We celebrated Chanler's one week birthday today with cupcakes and a champagne toast. More pictures here.

Chanler gave us his first real (social) smile this week . . . he is SO cute!

Here he is a few days later smiling for the camera

We had Chanler dedicated tonight at our church (MPPC) by the pastor that leads our couples group (and wants to be Chanler's adopted grandma) Joanie Tankersley. After we celebrated with family and friends at Buca di Beppo in Palo Alto.

Chanler's wonderful outfit was made by his Grandmama Hraban, because the one Jesse wanted to get was not available - Isn't it a cute suit!! and amazingly enough Chanler did not spit up on it until after the service was over =].

Pictures

No it is not the end of the tunnel (that is years away), but we have seen daylight under Chanler's stomach! It won't be long until this little man is crawling . . . Yikes - We are not ready to baby proof yet!

And Chanler rolls over! 4 months and 27 days old, and he rolled over for the first time, and then . . . the second!

I should note that he has been rolling front to back for quite some time, albeit usually much to his surprise, but this is the first back to front roll. He has been working up to it for the last week or so, doing a lot of rolling onto his side, then he slept a lot more than usual yesterday, getting ready for the big push today.

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So here is a quick summary of life over the past couple of weeks.

Chanler started to crawl (seriously) and we have been chasing him ever since. He started out moving slow (across the living room in about 10 minutes) now he is up to across the house in about 15 seconds. We need to babyproof and how!

Chanler has also started to pull himself up to a standing position. He is aparently never going to happy resting on his laurels - he always has to be working on something new to amaze his parents with!

His favorite things to pull up on are the couch (to catch the dog) and on his toy keyboard (which he then uses as a walker)

I should also mention that he has finally mastered sitting. He has been doing it for awhile now, but I think he tips over less often now.

That's right - they are finally here

Chanler's first teeth (yes I said teeth - the two bottom ones came in at the same time)

A month or so back we started feeding Chanler "solid" food, which currently means blended fruits and veggies. He is not too picky an eater so far, but he definitely likes some things more than others. He will eat oatmeal and blended apples and pears all day long, but he will not eat more than a few bites of yams, and peas take a lot of reminding that it is time to eat ;)

He does not quite yet seem to have any idea "why" he is eating - just about anything is more interesting than eating, and he is easily distracted. Except of course when he is eating the previously mentioned blended apples! The first bite is always amusing - he screws up his face as if you had just put the most awful thing in his mouth - still have yet to catch that on camera.

Well we could only hold it off for so long - Chanler has his first cold =[ So far it is not too bad, just stuffy and cranky, but still so sad to see my little one sick.

We made our "maiden" voyage on an airplane today with Chanler. Surprisingly enough, Chanler made it without crying and even slept for most of the trip.

I was very worried about flying with Chanler since he is just getting over a cold (as such he is at higher risk for getting an ear infection) and because he hates to be confined for any length of time, but I was happily surprised. Lucky for us airplanes don't require children to be IN their carseats. =]

We were sitting at dinner tonight when we think Chanler signed for the first time. He was eating and after reaching for his food he made the gesture for "more". He seemed very pleased with himself when we immediately gave him more food.

Well, I can't say for sure when Chanler took his first step without support (there have been a few occasions when Scott and I looked at each other and said "was he holding on?"), but I can officially say he can walk as of now. He doesn't go more than a few steps at a time, but he has figured it out.

Look out world, here comes Chanler Hraban . . .

A few weeks ago we announced that Chanler was walking - well now we can say for sure that he has changed his primary mode of transportation from crawling to walking.

In fact, he will just walk all over the living room for fun. I actually considered putting a pedometer on him to see how far he goes each day, but I have not worked out the logistics yet.

I have this feeling that is all I am going to be able to think about for the next few days. What a trip - I was on my way to the hospital for a check up about now and had no idea that tomorrow would be my little boy's birthday. And now he is turning one - where has the year gone?

