Mr. Potato Head glasses

As mentioned in a previous post, Charlie is obsessed with Mr. Potato Head's glasses. He'll put them on and then just go about his day like he's suppose to wear them...

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doc visit

I took Charlie to the pediatrician today. He's had a runny nose for the past few days as well as a fever. The highest it got was 101.4 but it wouldn't go away so I called the doc and made an appt. I would normally just let the crud run its course but with a fever, you can't play around. And the diagnosis is...double ear infection. Poor kid. You'd never know he was sick other than he sleeps later in the mornings and takes longer naps. His appetite is down, which is to be expected, but I've been putting as much liquid in him as he can stand. So, it's on to another round of antibiotics. I'm lucky in that Charlie enjoys taking his medicine. I guess it's because it's flavored. The funniest thing to me out of all of this is that when Charlie sneezes, he points to his nose and gives you an "eh" for you to wipe his nose. What kid do you know that will let you wipe his nose without screaming? He will even go and get a tissue out of the box if you ask him to and then throw it away after you've wiped his nose. He's been wanting to pull out a tissue even without needing one. He cracks me up.

Fall Creek Falls

While in TN visiting my grandmother, we went over to Fall Creek Falls State Park on Saturday afternoon for a picnic dinner. My parents stopped and got KFC and we drove the 45 minute trip to the park. We got a picnic table right by a play structure so we had a really hard time keeping Charlie's attention to get him to eat. But it made for some fun after eating. The park seemed kinda barren. I guess since everything hasn't greened up completely yet that it's just not drawing its usual crowd. Charlie played a while and then we went driving to go see the falls. There is a nice overlook at Fall Creek Falls that is not far from the parking lot. You can hike down from there to the bottom of the falls. We'll have to go back one day and do that. The falls were beautiful. One of the funny things that happened was as we were walking to the overlook, we passed a couple and they were just smiling at Charlie on his tricycle. Right as they got to us, Charlie hit the button that says, "Get out of my way! I'm Lightning McQueen!" The couple just laughed and looked at each other like "did I hear that right?" The rest of us were just a giggling. I knew one day it would happen.

We drove on through the park and saw another waterfall and stopped at a few scenic areas. Charlie did well with the riding because it was alot of stop, get out, walk around and then go again. Here are a few pictures from our outing...

to grandmother's house we go...

We headed up to TN to visit my grandmother on Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. My parents were up visiting as well. Charlie remembered her house and immediately went to investigating. He was a little shy with my grandmother but warmed up to her pretty quickly. Charlie knew my parents immediately.

My dad bought Charlie a Mr. Potato Head in Birmingham. It has 40 pieces to the set. Sounds fun, huh? Actually, it is. It has a policeman's uniform including a belt, handcuffs and a badge. It has a fireman's outfit complete with a fire extingusher. The other pieces are just various parts. It has a carrying case which is nice. Charlie enjoyed it as well. He mostly likes to just take the pieces out and put them back in but he's getting the hang of putting the pieces in the holes. Today he put a set of eyes in the ear hole in true Mr. Potato Head style! Charlie is also obsessed with Mr. Potato Head's glasses. He keeps trying to wear them. I snapped a picture but it didn't turn out very well and then my camera battery died. Figures...

The majority of Charlie's time was spent outside with his tricycle. He enjoyed pushing it more than riding it. He also made many trips up and down the driveway to check the mailbox for mail. He did come back once with mail. :) Grandpa and Grandma were Charlie's main escorts for these trips but my grandmother got in some time on Sunday morning.

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By Sunday, Charlie was completely exhausted and it was showing. By the time we got in the car to go to church, he was just not himself. He fell asleep almost immediately when we put him in his car seat. This gave him about a 10 minute catnap but it helped. He fell asleep again on the way to the restaurant. We managed to keep him awake on the trip back to my grandmother's. I knew we had to do this so that he would sleep on the way back to GA. And, sleep he did.

Our trip to TN was a great one. It's always nice to visit with my grandmother. I just don't get to see her that often and I was excited she got some quality time in with Charlie.

waw-ma!

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a night to remem...forget!

