We’re good at change. Or at least we’re getting used to it.
Harry left his job to begin full-time work on Jetrecord. You can follow that blog if you are interested in what he writes these days when it’s not code! He worked night and day to get the beta test launched last week. I am so proud of him.
I interviewed and accepted a per diem SLP position at a hospital (the one I was born at!). The process involved two interviews, drug testing, TB testing, orientation and training. I had my first solo day on Saturday.
We submitted a landscape proposal to our HOA, with Harry Sr’s help, to xeriscape and add vegetable gardens. Harry Sr. basically single handedly got our first raised vegetable bed in place and we’re going to start planting this week!
We traveled to Seattle and had an amazing visit with many of our friends. It felt like we never left. We overindulged on good coffee & pastries. We watched Charlie give endless high-fives to Sam & Angie’s adorable son, Manny. They are true car seat buddies. Another perk of the trip was that their dog cleaned the floor and high chair for us. Our floor is disgusting and it feels fruitless to clean it because it’s nasty again the next day. So, now I want to lure neighborhood dogs into our kitchen immediately after Charlie’s meals.
Charlie took his first series of independent walking steps in the Seattle airport prior to boarding. I love that he began walking where he was born. Until today he was only walking a few steps between Harry & I, but now he’s walking all over the house.
There are more videos up on vimeo, if you’re interested. Also, there’s plenty of pictures on flickr still, too. Our Seattle pictures are private to friends & family only, so let us know if you join flickr and want to see those shots.
Charlie received this musical card on his birthday (two months ago) and continues to love listening to the song, watching adults dance, and giving it his best shot. He’s getting better every day!
At the end of the first segment of this video Charlie toots, and at the
beginning of the second he gets his poop shivers. After the video is
taken, he poops. All while walking! What a talented boy. We are so
proud. (Truly!)
When I was pregnant, one of my clients grandma’s gave Charlie a toy that definitely freaked me out a bit at the time. It’s a blue and green hybrid dog-seal-lar-phin (dog face, seal flippers, caterpillar thorax, dolphin fluke) whose cheeks flash red while it plays “Rock-a-Bye Baby” after you press it’s abdomen. I would’ve returned it but it smelled horribly because she was a chain-smoker. I couldn’t regift it for the same reason…and because it was so strange. So, after a good wash & dry in smoke-free air, Charlie got to see the toy. He adored it. This softened my heart enough that I came to accept the toy and allowed it to hang out with us. It even traveled with us…frequently. At his 5-month EKG and echocardiogram we must’ve played it fifty times to keep him content during the procedures. Even at his second visit many months later, it did wonders to keep him happy during the wait. Then we moved and mutant toy disappeared for several weeks. When Charlie saw it he still seemed interested, but after I pressed the button, he cried horribly. Vaccination-like crying. I had to nurse him to calm him. I couldn’t figure out why, but the same response happened several days later with another toy who plays music upon squeezing (no lights). I promptly put both of these toys in our basement’s growing piles of stuff for the next little Love.
Well, these piles were brought upstairs again this week so that I could sort through clothes to lend to a friend who recently had a baby. Charlie used his ever refining standing ability to see into the boxes and saw the hybrid before I did. Of course, he wanted it. I let him hold it. He handed it to me, seeming to request that it be played. I pressed the stomach, and voila!, major tears. Red-faced, downturned-lower-lip wailing. I put it in a box that he couldn’t reach, but after he recovered he pointed to the box. Thankfully, I distracted him away from it to avoid the sadness that would inevitably come with him having that toy…either through hearing it or me not playing it despite his requests.
Any of you know of any kids that have had this love/hate relationship with their toys?
This will only seem strange to our friends who aren’t parents. By 9:30 this morning, Harry and/or I had nursed Charlie, changed his diaper twice, made breakfast, fed Charlie both breakfast & snack, hung three pictures, washed, dried & put away a load of laundry, shoveled the driveway, emptied the dishwasher, and drank the same cup of coffee that had to be reheated multiple times. Not to forget wiping off the floor and Charlie’s highchair…twice.
After at least a month of wake-up calls before six, this is a little shout out to my boy for waking up at 6:45 (even if he did first wake up at 4:50 from the wind…or being cold…or hungry, but thankfully he went right back to sleep after nursing). I never thought I’d rejoice at a pre-seven awakening, but I feel like a new woman.
While watching the seals at the Denver zoo, Harry began imitating their breathing noises, much to Charlie’s pleasure. This catches the end of the laughter, as well as Charlie’s attempts to draw the crowd into the fun with his fake coughs.
I got lots of requests for cake pictures, so here you are, fans of babies smeared in icing. I’m sorry to disappoint, however, because Charlie approached this first time treat with serious caution…just as he does most everything new. Along with the pictures, I’ve included a short clip of him being sung to and beginning to pinch his cupcake icing.
