Changes

The heartbreaking and horrific scandal at Penn State makes me want to lock my doors and keep my little family safe inside forever.  Since that’s not exactly practical, I have been thinking a lot about how parents can keep their kids safe from predators. One small step I’m taking is to create a new blog address and name that doesn’t include our last name. I imagine that most of you who still read are family or very close friends, so this is probably silly and overcautious – but I’d rather be too cautious than not careful enough.

So please, come check out the new site - www.thecharlieupdate.wordpress.com – it doesn’t require a password or anything, just a new URL.  I plan to keep posting, just in the new place!  If you want to keep reading, bookmark it, because I’ll be deleting this site in a few weeks.

Thanks for keeping up with our boy!

YouTube

Y’all have seen this, right?

Well, Charlie thinks it’s the funniest thing ever. Here’s a YouTube video of him watching his favorite YouTube video:

I Want My Hair Back!

Yes, those are words that came out of my boy’s mouth as he screamed and cried while getting his hair cut on Saturday.  He has had his haircut at various places before, with minimal fussing. But he wasn’t having it on Saturday – he didn’t want the lady to brush his hair or wet his hair, let alone cut his hair. It got ugly, and she just cut as fast as she could, amidst his wiggling and wailing. The end result was surprisingly okay – only a few uneven parts here and there. And the wails of “I want my hair back”, plus the “thank you” amidst tears at the end when he got his lollipops, provided lots of entertainment for the other poor patrons.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

He hardly looks like the same boy now. It’s amazing how a little trim ages him!

We had a great visit with Nana this weekend. She was supposed to be here for Halloween, but the freak October snowfall kept her from arriving on time. So we were glad to get a visit with her over the weekend!  It was a gorgeous fall weekend, and we spent yesterday walking through the US Botanical Gardens. Charlie and I ran around outside for a while while Nana and Daddy were inside, and he loved it. He ran up and down the paths and over the bridges, singing songs.  He’s been bringing all kinds of new songs home from school and Ms. Pamela’s house, and it is so fun for me when he breaks out a new tune I haven’t heard before. He has one that says, amongst other things, “Everybody shake your hips” – and the move he does with it is priceless.

Halloween was funny this year.  After Boo at the Zoo, I expected him to be far more into Trick-or-Treating than he was. We hit a few houses, but all he wanted to do was push his bike on the street. When I finally encouraged him to go up a few driveways, he got really disappointed when he wasn’t invited in!  He decided pretty quickly that he’d much rather come inside and watch “County Fortune”.

  Our little sharky:

Wearing my hat:

His jammies matched my witch tights perfectly!

We are finally having some serious success with potty training!  He went all day yesterday and today with almost no accidents, and lots of visits to the potty. The only problem is, he will only use his little potty – it makes things difficult when we’re out!  Pamela has taken to putting it in a trash bag and taking it out with them when they go to play dates, but I’m hoping she won’t need to do that for too much longer. But either way, we’re celebrating his successes at our house! 

This stage in Charlie’s development is so enjoyable. There are plenty of arguments and frustrations, as always, but he’s such a charmer and so full of things to say. He starts the day singing and finishes it with giggles. And he’s so SMART – his memory is amazing. He can recite multiple books word for word and knows all the words to lots of songs. My current favorite is his attempt at the Beatles; when he sings, “You say bye, I say hewoh, hewoh, hewoh” I pretty much melt.

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Every year at this time, I think back to where we were in late March 2008, with our  tiny two pounder, wanting to believe he would persevere but so scared and unsure. And look at him now!  We are SO lucky to have this little boy in our lives.

