La Famille Lutin

Now this one had Charlie in stiches. His initial reaction was loud and funny. He laughed and laughed hard The funniest part was that the second time through it he spent much closer attention and was pretty quiet as he absorbed all the movements. Then he got up and danced.

Man, this was just too good. A dozen times later and we moved on to more exciting youtube.com video.

After his nap today (remember I'm working from home today) he got up and asked. Why is there no "petit ours brun" on youtube anymore? He had heard me tell Sabrina hours earlier but he woke up and was wondering why this "copyright" thing was wrecking all his fun. Among his favorite were Petit Ours Brun aime pas sa soupe, and he liked to imitate that at dinner time too. And recently the Petit Ours Brun nage a la piscine was exciting too since it was Dad who took him to the pool and he like splashing in our tub just like on the show.

Of course, his next favorite still has pleny out there "T'Choupi et Doudou". They are all in 5 minute clips but wonderfull stuff. There are a few more but not as interesting as bears these two bears.

Derek and Kevin are getting lots of gifts this year for Chrismas ;-)

Mom isn't that good at hiding gifts. She opens them up and leaves them only half hidden all over the house. Every time Charlie "bumps" into one while he's playing we give him the standard "That's Derek's or Kevin's gift and that he can look at it or ask Santa for it but its not his". He's always OK with that since he loves those two boys.

Of course, by the next day he forgets completely about the gift and moves on. Boy that's easy.

Today I reached under the stairs to get a can of ginger ale (I'm still feeling a little stomach flu) and presto, from across the room he saw this huge Fisher Price box with trains, man he was excited. I think that one was Derek's ;-)

Poo, well it's been about a week now of daily, on the toilet, same time of day full poo on the toilet. All it takes is the camera to watch videos of himself (sitting on the toilet oddly enough) and a candy after the big splash and he's as good as gold. Diapers have been completely out of the picture for awhile now but now we don't even get soiled underwear for #2s anymore. It's pretty darn good and 100% attributed to Mom's constant pushing and conjolling him. Good times.

A bike with training wheels

This is the first bike ride for Charlie, training wheels of course but he was a natural. I was looking for his hat that we lost the day before in Sportsmart and he jumped on one and got it right away. I can see where his regular 3 wheeler helped out his process to get it working. When the wheels don't turn he used his body to get over the hump to be able to start pedalling again.

He did real well and I uploaded it for fun on youtube

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GNJ0OGLAzk

Lots of firsts today

We met up in the morning with Grandpa and visited the avionics museum and had a great time getting lost in all these big and small aircraft of one form or another. A lot of times Charlie had to step back to see the size of these aircraft and certainly the rocket was a big hit.
There were also plenty of small aircraft for him to think that he could pilot them as well.
The museum wasn't too busy at all and we were able to enjoy ourselves casually meandering around and pretty much all of them Grandpa new on a first name basis ;-)
http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/
For lunch we went to Grace O'Malley's which was interesting...

In the afternoon after a long nap we went to the Allans and played in the fresh snow. Charlie learnt to eat snow, and caught on quickly. Then we built two big igloos (forts more like it) with the Allan gang of four. Awesome time and got his full face loaded with snow for the first time as well. Lost his breath at that time and screamed once he caught it. It only took a few minutes to get it back under control and going in the house wasn't an option.

He had a ball out there in the snow and couldn't get enough of it. But when he did he rang the doorbell to get in, we were too busy shoveling.

American Thanksgiving

It snowed all day here. The snow was supposed to come overnight but it came in the morning and for the rest of the day.

We went to bed kinda late so Jay and the boys where in our room looking for Charlie at 9.am. I heard them come in but he was still snoring loudly at that time in my ear so I don't think he heard them. Once they came in he sat up to attention and immediately was as happy as can be. No need for grooginess or any of the normal stuff. Straight, let's go play.

Outside was kinda fun but we needed boots. A trip to Loblaws, which felt more like a trip to a Target rather than a grocery store, and we had the $4 fancy gloves and the velcro $19 boots. What a good deal and this made-in-china stuff was really well designed. They were sold out of snow pants unfortunately, so Charlie was a bit cold making snow angels.

After Jay and the boys left we made our obligitory trip to home depot as well and got a few things to keep me tinkering around the house the rest of the day.

Matt and Jay came over for diner and bath time too. Charlie wasn't much interested in food at this time and lately has been leaving it to later in the evening, much to Mom and Dad's detriment.