Well I was making lunch today and Chanler was playing in the living room or so I thought. The next thing I know I see him sitting (very nicely I might add) at the dining room table on a chair. I have NO idea how he got up there and can only imagine what he will manage to climb next

I should note that Scott thinks the beginning of the end was when Chanler started crawling. So I guess this is more like the middle of the beginning of the end . . .

No it is not your imagination - he did not grow up over night - he just got his first "real" haircut. I have been trimming his neck and sometimes bangs, but I just didn't know what to do for an overall haircut. So I succumbed to paying $17 to get his hair cut at a kids specialty place. I must say it was worth it! Chanler didn't mind any of the tools or even notice that his hair was being cut. It is probably due to the race car seat he got and the GIANT screen TV that was playing cartoons the whole time.

Today Chanler drank out of a water fountain for the first time (and 2nd and 42nd etc). What fun! Since he loves anything to do with water I wasn't all that suprised that we stayed longer at the water fountain than at the park.

Scott was stuck at work this afternoon so he decided (with some nudging) to take the afternoon off. To make it worth his while we decided to head to Santa Cruz and take Chanler to the beach for the first time.
We started out with lunch at togo's where Chanler "tickled" a complete stranger (we think he thought it was uncle David). The only problem - Chanler could only reach to the groin area! needless to say I was slightly embarssed!

Chanler took a short nap on the way over 17 and didn't wake up until we were at the beach. With a quick change he was ready to take on the ocean. Until we actually got to it - it was a bit scary. So we watched the waves for a few minutes and did eventually get just a bit wet.
Later we checked out the tide pools, but they were too dangerous to let Chanler run around on by himself so he stayed in the Ergo.
We hit down town Santa Cruz for dinner and had some really bad local pizza, then headed home.
Of course Chanler fell asleep in the car (at 7pm no less) and we didn't quite know what to do when we got home (keep him asleep or wake him up so he would got to bed on time) We decided on the first and amazingly it worked. Chanler slept the whole night (except for the scare at 11pm when he came toddling out of the bedroom happy as a clam)

Pictures

Much to my surprise! This afternoon Chanler went poop on the potty all by himself.

He has started telling us when he needs a dirty diaper changed (once or twice mind you not all the time).
Here is what happened this afternoon . . .
Chanler: poo poo
Jesse: Do you need a diaper change - did you poop?
C: Check
J: OK come here I'll check. Nope no poop.
C:(Walking to the bathroom) POO POO
J: Do you need to go poop? do you want to go poop on the potty?
C: Yes!

And there you have it we are suddenly on our way to potty training!

Note: Lucky for me Scott came home while we were still on the potty so we got some blackmail pictures for latter on!

Well I can't believe it - Chanler turned 2 today! He had a great day!
All week he has been asking about riding the train and I have told him over and over again
"on Saturday." Well this morning I finally got to say today and his eyes lit up!
There were of course tons of last minute things to do for the party. For his 2nd birthday we decided on a train theme (hence the asking about riding the train) and Scott came up with the brilliant idea of riding Cal train to a park. This worked out great, we got on in San Jose and rode to Palo Alto (thus all our San Jose friends didn't have to drive far and all our Menlo Park/Palo Alto friends didn't have to drive far either)

Chanler LOVED the train ride although he was more or less oblivious to the fact that his friends and family were riding with him. We got to the park (via a tunnel - another big deal for Chanler) and set up. Michelle and I had earlier that morning dropped off a car full of party supplies so that we wouldn't have to bring everything on the train.
Chanler got to play with all his friends, eat some snacks, and then have cup cakes! He actually blew out the candle all by himself and dug in, at least long enough for pictures. Soon after he started the cup cake Chanler noticed someone else's Strawberry and decided that was much nicer than some cup cake thing. (not that I really mind)
Everyone said they had a great time (the weather cooperated for me and was a lovely 65ish and sunny) and were sent home with personalized foam trains (which I had been gluing together ALL week) filled with goodies.
After we had pizza for dinner with family and close friends before we rode the train home and opened presents.
I think Chanler had quite a day. Hopefully he won't expect this kind of day tomorrow or for a long time.

