Some updates on the little ones

Miss Stella is on the move. The army crawl has been the preferred way to travel until this last week when she took off on hands and knees. She is pulling herself up on anything and anyone she can get her hands on. She loves to stand and is so pleased with herself every time. She just discovered the joy of clapping. Sometimes in the car, I can hear those chubby little hands clapping all the way to our destination. She loves eating big kid food and drinking from a cup. Every time she hears any sort of music, she throws her arms in the air, dances and claps. She's up to four teeth now and those top two crack me up. She currently has a fabulous and goofy little grin.
   Our girl is still the world's most pleasant child, but she has learned that she gets everyone moving pretty quickly if she screams. I hate that it works on me every time. She's a good sport when Charlie darts ahead of her hiding every toy in her path. As always, she completely adores her dad. She's exploring like crazy. Stella's favorite activities include: picking tiny things up off the ground, mimicking every noise her brother makes, going for walks, ripping up paper, eating toilet paper, eating everything off the floor, playing with her brother and opening drawers.

  Stella has the best smile ever. She smiles with her whole body. Her little nose wrinkles up when she really smiles. It is beyond amazing.
 She says "tickle tickle" and mimics EVERY sound Charlie makes and tries to imitate every other noise too. When Charlie notices her copying him, he does it again, but louder. Then Stella does it again, louder. It continues until I snap. It's shocking how loud such little people can be.
   Every time I look at Stella, I am shocked at how tall she is getting and just what a little person she is. Somehow you forget that they don't stay "babies" for very long at all. She knows just what she wants and is figuring out exactly what she needs to do to get it.
  Stella is so lovey. When you hold her, especially when she's tired, she tips her little face down and nuzzles her forehead into your face. I don't even know how to explain how tender it is. She lays her little head down on your shoulder and plays with my hair. She also gives a killer open-mouthed kiss, says "hi" and waves.

 This is a pic of a typical morning. Charlie eating toast, watching "Dora" and trying hide the ipad from Stella. She chases after him and thinks whatever he does is wonderful.
  Charlie is a busy, busy little bee. He has kept everyone rolling lately with his funny conversations and phrases. He catches us so off-guard and says the funniest things. Today we were at my parents house and Charlie was banging on the fireplace. My dad said in a serious voice, "Charlie, you need to stop doing that." Charlie put down his tool, turned to face my dad and with his finger pointing at him began yelling absolute gibberish so angrily. He finished up his tirade by yelling, "I do a Bieber dance. Right now!" Then stomping away.k
  Jessica's mom has a fabulous preschool at her house. They do a summer camp, which Charlie has been attending and adoring. The first day we ended up being about 20 minutes late, due to the fact that he had no shoes. When he arrived, Jessica was there and got him right in and happy. She took him to a table and when she looked over at him, he was sitting with his hands over his eyes. After taking a minute to adjust, he did just fine! He headed toward the playhouse some girls were playing in. They told him it was only for girls and he threw himself into a super-hero stance and yelled, "Don't worry! I will rescue you!" After that he was playing in another playhouse when he heard an airplane. He threw the door open, came flying out and yelled, "Can you hear that guys? It's an airplane." Then he put his hands up to his eyes like binoculars and watched that thing 'til it was gone. So did all the other kids.
  This boy has no fear. We finally got serious and fitted our doors with child locks so he can't get out of our house. There were chains on the doors, but they were no match for him. My parents' doors are not quite as easy to lock and about every 4 seconds Charlie is out the door, through the garage and headed down the hill to the playground as fast as his little legs can carry him. I am SOOO tired of hauling him back up the hill. He is also more than happy to chat with strangers. A guy was fixing my parents basement freezer the other day when we were there. Charlie kept heading downstairs. I went down to find him standing at the bottom of the stairs yelling, "Hey fixer! Wook at me!" He pretended to fall-complete with a roll-and then yelled, " I am OK". He also loves to throw in, "I need a hand!" He will lay in the same spot until you come give him a hand.
   We had some people that Cam works out with over for a bbq a couple weekends ago. These guys are all huge and somewhat intimidating...except to Charlie, who invited Kyle to have a tea party with him. He also came flying out onto the patio on his scooter and yelling, "I am here. Hey guys, I am right here." He is certain that the world revolves around him.
   He adores jumping on his bed and is really starting to sing as of late. It sounds awful and the words are consistent of things he can see at the moment or "pee" and "poop." Neither of these he is doing on the potty. Just FYI.
  He often pats me on the head and says, "you are a really good mom." 
  I really love that.