16 Months Old

Charlie is nearly 16 months old!



At fifteen months, Charlie weighed 28 pounds and was 30" in height.  He's still in the 97th percentile for weight but in height he came out to be in the 75th percentile.  It seems to me like he's thinning out but those statistics prove me wrong.



As I write this I am sitting outside enjoying the warm fall day we are having and Charlie is riding his ATV around the backyard.  He has started mimicking sounds that certain things make.  He's making a revving sound on the ATV.  He has a fake vacuum that he's obsessed with and he also makes a vacuum sound when he's pushing it around.  The different noises all sound the same to me but I'm sure in Charlie's head they are a very specific tune.

He's just so active, as is every kid his age.  He has added to his moving talents running, spinning in a circle, and walking backwards.  He's working on climbing but he's still being very careful with that.  It's fun to watch him climb the steps at the playground and go down the slide all by himself.  Charlie seems to be fearless.  He loves everything we've let him try at the playground.

He got his first haircut!  His hair was about to get into his eyes and the duck fuzz in the back was getting so out of control that I knew it was time.

Before:







After:



A few days ago we were visiting Scott's cousin's family (the Wreden's) in Pleasanton and an airplane flew by really close en route to the Livermore airport.  It was very exciting for Charlie and now every time we go outside he points to the sky as if he's recounting what happened in Pleasanton.

It's nearly impossible to hang out at home right now.  Charlie wants to get into every cabinet that is locked and he wants to test out every faucet and toilet and door.  It's very frustrating to him how many constraints he has while inside and once he gets frustrated reasoning with him is like reasoning with a neanderthal.  I've gotten into the habit of packing everything we need in the car before he wakes up and getting out for the entire duration of his wake cycles.  It's going to prove to be more challenging once winter is here.  Maybe it's time for preschool.  I hear there are places that take 18 month olds!

Charlie has a new word each week.  Last week it was 'shoes' and this week it's 'waffle.'  His favorite things to do are go  feed the ducks with mom and go to swim class with dad on Saturday mornings.  Every time he sees a river or a bird or a picture of a duck he goes into a crazy duck quacking rant.  Every time he sees his swim trunks he pulls them out and hands them to me.  I know he's thinking, if i put these on then daddy and I will go to swim class!

We're still outside and Charlie has found his deflated kiddie pool and he's trying desperately to drag it to the grass and he can't because it's too heavy.  I wish he would just give it up and move onto something else.  He seems to be very headstrong.  This will prove to be valuable when he's older but right now it's a difficult part of his personality for me to deal with.

Charlie is still very fun and loud and social but he has recently become very attached to mom and dad and has a little separation anxiety.  The fun part is we get lots more hugs and kisses than we used to get.  I'll take it!

16 months is a fun age and I can't wait to see what else he'll discover this week!

Shiner!

Is this how it is going to go with a little boy?  Ever since Charlie's last fall, my heart skips a beat every time he topples forward or gets close to a trip hazard but I have slowly relaxed and gotten over the busted lip incident.  Today I was working out and Charlie was in the little daycare room right in the same studio and I heard him cry.  He never cries.  Low and behold, I get called out of class and I turn the corner to see my little cherub baby with an instant black eye.  He hit it on the corner of a low bookcase while he was playing.  He didn't cry too much and he was laughing within one minute of when I collected him from daycare.  My little baby is walking and he is starting to run and now he's trying to climb!  Here is a photo of us leaving the studio this afternoon.  My poor little baby!

First Busted Lip

Things were going so well today.  We had our first baby playgroup at the Danville Community Center and then we had lunch out on the lawn and then we went into the library and got a library card.  We were having so much fun until Charlie tripped over my foot and went face down onto a tile floor!

We went outside and I just held him and tried to examine his lip to see how bad it was.  He was bleeding like crazy!  I went into the Danville Community Center and asked for some help because the paper towel I managed to grab was starting to get a little soggy.  The bleeding stopped after probably 3 minutes so we got in the car to go home.  Fortunately I had a bottle on hand in case of emergency so he calmed down.

 When we got home I cleaned him up and gave him Advil and let him walk around and play for a few minutes into nap time to make sure the bleeding had stopped.  I thought it did until he woke up two hours later and looked like this:

I had to strip his bed of everything and throw it in the washer, bears and all.

Here we are getting cleaned up at the sink:

I took him to the neighbors house for a second opinion on how he was doing.  She is a pediatric nurse and she said it was a surface cut and nothing to worry about.  She gave him an otter pop for the swelling.  He loved it!