He was super tired though and had a great day, even though the snow was so fluffy that the best snowman we could make was 6" tall.

Pretending to read

Forgot to mention on the flight down to Ottawa the attendant gave me the little tear sheet about the flight details after he read it out over the intercom. Charlie was wondering what it was so I used my finger and read it out to him.



He, in turn, took the paper and used his finger but from left to right then zig zag and mutter words here and there but funniest of all was "always wash your hands after you pee" now that was funny since it was just said matter-of-fact'ly.

Trip to Ottawa

Charlie and took a trip to Ottawa today from Chicago for a 5 day R&R. It' s american thanksgiving and an excuse to hang out with the all Charlie's cousins.

Our plans are big, visit the air museum with grandpa, go skating, see a hockey game and get as much time in with Kevin and Derek as possible - Charlie's words not mine ;-)

Mom was with us at the airport before takeoff since she was on her way to Toronto to meet up with with Tante TT for a trip to Bahamas for their own R&R. It was a bit of separation anxiety but I was able to contain it with distractions such as pilots, dogs and general swinging him around.

Charlie was pretty funny since there's a Starbucks down in that area of the terminal and he asked for money from me and could have ordered the 'chai latte' on his own with no problems, he's a pro at that phrase and imitates it quite often throughout the days and nights.

Now, this was the first flight he was really genuinely excited about. He just couldn't wait, and was always wondering why the plane wasn't there and why we hadn't taken off yet. Very anxious. The rest of the plane was pretty much asking the same questions as he was for example we'd be all settled in and just waiting at the gate (we took off over an hour late) he'd say, why aren't we leaving? when are we leaving? Of course, his voice carried throughout the front seats and the people I could hear would respond "Ya, why aren't we leaving?". It was funny and he was very well spoken about it (not whinny just inquisitive).

Once we took off he fell asleep and was out for the rest of the flight. We got the bulkhead which means that while in his car seat he wasn't squashed in at all and plenty of room to kick back and sleep (a mistake we made on an earlier flight where we were extremely squashed in in one of the back rows of a previous trip to Ottawa...without Mom that time as well).

When we landed he woke up with plenty of questions where Mom was and if on one side of the plane was Ottawa and the other Toronto. Don't think he understood my explanation. The funniest part is that I only speak french to him and at times they are words he hasn't heard before and i know it, so he just keeps asking me why and looks at me puzzled. Funny, but i refused to kick in English (since that's how he learnt the English words in the first place!).

I did manage to read a lot of my Lonely Planet for Israel while he snored in my one ear.

At customs we got pulled over by the guy to another area to have Charlie's documents further checked. I guess the guy didn't like the sticky note that Eileen scribbled just before we left. No one had questioned us in the past, and as the guy said in the back, there is no legal requirement to have letters certified or notarized for having a parent bring a child to Canada. Oh well, it only took a moment to get through. I think in the future I won't have Charlie talk to the gate agent and we'll get an 8.5x11 sheet of the same note from Eileen. It was just a fluke however, i'm sure.

Uncle Matt was waiting for us on the other side and for 15 minutes that's all I heard from Charlie, was that he wanted to leave that side room (so did I) and go see Uncle Matt, then when he saw Uncle Matt, he was shy. Funny.

Anyways, Charlie loved Memere's tub, it had bubbles and those jet sprays and he just didn't want to get out (although bath time he typically never wants to get out at the best of times).

Charlie spells his name...well...last name

He's learnt the alphabet then just the vowels (in French) then lately it's his last name..in French again.

He loves singing songs and remembers them better than Daddy. First there's Cintille Cintille Mon Etoile (twinkle twinkle little start) which he really digs and same with Petit Papa Noel. He watched that one and Vive Le Vent on YouTube and both Daddy and Charlie love those:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnn33GdkcxU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhBqOCcpSyo

We've got a repetoire of good songs now and he sings them pretty much all day every day.

Bed time is a little later these days around 8pm and sometimes as late as 8:30pm and he's still having 1.5-2 hour naps mid day.

Sabrina has been helping out a few days a week now for a month or so and she speaks exclusively French to Charlie and even a lot to Eileen too! He's a chatter box on the phone too but doesn't realize people at the other end can't actually see him. Weird I know but he's ahead of his time I guess.

Since Halloween there's been plenty of candy requests but typically they fall on deaph ears.

