Christmas Morning

Santa Comes Around Pretty Early In These Parts...

For Santa

Charlie left cookies, milk, a sippy of apple juice and this cryptic note for Santa:

Lots of Snow

We woke up to lots of snow this morning -- here's a look at the 5 minutes of enjoyment Charlie got out of it before he decided it was waaay too cold and blowy for him:

35 Week Belly Shot

Weekend At CoCo Key Water Resort

We spent the weekend at Coco Key Water Resort, figuring we owed Charlie one last special weekend before the baby rocks his world. All in all it was a very nice weekend -- the water park was not crowded at all, the hotel was very nice, we were able to check into our room immediately upon arriving yesterday morning which meant we didn't have to deal with lugging extra bags or changing in the locker rooms at the water park, and Charlie had a great time in both the water park and the arcade. I however, was pretty useless, dealing with not only the aches and pains of being 35 weeks pregnant, but still limping from just having had an ingrown toenail removed, and also dealing with an ear infection. So I must give Mike a shout out for running ragged with Charlie throughout the water park while I sat on the sidelines...
Here are some pics.

New TV

Thanks to a super deal at Best Buy and a little bit of wheeling and dealing we got this Panasonic 42 inch plasma for $420! I tried to convince Mike that we needed to replace the tv in the livingroom as well, but he wasn't feeling it...

Psychic Preschooler?

We are going to Coco Key Water Resort this weekend and I just had the following conversation with Charlie:
CHARLIE: "Daddy and Charlie are going to go to the water park with slides and Mommy is going to go to the hospital to have the baby come out of Mommy's belly?"
ME: "No! I'm going to the water park with you and Daddy!"
CHARLIE: "The baby is going to come out of Mommy's belly on the water slides?"

Lordy I hope not!!

Holiday Pictures 2009

After a rather long afternoon at Kiddie Kandids we got our holiday pictures and Christmas cards done. Here are the pictures. For our Christmas cards (which will be going out this week I swear) we did half of them with picture #2 and half with picture #8.

Checking Out The First Snow

Charlie was a little bit taken aback by the first snow of the season -- he was very excited to go out in it until he realized it was cold. "I was wrong," he said, "The snow is not warm and cozy! It is very cold!"

Christmas Tree 2009

Christmas tree 2009 looks very much like Christmas tree 2008 but Charlie lovingly announced, "Mommy it is the most perfect Christmas tree I ever saw!" And that is really all that matters:

The Newest Robinson...

... will arrive on Tuesday January 12th! If all goes according to plan...

Thanksgiving 2009

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Aunt Mandy's and Uncle Joel's. My apologies for the late post, and for the fact that my camera battery died just as I was gearing up for some good Cousins pictures...

Buttering Up*

Charlie must have been trying to butter me up for something tonight because he did an unprecedented amount of sweet talking:
"Mommy, I love your hair... Mommy, I love your lips... Mommy, your eyes smell like flowers..."

*Yes I wll get around to posting thanksgiving pictures and an update when the thought of going up to the third floor doesn't send me into premature labor...

Random Updates

(since I apparently can't manage to blog more than once a week these days.)

We bought a rocking chair and ottoman for the new baby last week; between using the $200 off coupoon we had from Jordan's Furniture and purchasing the rocking chair/ottoman from Jordan's warehouse section we got an $800 chair for $300.

We are spending the weekend at Coco Key Water Resort December 12th & 13th, as one last fun filled weekend for Charlie before the new baby comes and rocks his world...

We finally bought some stuff for baby: a couple of sleep sacks, receiving blankets and burp cloths among other things. Since I don't know if I'm having a boy or a girl I wound up getting outfits I wouldn't put either a boy *or* a girl in; oh well...

We head down to Charlotte on Thursday for Thanksgiving & a long weekend -- we can't wait! Charlie is counting down the days until he gets to see cousin Ben!

31 Week Belly Shot

The following conversation takes place atleast 3 times per day:
STRANGER: "How much longer?"
ME: "Two months."
STRANGER: "Oh dear..."

A Day Off

Today was Veteran's Day; Mike was home for the holiday but Charlie's daycare remained open so I took advantage of a child-free day and took a scheduled vacation day. We took full advantage -- slept late, went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch, did some shopping and saw "Men Who Stare at Goats" (whose biggest selling point was that it was not a kids movie.)

Afterwards we picked Charlie up and came home to a freshly cleaned house. (Aaaah, Merry Maids...)

Charlie's School Picture

What a handsome kid if I do so say myself! (Please excuse the picture-of-a-picture...)

Trick Or Treat

Charlie had a fun time trick or treating with his cousins last night -- this year he wasn't scared at all and shuffled up to all the houses in his oversized gorilla feet to say "Trick or Treat!" and get his candy. Needless to say by the end of the night he was on sugar overload! Here are some pictures, the best I could do in the dark...

And For Good Measure...

...We baked Halloween cookies this morning: (with a Brontosaurus thrown in):

Castle Island Halloween

We took Charlie to Castle Island's Halloween party today: he warmed up to his gorilla suit, got to go through an extremely un-scarry haunted house (which nonetheless it took 3 tries to get through and he referred to as 'the very scary place'), saw a magician and got to eat treats. Here are some pics:

Conjunctivitis & Strep

I have both. Which explains why I have felt like crap since Friday. I started on erythromycin for my eye and amoxicillin for my throat and am home from work for the rest of the week, so hopefully will be feeling better soon. I was just saying that I was all set since I already had the swine flu and got the seasonal flu vaccine the other week, but apparently being pregnant has left me with the immune system of a small furry helpless animal and there are plenty of other things to catch out there. Hopefully I will stay healthy for the rest of this pregnancy!

