Monkey See Monkey Do.

Now that Charles has gotten bigger and is able to get almost anywhere he wants, he enjoys playing follow the leader. He love chasing Adahleigh around the house, and the thing she loves best about it is teaching how to do all sorts of different things whether it be throwing balls or running laps around the house (of course she isn't selective in teaching him things that are allowed or not). Lately, he's been crawling on furniture, she showed him how to climb all the way onto the backs. He did come up with a new way to get off the chair in their room all by himself. Sometimes he'll even dangle from the top rail before dropping down to the floor.

We've also been impressed at how well he can get off some of the bigger toys they ride on, like Adahleigh's bike, he just throws his leg over it and then sits there with his legs barely touching the ground.

The Big 01

Charles just turned 1 today. It amazing how fast time flies and how many changes kids make in their first year of life. He is definitely a mover and a shaker. For a while we didn't think that he was going to walk before his birthday, but three weeks ago he started making the attempt and now he walks everywhere even though he isn't completely stable yet. He has also found that since he has gotten taller he can climb on higher objects, such as the couch. He watches Adahleigh crawl up on the back of it and now is trying to do it too. We ended up celebrating his birthday on Sat. so that Ash's fam. would be able to make it. For his birthday we went all out in making a cake again (which was done after everyone was asleep to avoid the unnecessary help that would otherwise be demanded). Ash is really proud on how it turned out and is now worried how she can top this one when the next one turns one (since we only make the really elaborate cakes for their first birthday that they get to destroy).

I was wondering if Adahleigh would be able to tell what it was for sure, but when we showed it to her there was no doubt in her mind that it was a tractor.Last year Adahleigh wasn't too sure what to do with her cake when we gave it to her, so we wondered if we would need to coax Charles into getting into it. As soon as it hit his tray he dug right in. He started with the large donut tire. That was all he wanted to eat till we took it from him, them he dug right into the cake. He loved every bite and really didn't make a very big mess (most ended up in his mouth instead of on his head like food usually does).

He ate so much that we had to start giving him drinks to wash it down so he could keep going.

He thought the whole process was the coolest thing ever. He also ate up all the attention he was getting.

This little squirt ate about half a 9X13 pan of cake and frosting, because we used almost the whole pan of cake to make the tractor plus 4 donuts for tires (he only ate one of those though, Adahleigh and Taylor had to have one each).

We also learned that when you add red, black, and white frosting to a small child you get some pretty interesting colors on the outside. Even more interesting is what you get the next day; several poopy diapers that are grey-blue in color and about the same texture as frosting, but definitely not the same smell and I can't verify the taste.Charles was a little better about opening presents for his birthday than Christmas, but Adahleigh still helped. He felt he had to show off his balance by standing on one gift while opening another.

He ended up getting quite a few (some of which were extras from Christmas) since we didn't want to bring any gifts that we had here down to Brigham for Christmas just in case we didn't get a van, since we were already short on room. Don't break the ice was one of those gift, and amazingly Adahleigh wanted Charles to play it with her and he went right to it.

Grandpa knew exactly what little boys want for their birthday. A nice big tractor. Charles loves to play with them at their house and this one wasn't any different. As soon as he had it opened he wanted it out to play with.

Christmas and a Wintery Wonderland

This year for Christmas we stayed down at Grandpa and Grandma Wilde's for the week of Christmas. Adahleigh and Charles both enjoyed the time they were able to spend with their Grandparents and Aunts (Especially Pete, since she was the most interactive with them). The only downside of being down there was how cold it was, about 20 degrees colder than Pokey. It did make for a white Christmas though since it never got above 20F, so the snow that had fallen couldn't melt, this made Ash's Christmas even though she didn't go out and play in it.

Some of the highlights of the week was finding the van we wanted, taking everyone out to Willard Bay to see the Christmas lights they put up there, and of course just being with family.

We let everyone out of their carseats while seeing the Christmas lights, since it was just in a campground where they're set up and there were so many cars there that you couldn't go more than 5 mph. Adahleigh loved pointing out the different animals in the lights she recognized.

Charles enjoyed sitting up front with Grandpa, but he enjoyed trying to fiddle with all the new buttons in the van than looking at lights.

We started a new tradition this year with the kids in opening a present on Christmas Eve, pajamas of course so they have a new pair to wear to bed and then open gifts in them the next morning. They looked pretty good in their new pajamas (even though they are still a little big) while busting into their stockings.

The only problem was he wasn't able to get any of the candy open. This is how he usually gets treats at home when Adahleigh gets into them and shares them. He bites a hole big enough to get the treats out.

They were obviously still dazed or sleepy at this point and really didn't understand what was going on.

Adahleigh this year really understood the idea behind opening gifts, she just couldn't get enough of it and was willing to help everyone open theirs (especially Charles, since after opening one toy he was done and just wanted to play with it). It was really enjoyable to watch them share the toys that they got, although the presents Charles got were the biggest hit since they both enjoyed playing with them the most. Amazingly, this year we didn't really have too big of problems keeping everyone out of the Christmas tree. Charles got into Grandma's on Christmas day while we were unwrapping gifts, but other than that they were really good about enjoying the tree instead of destroying it.

Needless to say after she got hers open she went and helped Charles get his, since it was taking a little longer.

Santa

This year we went to the Pierce's Christmas party in Logan, the Sunday before Christmas. Santa showed up there to hand out gifts. Adahleigh wasn't too keen on sitting on his lap by herself. Once there she was glad to get her gift, but wouldn't even look at his face while he talked to her.

Charles on the other hand didn't have a problem crawling right up to him. He was a little leery, but didn't cry or anything. It's just a good thing that we didn't take them anywhere we had to pay to get their picture taken with Santa. That would've been one giant disaster with even more people they wouldn't know around.

Besides visiting and getting gifts from Santa; there was also a piñata. Adahleigh got a few good whacks in, a few times she almost connected with the surrounding people instead of the piñata. The piñata ended up being build so well that no one was able to break it open, and they ended up having to tear it open.