Charles is 11 months

One month till one year... I'm crying and celebrating inside. Next month it may all come out. This past month has been pretty fun with all the new things Charles has learned and done.

He photo shoot didn't go as well this time around. He refused to stay put and/or look at the camera. I thought about trying again another day, but never got around to it and before I knew it his birthday was here.

Charles finally has a tooth and more to cut through soon. His first tooth is the same as James's first tooth; bottom left. Would this be a genetics thing?

He has figured out climbing. We don't have stairs so he doesn't have much experience with them. However he has tackles some at the playground. He has also figured out how to climb onto both the kid size and the full size chairs we have. I'm sure the couch will be next.

He has also discovered how to open kitchen cupboards. Pots, pans, mixing bowls, etc. now grace my kitchen floor daily. We had to put kid lock on the cabinets with our trash and recycling bins and on the bottom half of the pantry. We also invested in a baby gate to keep him out of cat food and little box and bathroom cabinets. Fun times!

Besides being a little naughty/testing the limits on a regular basis, he has been learning some ASL. He's up to 5 signs: Hat, Food, More, Finished, Milk. He also says "mama" but only when upset.

Stay tuned for his 1 year update and his birthday celebration.

James turned 6!

James had a birthday! Hooray! He had a really great day.

As part of the tradition we put balloons in his room while he was sleeping. This years grand total was about 40 balloons.

I made his cake this year. James requested a chocolate cake with red frosting and sprinkles. He did the sprinkles part. I then as a surprise drew a train and wrote Happy Birthday, James T. I have to include the T. now because that's what he gets called at school and it's hes "new name." 

We decided on taking him to his favorite place, the train museum, for his big day. We invited his friend Noah to join us. They had a ton of fun together.

Walking to the museum from where we parked the car.

This was Noah first time in the museum.

Every train you could go into James and Noah went.
Which was great because James never wants to go in any.

Of course the toy train area was a huge hit. 

Charles even got in on the fun. 

This display has large model engines of Thomas on top and Percy on the left.
There's buttons to make them go. James is under the table
where you can turn Annie around on a turn table.

Back at our place for cake and presents.

James got pretty spoiled.

One exhausted boy at the end of the day sleeping in his new pj's with his new magnetic letters....

...and toys and balloons all over his room.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, silly, smart boy.

January

January went by really fast. We made great progress in decluttering/organizing our apt. Our living room is just about complete. We still have some finishing touches we want to do, then I'll share pictures. We've also spread the decluttering/organizing into other parts of the apt but haven't gotten far on it. It will probably fall mostly on me now since Tracy has his qualifying exams coming up that he has to really start preparing for.

With our current house project we have made several trips to Ikea, aka. The Restaurant Store (nicknamed by James). It's been fun picking out new furniture and things for our apt.

Last month we also took a day trip to Lake Tahoe. It was cold but fun to play in the snow for a few hours. James loved it. He had been asking to see snow for a couple of months. Charles on the other hand wasn't much of a fan.

At the end of January James's school celebrated Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution. The school put on a really neat assembly. The kindergarten class created a poem about Rosa Parks and recited it during the assembly.

I didn't know anything about Fred Korematsu till registering James for school since his school is named after him. He stood for what was right and fair during the time of the Japanese camps here in the US. Read up on him if you want to learn more. James school uses this quote of his as their moto: "If you have the feeling that something is wrong don't be afraid to speak up."

That's what we've been up to. Hope you all had a 1st month of the year.

A cute picture James drew of our family.