This was not our first rodeo

The Cincy Robenalts had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Thursday I made our traditional cheesy potatoes and we headed over to the Piedrahitas' with John's mom for turkey dinner. I brought the potatoes, green beans, and stuffing. Teresa took care of the turkey, cranberry relish, yam casserole, and pies. Everything was delicious!

Before dinner, we took family photos for their family, so they could use them on Christmas cards. It was great fun, and the kids did great. Charlie and Oscar were not on coordinating nap schedules, but they sure enjoyed the time they spent awake together, chasing each other around the house, and playing on the climber downstairs. Charlie was really good with Mia, and he kept shushing us because she was sleeping.

We were exhausted by the end of that evening, and put Charlie right to bed when we got home. I looked through the ads from the paper one last time before bed, and Beth and I made our plan for shopping on Friday.

We decided not to get up in time to go to Best Buy when they opened, but were at Target 15 minutes before opening. Our plan was well executed, and the walkie talkies were extremely helpful, especially in Target. I even had someone stop me and ask me a question because they thought I worked there! After Target, Staples, and Lowes, we had to stop by home to unload. I had bought a TV and a wagon for Charlie at Target, so the car was full of big boxes.

We stopped to bring John breakfast and then unloaded the car at home. John went right to work assembling the wagon for Charlie. Charlie spent the rest of the day getting in and out of the wagon. It has cup holders and he knows how to use them. What a great buy! It wasn't on my "list" but I'm so glad I bought it.

After eating, it was off to the mall. I had no idea how long we had been there until I started to get hungry. After filling up the car again, we stopped to pick up a pizza to bring home and eat. Beth rested for a while, then she was off to finish her last couple of stops on the way home. I stayed put, and even got in a little nap in the afternoon. All in all, the shopping trip was a success. We had lots of fun conversations with people working in the stores, who either thought we were crazy, or were admiring us for our planning and preparedness. Our favorite was the cashier at the Container Store, who told us that it was "clear this is not your first rodeo!"

On Saturday, John had band practice in the afternoon, and then we hosted a dinner party for 9 people that evening. After dinner we watched Iron Man and then some folks played Rock Band for a while. I went to bed a little after 2, but there was still a foursome up playing cards. It was nice to relax and visit with some folks we hadn't seen much of in a while. Charlie went to bed as we started dinner, and did a great job of sleeping through all the noise.

Today we're watching football and relaxing. It's cool and rainy outside, and John is understandably exhausted from staying up way too late. What a great Thanksgiving weekend this has been. I just wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow!

Festival of Lights

Today we picked up Charlie from daycare a couple of hours early so we could go to the Members' only preview of the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo. We stopped by Skyline first for an early dinner, and Charlie ate nearly all of a cheese coney.

The weather was pretty good for being out there in the cold, but it did get chilly after the sun went down. The crowd was hard to navigate with the stroller down by where they were doing the tree lighting, so we headed back out without seeing those festivities or visiting Santa. But we got to see the baby cheetah at the children's zoo, as well as the polar bears (who seemed just fine with the cold!), and the elephants (who were inside their house).

Charlie is watching Monsters Inc. on John's lap right now. He seems to really like it. He said "baby" when he saw a baby, and went "shh" when they did on the screen. Soon it will be time for him to go to bed.

Tomorrow we'll be enjoying Turkey with the Piedrahitas. I'm sure Charlie will have a blast playing with Oscar. Friday it's off to shopping with Beth for me. This year we have walkie talkies (thanks to John for selecting those as his 10 year anniversary gift from P&G!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Charlie and I had a great trip to Houston last weekend. Charlie slept on most of the plane ride down-- I think the turbulence rocked him to sleep. He had lots of fun playing with Grandpa's hats-- having us all try them on in turn, and wearing them himself. He enjoyed sitting next to Nathan for meals-- whenever Nathan was in his highchair, Charlie wanted to sit in the booster chair next to him. We went to the grocery store with Grandma, and Charlie watched Grandma feed the birds.

Charlie also spent a good part of the weekend telling everyone to "shhhh" while putting a finger on the side of his nose. He must have picked this up from his new room at daycare, when they tell the kids to be quiet for naptime.