Chanler is starting to recognize letters. We have an "A to Z" book which Chanler loves, it is silly, but I think he gets that.
A to Z by Sandra Boynton

Last night, I was listening to him play and he was pointing at the name on the side of one of his toys and saying "S" and "ssss, sss, ssss" it was very sweet. Then, today it was the labels for his toy basket. He looked at me and told me there was an "A, ah, ah, ah" and an "R, rrrr, rrrr, rrr" and his eyes got excited an "S, sss, sss, sss." I guess he actually has been paying attention when I have been reading his ABC book and making all the letter sounds for him!

Chanler has learned to open door knobs. *sigh* I knew this was coming, but didn't really want to think about it much.

So, why is it that this skill works best on the front door? but doesn't work for the shoe closet (a locking door vs a non locking door)? And we also just found out that he can reach the dead bolt lock on the front door and open that too.

All hope of containing Chanler is lost as of now - I repeat LOST.

Thank goodness for those ugly childproof door knob things - he hasn't figured those out YET.
PS he hasn't actually tried to escape yet, I just needed a dramatic title.

I have been waiting for the "why shoe" to drop for months now. Many of Chanler's friends have been driving their parents nuts with this one forever it seems. Well it has finally happened. The funny thing is that it crept up on me. I didn't realize he was actually doing it until Scott pointed out how many of his questions were "why" related. Of course after that insight, the number of questions in the "why spiral" has increased to the point that I think I would have noticed it on my own (especially in the last 1-2 weeks).

On the good side
1)Chanler's why questions are in the form of full sentences - so you at least know what he is asking about.
2) There are a few (very few) answers that will stop him in his tracks. These include "Because God made it that way," "Because the clock says so," and not as effectively "I don't know why."

On the bad side:
1) EVERYTHING is why right now. For example tonight we had to return a broken lamp to the store. The whys ranged from Why are we going?, Why is the lamp in the car?, Why is the lamp broken?, to Why does the lamp turn off?
2) Once a why is asked - it WILL be asked over and over and over. From above. We discussed "why the lamp is broken" at least 5 times on the short drive to the store.
3) Once a why is answered - there will be another why!
4) Chanler hasn't figured out that there are something which just are because they are. For example "why is it Wednesday" has no really good answer. It has answers, but none of them seem to satisfy him. (i.e. "because it is the day after Tuesday" leads to "why is it the day after Tuesday" which leads to ??? I don't know - social convention or a long explanation of Norse mythology)
5) Circular explanations. I can't remember my example, but I know I actually said something to Chanler along the lines of - do you see how we can never figure this out . . . we just keep going back and forth.

I know this is "just a phase" and it could be MUCH worse, but right now it is driving me up the wall! I have heard it said that Women need to use more words each day than men (in general), but lately I am running out of not only words, but the ability to listen to any more words. Poor Scott just isn't allowed to talk when he gets home :-p

When he wants to, Chanler can be SO grown up.

Currently Chanler likes to do the following by himself:

• Pick out his own outfits, complete with socks and undershirt!


• Get his toothbrush, put toothpaste on it, wet it and give it to daddy for brushing, then he rinses, spits and washes his face


• Washes himself in the bath (well everywhere except his back and hair)

Of course he is just as likely to want to do it all by himself as he is to insist that he is a baby and can't possibly do anything without help - go figure!

At least that is how the song goes in my head (dating myself or something) and yes I know you (Chanler) are not really a baby anymore, you are a "preschooler", but you will always be my baby.

Love you and Happy Birthday!

Chanler made his first purchase today - it was a super ball.

