Charles Is Two.

Sunday was Charles' second birthday; my baby is two years old.  They've been the hardest, the best, the longest, and the quickest years of my life.

Charles is a gentle kid, who loves to wear his doll and hold it to "nurse" alongside him.  He sees his world through people; he doesn't see things: he sees their relationship to someone he loves.  A tractor is not just a tractor; it's Grandpa's tractor.  That puzzle is not just a puzzle; it's a puzzle that Nana did with him on her last visit.  That chair is the chair that Pop & Mimi brought to him.  That floor heater is the one Papa bought for him.  His play-kitchen is what he and Papa assembled together.  Charles exists in community; his sense of separate self is not yet mature--other people define his environment.

Now, this gets exhausting, because the flip side of his awareness of and care for others is that he always wants to be with someone.  Not just next to, but engaged with.  We spend quite a lot of time playing, reading, and communicating... but sometimes, dishes and diapers must be washed, calls must be made, and dinner must be cooked.  Charles struggles to occupy himself during these times, and I struggle with guilt as I watch my little crying puddle of a child pitifully say "please!" so I'll come sit with him.  But I know that sometimes the most difficult traits of a toddler can blossom into beautiful ones in an older child and adult if they are handled and directed well--I pray every day for wisdom in how to do that!

Charles is goofy.  He giggles at funny noises and faces and makes plenty of his own.  He loves when Mama dances all crazy or Papa uses funny voices.  He rolls his eyes and runs around laughing.  It's so fun to see a little mischievous streak coming out in him as he approaches boyhood.

Like his mama, Charles may have a bit of OCD.  He's incredibly orderly. He prefers things in sets: if he has one, he needs two.  If he has two, three is the magic number.  He then lines these sets up or arranges them just so on a surface and is quite put out if those arrangements are disturbed.  He loves doing this with all his cars: almost every day there is a new car line stretching along the couch, with each vehicle facing forward.  (I mess with him sometimes and turn one the wrong way when he's not looking.  It doesn't take him long to notice and remedy the fault.)

Of course, I think he's a genius.  He can spontaneously identify and say about half of the uppercase alphabet, and he can count to two (which is appropriate).  It's funny that he is so letter-oriented, because he still really doesn't say too much.  He has a name for everyone he frequently sees, but otherwise his word list is rather small compared to a lot of 24-month-olds'.  The past couple of weeks I've noticed an uptick however.  The day before his birthday, he started saying "NO" for the first time.  So much less pleasant than a head-shake, haha.  Despite being taciturn like his papa, he has no problem communicating what he wants when he wants it!  He combines signs, sounds, words, and body language to make himself perfectly understood pretty much all the time by those of us close to him.  I've commented to Trevvor that he has a very high-context language: when he bobs his head and points at the mantel, that means he wants me to play music on my phone, because I normally keep it on the mantel when we have music going.

Charles has continued to breastfeed a few times a day, when he wakes up and when he goes to sleep.  He seems to be less picky about food than a lot of toddlers; we continue to mostly be able to feed him what we eat, with a few kid-friendly extras like banana chips (I think those things are nasty).  He thinks lunchbox peppers are candy.  He'll eat carrot sticks because the rabbit in his book eats one.  He prefers beans over meat, but when he does eat meat it's usually chicken, and he'll say, "glum glum!" (which is his version of cluck cluck), which makes me wonder how much he connects those dots...  Mix something into sweet potato and it'll be a hit.  Eat some spinach out of the bag yourself and he'll be asking for some too.  Give him a green smoothie like it's a big treat and he'll drink it down.  I've found the best way to get him to eat something is to eat it in front of him but not offer him any.  He'll eat anything as long as it's his idea!

Socially, Charles loves babies, and can be friendly with other toddlers as long as I give him a pep talk before we arrive at a play-date and they don't threaten his snacks.  He mostly prefers adults and older children, I suppose because they're not "competition" for attention, but rather people who will give it to him.  Speaking of loving babies, that's another example of how Charles sees the world through people-centered relationships: give him two big things and one little thing (like two large acorns and a small acorn), and he'll say, "mama, papa, baby."  He'll add family members until the whole group has been categorized.  (Sometimes he'll say "mama, papa, nyuh-nyuh," because that's his name for himself--but in these contexts he's using it as a title like "baby" rather than a name.)

