End of Summer Update

Work is over for the week and I am home, and the house is quiet thanks to the fact that Charlie is still napping.  He’s had a bit of a cold this week – he doesn’t seem to feel too badly and he’s not running a fever, but he’s waking up multiple times in the night coughing. Last night he walked into our room in the middle of the night not once but twice, and somehow daddy slept through both! I, on the other hand, hear the floor creak every time his feet hit it, and am up and getting him back in bed as quickly as possible, in hopes that he doesn’t really even wake up. He does this spooky thing often now when he gets out of bed, particularly if we’re still awake and he’s been put down for the night – he walks into the hall and just stands there, waiting to see if someone is going to notice him. More than once I’ve walked out of my bedroom or turned around in the hall to see him standing there, and it always makes me jump. Anyway, I’m hopeful that the cold is on its last legs, and Charlie will sleep better tonight. In the meantime, I’m giving him a little extra naptime so I can catch up on the blog!

I accidentally posted the recent photos in here in reverse, from most recent to furthest in the past, so that’s how I’m going to update as well. 

Last night, George was out at a work event so Charlie and I were on our own. He was playing with his fridge magnets while I was fixing dinner, and I turned around to him lining them up in alphabetical order!  I know he can say the alphabet, but I was impressed that he could translate the song into actually ordering objects. He’s full of surprises right now!

Earlier this week, Pamela mentioned she wanted to have a play date at our house, which I thought was great. Little did I know that it was going to turn into a party! I’m not sure she knew either… I think some siblings unexpectedly came along. Here’s a table full of Charlie’s buddies:



And the host himself: 

Love the sun hat on the girl sitting next to him!

Nana came for a visit last weekend, and we had a great time with her! She was kind enough to get a family picture in which, amazingly, everyone is looking at the camera and smiling!  That’s a rarity at our house.



We took Nana to Eastern Market to shop and then over to the Capitol Hill Matchbox for lunch. While Daddy waited for our table, the rest of us went exploring:


Charlie found some familiar friends, the stop signs. He LOVES stop signs, and luckily we live on a corner lot so he can say hello and good-night to our very own stop sign regularly. But sometimes it’s fun to see some new ones!


Early morning, boys in their striped pants on the couch:


My birthday was last week. After a certain age, birthdays kind of seem like a non-event, at least to me. But this year was pretty cool, since Charlie now knows how to sing happy birthday. He serenaded me multiple times in true Charlie style.

 

The weekend before last, Charlie and I went to Cape Cod to visit “Auntie” (George’s Aunt Marlene). Unfortunately, George got stuck working and missed the trip, but Charlie and I had a great time.  He was excellent on the flight and on the bus from the Cape to Boston, and we had a great time seeing lots of family, swimming, playing on the beach swing set, watching people fly kites, etc. 
 

Charlie’s buddy Jenelle gave him a golf set which he adored and toted pretty much everywhere with him that we’d allow.

And Auntie gave him a fish visor that we thought was pretty great (and were pleasantly surprised that Charlie would wear it!).

Charlie got lots of QT with Uncle Mike, which he loved. Uncle Mike was very patient despite the fact that he had a miniature shadow for 3 days straight!

It was a really nice trip. And now it’s back to real life, with school starting just around the corner. I can’t wait to see what this year will bring. I’ve been reflecting on what we were thinking this time last year, as Charlie was just preparing for his first year of school. He wasn’t talking then, and he was so little! He didn’t hang out with other kids much yet, and there were still lots of things he needed to learn to do on his own. And here we are, a year later, with our little motor mouth who has a vocabulary that people often tell us sounds more advanced than a lot of 3 year olds. He’s got amazing recall, and often mentions things that I’m surprised he heard at all, let alone understood and remembered. This is bound to get us in trouble at some point!  He loves numbers still, loves to show off how he can count to 20 and point numbers out. When we drive with the GPS on, he repeats all the numbers in the directions (“US 1 North”,  I’ll hear him repeat from his car seat, or “395 south”).  He loves his friends, including one in particular, baby Gaby, who he likes to say is his sister. He is in the midst of potty training and we’re having some success (though there’s still plenty of work to be done). He tells jokes and sings and runs around like a wild little man most of the time. Sometimes I look at him and I hardly recognize the little boy he’s become!