Kite Flying

On Easter afternoon, we decided to take Charlie's new kite to the field at the elementary school down the street from our house.  There was a brisk wind outside, so we thought it might work well.  I bundled up Ephram (it was kind of cold outside,) and we put everything in the stroller and headed for the school.  Have I mentioned how nice it is to have a stroller to cart everything around?

Once we got to the school, Andy assembled the kite while Charlie watched impatiently.  Then Andy got it up in the air, which took very little effort at first, and Charlie spent some time chasing it and trying to grab at it.

Finally, Andy pulled Charlie in next to him and gave him some tips on how to keep the kite up in the air.  They flew it together for a little bit.

 

Then the wind started to cut out, so Andy convinced Charlie to run with the kite.  He caught on quickly and clearly had a lot of fun!

Of course, once the kite flying had ended, the running continued.  Charlie even presented me with a flower as we were getting ready to head home.  (Ephram was starting to fuss, so it was time for the fun to end.)  We had a great time flying the new kite!

Easter Morning

On Easter Morning Charlie could hardly contain himself as he made his way downstairs.  He ran into the family room, looked at the fireplace, and found it to be empty.  Oh no!  Andy quickly diverted him from lamenting that the Easter Bunny had not arrived by suggesting a hunt for the baskets.  Charlie started running around the downstairs and was relieved to find this on the dining room table:

It turns out the Easter Bunny must have needed more room than can currently be found on our fireplace.  Charlie quickly pointed out which baskets belonged to each of us... almost as excited for Ephram's basket as he was for his own.

Meanwhile, Ephram was content to watch the hunt from the comfort of his Dad's arms.

I made Charlie do the obligatory pose with his Easter basket before rummaging through.  It took quite awhile to get his eyes away from the kite and onto the camera.  He had been talking about kites for weeks leading up to Easter.  I guess the Easter Bunny puts his big ears to use and can hear everything that Charlie talks about.  Charlie was pretty excited that the Easter Bunny knew he wanted a kite and delivered it.

Finally, Charlie got down on the floor and picked through the basket.  Besides the Toy Story kite and ball, he had Handy Manny coloring pages, playdoh Easter eggs, a Go Diego Go bubble whistle and a Berenstein Bears Easter Book... and just a little bit of candy.

While Charlie started to shove jelly beans into his mouth, we turned to look at Ephram's basket.  I made him pose with it too, but he couldn't really see things well from his vantage point on the blanket...

So I picked him up where he'd be able to see better.  He was pretty excited to see the colors at least!  The Easter Bunny brought him a snail toy to play with on the floor, a book, connector rings, a CD and a little Lion for his carseat.  (And no candy.)  After some exploration, Ephram got right to work playing with his new toys.  His early favorite were the connector rings.  He thought they were great for shoving into his mouth!

We enjoyed a nice quiet Easter morning with muffins and General Conference on the television.  Later we took advantage of the nice combination of sun and wind and headed to the elementary school to fly a kite... More to come.

Easter Egg Creations

This year's Easter Eggs were made on Easter Eve.  You may notice that Charlie looks really tired in the pictures... that's because he was.  We started rather late, but still had a lot of fun coloring the eggs!  Andy and I let Charlie color all of the eggs this year - we had a lot of solid colored eggs.

Ephram was there - having a good time watching Charlie be so excited!

Andy helped Charlie apply tattoos and stickers to the eggs once they were all colored.

Here we all are after the eggs were all done!

Ephram at Three Months

Our baby boy is already a quarter of a year old.  I think fondly of when he was just teeny-tiny and can't believe that he'll never be like that again.  I can't imagine what I'll feel like when he is turns a year and grows perpetually older.  I think I'll always be missing the former stages... so I am glad that I'm taking the time to document a little bit about my baby as he grows.  Ephram continues to be a delightfully happy baby.  Even when he is keeping me awake at night, all night, he is content.  I think there is nothing better than to see his face light up with yet another smile.

There is no three-month checkup, so I don't have official stats for this month... but I did weigh him and try to measure him at home... so on his three month birthday he was about:

Height: 23 inches... or possibly 23.5 - it was hard to get him to stop kicking!
Weight: 12 pounds, 6 ounces

Milestones:
10 weeks - clasped hands
11 weeks - reached for and grabbed toys
11 weeks - pushed head up at 45 degrees consistently (finally!)

What he's eating:
Still 1/2 breastmilk and 1/2 formula
He's showed some signs of eczema, and I think that the cow's milk-based formula may be causing some issues, (he still has reflux as well.)  We are considering switching to a different formula type.

Favorite songs:
Popcorn Popping (not sure if that's the real name)
Little Drop of Dew
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (especially when sung by Charlie)

Favorite Things to Do:
Smile back at anybody that is watching him
Look at reflections in the mirror
Swing and use his bouncy seat
Talk to his "friends"
Eat
Sit by dad when dad is using a computer
Listen to and watch Charlie laugh
Be bathed (finally enjoys this!)

Least Favorite Things to Do:
Have mom try to make his nails less sharp
Be alone
Be set down to sleep

Nicknames:
Little E (still sticking)
Monkey

And now for some pictures from Ephram's 12th week!

My Baby and Me

So, I have all of these wonderful pictures of Ephram from birth to today... I have a ton of pictures of him by himself, as well as those with Andy and Charlie.  But, I recently realized, I have virtually no pictures of him with me.  I had to fix this so that Ephram would know that I was actually there when he was a baby too.  So, one day when I was playing with him I grabbed my camera and took a couple of pictures of us.  It is not that easy to hold a big SLR at arms length to take a picture of yourself... so I was pleased with how they turned out.  So, here I am actually in Ephram's life too.  :)

Riding the Bike

You may recall that Charlie got a bicycle from Santa Clause for Christmas.  Well, since Christmas we have spent quite a bit of time on that bike in the cul-de-sac.  We've worked on steering, braking, starting, and following directions.  Finally, we thought it was high time that we let Charlie leave the cul-de-sac with his bike.  So, one nice Saturday, we all headed to a local park - that is probably around a half mile walk from our house.  I had the stroller, so Andy was in charge of Charlie on his bike.

Charlie was so proud to be taking his bike to the park all by himself.  And he made it all the way there and back without having to get off, (except to cross the street.)  He fell once when he wasn't paying attention to the edge of the sidewalk, but got right back up and kept going.  Once we got to the park, we couldn't convince him to play with the other things there, so he mostly rode his bike around the splash pad and pathways.  (Don't worry, we live in Washington so the splash pad doesn't open until Memorial Day.)  He did get off at one point to practice aiming the water cannons with another little girl.  And since he still had his helmet on, I thought he looked a little bit like a Storm Trooper.

Andy and I were both impressed with how well he steered and used his brakes... he did better than either of us anticipated.  He was a little funny going down the hills, he kept slowing way down... I am sure that he will soon come to love the feeling of racing down a hill.  I know I kind of miss that feeling myself!  (Maybe it's time for me to get out my old, dusty bike?)  He did well enough that I just may be ready to handle him on his bike and the stroller by myself soon... but I think we'll give it a couple more tries with Andy there first.  ;)

 

Pajama Day

The day after St Patrick's Day, Charlie's preschool class had a pajama party.  He was so excited to wear his pajamas to school!  The picture is not the best - it was bright outside and he was refusing to keep his eyes open.  :)  He wore his "camping pajamas" and was also excited to wear his Lightening McQueen robe... because "you can't wear a coat with pajamas".   They each were supposed to bring a small stuffed animal, so he chose this cat... which he has dubbed "Snowy Lava Cat".  Why?  I have no idea...  Charlie had a ton of fun that day though!