All The Stops

This morning I took Charlie to see his new pediatrician so we found ourselves on our way to his daycare very late. Once Charlie realized that his chorus of "I don't wanna go to school... I don't wanna go to school... I don't wanna go to school..." wasn't getting him anywhere, he pulled out all the stops:
"Mommy, I just went to the doctor -- I'm too sick to go to school!"
"Mommy, you left your keys at home -- we have to go home!"
"Mommy, there's nobody at school; all my friends are home sick!"
And last but not least:
"Mommy, you don't loooove meeeee!"

He had me recalling fondly the days where I thought he might be speech delayed.

Coming To Terms

I think Charlie is finally coming to terms, in his own way, with having a new brother or sister. This morning he asked me, "Mommy -- You have a baby in your belly and I'm not allowed to squish it?"

This, believe it or not, is progress.

27 Week Belly Shot

And I continue to get bigger...

Connors Farm

This morning we enjoyed a corn maze, bounce house, pony rides and apple cider donuts at Connors Farm, and I got some pictures of the New England fall foliage to boot:

Proof Positive...

... that Charlie has inherited my singing (in)ability:

Too Much Dora

The following conversation is how I know Charlie has been watching too much Dora The Explorer:

Charlie: (brandishing a large plastic dinosaur) "The dinosaur is going to eat you, Mommy! Tell the dinosaur to stop!"
Me: "Stop, dinosaur!"
Charlie: "Mommy, the dinosaur speaks Spanish! You have to tell the dinosaur to stop in Spanish!"

Not So Much A Work Of Art

So I made an apple pie this afternoon. Instead of just putting the top crust on, I decided it would be pretty to use a cookie cutter in the shape of a fall leaf, cut out leaves made of dough, and arrange them over the top of the pie. I swear I saw such a thing on the Food Network a while back... Anyway, let's just say the finished product tasted a lot better than it looked! I would like to say that the picture doesn't do it justice, and that you really can tell the top is decorated with leaves in real life, but that would not be the truth:

Apple Picking

We went apple pciking at Honey Pot Hill Orchards this afternoon; Charlie was a self proclaimed champion apple picker: "I very good at picking apples! I a very good climber!" Here are some pictures.

24 Week Belly Shot

A Pancake Day?

For quite a while now Charlie has divided his weeks into "school days" and "waffle days" and every morning he asks which it is, a school day or a waffle day. Until today, that is, when he inexplicably switched foods: "Is tomorrow a pancake day?" he asked Mike on the way home from school and me again as I tucked him into bed. Apparently pancakes have now usurped waffles as his weekend breakfast food of choice.

Never Too Late For A Little Organization

This afternoon I finally got around to organizing Charlie's toys with the help of a shelf and bins purchased from Target. He spent the evening pulling out toys he didn't even know he had:

Almost A Gorilla

So I spent $75 on a gorilla costume for Charlie and he refuses to wear the head:

Elmo Encounter

Yesterday we went to the mall and stopped in a new toy store that just opened up, thinking Charlie would have a fun time looking around. Little did we know that there was a man in an Elmo suit wandering the store -- unsuspecting Charlie turned around and saw Elmo waving at him and that was all it took; he shrieked and bolted headlong from the store, leaving me to lumber after him. When I finally caught up to him I explained, "Honey, it was just a man in an Elmo costume!"
"Oh-- why?" Charlie asked, clearly still undone.
"Because he thought it would be fun for the little boys and girls in the store to see Elmo!"
"Well it's not!" Charlie retorted.

Castle Island

We went to Castle Island for the first time today, which I am rather embarressed to admit seeing as we have lived on the South Shore for over 7 years now. After getting off to a rough start (we witnessed a drowning woman being pulled from the water) we had an enjoyable afternoon. Here are some pictures:

Halloween Costume

After much indecision Charlie finally chose a Halloween costume this year:
The Tom Arma Gorilla, which is definitely not my favorite, but since a) we couldn't find any Tyranosaurus Rex costumes that didn't suck, b) this is definitely the last year he'll be able to fit into a Tom Arma costume and c) he finally settled on something other than a T Rex for more than a 5 minute span of time, I decided we better go for it. I ordered it this morning and already got the shipping confirmation so it should be arriving shortly!

More Apologies for Not Blogging

I feel I owe another apology for my shameful lack of posts this month. I am working 12 hour days 6 to 7 days a week for another week and a half to save the rest of the money I need for maternity leave, and have had little time for blogging. I swear a belly pic will be coming soon, as will pictures of Charlie in his new fall clothes ("I'm a handsome boy!" he told me the other day while sporting new jeans and a new shirt.) And if I had been remotely up to blogging I would surely have blogged about our trip up to New Hampshire last weekend where Charlie caught his first fish. But alas, I have not been up to any of it. Maybe I would feel more motivated if someone would change my header pictures for me, to the ones I emailed her several weeks ago...

20 Week Ultrasound Picture

We got a full view of the spine this time; baby got a perfect bill of health and weighs in at over a pound already!

Hard of Hearing

The following frustrating conversation took place yesterday evening:

ME: "How was your day?"
CHARLIE: "What?"
ME: "How was your day?"
CHARLIE: "WHAT?"
ME: (louder) "How was your day?"
CHARLIE: "WHAT??"
ME: "HOW WAS YOUR DAY?!"
CHARLIE: "I can't tell you right now."

Sleep Update

Thanks to Good Night Sleep Tight by The Sleep Lady (and to Mandy for reading the relevant chapters for me) we now have a plan of action to eliminate the hours long drama of putting Charlie to bed. In conjunction with limitting his afternoon naps to no more than 1 1/2 hours and setting his bedtime a half hour earlier, I have started "checking" on Charlie, first 5 minutes after I put him to bed, then 10 minutes, and then in 15 minute intervals until he falls asleep. Last night it took 3 checks before he was asleep and he got out of bed 2 times. Tonight it took 3 checks before he was asleep and he got out of bed zero times!!! (As compared to say, 20 times a night last week.)

