Pics!

Reaching and Growing

Charlie's becoming quite a climber. I say "no" to him in the house more than either of us would like. No, you may not climb the cabinet pulls to stand on the kitchen counter and eat sugar out of the sugar jar with your hand. No, you may not dance on top of the piano. No you may not dance naked on the radiator (see a theme here?) in the living room picture window. That's not the picture we'd like to paint for the Zincks next door.

So we went to the park, where Charlie climbed several ladders he had never been able to manage before. His 5 yr old friend Elias Asks A Million Questions was there, so we mostly climbed and talked with Elias. Later at home we finally set up the garden. We never ate the eggs we coloured last week, so they became compost for the sunflower seedlings, lettuce, and carrots that we planted. Thanks to Godmom Naomi for the seeds!

Swimming to the Oldies

Yesterday morning we awoke to grey skies, so we decided to go swimming indoors. The pool we go to has a glass wall with a view of the ocean and an island in the background--reputedly the one where Captain Kidd buried his treasure.

We had the place to ourselves for a while, and then at 10:30 the Elderfit aquasize class filtered in. Charlie was highly pleased to aqua dance to Chuck Berry and Elvis along with all the grandmas. Further to his delight, they insisted on sharing their kick boards and noodles with him.

We stayed quite a bit longer than I had intended. After much sweet talk and promises of snacks, I was able to extricate him from the pool. "Die! Die!" Charlie called, waving at his new friends. And a pool full of elderly ladies doing the twist waved back, yelling, "Bye, Charlie dear!" in unison.

30 Months (and counting...)

Charlie officially turned 2 and a half the other day. He just tipped the scale at 30 lbs/13.6 kg. His car seat is only rear-facing to 30 lbs, so we turned it around. He's about 34.5 "/87.5 cm tall. He's following the same growth curve he's been on since birth--bang on the 50th percentile for weight, and around the 15th for height.

In other words, a little on the short and tubby side. ;-) He still has a bit of that adorable, chubby baby look, although people no longer yell "Gerber baby!" at us from across crowded restaurants like they use to.

Pics coming in 3-4 days! Stay tuned.


Postscript: The above growth chart references are based on the World Health Organization growth charts for breastfed boys. Many doctors in both the US and Canada rely on growth charts that describe patterns of formula fed infants, who follow a different growth curve. In addition to the WHO growth charts, we are using CDC growth charts to track Charlie's progress.

Schools Day

Busy and hot today! We all went to the Waldorf school Mayfair in the morning, then across the street to the French school for Rowan's birthday party. We gave her a baby tree that we transplanted from our garden plot. Back at Waldorf we made some crafts in the craft yurt (seriously), watched some Morris dancers, and picked up a play kitchen for $4 at the yard sale. After a lunch break at home, Charlie and Mom went to B'water to check out the homeschooler's craft fair at the mall. When we came back the lawn mowers had been here, so we went out in the yard for sand and water play while Mom set the fence back up. Now we're cooling off inside while Charlie alternates watches Little Bear and listens to Mom read stories. He's back on a Babybug kick, and slowly warming up to Green Eggs and Ham.

Another quick hats off to Grandma, who gave Charlie the big cardboard blocks. In addition to building towers and houses, he loves to put them end-to-end to make a balance beam and then run back and forth on the top. They're his most played-with toy these days.

I No White

"I no white" said Charlie.

"Oh? What colour are you?" asked Mommy.

"I Charlie colour."

Yep, that's it in a nutshell.

Fractured Frog

Charlie's worn out his first pair of shoes in his life. The honour falls to a pair of green froggie boots, size 7. They were a gift from grandma. After hundreds of puddles and thousands of steps, a crack has developed over the left frog's eyebrow. I don't think I can bear to throw them away.

Today we went to the Waldorf Parent and Tot program in the morning, and Charlie and Dad took a long walk to the harbour and Nellie's lunch bus in the afternoon. We're all about to sit down for a Chinese food Friday.

Postscript: We've been receiving complains about a lack of pics on the site. My witty prose isn't enough for you people? No worries, a slew are coming next week.

Cooking Monster

Today was the farmer's market, digging up worms in the garden, a playdate with Wylie, and a visit to the Fish Museum to look at the cod and the scrod.

To let us know he'd like to play outside, Charlie stands at the back door yelling "Woof! Woof!"
Hey, it works for the dogs.

Lately he's taken to running around the living room with an oven mitt on, saying "Raaaaaarh! I cooking monster!"

Quiet Day

Charlie was a bit subdued all day today. We watched some vintage Heckle and Jeckle together, did the grocery shopping, and baked cookies. In the afternoon Angela came over to play for a bit. Charlie went to town on the water table and sandbox in the back yard and got messy with some new sparkle glue (somebody needs to learn to not buy sparkle glue for a 2 year old!) After several more iterations of Curious George he dropped off to sleep early. Tomorrow morning we'll go to the Farmer's Market in the morning, and perhaps the Fisheries Museum in the afternoon.

Library Day

Jonas came to play for the morning. Both boys hid in a pile of clean laundry, raced bikes around the house, jumped up and down on the bed, drew on the chalkboard, played with the dollhouse, and took turns being monsters. We all read a bunch of books together. Now Jonas and Lucas are off to Germany to visity their Oma and Opa!

This afternoon we went to the library for a new pile of books, then took a walk down to the harbour and to Frenchie's. Charlie helped knead some homemade playdough (plus we actually dyed the Easter eggs--the brown eggs look especially pretty). We read Curious George about a bajillion times, blew bubbles, and cleaned up the kitchen together. Charlie is getting mighty handy with a mop.

Home, Friends, Home, Friends, Home

Today Charlie went over to Lucas and Jonas' house for the morning. When I went to pick him up he was in Jonas' crib pretending to be a monkey at the zoo (Jonas was a dog and Lucas was a bunny rabbit). We came home for a Curious George reading marathon. We played with the hula hoop in the back yard. "Hoowa! Hoowa!" says Charlie.

In the afternoon we went to visit Tina. Trey and Maya were both there playing. Charlie eschewed their company in favor of Trey's Playskool garage. Trey has all the cool toys. Then we went to Save Easy. Charlie marched right to the cookie aisle, picked out a box of Fudgeeos, and went and stood in line at the express check-out. He put the cookies right on the counter and then turned to me in an "ahem" way. Right, Mom still has to pay.

This evening we're painting the inside of the tub surround again and looking at D'Aulaire's Book of Trolls. Charlie loves any kind of monster. "I troll! Aaaargh!"

A Day Well Wasted

Today Charlie experimented with his new chalkboard and chalk techniques. We read Harold and the Purple Crayon and All Kinds of Children. There was a copious amount of tower-building. In other artistic news, we drew with markers, sculpted with playdough, and painted the inside of the tub surround with washable paints.

In the mid-afternoon we went for a walk to Save Easy, returned a movie, and chatted with some of our friends there. Both of us talked to Grandma on the phone. Now Charlie's watching the Harold and the Purple Crayon video while I boil eggs on the stove. He wasn't quite ready for decorating Easter eggs at Easter, but he seems ready now. Good thing I never got around to putting the supplies away!