Happy Halloween!

Well, for Charlie it was more like a Sad Halloween.

He didn't like being a monkey. He wouldn't even put the hat thing on with the ears. He stayed in it long enough for me to get a few pics of him, miserable and embarrassed.

Poor Monkey! Next year, maybe. He liked all the trick or treaters, tho! One girl, dressed up as a mermaid, walked into my house and helped herself to a Peppermint Patty. Then another. Then one more. And then she left - all without saying a word. I asked a little boy what he was dressed as - he looked like a Sultan or something - and he said, "Uh, I don't remember what I am."

Kids are awesome.

Video of Charlie and Boo

Check this out.

Charlie and Boo are video stars. We bought a pillow at the grocery store, which Boo thought was a toy. This cracked Charlie up. Charlie also has a hangnail in this video which confuses him.

Got the Pics Up

Some new pictures of Charlie waking up from a nap, playing with Legos, and eating a Pop-Tart.

Poor Boo had to go under the knife today, or the clippers, I guess - he broke his toenail. The 'thumb' nail, actually. He's a big freak about getting his nails cut, so they get caught on things in the house and break. This one broke really deep. So he had to go under and have it trimmed properly. He's been laying around even more so that usual - he's totally trashed. But his nails are all nice and short.

Turning into a Grown-Up

So tonight, I had 40 minutes between getting Charlie to bed and starting work, and I chose to spend that time doing dishes and wiping counters.

Wha? What happened to the Amy we all know and love?

Well, I'm here to say that the former Amy - the one that would choose to play Yahoo! Games and read Star Magazine rather than clean- doesn't have time to exist. Instead, I've become a household manager.

I make dinner instead of grabbing take-out. Tonight, I replicated the Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich from the now defunct Ann Arbor restaurant Sweet Lorraine's.

I can't go to bed with dishes in the sink. I know this because I tried to last night. I really really didn't want to do those dishes. And here's the difference - because the Amy of just a year ago would have been okay with just going upstairs and leaving them for the dishes fairy (aka Jason).

I even had to give up on my favorite television programs - the Korean dramas, because the only time I have to watch TV is when I'm working and I can't edit stories and read subtitles at the same time. So it was either learn Korean or admit defeat.

I exercised 5 days last week. This week, okay, I still have yet to exercise. But I more than made up for it last week. That's probably more than I've exercised all year.

What gives? Well, I'm feeling good, after another setback with my pill tapering. My cholesterol may be high (or the test is all screwy because I didn't fast). And Charlie is now a full-fledged toddler demanding that every free moment of my time is spent watching him take stickers off the toy suitcase, one by one, and then put them back on again, one by one. And repeat. Over, and over, and over.

I have a couple of new pics - but they are on Jason's computer and I'm way too drained to go all the way over to the loveseat to mess with it. But you are all missing out - we were told today at the supermarket that Charlie was the cutest kid in the WHOLE STORE! It's a big store, too!

Big Head, Big Brains

A couple of days ago, this article appeared on the front page of Yahoo. Turns out, at least in this study, that if a baby has a big head, they're gonna end up 'wicked smaaaart' when they grow up.

Well, Charlie has a big head. Even before I gave birth, the ultrasound technician was all, "Uh, this baby's head is huge." And we were all, "Yeah, we should just schedule the c-section now." Too bad my doctor didn't view it this way, and only after 3 and 1/2 hours of active pushing was she like, "Okay! Time for the c-section." Duh. I could have told her that at week 30. Actually I could have told her that the minute I found out I was preggers, because Jason's head isn't exactly tiny.

So you know those percentiles they throw at us new moms so we can stay up at night worrying about whether he's too big or too small? His head circumference was consistently in the 97+%. 97 PLUS. Like, forget it parents, this kid is off the charts. Good luck finding him hats.

People used to say to us, "His head is so big because he's got a big brain." Turns out they may have been right.

But before any definitive conclusions are made, I should offer my own research, in the field, if you will.

When Charlie gets upset, he bangs his giant head on the closest surface, which is usually the wall or a table. And then he cries harder because it turns out banging your head hurts. So what does he do? Bangs it again. And again. I tried to get a picture of this but he's quick, man. This is the best I could come up with.



This was right after banging his head on our end table because I wouldn't let him play with the lamp.

Charlie also likes to spin in circles. Over and over until he falls down. And what does he do? Picks himself up and starts spinning again.

He wears buckets on his head.



He eats both crayons and Play-Doh. He goes into his dark closet and shuts the door even though he can't quite reach the doorknob to let himself out.

He eats flashlights.



So is he super duper smart? Maybe. But even if he was dumb enough to keep hitting his head against the wall all day long until every brain cell was destroyed, we'd still love him more than life itself.

Today Charlie 'folded' laundry and counted my toes. See for yourself in our new pics!

Charlie Reads, Boo Sleeps

Whenever an airplane flies over our house, Charlie looks up at the ceiling.

He's getting there.

Tonight was a typical night here: some Teletubbies, followed by coloring, and concluding with reading a book called "Silly Sounds".



The other morning, Charlie helped with the laundry.



And the other night, Boo fell asleep with his head hanging upside down off the couch. Looks more like a bat than a pug.

Hair-Raising and Gem Mining

So Charlie woke up from his nap the other day, and he looked like this:



Now, every time I mention the word 'haircut' I get a chorus of boisterous rejections to the very thought of bringing scissors to those curls. So we will leave him be for now and just accept that he looks like Cool from the movie "Parenthood". Check out the pictures.





Later that afternoon, Charlie went gem mining. His Aunt Barbara gave me this idea - she lives in North Carolina and has a pass to The Biltmore, the former estate of the Vanderbilts that is now open to the public and has a lot of kid-friendly events and activities. She brought Charlie's cousin Celia there last weekend and one of the activities was Gem Mining. Lots of rocks were put in water, and the kids were given slotted spoons to go mining for gems.

Charlie's cousin Celia:
















So I got a bunch of tumbled rocks from Jason's collection, put them in his water table, and gave him a slotted spoon. He picked up the spoon and threw it across the patio. He then took a rock out of the water, walked over to the folding chair we have out there, and placed it on the seat, while saying "duuuhhhnnnn" (translation: one). He then went back to the water table, carefully selected another rock, walked it over the the chair, and placed it next to the first one, saying "duuuuuuueee" (translation: two). He continued this process until all 14 rocks were removed from the water table and placed on the chair.




He then picked up a large rock - one that is too large to tumble, and chucked it into the water, creating a hilarious splash. He repeated this activity with three other large rocks.

So the whole mining concept was lost on him. But he still managed to have a bit of industrious fun all the same. Check out more pictures here.