Charles loves to serve "food" from the pots in his play kitchen to family members.  I've eaten so much pretend veggie soup I could bust!  He also brings me "tea": his cup has a mushroom in it and mine has half an apple.  He enjoys building block towers with me (not on his own), and loves to "fix" things with his new tool-set.  Many evenings while we're waiting for Papa, we'll spend an hour reading board book after board book--he loves to read.  Charles also loves music, especially songs with motions like Baby Bumble Bee and Eensy Weensy Spider.  The other day he was his playing his xylophone and singing, "Ra! Ra! Ra! Ra!"  I finally figured out he was singing The Ants Go Marching (Hoorah! Hoorah!)  He also loves playing outside in his new Cozy Coupe car, at his sand-table, or on his play-set.

There are so many other details, like how he only sleeps with his head in one particular corner of his crib, how he kicks his house-shoe off while we're sitting at the table, how he sees animals in his almond butter (it frequently looks like an alligator or elephant), how he has ridiculous spatial memory (on our neighborhood walks he remembers where we saw a school bus a week ago), how he's so very cautious and thoughtful (most of the time), how he swings down the stair-railing with us holding the other hand... Charles is such a full, complete little person.

He is my greatest joy, and my greatest challenge.  Some days are hard, some days are REALLY hard, but this is all going by much too quickly nonetheless.  I am so thankful that God saw fit to make me this precious boy's mother two years ago.  Charles is truly a gift.

Airstream Dreams: Part II

The Airstream is home.  We think we're going to call her "The Silver TARDIS," but that's still up for debate.  I love catching a glimpse of her out the kitchen window and remembering how we found her and made her ours.

As we've gone through all of our plans and dreams the past few years, one of the people we've talked with a lot has been Trevvor's mom, who is beginning her own adventure now too.*  We were all in this unsettled place, knowing we needed to do something different but not sure what that something looked like.  During our "whirlwind trip to everywhere" at the end of May, we had the chance to talk through these ideas again in person.  "Well you know," she said, "I'm going to need a place to live when I come back to the States in a few years."  That changed everything, because now we were looking at Airstreams as co-owners with her: Trevvor, Charles and I living it in now, and Leslee living in it later on.

One evening early in the last week of the trip, Leslee and I were looking at AirstreamClassifieds.com, just casually, you know, to see what was out there.  I had pulled up all the Airstreams that were in the states we'd be traveling home through (there aren't many Airstreams in Alabama).
One ad really jumped out:  It was 31 ft, perfect for full-time living; a 1975 model (our favorite decade of Airstreams); a center bath, which meant we wouldn't have to walk through Charles' room to use the bathroom at night and also avoided the problem of the heavy rear-bath separating from the frame; they had installed a composting toilet like we wanted, opening up our parking options since we won't need a black-water connection; the floors had been redone with a lovely pine board, exactly what we wanted; there was already a large fridge for all the produce we buy; and all the built-in furniture had been removed, so now we could include exactly and only what we needed.  AND it was only 20 minutes off our route through Virginia.  AND it was under $10,000 (a very reasonable price for such a find). Ummm, yes please!

So we emailed the owners and arranged to see her on Friday as we traveled south.  Our last few days were very full--both packing up Leslee for her big trip and preparing ourselves for a possible very big purchase.  They sent us the link to their blog they'd used while they renovated it the previous year, and it was really neat finding so many similarities between them and us and so many parallels in our journeys.

When we arrived at their farm Friday afternoon, I was trying not to be too excited.  We explored the Airstream thoroughly.  We discussed its purchase rationally.  And then, we told her we'd take it.  On the condition that we could find a way to haul it down.

So we put the word out on Facebook.  By the next day, we had a two different trucks we could borrow.  (Our friends are so generous!  Seriously.)  Our plan was to make the trip back to Virginia two weeks later to bring her home.

But that's a whole 'nother chapter.

*Leslee is moving to Australia, ultimately to teach, and has sold her house, her car, and her possessions (less a very small storage unit) for an undetermined period of time.  Helping her give away and pack up and throw out all her stuff during our trip really got us excited about doing the same thing at our house.

Charles is One!

This is a picture of my first glimpse of Charles, and his first glimpse of me.  He looks slightly concerned, but it's one of my favorite pictures of all time.  That tiny, not-so-sure face belongs to a boy who is now one year old.  My boy.  

Charles has changed so much these past weeks.  Right before his birthday, he had a super rough week with sleep and wanting momma.  He went from waking up once a night to waking up like a newborn, not wanting to go down for any naps unless I was holding him, and not even wanting to be left with Trevvor or a grandmother when I walked out of the room.  In hindsight, I think that's when he hit a big developmental jump, because he seems to have shifted from baby to toddler in just that week.  He was also cutting a tooth, which I'm sure didn't help.

