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.

We bought a climber/slide for Chanler to play on at home (trying to get him to climb it instead of the furniture). We bought it used from craigslist because we are cheap (no really we are). Anyway, it needed a bath before we set it up so we hauled it out onto our driveway and started scrubbing.

Well Chanler got a hold of a paper towel (usually not something we let him have because he will either eat it or make confetti) and he started to wipe the plastic as well.

He was helping us clean. Oh the cuteness!

It really hammers home the fact that Chanler is learning by watching us, so we had better be on our best behavior and be good role models. Yikes!

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?

I noticed the other day that when I am on the computer or reading etc, Chanler will take a toy and go and sit in the corner our dining room. It is cute and somewhat sad/antisocial at the same time.

When Chanler is excited or angry he bangs his head on whatever is near by - Mommy, Daddy, the floor, a shopping cart handle - whatever. Sometimes it is funny other times I worry because it smacks his head hard enough to make himself cry (if he wasn't already whining)

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 . . .

Chanler has begun to consistently sign. Currently his only reliable sign is "more"*. More means anything and everything from I'm hungry, I want ______, and even time to nurse mommy. I know it is part of development, but it is sure confusing right now. Chanler must have said "more" 200 times today alone.

*As a side note Chanler has something of a "sign impediment" (jk) he makes the more sign with his right hand as shown in the link, but his left had flat. I have seen a variation using the flat hand and pointer finger to sign more (Thanks Fanny for confusing my kid hahaha). I guess Chanler just wanted to bring everyone together . . .

Chanler has learned some new words (and the signs that go with them) this week. Currently "down" has replaced more as the catch all word.

Chanler also now signs milk/nurse instead of pulling on my shirt. I guess my persistence finally paid off.

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.

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

Chanler and I were eating lunch today (me - tuna fish sandwhich; Chanler - strawberries - 9 to be exact) when Chanler offered me a strawberry piece and said (I swear) "you want a bite?"

Language is a funny thing. I don't expect Chanler to use sentences since he still only uses a few single words consistenly, but I know what I heard.

Other sentences I think I've heard:
I see (used during peek-a-boo)
buy it (used while pointing at anything)
you go (while handing you something)

At church this morning, we were sitting in the library (a.k.a. the crying room)watching the service while Chanler was playing. Just at the worship was beginning Chanler found a seat and watched quietly for about the first 10 minutes. Cute you think - right? except that he decided to sit on the opposite side of the room.

I told Scott that "Chanler had already figured out that it is "not cool" to sit with your parents at church." And I thought you didn't learn that until you were in your teen years, not your teen months. =]

Chanler was a fireman for Halloween.

Now Scott and I are not big fans of this supposed "holiday", but because Chanler was invited to two costume parties, I figured he should dress up as something.

So I made a fireman outfit complete with spotted doggie (thank you Grandmama), fire axe, fire hat, etc. I have to say Chanler was one of only two children at the costume parties to have a homemade costume.
I don't know if that is a good or bad thing . . . ?

Pictures

Chanler has a friend named Sadie. We went with Sadie and her mom and sister to Target today. Anytime Sadie was out of view Chanler started calling for her. When we left to go the their house Chanler whined the whole way home for Sadie.

Can you say CRUSH

Added:
Any time I have gone into a store since the Target episode Chanler starts asking for Saide. He will also call her on his phone while driving or just playing.

Back story:
Chanler went to Micah's birthday party in mid November. Being the kind on parents that we are, we started trying to get Chanler to say "happy birthday Micah" about when we got out of the car at his house.
So Saturday Chanler had another birthday party this time for Lucy. We started preping Chanler when he woke up (plus it was an early party)
In both cases Chanler didn't actually say happy birthday to the child in question!

Today:
Chanler has been saying "happy day to Micah" or "happy birthday Micah" ALL DAY LONG. Over and over and over again.
Scott and I have decided to begin preping him for Christmas by changing happy day to Micah into happy day to Jesus. So far No Dice.

So we are not quite there yet (about 6 weeks until Chanler actually turns 2), but I am beginning to see why people call the two's terrible. Life is challenging with an infant because they can't do or understand things. With a 2 on the other hand then understand and decide NOT to do what you asked. The will is in "strong willed" is comming out.

This is not to say that Chanler isn't still wonderfull and cute much of the time, but he is being more and more challenging. I pray continually that we have the perserverance, wisdom, and energy to do the right things (disipline, attention, flexibility, etc.) each time!

Do you know what is frustrating ... How Chanler can change his mind in a nano second. He will go from asking for a specific thing to declining it when I offer it to him 2 seconds later! It drives me NUTS.