French School is on Saturdays, music class on tuesday's and gymnastics on Thursday. The last one probably being his favorite, but clearly Saturday being mine ... it's the only one where I take him ;-)

Hold the door

Wow, pretty fun day with Charlie. We were moving the chest up from the garage to his room and it was the first time he helped out completely by holding the garage door for Mom and Dad as we moved it into the house.

It was convinient for us and we had to take the moment in since he was truly being helpful and its normal for him to be helpful but this time we needed all three of us and it just worked out. Special moment and man, he's no longer a baby.

Eileen is now only doing underwear during the day too. Still some accidents but more and more he is getting the hang of it. A while ago he did it but he just wasn't ready and went back to diapers. Now, Eileen is all over him to get him into the swing of things.

Since the Nemo on Ice at the United Center Charlie has been enamoured with Nemo. He immitates his swimming with one arm stretched out that the other closer to the body and waves them around. It's Nemo's short fin that he's trying to immitate and pretty funny.

Of course, he always asks us to skip over the part of the movie with sharks and the jelly fish. The wale he's sort of ok with but needs a lot of convincing.

It's a very colourful movie and all the types of fish and birds makes for a real fun time to watch. Oddly enough the 2nd DVD was the one that was in french. Most DVD's I always thought if they have a 2nd DVD its simply games and such. Not in this case. I burn them all in French only to the Vista Media Center so that there are no menu's just straight into the French movie.

Baby is now a day late

Well, August 4th has come and gone. Still no sign of activity but nevertheless its imminant.

Charlie is ready and so is Mom. If it's a girl we have the name picked out, if its a boy, well...we have a few names on the shortlist.

A new carpet in the room, house cleaned up and I think today the bags will be packed.

Nana came in for two weeks and will be around to look after Charlie during the first few days while at the hospital.

Work is on noticed too and expecting to take 3 weeks off.

Stay tuned.

Charlie's new favorite song. L'araignée Gypsie

L'araignée Gypsie monte à la gouttière, Tiens, voilà la pluie, Gypsie tombe par terre, Mais le soleil, a chassé la pluie.

2. L'araignée Gypsie a tissé sa toile, Les gouttes de pluie brillent comme des étoiles, Gypsie s'endort, elle est bien fatiguée.

3. Soudain sur sa toile, se pose une mouche, Gypsie se réveille, l'eau monte à sa bouche, Elle met la table et trotte sur sa toile.

4. Madame la mouche, vous êtes imprudente, Je vais vous croquer, petite insolente, Mais dans le ciel, s'envole la mouche.

5. L'araignée Gypsie est toute chagrine, Son repas s'envole, elle a bonne mine, Elle se recouche, après tout, qui dort dîne.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2-v0veNfX4&mode=related&search=

July 1st trip with Dad to Ottawa

Charlie and Dad had a solo visit to Ottawa for the weekend. The official business was to get the TN visa renewed.

It was a great time, and was the first time Father and Son have been outside the house without Mother around.

The flight there on the Air Canada Regional Jet was the last row and a little tight, but with a 3-hour nap before Charlie got on the plane the trip was a breaze. There certainly was no room there beside the toilets and a pretty full flight but it worked out well anyways.

The flight back was amazing, it was an Embraer 170 and in row 5 seat a and c (8 was end of business class i think) this was business class. I had complained to the lady checking in that I'd like to get a more roomier seat and since the flight was pretty empty she put us in business class which has plenty of space in it. Charlie was on the verge of sleep the whole trip since it was a noon to 1:30 flight which is typical nap time. Instead we managed to play around and visit the airplane toilet a few times to kill some time.

Thomas the train computer puzzle

As I was sitting here on the PC looking around for a new computer I hear a "I DID IT DADDY" from Charlie who is sitting at Mom's laptop. He had done the complete puzzle for Thomas the Train which involved building all the parts and once it was all done the train would drive off the screen. Wow, he's come a long way...wait, one second I have to put the mouse in his right hand....OK...that's better.

Funny, the mouse was slowly working its way left on the desk and rather than move it he simply switched hands. Funny and he's ambidextrous.

He loves the PC. Of course, we have to limit his time because he freaks out when we pull him off the "ordinateur".

Of course, the whole time he's playing with the thomasandfriends.com he's asking me what I'm looking for ...this guy is too funny.

We'll its time to get some milk calm down with some french DVD then books, pee, brush teeth, prayers and bed time.

Remote control and more sentences

OK. It was fun watching how Charlie was figuring out Noah's remote controlled car. He knew there was some correlation between the car and the box with buttons on it because we showed him. He picked it up really quick though. He watched as he pressed and avoided the tendency to launch after the car as it moves away. Pretty darn smart. We laughed.