Charles at his newborn well-baby check-up

Charles isn't walking yet, but he's getting more adept at cruising around furniture and along walls.  He's learned how to "steer" us when we're walking him holding his hands (and he's quite proud of it).  Trevvor taught him how to swing his legs around to get down off a bed or sofa or lap, and he's really quick at getting up the stairs (even the big flights at Nana & Grandpa's), but isn't sure enough to get back down.  He loves climbing and navigating through small spaces while crawling.

The past couple weeks he's starting scrunching up his nose into the most adorable face, and he tilts his head to one side and grins when he's being impish.  He also has a face for when you ask him to do something he knows how to do (like stick out his tongue), but he doesn't feel like doing it--I wish I could describe it.  He loves playing peekaboo around furniture or curtains, and often initiates it.  When he wants me to stick out my tongue, he pokes at my lips until I get it.  He can wave bye-bye and has a different wave for "hi," usually accompanied by a wide-mouth grin.  He shakes his head for "no," and has really learned to push things (or people) away when he doesn't want them near him.  (The other day he climbed from my arms to Trevvor's then looked at me and pushed my face away with his hand.  Forcefully.  It was like he was saying, "Okay, it's my turn with Papa!")

Charles at his One-Year well-baby check-up

Charles is still nursing throughout the day and once or twice at night.  I love it.  He's quite the acrobatic nursling, so we're trying to teach him nursing "etiquette" without much success.  (He is getting better at lying still on the changing table though.)  His most common solid foods are egg, avocado, meat (salmon, chicken, beef), and whatever veggies we're eating.  He likes sipping coconut milk and he LOVES rice crackers and rice puffs.  Trying to keep grains to a minimum, but it's hard to find healthy non-squishable finger-foods for a one-year-old!  He's started sharing my apples with me after I eat the peel off--his eight little teeth are helping with that!

Charles isn't super independent yet, which I'm not rushing.  He's usually playing right at my feet or I'm wearing him on my back while doing housework.  He loves things with wheels, which is good because he got lots of cars for Christmas and birthday!  He is getting better and better at throwing that ball back and forth and really seems to delight in his skill.  I've loved watching him discover relationships between objects, like that a smaller cup can fit in a bigger one, or this toy can roll through the tube or fit in the hole.  When he figures something like that out, he'll sit and do it over and over and over again, very studiously as if it's the most serious business in the world.  And rightly so:  learning like that is his job right now!

His FAVORITE toys are some little animals.  When he was born, his Uncle Chris gave him a little toy tiger.  It's been sitting on his chest-of-drawers all this time until recently we handed it to him during a diaper change.  He carries that thing everywhere and can even say roar when asked what the tiger says.  So of course Nana got him three more little animals for his birthday last weekend--they're in the picture below.  Tiger is still his favorite, followed by the panda bear.

Playing with his favorite toys:  tiny animals

Charles loves music.  Several months ago he started "dancing" to music when he heard it, and he just keeps adding to his moves!  He dances in his car-seat, while nursing, while eating, while sitting, while standing... Now he's added his arms to the mix and likes to "conduct" the music.  It's. So. Cute.  He got a xylophone for his birthday and he's enjoying making a little music of his own.  I see violin lessons in his future... ;)

Verbally, he's gotten much more chattery with still very few words.  He's had "mama" for a while, and sometimes we'll hear a "baba" (papa), and my mom said last night that he said "nana."  As an English major, I was very excited and proud that his third spontaneous word was "book!"  That was just yesterday.  He's very good at imitating sounds, especially nonsense sounds or animal noises.  He's also repeated "ball" a few times, said "pot" clear as day when I pointed one out to him, as well as some other things once or twice.  Most impressive was when he parroted "danger" back to me--the "d" and the "g" were there at least! ;)  The past few days he's exploded in sounds and parroting skills. He's just soaking it all in.  I'm trying to do better about labeling things now that I know he understands.  He often amazes me with his comprehension.  He has his toy tiger and a stuffed tiger, and earlier today we were standing in front of my parents' fridge and I asked him, "Where's the tiger?" and he pointed to a tiger magnet (that really looks very different from his toys) from the zoo!

Hmm.. other random tidbits... We're still cloth diapering with pre-folds and covers and loving it.  The few times we use disposables I can't wait to get him back in cloth!  Charles has had two fevers, both in December, both were treated very successfully at home.  He's never had any ear infections.  He's had a little bit of a rash on his cheeks and nose and chin at times, usually when he's teething and/or snotty (which often occur together).  His hair is so long now that it really needs a trim, but I can't bear to think of it!  Poor guy... it's in his eyes more often than not.  Charles loves rough-and-tumbling with us on the bed--it's one of his favorite places to play... which, now that I think about it, may not be creating the best association for when he has a "big boy bed" of his own.... Oh well.