He still wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares, but we are tackling one thing at a time.

Thank you Sleep Lady!!

"Reach And Pull!"

Charlie has finally realized that if he wears his life vest he can actually "swim" without anyone hanging on to him -- here he is doggy paddling across the pool while saying "Reach and pull!" over and over to himself, courtesy of his swimming lessons at the Y.

Not A Good Week For Sleeping

Really it just boils down to another excuse for not blogging this week -- but seriously, Mandy can vouch for me -- I have been UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING this week because I am putting Charlie to bed for 2 to 3 hours each night. Last night he was up and out of bed every 5 minutes till after 11pm which I think might be a record of some sort. I am hoping it is a backlash from our vacation last weekend where he got to sleep in the same bed as me, or something that can be solved easily by reducing or eliminating his afternoon nap; if not, I am seriously in for it!!

Shamelessly Lifted...

...from Mandy's blog, here is our attempt to get a picture of all 5 grandkids together for Mom's birthday. As you can see, we were less than successful thanks to Charlie being completely oblivious and Ben being sulky:

Chanticleer Garden

As if the zoo wasn't enough yesterday, we took Charlie to Chanticleer Garden outside of Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. It was very hot and we were all worn out but we still got some good pictures!

The Philadelphia Zoo

Probably the highlight of Charlie's trip was the Philadelphia Zoo with "Grampy Best and Grampy Paxton" yesterday; Charlie raced around like a maniac getting his fill of the lions and tigers and bears:

Academy of Natural Sciences

On Saturday we took Charlie to the Academy of Natural Sciences with Uncle Alex, Aunt Miki, Cousin Annie and Cousin Jay. Charlie had a great time, particularly enjoying digging for dinosaur bones with his cousins:

Sesame Place

We took Charlie to Sesame Place on Friday; here are some not-so-great-pictures. Charlie did not want his picture taken with any of the Sesame Place characters which is my lame excuse for not actually getting pictures of any of them, or of anything with the Sesame Place logo or anything that remotely identifyies the theme park as Sesame Place -- as Mom pointed out I might as well have taken him to a MacDonalds play place for all you could tell from these pictures...

Woefully Behind On Blogging

We had a busy week last week getting ready for our mini vacation to Philadelphia and an even busier trip! My apologies for the lack of blogs this month. Here I go trying to catch up!

At The Lake

We finally made it up to Grammy and Grampy Robinson's house for the first time this summer and had a fun day on the lake yesterday:

Hand Me Down

I had resigned myself to buying an infant carseat this time around, after having used one of Ben's old ones for Charlie, which has now seen better days. But one of my co-workers brought in a gently-used gender neutral Graco snugride yesterday, so I am happy to report I will not have any carseat expenses for baby #2:

New Bike

We bought Charlie a little bike with training wheels on Friday. He has clearly been bicycle deprived, never having really even ridden a tricycle before. He still steadfastedly does not get how to pedal, proclaiming "I trying, Mommy, but it's very hard to do!" while he just rocks his feet back and forth on the pedals going no where. Here he is giving it another try:

Lack of Posts

I apologize for the lack of posts so far in August. I am blaming it on last week's marathon 70 hour work week, which finally ended yesterday. With this week's upcomng 50 hour work week, I will try to find more time to post and I am belatedly attempting to make up some lost ground today...

Growing Bean

I had my anatomical ultrasound today; baby is growing like a weed, already measuring a week bigger than he/she really is, and dancing around in there like crazy. Everything looks great; here is a pic:

Charlie Speak

Charlie-speak for 'I'm full':
(Pushing his dish of ice cream away) "There's a baby crocodile in my ice cream. I don't like crocodiles. I all done."

Fat Fingers

Last night I had to soap my wedding rings off; a full month earlier than I had to when I was pregnant with Charlie. I am afraid it does not bode well for things to come.

Good Dreams For Once

This morning as I wrestled Charlie out of bed and downstairs he protested, "Mommy -- I want to go back to bed! I was having a fun dream about chocolate donuts!"

15 (and 1/2) week Belly Shot

So much for black being slimming.

(And yes, I can see the dirty mirror too.)

A Strange Compulsion

This evening a strange compulsion came over Charlie: he actually cleaned up after himself! He put all his puzzle pieces away with me only having to ask once, then cleaned up all his markers and animal stencils before I had to ask at all. To top it off, when he got undressed he put his clothes in the hamper without being asked. I wonder how long this phase will last?

Littlest Red Sox Fan

Last night after I put Charlie to bed I went downstairs to make a pot of spaghetti sauce for tonight's dinner. After a little while I thought I heard a noise, so I went upstairs to investigate.

Sure enough I found Charlie far from his bed -- he was sitting on the floor in our bedroom with the tv on, watching the ball game.

"I watching the Red Sox game!!" he protested as I carted him off to bed.

Happy Birthday To Me

Today was a decidedly uneventful birthday; the fact that I worked from 7am till 6pm did not leave much time to celebrate. Mike brought home thai food which we all, including Charlie, thoroughly enjoyed. He also bought me the Kindle DX but it is so back-ordered that even though he ordered it almost a month ago, it is still not expected to ship for another 2 weeks or so. So look for a birthday present update then :)

Story Land

Charlie had lots of fun on his trip to Story Land with his cousins. Aside from being entirely too afraid of "Humpty Humpty", as he called Humpty Dumpty, and needing to be bribed with a Kit Kat for a photo-op with Cinderella (as you can tell from the bored look on his face) he thoroughly enjoyed himself:

Long Weekend

We are heading up to North Conway NH for the weekend; we are driving up tomorrow night and heading back Sunday. Charlie is excited to have a fun weekend with his cousins, and I am excited because I have never been and it seems like there are lots of fun things to do! We hope to hit Story Land and possibly Six Gun City while we are up there. I will be sure to bring my camera and take lots of pictures!

