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!!