Charlie is also talking a lot these days. We're talking full sentences here and they're pretty darn funny too. Every once in a while Eileen and I look at each other after he strings together 8 or 9 words and we are just amazed.

Today was Father's day and we visited Church which didn't work out too well for Charlie and we ended up leaving early. Later we found out it was because of stomach issues which he resolved at Ohio House.

In the afternoon we got out to Oak Street beach and had a blast. Charlie loved running around in the water right up to his neck. He needed me to hold him because of the waves and once he bought one of them right into his face but he still had fun.

It was a warm day and a fun day.

The long weekend activities

Speed boat trip
Swimming lesson
Michael's 1st Birthday Party
Trip to the Beach
Cooking lesson
BBQ at Rania's

The Beach

Wow, now that was fun. Charlie had a blast at the freezing cold water of Lake Michigan.

This afternoon we jumped in the van and parked over at Eileen's gym. Three blocks away was the oak street beach which was loaded with people doing summer beach stuff.

The weather was perfect and Charlie brought his pale and a few shovels and tools to play in the sand. I don't think he really understood what the "plage" was until he got there. It was a blast throwing mud into the water seemed to be the only thing to do for the longest time. He'd stand there with a shovel and simply shovel sand in the water over and over again.

I decided to break it up a bit and run around in the cold water a bit and he of course, followed suit. He had a blast. Now the bummer part was when he decided to reach down to throw some more sand but he didn't fully appreciate what a wave us. It slammed into him and knocked him over with a burst of cold water.

Scared him a bit but I think will all the swimming he does on Saturday morning getting a mouthful of water wasn't that big of deal. He'd run back to Mom who was safely away from the waves, tell her what happened then run back.

Despite being soaken wet we continued right up until it was time to go home for diner. Needless to say but this afternoon at the beach, in the strong sun, completely wiped Charlie out. He was exausted and by 7 o'clock was begging for bed time.

Speed Boat Ride

Got off work early Friday and on the way home I thought it was the perfect weather to get Charlie out on the water on a boat. I knew that the speed boats at Navy Pier run a short ride and very freaquently.

A cab ride away and we were at the boat getting a ticket. What I hadn't expected though, was competition for Charlie's interest. It turns out they have a thomas the train ride at the Pier and that was pretty much his only focus.

I had to break his concentration and keep him focused on the boat.

We sat around the middle with him on the side. Everything was perfect, ducks swiming around with ducklings, birds everywhere, weather perfect. He was tired but ready to go.

The ride was slow until we got into the open lake and he was very happy to be on the boat watching everything around. Once they hit the gas though he wasn't so sure. He put his head down because of the huge wall of water that came up on the side. It was loud and rough and he was just not too sure about this whole thing.

I managed to keep him entertained by singing songs and keeping his head down into my head and generally protected from the elements since he had a good jacket on with a hood and I put my jacket over his legs too to keep him ultra-protected.

I had been on the seadog ride before and I do remember how short it was so the loudness didn't last that long. Once we got to the south side the boat stopped again for a site seeing talk and Charlie peeped up again.

The next longer run to the North side of the Pier took longer but he was a bit more comfortable with it all. Again after a stop he got more and more comfortable on the boat and the last ride into the Pier was real short and the final slow part into the dock was exciting with all the other boats around and also knowing that the train was next.

All in all a good time but he was happy to get off the boat (after running up and down the length of it while everyone was off a few times).

Of course, the train was the best, he was focused, and loved every turn. He stayed on it until Eileen came and picked us up for dinner.

All that sunshine and fresh hair he was exhausted.

Full sentences

It's real funny listening to Charlie explain his day. He's pretty much doing full sentences now and though he can't relay a whole story we do get what he's saying.

It's real funny since the words just flow from his mouth and they are starting to flow together now.

Eileen and Charlie went to Toronto for the long weekend and when he returned I really noticed the difference. He's changing day by day now as well and he's almost mastered the computer mouse as well.

We find interesting topics like "hakuna mata french" and "sumo" on youtube.com and he watches them. The way youtube displays results it shows little previews of other video clips and he now understands to mouse over them and click the button. He doesn't always get which button to click but he's done it a few times and it's a matter of time before he completely gets it.

His new favorite game is to put a pail hanging up on the lamp in the front yard and try and play basket ball with it. He doesn't ever get it in but that doesn't dampen his spirits at all. It's go go go for him.