Background;
Chanler got a quarter during an Easter egg hunt this year (I was actually quite happy with that egg as opposed to the ones filled with candy, but that is another story all together). He has been keeping track of and playing with this quarter since then.
We went for pizza last Monday (the pizza place has a special on Mondays) and Chanler watched as a slightly older boy got about a dozen things from the quarter machines (like the gumball machines of old, only they now have toys and misc. crap too). A few days later Chanler told me that the next time we went to get pizza he was going to bring his quarter and get a ball. We talked about that for a while and I tried to explain that he could get a ball, but that he would no longer get to have his quarter - I was not convinced that he was getting the picture.
Skip to tonight, I had forgotten all about the quarter and Chanler's plan. We get to the pizza place and Chanler realizes that he forgot his quarter (insert horrified screams here) He was distraught and wanted to go home and get. Scott and I decided that to make life easier we would "lend" him a quarter and that he could pay us back when we got home. So off he ran to make his first purchase.

I must say his is very enamored with his super bouncy ball right now!

For Christmas Chanler got a pedal bike. The first words out of his mouth upon seeing it were "what...is...thaaat???" He was stunned! A few minuted later he wanted to ride it, so we went out to the street in front of the house to try it out.

Last year we got him a balance bike after I read about them and how they can help kids learn to ride a bike faster by teaching them to balance without having to think about pedaling at the same time. It sounded reasonable and was a good alternative, since we had a tricycle and Chanler seemed too little for a "real" bike.

So the test was here - would the year of practice on the balance bike do what it claimed? We assumed the best and went out on the new bike without training wheels.

It worked!!! within 5 minutes Chanler was riding down the street on his own (with daddy or mommy running close behind). It was amazing.

Today (his second riding day) Chanler is riding like a pro. He still needs help with starting and doesn't have the most graceful dismount, but he is riding his bike (just like the pro balance bike articles said he would.)

Chanler completed his first Awana Cubbies book and had his awards ceremony this evening. He was very excited even if the pictures don't appear that way.

Chanler received a book award (small cubbie bear) for completing 24 verses/lessons. He can't wait until September when he gets to go to the "4" year old room and work on the Jumper book!!!

I may have mentioned this in the past, but it bears repeating ... Chanler dislikes change of any kind immensely!!!

And now on to the actual reason for the post...

A little over a month ago Chanler started wearing underwear. We have always said that we would be the kind of parents that let our kids drive the potty training process - no cajoling, no bribing, no reminding, no pushing them before they were ready, etc. Well, transitioning Chanler to underwear challenged every one of those tenants.

Long ago when Chanler was under 2 we though he was interested in using the toilet and bought him potty stuff (seat reducer, underpants, etc.) but his interest was short lived and life continued on. Within the last year I had tried again to induce interest in the potty (tie-dyed underpants, privileges for boys in underpants, etc) to no avail. In fact it seems that while Chanler could indeed use the potty and recognize when he needed to go, he didn't care to be bothered with it. This was intensely frustrating for me - I believed that children are at some point supposed to want to no longer be in diapers, but my reality was the opposite.

Finally I had had enough and we broke down and tried what had worked for so many of my friends (and which I had mocked and sworn never to do!!!) We bribed. Jelly beans for using the toilet. Guess what - it didn't work! All that jelly beans taught Chanler was how to produce pee when ever he wanted a jelly bean... (the kid is too smart). I was devastated! I had caved and it hadn't even worked! After a few weeks of jelly beans on demand I lost it again and just put Chanler into underwear at home all the time. He did fine with pee, but managed (of course) to only poop when we were out of the house (so annoyed at this point). Finally 8 days after the diaper came off at home (and 4 days since he had pooped last) Chanler finally went poop on the potty! And without prompting!

After that he never looked back! That night when we went out to get some dinner he decided he wanted to wear underwear out of the house. I was amazed at how fast he switched!

What I have come to realize it that there were two problems holding Chanler back. 1) Chanler doesn't like new things or change of any kind. He typifies "Why change if it isn't broken," and it wasn't broken for him. 2) Chanler lacked confidence that he could poop on the potty and didn't want to fail in his attempt.

So now for the last month Chanler has been wearing underwear. He has had a total of 2 accidents (both of which involved jeans that were too hard to get off by himself fast enough) and doesn't need reminded or really helped much at all. It isn't how I pictured it, but it has worked for Chanler.