My Gosh!"

Charlie says his new phrase with gusto:

Fringe Benefits of My Profession

Cooking group:


Thank Yous:

Mistaken Identity

PATIENT'S DAUGHTER: "Hi -- It's Amanda, right?"
ME: "It's Abigail, actually."
PATIENT'S DAUGHTER: "Really? Why did I think it was Amanda? You look like an Amanda."
ME: "Yeah I've gotten that before..."
This would not be so remarkable if it wasn't the THIRD time that I have been mistakebly called Amanda in the last two weeks. Except the other times were because there is a CNA named Amanda who works on the 4th floor of my building, and people for some reason think we look freakishly alike, despite the fact that she's a) skinnier and b) blonder. (Umm hello as if it wasn't bad enough to have ONE twin sister who is skinnier and blonder??)

Boys & Bugs

Charlie saw a worm last week.

He is still talking about it. It made quite an impression on him. To be sure, it was a very active worm, wriggling its little head (?) off, but really, how fascinating can a worm be? Very, apparently:
"Where worm go?"
"Where worm head?"
"I see worm again?"
"No eating worm -- very yucky!" (This last one worries me a little bit because it leads me to believe he may have considered eating the worm at one point...)
I thought we were over the worm, but then tonight during stories there happened to be a picture of a worm in the very bottom corner of a page and it started all over:
"I see worm again?"

I guess its true what little boys are made of...

Reaping the Rewards of Apple Picking

Zoologist in the Making

We took Charlie here this morning; it is free to MA residents on sunday mornings and wednesday afternoons, and was a great way to spend a rainy morning. Charlie ran around like a maniac yelling, pointing, making animal sounds, and well, generally just being Charlie. It was dark so not the best for taking pics, but here are a few:

Charlie looking at pickled things in jars:


Charlie and Daddy examining fossils under a magnifying glass:


Charlie meets a tiger:



Charlie explores the bird exhibit:

Honey-Pot Hill Orchards

Dragon Rides

This morning we took Charlie here
As we got in the car, I told Charlie we were going to a farm.
"A farm? A farm?" he replied. "We ride horsies?"
"No," I answered, "but we'll go on a wagon ride."
His eyes lit up. "A DRAGON ride??"
Despite my attempts to correct him he spent the hour long ride asking about the dragons.
In the end I think he enjoyed himself thoroughly despite the obvious lack of dragons. And tigers, which he apparently also thought should live on a farm. Pictures to follow.

My Son the Dog

Sea Horse Stress

Charlie woke up last night stressing about a sea horse. Yup, a sea horse. He woke up around midnight calling me.
CHARLIE: "Sea horse fall down? Sea horse have boo-boo?"
ME: "Huh?"
CHARLIE: (plaintively) "Sea horse running -- fall down, get boo-boo?"
It's about here that the light dawns and I realize that Charlie had been watching Shark Tales at dinner and that there is a scene in it with a sea horse race where the sea horse in the lead collapses just short of the finish line.
ME: "Umm... no... the sea horse is fine. He just had to take a rest, that's all. He didn't get a boo-boo."
Mental note to self: Pay attention to what Charlie watches on tv now that he actually remembers it.

Raincoat Melodrama

It was raining this afternoon when I picked Charlie up from daycare, and bad Mommy that I am I had forgotten to look at the weather forecast so was wholly unprepared for rain. I made do with putting Charlie in a hooded sweatshirt but nonetheless had to listen to this all the way home:
"Ouch! OUCH!! Rain bumpin' head! Rain bumpin' head! Where my raincoat? Need my raincoat!!"

Whole New Worlds of "Mine!"

Now that Charlie's vocabulary is expanding, he is taking the concept of "mine!" to whole new levels. I never realized how many different ways "mine!" could be said and expounded upon.
Charlie started bright and early this morning -- the first thing he said to me when I got him out of his crib was: "It's my firetruck! It's not yours -- it's mine!" while clutching said firetruck to his chest. Since it was a school day, I reminded him that he was going to school today and that he needed to share. To this he replied: "I share Theo. I share James. But it's mine." Well, I thought, atleast he said he would share -- maybe I won half the battle?
Until we got to Dunkin Donuts and Charlie started yelling to the man who happened to follow Mike into the store: "MY DONUTS! NOT YOURS! GET YOUR OWN DONUT!!"
Yeah we have a long way to go...

Conversations With A Squirrel

Charlie loves animals. He can probably name a hundred different kinds of animals. He talks about animals non stop. But in all other ways he is clueless about animals, as evidenced by the following conversation he had with a squirrel in the backyard today:
CHARLIE: "What you doing, squirrel...? You want ball? You looking for ball?"
ME: "He's looking for food, honey."
CHARLIE: "You want lunch? You thirsty? You want sippy?" (offers his sippy cup.)
ME: "That's nice of you honey, but squirrels don't drink out of sippy cups."
At this point the squirrel has had enough of Charlie and makes a beeline up a tree.
CHARLIE: "NO!! No climb tree squirrel! You get boo-boo!"
Atleast from this encounter we did establish that squirrels eat acorns and that they, unlike little boys, are allowed to climb trees.

Halloween Preview

Bottomless Pit

What Charlie ate today:

• 8 mini waffles
• 1 bowl of honey nut cheerios
• 1/2 of a sausage and cheese bagel sandwhich
• 1 box of yogurt raisins
• 1 mac 'n cheese with franks microwave bowl
• 1 container of applesauce
• 1 generous helping of Grampy's chicken pot pie
• 1 king sized kit-kat bar courtesy of Uncle Tom
• 1 brownie cupcake
• 8 chicken nuggets

Based on his cousin Ben, he is stocking up for the lean years ahead where he won't eat anything.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

And welcome to the wonderful world of internet Grampy & Grampy Robinson!

