Charlie Picspam!

[marydell]

Things have been kind of depressing in Dell-ville lately, what with various health thingies and life thingies in our extended family.  Fortunately we have a ready source of cheer (also a ready source of vomit and pee and so forth, but it's a good tradeoff).

Brush-a brush-a brush-a!  (Well, sort of. First I brush his teeth for real, then he gets to have a go)

 





"Too bright!" A child I babysat in my youth solemnly informed me that once she finished brushing her teeth I had to shield my eyes and say "too bright!" because that's what her mom & dad did.  So now I'm starting to do this with Charlie, because it cracks me up.  He doesn't understand it yet, so it merely confuses him, currently, but he will catch on eventually.



Books that come in giant-size "Lap Editions" are great because he can look at them by himself occasionally...


Whereas small books must be read to him, over and over and over. Hippos! NOW Mommy! HIPPOS!


Finger-puppet books are also a big hit, and only occasionally lead to him biting my finger. Mostly he wants to hug the little critters (the book below features a bird in a nest, and is very cool).


Here he is sick with a fever and making himself feel better by snuggling with his Panda. He also likes Panda to snuggle him back, which requires Mommy to hold its paws together around him because Charlie can only hold one arm at a time. I did this Panda-hug thing for him once and of course it became an immediate and ongoing obsession.   I am thinking about sewing velcro onto the paws...


Note: his outfit has monkey pirates on it.  Since monkeys are a big positive thing in Chinese legend, we don't go crazy worrying about the problematic racial-slur associations of monkeys, but we do not put him in anything with bananas (once I learned about that slur...oops), or anything that actually says "I'm a monkey" etc.  Meanwhile, the fact that they are pirates trumps most other concerns, since pirates are generally depicted as amputees, which means pirates=yay.  Can I overthink an issue or WHAT?  Also, it says "Arrrrrgggghhh" right across the butt, which means I'd pretty much have to buy it regardless of what was on the front.  Seriously, "ARRRGHHHH!!!" 





He has figured out that the remote makes the TV go, but is still working out the exact details of how to operate it. 






Thanks for looking!

Comments

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

So cute! and, golly, he's getting big..why are we always so surprised when kids grow?

[notodette.livejournal.com]

What an adorable child!

[pameladean]

The panda ones are beyond adorable.

P.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, ADORABLE. Definite day-brightener.

I think velcro-ing the panda's paws is a terrific idea.

Also, I want you to know that I dreamed last night about someone expecting me to put two pacifiers in my mouth. I BLAME YOUR ICON.

[gailmom.livejournal.com]

I love the panda snuggle and remote pictures. :D Go, Charlie.

I am confused though...what is wrong with calling a child a monkey? Banana what?

Have I been insulting my Monkey-boy all this time? 0.0

And why have I never had monkey pirate pj's? Those are too cool for words. ~pouts~

[marydell.livejournal.com]

"Monkey" is an age-old racial slur, because monkeys are less than human, etc. It's also a term of affection for little boys, which makes it tricky - all little boys act like monkeys! Anyway it's one of those white parent/POC kid things--when mommy and monkey-boy come from the same group, I can't imagine it would be an issue, but since Charlie and I don't, I keep it in mind. So no shirts that say, frex, "I'm mommy's little monkey" (that one was really cute, too). "Banana," meanwhile, is an insult among some East Asians, meaning a person is "yellow on the outside but white on the inside"--i.e. not a true member of their culture/race. To Charlie's BP's it's more of a joke, something expat Chinese say about their kids growing up in America.

edit: also, yes, it is not fair that he gets all the good jammies while mine are boring. I think grown-ups should get to have jams with monkies, bats, and doggies on them!

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

hahahah. you think *you're* overthinking it. but i have a cute monkey toy! and it's cute! but it's a monkey! and the baby room stuff that isn't offensive on gender issues is all jungle crap! all jungle all the time! with monkeys!

[sits in a corner underneath something and hyperventilates]

[marydell.livejournal.com]

LOL! You need to embrace the power of classic pooh. If it's any comfort, nearly every item in a standard "crib bedding set" is a smothering hazard that has to be taken out of the crib anyway :)

And every kid deserves a cute monkey toy. Monkeys are awesome.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

The first instances I know about of "monkey" as a slur are in ancient Greek poetry. I can think of a couple in Aristophanes, and there's one in Lyric poetry somewhere too, I dimly remember.

[readinggeek451]

Velcro is an excellent idea, yes.

