Birthday Balloon Countdown

I saw this fun idea on this blog for a birthday balloon countdown and decided to make one for Jack.  I blew up ten balloons and numbered them, and filled each with a note or a special treat to count down to his birthday.  He loved it and most days the balloons were a big hit!

I hung the garland Tuesday night after Jack was in bed, so Wednesday when he woke up he said "Hey! Who did this?" when he saw the balloons.  I explained that each night when we got home he would pop one and would get a surprise.  He wasn't overly excited initially; I don't think he quite understood it until after he popped that first balloon.

Here's a recap by day:

Day 10:  Spiderman Pez dispenser in the balloon = big hit!

 Day 9: His choice: ice cream or a sno cone.  We did this one at Grandma & Grandpa Lang's house so Daddy could work on the patio, and Jack was pretty disappointed when all that came out was a piece of paper promising a treat after dinner.  We had a little talk and I explained that something wouldn't fall out of each balloon and that the surprises would vary.  He recovered, but I learned starting with the Pez dispenser was kind of a tease.

 Day 8:  $5 to spend at the Toy Store

 Day 7: This one I stole from the blog with the original idea.  She played the hot & cold game which led her daughter to Reddi Whip waiting in the fridge.  Her daughter, however, is a little older than Jack, who didn't quite understand how that game works.  He liked the Reddi Whip though.

 And so did Charlie...

 Day 6: A surprise waiting in Mom & Dad's room (Toy Story figurines: Buzz & Woody)

 Day 5: Pop Rocks - his first experience with those crazy candies.  He enjoyed it and made a big mess!

 Day 4: A surprise under his bed: a quarry for his train table (I love Jason's face in this first picture)

 Day 3: A surprise where he does his cooking (in his toy grill): a fire engine choo choo (my face is not any better in this picture)

 Day 2: We actually didn't pop one that night because I went to the Cardinals game and Jason took the boys to Grandma & Grandpa's for dinner so the balloon was forgotten.  We did pop it a day later on his birthday and it was the second dud of the series: Watch your new movie while you're eating dinner (not usually allowed at our house).  The movie was The Lorax and he took one look at it and said "I want to open my last balloon now."

Day 1: Birthday gift waiting in the garage: new golf bag and clubs!!!

We had a lot of fun with the balloons and it was a fun way to get him excited about his birthday and give him a few little gifts in the days leading up to it.  I'd like to say I'll do this every year, but time will tell.

More on his birthday in the following posts.

Charlie at 11 Months

I'm over a week late on this post yet again.  We've got a couple big birthdays coming up, so that has been keeping this Mama busy.  Oh that, and this little thing called my full-time job.  Anyway...

Mr. Charlie has finished out another month in his first year with only one more to go!  I'm trying to let go of my little baby while we embrace this toddler that has taken his place.  Charlie is full of personality - always "talking" and smiling - and just so much fun!!  He loves to make silly faces and is always making us laugh.

The biggest news for Charlie this month is he is now walking!! About halfway through his eleventh month he started taking steps. It started with tentative steps after much cajoling from Mommy, then the following week we noticed him letting go and taking a few steps without anyone asking him to. Last Monday, a few days before he turned 11 months, he really took off. That night he was all over the place walking to and from objects. He still hasn't figured out how to stand from sitting (though he's close) so he's still relying on crawling, but each day he seems to crawl less and walk more. This weekend he is walking long distances from room to room.  His intial stance resembled Frankenstein with outstretched arms but limp hands - too funny. I took some video last Monday, but he's made a lot of progress in the past two weeks, so an updated video will be necessary soon.  He's also starting to try his hand at climbing, getting braver and braver each day

Charlie now has six teeth - three on top and three on bottom.  The fourth one on the top has been right at the surface for weeks now, surely it will pop through at any moment!  And his molars are big bulges in his gums, so those should be making their appearance at any time as well.