Monkeying Around at the Playground

Cuddling Cousins

New Haircuts

Charlie and I got new haircuts yesterday:

Charlie went to a kids' haircut place and was rewarded with a yo-yo after his. When I got home from mine he asked, "Mommy -- where's your toy?"

More Friends

Charlie just about broke my heart when I put him to bed this evening; as I was kissing him goodnight he said, "Mom -- " (for some reason we are Mom and Dad now, not Mommy and Daddy) "-- I need more friends."
"Why?" I asked, taken aback.
"Because I miss my best friend Theo," he explained. Theo only goes to daycare three days a week now, but poor Charlie looks for him every day.
My poor kiddo...

13 Week Belly Shot

I didn't actually mean to get my head in the picture so please ignore the fact that I had not washed (nor apparently brushed) my hair in 4 days... I swear I washed it tonight...

Finally (Almost) Summer Weather!

We will forget about the part where we were all blue-lipped and freezing by the time we got out and that it took me, atleast, about 3 hours to warm up afterwards...

Baby Update

I had my 2nd OB appointment yesterday, a week and a half delayed because of my bout with the swine flu. Everything looks good; baby had a good strong heartbeat so hopefully was unaffected by Mommy's illness. The Big Ultrasound is scheduled for my next visit -- August 5th -- but I'm not finding out the gender so you all will have to wait it out with me!

Innocuous? Apparently Not

You might think this is an innocent baby toy, but according to Charlie this ring toss giraffe is anything but innocent. We had to "get rid of him" (shove him in the hall closet where Charlie won't think to look) so that Charlie can stop obsessing over the giraffe's supposed misdeeds:
"The giraffe hit me!"
"The giraffe ate my pancake!"
"The giraffe is bothering me!"
Last week the vendetta against the giraffe went so far that Charlie actually put him in a pot on the stove and announced he had to cook him. "I need to turn on the blue and orange [flame]!" he announced.
That was about when we decided the giraffe needed to disappear.

Bad Dreams

Charlie was up four or five times last night with a slew of bad dreams. They ranged from "the giraffe ate my pancake!!" (the giraffe in question deserves a whole other post but I have just not gotten to it yet) to "The giant clam ate Daddy!" That last one was a direct result of his bedtime story, Why Is The Sea Salty? which apparently is not as innocous as it sounds. He required a lot of assurance, at 3am, that giant clams live at the very bottom of the ocean and do absolutely nothing but sit there, and that they certainly do not occupy their time by eating Daddys.

I sure hope tonight is better!

Dinner Disaster

I must preface this story by saying DO NOT ASK ME WHY I DECIDED IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO GO TO PIZZA HUT FOR DINNER!! I am pregnant and being confined to the house for a week obviously left me mentally unstable. Reason enough.

So, the following is going to serve as a reminder as to why I will never go to Pizza Hut again, should time make my memory hazy.

It all seemed well enough at first; our order was taken in a reasonably timely fashion and our drinks brought out. Then came the 45 minute wait for our breadsticks. During which time Charlie dropped not too subtle hints every once in a while: "I'm a VERY HUNGRY boy!" he would announce randomly to the restuarant at large.

Then, finally, our breadsticks came. All would be well! Except, as we discovered, there were no napkins in the entire restaurant. Mike was forced to go to the restroom and bring paper towels back to the table.

Next, my pasta dish came out. No sign of my side salad, or of Mike or Charlie's pizza. Or of silverware, for that matter. Well hey -- we had breadsticks. After finally getting some silverware I dug into my pasta only to discover after eating some of it and rooting through the rest of it that it was not what I ordered. I gave the rest of it to Charlie, who was hungry and didn't care what it was.

Finally Mike and Charlie's pizzas arrived. Mike's large pepperoni lovers pizza had somehow morphed into a large cheese lovers pizza. Strike two. Or was it strike three? Or four?

And where was my side salad? When the waitress came back I politely informed her that neither mine nor Mike's meals were what we had ordered, that we would be eating them anyway thanks to the now hour long wait for our food, but that we would not be paying for them. I also asked again for my side salad, which again failed to appear.

So after spending absolutely way too long in Pizza Hut we left after paying the $15 of our order that had not been screwed up. And I just have two things to tell you:
1) I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN!
2) MIKE STILL TIPPED OUR WAITRESS 15%!!
and okay, three things:
3) I HAVE REALLY BAD HEARTBURN!!!

Slowly Reviving

I managed to shower for the first time since Tuesday and get dressed for the first time since last Saturday, this afternoon. I am crediting my recovery entirely to Grampy Bess's chicken noodle soup; thanks Grampy!!

Hoping that I am able to lie at the pool for a little bit tomorrow and that Mike and Charlie stay healthy so we can all get back to normal next week! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The Sickness Continues

Just a quick post to update that while Charlie is recovering from his ear infection I am now sick with the swine flu. Slowly getting better I think but I am sure I won't be too post-y for the next few days...

Ear Infection Not Actually Avoided

So I spoke too soon a few posts back. Charlie woke up with a 102 degree fever this morning, about as miserable as he could be. Back to the doctor we went this afternoon where we discovered (of course) that he now has a full blown ear infection. He is now on 2 teaspoons of Amoxycillin 3 times per day for the next 10 days -- that is an awful lot of kitkats.*

*kitkats being the only thing I can bribe him with to actually take his medicine.