TVV

Charlie hasn’t been much of a tv watcher in the past. Initially, we kept him from it because the developmental specialists we saw at Children’s Hospital said he really shouldn’t watch any until he was at least 2 years old. Once we’d made it 2 years, it kind of seemed silly to try to introduce him to Yo Gabba Gabba or Sesame Street – he didn’t know what he was missing, and we weren’t that interested in starting a boob tube tradition.  Somehow, though, TV has found its way into Charlie’s life in the form of night time game shows!  George and I like to watch Jeopardy, and one night, Charlie requested it. And from there, a family tradition began. Not sure what he finds so interesting about “Jeoparee” as he calls it, but he dances when the theme music comes on and is rapt until dancing to the closing tune.

One night recently, I made the mistake of turning on the “TVV”(another Charlie-ism) a little early, and he caught the end of Wheel of Fortune. He LOVED it – all the letters and numbers got him very excited. Right now, in fact, he’s jumping on the couch next to me, yelling out “One T! One T! One T!”  So now, the weeknights include both “County Fortune” (no idea why he calls it that) and Jeoparee. It’s actually pretty good timing, since I can get dinner prepared and on the table while he’s entertained.

Monday nights would be Charlie’s most favorite, since his other treat, “Dancing with Stars”, is on TV. He loves to dance along, and is disappointed the rest of the week when I tell him it isn’t on.

At this rate, he’s going to fit in great at the old folks home.

Boo at the Zoo

Our little shark donned his costume with minimal fuss (yay!) and had a great time at the zoo last night!

  

He was VERY excited to get his own bag of chips!

Back away from my chips!

Moving onto more shark-appropriate munchies:

Tonight in the tub:

Making faces with mommy:

Potty Training

Would any mommy blog be complete without a post on potty training?  I think not.  After a heart-to-heart with Charlie’s preschool teacher yesterday (gulp!), Charlie is pants-free today. Just “underwear pants” (as he calls them) for this boy this morning, so it’ll be easy to tell if he’s had an accident. It feels pretty mean to say no when my best buddy is asking me to put his pants on, but I’m dedicated to the task this weekend, and toughing it out.
So far, we’ve been pretty successful.  The teacher suggested that after naps and in the morning, we basically close him in the bathroom with us and say he can’t leave until he goes, no matter how long it takes. Yesterday after naptime, it was kind of a long, fussy process, but he finally decided he was ready. We had another  less fussy success before bed, and this morning, we’ve had two potty visits with almost no fuss. So hopefully we’re on the right track. I know it’s going to take a while before he’s reliably using the potty without regular reminders and accidents, but I would just like to be done with the bathroom fighting and drama!
Other than potty training, school is going fantastically for Charlie. He loves riding the bus and loves his friends. And I love when he recounts his day with me! He’s learning so much. Yesterday he came home and told me it was October 21. Wow! He will sing me songs that he has learned at school, and tell me stories about who cried at school or got in trouble. This morning, he told me he held hands with Malayla at school yesterday. His teacher tells me how agreeable he is, and how bright. I’m really pleased with how this year is going! Also, we got a note from his speech therapist about the fact that his speech has grown in leaps and bounds. It’s so great to hear after all of last year’s struggles! 
Enough bragging on my guy. Last weekend, we took a couple of days off and flew to Maine to visit Uncle John, Aunt Devdra, Jacob and Patrick. What a fun trip!  They live in a beautiful spot right on the water in South Portland, and Devdra’s family has a house on Peaks Island, just across the water from downtown Portland. Other than some mist and rain on Friday, we had a beautiful weekend to be on the water!  It was my first visit to Maine, and I was really impressed by the natural beauty, not to mention all the lobster!
Uncle Mike and Abbey came from the Cape for the weekend too, which was a treat, and Terry, a good friend of the Griffins from growing up, came over on Saturday to hang out and spend the night too. It was so fun to be with everyone, and Charlie had a great time!  He got to ride around in a golf cart, play baseball (sort of) with the boys, and get lots of love. He especially likes snuggling with Aunt Dev and Abbey! And his cousins provided endless entertainment.
Here are a few photos from our trip:
                        
                   
        
By the flight home, someone was pretty wiped!