This little guy LOVES his big brother.  He's always trying to play with whatever Jack is playing with (much to big brother's dismay).  Jack has gotten a little rough with Charlie as of late, taking the opportunity to hit, push or kick him when he thinks we're not looking (or even if we are when he's trying to be ornery).  I think it's because little bit is getting into everything and the big guy is just not interested in sharing.  Charlie's feelings get hurt when Jack isn't nice, so we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to little brother.  Jack goes straight to his room if he does something mean.  The good times with these two far outweigh the bad though.  Especially in the car; there is a constant symphony of laughter from the back seat as Jack makes silly noises and faces to impress Charlie.  They also started really interacting more at home.  One night last week, Charlie put his face into the carpet and rubbed it around.  Jack thought it was funny, so he did the same.  Charlie watched, laughed, then did it again.  The two of them went back and forth like that for a good five minutes while Jason and I just looked on and smiled.  So much fun!  Here's a video of Jack making his little brother laugh...

Charlie still loves to feed himself, but isn't nearly the good eater that I remember Jack being at this age.  Some nights we're lucky if he has five bites of food before he drops it all on the floor.  Other nights he chows down on the same meal and wants more.  He's drinking great out of sippy cup, but so far only water; I've put milk in there a few times and he has not been interested.  We're going to have to work on that because he has a little over three weeks before he moves to the toddler room at school where bottles are not allowed.

As far as milk is concerned, he's still only had breastmilk.  I have been slowing down and had only been pumping once/day the last several weeks, which means now on the weekends I'm giving him bottles during the day rather than nursing him all four times.  This week the mother's room at my work was suddenly closed for renovations (without any notice to me or the other three women who reserve that room daily), so I took that as my sign to drop my lone pumping session.  For now I am still nursing Charlie in the morning and at night but based on my experience with Jack, I don't expect that to last much longer (my milk quickly slowed down when I stopped pumping before).  We still have a decent frozen supply, so we have officially made it to the one-year mark without buying a single can of formula.  Celebrate!  I'm planning to start mixing in some whole milk with his bottles (or sippy cups, hopefully) now so that he can get used to the taste. 

I think those are the big updates for our little guy.  Happy as can be and so fun to be around!

Brotherly Love

Sunday morning Charlie woke up at his normal time (around 6:00am), but he seemed extra sleepy as I was nursing him.  I decided to give it a whirl and put him back in bed when he was finished, and much to my delight he went back to sleep.  Of course, I got back into our bedroom and Mr Jack had sneaked in there and stolen my spot.  He had fallen back asleep, so I just went out the couch to catch a few more zzz's.

I awoke about an hour later to Jack saying "I'm coming Charlie" as he was dragging a chair from the kitchen into Charlie's room.  I knew what he was planning so I grabbed my camera and busted him in the act:

At least Charlie was already awake this time (he's been known to rush in there as soon as Charlie makes a little peep, which usually does not mean he's ready to get up yet).  And Mommy was just happy to have gotten the extra hour of sleep, so I can't complain!

Lantern Festival

Friday night Grandma Lang and I took Jack and Charlie to the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  This was one of the activities we had planned during Kelly and Parker's visit, but it was too hot.  Since there was finally a chill in the air Friday (I think the high was only 87 degrees) we decided to give it a go.  Boy are we glad we did - we LOVED it!

It's basically a display of Chinese art, mostly made of silk and all lit up.  It was really cool.  Jack especially liked seeing all the dragons and he learned a new word, Buddha, since one of the big displays was of some Buddha guys.

Jack and Charlie really couldn't have been better behaved.  I changed Charlie into his jammies assuming he would doze in the stroller, but it was pretty crowded (because the weather was finally below 100 degrees), so there was too much to see.  Little man was quiet and relaxed, but never closed his eyes the whole time we were there.  When we got in the car at 10:00 (2.5 hours past bed time!!), he was asleep as soon as I got him buckled into his car seat.  What a trooper!!

Jack was a great listener and enjoyed riding on the sit & stand stroller (that thing was a great invention!).  We also ran into his best buddy from school, Grier, so that was fun.

Jack's favorites were the dragons that blew steam out of their mouths.  They were made entirely of porcelain plates and other cooking utensils.

We also really liked the ship made from recycled plastic bottles:

Jack got to play the gong, throw some coins into a fountain to make a wish and he got a special souvenir for being such a great boy.

We had a great time!!  I definitely recommend this to anyone who lives in the St. Louis area.  The event ends on August 19 and is totally worth the admission price of $22/person.