Little C & Walking

Little C has been flirting with the idea of walking for a couple months now. He started by walking along the furniture. He gradually progressed to standing on his own for a few seconds and then for longer periods of time. He loves to push his piano across the floor as a walker of sorts. He also loves to walk behind his truck riding toy and wagon that we got him for his birthday. Eventually he would take a step or two here and there. He has been taking these steps more and more frequently lately and Big C and Mommy have been trying to catch him in the act on video or camera. Unfortunately, Little C has been very certain that we not be successful in this goal. It is quite funny how Little C will look to see if anyone is looking, then he will take off and take several steps across the floor. As soon as he notices that anyone is watching he promptly sits down and starts crawling again.

The other day Mommy and Daddy decided that we were going to get him walking on video. In order to do this, Mommy turned the video recorder on my phone so it would record. Then Big C took Little C and stood him up. Then Mommy called for Little C to walk to her. Thankfully it worked and the following video is the result of our hard work.

Little C Gets A Haircut

I have threatened to cut Little C's hair for the past 6 months but have not been able to bring myself to actually carry through. I have not wanted my baby boy to grow up so fast and I guess for me the first haircut was an indication of his growing up. A couple weeks ago he was looking more like a girl with the long curls that I gave in and Big C videotaped while I took the scissors to Little C's locks. The video is a bit long for me to post here, so I will just say that Little C was not happy about having to sit still and having Mommy cutting his hair. He cried and screamed but I managed to get the hair all cut and looking decent for a first cut (for me and Little C). I took some pictures before I cut his hair so we could see just how much of a difference the haircut made.

 In order to demonstrate just how long Little C's hair was, I put it into a ponytail on top of his head. I had teased Big C that I was going to let Little C's hair grow, put his hair into a ponytail, and put a dress on him for Halloween this year. I think Little C would have made a cute little girl. Neither Big C nor Little C thought I was very funny. Big C told me I would warp Little C by doing such a thing, though I argued that my little brother was never warped by his older sisters dressing him up as a girl when he was little. Big C wasn't amused by my comments.

Little C was very cute in his disagreements with me. When I told him that I was going to put his hair into a ponytail and dress him up as a girl for Halloween, he promptly waved his hand to indicate NO! and when I laughed he pushed me away. It was quite humorous to me at his reaction. The look in his eyes told me he understood and was not amused by my teasing. It really was priceless. He didn't seem to mind the ponytail before getting his haircut. Perhaps it wasn't the ponytail, but the dress he objected to during my tease.

 After I took the ponytail out, I took a couple pictures of Little C with his hair as it is usually. As you can see, the front of his hair is nearly in his eyes. It is actually in his eyes when you pull the hair straight. This is the thing that made me decide that it was time to stop threatening and to actually give in to the first haircut.

I loved the curls in the back of Little C's hair. This is the part I really didn't want to cut off, but alas the curls had to go as it was finally time for the first haircut in my little boy's life.

As I said before, Little C cried all throughout the haircutting experience. He wasn't quite sure what to do when Mommy announced that it was all done. He just looked at Mommy with those sad eyes that just seemed to ask "why did you take away my cute curls?" He didn't seem at all impressed that Mommy had cut off the curls that everyone always commented about.

My baby boy seemed to disappear with the curls as a little boy appeared in its place. I loved Little C's curls, but now I think my little boy is the most handsome little guy ever. He will always be my baby and cutting his hair didn't really take that away from me. I love how my little boy now looks as grown up as he is becoming.

Little C Turns 1!!

It's so hard to believe that my little guy is a year old! Wasn't it just yesterday that he was born? We celebrated Little C turning one with a small birthday party at our home the day before his actual birthday. Grandma & Grandpa B came and our dear friends Corey, Mary, & Lucy came over to celebrate with us.

Little C started out on Mommy's lap. He really liked the ribbon that was on one of the presents.

Yeah - clothes for this winter!! Little C likes his new outfits

Uncle Mark, Aunt Patty & Little C's cousins gave him!!

Oh fun!! Wooden blocks from Corey, Mary, & Lucy! Thanks!!

And he's done with the lap ... but still interested enough to come look at the books from Grandma & Grandpa B.

More interested in the ribbon than what Mommy's opening ...

Mommy & Daddy got Little C a toy phone that he is studying the back of instead of paying attention to the next gift.

Oh Mommy ... what's in that package. He became interested again in this package, which was a set of wooden puzzles.

Little C absolutely LOVED the wagon with blocks Mommy and Daddy gave him.

The riding toy in the box didn't hold his attention at first. But once it was assembled, he LOVED it too.

Time for Cake!!! Big C picked out this design from Dairy Queen for Little C's birthday cake.