Wasted Effort

Yesterday afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I was very proud of myself and proudly showed them to Charlie when he came home. After whining all through dinner about wanting a cookie, he finally got to have one when he finished his dinner. He took one bite and pushed it away. "I don't like it -- I want Chips Ahoy!"

Ear Infection Avoided

Charlie has been complaining of an ear ache and his "teeth" and "tongue" hurting for the past couple days so we brought him in to the doctor today expecting that he had an ear infection. While he does have swollen glands, a little bit of a red throat, and questionable ears, he did not qualify as ill enough to warrant antibiotics. The 7 minute rapid strep test of course came back negative, but as we know from last time that means absolutely nothing; I'll be waiting for the "oops your kid does have strep" phone call in 48 hours...

Six Years And 1 & 1/4 Kids

We went to The Melting Pot for dinner last night to celebrate our anniversary. Charlie insisted on being included in the obligatory picture:

Hide & Seek

Here is Charlie playing Hide & Seek. Sadly, this is the best job he did at hiding all night:

They're Growing!

Grammy and Grampy Robinson gave us these cool animals that grow in water; we didn't get it together enough to do before pictures, but here is Charlie proudly displaying some of the humongus results:

Anniversary Post

It has come to my attention that this blog is now officially one year old! (Okay, officially one year and one day old, because of course I dropped the ball and couldn't remember *on* the actual anniversary date.)

So all I have to say is GO ME!! for keeping this blog up for so long.

The Rainforest Cafe

We took Charlie to The Rainforest Cafe for lunch today, thinking that naturally he would love all of the mechanical animals and the rainforest theme. To our surprise, it was a love-hate relationship; while Charlie liked the animals at first glance, he was terrified when they would start moving. "I have to go potty!" he would cry whenever one of them would get going. He spent the first half of his meal quietly shifting his eyes around to the corners of the restaurant, watching, but did eventually warm up and start beating his chest back at the gorillas and yelling in usual Charlie fashion once I had assured him for about the 50th time that they weren't real.

Race Cars

For a little something different we went here for dinner this evening; they have a restaurant that overlooks the race track so you can watch people race as you eat. Charlie was thoroughly mesmerized by the "race cars" and didn't want to leave. (Then why won't you give Cars the time of day, kid?)

A Cup of Cheerios & A Can Of Lysol Wipes...

... have now taken up residence on the back of the toilet. This is because while Charlie has graduated to standing up to pee in the potty, he has far to go before he masters the art. Any distraction results in pee flying everywhere. After the 4th or so incident of him showering the walls, we are now trying the "aim for the Cheerio" method, and well, the Lysol wipes are there for backup.

What's In A Name

ME: (watching Charlie Brown with Charlie)"Is your name Charlie Brown?"
CHARLIE: "No, my name is Charlie Robinson."
ME: "What's my name?"
CHARLIE: "Your name is Jasmine."

Locks

On Tuesday I finally got around to calling a locksmith to fix numerous door problems -- the back door has had a key broken off in it for about 6 months rendering it unuseable, and the front door has needed to be Charlie-proofed for quite some time. So the locksmith came out yesterday and installed new locks along with a dead bolt on the back door and swing latch on the front door. Charlie was not appreciative at all of these changes. He walked up to the front door this morning, flipped the bottom lock as usual, and attempted to open the door. I could hear him yell from upstairs where I was grabbing a sweatshirt: "MOMMY THE DOOR IS BROKEN!!!! I CAN'T OPEN THE DOOR!!!"

Yup, that was the whole idea, buddy!

It's Official!

Our new little monkey is due 1/18/10! There is supposedly a baby in this ultrasound picture somewhere...

Ripley's Aquarium

Yesterday we went to Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach on the way home; with lots of neat exhibits, it was the perfect way to pass the time till our flight. Here is a picture of us that I ponied up $20 for (along with a keychain and magnet):

Our flights back to Boston were uneventful, if traveling with a three year old can be described as uneventful. Charlie's better moments included screaming "THE PLANE IS GOING DOWN! WE'RE GOING DOWN IN THE WATER!!" during our final descent into Boston.

I Felt We Needed A Break From...

Charlie splashing in the ocean pictures, so here are some Charlie feeding imaginary seagulls in his underwear pictures. Enjoy!

Dinosaurs Alive!

In an effort to get off the beach this afternoon we took Charlie to the IMAX theatre in Myrtle Beach to see the 3D dinosaur show playing there. Charlie lasted about 10 minutes before he decided the movie was better watched without his 3D gasses because, as he put it, "The dinosaurs need to get out of my face!"

All Beached Out

From Recently Updated

Surf's Up!

The surf was rough this morning but Charlie loved every minute of it!

Not Meant To Be

Between a dirty lens and a few well placed tantrums, a decent picture of the Robinson/Kaplan cousins before the Kaplans hit the road was not meant to be.

Because You Can Never Have Too Many Beach Pics

Boogie Boys

Alligators, Everywhere Alligators

We spent the morning at Alligator Adventure in Myrtle Beach; personally I felt that once I had seen one alligator I had seen them all, but Charlie, Ben and Rebecca were all thoroughly engrossed.

Best Buds

Not as Easy as it Looks

Unless, that is, you skip the water part.

The Video Game Addiction Begins

The Beach - Day 1

(Guest blogger: Charlie's Aunt Mandy)

Abby is too lazy to do her own blogging tonight. Here are some pictures of the kids' first outing to the beach.

Splashing Fun

The outdoor splash park at the Weymouth Club was open today in light of the 85+ degree heat; not all of the fun water sprinklers were on but Charlie had a fun time nonetheless. Please ignore the hives all over his face from repeated sunscreen application...