Last night, with all the bad weather moving in, Daniel and I were unsure what to do. The sirens began to blare for the tornado warning just as we make up our minds. To be on the safe side, we moved everyone downstairs to the basement...everyone...us, Charlie, the dog and the cat. Luckily, we have a bed there and more importantly, we have two rooms. Otherwise, Khaki would mess with the cat for a while and we would never get Charlie to sleep. Khaki goes in one room and the cat in the other. So here we go. Daniel goes with the dog downstairs. I follow with her food and water. Next trip up and down is for the cat. I grab her and her food/water while Daniel grabs the litter box. Next trip up and down is for Charlie and things like our pillows, etc. Charlie has been asleep at this point for about 2 hours so he doesn't even wake up until we are going down the stairs. We decided just to put him in the bed with us instead of having to go through the hassle of setting up the pack n play. Charlie would have just screamed for a while until we couldn't take it any longer and then we would have put him in the bed with us anyway. I lay Charlie down in the bed and he drifts off to sleep until Daniel is bumping around trying to get everything else done so we can go to sleep for the night. "I love snuggling up with my little man". The 6" I have on the bed aren't so bad at this point. I manage to get comfortable but have trouble falling asleep. Charlie has to rub my hair if he is laying down so I just turn my back to him so he has access to a head full. Aw, how sweet. My little boy loves his mommeeee...ow! "Charlie, don't pull Mommy's hair." After some tossing and turning from all of us, Charlie stops squirming and falls back asleep. I'm assuming Daniel is in dreamland by now since he hasn't moved a muscle in a while. Figures. I think when his head hits the pillow, he is out.

Why did I have to take that sinus medicine? It's keeping me up. My little boy is so sweet when he slee...whap! Nothing like a little backhand from a toddler...to the face! So much for going to sleep. I toss and turn a while. I doze for a little bit. I look at the clock. Surely, it's almost time to get up and I can just nap today...12:57. What!?! I've only been laying here for an hour? It seems like it should be about 5 am! Then, the cat starts meowing really loud, which, of course, wakes Charlie up. This is at about 1:30 or 2. Daniel gets up and sends her upstairs. He moves her food to the room where Khaki is and brings the dog into the room with us. Everyone lays back down but the dog is pacing. I get her to come to me hoping that if I pet her a while, she will lay down or will atleast stay still long enough for Charlie to go back to sleep. It works for a while until she starts trying to lick me. She never got still so about 2:30 am, Daniel takes Khaki upstairs and puts her in her kennel. He said he tried to check the weather to make sure it was ok to leave her up there but the news channels were infomercials and the weather channel was some place else. Ok. Animals gone. Now maybe we can get some sleep. We all fall asleep but I continue to get "whapped" or Charlie rolls onto his back and due to limited bed space, can't get himself rolled back over and cries. So I roll him back over and try to get comfortable again on my 6" of bed. Sometime during the night, it crossed my mind just to get up and go sleep on the couch with the dog. But then I realized that Charlie would roll off the bed if I wasn't there. So now among my many roles as a mother, I'm now also a bed rail.

After what seemed like about 15 min. of sleep, Daniel's alarm goes off. Oh, please, wake up and hit snooze before Charlie wakes up! Whew. Safe. We go through this a few more times. Safe. Daniel heads upstairs to get ready for work. But, after the anxiety of the alarm clock, I have trouble getting back to sleep. I thought that once Daniel left for work, we'd be home free and I could get another hour of sleep. Wrong. Right before Daniel is on his way out the door, Charlie wakes up and starts signing "eat". Ugh. "Just give me a minute, Charlie." Daniel comes to say good-bye and informs me that the cat has pooped in the closet where her litter box usually is. Great. And at this point, Charlie is ready to get up and get moving. He apparently had lots to do! I postpone as long as I can. And, so...the day begins...

my little back seat driver...

I've noticed the last couple of times Charlie and I have driven past Wal-Mart, he always points to it and gives me the "eh eh" sound. I just say, "Yes, Charlie. It's Wal-Mart. We're not going there today." and he's satisfied. Or, he'll point to the turn-in for Publix. Same scenario. However, yesterday, it was Daniel's weekend to drive the church van so it was just Charlie and me in the car to go to church. Charlie did his usual "eh eh" and pointed at the Publix entrance. And I just said, "Yes, Charlie. That's Publix." So, we're driving along and we get to the place to turn off of Cobb Pkwy. There's an overpass right at the turn and there is usually a little bit of a wait to turn since there is no light. Charlie starts pointing to our left and giving me the "eh eh". It took me a minute to realize what he was pointing at. He was telling me "that is the way we go, mom." I just said, "Oh! Are we suppose to go that way?" and pointed to the left. I got the "yah" sound. I guess we go that way often! :) It tickled me and amazed me all at the same time that he remembers things like that. But, it doesn't surprise me in that he is all about a routine and having things the same way every time or putting things back in their place. So, we're continuing our trek to church and get to the next turn..."eh eh eh". I look in the mirror and he's pointing to the right this time! "Oh, am I suppose to go that way, Charlie?" "Yah." My little back seat driver...

timber!!!

