Oh where, oh where is the time?

This week is overloaded with preparations for our annual "Red, White, & Baby Blue" fundraiser but I wanted to take a couple of minutes to update on the boys. Pics will be coming, someday, when I can stop and take a breath.

Charlie has almost - but not quite - mastered the first stage of potty training. That would be going #1 pretty consistently. He mostly wears underwear while at home and we have accidents occasionally, but he's doing very well. Going #2 is a whole other issue, he does not ever do that on the potty. We aren't pushing just yet. He still has a full diaper overnight and sometimes after his nap, but when he's awake, he keeps it dry.

My dad pointed out the other day how totally friendly he is. I guess I take it for granted but it is cute how he just meets people right and left. He waves at people in Wal-mart and says "HI!" and doesn't understand if they don't respond (they may be at the other end of the aisle). He says "What's your name?" to everyone and more impressively, he remembers theirs! He now has two good friends who are checkers at Wal-mart (Mandy and Katie) and he remembers Tonya the waitress too. Wonder if we have a budding politician here...

Henry has started school and is not happy about us leaving him there. Once he calms down, he seems to enjoy it however, and I think he can out-eat everyone in the class! He is teething so his desire for harder foods comes and goes, but he loves to eat. He is busy, busy, busy learning things all the time.

We are amazed by how much he can communicate without saying any words. He lets us know when he's ready for a nap or bed by going to the gate with a paci and looking at us a certain way. He heads to the back for a diaper change. He goes to the door and bangs on it when he wants to go. And he loves to dance more than anything! He also enjoys tackling (or trying to tackle) Charlie and being chased.

We are taking him to the ENT doc this week to check on his ears. We think his lack of speech could be affected by all of the ear infections. So--we'll see what we find out.

Some things Charlie is saying now:
"That's a good idea!"
"You coming?" or "You here!"
"How come?" (we are SOOOO happy he has figured out the concept of 'why')
"Where we goin today?" (he wants to go somewhere every day)
"I want to hold you"

The other day I was buying light bulbs and Charlie said "Mama, we need one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom." I laughed because he sounded so grownup and he said "I remember. I'm smart!" and that totally cracked me up.

I also just overheard him getting mad at Tess, and then saying "Mama says to count to ten when I'm mad." so I thought "wow! he's getting it!" and then I heard him say, "I don't WANT to!". Oh well.

They are growing up so fast. Charlie looks like a boy and Henry is definitely a toddler now. They are turning into little individuals and it's amazing to watch. Charlie is so inquisitive - so engaged - so observant. And Henry is not far behind, he just can't communicate as well yet. They pick up on things so easily!!! I love every minute of this.

Moving and Shaking

No pics tonight, but Henry is changing every day it seems so I wanted to post before I forget anything!

He is becoming his own little personality, rapidly. He now has a few words or phrases besides "Anah!" which still means "I want food!". He will say "Mama" and "Adadadada" very clearly, and after he eats he will put his hands up and say "Ah Dah!" (all done). He said "Ah-Hee" for Charlie once. He seems to have other words for things but they are still in his own special language. He jabbers constantly.

He is learning all about the world and how things work. He learned how to throw a stick to Mandy, his Mamaw and Papaw's dog, today after watching Daddy do it just twice. He has mastered the stacker toys and loves to put together Legos. He can now climb on and off of toys with ease.

The biggest change has been the dancing, and we love it! He knows what it means to dance now and it's mostly a matter of bouncing or moving his legs up and down. His first favorite song is "Hot Potato" by The Wiggles, and he has discovered the Wiggles guitar button where he can hear it over and over. So he walks around the room holding this guitar that is almost as big as he is, happily bouncing up and down to that song.

Henry had his last bottle on Friday, so that phase is officially gone. He had been down to just the morning bottle for a while anyway. We are trying to limit his pacifier use during the day but he won't be losing that completely for a while. He got his 3rd tooth last week, the top right one. He looks like a few others are not far behind.

He has also learned to copy Charlie by making a funny face. Hard to describe, but I'll put a pic on here shortly. When they are both sitting there making this face, it's hilarious!

For Charlie news - he had a great day for potty training! He asked to go several times, and for the first time, tonight he asked to go poo-poo and actually went in the potty! Go Charlie!!! Let's hope it continues.

Thanks to all of you who have offered thoughts and prayers while we dealt with losing my Papaw. He was buried right above Jackson's spot which I think is pretty cool. My Mamaw will be moving up to Fayetteville in a few months after things get organized. It has been a difficult time for the last couple of weeks, but we are getting through it. We have explained things to Charlie but not sure how much he understands at this point.

Pictures soon! Both boys had their first swim lesson of the year (Henry's first ever) this weekend and they did great!

Too Busy

Charlie made me laugh out loud tonight. He has had a fussy day mostly due to getting up too early and being overtired this afternoon. So tonight it was almost bathtime and James was going to go downstairs and check email. Charlie of course wanted to go with him, but James said no, it was time for a bath. Charlie did his usual "WAAAAAH!" whiny thing that is all too common these days, and dramatically threw himself down on the floor (his new activity when he's mad). James walked off, because our response to these little fits is generally to ignore them, and Charlie just stayed on the floor, more or less silent. Well...Henry thought this was a golden opportunity to go over and rough house with Charlie (his new favorite activity) so he walked over and leaned over to pounce on him, when Charlie scowled and pushed him away and said, "Not now, Henry, I am throwing a fit!" then proceeded to just keep lying there. It was hilarious!