Scream

The following would be why we no longer allow Monsters, Inc. in the collection of dvds we take to restaurants to entertain Charlie with:

All Grown Up... Almost

Backpack... check!
Lunchbox.... check!
Security blanket... check!

Unreasonable Requests

I remember when Charlie was a baby and he would cry for no apparent reason -- I would think to myself 'It will be so much easier when he can tell me what he wants!'

Umm yeah -- I was wrong.

Welcome to my world of toddler requests:

Being tucked into bed: "I eat pizza now?"
Being herded into the car: "I watch movie?"
At breakfast: "I have meatballs?"
At dinner: "I have waffles?"
Randomly all day Saturday: "I ride horsey?"

I suppose you could call it progress...

Charlie's Halloween Costume

This is the last year Charlie will have no say in what he is for Halloween, I swear...
Here is a link to his costume. And for those of you who are wondering, yes I had to jump on it and order his costume two months in advance so as not to have a repeat of the frantic ebay-bidding of last year...

Little Red Sox Fan

Video Game Addicts

Yankees Suck! (But this Oreo is Delicious.)

Mr. Noisy

Mr. Noisy out-did himself this evening. We went out to dinner with Phil, Sue, Tom and the kids, and Charlie was extremely happy and hyper to be out with his cousins. Throw in that he was out waaay past his bedtime and you arrive at the following:
SUE: "So Mike said you worked this afternoon?"
ME: "Yeah, just for --"
CHARLIE: "ANDREW!! ANDREW!! LOOK!"
ME: "-- a couple hours --"
CHARLIE: "TIME OUT, PENGUIN, TIME OUT!!!"
ME: "--this afternoon."
SUE: "Was it just paperwork, or --"
CHARLIE: "AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!"
SUE: "--were you seeing patients?"
CHARLIE:"KYLE!!! KYLE!!! HAVE CHICKEN!! HAVE CHICKEN!!"
ME: "No, I was seeing --"
CHARLIE: "AAAAAAAAHHH!!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
MANAGER: "Hi little fella, is everything okay?"
CHARLIE: (looking up without missing a beat) "Don't like my chicken."
MANAGER: "Oh, is that what it is? We could hear you all the way in the kitchen!"
ME: (mumbling incoherently and trying to slide under the table) "Sorry..."

Saturday Fun

Charlie's day involved a petting zoo in the morning -- here is Charlie and a chicken:

And an afternoon spent in Aunt Sue's parents' pool:

Afterwards he was so tired that he was in bed asleep by 6:40pm! Here's to more days like today!

Daddy Confusion

For weeks now, Charlie has taken to pointing to random men when we are out in public and telling me (loudly) whether or not they're Daddy. 99.9% of the time they aren't, so it goes something like this:
CHARLIE: (pointing to random man) "That's not Daddy!" (Pointing again) "Noooo not Daddy!" (Yet again) "It's not Daddy!"
This afternoon we were taking the elevator at the T stop so of course Charlie had to take advantage of the dead silence and confined space to particularly embarress me.
CHARLIE: (locking eyes with unsuspecting man) "That's MY Mama! You not Daddy!"
Thanks for the clarification, kiddo...

Charlie's New Word

The Keratin Straightening Experience

Supposedly, for the next 3 to 5 months, I can roll out of bed with my hair pretty much looking like this*


*This miracle only took 5 hours to accomplish.
**Sorry for the gratuitous boob shot but its not like I have anything down there anyway.

How I Like to Watch The Backyardigans

aka I Don't Even Need A Fig Leaf.

Time Out!

Charlie has taken to doling out 'time outs' even more frequently than I do. The other day in the car I swatted at Mike for some comment he made only to hear the time out police in the back seat: "Mommy! No hitting Daddy! Time out!"

Or on the playground as some unwitting child brushes past him: "Hey! Hey guys! Time out!"

His stuffed animals are not exempt either. Last night I overheard him on the monitor: "Elmo! Elmo, stop it! Time out, Elmo!"

I just hope that whatever Elmo did he deserved it.

Charlie's Haircut

As you can tell from the video below, he was a little bit traumatized by the experience.

Too Old For This

All in all the Poison concert was a rockin' good time -- except for the part where the guy behind me barfed all over my purse... I suppose it could have been worse because a) he could have barfed all over the *contents* of my purse (everything inside was spared) and b) if I had actually been sitting in my seat he would have barfed all over my head and c) atleast I have an excuse to buy a new purse...

If This Week Doesn't Kill Me...

Yesterday I worked from 7am until 7:30pm, with a nice (not) half hour walk home to top off my day.

Today I worked from 7am till 11:30am when I got the Dreaded Call from daycare saying that Charlie was sick. This involved a mile and a half power walk to daycare to get him, and then a nice (not) mile and a half walk home carrying Charlie (did I mention he weighs over 30 lbs?) and the diaper bag and my pocket book in my arms because we did not have the stroller at daycare. Did I mention I woke up this morning with a stiff neck? Yeah -- now it is a stiff everything.

This evening I got to go back to work for an hour, and tomorrow morning I can look forward to working from 6am until ohhhh 6:45pm if I am lucky, 7:30pm if I am not. With of course the lovely walk up hospital hill and back to break up my day...

And did I mention I have a Poison concert to go to Thursday night?

Kill. Me. Now.

Caffeine Addict in the Making

This morning at 7am:
ME: "What do you want at Dunkin Donuts?"
CHARLIE: "Coffee!"

Fearless

For a complete link to Charlie's weekend, click here

Beach Daze