He's also good at soccer ball and this is kinda funny since what he does is instead of kicking around the ball he does a sort of dance while the ball is in front of him. He's trying to copy how I kick the ball from foot to foot on my own and he's trying to get the footwork down pat.

He loves the sports that's for sure and he has a golf set as well that he plays like hockey pretty much.

Sleep time: Today he was so tired he crashed immediately. Typically he goes to the gated door and says he wants the gate open for a minute or two but tonight it was a real big crash. I think he's catching up from the weekend on his sleep.

Eileen says that at bubbles he tackles his friends and puts them in head locks which I think is a direct result of how I play with him. He's also bigger than the other kids so Eileen's gotta really pay attention...

A visit from Noah

Noah came by this a.m. for a visit. We played out back in the gorgeous sun which was rather warm at a balmy 79 degrees out. Considering the weather lately this is very unusual.

Hal and Josee told us they were 3 months pregnant too and so Noah will also be getting a sibbling soon. These are exciting times.

Mom and Dad had to go digging for gold today. It had been 3 days since I had a BM and I didn't have enough jello yesterday so it didn't kick in. Mom did the honors after the repeated attempts during the day to do it myself.

We did spend a little time at the park today too and it was packed with sun worshipers and people playing games in the cloudless skies. Man, it was hot.

7:30 I was ready for bed. Bonsoir everyone.

C’est l’avion

This song my childhood just came back to me a few weeks ago. Of course, it has Charlie's favorite word in it so it stuck to him like glue. I only knew the main refrain but he would have me sing it over and over again. At one point he would stop me and try to sing it as well. It was priceless. Tripping over all the words except avion, of course.

Anyways, didn't find much on the internet but this one seems pretty legit:

M’en revenant de la jolle Rochelle,
M’en revenant de la jolle Rochelle,
J’ai recontré trios jolles demoiselles

Refrain: C’es t l’avion qui nous mène, qui nous mène
C’est l’avion qui nous mène en haut

J’ai point choisi, mais j’ai pris la plus belle,
J’ai point choisi, mais j’ai pris la plus belle,
J’la fis monter derrièr’ moi sur ma selle

J’ai fis cent lieues sans parler avec elle,
Je fis cent lieues sans parler avec elle
Au bout d’cent lieues, ell’ me d’mandit à boire.

Adapted from Francais de base – 4e année, Le festival du Voyageur, Supplément au document de mise en oeuvre, Manitoba Education and Training, 2000.

Funny stuff:
http://ecoles.ac-rouen.fr/fbuisson/fr/activites/poesie7.htm

Cadeau

Man, Charlie knows that word.

After his second birthday that word is magic. Walked in this evening with a gift and that word was gold, he was ready right away. Funny how these past few weeks of steady gifts made him learn that word.

Well at 2 years old now and he's 90 percentile in height, has a mixed vocabulary of english and french, sleeps 12 hours a night with a few hours in the afternoon, loves trains, knows when he has to potty and loves all sports.

Today he was at the gym with Mom and the zoo afterwards. Going to sleep tonight was a bit of work...gotta go check on him now.

Joyeux Paques

Charlie has a french book we read to him about Easter and of course he was no stranger to today's words "Joyeux Paques".

It was a strange day only because ingesting sugar directly all day has a way of making a day strange.

In general though it was all good. Church in the morning was crazy since it was more packed than Christmas day. Diner at Pat's was fun too, though Charlie actually didn't have diner; just deserts.

The weather was very cold at 40 degrees F and a cold wind as well.

Always take your car seat on board

Note to self: If you've paid for the seat then why not take the car seat on the plane.

He'll be more comfortable, he'll be strapped down better and he'll be a lot easier to keep under control.

You just never know when the plane will leave late, arrive late or be waiting for weather and a gate!

Lesson learned.

Bonne Fete

Cake and ice cream. How glorious!

Tomorrow I turn 2 but Mom made me a cake that I just had to have today. It was yummy and I just couldn't keep talking about it. It wasn't until 6pm when Dad got home did I finally get my wish. It was yummy.

The bed was moved the other day to a new position in the room but nothing really throws me off these days. I'm tired, and I even asked to go to bed tonight. The only thing that slows me down is the fact that before bed I have a routine that includes brushing teeth and going for a peepee which I was just too tired to bother with tonight.

Man, I love my bed.

Oh, not sure what it's all about, but Mom went and got pictures of the baby today with Daddy. A good 20 pictures from every different angle and every body part. Baby was very active and was moving around a lot, including those hands always being near the mouth! Cute pictures.