Arrrrrgggghhh!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, the pictures of him snuggling the panda are SO ADORABLE. I just want to scoop him up and cuddle him. I also LOVE the pirate monkey outfit.

In the picture where he's reading Goodnight, Moon, do those pajamas have a brown bear on the front? If so, Colin has the same ones. :)

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Yep, those are the ones! I love those carter's one-piece thingies.

Your icon is awesome--such a cutie!

[slrose.livejournal.com]

He's so cute. It's brightened my day.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Oh, he is sooooo cute! And reminds me, of course, of my kids when they were little and WHY DON'T I HAVE GRANDCHILDREN? (I say that only to friends, not to my kids, because one of the worst reasons I can think of to have a kid is that your parents want to be grandparents.)

[klgaffney.livejournal.com]

...it is really hard to be cranky when there's a BEAMING child with a toothbrush on your flist. thank YOU for sharing. =)

(also, omg. panda cuddles. that is so CUTE.)

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

My gods he's so big! He has a great smile. :)

[gryphynshadow.livejournal.com]

Ooooohhhhh....

he's so CUTE!

I want pirate pjs that say 'aaarrgghhh' on the butt.

And that shot of him in the panda lap? ohmigosh dies of cute.

Also, he is huge! I think he's around the same size as Monkey boy here (that's his internet name, given to him because he constantly climbs on things. me, the counters, his sister... anything that holds still long enough...), and Monkey is four. O.o Charlie is going to be so tall!

I love the pictures you post of him, by the way. They always make me smile. :)

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

His smile can probably be seen from space. TOO BRIGHT!

[txanne.livejournal.com]

SO CUTE. I adore the Heroic Remote of Heroism pose. And the panda ones made me squeak hypersonically.

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

*g* Thanks. Charlie pics make me smile.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Awww!

He has figured out that the remote makes the TV go, but is still working out the exact details of how to operate it.

That reminds me of one of Becky's kids, who had figured out that keys open doors. He would grab the whole keychain, and press the whole lot against the doorknob--then look disappointed when it failed to magically unlock.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's great. Magic keys! I keep thinking about this now when I'm fumbling with my keys...

[pnkrokhockeymom.livejournal.com]

OMG. Am sending to Montreal, 'kay? OMG. SO CUTE.

[kate_nepveu]

Panda snuggles!

SteelyKid has just started playing with her stuffed animals--she calls them "baby" and swaddles them, hugs them, etc.

But she won't let me brush her teeth. Like, at all.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

she calls them "baby" and swaddles them

Eeee, that's so cute!

For teeth brushing, do you use the horrible chemical-laden baby tooth goo? Charlie is a fan of that, which is how we got started. He's always been pretty ok with it, though, because he's an oral-stimulation fiend.

[kate_nepveu]

Umm, it's fruit-flavored and isn't flouridated and clear and of some big-name maker.

She liked it for about two brushings and now won't even put the brush in her mouth.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's what we use. Just guessing--with this and her food choices it sounds like she might be a little orally sensitive/anti-stimulation, so something less bristley than a real toothbrush might be easier to get her used to having her teeth touched.

Wiping with a washcloth works fairly well for fixing their death breath and shining their teeth a little, but tends to get a person bit, in my experience.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

So adorable. He makes me smile. And he looks huge. How old is he, now?

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Thanks! He's 20 months, and around 32 pounds and 35.5 inches tall...which puts him above the 95th percentile for height, according to the charts, and around 95th for weight. oof!

[vass]

His messy hair in the first picture! And those panda photos! Utterly cute.

[vcmw]

Cuteness! And it's awesome that he's got so many books to play with and read. And he does indeed look beyond adorable snuggling with the panda.

All small children have love for Sandra Boynton. The hippos are everywhere. At least her drawings have cool faces that are pretty engaging for grownups too.

Have you seen her books of kids cds? She has one called something like "Dog Train" that went over really well at our library.

[readinggeek451]

My favorite Boynton CD is "Philadelphia Chickens," but I'm not a small child.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard any of her cd's yet, I'll have to look for them. We have a pile of the books and like them a lot--the hippos in particular. Although Charlie gets annoyed and confused when he picks up a hippo book expecting "Hippos Go Berserk" and discovers it's a different hippo book.

[unhappytriad.livejournal.com]

Your child continues to set new standards of adorableness.

[queen-nala.livejournal.com]

Wow is he ever adorable! Too cute with his panda :(

How does he do with turning the pages of a book?