Soccer star in the making

Tonight was Charlie's 7th soccer "class". There are no teams, there is no score, just a few very patient coaches trying to herd a group of pre-schoolers (read: cats) into playing games that involve following instructions, knowing colours, and cooperating with one another - if it sounds nearly impossible, it's because it is.

But in the last seven classes we have seen our little guy grow into a bit of a ham that has a wee bit of soccer skill. He is now (mostly) remembering to listen to all the instructions before running to start the game. He hasn't lost interest and ran toward the playground in the last 4ish classes, and he loves the name game at the beginning when the coaches ask if anyone remembers their names. Charlie often repeats the names of his soccer coaches to us on non-soccer days; they are not burned into his memory.

He is learning to "squash the ball" - stop the ball. As well as learning how to "walk his turtle" -dribble. And his favourite is to shoot and score. The best is the celebration kiss and hug he wants from us after he has scored. Below is Charlie's demo video, he is the one in the blue bucket hat. Tonight he guided the last knight through the forest to the castle. For those of you who don't have kids, if this seems a bit slow, it is, but 12 years from now when I can't capture him on video because he is moving down the soccer field at lightening speed, I look forward to looking back at this moment.

And here is our future soccer star. He gets to play in only 15 short months! Until then, we chill out on a blanket under the big shady tree and watch his brother play.

If anyone in the Toronto or Hamilton area is looking for a fantastic program for their kids, a would highly recommend Little Kickers. The coaches that lead this kids deserve a medal for the patience, enthusiasm, creativity, and stamina.

PS. For anyone that says Charlie and Ben don't look alike, please compare the pic above to Charlie's 4 month picture in my first post... yes Ben has more cheek, but I can definitely see the resemblance!

Tuesday in the 'hood

Summer is too short, and kids grow too fast. For these very reasons, I thought I would put more effort into blogging some of our summer activities. I forgot to take pictures today, but will definitely make more of an effort to photo-document our adventures to make sharing that much more exciting.

Today, we were out the door by 9am ( Charlie had been up for 3 hours and was getting a bit stir-crazy). We headed over to the farmers market they have every Tuesday. We got some new potatoes, strawberries, cherries, and zucchini.

Our plan was to then head over to the library, but unfortunately the children's section of the library is in the basement and after last night's record setting rain fall, the basement was flooded. We hope the books are ok! 

We then walked another 5 minutes down the road and found a splash pad. One of about 10 splash pads and wading pools that is within a 10 minute walk from our house, I have learned never to leave the house without a bathing suit in tow or else we are bound to come home with a wet Charlie. Charlie ran and played, Ben and I hung out under a tree to avoid the sprinkly rain that was coming down.

We walked back to the farmers market and had back bacon on a bun for lunch, can't really beat that! I love this city. I love our neighbourhood that feels like a small town, but has the kind of amenities that allow for every day to be a new adventure. I am now doing research on the super cool splash pads in the city and plan to fill our upcoming summer mornings with some great water play followed by picnic snacks in the park. Stay tuned.

New Year's Resolution: Blog more often

Happy New Years everyone. It's still hard to believe that 2011 is gone already. The older I get time is certainly rolling by a lot quicker than I remember as a child - when Christmas holidays seemed to last forever.

Charlie loved helping me decorate the Christmas tree

The holidays and a new year is always a great time to reflect; on the year gone by, on hopes for the year and years ahead, on things that would be better changed going forward. We have had a great year. Charlie is changing and growing every day and amazes us more every day. I got two glorious weeks home over the holidays, which means I got to spend a little time doing the things that I love: baking, cooking, and making sure my house is in good order for the new year. Mark and I also got to spend some quality time with Charlie, and in true fashion, he learned some pretty awesome thing over the holidays:

The joy of milk and cookies. More specifically ginger snaps and milk. He is still mastering his technique, but at first examination he looks like he will be a dunk, suck the milk out of the cookie, repeat 4-5 times until cookie crumbles and then eat the cookie kind of guy.

How to play with puppets. Charlie got a fantastic set of 4 woodland creatures puppets for Christmas. The other night, daddy was playing on the floor with one of the puppets, making it wave and interact with Charlie. Charlie, amused by what daddy was doing, went over to his toy box took out his own puppet, he studied daddy some more and then stuck his hand right into the puppet-hole. With a big grin on his face, he then proudly held his up to daddies and made it "talk" and touch the other... it was pretty awesome to see.

I wasn't able to capture the puppets on camera, but here he is playing pretend with Daddy

Times like this make me wonder why we spent any money on gifts at all!

The magic of a crisply wrapped present. We first celebrated Christmas at Grammy's house, and while the wrapped gifts were kind of cool, Charlie really didn't grasp the whole concept. By the time Christmas morning rolled around, Charlie had definitely caught on, but still just wanted to play with the first gift that was opened. Christmas morning gifts were opened over the course of three days. By the time Nanny and Auntie Sherry's gifts arrived, Charlie completely "got it" and learned that ripping off the paper (in tiny little pieces) like a pro!

Loving the new Scout that Aunty Missy gave him, she also gave him a vacuum. Big points with the gifts this year, Aunty Missy!

He's now a pro at this gift-opening thing.