On Friday, Charlie and I spent most of the morning watching the workers across the street cut down trees. They had set up the chipper and were trimming branches off the trees for a while but then all of a sudden...there was a whole tree, branches and all, laying in the yard and laying across the street almost in our yard! It was fun to watch! I guess since there was no danger of the branches on that particular tree hitting a house, they just cut the bottom and pulled it down. So, we sat and watched them cut the branches off and put them in the chipper. Then, they cut the tree into lengths that I guess was predetermined by what the truck can haul. The little bobcat just picked them up and loaded them on the truck! They took a few more down that way. They were out there all day long! I was beginning to wonder how I was going to get Charlie to go down for a nap with all the noise. Luckily, they took a lunch break around his nap time. He slept through the rest! :) My next door neighbor said she used ear plugs to get her son to take a nap without being disturbed. Here are a few pictures:

open up and say...wahhh!!!!

I took Charlie for his first dentist appt. this morning. I know what you're thinking...he's too young. Well, I wish it could have waited but he had plaque that had built up on his bottom teeth and hardened. No matter how much brushing or flossing I did, it wasn't going away so I knew it had to be scraped off. My dentist had recommended a pediatric dentist since my dentist won't take kids under 4 yrs old. And, let me just say, this visit was awful! He went in and played with the toys fine. When it came time for the dentist to look at Charlie's teeth, they put me in the chair with him in my lap. He just screamed but atleast she could take a look. After letting him go back to the toys, we discussed what was to be done. She was thinking the same thing I was...it's going to be torture for all involved but the best thing is to get them cleaned. I told her I was prepared for the screaming and the crying so for them to go ahead and clean his teeth. However, nothing could have fully prepared me for it. I had to sit in the chair with Charlie in a bear hug so his hands and arms couldn't get loose. It took all my strength to hold him there. One of the hygenienist held his head still while the other used a water pik to clean his teeth. She mainly just got the areas where the buildup was (thankfully!). He began to kick his feet so I had to wrap my leg around his legs as well to keep him still. It worked only a little. That little kid has got some strength! In the meantime, Charlie was screaming so hard that it wasn't really even a scream anymore. She got the front side of his front bottom teeth cleaned and tried cleaning the back of them but was afraid that she might hurt him because he was jerking so bad. We gave him a break but he just insisted on getting down and getting out of that room. The hygenienist asked me what I felt would be best for him, since I know him best, to keep going or to let him down for a while and let him calm down. I was at a loss as to what to do. I think I was so traumatized by having to hold my screaming child down that my brain just wasn't working right. I told them that I think we should let him go play a while but that I had a feeling we wouldn't be able to get him back in that room. But, I knew he couldn't take anymore at that point so I took him back to the toys. It was like night and day. He hugged on me a few minutes and then was ready to play. But if we headed anywhere near that room, he got upset and began to cry. I decided just to get it over with and took him back in. The second we stepped through the doorway, he started screaming and arching his back and kicking. I, again, held him down and they proceeded again but without much luck. By this point, he had figured out that if he kept his mouth closed, they couldn't get in. And the tool that keeps your mouth open was gagging him. We decided that I could just bring him back in a week or so to finish. I wasn't excited about that idea but knew that was the only way at this point. Luckily for us, the dentist came back in and she looked at his teeth once more. She said she only saw a little bit of plaque on one tooth and she thought she could get it with a hand scraper rather quickly and that would be it. She succeeded. Whew! Prevention now is to brush that area thoroughly morning and night. She said it may even take two of us, one to hold his mouth open and lip down and one to brush. Charlie has gotten better the last month or so of letting me brush those teeth but I'm going to be ruthless now because I DO NOT want to have to go through that again! Once I got out to the car, the emotion of it hit me and I teared up. It just broke my heart to have to do that to him but I knew it's what needed to be done and was the best thing for him. I'm hoping it traumatized me more than it did Charlie. Atleast we have 6 months to recover! :)

Easter 2009

The three of us spent the weekend in AL with family for Easter. It was a busy weekend but we enjoyed it all the same. Daniel was able to take a half a day off on Friday so we got on the road earlier than we expected. This made it possible for us to stop by in Auburn and visit my best friend from high school and her two kids. Her husband, unfortunately, was at work so we missed seeing him. She looked great considering she is in the middle of chemo right now. (Please keep her in your prayers!) Her two kids are so cute and Charlie enjoyed running around and playing with them. We only stayed an hour or so then headed to Elba.

Saturday was jam packed. I took on a side job to design an addition for the church where my parents attend so I spent some time taking pictures and getting some measurements since I was in town. Mom and I also did some shopping. Thanks for the shoes, Mom! Saturday afternoon, my sister and I went to a reception for a lady in town that has headed up the Girl Scout Troop there for 38 years. My sister and I were both a part of the troop in high school so we felt like we needed to make an appearance. We saw many people that we haven't seen in years! That night, Charlie got to stay with my parents while Daniel and I went to a get-together for his cousin who got married Friday night. It was at a cabin out in the middle of nowhere and it was fabulous! I guess we all long for a place like that.

Sunday, we got all prettied up and went to church and then to lunch. Charlie got a short nap in church so when we got home from lunch, we wouldn't lay down for his usual afternoon nap. Not a good thing. I, in the meantime, had a meeting with the preacher and two of the elders at the church to discuss the project.

