Favorite Places

Do you have a favorite place in your house? Perhaps it is a comfortable chair in a quiet place with a good lamp, where you can read or think without interruption. Maybe you like the kitchen, with shiny new appliances and regular smells of nourishment and enjoyment. Or is your bedroom your favorite, with a down-covered bed, stacks of pillows, and a blackout curtains for hours of blissful sleep?

Charlie, now mobile for nearly a month, has learned his way around the main floor of our house and now has quickly discovered a favorite place: the short hall where the dog bowls are kept! Set Charlie down anywhere on the ground floor and walk away; it won't be long until you hear the splash of water in Coco's bowl, followed by sloshing as the water is dumped out, then clanging as the two metal bowls are picked up and clanged together. How fun!

Alas for Charlie, his parents aren't terribly fond of mopping up water from the same spot on the floor multiple times a day, so Coco's bowls have been moved farther down the hall, behind a door that can be closed to block them. Poor Coco has to time carefully her water breaks now, and Charlie is padding off across the floor in search of a new favorite place. I think I hear pages rustling in my library........

Brothers

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero."
--Marc Brown




Charlie is blessed to have a loving brother to help him grow up. Parents can provide guidance and instruction to a son, but there is something special about having a brother who can help him learn "street smarts" and show him how boys operate in the world.

Tripp would love to teach Charlie how to tackle, but for now he is contenting himself with helping Charlie learn the basics of crawling, and catch, and how to scream loudly. This last one is not part of the approved curriculum, but somehow keeps sneaking into the lessons anyway.

I still remember Christmas morning 2007, when we opened the envelope from the nurses that told us whether the baby we were expecting would be a boy or a girl. When Tripp announced "It's a boy," Sophie and Molly both threw their arms in the air and cheered for Tripp. The value of sisters is a topic for another time, but how sweet it was for the girls to recognize how vital it would be for Tripp to have the pleasure of a brother.

Charlie is lucky to have a good example of how to act as a boy, and Tripp is lucky to have a baby brother to bring out his softer, caring side. They are both better because of the other--isn't that what brothers are for?

Kisses

Charlie has started giving "kisses." Last night he wasn't quite full after his bedtime bottle, so he was restless in his crib. Sylvia asked me to give him another couple of ounces, which I gladly did while rocking him gently by the dim yellow light of his Pooh night light. I could see his big round eyes staring across the room while he drank, and sure enough he finished the bottle before he had drifted off to sleep.

I held him to my shoulder and began gently to pat his back, not so much because he needed to burp but because sometimes the rhythmic motion soothes him and he drops off to sleep. This time however, he leaned away from me, eyes wide, to observe my face in the dim light. After a few moments of staring at me, he opened his mouth and slowly moved his face in next to mine, gently touching his cheek against mine. We held it a few seconds, then he pulled his head back to look at me again. Back he came, this time touching his lips to my cheek. The third time he rested his cheek against mine for a few seconds, then let his head fall to my shoulder, his eyes closed.

I laid him in his crib and quietly walked out of the room, my cheek still warm from his touch, my heart even warmer from experiencing this first explicit expression of Charlie's love.

Fashion Tip

A nice warm bath is a popular way to relax, and one way to enhance the enjoyment is to be sure you have the appropriate apres-bain attire. Here, young Charlie models the hooded toweling robe, the perfect way to dry off on those cool evenings when a little head cover will go a long way toward keeping you warm and toasty. With lounge wear like this, anyone can be on his way to sleeping like a baby....

On the Move

Well, the demands of four kids combined with my own procrastination mean that it has been over eight months since I posted to Charlie's blog. As you might imagine, he has changed dramatically in that time: he is now 9x older, he has seven teeth, and it culminates with this week's change: he is now officially mobile. He has the cutest little crawl, with classic baby form, that takes him about two inches forward with each motion. Time to get out the baby gates and move the dangerous stuff to higher ground. I do believe Tripp, Molly, and Sophie are about to learn the hard way to pick up their stuff off the floor, too, if they don't want it to get chewed up!

Looking Around

Monday night--or I should say Tuesday morning, about 3:30a--Charlie awoke for his middle-of-the-night feeding. Some nights he goes straight through to 6:00 or so, but for a three-week-old awaking in the middle of the night is to be expected.

Normally Sylvia feeds him, wraps him back up, puts him back in his crib, and off to sleep we all go. Early Tuesday, though, Charlie was unsettled after he ate. He was fidgety, and kept squawking when Sylvia tried to put him down. He wasn't exactly crying, and didn't seem to be in pain from gas or anything else. Not knowing what else to do, Sylvia decided to bring him to our bed, partly so she could try to go back to sleep and partly because sometimes lying next to his mommy will calm him down.

This time it didn't work. He kept squirming and squawking, so that by 4:30 we all three were wide awake. I finally heard Sylvia's voice: "Close your eyes. I'm going to try something." I closed my eyes and heard her lamp switch on. The effect was instant: Charlie stopped his fussing and silently looked around the room. He just wanted to look around! We laughed at his wide-eyed expression: he reminded me of a scuba diver who has just dived into the clear waters surrounding a coral reef, eyes wide, head turning slowly from side to side taking everything in.

Lucky for Charlie he's cute, so these little escapades in the middle of the night are quickly forgiven. He looked around for awhile; I managed to doze with the light on; Sylvia finally turned it off after Charlie went back to sleep about 5:00a, his world explored for now. Who knew that all he needed was a little light therapy!

Three Weeks Old!

Charlie turns three weeks old tomorrow, and tonight he made his first real outing to church supper at Wieuca Rd. He slept through it, but Molly and Sophie made sure that everyone far and wide knew he was there, and they dragged most of those they told over to the stroller to see the sleeping boy. Their pride is cute, though the competition to see who will get to push the stroller is going to get old fast.

Charlie is starting to grow into his skin, though he is still a pretty little guy--probably 7.5 lbs or so now. He is often wide-eyed and is starting to check out the world around him. He likes to be walked around, and he seems fascinated by the outside.

Enjoy!