Full on Spring

It finally feels like spring, because this evening we grilled out for the first time this year. We pulled Charlie's high chair outside so he could enjoy the weather, also. Lucy was thrilled with the event, since she knows it usually means a few table scraps for her. While we didn't go this year, it's also Flower Show week, which always says "it's Spring" to me.

I spent my first full night away from Charlie on Wednesday. It was supposed to be a two night trip, but I had a change in plans at the last minute and flew back after only one night. You'd think I would have enjoyed a nice evening with a good night's sleep, but I actually slept less than I do normally at home, because I stayed up working online. Charlie slept in later than normal at home, but I was up earlier.

I did enjoy my first plane trip in almost a year and a half without a squirmy child in my lap, however. It was a pretty easy trip since I was on my own-- I'd forgotten what that was like! Next month I'll be away on a trip for 3 nights-- I think I'll really miss Charlie then.

Charlie has been playing with his tongue since last weekend. He sticks it out a lot, and sometimes grabs it. Every now and then he stands on his own (without holding on to anything) for a second or two. It won't be long before he realizes he is steady enough to do that more often, and that will lead to taking a few steps. He's also being more picky about his food, now. Instead of eating anything we feed him, he'll make faces and refuse to open his mouth for some items-- mostly meat dishes and some vegetables. He's also not fond of cheese, but he likes some cheese flavored crunchies. So I'm wondering if it's a problem with the texture of cheese.

We finished out our weekend in Iowa with a visit with Melinda, who came up from Lawrence, Kansas to see us while we were in Des Moines. You can find photos of the visit on my flickr site. Melinda and her mother got a good dose of broomball, also-- I hope they enjoyed the experience!

Two for One

This weekend we are on a trip to Iowa, sort of a two for one. John is playing in a broomball tournament here in Des Moines, and we came a day early to go out to Perry to visit my Grandma Knepper and Aunt Kathryn. We had a long drive out here yesterday-- 11 hours total, a little over 9 of that in the car. Charlie did real well, considering he's now at the point where he wants to get out and crawl around. We stopped at his first McDonald's play land during our second break. He's technically not old enough to play on the slides and all of that, but he got a chance to crawl around a little and watch other kids (which he loves to do).

Once we got to the hotel last night, we took about 20 minutes to childproof it the best we could. Suitcases blocking access to electrical outlets, chairs blocking dresser drawers that pinch fingers, etc. Charlie stayed up a little later than usual, since he had slept so much in the car, but we got him down to bed at a reasonable time and sacked out ourselves.

Today we went to Perry and spent the day out there. We had a nice lunch with Grandma and Kathryn at Spring Valley, where Grandma lives. One of the workers there took Charlie from us and walked him around to all the tables. Everyone enjoyed seeing him smile and wave-- he got lots of compliments on his hair and cheeks! Several folks remarked on his cute bare toes, also! We had a chance to see the house that Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Mel had built, which was a great treat. It was a dreary rainy day, but the house was still beautiful to see. We also watched some videos of Charlie playing with Lucy, and shared many photos we had brought with us. Charlie played ball for a bit, showing off how he can throw it.

Tonight we took Charlie for his first adventure in a swimming pool at the hotel. He didn't seem fond of it at first, but he enjoyed watching other kids jumping in the pool, and he did relax a bit and seemed to enjoy parts of the experience. It was nice to get him exposed to the water like that.

Tomorrow the games start early, so I'd better get to sleep.

Burning Down the House

On Wednesday night, before we left for Iowa, I attempted to burn down the house. Well, that's what John says. In reality, I just accidentally turned on the wrong burner on the stove. I had set Lucy's dog bowl up there as I was getting her ready to get packed up (to stay at John's Mom's place while we were on our trip), and when I turned on the stove to make our ravioli for dinner, I turned on the burner under her bowl instead of under the pot of water. Of course, although it was a metal bowl, it had a rubber rim, which then caught on fire! John lept to action, and using the fire extinguisher, got it out. Then we grabbed the baby and the dog and ran outside-- to get away from the odor!

After airing out the house for a bit (luckily it was a nice day), we went back and and cleaned up the powdery mess so I could finish cooking dinner. I had to wash all the pots and pans twice that day! I'm sure we'll be finding that powder from the extinguisher for quite some time.

