Pulling An All-Nighter!

Now that Charlie is a "Supported Sitter" according to Gerbers definition on the baby food carton, we have been stuffing him full of green beans, squash, carrots, bananas, pears and apples. We don't try to really "stuff" him full, but he will eat every bite that you put in front of his mouth. When he is officially full his head hangs and the last bite of food comes rolling back out. Luckily we only let this happen once.

After a long day of jumping and squirming topped off with a full belly of pureed yummies, Charlie goes down for the evening and does not awake until 1 am when he wants to be flipped over in bed. He starts out on his belly, but wants to be on his back for the second half of his slumber. A quick flip and a re-insertion of his pacifier is all it takes for him to go back to sleep.

Now that Charlie is sleeping much better and longer at night, Mommy and Daddy are also sleeping better. Charlie still wakes up bright eyed and ready to go at 6:30 am, but it beats getting up every three hours throughout the night. Jamie is the primary night watch for Charlie and I have noticed that she is much better rested now that Charlie is sleeping longer and allowing her to catch up on some sleep. A happy Mommy/Wife makes for a much happier household.

Charlie has figured out that he can now use his hands to grab things and he loves shiny stuff and hair. He also knows when you are eating and he is like a little puppy sitting on the floor just waiting for you to drop something. We don't Charlie on the floor under the table. I am just describing his facial expression. Grandma buys into the pitiful "Mommy and Daddy don't feed me look" and gives him icing and mashed potatos. Spoiled kid. Grandma is going to be the one dealing with the upset belly if she keeps feeding him sugar all of the time. I'm talking about all of you Grandmas!

Charlie is growing so fast and learning something new everyday. He makes funny faces to get attention. He has replaced the fake cough with his lip smacking noises. He can pull his knees up, but has not figured out how to get his upper body up. He gets mad that he can not crawl and throws a fit. He is very persisent though. I flip him over to his back and he rolls right back to his stomach and tries again. They grow up way too fast.

Green Bean Monster!

Chrlie has been introduced to baby food and just like his father (Me), he loves anything that you put on his plates. He did not care too much for peas, but if that is the only thing that he won't eat right now, that is fine by me. He really loves green beans. They are pureed of course.

Since the introduction of baby food Charlie has been sleeping very well. With a full belly he doesn't have to wake up every three hours to eat. He still gets up at the crack of dawn, but with a full nights sleep it isn't too bad.

Charlie woke me up this morning by beating on my head with his hammer like fist again. I opened my eyes and he gave me a big smile. We laid in bed for a while until I was fully awake and we made our way down stairs to begin the day. I gave him the stuffed Elmo that I bought for him last night and he attempted to destroy it. Charlie played with Elmo until he realized that he could not him and decided it was time to eat.

I positioned Charlie in his, I think it's called Bumpo seat, and put his bib on him. He knew what was coming. He got excited and prepared his taste buds for the feast. He licks his lips and opens his mouth as wide as he can. You have to be a fast scooper to feed our child. He looks like a little bird waiting in the nest except he grunts instead of chirping.

I began shoveling the food into his mouth and he began sucking it down. He likes to bite the spoon and thinks that it is funny when you can't get it out of his mouth. I think that he might be part dog? The feast continued for several minutes and his face was covered in green beans. The green drool of a teething five month old has the consistency of 5W-30 motor oil. It slowly runs down their chin and dries into a crystalized crust on their face and body. Charlie always insist on chewing on his fingers with a mouth full of food too. That makes even more of a mess.

Between the grunting, the green drool and the love of green beans, I have deemed my child as the green bean monster. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Paying it Forward!

A few weeks ago I went through a drive-thru to pick up lunch for a co-worker and myself and the nice lady in front of me paid for our order. I was kind of caught off guard that there are still a few nice people left in the world. I was very appreciative of the gesture and even though it was only a few dollars it was a huge deal to me. I am lucky to get a friend to buy my lunch, let alone a complete stranger. Doing good deeds for others will hopefully lead to others doing good deeds for you. I hope that the nice lady that bought my lunch that day has received whatever she was praying for. "Sorry lady if it was a date with me, I'm married."

Today I again went to the drive-thru to pick up lunch and I decided to pay it forward. I drove up to the window and paid for my order and told the cashier that I wanted to pay for the person behind me. She looked out the window at the car behind me, turned back to me and said, "Do you know them?" I replied "No." and the cashier was stunned for a minute. She handed back my card and both receipts and said "Every good deed will come back as a better deed for you." I smiled and said, "I hope so."

As I was pulling up to the delivery window I could hear the cashier telling everyone around her what had just happened. Not only is a good deed recognized by the recipient of the deed, but others around them will be told about what happened and hopefully it will make them think about doing something nice for others. It doesn't take much to make someone have a better day. A little compliment or buying someone lunch can go a long way.

Doing a good deed can also make you feel better about yourself. Not because it is for personal gain, but because you may have somehow altered the battle of good vs. evil in the universe. Trying to stay anonymous is fun because the person that is the recipient of your kindness will start to think if they know you or what they did to deserve the gift. Stay close and watch their face. They may be perplexed for a while until they realize that you were just being nice.

Be nice today, compliment someone or pick up some one's lunch or coffee tab. You may change some one's life or at least put a smile on their face. We usually do nice things for our friends so do something nice for a complete stranger today.