Catching Up

So no, I have not completely abandoned the blog, I am considering this a "slow period" or a break of sorts since life is totally crazy at the moment. However, some things have happened that I really wanted to post about so I will try to cover some highlights!

First of all, today was the first day that we sent Charlie to school in big-boy underwear instead of a Pull-Up! He has actually been ready for a long time now, but because he still needs a Pull-Up to sleep in, we didn't really want to mess with that at school. However his teacher brought it up this week and we agreed it was time, and he was extremely fired up this morning about it. I hope we can avoid too many accidents! It is a big step for us.

Charlie is now attending The New School and going all day Tuesday thru Thursday. That was a change from only 2 half-days a week before. He has had no problems whatsoever. He loves school. It really helps that my mom teaches there as well so he sees her every day. She even picks him up on Wednesdays for "Mamaw Time" and takes him somewhere fun like the ice cream place. He's such a big kid! He can now spell his name, pick out the right letters for his name, count to ten in Spanish, and knows English and Spanish alphabets along with a zillion and one songs. He sings constantly! And, still on that Wiggles kick.

Today we took Henry for a speech therapy evaluation. He just turned 17 months old, and he really does not say any actual words consistently yet. We knew that Charlie was always way ahead verbally, so we figured Henry was just normal or maybe slightly late but no big deal. But after two professionals told us he really should be saying at least 10 words by this point, and recommended an eval, we went ahead with it.

It turns out he is normal for his age in every aspect EXCEPT verbal expression. They tested for all kinds of things - interactive play, object recognition, emotional expression, nonverbal communication, etc - and he was fine in all areas but he could only pass the verbal expression part at a 3-6 month level. So basically his verbal communication is that of a 6-9 month old rather than 17 months. However, they were not overly concerned since that was the only area that was low. And it's true that even in the past 2-3 days, he has started to pick up a few more words/sounds. So it very well could happen that he just starts talking all of a sudden. We will see how it goes and are not pursuing any kind of therapy right now.

So other than his made-up words that he has had forever - "A-nah" for food and "Hen" when he hands you something - he now occasionally says "Bubble" and "Water" and "Bal-OOn". His favorite by far is Bubble. How's that for a kind-of "first word"??? Bet you don't see that in many baby books! He thinks everything in the shape of a circle is a Bubble. And some other things.

Otherwise we are rocking and rolling along. They are growing up fast. Charlie is 36 pounds and Henry is 26 pounds. Charlie turns 3 in about a month - yikes! The theme for the party? Wiggles, what else?! The boys now play together all the time, and usually Henry is the one initiating the rough housing. He loves it!

One last thing that totally cracked me up tonight - the Wiggles have this skit where the Captain says "Well, blow me down!" and of course everyone literally blows him down to the ground. Charlie has been fascinated with that for a long time and always wants you to "blow him down". Well tonight, it was just me and Henry playing on the floor. Suddenly he pulls me up by my shirt, leans over right into my face, and blows as hard as he can! Then he kind of pushes me back down. It instantly clicked that he was trying to play the "blow me down" game and it was so cute! He was so quiet about it that I bet Charlie never realized he was doing it.

Hopefully I will have time to put some recent pics up soon. I am still taking them like crazy!

Growing Up

Couple of stories I just had to share...

Charlie is really into pretend play lately. It is always very entertaining with what he comes up with. So today he tells me, "Bye Mama! I'm going to work now! See you later!" and I said OK. But then he says, "I need some money first!". I said "Why would you need money?' and he says "Ummm....well....I just need money to pay for stuff!". Ah, so real life is already sinking in. (of course, then he pretended to eat the money and asked for more, so what's the lesson here?)

Henry threw his first all-out, out of control, screaming uber-tantrum two days ago. This is beyond anything Charlie has ever done. The tipping point? I wouldn't let him have two sippy cups at the same time. He freaked out for maybe 15 or 20 minutes and nothing, nothing would calm him down. We ignored him, we distracted him, we tried all the tricks - he just kept on making this primal screaming sound. Finally, we had had enough, we gave him that second cup - and he promptly shut up and grinned at me while holding both cups. OH, how we are in for it with this guy!

Potty Talk

I'm leery of actually posting this on here because it could turn around any second - BUT - I also wanted to say I am so proud! Charlie has been pooping on the potty pretty consistently for a few days now. WOO-HOO!!! I'm not sure what clicked, but leaving him alone seems to be a big factor in his success. I'm not ready to say we have this thing behind us, but we are light-years ahead of where we were. I don't think he had any non-poop accidents the entire weekend, even in the car for longer stretches. But, still no control whatsoever when he naps or at night, and no idea how to make that happen?!?

Couple of pics of the girls out for dinner and the show "Legally Blonde" a few weeks ago...

And here are some pics we took at the airport when my dad left for Ghana, Africa - we knew we would not get to see him for a while so we gave him a big send-off! He is going there to work for the US Government as a consultant to the government of Ghana.

We just returned from a busy, jam-packed weekend with a bunch of rowdy boys in Indianapolis - aka visiting James' family up there. I'll post some pics soon. Charlie had the time of his life being a big kid!!

Pictures, Finally!

I have so many pictures (seriously, hundreds) that I don't know how to choose - but here's my attempt. I am going for longest post ever. We are having such a fun and busy summer!

For Memorial Day, we spent time with my dad and his family on a boat in Bella Vista. It was Henry's first boat ride and he loved it!

Playing outside...and I was thinking they didn't really have anything to do in our yard!

First days of summer school! Henry is liking it more and more the longer he goes, but he still does not like being dropped off! (he now has a 4th tooth, by the way, had to record that for the baby book)

Trying to get pictures of them together isn't easy...

I will just label these, "Do I have the happiest kids on earth or what?"

Charlie's attempt at pouring crackers into a bowl, Charlie in the corner (poor guy), Random shot of what my boys REALLY like to do, Charlie after finding my headbands and makeup, Henry looking very excited about that power outlet, Charlie's faceoff with a goose, a few other misc shots...

Quality time with family! Not sure it gets any better than this.

My what big eyes you have!

Moments from Swim Ranch this year - Charlie showed great improvement while Henry had his first experience with something beyond the bathtub. Henry might just be diving in before Charlie!

And finally, a few snapshots from our annual "Red, White, & Baby Blue" event for the Foundation. We had a great time!! Thank you all for the support!