Snow Day(s)

We've been snowed in these past two days, trying to work from home while Charlie bops around the house. We met with some success (me more than John). This has given me time to remember several other things that Charlie is doing lately.

Yesterday, he offered me a "thank you" completely unprompted, after I had given him a graham cracker. He has learned to say please and thank you, but usually with prompting or by repeating what you say. It was nice to hear him say it on his own.

His favorite word these past two days seems to be "no no no," but some of his common words that are new in the past few weeks include: blanket, yogurt (which he wants at every meal), cold, snow, outside, tickle, hug, juice, push, purse, choo-choo, and light. He knows that a cow goes "moo" and a cat says "meow."

Charlie has discovered pockets. A couple of times in the past week, I've noticed him standing with his hands in his pants pockets. Makes him look like a tiny little man!

Over the past two days we've noticed Charlie making a pouty lip face when he's busy working on something with a lot of concentration. I managed to get this photo of him.

Imitating actions he sees around the house or at school is a big thing for the little guy right now. Yesterday I caught him feeding a couple of dolls some Kix, and he tries to feed Lucy his sippy cup. He also likes to open the drawers of the dresser in his room and put clothes in and out.

Charlie is very in to giving hugs right now. But you can't have just one. If you ask for one, he then has to go around the room and hug each person present (saying "hug, hug, hug" as he does so, and then he starts over at the beginning. Sometimes this lasts for several rounds.

While we've been stuck at home, Charlie has moved on from Monsters Inc to The Incredibles as is favorite movie of choice. We've also had some Finding Nemo thrown in, and Handy Manny has made a return to the rotation.

Be sure to check out John's video of Charlie playing with puppets, and doing his lion imitation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw6w-b-CI0I

Getting back in gear

The Robenalts are all on the mend, although John and I still have nagging occasional coughs. I ended up going to the doctor again after my last post, and after a chest xray they confirmed that I probably did have the start of possible pneumonia also. But luckily they had already put me on antibiotics by then, and I never got quite as bad as John. Charlie, amazingly, never caught any of it (knock on wood!)

We had a great trip to Cleveland last weekend. Lucy had a blast with Macy and Oliver, although she did not care for the face licking much. She was so excited to be on the road with us, and she enjoyed all the extra petting and ear scratching she received. Charlie had an amazing time as well, and he had no shortage of admirers. We went out with everyone for Margie's birthday, but otherwise we just spent a lot of time relaxing and visiting. It was wonderful.

Work has been very busy for both of us. I spent most of the MLK holiday working from home. But we still find time to have fun with Charlie.

Charlie has decided that bath time is fun again (thank goodness!) Apparently the trick was letting him have his own washcloth so he could clean his own toes. He still does not like his head getting wet, though.

Both John and I are still referred to as "Mommy." As much as we try to tell Charlie that John is "Daddy," he will repeat the word, but he still goes back to "Mommy" when he first sees John. I guess John shouldn't feel too badly, because Grandma and Brian were also both called "Mommy" this weekend!

Charlie can now climb up onto the couch by himself without his stepstool, and he likes to get up and sit next to us to watch TV. We have to be careful what we leave lying around now! He's also reaching up and opening the kitchen drawers. He can't really reach up and over to get anything out of them, but he likes to open and close them. I guess we'll have to put some safety latches on the drawers now.

Charlie's daycare room as a new teacher, Marissa. Charlie seems to have taken to her easily.

I'd better close soon-- much left to do before Charlie awakes from his nap.

Slow start to the New Year

The Cincy Robenalts are having a slow start to the New Year. After a great post-Christmas outing to Dayton to visit John's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Gary on the 3rd, John came down with pneumonia. And I contracted some sort of strange viral fever that won't go away. So we both spent a good chunk of the past week home from work.

Through all of this, Charlie has been fine. He's moving right along with lots of new words, like tickle and tissue. He's also doing a lot more imaginative play at home. He pretends that his stacking cups are bowls, and his Handy Manny screwdrivers are spoons. He even feeds Lucy his concoctions (with one of the "spoons"). He also pretends that actual bowls are hats-- luckily after they are empty! Today he made a "choo-choo" out of his stacking cups and goldfish crackers. Apparently it was fueled by milk. The Little People bus and plane are also still daily favorites.

Yesterday, Charlie had a play day with Oscar so we could rest and recuperate. It was a much needed break, and I am so thankful to Ricky and Teresa for helping us out that way. Beth was a great help last week, also, coming over one afternoon when we were both home from work to look after Charlie for a few hours so we could sleep.

We're looking forward to a healthier week ahead, although we'll be playing a lot of catch up both at work and at home. We're visiting relatives in Cleveland next weekend, so we're hoping they don't repeat this past weekend's snow. Lucy's going with us on this trip, and I'm sure she will love it. She enjoys playing with the other dogs up there, as well as riding in the car. Speaking of other dogs-- she's had a bit of an adventure playing with another dog who keeps getting into our yard. She must be enjoying it, because this morning I had to go out there and physically drag her back into the house.

Hope you all are having a HEALTHY and Happy New Year!