Anyways, Go Bears Uncle Keith.

Uncle Keith Go Bears

OK, not sure why, but out of the clear blue, while strapping Charlie into his seat for some oatmeal in the morning he belts out Uncle Keith Go Bears. Those two pieces go together ever since his uncle visited him on Valentines day.

Kinda funny, since he blurts it out at random times.

Of course, he always remembers his last visit to the local pub, the green door with Uncle Keith and whenever we walk by were are reminded of Keith's last visit. Cute.

2nd time in the bed and then some

The first time in the big bed (grand garcons) he had no idea he could get down from the bed so he cried for a few minutes then fell asleep. In the morning he called us to get out. Pretty normal and pretty amazing.

Then the next day for his lunch time nap he discovered that he could get out of the bed himself. That made the lunch time nap very tough for mom (aka. the bouncer) but eventually he slept.

Also the 2nd night in bed it took 4 or 5 quick jaunts to the door to find out that he really couldn't leave the room and he gave up and went to bed. Not bad and that next morning at 7:50 a.m. he showed up in our room with a big HELLO mommy/daddy. That was fun as we both woke up to a great and soft voice, our sons. It was awesome.

We were very proud of him and I believe he understood that and pretty much every night since then it has been very easy to get him into bed and he gets a good nights sleep - typically 12 hours. These days around 8 to 8 a.m. with the occational 7:30 a.m. reveiller.

Now...wait a minute....there's the lunch time naps. Well, that's a very different story. Those are not easy at all and pretty much no matter what Mom does there is no way it's going to happen. He is absolutely resistent to get or stay in bed at lunch time, despite the fact that she knows he's exausted. And we know that going from 1 1/2 hours to 3 hour lunch time naps doesn't go to zero that fast!

Yesterday, Wed, he had no nap. By the end of the day, when I got back from a business trip to Louisville, Kentucky he was just spent. So tired he could hardly keep his eyes open.

Again today, Thursday, no way, so Mom took him for a ride in the car and within minutes he was sound asleep. Apparently it's either in the car or in the stroller is the only way he'll do it.

First time in the bed

Today we put on some side rails to the bed in Charlie's room. We then walked through our daily bed time routine with him twice but ending up in the bed rather than the crib. We think he's ready for it.

It starts with a bath, then dancing, then read books with a drink, then peepee, brushing the teeth, notre pere le fils et the saint esprit and off to the bed. He even pretended to snore. He was game! We shut the door and a few minute later started the morning routine. We thing he's ready.

It's almost 1 a.m. now and he went down easy (normail few minutes of fake crying) but was out like a light. He's been great and its starting too look like he transitioned pretty darn easy. Eileen took a look in and she said he was sprawled out over the whole bed.

Mom went to Vegas part 3

This morning was a bit early for Charlie, 6:35 a.m. and he was asking for Dad's help to get out. Of course, I tried the ignore it at first and see what ensues however that only worked for another 10 minutes. After that, he insisted. Of course, he was wet and wanted out, so when I told him he can go on the pottie he very interestingly, got the message across to me that he had asked me earlier to get down. It was funny how he put the words but it was clear that he had asked and didn't get the response he needed in time. Great form of communication.

After that it was a little TV time to get us past 7 a.m. at which point Charlie announced he wanted breakfast in his words...EAT...

I attempted the toast and egg and cheese meal from Ohio house, but I learnt later that toasting pumpernickle bread doesn't work for Charlie.

Oh well, cereal and a full orange did the trick.

After that we were off to the Brookfield zoo but since the Murphy's were running behind we stopped by to play with their toys for a while then off to the zoo.

This zoo has elephants so we headed for that immediately. Turns out that the big attraction was the giraffes. Baby giraffe was fascinating and the exhibit was great.

Elephants are good as well, but in the pavillion Charlie prefered the rhino's since they were very active and busy.

The trip home was only 15 minutes but Charlie fell asleep with part of his muffin in hand. After that it was a two hour nap at home.

After a snack we did the train route. On the brownline, off at the library, then on the red line and from there on the 66 bus to the house. We took our time but we never waited for either train and neither the bus. We played around all the way home ... it was great.

Dinner was great and since he was such a great boy, we ended with some ice cream...shhh...just don't tell Mom.

The time had advanced an hour so, in effect, Charlie was real late getting to bed. Mom arrives just before 10pm so better go change the clocks and clean up.

Sweet Dreams.