Airplane Day

The countdown to vacation has begun! Or, as Charlie calls it, "Airplane Day". Every morning goes something like this:
CHARLIE: "Is it Airplane Day?"
ME: "No, it's a school day. You have two more school days until Airplane Day.
CHARLIE: "I don't want a school day! I want a Airplane Day!!"
Plenty of pictures from Ocean Isle Beach NC to follow!

Three Year Stats

We had Charlie's 3 year check up this afternoon so here are his stats:
Height: 41 1/2 inches (99th percentile)
Weight: 36.2 lbs (85th percentile)
Charlie of course turned into a spastic babbling idiot the minute the doctor walked in the room and literally spoke nonsense baby babble the entire time, with not one coherent word, prompting me to reassure the doctor, "umm, he does actually talk..."

Chicken

CHARLIE: (picking his nose and eating it) "Mmmm!"
ME: "That's gross, don't do that!!"
CHARLIE: "No, it's not gross it's good!"
ME: "What does it taste like?"
CHARLIE: "Tastes like chicken!"

Pictures

While we went to a wedding last night Heather & Matt babysat and Matt took some great pictures of Charlie. (Thanks, Matt!) Here they are:

Cell Phone Addict

We took Charlie to the Disney Store this evening because we had a $25 gift card from his birthday burning a hole in our pocket. After searching around the store Charlie picked out a Cars cell phone and has had it attached to his ear ever since. He flips it open, presses the buttons, puts it to his ear and says "Hello? Hello?" before flipping it closed and putting it in his pocket. Two seconds later out of the pocket it comes... Here he is with his latest accessory (and a nifty new Red Sox cap to boot):

Charlie's First Encounter With A Salt & Vinegar Chip

Batter Up

We spent quite some time with Charlie out in the yard this afternoon playing baseball -- his general technique is to swing way too soon and then to scream "Bad throw!!" but he did eventually hit a couple. The following slideshow includes a few tantrums as well:

Security... Towel?

As if Charlie's security blanket wasn't enough, he now has a security towel: a large Buzz Light Year beach towel that he got for his birthday. He has insisted that it be tucked over him along with his security blanket for the past two nights before bed, and now as if him waking up at night calling "Fix my blanket! Fix my blanket!" weren't enough, last night he woke up calling "Fix my towel! Fix my towel!"

Oy.

Raspberries and Libraries

As Charlie's vocabulary expands so does the opportunity to mix up his words. Case in point, this afternoon he demanded, "Mommy! Blow a library on my tummy!" Even after I corrected him it took quite a while for him to switch from "library" to "raspberry", and he is bound to make the same mistake again. Over the past few weeks I have noticed quite a number of similar mistakes as he comes up with new words and sentences every day: "gun" for "gum", "jaws" for "claws", "Shane" for "mane", "fat" for "bat", "alligator" for "elevator" and so on. He'll get it sorted out all in good time...

Charlie's Birthday Bash

Following is a slideshow and then a plethora of videos from Charlie's 3rd birthday extravaganza! Happy birthday little man!

Charlie & The Gator

Charlie Has A Chinchilla On His Head

Happy Birthday Dear Charlie...

Birthday Cupcakes...

... for Charlie to share with his class tomorrow and equally cool tupperware containers to put them in.

Halloween in April

For some reason Charlie came home from school today and insisted on putting on his Halloween costume, which I had to search high and low for and finally found in the top of a closet. Here's the little monkey mugging for the camera:

94 Degrees

It got up to 94 degrees today. Here is my dirty sweaty boy when he got home from school today:

Unfortunately the temperature is supposed to drop by ohhh 40 degrees over night...

Spring Has Sprung

When looking at this picture you need to keep in mind that as recently ago as Friday, there were virtually no leaves on any of the trees.

Sleep Update

At the risk of jinxing myself, Charlie *seems* to have settled into his big boy bed, after a rocky start. He was up 14 times Thursday night, too many times to count Friday night, and refused to nap in his bed at all Saturday afternoon despite being drop dead tired. However, he went to bed Saturday night without protest and slept the whole night through -- reason to cheer if he hadn't gotten up insanely early this morning. He successfully napped in his bed for the first time this afternoon, and appears to have gone to bed without a fuss this evening (although it is still really too early to tell.)

Knocking on wood that the worst is over!

Earth

We took Charlie to see the movie Earth today -- a wildlife documentary, so the multitude of animals were right up his alley. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and loudly provided his own running commentary to the movie (thankfully the theatre wasn't crowded and we had a row to ourselves!):
"That cheetah wants to EAT that antelope!"
"That's a MEAN SHARK with giant teeth!"
"That polar bear is TRYING TO GET THAT WALRUS!"
"Look at that CRAZY BIRD!"
And so on, for 90 minutes.

Picture Perfect Day

We had a gorgeous day today for Grammy Bess & Grampy Paxton's visit! Here are some pics from dinnertime on the boardwalk at Marina Bay:

Charlie's New Bed

Charlie's "big boy bed" arrived this afternoon. Here he is coloring on it before bed:

And here he is all snuggled up and ready to go to sleep*

*As this post is published Charlie was put to bed 24 minutes ago and has been up six times, clearly reminding me why I had intended to keep him tented into his crib until he turned eighteen...

Splashing Fun

We went back to the Weymouth Club after Charlie woke up from his nap and had a blast in the indoor splash park; Charlie LOVED it! Here are some pics:

Summer Fun

Just splurged on a family membership here -- 3 pools, 2 splash parks (one indoor & one outdoor) and a great kids' play area while Mom & Dad work out! We will be living here during the summer....

The Difference Between Puppies and Poopies

CHARLIE: "Puppies say 'woof! woof!' Poopies say 'plllbbbbbt', come out of my bum."

Thank you for the clarification.

Summer Coming??

