A successful journey

The Cincy Robenalts have made it back from their Texas journey safe and sound.

While we were there, Charlie had his first finger food-- Gerbers peach puffs. We threw a couple on his highchair tray on Sunday evening, while we were having dinner. He seemed to know what to do right away, either because he thinks everything goes in his mouth anyway, or because he was watching us eat our dinner at the time, or because he's watched the older kids at daycare eat next to him so often. He's had them again a couple of times since then, and his control gets better and better. Sometimes now he even gets them into his mouth and manages to eat them without spitting them out!

Charlie got to meet his second dog, Kacy, at my grandmother's house. As with Lucy, he wanted to pet (and grab) her fur, and reached for her feet to tug on them. He continued to be fascinated with his older cousin Briana, who seemed to make him laugh and smile each time she came near.

Charlie also got to help open some more Christmas presents. As expected, he loved playing with the crinkly paper. He got to flap around some tissue paper this time, also. He took right to the books in his stocking, and jumped right on the wooden horsey scooter as if he knew what it was for!

We got the alphabet blocks that were on his wish list from the Brewoods, and those came home with us in the suitcase for sure. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the UPS packages with his other fine gifts.

While we were in Houston, we managed to get some good family pictures, with all the kids looking the same way. John has them posted on his flickr site. It was not "easy," but did seem less painful than the same exercise in Lawrence last month.

Charlie did great on the plane home-- sleeping a good part of the time. On the way down, he was fussy, but I can't blame him, since it was 100 degrees on the plane, and we had to strip off his clothes just to keep him from overheating. I was fussy myself!

We are off to Dayton this afternoon to visit Charlie's Great Aunt Debbie. She has not seen him since he was one week old. What a change she will see!

Hope everyone had a great holiday, and Happy New Year!

--Michelle

Christmas is coming 2

Charlie opened his first Christmas presents ever last night. (He got some gifts at the Robenalt Christmas, but Mommy and Daddy opened those for him, because he was asleep.) Santa brought him some soft squishy blocks with numbers 1-10. Of course, he liked the wrapping paper best. Grandma Robenalt brought him a little lamb and a new chair. He really likes the lamb. How convenient that he already says "ba ba ba" all the time!

The weather has been unusually warm here the past couple of days, but it will be a nice transition to Houston weather. We're heading to the airport in just a couple of hours, to go see Grandma and Grandpa Knepper, and the Brewoods. Great Grandma Bovier is also waiting to see her little Charlie. We can't wait for the kids to be all together again.

I'd better finish packing up our bags. Merry Christmas to everyone, and Happy New Year!

--Michelle

Christmas is coming

The end of the year is always a busy time, and this year is no exception. Today we went to a holiday housewarming at the Tunnings'. Charlie got to play with Connor and meet Connor's cousin Jack as well. Charlie was very well behaved. John watched the first half of the snowy Browns game with Sean and others in the "man room" in the basement. We got home in time to see the end of the Browns victory. Later, we went to broomball and played our last game on the Blender league, where we actually played on the same team for once.

Last night the band cancelled their gig over in Newport because of the threatening weather. Earlier in the day Saturday we'd had snow, then rain, which created quite a slush. The continuing rain, and the fact that the temps did not drop as much as predicted, meant the snow and slush was mostly gone by morning. Somehow we've managed to escape the nasty weather that they've had both to the east and the west of us these past couple of weeks.

On Friday night, the CBA had another exhibition during intermission at a Cyclones game. John stayed up in the stands while I went down to play with the others. Charlie got fussy soon after that (it was past his bedtime), and the music was really loud, so we took him home during the second intermission.

We had some unfortunate news this past week, when we learned that they will be closing Charlie's daycare within the next two years. This means lots of changes, even in the near term, as many of the staff will be let go soon. We are terribly disappointed, because we like the place so well, it's so convenient, Charlie does so well there, and we know so many other parents in the center (and even in his particular room). I have tried to put it out of my mind for now, so we can focus on the holidays, but once the new year hits, I'm sure I'll realize how traumatic this will be on us. Not only will we have to find other arrangements, but it will be a change to Charlie's (and our) routine.

Charlie is doing well, however, almost crawling about. He scoots a lot, and manages to roll back and forth to get where he wants to go most of the time. He still has only two teeth, but he seems to be teething more off and on, by the significant quantity of drool that comes out of his mouth. Lucy and he continue to be great pals. Lucy has even rolled on her back to let Charlie pet or rub her belly a couple of times.

We have been using the blanket that Charlie's Aunt Taylor made for him on the floor as his play area in the family room. We often fold it over in half when he's not using it, to make way for us to walk around and so Lucy doesn't walk across it and muddy it up. Lucy has taken to curling up on the folded over blanket when Charlie's not using it, instead of laying in her bed (which is right next to the blanket). I wonder if she knows it smells like Charlie, and thinks of it like she does when she lays on our bed upstairs.

Charlie also has been really enjoying standing while holding on to our fingers. He likes to bounce and also pretend that he's dancing. His favorite book is still the one with the strings and fabric to pull on. He's very fond of different textures.

I guess that's all for now. We'll be off for the holidays soon. Keep watching our flickr sites for photos.

--Michelle

The White Death

Apparently, this is what some locals think we should call the snow storm that was due to hit us last night. As it turns out, Charlie's "first snow" was barely a dusting. Although it's been snowing since sometime before 5am, what did stick to the streets is now melting. The stuff falling now is almost like rain by the time it hits the ground, it's so wet. That does not mean that it does not feel cold outside!

I guess our first photos of Charlie in the snow will have to wait......

It's December already?

Charlie has been more back to his normal eating self, after a week or so of a diminished appetite. He's also sleeping better since getting back into his routine after the Thanksgiving break. Most nights he sleeps through, at least until I'm about ready to get up for work, anyway. Occasionally he wakes up before I'm completely showered and dressed, but John helps me out by feeding Charlie and keeping an eye on him until I'm ready to get him dressed and take him to daycare.

Charlie still just has the two teeth on the bottom, but it sure seems like he's working on some more. He's constantly drooling and chewing on his fingers.

We've tried some new foods recently-- barley cereal, sweet potatoes, vegetable mixes with spinach in them, and fruit mixes with strawberry in them. He continues to like them all.

It's hard to believe that in just three weeks we'll be enjoying Charlie's first Christmas. There is so much to do between now and then.