Despite the disjointed moving process, the good news is that we LOVE our new house. I questioned what we were doing multiple times while we were in the midst of it - remind me never to stage, show and sell a house with an active toddler in tow - but I'm so happy now that it's over. Our new place is in the same neighborhood - yes, we went to all that trouble to move roughly two blocks - but has a better, more open layout (basement family room! upstairs laundry!) and best of all, a great backyard that Charlie absolutely loves.
It was certainly a stressful moving situation, but the few weeks in between homes gave us the great excuse to visit both sides of our family. They were kind enough to take us in while we were homeless. And after hosting us for almost three weeks, my mom even flew to DC to help us move. She wins mom of the year hands down.
We are finally starting to feel settled (just in time to pack up the kitchen again....blah). The worst of the paint colors and old wallpaper are gone. There are so many other projects I'm dying to tackle, but the kitchen is first on the list. It will be completely gutted and remodeled starting in October. Everything else will have to wait until my design tank and piggy bank are full again.
Meanwhile on the Charlie front, I don't even know where to start. Every day seems to be new and different. I'd describe him as busy, but not hyper. We always want to be doing something, but his attention span has definitely increased. He can now sit and do puzzles for several minutes or, when mom is in a pinch, he might happily watch an entire Sesame Street episode. Bless him.
He has no regard for personal safety, but luckily he's also tough. Otherwise, I'd probably be dealing with tears all day long. He is certainly all boy (although sometimes he gets mistaken for a girl because mom just can't bring herself to cut off his curls). He loves trucks of all kinds, anything that makes a fun noise, building things and knocking them down, reading books, doing puzzles, balls, bubbles, Sesame Street and slides. We've spent lots of time pushing things around the backyard and playing at the park and splash pad this summer. We joined a playgroup on Fridays where Charlie's claim to fame is his ability to out-eat all the other kids. He's usually on his second helping of snack before anyone else has finished a bite. Of course, this also means he's a master eater of other things as well, like crayons, play dough, and any treasures found on the floor. I spend a lot of my time at the park keeping Charlie away from everyone else's snack.
It's no surprise that Charlie would rather be running, climbing, sliding, and throwing than talking...so enter our wonderful speech therapist. We've been working with her for about 3-4 months now, and he's making great progress. He's learning new things all the time and building up his vocabulary.
Fortunately, all this playing and learning wears him out. He's still an awesome sleeper. We put him in his crib at 7:00 p.m. (it does take about 1.5-2 hours for him to fall asleep) and he doesn't wake up until between 8:00-9:00 a.m. He takes one afternoon nap that usually lasts from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Seriously, this kid loves to sleep almost as much as he loves to eat.
He can certainly test my patience, and he's expressing his displeasure more often and in more creative ways these days, but I really can't complain. Most of the time, he's the same laid-back little guy who is easy to please, flexible, independent, and happy. I'll post more photos of our summer adventures soon, but here are some highlights from being on the road and moving day.
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| Flying to Shi Shi and Papa's house! |
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| Riding in style through the airport on our way back home |
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| helping with the move |
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| Again, so helpful. I didn't do a great job of taking before and after photos, but seen here are the before green paint and red wallpaper that no longer exist. The blue dining room will also change at some point. |
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| Perhaps most offensive, the frog wallpaper in Charlie's bathroom. |
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| Shi Shi to the rescue to tear it down. |
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| Much better, but we let one frog stay in the form of bath toy holder. ;) |