In a vain attempt to speed up the arrival of summer I started tanning today, and I am seriously considering if the 67-70 degrees forecasted for Friday warrants putting Charlie in his new shorts and tank top.

Charlie's Easter

Yes he is on an extreme sugar rush right now.

Oops

So it turns out that while the rapid strep test they do in the drs office is indeed rapid, it is not indeed reliable. I was called by the nurse practitioner this morning and informed that Charlie does, after all, have strep.

On a beautiful 64 degree Friday, I can't say that I was that upset about having to leave work to pick up my contagious child from daycare...

Misinformation

Never rely on a two year old for information:
CHARLIE: "Where you going Daddy?"
MIKE: "I'm going to get my suit -- I'll be right back."
CHARLIE: "Mommy! Daddy will be right back."
ME: "Where did he go?"
CHARLIE: "He went to get some soup!"

Say 'Aaah!'

I took Charlie to the doctor today to make sure he didn't have strep throat. He opened his mouth wide for the tech when she swabbed his throat but then of course turned bright red and gagged. When she finished I expected him to burst right into tears but instead he looked up and managed, "Thank you!" She said that was the first time she had ever been thanked after a throat culture, and I believe it!

The culture was, thankfully, negative and Charlie seems to be on the mend. Afterwards he recapped his experience: "Doctor tell Charlie 'Say Aaaah', stuck fork down my throat!"

Streak, Ended

Lately I have been bragging that Charlie has been in the midst of a ridiculously healthy streak. Aside from a busted lip in October, he has not needed to go to the doctor since his 2 year check up in May.

Unfortunately, it looks like the streak is coming to an end. After being decidedly out of sorts on Sunday, he came home from daycare last night with a 100 degree fever which went up to 103 overnight. Mike stayed home with him today, but by the time I came home his temperature had again gone up to 103. So tomorrow is my turn to stay home with him and bring him to the dr to get checked out, as he has also been complaining off and on of a tummy ache and a sore throat. My poor sick kiddo :(

Grumpy

Charlie was in rare form this morning, throwing temper tantrums and even biting me. At one point I finally asked him, "Charlie, what's the matter with you today?"
He crossed his arms sullenly and replied, "I grumpy today!"

Apparently so!

Haircut

My shaggy boy is not shaggy anymore.
Before:

After:

'Too Tired to Post' Post

As per the title, it has been a loooong week and is still going. This was my 7th day in a row working (2 jobs, over 60 hours) and I have to run back in tomorrow for a couple hours too. So by now I am only semi conscious.

We've all been recovering from a nasty cold; well Mike and I have been -- Charlie apparently has an iron constitution. Must be the Flinstone vitamins...

Charlie got the memo this week that turning 3 means he is supposed to be obsessed with Spiderman, because despite the fact that we have never introduced him to the superhero in any way, shape or form, he suddenly wants all things Spiderman.

Hoping to get Charlie's haircut at some point tomorrow, so will post a picture of my grown up boy!

The Boss

At bedtime tonight Charlie and I read Yertle the Turtle. Charlie pointed to Yertle up on his turtle throne and asked, "Is he the Daddy turtle?"

"No," I repled, "He's the King." Then, seeing that he still didn't understand I added, "He's the boss."

"Oh," Charlie said, nodding. "He's the Mommy turtle!"

Figured Out

As I was putting Charlie to bed this evening he said, "Daddy goin' upstairs to push the buttons!" (i.e to play his video games) and then he said, "Mommy goin' upstairs to her computer!"

Boy, does he have us figured out!

Tuesday Blues

The first words out of Charlie's mouth to me this morning were: "Is it Friday yet?"

Bathroom Hogger

ME: "Are you done yet??"
CHARLIE: "No-- go away!"

Charlie has taken to monopolizing the bathroom with his new found potty time. Saturday he almost made us late for his swimming lessons because he had to have his 20 minutes of quality time on the pot, and this evening I had to resort to using the downstairs bathroom after waiting in vain for him to finish his business in the upstairs one.

Jeez, if this is what it is like already, just wait till he becomes a teenager!

A Busy Weekend

We had a full Saturday today; Charlie had his swimming lesson this morning (see below for pictures) which involved being dunked under water for the first time. He seemed fairly unfazed, and is getting the hang of kicking, blowing bubbles, and putting his ear to the water.

After swimming lessons we went right to Kayte & Brian's house for Drew's 1st birthday party. Charlie enjoyed playing in their ball pit and thoroughly enjoyed the Elmo birthday cake (although he got upset when informed that it was in fact Drew's birthday and not his own.)

After the birthday party it was home for a nap (for all 3 of us!) and then up at 4pm to go to the 5:15pm showing of Monsters Vs Aliens. It held Charlie's attention the entire time -- at one point he even handed me his bag of M&Ms so that he could watch the movie with zero distractions -- and when it was over he promptly started whining, "I wanna see it again...!" A successful movie, in my book.

Tomorrow I am working and Mike is taking Charlie up to Grammy & Grampy's for the day, where I am sure he will have a fun time tormenting their kittens.

Swimming Lessons

Shiner

Charlie came home from daycare with a black eye today; seems he was on the wrong end of a throwing incident involving a toy fire truck. The daycare called us in the morning to inform us of the incident so we wouldn't be surprised when we picked him up. They, by policy, do not give the name of the offending child in an altercation. Charlie, however, has no such policy and happily threw his assailant right under the bus, telling us multiple times who did it.

Here he is with his shiner:

And saying "All better now!"

Do You Remember?

Charlie's new catch phrase is "Do you remember?" Unfortunately, his memory for most things is still about 30 seconds long so he is constantly asking me if I remember things that happened about 15 to 30 seconds ago.

For instance, this morning I chased him around the living room playing "catch you" before I herded him onto the stairs to put his shoes on.

