Fun in the Bath

Charlie had his first "fun" bath on Sunday. We had resorted to having John take Charlie into the shower with him to bathe him for the past couple of months, because Charlie was really not liking the bath process. The shower seemed to go much more smoothly, although John was always nervous about dropping him when he was slippery with soap. But now that he's sitting up really well on his own, we decided last week to go back to the baby tub and see how that would go. We had removed the infant insert, and pulled out some toys we had for the bath. The first time we tried it, Charlie was still a little tentative and obviously did not enjoy it. But on Sunday, he got comfortable enough to splash around and have some fun, even trying to fish around for the toys that were floating around him. The only time he got really upset was when he smacked the water with his hand for the first time, and it splashed back into his eyes and nose. I am looking forward now to bath time, instead of dreading it!

This morning Charlie had his first yogurt for breakfast. He seemed to like it alright. It's great that he's starting to eat more and more of the foods that they provide at the daycare, so soon we'll not have to bring in as many items from home.

Charlie has made quite a friend in Henri, his daycare classmate. Henri shares Mary as his primary caregiver, and seems to have "adopted" Charlie as his little brother of sorts. Mary tells me that when she asks him "where is Mary's boy?" Henri now points to both himself and Charlie, instead of just himself. I hear stories all the time about how he will pick up Charlie's pacifier and bring it to him. Apparently he refuses to hand it to any of the adults, and will only give it back to Charlie. (Charlie uses a different type of pacifier from all the other kids in the Hummingbird room, so it's easy to pick out which one is his.) Yesterday when I picked Charlie up, I was careful not to let him know I was there at first (otherwise, he cries if I don't pick him up right away, and then I can't get his stuff together while holding him.) But Henri saw me when I brought Charlie's carseat out into the main room. He promptly walked over to Charlie, who was playing on the drum (as usual!), and started poking him in the arm to get his attention. When Charlie looked at him, Henri pointed to me, as if to say "your mom is here!" It was so precious.

Little Big Mouth

Charlie has a new tooth breaking through-- on top just to the one side. His mouth seems to be more interesting to him lately-- he's been exploring it more with his fingers and thumbs. I have noticed this especially while he's eating cereal in the morning on the weekends! He ends up with food all over his head, because he sticks his hand in his mouth, then rubs his eyes or touches the side of his head above his ears.

At daycare this morning they also fed him some peaches, cut up real small, and some small torn up pieces of bread. I stayed a few minutes and watched him try to feed himself. The peaches rarely made it all the way to his mouth, since they were so slippery. I can only imagine what his clothes are going to look like tonight!

It's been at least three days since he blew out a diaper-- I know I'm jinxing us just by saying that, but it's a happy thing not to have the extra laundry to deal with every night.

We're in trouble now!

Charlie has now perfected the "army crawl" and is regularly making his way around the family room to objects he should not be touching. A barrier was quickly constructed to keep him from pushing all of the buttons on the receiver and DVD player, and to keep him from the computer keyboard that sits under the TV.

He's still a little slow moving around, since he's only using his right hand and his left elbow to drag the back half of his body around, but he does get places.

Charlie's clapping ability is also getting better by the day. He hasn't yet figured out that clapping is a positive reaction to events-- he seems to do it whenever he's stimulated emotionally (good or bad). It's quite strange to see him fussing and frowning and clapping at the same time!

Charlie had his first Cheerios a little over a week ago. They gave him some at daycare instead of his usual babyfood puffs. He seemed to like them alright.

Charlie and Lucy continue to get along well. Lucy is amazingly tolerant of Charlie's tugs and pokes. She even walked over and laid her head in his lap the other day.

Tomorrow is a day off for both John and I, so we'll be enjoying an extra day with the little guy before heading back to work.

More milestones

Charlie moved up to the size 4 cruisers on Tuesday night. He has been blowing out diapers on average once or twice a day, so we hope this helps to stem that.

Charlie is also really close to pulling himself up on the ottoman at home. They've noticed him pulling up at least to his knees at daycare, also.

His new trick is clapping. He doesn't really make any sound, but he gets his hands together really well. And he thinks it's hilarious when you clap in response.

He's getting really good at getting finger foods (puffs) to his mouth now. There's been a big improvement in just the last few days.

Charlie is sure keeping us on our toes!

Happy New Year!

We've just returned from Syracuse, where Charlie got to see his first broomball tournament. He tolerated the trip really well, even the 9 hour drive home today. There were other milestones this weekend, including the Cincinnati men's team's first ever shutout win at Syracuse. They came dangerously close to having to play on Sunday, since they also just barely missed winning another game in the final minutes (eventually losing in sudden death overtime). It would have been the first time a Cincinnati team ever made it past the Saturday games. It was also the first time we could remember seeing green grass in NY during a January trip to Syracuse for this tournament. The temps were in the high 40's today for our drive home-- much better than the blowing snow we often drive home in.

I continued my streak of being interviewed for TV when we stopped at a service center on the NY thruway on the way home. Apparently the tolls were increased at midnight Saturday, and they wanted to get opinions on what people thought of the increase. I basically said it didn't really impact me much, because I only drive that road once a year. Anyway, I'll have no idea if I made it on the local news there, since we were just driving through, but the way things go for me, I was probably on!

Tomorrow night is the national championship game, so our new TV will be tuned in to watch Ohio State. A victory sure would help us start the new year off right!