Springtime in Syracuse!

The past week of sunshine and warmth are the reason I could never live in another part of the country. Sure, our yard looks like crap right now and there are salt stains on our driveway, but surviving the winter months in central New York makes the springtime that much sweeter!

And Charlie has been loving the season change and being able to get out and enjoy the spring weather. He loves going up and down the driveway pushing his lion toy or throwing the ball over and over. He is still getting used to the concept of grass though! For most part he refuses to walk on it and will stand in the driveway pointing at his ball if it ends up in the yard.

The past few weeks have been much quieter in terms of visits to the doctor's office, so that has been nice! He goes next week for his last Synagis injection (another sure sign of spring!) Since cutting all dairy out of his diet he has been rash/hive free. They will do allergy testing at his 15 month physical to check for sure that dairy was the culprit.

We are still fighting the food battle with Charlie. He eats well enough when we can keep him distracted enough by toys and gadgets and Baby Einstein not to fight us. But if there are people around and he is distracted by them, we can forget about him eating! Finger foods and him feeding himself are still a challenge when it comes to anything other than carbohydrates! He loves Kix and Cheerios and crackers and bread, but fruits, veggies, eggs, pasta etc all end up on the floor immediately. We tried feeding him scrambled eggs by spoon, but that didn't go over well either. Honestly, we are not concerned - he gains weight fine and is obviously eating enough, but it is frustrating that we are having a hard time making this transition. We will get there though! We know full well that Charlie does everything in his own time.

Sippy cup usage is slowly progressing. We have figured out that he will take a plain old plastic sippy cup, so long as we take the valve out or use those cheap "disposable" ones. He does better if one of us is holding it for him because it keeps him focused on drinking and not playing with the cup. He doesn't drink much from it and unfortunately, he does often choke on it. He choked so bad one day last week that he puked his whole lunch up on his tray. I felt so bad for him! He really scared himself (and me)!

Reflux problems seem to be hanging in there. I mentioned before that Dr Ratner (surgeon) increased his Zantac dosage considerably at our check up last month. Typically by a year old, they start to wean medicines, but he is still having problems so he is not ready for that yet. Luckily the reflux does not tend to affect his eating as it used to, but you can still see it catch him sometimes. And when he is sleeping he will wake up choking/coughing from time to time and then get upset and need to be consoled. Hopefully as he continues to grow, he will have less problems with it! I know from experience that it is not a nice feeling to have!

Other than that, Charlie is just loving life! He is a happy, lovable little man and just brings us more smiles and joy every day!!

Cousin love!

Styling in their aprons sent from GG and Poppop

Dont let that sweet smile fool you! Throwing tantrums

has become his latest form of communication! I believe

one broke out shortly after this pic was taken!

Exhausted from cheering Daddy on at the Shamrock Run!

visiting with Aunt Sheri and Uncle Trevor

Our first outdoor play time!!!

Note all the snow still on the ground - it was almost 60 out!

That shows what a rough last few weeks of winter we had!

"Hi!"

Charlie stopped to say hello to his shadow! :-)

Loving the sun!

Kiss me! I'm Irish!

(Thanks Aunt Jen for the perfect St Patrick's Day shirt!!)