Charlie didn't cry much at all and he was happy through it all once he got over the initial shock of the fall.  He's so tough!  Now he's asleep for the night with new sheets, newly washed bears, and I'm off to bed too!

Ah, The Things I Thought at the Time of My Wedding

My wedding registry.  It was at a time in my life that seems so far from reality now. I thought it was VERY important.  I spent countless hours (at work) pouring over my options and asking (coworkers) what they thought of this brand vs. that brand.  Should I get black or white?  What will last me for the rest of my life?  I really should have been less obvious about how uninterested I was with my job.  I must have been so annoying.  On a side note, I found an old email that I sent to a friend who had a brand new baby and I was apologizing for not visiting yet because I was just SO busy and SO overwhelmed with my life (I have to work out and I have to manage my registry and I am so busy going out to eat!)!

Here are some things that I have done in the last year (post child) that the engaged me would scoff at:

1.  I put my All Clad in the dishwasher.
2.  I put my Wustof knives in the dishwasher.
3.  EVERYTHING goes in the dishwasher, including the olive wood cooking spatula (which I got at my bridal shower, thank you again, Mrs. Kirbyface).
4.  My LaCoste robe is NOT used for espresso on the patio with slippers on my feet.
5.  The crystal vases and matching votive candle holders are in boxes on the high shelf of the linen closet.
6.  The last of my wedding gift certificates were used to purchase baby bumpers and sheets at Pottery Barn Kids.
7.  Scott broke this bowl while doing dishes one night and I went to buy a new one and walked out dumbfounded at how much it cost.
8.  We don't use our serving platter.
9.  The new couch we got with our wedding money does not get vacuumed and I do not rotate the pillows.
10.  I do not hand wash, line dry, and iron (low heat) our cloth dinner napkins.  I have, however used them to wipe up baby puke, and dry my own tears, not in that order (or maybe in that order, who knows).
11.  I have used my white linen tablecloth only once.  I still think it's lovely but if it leaves the plastic encasing at any point in the next 20 years, it will get stained.

None of the above facts make me sad in any way.  I feel just fine with the way life is going right now.  I have been through a battle and I have come up happier and wiser.  I still have a lot of naiveté (as in things with the second baby will be easier) but for now I am just proud of myself for letting go of some of my unlivable rules and enjoying the way life is for me right now.  My floors are a little dirty, there are dishes in the sink, and my napkins are not ironed (tsk, tsk).  But look at how happy Charlie is these days!

Oh and he's 14 months old tomorrow!

Early morning bed head, ready for breakfast

Sweeping the side yard

Taking a rest in a seat that is just his size

Stealing a vacuum from a thrift store (we ended up buying this and he loves it)

Hanging out at grandma and grandpas house

Watching the ducks and cheers-ing daddy (with a full mouth).

Almost 13 Months!

Charlie turned one about 4 weeks ago!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

At his 12 month check up he weighed 26 pounds, 4 ounces and was 31.5 inches.  He is in the 96th percentile for height and 97th for weight.  His head is in the 98th.

For his first birthday, we celebrated alongside cousin Stella in Golden Gate Park on July 8th.  Aunt Kari and Uncle Paul got a jumpy house and we jumped and socialized and ate cake for a couple of hours and before I could blink it was all over!  Aunt Kari made the cakes from scratch (a dinosaur cake and a mermaid cake).  Anyone remember my baby shower cake?

On his actual birthday, Nana and Grandpa Kirby visited and brought him a cupcake.

A few days later he started walking and I think I can safely say that as of today, he is no longer crawling (it was about a 3 week transition).  It is true that he gets cuter and that we love him more each day.

To sum up the last year's experience is to say I am a lucky girl...

Happy almost 13 months Charlie!  Mommy and daddy love you very much!

Goodbye Los Altos, Hello Danville

We moved 7 days ago!

Bye to Thursday night Farmer's Markets

Bye to Cuesta Park

Bye to our little house on San Luis

So far our new house is great.  It is very baby friendly.  I am happier here, we have more space and half the house has carpet.  The best part?  We have a dishwasher!  Charlie's room is far away from the common areas and the floors don't squeak.  We have a second bathroom, wow!

We have had a lot of visitors since we moved.  On Wednesday Aunt Jessie, Lucas, Wesley, Cassidy, and Nana (Scott's mom) visited.

Lucas and Wesley played with Charlie at the water table.

Cassidy fed Charlie lunch outside.

We all walked to the pool in the late afternoon.  Here is the new wagon from Nana for his first birthday gift.

Nana and Charlie after swimming.

