Share and Enjoy

We sat in the hotel room all day, again.   And read the same two books another twenty times, each.  I’m not complaining, though.  I love reading to her.  She and I have really bonded this week.  It has been wonderful.

Charlie's Favorite Books

You can see from the picture below that she favors “On the Farm”.  She has sampled its flavor on several occasions, even.  From the looks of it, you wouldn’t know it was brand new just five days ago!

It's seen better days

Charlie officially walks, now.  I was pretty sure she had strolled around a couple of times yesterday, but wasn’t positive.  When I’d look up from what I was reading, she’d fall.  So, I wasn’t sure if or how far she’d walked to that point.  Well, today I witnessed it.  She just went strolling across the room like she’d always been walking.  I caught this video of her walking around:

Charlie and I sat in the room most of the day, again. We read her books a bunch, again.  I have them memorized, now.  The big development for today is she was “walking” between the end table and the bed.  By “walking” I mean she’d take two steps while falling forward and face-planting into the soft side of the bed.  Of course, I made a huge deal about it so she kept doing it.  Maybe she’ll really be walking by the end of the week.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any video.  Here’s a shot from breakfast:

Yummy Strawberry Nutri-grain Bar

Today was the first day of the Summer Institute workshop for Kris.  Charlie’s and my job is to hang out in the hotel room until designated times when we can go visit Kris so Charlie can nurse.  We are strictly not allowed to leave the room and go do fun things unless Kris is with us, wife’s orders.  So, there’s not much to report.  We just hung out and read those new books Charlie got from Carol.  Charlie is showing signs of being ready to walk.  I caught her standing without assistance next to the end table by my chair.  For dinner we went to a Greek restaurant called Ambrosia.  It was alright.  Our Greek place in Lawrence is much better.

Ms. Charlie

Today was almost a kid free Friday (we still had Charlie).  I took Brae and Hannah to their mother’s for the weekend, and Kaity spent the night with a friend.  Kris and Charlie and I enjoyed the evening by going out to eat at Encore.  It’s one of our favorite places in Lawrence.  After dinner, we went for a walk on campus.  It was hot but breezy, so it didn’t seem too bad.

On Charlie’s birthday, she received a card from Poppy and Callista which contained some cryptic statement about hoping she “enjoys her new ride.”  Well, her new ride arrived by mail, finally.  It’s pretty cool.

Charlie's new ride

Exactly one year ago today, I looked like this:

Hello World

Today, on my first birthday, I look like this:

Cutie Pie

It was extra hot in Kansas today, so my birthday picnic party was cut a little short so we could enjoy the ice cream (and air-conditioning) at Sylas and Maddy’s while I figured out the whole present thing. And to make my first birthday extra special, my Mimi flew up from Arkansas, and my buddies Spencer, Xavier, Cordelia & Lorelei (and their mommy) came all the way from Texas to see me for my birthday! Best present ever!

Lots of my toys have balls. I like to mix and match them. Here are just a few of the ones in my collection.

Daddy used to call his little sister “petey baby,” so her nickname for a while was “Pete.”

Now I'm the petey baby.