Mom went to Vegas part 2

Wow, what a busy weekend. Go Go Go.

Saturday morning was our first swimming lesson for a year now and it was a blast. At first when we got in, the men's locker room had two guys talking so loud that it was scary. Charlie wouldn't even take his hat off, he was just straight at attention and wanted to get out of there. Eventually those guys calmed down and left and I was able to coax his hat off and everything else followed easily after that.

Everything was new again, the showers and the pool. We were there 15 minutes early so sitting around watching people swim and play in the water got Charlie very excited to go in.

Once in we had a blast. Charlie loved every single minute of it and loved to jump in and loved to spit out the water (it's one of the exercises). Funniest of all was that when he was kicking his feet he'd always want to look back and have a good look at what he was doing.

There were 7 kids in the class, 5 of which were girls. It was a 9:35 class for 1/2 hour so after that we went to Ohio House and ate a lot there.

Breakfast was oatmeal this morning but no were near as good as Mom's. Dad needs some practice.

The weather was real warm out today so after a 3 hour nap we went to the lincoln park zoo. We saw wolves houl, seals sleep and plenty other things to keep it entertaining. The lions are still a little scary but Charlie's still able to stay in the same room as them when they are being fed, he just backs up if anything out of the ordinary happens.

Dinner was a huge pizza and then it was off to bed for some well earned zzzzz's.

Mom went to Vegas

Mom went to Vegas today so it's all about Dad now. We hung out and went to bed a little late and it's real easy to tell that it's late because when Dad's reading books to me I lay down in a sleep position to look at the book. It's a dead giveaway, so the story gets short.

Of course, when you sit on the potty before bed your best bet is to aim that right away otherwise, you'll end up like Dad with a bit of a shower.

There's a lot less "what's that Dad?" than there is when Mom's around. Even when Mom called in any background noise on the phone was "what's that Mom?".

Weather was real warm today but it was raining hard in the late afternoon so got a little wet.

Trains are still a passion for me and I just never get tired of them.

Tomorrow we're off to the Piscine and looking forward to that!

What's That?

Charlie's favorite word the last few days. It starts first thing in the morning and goes all day at least 20 times an hour. Usually followed up with What's that Eileen? or What's that Mark?

It's cute because he listens but I think he likes the reaction so much that everything he sees and hears he just has to ask.

He's pretty busy these days and today enjoyed his Bubbles class. Mom says that he participated extremely well and the instructor said he should be moving up a group now. He had a blast.

He thought the ashes from ash wednesday where some kind of bobo so he wanted to kiss it all better. Of course he repeats ashes but he certainly doesn't get it.

The bath these days are completely multi-colored, tonight it was green. Giving him options of bath color gets him running up the stairs at the first mention of bath time (dans le bain).

Probably the funniest thing to watch those is when I start the giant act with a deep voice saying "fee fi foo fum" his little feet are moving so fast that his body can hardly keep up. His body straightens up and he just bolts as fast as he can to the other end of the house. You have to see it to believe it, very humorous.

Florida to visit Memere

Good thing we got a seat for Charlie on the flight to Tampa for a long weekend with Memere's. They were full flights both ways. Probably a lot to do with the Bears being in the superbowl nearby that weekend. Go Bears was a new favorite phrase Charlie learnt.

We flew down the Thursday and rented a SUV (well, rented a car but got a small SUV) and drove around 40 minutes to a small place called Holiday where Memere has a trailer along with a whole bunch of other snow birds.

Funny place since everyone is old there (I think you have to be over 62 to buy there) and riding bikes and driving golf carts to get around. Funny at first but after a while you get used to it.

Mom's trailer is on Montreal street near the corner of, you guessed it, Quebec street. We'll I'm sure it's 50% Canadians at least in the park.

Weather was fantastic as Chicago was getting the coldest weather of the season yet and we were running around outside like summer time. It was a blast. Lots of new toys, lots of running around and checking things out, including the ducks and turtles at the pond.

When we got back to Chicago Charlie caught a fever and was real sick, up to 103-104 degrees and slept pretty much all the time. Things where just no fun at all.

By the weekend though things were much better and his energy level is back up to par today.

Trains

Mom got me two little trains to play with and I'll tell you I'm focused. I spent all day playing with them and spent hours alone on the kitchen floor playing with them. They have little magnets to keep them together but I love to go to every piece of furniture in the house and move them around on.

Whenever we go anywher I really like to have them in my pocket. Even at Bubbles class I kept 1 of them in my pocket so I was never too far from them.

