another fun weekend

We had a beautiful fall weekend in Alexandria this weekend. Fall has finally arrived in full force! Gram Lamb came for a visit - she arrived on Saturday morning, and left shortly after lunch today. It was great to have her - we took Charlie for a walk in Old Town, and Mom bought him an adorable Christmas outfit - fun! And we took long walks in the neighborhood both yesterday and today. It was just too nice to stay inside, and Charlie got some good naps in the stroller in the fresh air. Mom also inspired us to do some planting - she bought tulip and daffodil bulbs for us, so George and I spent the afternoon in the yard, getting some yard work done. I've now planted 40 bulbs for spring, and a bunch of pansies to enjoy now.

Charlie's going through a phase of clutching whatever we put on his chest/tummy, which is really cute. Here he is asleep, clutching one of his many lambs. I promise we didn't pose him, other than putting the lamb near enough for him to reach it; he grabbed it close and settled down for a nap.
This weekend, Charlie got "dressed up" in his little man outfit that our friends the Harris family gave him. Here's our boy in his plaid button down and sweater vest:


Charlie is big and sturdy these days - he has an amazing grip and really strong stomach muscles. When he's on his back, one of his favorite things to do is throw his legs up in the air. He can hold them up for an impressive amount of time, and sometimes angles them so they're basically over his head - we're hoping he doesn't decide to run off and join the circus. He's about to outgrow the Moses basket he's still sleeping in, so I think he'll need to be moved to his crib soon. I know he'll adjust fine; I'm the one having trouble coming to terms with the idea.

The social smiling has now really kicked in - it's not at all hard to coax a smile out of Charlie. He doesn't do it much for the camera, but he responds really well to us talking to him and smiling at him. It's really gratifying to finally be able to elicit a smile from him! He's also learning to assert himself when he's unhappy... boy, does the kid know how to yell! He has a very angry, red faced scream when he needs something. Luckily, he really only fusses when he is hungry or tired, so we don't have to listen to the yelling too often. He eats 24 ounces a day of formula now, and sleeps 8 to 9 hours straight at night, so life is good.

In other news, it turns out that Elwood does not actually have stomach cancer. We don't know what he has, but our nice vet had others review his x-ray, and since then he's been checked out again. So we're just waiting to hear what the final results are, but hopefully whatever it is will mean a longer lifespan than stomach cancer would have. He's eating again, and seems slightly more active (not that he's ever been spry - this is a cat who sleeps probably 18 hours a day). Anyway, we were glad to hear things might not be as bad as originally thought.