Sweetest boy, even mid-terrible twos

 

Two-yogurt morning – someone was hungry! 

Good thing he fueled up, since he’s had a busy afternoon at Lia’s pool birthday party. I was at Product Camp (work activity) most of the day, but skipped the after-session happy hour to get home to my family, only to discover the birthday party was so fun that they still aren’t home!  Since it started at 2 (usually Charlie’s nap time), I have a feeling he’ll be wiped out when he gets home, but I’m so glad they had such a good time!

I had quite a scare yesterday – when I got home from work, it was a beautiful evening, so Charlie and I walked up to the GW Parkway and walked along the trail, and then into the Waynewood Park, our favorite nice-evening spot. The 2 baby swings were taken and he’s not into swinging on the big swings yet, so he ran around the other equipment a bit and then headed for the merry-go-round. He really wanted to get on, and the little girl pushing was being very careful and watching out for him, so I let him ride. For the first 15 minutes or so, he laughed and yelled and had a great time – so great a time that he started getting brave and letting go. I kept making them stop so I could tell him to hold on again, but the last time he let go, it was going a little fast and he went flying off!  He was on the opposite side of the merry-go-round from where I was standing, and I felt like I was watching him fly off in slow motion. Yuck. Another mom was near him and immediately grabbed him so he wouldn’t hit his head. He came up from the ground with wood chips all over him, including all in his mouth. Double yuck. He cried for a few minutes, but then wanted to go again. Luckily by that time, one of the baby swings was free so we could do that instead. I had enough of the merry-go-round at that point!

We have orientation at Charlie’s school this week!  Pamela and I are going to take Charlie together - I need to get filled in on what he needs/the routine, but since Pamela will be taking him and picking him up most days, she needs to learn the ropes too. I’m really excited for him, but super nervous about dropping him off on his first day. I’m hoping it’ll be harder on me than on him.

Charlie’s still challenging and testing us, but he’s also still the adorably sweet, funny boy we love, of course! It’s hard for me to believe that he’s actually done with the Infant and Toddler Connection program (the Early Intervention county therapy, etc).  His integration in the school system means he’s graduated from ITC. I remember so distinctly December 2008, when the ladies came by to check him out and evaluate him for services. At the time, they talked to me about the school system and the fact that he’d need to roll into it during the school year in which he turned 3.  At the time, I thought that sounded SO far away. But here we are!