All other toys are officially non-existent.

TGIF

I really didn't want to pee in the pottie this morning and for some unknown reason ran naked into Mom and Dad's bedroom and sprang a leak, a big one at that.

Had the Murphy's over today and so decided to skip the mid-day nap. I survived pretty much all day and crashed hard around 7:30pm. Dinner was tough to eat but some ice cream for desert really moved things along.

Another day on the train.

This morning we visited the library by train while Mom was at the gym. She started back at the gym again, I heard it had something to do with the new baby on its way.

In the afternoon too, Mom and Dad stopped in to get some coffee at Starbucks and instead of sitting in there they decided to ride the train around the loop while they sipped away (yes, the train ride is cheaper than the coffee and tea).

While on the train we noticed a new restaurant that opened on Lake street called the Elephant and Castle. Since it was close to 5pm anyways we got off at the next stop and went there for dinner. It had only been open a few months at this point and was a very nice place.

The most exiting part was Daddy took me to the toilet with him and he had me pee into the "jr." urinal. Wow, that was cool. I did my best and it worked out real well. Not sure why Mom and Dad were so excited but it was kinda fun for me a bit. We got to sing the alphabet as well, which our normal routine while washing our hands.

Strange part was that the train ride home was free. I guess the CTA think it was a connection but the 5 minute train ride home was gratis.

The weather is pretty cold out these days but not too bad at all, no snow and gloves are optional at this point though you want to keep your hands out of the wind.

We got home a little late so bath was pretty quick but I did squeeze an extra 15 minutes TV time out of Dad by screaming alot after they put me in bed at 7:30. Man, I like when that happens. Oh ya, the pottie thing is just a routing thing these days, I'm on it constantly (though I preffer not to use it all time).

The un, deux, quatre game with Daddy just doesn't get old. Now back to watching "pat pat"

-Charlie

Bottle all gone

Well yesterday night before going to bed my Mom tricked me and gave me my milk in a sippy cup. I've been off the bottle for a long time except that I always had a bottle of milk between bath and bed time.

I really didn't notice until Dad pointed it out and it really didn't bother me at all.

Catherine was there and I was pretty excited anyways but really I'm thinking I'm now 100% over the bottle thing now.

The pottie thing is also going real well these days too. I'm still at number 1's only but the excitement is still there.

Bath time these days is also alot of fun. Uncle Rob sent me some dolphin toy (I still think they are seals however, since they are my favorite at the zoo) but I start crying everytime I have to get out of the tub now. Even after a very long bath time I just don't want to get out, they are so much fun!

My Dad told me we were going to visit Luke, Thomas, Tante MeeMee and Memere in Florida later this month. That should be fun.

Well, gotta run for now.

-Charlie Barlie

First time at the Library and on the Autobus

Yesterday Dad and I went for a train trip in the afternoon and stopped off at the library. There's plenty to do at the library with coloring papers (www.coloring.ws) to color with, computers to play with (need your library card number) and of course lots of books. There's even a french section too so I got to practice french words too.

After running around the book shelves (man, that place is a fun place) we went to Dunkin for a coffee for Dad then back on the train. It was the red line so we went underground which is always fun and different.

We got off on Chicago and State street and being real close to CompUSA we walked around playing with all the TV's and remove controls we could find. That place is fun.

After that we went home by bus (autobus in french). Man, that was fun. It was a busy bus but it dropped us off just a block from home (number 66 route). I sat beside a small girl that was 4 or 5 years old and she had a stuffed cat that we talked about. Of course, I was shy at first but eventually I did get to talk to her a bit.

I whimped out for dinner and didn't each much, just wasn't in the mood for pizza nor hot dogs, or anything else really.

Well off to bed now.

-Charlie

Pottie Time

Wow, we've had the potties in both toilets now for a few months now just to get Charlie used to them. A few days ago Eileen mentioned that he went on his own to the pottie and the day before yesterday I witnessed it too. Basically he asks to go and he makes every effort to impress us with act of going, we'd get pretty excited with high 5's and everything.

After it's done he does the traditional wave good bye to the pee which is pretty fun for him. One of the upsides for Charlie too is that he's allowed to use a square of toilet paper and that too is fun.

It's only been #1's so far, but well take it. It's a good start, he's very excited about it and we think it will go fine.

The funniest part was that earlier this week Memere was telling us that we were all pottie trained by 1 years old. I guess the diapers were rougher in those days and there was huge insentive to get us on that pottie early!

Party Time!