Charlie’s 6-Month Stats

This boy makes me smile! Sunglasses and a hot pink-handled sippy cup – all ready to walk to the park.

The sunglasses are a good teething toy too (and the car seat bar is a great foot rest, once again).

Charlie had his 6-month checkup this morning – he weighs 17 lbs, 7 oz (50%), is 75% in height, and between 25-50% for his head size. He is definitely using his toes/bum/arms to scoot where he wants to go (tonight he kept chasing a small Nemo ball around Eli’s bedroom and ended up wedged underneath the rocking chair – but he didn’t care because he had the ball in his hand).

And here’s the only clear shot I got of Eli at the park today. He was busy running around and playing with the other kids. He’s wearing his Nike outfit from his Aunt Cami – I think he liked that the slippery fabric helped him slide down the slide a little faster.

Yesterday Eli kept telling Charlie, “Turn around Charlie” when the little guy kept turning toward Eli while being fed in the bumbo seat. (Actually, I think it’s funnier in person.) Eli just loves to boss his little brother (and anyone else) around. Tonight he kept making Ben sing “Splish Splash I Was Taking a Bath…” while Eli was taking a bath. Of course the funnier things have already escaped me. Two-year-olds are just funny!

Charlie Videos

I feel a little bad that I haven’t posted as many videos of Charlie as I did of Eli as a baby, so here are a few recent ones:

First – Charlie laughing, which is very similar to a video I took of Eli laughing when he was the same age. I’m posting both because it’s fun to hear their laughs. I think Charlie has a lower voice? I love that Charlie has hiccups in his video, because it is so characteristic of him. He constantly has hiccups, including this very moment as I’m typing. You can also see his quiver lip when he gets excited.

CHARLIE:

Charlie laughing at 5 Months from Sarah on Vimeo.

ELI:

Eli laughing from Sarah on Vimeo.

And below – a video of Charlie using his toes and rolling to get where he wants to go. This was taken last night at the end of the day, so he was a little fussy, but I love watching his little bum go up in the air as he tries to move somewhere.

Charlie Scooting with his Toes at 6 Months from Sarah on Vimeo.

Bubbles + Chalk = ?

I’ve had one of those weeks you just want to forget about – things were going haywire with my article that was due and there was a slew of other stuff making life difficult. So I’m going to instead focus on one of the funnier discoveries from today:

Eli was playing with the bubbles and chalk today, and at some point decided it would be fun to stick the chalk pieces into the big bottle of bubbles. He was pretty proud of himself! I guess we’re just going to leave the chalk in there and it will eventually dissolve? We’ll see!

Charlie at 6 Months

I know I’ve posted a lot of pictures today, but here are a few more of just Charlie, taken early this morning. He is the most wiggly, squirmy little baby I have ever seen. Charlie is not one to sit still on your lap – he constantly has to move, jump, roll, etc. He is trying hard to get the hang of crawling or scooting, but mostly just resorts to rolling around, over and over to get across the room. We have to keep the floor clear of any kind of paper or it ends up in his mouth. He seems to be focusing so much on his physical development that he doesn’t babble or make as many sounds as I would expect, but he is still a very social baby and gives us lots of smiles and sweet expressions. He was very chatty and made a lot of sounds as a newborn, so I’m not worried about it. It’s just interesting see him so determined to move. Charlie can technically sit up for a tiny bit, but often lunges forward or to the side so he can get somewhere else. Below is a rare shot of him sitting for a few seconds.

It really doesn’t last long though!

You can’t totally tell in this picture, but Charlie still has a very watery eye. His pediatrician said he usually waits until the baby is at least a year before correcting it, because sometimes it goes away on its own.

Another interesting Charlie-ism is his quiver lip – when he gets excited, his lip and chin quivers and it is the cutest thing. I need to get it on video one of these days!

I love Charlie’s rolls – he has chunky, chunky thighs.  

I took the pictures below by going outside and taking them with the screen door open. Can you tell that the family room is just DARK?? The only good light is near that screen door. A friend told me today about Solatube, which is kind of an alternative to skylights and more energy efficient. It’s a lot cheaper too! This might be the answer to my very dark family room (that and painting it… which I’m still discussing with Ben). The Solatube system captures sunlight on the rooftop and redirects it into a reflective tube into the interior space and spreads the light throughout the room.