Of course after I laughed, Henry laughed, thinking it was all a big game, so eventually Charlie had to give in and actually play with Henry.

Speaking of Henry, since I posted the other day about walking and crawling about 50/50, he has suddenly kicked in the walking to more like 75/25. He is much better now and can go pretty fast when he wants to. It's weird now to just see him teetering and tottering all over the house!

Happenings

Now for more updates...I wish I could remember everything!

Henry weighs around 22 lbs now, slightly on the small side compared to where he was, but we believe this will pick back up since he can now eat his beloved solid food all the time. And he does eat - we are already having to order an entire kids' meal for him when we go out now. He still has the morning bottle but we've switched him to all cow's milk now, and he usually just drinks from a sippy the rest of the day. He made the switch to regular milk better than Charlie did, at least so far.

Henry is also sleeping a little better in the mornings (knock on wood). Instead of waking up at 5 AM and getting in bed with us the last hour, he has been sleeping until 6 or 6:30, which is when we'd get up anyway. His naps are still hit or miss, maybe a little longer at a time, but still not really what he is "supposed" to be doing. Oh well.

He isn't saying much but he is saying a lot....all at the same time! What I mean is, he doesn't have many specific words at all, but he jabbers constantly and has a lot of words that he repeats but we aren't sure what they are. Example: "a-nah" means something like "I want more food". We think it started with "nana" and extended to mean all food. Bananas and pasta are his favorites right now, besides sweets. And definitely no baby food! If it's in a jar, he wants no part of it.

We had a great birthday party for him with a "Kentucky Derby" theme. The older kids had stick horse races while the younger ones rode in a horse wagon. He of course lived up to expectations and devoured the entire smash cake! He was soooo sleepy for most of his party.

Truly, I can't believe he is one. He has such a moody personality. Some days he is demon baby and cannot get happy, other times he is so giddy he just can't stop giggling at anything and everything. (we love the giddy times) He does not take the word "no" very well, in fact, his whole face will slowly crumple and he just cries and wails, even if you say it very gently and softly. He thinks Charlie is hilarious. He loves to climb, especially onto Charlie's bed, where he has learned to fall backwards and bounce. He loves to be naked - what little boy doesn't - and slaps his belly and grins. He runs cars all over the place making car sounds. His pacifiers are his most prized possessions, and he is a little fish in the water! He is s-l-o-w to wake up and just wants to be cuddled, which we are happy to do!

Now for Charlie - he is definitely still two, but has a heart of gold. He really really wants to be a good boy, but in fact, he isn't a lot of the time. So we are dealing with that. The latest trick is, of course, from "Yo Gabba Gabba" where they sing about keeping your hands to yourself. That seems to be sinking in more than "Don't hit, don't pinch, don't push" etc. However, the other day he bit me (hard) while he was hugging me, and tried again later on while I was holding him. So far it seems to be out of love, not out of aggression, but it's unsettling so we are watching it.

Potty training is not going so well. I should say, not much progress. He will go on the potty if we take him constantly, but he won't ask to go, and poop pretty much only happens in his pants. He likes getting his stamps but they aren't motivating him to ask to go. He hates the idea of underwear and refuses to even try them. He has no concept of staying dry intentionally. So...not sure what to do next, or when to force things a little more. He knows what to do, but he isn't doing it.

Charlie is very into books right now and loves to recite what he knows. His favorite is "Three Little Fish" that he asks for every night, and knows about every other word. It is so cute to hear him "read" it. He is also all about time relationships and wants to know when things will happen, like "after my nap" or "in 3 days" or "when it stops raining". Not that he truly understands the passage of time, but he gets that there is a sequence to when things happen. He just attended a German opera concert with his Grandpa, and of course didn't make it through all of it, but he seemed to really enjoy it! Who knew?! He loves to sing "This Old Man" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and he counts to ten in Spanish when he wants to show off.

Here are a few pictures from a lunch in the park with Daddy, and also pictures from our visit to the Wild Wilderness Safari in Gentry. It was great fun!

Happy Birthday Henry!!!

I had every intention of doing a big long post tonight to catch up, but it took so long to get the pictures ready that now I am too tired to make sense. So I will post tomorrow night, and it will cover Henry's Big Day as well as some recent outings to the park and the Safari Park in Gentry. I did manage to change the main picture to one I snapped at McDonald's last week.

Hard to believe, but Henry's birthday was 12 days ago!!! He can't possibly be a whole year old already. Charlie's first months seemed much slower, much more deliberate - very strange how different it is.

Henry has been taking steps here and there since the week before his birthday, but just today something else clicked with the walking. He is getting up on his own now and just walking wherever he wants. I'd say it's still about 50/50 between crawling and walking, but the drive seems to be there now, suddenly. He has this great huge grin on his face like "Check me out!".

Speaking of checking people out, Charlie's little girl crushes are becoming more and more common. Just tonight he went into all-out showoff mode with a table of girls, telling Daddy that he was "looking at girls" and saying once we got in the car, "I like girls." He also fell in love with our waitress last night and kept trying to make awkward conversation just so she would talk to him. (impressive things like, "I'm full!" and "I'm 2!" and "You come back here!")

I will post more tomorrow night about how things are going, as the crazy life continues....