Charlie lives up to his name!

Charlie is now a "Walker" in more ways than one - he's been taking steps for a few weeks now, but now he's really taking off, and more and more, choosing to move from one place to another on foot. If I guessed, I'd say he falls on his bottom at least 200 times a day in the process, but it never seems to deter him.

One of my favorite sounds!

Apparently, Charlie has the same sense of humor as Ava; he cracks up when we say "Boo!" to him, and now he says it to us, too, but it sounds more like "Bah!" (Ava did the same thing when she was his age - I'll have to post the two video clips together so you can see). For now, here is one of Ava entertaining Charlie... (By the way, this is just 10 seconds of three full minutes of more of the same!)

Random Wednesday Moments

Check out the role reversal: Ava reads to me now!


Joe and Ava were shoveling the eight feet of snow piled on the deck, while Charlie and I watched from inside...


Charlie's newest trick: standing by himself (5-10 seconds so far). I think I'm going to strap weights on him to keep him crawling longer - I refuse to have a toddler already.

Month of Milestones

Six months was a huge month for Charlie (he turned seven months today). As I write this, he is up in his crib, fighting his last nap of the day...last time I went up to check on him, he was standing at the crib railing, grinning at me...arrgh!
Let me see if I can remember all of the highlights from the month...
Shortly before Christmas, he started sitting up on his own. This opened up a whole new world of play for him.



He'd been rocking back and forth on his hands and knees for several weeks, but now he is officially crawling, as in get-the-baby-gates-out-or-I'm-going-to-dive-down-the-stairs crawling.



And not stopping to enjoy one motor milestone for more than a few days, he is now pulling himself up to stand...on everything (such as the aforementioned crib railing).


Ava took her time a little more with all of these skills, and I was hoping to enjoy Charlie's infancy a bit longer, too - so much for that!

In another department: he got his first tooth the week before Christmas, and the second followed a week later.

He is much more vocal (as the patrons of Davanni's on Monday night learned), babbling (and screeching) like crazy. Dinner time is no longer a quiet affair...

And most recently, he's started "clapping" his hands (not imitating, just figuring out the mechanics of it) and banging toys together.

And, as you can see in the following clip, he's developed an affinity for being beaned in the face with a ball...

This 6-12 month range is one of my favorites - we are really enjoying Charlie so much. Ava continues to be a loving, doting big sister - she loves to make Charlie smile with silly faces, peek-a-boo and dancing around the room for him - she is really the best entertainment for him, and even though I sometimes want to tell her to give him some space, I have to restrain myself, because he is always all smiles when she is paying attention to him (even if it looks a little obnoxious to me). :)

Christmas

Here are a few shots from Christmas:

Ava had no apprehension about seeing Santa this year. We went on a little carriage ride with him at an event here in Woodbury (and waited over an hour in the freezing cold to do it!), and she chatted with him and told him what she wanted this year: a radio for her room and nail polish (such big-girl things). And, yes, she did receive both of these items, and is very much enjoying listening to CDs in her own room.


Well, true to the stereotype, Charlie was most excited by the boxes and tissue paper. He learned to sit up on his own just a week or two before Christmas, so it was fun for him to observe all of the excitement from that perspective.

As always, we spent the holiday in Eau Claire, celebrating Christmas Eve with the Reiters and Christmas Day with the Walkers. We tacked on a little extra time to the trip to avoid the bulk of the snow and ice. Highlights of the weekend were: playing outside in the snow at Oma and Opa's, playing games at the Walkers, and eating, eating, eating!!! And, yes, we arrived home on Saturday with lots of new toys for the kids - we spent most of that day opening up those darn toy packages, inserting batteries, and reorganizing.

It has been a fun couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to getting back into the routine next week, with preschool and a few extra activities for Ava (swimming, cheerleading (!), and a new music class). These next few months will get long with the cold weather, so I decided to sign us up for some more activities to get us out of the house; hopefully this will help spring come a little faster!

Christmas Programs

We had a busy weekend, with a neighborhood kids' Christmas party Friday night, Ava's Christmas program at church on Saturday evening, Princesses on Ice on Sunday, and Ava's preschool Christmas program Monday morning! It was a lot of action in a short amount of time, but everything was really fun. Here are a couple of clips from the programs...

"Away in a Manger" at church:


"Ten Little Snowmen" at preschool:

Catnaps

This is where I find the cats most afternoons, keeping Ava company during her rest time...