And on a side note, happy anniversary to my parents today! They’re celebrating 32 years!

Outdoor Fun

  I’ve tried to take advantage of the nice, mild summer weather we’ve enjoyed in the last week by going on lots of walks. Last week the boys and I walked to a park right on the lake. It’s a really pretty setting!

Charlie loves swinging

Eli almost looks too big on the baby swing -

I love Charlie’s long toes and chubby calves

On Monday, Eli actually napped and was able to stay up a little later, so we took the boys to the beach in the evening. It was kind of chilly, but still lots of fun.

Charlie likes to rest his feet on the bar where the car seat goes – we do have another tray that can go there once we’re definitely done using the car seat in the stroller, but I’m still using it occasionally if I think Charlie will sleep on the walk.

We have a fun alligator sand mold (or is it a crocodile? how do you tell the difference??) -

And the following pictures are from last Friday when we went to the park for more fishing. Eli can’t get enough of it! He is just like his dad.

The fish was only in the bucket for a few minutes before Eli dumped it back into the water. He has fun looking at the fish in there -

And we always have to play at the park (after fishing) before we can go home.

Another Week

I’ve had one of those weeks where there never seemed like enough time to get much of anything done, but where I’ve felt pulled in about 20 directions. Which then makes me feel like kind of a lousy mom because I was so busy and dragging Eli and Charlie all over the place. Oh well, next week is going to be better.

I have tried to convince myself that I can’t be that bad if I found a few minutes to take some pictures of my sweet little boys, right? :)

Eli loves playing with this little wooden animals set that my parents gave him for Christmas. He’s already accidentally broken two of the animals (the elephant and the kangaroo), but I’m confident that I can glue them back together with a little wood glue. These somehow fall on the floor quite a bit, which is hard on these wooden pieces.

Eli is a boy of routine. Every morning, he wakes up sometime between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and plays for a little bit in his crib. Then he yells, “OH MAMAAAAAAAA!” and after a few “Oh MAMAAAAAAs” I go in, get him dressed, and we talk about the day. On Thursday morning as I was changing his clothes, I asked him, “What do you want to do today, Eli?”

Eli: “Go downstairs!”

So we did. Eli eats breakfast as soon as we go downstairs, and recently has added a new favorite to his usual bowl of Cheerios, saying repeatedly through the meal -

“More gramoma please!” (Translation – “More granola please!”) Eli loves Cheerios with granola on top (really on the bottom of the bowl since the granola sinks).

Eli’s night time routine is also very specific. Around 7:15 or so, Ben takes him upstairs, helps him brush and floss his teeth while standing on the white stool in the bathroom. Then Ben helps Eli pick out and put on his pjs, and then Eli calls from the top of the stairs,

“OH MAMAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

and I come upstairs, sometimes with Charlie or sometimes without (often Charlie goes to bed before Eli).

We sit together on the floor of Eli’s room and read one book. Then one of us helps Eli say a prayer, reads one more book, and Eli’s off to bed in his crib, usually without a fight since he’s exhausted from not napping during the day. Eli snuggles with his prized froggy and green fuzzy blanket, and expects to have the sound machine turned on (tonight we forgot and he started crying as soon as we closed the door). The latest addition is to turn on the fan in his room; we’re trying not to add anything else to the process though!



Oh Charlie. He is SO happy when he wakes up in the morning. Full of big smiles and you can do no wrong when you go get him, often early in the day. He is my “chunkamunka” or “chunky monkey.” Every part of him is soft and I kiss him constantly.

This week he started doing this funny worm move, where he rolls a little while on his stomach, pulls his knees in and under him, tries to lunge forward but usually just drops his head on the floor, then slinks around, trying to move somewhere new. He is very persistent and already aware of Eli’s favorite toys, like one of his puzzles that we do about 10 times a day. Now we’re to the point where we can only put the puzzle together when Charlie is asleep, because otherwise Charlie will try to hold and eat the puzzle pieces. Eli’s not a fan when that happens.

I love when I catch them in a moment where Eli isn’t telling Charlie no :) Eli is very good at making Charlie laugh!

And Eli is obsessed with kitchen utensils that scoop – the ice cream scoops, cookie dough scoops, etc. and I keep finding them in the strangest places.

I love these boys so much!