Off and crawling

August has been a busy month. We made some trips to the neighborhood pool, where Charlie easily made friends with whatever kids happened to be there. We went to the zoo on one really hot day-- for the Chin Baby Reunion. Charlie made a safari hat, and Liam got to see a snake close up. Charlie stayed clear of the snake, as his month has been peppered with bad dreams about snakes. Beth stayed with the boys last weekend while John and I went to California for a wedding. While we were gone, they visited the aquarium, ate at Skyline for dinner, and went to the pool. We are extremely grateful for Beth's willingness to take on this task, because we don't often get even a few hours away from the kids together, much less a few days.

Both kids were a little clingy to Mommy for a couple of days after we returned. But we all survived the separation.

Liam continues to grow bigger every day. He's into size 4 diapers now, and wearing 12-18 month clothes. He still has only 2 teeth, but he's starting to enjoy some soft finger foods like Kix and Gerber puffs. He babbles a lot now, and kind of says "mah mah." He's not been sleeping all the way through the night, but usually only wakes once about 3 or 4 AM to have a bottle and then goes back to sleep for a couple of hours.


Charlie has been making progress with the potty training. We're not all the way there yet, but hope to be turning another corner soon. I sure will be glad to stop buying diapers for two kids! Charlie has been trying to learn some of his letters, and surprises me sometimes with the numbers or letters he doesn't willingly admit to knowing, but which he clearly does. He likes to talk about how he is "a really good _____" or "a really fast _____"-- fill in the blank with runner, eater, climber, walker, drawer, etc. Today he almost changed one of Liam's diapers all by himself. He really is a good helper for Mommy and Daddy.

Liam finally took his first crawling "steps" today. Even without actually crawling, it was amazing how quickly he could move around the family room, especially when wires and cords were within sight. It's time again to pull out the big heavy boxes to block the entertainment center from little hands!

Yesterday we spent the day in Oxford for Broomfest. John and I played on different teams, and neither made it past the first bracket round after the preliminary round robin. We were tired after 3 games each, and the kids were ready to go home then, so it was just as well. We were happy that cousin Morgan, a freshman there at Miami, got to stop by and visit for a while. She and Charlie had a lot of fun playing and he showed her what a fast runner he was as they circled the lobby again and again.

The band, now with five members, is finally ready for their first event over Labor Day weekend. I don't know yet whether I'll try to head down there with the boys, since I'd want to head home before the fireworks start anyway. Maybe I can get Charlie to watch them on TV with me.

I can't believe it's almost September-- time to finalize plans for Liam's first birthday. It will be here before we know it. In the meantime, the boys say "Who Dey!"