I mean he has a good long attention span and memory when he wants one, so I can only assume that he is deliberately doing it to annnoy me

I have started getting Chanler to help me with daily activities. So far he loves to help me "dump" ingredients when we are cooking. He is also very proficient at "setting the table". This picture was taken after Chanler had finsished setting up for dinner. Please note the only thing I did was put the orange juice on the table - everything else is exactly where Chanler placed it.

The best part is the running commentary while things get put on the table. . . "one a mommy, one a daddy, one a Chanler" for each item as he places it.

I taught Chanler how to peel a mandarin orange last week. Now all I hear is "peel it; oranges?"

He is actually quite adept at peeling. I start the top for him and he can do the whole (very small) orange. It is quite cute to see how proud he is of this accomplishment.

We were playing in the yard yesterday evening and Chanler was trying to pedal his trike, when he looked at us and said "I want a helmet." So as safety conscious parents (and since we were going out for coffees anyway) we decided to go get Chanler said helmet. I mean when your child tells you they WANT safety equipment - are you reallying going to discourage them? I think not. So now Chanler has a bike helmet (it came with the knee and elbow pads - I am not THAT freaky) and he LOVES it. He even picked it out (after we had eliminated ones that didn't fit)

The other day Chanler and I were playing with Chanler's football, and I was trying to teach him to "tackle" me. He would throw the football to me - ok he would throw the football, and I would go where he threw it - and I would pick it up and "run" (shuffle) past him, egging him to catch me. When he caught me, I would fall down on the floor, which he found very funny, and he would say "Daddy flop on the floor!!!"

Then he would take the football and then "Chanler flop on the floor!!!" as soon as I got close to him.

After a few times, he asks "Mommy flop on the floor?" to which I replied that Mommy probably not want to flop on the floor, and probably would not want to play football.

Chanler thought about that for a few seconds, then says, "Mommy play basketball?!?!"

Just a quick note about two cute things Chanler has picked up this week.

1) A few days ago he was having a very hard day. I was washing his hands and when we went to dry them he wanted to keep holding the hand towel - OK fine. Later while he still had the towel he needed a diaper change. He really didn't want to have one, but it had to be done. He was yelling about it and I asked him if it would help to yell into the towel instead of at mommy. It did seem to help. So now he has been carrying around this bathroom hand towel and calling it his blankie. He even took it to bed with him last night.

2) Chanler asks to sit on the potty sometimes (usually nothing happens and he eventually gets bored). I decided that maybe he just needed to relax and spend a few minutes longer on the potty to actually use it, so I decided to read him a book while he was sitting. We have done this now a few times. This morning I had to go potty and Chanler said he wanting to come watch - OK well I guess being a mommy means not going potty alone - shrug. Chanler then brings me a book to read while I go potty. Too funny.

Chanler is obsessed with Chris and Emily's baby - Joseph. He is obsessed in a somewhat good way - he wants to see the baby all the time, he wants to hold the baby when ever we actually see him, he talks about baby Joseph all time and even sings songs to him when we are driving in the car.

This is the first baby that Chanler has had close contact with and it is also the first time I have seen what a great big brother Chanler could become. It is very neat to see him with a small baby, he is very gentle and wants to give hugs, kisses and pats and make sure the baby is happy.

One thing that has been very interesting is talking with Chanler about nursing. Chanler knows that babies have "nursies", that "nursies" is all little babies can eat, and that they each "nursie" from their own mommy. It is neat to see him make the connection that that is how things are supposed to be. He has even articulated it when we are out, Chanler will hear a child crying and tell me - "baby sad . . . nursie mommy??" I think he is becoming empathic.

Since last Thursday Chanler has decided that he likes Milk.

It all started when we had small group over for dinner and Evan Krehbiel asked for milk (he ended up drinking two or three cups.) Any way apparently Chanler thought this was cool because everyday since then he has asked for milk. Before this weekend I could count on one hand the number of times Chanler has eaten a significant amount of plain milk. I am not complaining though.

By far Chanler's favorite food has to be . . .

Hot Dogs!

We went to a Cajun fair a few weeks back and he ate 2 regular sized hot dogs!!! - no buns, just dogs. We got him one and when he finished it I figured he was done, but he said he wanted more. So we waited between 15-20 minutes to see if he really was still hungry. And apparently he was because he was still asking for another hot dog. So we got him one and he ate all of it but one tiny bite. You should have seen his belly that day!

Another night Scott and Chanler were having hot dogs for dinner and Chanler ate 2 and Scott ate 2 (and was full) (and NO we don't have hot dogs all the time)

Every time we get him a hot dog I think - "there is know way he is going to eat that whole thing" (like yesterday when he had a Costco hot dog), but then he finishes it AND wants more!