Mommy liked the idea of giving Little C his very own cupcake with the candle rather than putting the candle on the big cake. Little C was more interested in what Mommy was doing than the cupcake and candle.

When we all started singing "Happy Birthday" to Little C, he just kept looking at Mommy with those eyes that you could just read as saying "Mommy, what are you doing? What's this all about?"

When it came time to blow out the candle, Mommy had to help Little C blow it out. He was still confused and didn't have much interest at all in the candle and flame.

He dug right into the cupcake as soon as Mommy took off the wrapper and told him he could eat it.

No, he didn't really eat it all that fast. He dropped most of it on the floor in the process of digging in.

Mommy applied the 5 second rule and picked it up and gave it back to Little C.

Little C watches Mommy cutting the big cake.

Then he works on finishing off his cupcake.

There's still some pieces he's working on.

Little C is sufficiently finished with his cupcake and is now watching Lucy eat hers.

Now that Little C finished off his cupcake, Mommy gave him a bowl with a couple small slices of his ice cream cake. As usual, anything in a bowl must be dumped onto the table before Little C can eat it.

Cake on the table, bowl empty ... success in Little C's eyes.

And now to enjoy some of this yummy ice cream cake. Little C picks up a piece of the cake in his hand and ...

Awww ... pure joy! This cake is YUMMY!

What we didn't capture is the aftermath. Little C enjoyed a few bites of his ice cream cake before beginning to get upset over his hand being cold. He then dropped the cake next to him in his seat. Then he really started crying because it was COLD! Thankfully, Grandma B jumped in and helped him get the cold out of his seat and get partially cleaned up. Needless to say, Little C enjoyed a nice warm bath after all was said and done.

The day brought so much joy to Big C & Mommy as we remembered the day Little C came into our lives. We are forever challenged, but greatly blessed to have the wonderful experience of being parents to Little C. Happy Birthday Bug!! We love you!!!

Fun at the Beach ...

Last month we attended a family reunion on the Oregon coast. Big C ended up getting sick and spent the majority of the time in the tent or car. I took Little C down to the beach and let him explore the ocean for the first time. We went twice while we were there. The first time was in the morning and Charlie took a nap while I visited with cousins.

 When he woke up, he got to explore the sand. He enjoyed taste-testing the sand and whatever else he could get his hands on (seaweed mostly).

In the afternoon, we changed into shorts and a swim diaper and headed back to the beach for some more fun. My sister caught some great shots of us playing in the surf.

First, we explored with our feet. He wasn't sure about it at first, but soon his love of water took over.

 

He got down and was kneeling in the water. It was so adorable when he began to pat at the water like he does when he takes his baths to get a splash.

What you don't see in these pics is him giggling with glee at the splashing ...

splash, splash, splash ...

 

He was loving the water so much, he tried to crawl further into the sea. I had to hold him so he wouldn't get too far. It was a good thing I was holding him because a larger wave came and got him wet up to his neck. He got picked up by the wave and if I hadn't been holding onto him would have carried him away. It scared Little C and he didn't want to play with the water any more.

We walked along the beach after that, just barely letting our feet get in the water at times.

After a bit, Little C was getting tired so we headed on back to camp, took a quick shower to get rid of the sand, and changed into dry clothes. Mommy and Little C had a lot of fun on his first trip to the ocean. We are all looking forward to our next trip. Hopefully it will be more fun for Big C and he can join us for the fun on the beach!

Oh No ... Not The Grass!!

About a month ago, we were out working in the backyard and we thought we'd let Charlie test out the grass.

 At first he was more concerned with what Daddy was doing with the trimmer than the grass.

 Then, he began to realize he didn't really like the feel of the grass on his legs.

 He kept lifting his leg up off the grass as far as he could lift it.

 Occasionally, he'd get distracted by his interest and he'd let it drop back to the ground, but as soon as it touched he would lift it up again. It was funny because he was only concerned with his right leg most of the time.

 After several minutes, he started picking the grass and researching how it felt in his hands. He seemed to like the feel of it through his fingers, once again ... his interest in playing with it distracted him from his dislike of it on his legs.

 After a few minutes he picked up both legs off the grass, but continued to run his hands through it.

 He caught sight of me taking his pictures and decided to try crawling to me through the grass.

 He soon discovered he didn't like the feel of the grass while he was crawling.

 So, he went back to sitting, this time with his left leg off the grass.

 At this point, he's thinking "Mommy, get me off this stuff!"

And "Now I'm really upset! GET ME OFF THIS AWFUL GRASS! I DO NOT LIKE IT!!"

It was quite entertaining to me and Charles to watch him. Now whenever I try to put him down, he will lift his legs up as far as possible and won't let me put him down. It's funny to us ... someday perhaps he will outgrow his distaste and learn how fun grass can be.