Eek! A week late on this one, but the photo was taken right on time for historical accuracy. :) I have a decent, but not very fun, excuse. We are now 3/3 over the last three months in the illness department. This month, it was a cold shared between mom and baby. Luckily, I got the worst of it, and am still dealing with the sinus infection it turned into. Charlie had a cough, runny nose and amazing Darth Vader breathing for over a week, but, he was thankfully completely unfazed by it. It didn't disrupt any sleep, and he wasn't clingy and miserable. He was confused by the runny nose, and much preferred wiping the snot all over his face to letting mom use a kleenex. He also did HATE the nose frieda, but that's nothing new. We haven't had to use it since he was a much littler baby. It was a lot harder to hold him down this time, but only a mom knows the true joy of syphoning snot out of her child's nose.
Moving on to things a lot less gross (but hey, he didn't throw up on me this month so that's a win)....CHARLIE IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. I'm brave to even speak that out loud lest I fall victim to a jinx. Now, I know ten months is a little late to the STTN party, but I maintain my stance that Charlie is and always has been a good sleeper. I mean, the kid slept in 6-7 hour stretches basically from day one, and he took to scheduled naps like a champ. But, we haven't been without our issues - the 4-month regression still haunts me, we've had bumps along the way due to illness, teething, developmental leaps, etc. and then there was that early morning feeding that just wouldn't die. I'm happy to report that over the last 2+ weeks, Charlie has officially been sleeping all night from 7-7 (give or take) with zero wake-ups. The parents rejoiced.
It's no wonder he's sleeping for 12 straight hours. We sleep hard because we play hard. This baby wastes no minute when he is awake. When Dad picked him up from church nursery on Sunday, the report was that Charlie was "busy." Yep, that about sums it up. We climb everything, and now we're cruising from one thing to the next. He's getting more brave by the day reaching farther distances to move to the next object. It's a little bit like watching someone try to climb a horizontal rock wall. There's no bungee cord, but he's a tough little fellow. He takes falls, bumps and bruises in stride.
He loves to pull things off surfaces. Sometimes to keep him busy, I'll place toys on the furniture around the room. Charlie will happily cruise around throwing everything onto the ground. He can also hold on with one hand while bending down to pick up objects. His walker is really more of a "runner" these days. He pushes it full baby speed ahead until he runs out of real estate. He hasn't quite figured out how to turn it around so once he's stuck, he abandons it and moves on to pushing around whatever else he can find....wheels not required. Either standing or on his knees, he pushes toys of all sorts all over the 2nd floor of our house.
He has discovered the stairs, and made a few attempts to climb them. Sometimes he stands at the top of the stairs banging on the baby gate. He tests the limits of his available geography all the time, and he's much more likely to come find me now if I step into another room for a moment. He likes to push doors back and forth. Open shelves are fair game, but he's only opened one draw that I can remember. It's only a matter of time before he discovers the unending fun of drawers and cabinets.
Eating is still a top priority around here. Having your face wiped after eating? Not so much. We do three solid meals, and I nurse around 4x/day. Bananas and shoes are favorites. Bananas are authorized and routinely devoured in a minute or less whenever they are offered. Shoes are unauthorized menu items, but still just as loved. He gets really excited about his water cup, but it's a love/hate relationship on my end. He does great with straws, but he hasn't figured out how to keep regular sippy cups tipped up in order to get the water out. Either way, if we let him have the cup on his tray, he'll play with it and eventually throw it on the floor (and then, of course, look over the side of his high chair in great distress). Sometimes he takes a big sip of water and then spits it right out. Sigh. Basically, the sippy cup is more trouble than it's worth in my mind....if it weren't for the whole hydration factor...
Next to eating bananas and shoes, his favorite activity is bath time. He started crawling into the bathroom whenever he heard the water running. One evening after dinner, when I wasn't planning to give him a bath, but he knew what time it was, and crawled in there anyway to stare longingly at the tub while banging on the glass door. Since that day, he crawls into the bathroom multiple times a day doing that same thing. He also likes to bang on the toilet lid once he gives up on the bath tub. It's only a matter of time before the toilet paper captures his affection.
Because we are mean parents, Charlie doesn't get to spend a lot of time on the main floor of our house anymore. It's home to all of his favorite things - the TV easel, shoes by the front door, the fireplace screen, Mom's cookbooks. Poor kid is so deprived. One day when I left him in the living room to run out to the car for 30 seconds to grab the groceries, he made a beeline for the shoes and camped out right behind the front door. I couldn't open the door or reach him to scoot him out of the way so I had to wait outside for a minute or two until he moved and let me in.
Already one to do things your own way, you've made it clear he won't be our trick pony. You mostly refuses to do anything we try to teach you. You do like to mimic sounds, but we've been working on clapping for what seems like forever. When I clap, you get excited but instead of clapping, you either crawl over to me or slap your knees with your hands. We've had a little success with high fives. You'll reach up to touch my hand when prompted.
You love going to the park or library to play. You like to swing high with daddy or sometimes ride around on one of the push toys. You are fascinated by what the big kids are doing. Now that the weather is so nice, we've been going on lots of stroller rides. We don't hear a peep out of you the entire time. You like to just ride and observe in silence. You are making the da-da-da sound all the time now. It's not looking good for me to get him to say mama first. Your Dogs book is your favorite, and you also love dumping out the pieces to your Charlie puzzle. Otherwise, you are too busy climbing and cruising to play with any particular toy for more than a minute or two. You still love all the Sesame street songs (and other songs in general). You bounce up and down when you are excited.
Your hair is getting more red by the day, buddy. It's growing over your ears now, and still attracting many suitors. You still stare at everyone and everything, and yes, you still get lots and lots of comments about it. If I had a penny for every time someone told me you are an observant baby...More than one person has suggested you would make a good judge. Maybe that's why you ended up with the nickname Master Charlie. :)
