Play Ball

It has been rainy and cold for days so when the sun finally came back out the Vander Houwens headed to the park.

Charlie didn't even make it home before wanting to lay down for his nap - playing ball is exhausting!

A posting for Grandpa

This week we wanted to post a few pictures for Charlie's Grandpa who has been working in Brazil. We're sure that he is missing Charlie and we know that this might be just the pick me up he might need. So these pictures are for you Steve. Hope you enjoy them and know that we all miss you here.

We start with some pictures of Charlie at our neighborhood park. He has a regular ritual now at the park where he has to ride on the swing, go up and down the slide and check out any of the new kids that might be hanging out at the park that day too.

This day Charlie met a very nice little boy named Noah who was about the same age as Charlie. It was nice to see Charlie interacting with another boy his age. He and Noah explored the whole playground together then finally settled in at this little table for a chat about the nice weather and the cost of tea in China.

Up to the mountains!

And now a trip up to the mountains. Charlie was having a lot of fun running around on the deck. He loves being up in the mountains. It was a great day for chasing dad around the deck while mom and grandma were out shopping.

We all had fun and the weather was quite nice. Sure it snowed a little and we had a some overcast mornings but it always cleared up and I was able to go out and go fishing on the river and caught a nice fish too.

.....But I digress about fishing. Back to Charlie...

Charlie still isn't saying much more than a "maamaa" or a "daadaa" but he is certainly exploring other areas of development at amazing speeds.

He got a great wooden train set from family friends Dennis and Kathleen Digullio and loves to take apart the track that I put together before I can complete a whole loop. He's a lot like a Godzilla in that senario.

Michelle has taken to likening him to being in a "racooon" stage of his developement. He is picking up everything in his reach, checking it out, tasting it and putting it aside. He's into everything and you can't turn your back on him for a minute or he will be on top of the kitchen table.

With that in mind here's a picture of Charlie at the fireplace with a box of pinecones that he collected.



I'll close this posting here with a few more pictures. We hope you enjoy them and expect to see more soon.

Feeding Frenzy

This is a series of photos which I took the other day at CB Potts... they illustrate perfectly Charlie's new love of dipping sauces.

Easter at Aunt Jane's... Charlie didn't really want to 'hunt' for the eggs, much to his 'cousin's' dismay, but he did enjoy shaking then and discovering the sugary choking hazards inside.