Hunkering Down

Excuse me while I hastily post this before Frankenstorm hits NYC and turns this area into The Walking Dead, which we finally caught up on and is awesome.  We went to my parents' in Philadelphia last weekend and, as usual, had a great time. Charlie is starting to get more daring with walking. 

We learned a new skill for which we're very proud of ourselves.

Here's Charlie joining the long list of Heller grandchildren walking with the Winnie the Pooh walker. 

Walking by him is Charlie's cousin, Serena, whose hobbies are pulling Charlie's hair, taking toys and pacifiers out of his hands, and taunting Charlie by offering him a sippy cup and then taking them away.  She's only three months older, but Serena has made it clear that she is very much in charge.  Serena has also taught us that Charlie is a complainer.  When he's hungry, when he's tired, when he wants something, he complains. And why does he complain?  Because it works.  

My dad took out the old photo books and you can see how he used to look like me.  Charlie's features are like Mommy, but he overall looks like me at his age.  This is Andrew and I with Mommom.  You can tell which one is me because I'm the cute one. 

This next picture with the vests over the plaid shirts shows you the risks associated with growing up in the 70s.  It's a dark period that no one talks about anymore. 

This one is of Andrew doing what my dad says was Andrew's favorite activity, stripping the bed every morning.  

I found my old Bigfoot toy in the basement and cleaned it off for Charlie. I have a very strong memory of buying it.  Andrew and I went with Mom and Aunt Sylvia to the toy store to buy one for each of us.  Mom thought that my saying that Bigfoot had a setting that didn't need batteries meant that we didn't need batteries at all, so Andrew and I had to wait all night for the rechargeable batteries to charge before we could play with them and we watched Mel Brooks' History of the World Part I. All so that Charlie can roll it under the table and cry until someone gets it for him. 

We got Charlie a baby loveseat so that he can sit and feed his bottle to himself.  Thank God for Charlie being able to hold his own bottle.   

Charlie still sleeps like an adorable muthafucka.  

We took a trip to our friend Michelle and Ian's in NJ and saw that Charlie appreciates the suburbs for dogs, in addition to stairs.  Charlie apparently thinks that the dog sneezing is the funniest thing he's ever seen.  Ever.

This is the part of the blog where we dance. 

Good luck to everyone weathering the storm tomorrow.  Hopefully we have enough candy and I won't have to go to the deli to get more.  Hopefully.