Early

This morning - Saturday, I should point out - Charlie decided to wake up at 6:30a. He usually wakes up at 8. I went into his room and told him it was too early to wake up and then dragged out this little mat I keep in his closet, spread it out on the floor, and tried to go back to sleep. He wouldn't bite. So finally at 7, I took him out of the crib and we headed downstairs.

I was grumpy. I hate getting up in the morning anyway, but having to wake up before 7 on a Saturday really pisses me off. I know that this is the norm for most parents, but most parents don't work until 12:30 at night. So there.

This was a bad start to the day. But then, it turned around. Jason came downstairs and forced me back to bed. It didn't take much arm twisting. After I fell asleep 3.42 seconds later, he started laundry, did the dishes from the night before, picked up the downstairs and entertained Charlie while he did it. Then at 9, he woke me up and we switched.

I have a great husband. He's sleeping right now. He told me to wake him up at 10. It's 10:11a. I think I'll give him the luxury of waking up naturally. This could have been a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Instead, thanks to Jase, it's a Wonderful, Delightful, No Bad, Very Good Day. YAY!

If you want to see more pics of the early bird, click this link right here.

How to Get Your Charlie to Eat

Charlie has been on an all-carb diet for a few weeks now. The kid would eat bagels, graham crackers and cherrios all day long. And he would drink soy milk. All. Day. Long.

And that's it. No fruits. No vegetables. The occasional chick'n nugget (yes - the fake veggie stuff) and fish a la stick. And that's it.

Well, except the chocolate chip cookie we'd buy him at the store to keep him occupied while we bought 80 bucks worth of food he never ate.

I'm speaking in past tense, because Mrs. Breedorf pointed me to Amalah's blog entry about this same topic. Amalah bought this book called "How to Get Your Kid to Eat... But Not Too Much" by Ellyn Satter and suddenly, her son Noah ate lentils.

Lentils.

So I grabbed my purse and made Mrs. Breedorf drive me to the awesome Third Place Books so I can get myself a copy of this magical tome. (I can drive - but her car was blocking mine, okay? Sheesh.)

I read it overnight and officially started the process today. Here's the deal - it's not rocket science.

I let him snack all day long. That tends to fill one up so once dinner is served, one ain't hungry. That's stopping. I also let him drink all day long. That also tends to fill one up, unless he's drinking the hoochie hooch, which just makes you sloppy. And I also was forcing food on him - playing the airplane in the hangar game just to get him to taste the damn applesauce - just TASTE it, damnit! So forcing is not good - cuz here's the thing about toddlers - the minute they know you want them to do something, they do the opposite. It's way easier to stop a toddler from doing something than it is to get them to do something you want them to do. So if Charlie is about to play in a container full of broken glass, I can stop him from doing so with little effort. But if I want Charlie to wash those same hands I was just protecting, well forget it.

Also, I hated having food forced on me when I was growing up. My dad made me sit at the table until I finished everything. I would store the food in my cheeks, go to the bathroom, and flush it. Like, when I was 14. Can we say eating disorder????

So here's the new routine - breakfast at 8, snack at 10, lunch at 12, snack at 3, dinner at 6 - all in his high chair. I provide the well-rounded meals, he decides if he wants to eat or not. If he doesn't, that's cool - I take the food away and don't give him anymore until his next feeding. It's like running a zoo, actually. Though I doubt the African elephants are leaving any food on THEIR plates.

We did it today and he was PISSED at ME. Hooooooey. At one point he was leaning against the pantry, crying, while listlessly flinging his arm into the door as if he didn't have the energy to give it a solid whack. But then, something happened.

At dinner, Charlie ate shrimp.

He never had shrimp before. He's never even seen shrimp. And he popped it in his mouth as if it was a Goldfish cracker. He didn't eat any veggies or fruit. But he ate shrimp. So I take it as a victory.

Thanks Mrs. Breedorf, Amalah and Ellyn Satter. It takes a village to feed Charlie!

My Gorgeous House

Not that I'm bragging or nothin, but my house looks awesome!

My mom rearranged the entire place, and we shopped for new little touches that brought the whole thing together.

Here's the living room:



And the dining room:



Here's a little helper with a level:



The guest room:



Charlie's room:



Where the magic happens:



Family room:



And finally, the play room:



You can see the rest of the pictures of my awesome house by clicking on this link right here.

The day after my mom left Charlie went to his friend Adele's baptism. Look how sharp he looked:



Next week he'll be opening at the Lizard Lounge. The rest of his promo shots can be found here. Thank you - thank you very much - and good night!

I'm a Bad Blogger

It's been over a month since my last entry. That's so sad.

I wish I could have something to show for it - like a completed novel or something. But I didn't even read a novel, let alone write one.



I did play with Charlie a lot. He's been loving preschool and can now identify his letters, numbers, colors and shapes. He's sort of obsessed.




We went to San Diego for my 36th birthday. We visited with Bubbe and Zada and I got a kickass pair of diamond earrings from my husband. Score!



We've been settling in nicely into our new home, and this week Nonnie is here from Michigan helping us decorate. Man, the woman wears me out! She has more energy than two of me. We've been shopping and hanging curtains and laying out rugs and hanging pictures. I'm not quite sure how she does it. I will post pics once we're done.



But first, we went to Bainbridge Island last Saturday, so check out those pics.

We also went to Darren and Marisa's house for Seder on Saturday - Nonnie took care of Charlie so Jase and I could act like real people - and I would show you pics but I was so busy stuffing my face with potato latkes I completely forgot to take pictures. Seriously, I have a bit of a problem. Anyway, it was loverly and we had a great time.

I hope you all had a nice Spring holiday!