World Traveler

It's been way too long since I posted--but I have a good reason! We were on vacation last week and (blissfully) had very little access to a computer. We visited my dad in Orlando and also took a cruise down to the Bahamas with some other friends and family. Charlie added to his travels and got to use his very cute passport for the first time. It was such a good time--I would recommend a cruise if you travel with a baby because there is so much to do and you don't have to hassle with getting in and out of a car all the time. Charlie got to meet (tackle) other babies at playgroup, try a whole bunch of food (and consume mass quantities of mashed potatoes), and visit a large aquarium in Nassau, along with experiencing lots of other new sights and sounds.





Back in Orlando, we took Charlie to a park with a spray water fountain. It took him a while to figure out that it was actually fun, but then he had a blast (no pun intended).


Charlie continues to learn new things. Just before we left, he started clapping, and then the night before the cruise, he learned how to make the "motorboat" sound with his lips. He is so proud of himself! Now he claps all the time and we are trying to teach him to say "Yea!". He has started waving pretty consistently, though not always in context. And just the other day we noticed he was doing this little dance in his high chair. At the time we were watching "Walk The Line" so we thought he was enjoying some Johnny Cash music. But now we realize he just really likes to dance while he eats, and he is starting to do it more out of the high chair too. I will have to figure out how to post a video because it is so cute! (although--I must say Sam T's little shoulder dance is a little cuter than a side-to-side head bob...but not by much!)



Charlie turned 9 months old last Friday (can you believe it?) and went in today for his checkup. He weighed 19 lbs 10 oz and was almost 28 inches long. He seems HUGE to us now. He checked out great with everything, and they told us to keep letting him eat as much as he wants. I am not sure they really comprehend what he wants to eat, but oh well...it will keep him happy. He is starting to show signs of wanting real food over the bottle, so I am guessing it won't be a huge deal to start reducing the amount of formula he gets.

We took him to meet his teacher tonight for his "school", actually his Mother's Day Out class at a nearby church/school. He will go 2 days a week until noon starting at the end of the month. He already knows one girl in the class from his swimming lessons, and there are 2 other girls and one other boy. We are looking forward to a new group of friends for Charlie!

That's it for now! Enjoy the pics! Especially the one where he is cramming a fistful of sand into his mouth--we weren't quite prepared for how quickly he would do that. Yuck!