Trip Down South

Last weekend I took Charlie to see his Grandma and Grandpa Knepper and Great Grandma Bovier in Houston. Entertaining Lucy had a gig on Saturday night, so John stayed home. We enjoyed great weather while we were there-- it was not even very humid (unusual for Houston). We spent lots of time sitting on porches, watching fish ponds, and looking at the flower gardens. Charlie even got to go swing on the swings at a local park.

Charlie started a new habit of smacking his lips while we were in Houston. One of the highlights of the weekend was when Charlie tried to figure out how to get through Kacy's doggie door on the patio at Grandma B's house. I've posted lots of photos out on the flickr site.

I've also started to post a couple of videos out on Flickr, now that they accept those for posting. They'll be short clips, but they should be entertaining for those of you who don't get copies of the DVDs that I make of Charlie.

The Monkey at the Zoo

Two weeks ago, the day I last wrote here on the blog, we took Charlie to the zoo for the first time. It was a beautiful day, one of the first nice spring days we'd had on a weekend when we had no other plans. I had been planning to take Charlie out for a walk with Lucy, but when John's softball game was cancelled, and then we got a mailing from the zoo in the mail, we decided to make a family outing to the zoo instead. John's mom went along with us-- her first time at a zoo since she was a child!

We were treated to 3 elephants sounding off back and forth, and later two lions roared at each other for quite a while as we were walking through their area. I guess everyone was happy it was spring and wanted to announce it to the world. Charlie was clearly engaged by looking at the animals, pointing and following them with his eyes.

As part of the Zoo Blooms event, there was a daffodil show going on that day as well. We enjoyed taking some photos there during a break from the animals.

Charlie did really well, finally falling asleep in the stroller at the very end of the long day. We were at the zoo for about 4 hours! We were all pooped by the time we got home. We did not see all of the animals, but we bought a family membership so there will be plenty of chances to go back and see what we missed.

Busy Week!

We've had a busy week since I last wrote, so there is much to catch up on.

First, the Charlie update. His teeth seem to be bothering him less now, but the spots on his cheeks have not yet cleared up. The ointment seemed to help on one side, but the other is still nearly as red as it was before. We may see about going back to the doctor and/or going to a dermatologist.

Charlie is also starting to use his car for walking across the room. He uses the walkers at daycare quite a bit as well. Occasionally he will also take a few steps while holding on to my fingers.

On Saturday afternoon Beth took Charlie to the mall while we went to the Wine Festival. We met up with Rick and Jodi and compared notes several times during the afternoon. We were a bit disappointed in some of the places we were anxious to sample during the first hour. But by the end of the session, we think we found a couple worth looking for to buy at home. After the festival, Beth picked us up and took us to the CBA party for a couple of hours before Charlie had to go to bed and Beth had to go home to rest up for the Heart Mini Marathon the next day.

On Monday night, John went to play up in the Dayton broomball league. He came home bragging that he had again scored a goal. He is still the league leading scorer, and he only played 2 of the 3 weeks! (Click on the image below to see the details.) Now only if they would spell our name right!

On Tuesday, Beth watched Charlie so we could go to a free sneak preview showing of the new Rolling Stones movie, Shine a Light. It was pretty good, but they didn't have the sound on in the theater for the first few minutes, so I'm sure we missed a lot of good stuff. It's clear those guys are not as young as they used to be. It seems crazy to me that I went to see them 10 years ago, thinking that it might be their last tour. And they're still going!

On Wednesday night we dog sat for Tashi and Foster while John's mom went up to Dayton for Debbie's retirement celebration. There was quite a bit of commotion around, with 3 dogs and a baby, plus band practice was that night. But Foster did really well with Charlie. Charlie really liked chasing Tashi around.



On Thursday afternoon we received word that the whole family (all 5 sisters) wanted to come down and meet us for dinner to see Charlie. We met up at Chili's, and Charlie put on a show. I'm not sure he knew what to make of all those women wanting to hold him! Everyone had a nice visit.



Aunt Barbara and Uncle Pat brought Charlie a new wagon. He took to it right away when we got home. Unfortunately, Aunt Annette got stranded going home on Saturday, because she had taken Skybus from Milwaukee to Columbus. Apparently those fares (she paid $50) were just too good to sustain the airline for very long, and Friday was their last day of operation. Aunt Debbie managed to get her a ticket back home, so we hope she got home safely.

Well, the daffodils are back out again, which means it is one year since I started this blog. What a journey we've been on! Happy Spring!