Our house is still a major work in progress.  I can't wait until we are all unpacked and everything is baby proofed.  Right now Scott is working on the child locks on the kitchen cabinets and Charlie is napping.

I am glad the hard part is over, saying goodbye to Los Altos and all my friends I met there.  I was teary eyed when Charlie's room was all packed up.  We spent a lot of time in there his first year of life.  I will not miss how hot our house got in the afternoon or how squeaky the floors were but I will always hold that house close to my heart because of the memories.  It was Charlie's first house!

I loved our neighbors, especially Margaret and Betty.  I hope our new neighborhood will have people as friendly.  

Hello Danville!

Almost 12 Months

Charlie turned 11 months on June 12th.  He still has 8 teeth and he's still crawling but two bottom molars are coming in and they need to break through so that demon baby moments will go away for a little while.

He is communicating with us now in different forms of babble.  I can tell when he's frustrated, or wants something out of reach, or when he bumped something, or when he's tired.  It's so fun to see his progress.  He also understands the simple routines in life like when he sees a hairbrush he grabs it and takes it to his hair, or when he sees a sock he tries to put it on his feet (in his very uncoordinated baby way).  He also has a sense of humor.  He likes to make us laugh and to applaud him.  He claps and we clap.  His grandma taught him 'so big!' where he puts his arms up after we say, 'how big is Charlie?'  Now he just puts his arms up all day long so that we will yell 'so big!'  It's the new cutest thing ever.

Whenever we take a sip of something Charlie says "Ah!"

We got a new tricycle and he'll sit in it for a long time.  He's always had an aversion to his stroller (and everything else where he is strapped down) and so the tricycle is nice in that I have a way to get out and not be completely stressed out waiting for the meltdown.

He is a great sleeper.  Right now he sleeps 6pm until 6 or 6:30 am (although this morning he woke up at 5:30am) and takes an hour and a half nap in the morning and an hour nap in the afternoon.  I am obsessed with sleep, it is my most important thing and so I am trying to figure out how to get him to sleep longer in the afternoon.  Any tips?

Two weeks until his birthday!  I love you baby Charlie!!

10 Months and two weeks

I can't believe how much I love my baby.  He is so fun and cute and it's just getting better.

Charlie is 10 months and 2 weeks old!

He has officially been out of the womb longer than he was in it so he can no longer use that as an excuse when he's fussy.

At his 9 month check up, Dr. Brown told us that Charlie had a double ear infection!  It took two rounds of antibiotics to get rid of it.  I hate antibiotics and so does Charlie.  It wreaked havoc on his tummy.  Probiotics were used but who knows if they helped.  Right after his antibiotics he got a runny nose and was stuffy for a couple of weeks.  I hate when he has a runny nose.

Last week Charlie got a bad virus.  On Monday night he started shivering and got a fever.  The fever lasted for about 12 hours.  He managed to sleep through the whole thing.  We took his temperature with a forehead thermometer every few hours.  It got up to 103 but then started to go back down and was gone by the morning.

Here he is the morning after.

The fact that he is sitting still is proof enough that he wasn't feeling well.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday he slept 18 hours each day.  It would have been great had I not been so worried.  We went to the doctor on Tuesday and Thursday to make sure he was okay.  He was fine.  It was just a virus.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday he had a rash from the virus!  He was very uncomfortable.  Grandma thought baking soda might ease the discomfort.

It might have helped because the next day he was significantly better!  By Monday he was back to his normal self and he's back on his regular sleep schedule.  He's feeling much better.

He hasn't gained any weight since his 9 month check up, I think due to all the minor illnesses he's suffered.  It's nothing to be concerned about, he had some weight to spare.

Charlie is 25 pounds and has graduated to size 5 diapers.  He is wearing size 18 month clothes!

Right now, Charlie sleeps from 6pm-6am, takes a 1 1/2 hour nap in the morning and a 1 hour nap in the afternoon.  He needs lots of sleep because of all the growing he's doing.

 He's so big!

I just took this video a couple hours before bed today.  When he gets tired, he gets hysterical, meaning he laughs a lot but it's a volatile laugh that could go south at the slightest shift in the wind.

Charlie is now dancing, waving bye-bye, working on standing without holding on, and working on his words.  All of a sudden it seems like he understands some of what I'm saying.  My mom noticed that when he's hungry he goes to his high chair and stands up and holds it.  When he's done eating he does the 'all done' sign and it seems like he is trying to say it too.  It sounds something like 'ah-dah' and he says it over and over and rips his bib off.  

Happy 10 months baby Charlie!  We love you very much!