We then headed to Daniel's sister's house for an Easter egg hunt. Charlie got a short nap on the way over there and I so hated to wake him up when we got there. Since these two short naps were all Charlie had slept, he was not in the best mood. I had my brother-in-law and sister come and try to get some pictures of Charlie in his Easter outfit. Charlie had other ideas and just wanted to walk all over the yard. We couldn't get him to sit still long enough to get the cute shots. I'm hoping they got some good ones though "on the move". :) Charlie really enjoyed the Easter egg hunt. He wasn't happy with me in the beginning because I pulled him away from the direction he was headed to get him to "hunt". But, once he saw me put the egg in his basket and he noticed there were others laying around, he caught on and was unstoppable. He even got to get some of the high ones. It was just Charlie (almost 2), his cousin Branson (7) and Branson's cousin, Faith (2 1/2), who hunted so there were lots for each of them considering there were about 100 eggs hidden. Faith kept bringing eggs and putting them in Charlie's basket. She was so cute.

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Daniel took Monday off as well so we drove home on Monday. I was happy to get Charlie back home. He woke up about 5:30 am each morning, which is unusual for him, and he walked and walked and walked all weekend so he completely wore himself out. I put him to bed Monday night around 8:30 pm. Charlie woke up at 10 am the next morning and took a 3 hour nap that day. Poor child. It wore us all out but we really enjoyed our time with family.

frustrated...

I guess I just needed a post to vent...so, it you're not up for it, just close the window. It won't hurt my feelings. First, since when is it fair that a child can just skip a shoe size? I just bought about 5 pairs of size 5 shoes at the consignment sale a few weeks ago and Charlie is in a size 6! Just makes me so mad at myself for not checking beforehand. So, I went and bought him a pair of size 6 tennis shoes yesterday. And, luckily, I have a few hand-me-down shoes. Charlie must have just gone through a growth spurt because alot of the stuff I bought him that day is too small already. I found these cute little yellow corduroy overalls at the consignment sale and put them on him Sunday morning. Put on his shoes (which as previously stated are too small). Stood him up...high waters! Good grief child! So I spent an afternoon this week moving buttons on anything and everything in his closet that had buttons.

This week has just been a bad week. I am constantly wanting to go to sleep. I've never felt this way. I'm moody. I don't want to deal with Charlie, which for his mother makes me feel so guilty. I just don't have any motivation to get up and do anything. I have taken on a side project that I really need to be working on but just don't want to do it, as you can tell, since I'm blogging when I should be working. What's wrong with me? Am I just going through a slump? Maybe with the weather warming up, I will feel better because I'll be outside in the sun more. Also, we are going to AL this weekend for Easter. Maybe a change of scenery is what I need...

our visit to Canton...

We went to visit Uncle Dale and Aunt Penny yesterday. We finally were able to get our schedules lined up to get together for dinner. We drove up to Canton to their house. Dinner was fabulous! Pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, green beans, rolls...and to finish it off...strawberry shortcake! they had bought Charlie a bubble set. It had a bottle of bubbles and tons of various wands so we got these out before it got dark. Here is Charlie's response...

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They also got him an Easter basket. Penny said she couldn't find one that was age appropriate (I don't think they make the pre-packaged kind for 2 yr olds) so she just got something that looked fun for a later time. Charlie enjoyed opening it. Similar to Christmas, it's all about the packaging. Then he just wanted to pull it around. Charlie walked us all to death. That child LOVES to be outside. He just wants to walk around, especially any place that has a slope to it or stairs. p.s. If you haven't noticed already, I think I am addicted to the video feature on my camera. Snapshots just don't capture the moment most times...

on the computer...

Charlie is starting early learning how to use the computer and he now wants to play on it all the time. Wonder where he gets that from?

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our little helper

Charlie has become quite the little helper for both Daniel and me. He has really taken to doing things for you like throwing things away in the trash or the recycle bin. He helps me put laundry in the washer or dryer. Charlie helps me in the kitchen by stirring (well, kinda). He will carry my or Daniel's shoes back to our closet. Or he will put up his own shoes if asked. Charlie feeds Khaki every morning (and, anytime during the day that he deems appropriate). He has gotten to where he has to help me carry his bag of blocks to his room. I can't do it anymore. He has to be touching the handle as we walk down the hall. I've caught Charlie helping his daddy out some too. The Friday night before the youth rally at church, we were setting up chairs in the fellowship hall for a class and Charlie had to help his daddy...

Today, Daniel was out working in the yard. Charlie insisted on going outside since his daddy was out there. I tried to keep him occupied by playing with him on the slide or the swing but Charlie was just to enthralled with what his daddy was doing. He ended up "helping" Daniel with the yard work. Here are a few pics and I got a video...

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