How much fun a flash light can be. So, I know this game is fun with a cat or a dog, but it is equally fun with a baby. Its even more fun when the baby holds the flash light AND chases it!

Christmas baking. Charlie has learned that sugar cookies must be eaten icing first, and that fudge should be a staple all year along, not just for Christmas. I tend to agree with him.


The freedom of being at Nonna's house. Christmas eve morning Mark and I woke up to sunshine and no noise coming from the baby monitor. Upon looking at the screen it was confirmed - there was no baby in the playpen. Mark went downstairs to find Charlie happily sitting at the table having breakfast with Nonna. Mark thought Charlie MUST need a change as all the diapers were in with us. However, it turns out Charlie had already been taken out of his wet diaper, and was "free-ballin" it so to speak. Nonna told Mark, "baby, if he pee, I wash his clothes, no big deal" Charlie was a very happy boy with this new found freedom.

More stuff to open!

All in all, we had a beautiful Christmas, and thoroughly enjoyed the time we got to spend together as our little family.

Developing a palate

We just finished a great meal. Simple, but great. And Charlie loved it! We barbecued some home made sausages that Mark made at his manly sausage party a couple of months back, sauteed up some onions and spinach and stuffed it all between a toasty whole wheat bun. Really, on a hot summer's night, it doesn't get much better than that. The only thing that Charlie didn't eat was the onion.

We have been serving Charlie his food in little pieces since he was six months old. After a round of antibiotics for a bronchial infection little Mister refused to take any food off of a spoon. (I wish I knew the trick then of putting antibiotics in a bottle!) So, everything was cut up, or served whole. Or, if we are somewhere where we do not have a knife, food is bitten into little pieces, spat out and served to my little bird! It's so hard to know if they are getting enough when you feed them this way. It's much easier to judge when you can look at a puree and know how much has been shoveled into your baby, but Charlie would have none of this. So, we adapted.

We had lunch with Polly today. I listed to the people behind us trying to get their babies to eat. The food was green, probably beans or peas out of the jar. I am not against jarred baby food, I have used it for convenience sake. But, like a good mother, I taste everything before I shovel it into my baby's mouth, and I have to say, the majority of the veggies are pretty bad. They all taste similar; I can't say exactly what it is, but there is something. Charlie had spinach salad and tortiere for lunch, served off of his dad's fork. We knew he liked it because he yelled between bites for more!

This is how we have been feeding him since he was about six and a half months. Whatever we eat, he eats. I did a lot of reading on baby nutrition as we prepared to start Charlie on solids. I did more reading when he seemed to be indifferent about the rice cereal we started him on. I turned to as many resources as I could find when Charlie quit taking food off of a spoon after he was sick. Every "expert" seems to have an opinion on what foods to give when, allergies, portions, timing, it's really enough to make a new mom sit down and cry. Mark and I decided that, knowing we eat a well-balanced diet that we prepare mostly at home with lots of spices, and few preservatives, and knowing that we both have no food allergies, we decided we would go with a method of feeding that was a bit more controversial, and feed him everything we eat (minus honey due to the bacteria in it)

So far, so good. We had our nine month visit at the docs a couple of weeks ago, and Charlie has actually grown more since starting solids than his growth curve would have projected. The doctor was very happy and said the best words a new parent can hear: "Things look great, just keep doing what you are doing".

Charlie's first meal of solids

Charlie chewing on a piece of steak

He LOVES red pepper!

He still has no teeth, but he looks pretty darn happy after gumming away on a steak and potato dinner!

Charlie likes to help Daddy make his meals. He's a pretty good helper. We can't wait until he can be our sous chef!

Better late than never

Our baby is already 9 months. Nine months has flown by. I said I would journal; I promised myself I would jot down the dates and times that milestones happen; I am pretty sure I have committed many of them to memory. Alas, I know my memory is full of other things, and I will lose these important happenings unless I am able to capture them. So here I am, hoping to dump what I can remember, and encapsulate what is to come.

We are very lucky to have one of those "good" babies. Little Charlie. To say he's a smiley guy is an understatement. This kid is a ham and full of personality. He smiles and poses when a camera is pointed at him. He coughs this little fake dry cough to get your attention. In a room full of people, if there are no eyes on him, he makes every sound in his vocabulary to try to get attention. (I am sure this won't be so cute at 9) When he thinks you are trying to be funny, he has this mouth-open HA HA laugh, like he is trying to humor you. Every once in a while we get to see his real laugh, the uncontrollable fits of giggles, although he keeps them well reserved.

We think he is close to talking. First words have come out of his mouth (Dad) and (Mum) but just in the last week we really think he knows what the former means. Rather than Dada, Charlie has taken to calling out a-dad. At this point, it seems like a-dad is what he says when he is enjoying something. (this may also be handy at the park, or gatherings with friends. Summoning "a-dad" rather than HIS dad may get Charlie the fastest help possible!  Mum-mum-mum, is usally called when he is frustrated, or getting his diaper changed against his will. I am hoping that "mum" will soon be associated with me, and more fun things in his life.

So, I don't know how many photos they will let me post on here, but here is me playing catch-up on photos of our ever-growing little man:

4 days shy of one month

2  months old

3 months

4 months

5 months

3 days shy of 6 months

7 months



8 months



Nine months to come in other posts!