Yesterday we had people over for the Ohio State-Michigan game. The game was a bit more boring than usual, and by the time it was over there were cries to play Rock Band. Charlie joined in the fun on one song, banging on one of the drum pads with Beth's lip gloss and messing up her good score. He also enjoyed playing with the microphone and bopping to the songs while sitting in his rocking chair.

Charlie's newest word is "uck!" (when something is yucky-- like fuzz on his binkie) He's also saying "blocks" and "jacket." He's also learning to tell us that he's about to make a dirty diaper. This morning, he walked up to John and said "poo-poo," then we saw him grunt and make a face.

Daycare is also teaching Charlie how to throw things in the trash when he is done with them. He gets very excited here at home when I ask him to help me throw something away. I just hope we don't end up missing something important that he has thrown away as part of a game!

His first full week of full days in the Busy Bee room went well. He had a couple of bumps on the head, but all normal in the week of a toddler. All the extra activity must have worn him out, though, because he took two 2-hour naps on Saturday, and still went to bed an hour early!

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma Connie over at the Piedrahitas' house. I'm sure Charlie and Oscar will wear themselves out chasing each other around while we're making dinner. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers!

Signs of the season, signs of the times

Red cups at Starbucks. Dark when I go to work, and dark when I come home. Christmas displays in the windows at Macys. And Christmas music playing in the elevator lobby of my parking garage downtown. Isn't it a little early for the music? Actually, driving home in the dark, with it so cold outside, gives me the urge to stop and do Christmas shopping on the way home.

As if to hammer home this economic crisis, the Skyline Chili across the street from my office has started to charge for oyster crackers when you buy take-out. Apparently the bottomless bowls of the crackers are still free of charge when you eat-in, but for take out they are 20 cents a piece. That's when you know times are getting rough.

It's off to Houston today for me and Charlie. I hope the people on the plane are understanding parents themselves.

Full Time Busy Bee

Charlie had his first full day in the Busy Bee room on Friday. He did great. He started saying a few new words this week, including "thank you" and "jacket." I also first saw him blowing kisses on Monday when I picked him up from daycare. He doesn't really get the blowing part, but he'll put his hand up to his mouth.

I'm finding that my job of doing laundry has become more difficult since Charlie started spending more time in the toddler room. Meals are messier, because he's sitting at a table feeding himself, and they use regular cups and plates. Activities are also messier-- more paints, playing in sandboxes, and new things like playdough are the order of the day. Nearly every day there is some sort of unidentifiable stain on at least one of his sleeves. I am learning not to send him in in any really nice clothes!

I'm turning in soon-- it has been a long week with the election and all. John and I both spent the day on Tuesday working to "get out the vote." I've got to recuperate and get ready for our trip to Houston. Charlie and I leave in just a few days!

Monkeying Around at 18 Months

Charlie had his 18 month doctor appointment on Thursday. It wasn't originally scheduled for a couple of weeks yet, but the rash on his face had gotten so bad that we wanted to get in a little earlier. The pediatrician couldn't really do anything to get us into the special dermatologist faster, but he did give us a new steroid ointment to try for 2 weeks.

At the appointment, Charlie weighed 26 pounds (55th%), was 31.5 inches tall (30th%), and his head was of course huge (19.5 inches-- or 95th%). Definitely built like his Daddy! He got three shots, and otherwise everything was great.

Late in the week, Charlie started trying to say Busy Bee, the name of his new daycare room. He does a pretty good job, and if you ask him to say it, he'll usually get out something that sounds like "bizee-beh" or "bizzuh." He's continuing to do well with the transition.

Halloween went great at the Robenalt house. Charlie put up with his monkey costume for almost 2 hours. He loved walking around out in front of the house, and seeing all the other kids. He got into the process of walking to other houses also- we just went to four. He enjoyed pointing to the doggies that he saw. And of course, he loved carrying around a little treat pail. He inspected all of his candy several times. At the end of the evening, I split a small Kit Kat bar with him. He had 4 small bites, and he seemed to really enjoy it. What a treat after a long hard night of walking around! Pictures from the evening are posted on my flickr site.