Month 33 - Recap

Well hello, Mr. Toddler Bed Rockstar,

Daddy and I have been debating about when to tackle the dreaded (in my mind) Crib-to-Toddler-Bed Conversion. He thought now would be a good idea; I was thinking more like on your 13th birthday (because nothing says "You're a young man now" more than not sleeping in the same bed you were swaddled in). It was an eight-month-long trip into Nightmare Town when we converted your sister's crib into a toddler bed, so obviously I wasn't itching to make this move any time soon. But one night a few weeks ago, I was clearly having a crazy moment, when, at 6:30pm, I was all "Hey babe, let's convert his bed now." Daddy was such a good sport and said "Um now? Well, um, okay ..." All I said to you on the first night was "Charlie, don't get up in the middle of the night. Wait until I come get you in the morning." Your response? "Okay, Mommy!" And that was that. Seriously. No lie. We put you in and you sleep. You stay in your bed until I get you. It's glorious.

Well, it's mostly glorious. You are still lacking the gene that gives you the ability to pull up your own blanket when it falls off you in the middle of the night. You are, however, full of the gene that gives you the ability to whine and fuss and holler until someone who was born with the pulling-up-a-blanket gene comes to your aid. It's not cute at all (despite you being full of the gene that makes you painfully cute).

This is the first month that I can tell you've been purposefully aggravating your dear sister. Before, I don't think it occurred you to continue to do something for the sole purpose of aggravating her. But now you have. And you do it so often, you're acting like you get paid per incident. Natalie builds a tower. You knock it down. She screeches at you to not knock it down. You giggle. She builds another tower. You knock it down again. She screeches louder. You giggle louder. And Mommy hides in the closet with a King Size Twix Bar.

You like singing the ABCs. And in the "LMNOP" part, you say "emma pee". Your mother has the sense of humor of a seven-year-old boy, so obviously she finds this extremely funny.

So since you handled the transition to a toddler bed so well, I guess it's time to potty train you. A potty-trained kid is so much easier than a diapered kid, but a diapered kid is so much easier than a learning-to-be-potty-trained kid. And once we accomplish that, I think you'll be pretty well prepared to earn a living. Go get a job because someone's gotta pay for that gene therapy to implant you with the ability to pull up your own dang blanket.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for August 9, 2014:

• CDC Chief Tom Frieden Confronts Ebola Crisis Cool and Collected
• ISIS Kills at Least 500 Yazidi in Iraq, Buries Some Alive: Reuters
• Riders Stuck on Joker's Jinx Roller Coaster at Six Flags America
• Hawaii's Big Island Struggles After Tropical Storm
• Netflix Tops HBO in Subscriber Revenue

July 2014 - Recap

I cannot (well, yes I can) believe how much you've changed in a month. You had your first set of swimming lessons in June and your second set in July. By the end of the second set, you were really comfortable putting your head under the water. But that was about it ... until a friend of mine we saw at the pool spent no more than five minutes with you one afternoon. After that, you were gliding in the water like an arrow, kicking your legs like a little frog. And not five minutes after that, you were using your arms to help propel you along. I practically had to pick my jaw up from the bottom of the pool. In my mind, I was all "That's all it TOOK? How come I never thought of that?!" You haven't figured out how to lift up your head while swimming, take a breath, and go back to swimming. But when not four weeks ago, you were terrified at the thought of putting your nose in the water, I'm not worried. And you're still really freaked out by the deep end, but, again, that's ok. The progress you made in just one month is super rad.

The power has been going out a lot this month. Nothing major, just lots of flickers. After one such flicker (that happened to turn off Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - oh, the horror!), you looked at me and said "Well isn't THIS a fine how-do-you-do!" I almost did a perfect sitcom spit-take right on the couch.

You've been talking about homeschool a lot. You want to know what you're going to do (me: "Eat bugs"; you: "EWWW! Noooo!"), how we're going to do it (me: "One at a time"; you: "EWWW! Noooo!"), what we'll read (me: "How to Properly Prepare Caterpillars"; you: "EWWW! Noooo!"), where we'll go ("me: "a bug store"; you: "EWWW! Nooooo!"), etc. (Perhaps I need to rethink my curriculum choice.) Thankfully you don't seem to realize that I'm pretty panicky about the whole process. Being in charge of someone else's education is a fairly daunting thought (even if it IS just Kindergarden), but I assume we'll just figure it out as we go along.

You've been in full-on Big Sister Mode this month. Everything Charlie does aggravates you. Everything he says annoys you. Everything he touches is yours. It doesn't help that Charlie is simultaneously in full-on Pesky Younger Brother Mode. He has been legitimately aggravating you, annoying you, and messing with your things. But still. As a younger sibling myself, I submit he's doing exactly what he should be doing. He's showing his undying admiration for you by being a pain in the tush. I see no problem here. (Aunt KK would be more than happy to talk to you about how HARD being an older sister is and how ANNOYING younger siblings are.) Cuz I can't help ya, kid. Even if you ARE a fine how-do-you-do.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for August 1, 2014:

• American Doctor With Ebola Able to Walk Into Georgia Hospital
• Abby Hernandez Saw Newspaper Reports About Her Disappearance While She Was Missing
• Netanyahu Says Israel Prepared to Continue Fighting Hamas in Gaza
• Class Is (Still) In: Why a Longer School Year May Not Help in Detroit
• President Obama: 'We Tortured Some Folks' After 9/11
• MTV turns 33! Reality has set in, and we miss those music videos