CHARLIE: (Still out of breath from running) "Mommy -- do you remember when we played 'catch you' and you chased me?"

ME: (finishing getting his shoes on) "Uh-huh."

CHARLIE: "Mommy -- do you remember when you put my shoes on?"

Sea Monsters And Dinosaur Bones

As I was tucking Charlie into bed this evening he all of a sudden got a far away look on his face.

"What are you thinking?" I asked him, not really expecting an answer.

"I thinking about going to the zoo and seeing lions and zebras and sharks and hippos and dinosaur bones and sea monsters!" he replied.

I am not sure if this was randomly out of his imagination or if he was remembering going to the Natural History Museum on Sunday which did, arguably, contain all of those things.

Dino Sweatshirt

I bought Charlie a dinosaur sweatshirt at Old Navy on Sunday, which has since become his favorite article of clothing. He has worn it all day yesterday and today, refusing to take it off until tubby time. Here he is showing it off:

The Power of M&Ms

Charlie's angst about pooping on the potty has all but disappeared with the purchase of a family sized bag of M&Ms last week; we have been rewarding him with M&Ms for poops on the potty and he has jumped so far on board with this that he will now race to the potty and strain until his little face turns bright red in an attempt to get M&Ms. I have gone full circle from being afraid he was making himself constipated by refusing to poop, to now being afraid he's going to give himself hemmorhoids or an aneurysm or something, from trying to force himself to poop. Go figure.

Charlie At The Harvard Museum of Natural History

This morning we went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History; it is free on Sunday mornings for Massachusetts residents, and as you can see from the following videos it keeps Charlie thoroughly entertained. (You can also see in the first video how parents shoo their children away from my umm, energetic, son...)

Like A Big Girl

Charlie continues to be a little bit confused about his gender, apparently. For example yesterday he announced "I holdin' my napkin like a big girl!" This is the 2nd such comment I have noticed this week, so this time I asked him "Are you a boy or a girl?" to which he promptly answered, "A girl!" Which leads me to wonder, when will my child figure out he is a boy?

Just Not Much Going On (AKA 'A Post About Nothing')

Only a few random things to report midweek:

Charlie has been having a successful week with the potty training so far -- only one outfit chnage in 3 days = successful.

We managed to get what we owe in taxes down to about $3,800. We were going to file an extension, thinking we would have more time to pay but discovered that if you owe money to the IRS you still have to pay it by April 15th even if you file for an extension. Whoever thought that rule up obviously didn't get the fact that why else would you file for an extension except if you needed more time to come up with the money you owed the IRS?

I sent the deposit in for Charlie's birthday party and have been working on the invitations. I am almost happy with them so I might order them this weekend. I am hoping to get them in the mail by April 1st at the latest.

That is about it, I guess, other than I have been waiting for an opportunity to bust out the new camera again but between working 6 days a week and the weather still being pretty crappy the opportunity hasn't presented itself.

The Trials & Tribulations of Pooping on the Potty

This weekend Charlie successfully pooped on the potty 4 times. "Wonderful!" you say, except you do not know the amount of time, energy, drama, and tears that this entails.

"Have to go change!" Charlie announces, clutching at his behind. If we are lucky we are home and not, say, at the playground or at a restaurant. I bring him to the bathroom and sit him on the potty where he sits for about 2 seconds and then jumps up."I don't want to sit on the potty! Want to go play!" We play for 5 minutes, then it is back to the potty.

Up...down...up....down, like a little jack in the box until he *really* has to go and starts running in circles like a maniac, crying. At this point he must be wrestled onto the potty where he clings to me for dear life sobbing, "Don't wanna go poopy! Read me a story, mommy!" I read to him from his dolphin book (now in the bathroom for expressly this purpose) until he finally manages to do his business, much to the relief of all parties involved.

Boy I hope this gets easier...!

Baby Crocodiles

I have no idea where my child comes up with these things sometimes; I swear I did not tell him about the baby alligator that is coming to his birthday party...

CHARLIE: "I want Charlie and Mommy and Daddy to go see baby crocodiles today."
ME: "We're not going to go see baby crocodiles today, honey; we're going to your swimming lesson."
CHARLIE: "NO!!! I WANT TO SEE BABY CROCODILES!!"

Booked!

Charlie's birthday is shaping up, to be held at the YMCA on May 3rd with special guests Curious Creatures! What could be better -- baby alligators, skunks, snakes and CAKE!!

Here...

...is where we will be the week of Memorial Day, thanks to Grammy Bess & Grampy Paxton! The Copper Top Beach House

To say I can't wait is an understatement!!

Potty Training Milestone

Charlie came home today IN THE SAME OUTFIT I SENT HIM TO DAYCARE IN!!

Need I say anything more?

Charlie & Kittens

We went to Grammy & Grampy's house today where Charlie spent most of his time peering under furniture trying to play with their new kittens (who were, predictably, in hiding 99.9% of the time we were there.)

My New Camera

The following are somewhere around a million pictures that I took this afternoon with my new Canon Digital Rebel which I am already totally in love with!

Imaginary Friend?

This evening in the bathtub Charlie looked up and complained, "Mommy, Louis hit me. Louis hit me in the tubby." He gave me a pouty look.

Confused, I asked "Who's Louis...?" He has, after all, named a few of his toys -- Julian the lemur after the lemur in Madagascar, and a tiger unfortunately named Teeth.

Charlie pointed to the air next to him. "He's right there."

"Where?" I asked again, still thinking maybe I was missing something obvious.

Charlie waved in the same general direction again. "Right there."

"Oh," I said, deciding to play along. "Louis, you need a time out for hitting Charlie."

Charlie nodded approvingly, apparently satisfied with the punishment handed out to his imaginary friend. Hopefully they will play nicely in the future.