Baby It's Cold Outside

Snow days are a little piece of heaven. There’s just a freer, happier atmosphere on snow days. To quote the movie: “Anything can happen on a snow day…” Last week we had several inches of sleet and metro schools were out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Unfortunately, one of the cons about working online is that it’s business as usual for me. But even so, I took the opportunity to cook. There’s nothing better than having a big pot of something simmering on the stove when it’s icy and the wind is howling outside. Monday was beef tips and rice. Tuesday was chicken and dumplings made after boiling an honest-to-goodness whole chicken. I actually wasn’t sure if I could find a whole chicken at the grocery store! I made blueberry cobbler for dessert. I was also planning on making the infamous taco soup at some point, but it was sunny on Wednesday, and the thrill was gone.

Dave is also fortunate that he can work from home when needed. He went into the office Monday morning, but he and his coworkers abandoned ship by noon. He didn’t go back into the office until Thursday. It was nice to have him home, even though he worked during the day.

Charlie enjoyed looking out the window and seeing everything covered in white, but he was pretty ticked off when he couldn’t go play in it. Yes, I could’ve bundled him up and taken him outside, but that would’ve meant that I’d have to be out there too, and no thank you. Everything was melting by Friday, and Saturday was so nice that we were able to open the windows. Crazy!

Charlie continues to babble and make lots of noises. He’s becoming more vocal when expressing his emotions. When he’s happy, he squeals and giggles a lot, and when he’s tired or frustrated, he’s whiny and has little mini-tantrums. Sometimes he repeats what we say, but in his own language. This week we’ve been hearing lots of “loy loy loy” sounds. He can identify and point to his ears and his nose. And he knows where his piggies are. Here are some “words” that he uses:

Mama
Dada
DeeDee
Dexter
“ba” can mean book/box/ball/bath/bottle/bear
good boy
thank you
yeah/yep
wow
whoa
uh-huh

He likes to throw things. He’s learning to turn knobs. He likes to flush the toilet and watch the water swirl. He still enjoys putting toys in a basket and taking them out again. He likes to crawl into the dogs’ crate in our bedroom and hide. He likes to crawl under his crib and hide behind the dust ruffle. He does silly things like putting objects on his head. He likes to put a blanket on his head and walk around. Today he was crawling with his head hanging down and his forehead on the floor. Little goof-head. He’s walking really well and can bend or squat without falling.