Our family, Fall 2013

I just love being Charles' mom.  I have so much fun with my little buddy, and Trevvor does too.  It's not always easy, but thanks to him, each day is the best day of my life.

Not a day, but a lifestyle.

Thanksgiving, that is.  

I saw that on a church sign today:  "Thanksgiving is not a day; it's a lifestyle."

How true, I thought.  But then, Is that my lifestyle?  Do I live a life of thanksgiving?

If I have to be honest, I know the answer is generally "no."  I'm a selfish, whiny, lazy person, and recently I've realized even more that I take some of the most wonderful blessings for granted:  my serving husband, my loving child, my accepting family, my warm house, my loyal friends, my cuddly kitty, my nutritious food.  How often do I thank God for these things?  I more often find myself wishing something about one of them were different.  How often do I thank my family and friends for loving me?  I more often remind them of their faults.  How often to I show gratitude to my husband for providing a place to live and good food to eat?  I more often look at other houses online or ask to go out to eat.

I want to change that.  I want to live a live of gratitude and joy and contentment--I want to be those things for my children's sake, for my husband's.  Change my heart, Lord--make it more like Thine.

I hope all of you had a fabulous holiday; I know we did.  We spent the week at my childhood home with my family, and it was a wonderful balance of time in the house and out of it, cooking and eating, resting and activity, family and friends.  We had a gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner, which was really quite delicious.  Mom and Trevvor both got pretty creative to make some fun gluten-free pumpkin treats for us throughout the week.  Being there with them all week made me realize how valuable it is to be near family, especially with a little one.  Praise God for placing me in a family that loves each other and sticks together and wants to be around one another even when we don't have to be!

My Six Month Old Guy

Like my last post dwelt upon, my Charles is changing every day.  He's over six months old now, and it seems like every day is different.

He cut his first two teeth in the last week (on the bottom).  It's adorable seeing those tiny pearly whites peeking out when he smiles.

My grandmother (right) with her two sisters

He's sitting completely unassisted now.  When he starts to tumble backwards (which is rare nowadays), he either balances himself or he uses those tiny core muscles to slow his descent so he doesn't hit too hard.  He can scoot and twist and and lean and wriggle his way to fetch a toy he'd "accidentally" tossed just out of reach... Crawling will be discovered any day now (I'm not ready).

          My cousin, Truitt, who shares Charles' birthday

Yesterday he played a mimicking game with Nana (my mom) for several minutes, which is the first time he'd really done anything like that since he was about two months old and would stick his tongue out at me when I'd stick mine out at him.  Mom would make a little sound in her throat and he would giggle and do it back to her, and back and forth they went.  Thank goodness the video-camera was nearby!

He rolled himself off the bed a few weeks ago--it was heartbreaking and totally my fault.  I think it scared him more than anything; he was calm again in a few minutes and I never discovered any bumps or bruises.

Sleeping through the night is still somewhat elusive.  The best we've had so far is sleeping 10:00 to 6:00 (which has only happened once), and a few times he's made it that long only waking up once for a feed.  Most of nights he wakes up twice, and not infrequently (like last night) he woke up three times.  He's not in our room anymore, which is sad, but I think we're all getting more sleep.  For the first five or so months he was mostly in our bed, then he was in the cradle beside our bed, but after weeks of poor sleep (whether in our bed or in his cradle), we finally moved him to his crib and learned to let him fuss for a few minutes to see if he'd drift off before going to get him.  So, it's better.  Definitely better than waking up every hour to half hour throughout the whole night like he did for almost two months before the new arrangement.

For playtime, his favorite thing is just sitting on the floor with a few toys.  He loves things that make noise when he bangs them on something, like his stacker.  We've been rolling the ball back and forth together too, though it's mostly me rolling it to Charles, him trying to eat it, then dropping it and it rolling (sometimes) in my general direction.  But hey, it's a start!  Sometimes he's in the mood to gum on one of his softer fabric toys or teething rings, but these aren't nearly as popular as they were a month or two ago.

My dad (aka Grandpa)

My mom (aka Nana)

I haven't officially started him on solid foods yet; I just love nursing him and I don't want my milk supply to go down.  We've given him some banana chunks, which were a mess--er, success.  ;)  He's also enjoyed gumming on peaches, apples, and blueberries through a mesh feeding thing.  That gets pretty sticky pretty fast, but he can really get most of the substance through it and seems to like it.  We're going to try some avocado soon too.  But I'm in no hurry as long as he seems satisfied from nursing.