Cute things he says:
Velovader - for the car elevator in his little people garage
Ander-roo - our neighbor who Chanler originally thought was his friend Anders.
The car is getting cut - while bringing down a piece of the little people garage onto the car (great my son is going to run a chop shop at an early age!)
It's my Jamba Juice - how he knows that it is Jamba Juice astounds me - we have been there all of twice.
I getting a maget - While playing with the Doodle Board. He then reappears with a train (with a magnet on it) which will draw on the board.
Aaachoo - from the book "Bear snores one" Bear blows and he sneezes and the whole crowd freezes.
Also from that book every time the books says but the bear snored on - Chanler finishes with "snores down on the ground"

Chanler's favorite book right now is "Bear Snores On", by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Jane Chapman.

The general plot line of the book is that a bunch of small forest animals get together in bear's den and have a party, but bear does not wake up, he "snores on". Chanler has added his own creative intepretation, and in our reading, the bear snores "On the ground!" :)

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 was trying to get Chanler to sleep last night, and he is not having anything to do with it. He tells me quite emphatically that "Chanler don't like to sleep!"

So I am trying to convince him that it is ok to sleep - Daddy sleeps, Mommy sleeps, etc, down the list. When I get to the end of the list of just about everyone that he knows, he asks me if Jesus sleeps. I tell him that Jesus doesn't need to sleep, that while Chanler is sleeping, Jesus is watching over him to make sure that he stays safe.

So he says quite triumphantly, "Jesus don't like to sleep either!"

Chanler started a gym class this morning. OK I actually signed him up for a class through the city a few weeks ago, but after the first class I was so disappointed that we had to find a real class for him.

So, Scott took him to a parent tot class this morning as a trial and Chanler loved it (well most of it at least.) He got to run, toss, jump, hang, climb, roll, balance, and get many drinks of water. It was pretty much just what I was looking for - well except I would rather have a weekday class over a Saturday class, but hopefully they will expand their schedule soon (only need one more family for Fridays!)

Chanler's newest talent after the class it the "stick" pose i.e. what you do when you land or want to stop jumping. It is hilarious - if you say stick he will bend his knees and stick his hands into the air, all the while grinning.

Cal Sports Center Gymnastics

Every time I play Enya, Chanler comes and tells me that "mommy is singing"

Should I be flattered?

Chanler and I have recently had some very interesting conversations while driving (mostly home.)

Today: While I was trying to talk about what Chanler was going to have for lunch (to prep him for actually wanting that - this tactic seems to help); Chanler decided to be silly and said he didn't want to eat lunch he was going to "eat grass . . . [pause] noooo that's silly"; "eat tree . . . [pause] nooo that's silly." This went on for a few blocks with me mostly just listening to all the things Chanler would eat (other than lunch - grass, trees, leaves, cars, buses, anything he saw out the window). Then came the laugh out loud moment.

C: Eat the red light
J: But if you eat the red light how will I know when to stop?
C: You hang me from the light? I'll swing . . . I want to swing.
J: at this point I was laughing so hard I almost had to stop driving.

Yesterday: While on the way home from Art class, we discussed Creation (i.e. Why the sun goes down and comes up - because that is the way God made it), Morality (i.e. why we should act kindly to others even when they tried to take a toy away from us), Impulse control (i.e. why said child tried to take the toy from Chanler), Etc. My favorite conclusion by Chanler (during the creation discussion) was that God made the Sun to come up each day so people could do things - to which Chanler said . . . "Jesus said go to art class."

Sometimes you just have to say well kinda, and wonder how their brains work.

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

At the end of his nap this afternoon Chanler said something very funny. I had started moving around in an attempt to get him to wake up, while still letting him wake himself up, because that leads to a MUCH better overall mood. Anyway, Chanler rolled onto his side, curled up and said with his eyes still closed "I'm all done sleeping*." His mother on the other hand has been know to tell you that she is awake, getting dressed even, all the while still sleeping.

*This phrase is what Chanler says anytime he wakes up - from sleeping overnight, nap time, before he is asleep at nap time, at 3 am when he wakes up, etc. It is not my favorite thing to hear!

I try not to read to much into when and how much Chanler eats - I really do. The "rule" of the house is that you have to eat one bite of each thing on your plate in order to be finished (this is to get Chanler to try everything and to eat at least some amount of veggies.) Today Chanler polished off 3+ slices of meat loaf (for perspective, I had 1 and Scott managed 2.) I don't know where in the world all that meat went????? I am expecting that he won't eat again for at least 3 days, but I guess we will see. Maybe it is just another growth spurt - I feel like we just finished one though.

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!

Chanler's Law aka The Observer effect - "the term observer effect refers to changes that the act of observing will make on the phenomenon being observed."

Over the last few days Chanler has been wonderful with his new sister. He says such cute things to her, wants to hold her, give her kisses, etc. all until you pull out the camera to catch such cuteness for posterity. Once the camera is on, all Chanler wants to do is see the picture and have the camera flash.

I guess I need to invest in the nanny cam, just to capture my kids being cute without them knowing it.

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.