Charlie turned FOUR

Well, it’s over two weeks already (sorry buddy !), but our youngest lad Charlie has clocked over another digit.

He’s “levelled up” to be 4 – and he’s already saying “I’m almost 5…” (LOL !)

Flashback – if you want to read his blog posts from age ONE, TWO and THREE.

It’s fair to say that he thinks he’s much older than he really is – with the way that he plays with other kids – and his brothers.

We still call him our little Chazza, or Charlie McGubbins, or Chazza-ma-zooka – or just simply Char’s…

Laughter

When thinking of things to blog, the first and foremost to mention was his amazing laugh – it’s hard to describe – but it’s very different to his brothers – and entirely infectious. When getting him changed for bed, he’s often pulling his leg OUT of the PJ’s – or grabbing clothes and throwing on the floor – and giggling like a madman.

It’s cute & happy – but kinda frustrating too – like trying to dress a “Tassie Devil”… If he laughs too much, he can cough and/or gag – and then he spews ! So – it can be fun and games one minute, and ‘clean up’ the next… Doh…

Family

We have some great times as “all five of us” – we often forget how little Charlie is – but he keeps up with everything we do – often crashing out asleep in the car heading home.

He had a major ‘pass-out’ on Christmas Day – after a big Christmas Eve day – and then a big lunch. We were sitting on the floor – he leaned on me, and was snoring in about 4 minutes.

He flips between wanting MUM and then DAD – but sometimes he won’t even let me near him – and just a Mummy’s boy – often when he’s tired…

And then recently, when it was just Charlie & me – waiting for Friday take-away at the Charcoal Chicken shop – he said “Daaad….", and I replied “Yes, mate ?” – and he said “You’re awesome”… (aaaww – what a dude)…

With Dad – waiting for Puffing Billy – great day out.

Selfie at McDonalds – always a LOL when he sees himself on-screen.

Sitting on my foot, going for a foot ride

First day at 3-year-old Kinder (with Mum)

Dressed up for a garden wedding – and a hug with Mum

Great photo of Charlie – playing in a tree – of course !

Charlie-ism’s

He’s definitely developing some personality and traits of his own – we have to laugh whenever he does a ‘finger waggle’ at us – like saying “No, no, no”.

And, he has a very determined way about his activities – it’s his way, or the highway.

I’ve lost count of the numbers of times he’s said “No, Mum do it !” when I’m preparing a nightly bottle, or to get him dressed or undressed.

I was getting breakfast for him once, and he made me put the bowl away, so that Mum could get it out – not me.

He does some crazy stuff – making us LOL…

Always great laughs at the playground !

He’s often getting bumps & bruises – he faceplants the carpark on a monthly basis… Poor old Chazza !

Penguins

Charlie’s favourite soft toy is a stuffed penguin from the Melbourne aquarium – which he calls “Pickle”. He couldn’t say the word Penguin – it became Pwen-gin for a while – and then Pickle.

When we went to see the fairy penguins in Philip Island, he was enthralled – and looooved them.

We showed him a soft toy at the gift shop – and his face just lit up – so he now has TWO penguins. This 2nd one is a fluffy juvenile penguin with big cute eyes – Charlie just calls him “baby”.

(Liam also has a stuffed penguin – which is a dark blue colour – known as “beaky blue” – ha ha !)

Brothers

Being the youngest in the family, he’s got two amazing play friends & role models – and he really looks up to Liam & Cameron. They’re usually playing together as a bunch – and he’s getting more closely-aligned to Liam – they’re now in a room as just “two of them” – with Cameron having moved out to a room on his own.

When Charlie had a birthday present from Cameron & Liam, he unwrapped it and then said “Thank you, my brothers !”

He does a lot of the same things as the older guys, including playing Wii (Skylanders) and on the iPod – he’s just starting to work out how to play “Plants vs Zombies” – which is making Cameron very proud !

Flat pack riding, at Ikea

At Auntie’s Kath’s – he’s pointing a bug – LOL !

Friends

I was lucky enough to attend “kinder duty” with Charlie – ON his birthday day – and so I got to meet some of his little friends. Being only 4 years old, he can still play solo – but often games with the other kids. He’s a bit of a ring-leader – and organising what games to play – hard to tell – but the other kids listen to him.

His closest friends came along to a McDonald’s afternoon tea – Amelia (Mia) – and Blake. He even drew a picture of Amelia (a few weeks ago) :

Charlie also admires OTHER big kids – he’s latched onto one of Cameron’s class mates Jack – it’s like another big brother for Charlie – they have a special friendship – and Jack (& his brother Alex) have asked if they can have a little brother like Charlie – LOL !

Ninjago

If there’s any ONE thing that Charlie has an obsession about, it would have to be Ninjago. He is always talking about Zane and Kai – and carries around a Ninjago character wherever he goes – he calls them “my guys”.

They come in the car, and the bathroom, and we often find him asleep in bed with a few Lego characters around him.

We had a game a few weeks ago, where he wouldn’t call me “DAD” – but I was his “FIRE DRAGON”.

I had to call him a “FIRE MONKEY” – and he was LOL’ing as we playing Ninjago together…

There’s the TV shows of course, and he does a lot of sword play and spinning around like he’s doing Spinjitsu.

And, not forgetting the awesome birthday cake that Donna made for him ! She was up to 1.30am making it – and when he saw it, he laughed at first – and then clapped…

Growing Up

Charlie still feels like our little ‘baby boy’ – I’m sure there’s a lot of change ahead – he’s starting to really master the toilet training – although he often doesn’t make it in the morning – I think Donna will be relieved to NOT have to wash the sheets every 2nd morning – when he finally has it nailed.

He has some back/hip troubles, which the specialist thinks might be preventing him from knowing when a #2 is on the way. She has been adjusting & “cracking” him into place – he calls it the “body doctor” – LOL !

We know when he’s “filling his daks” as he disappears into the playroom, or study – and when we go to check on him – he tells us “I’m not done – you go out there” and kicks us out of the room – ha ha !

Anyways, he’ll get it sorted out soon enough – some challenges ahead for him (& us) – it’s all part of the journey.

He’s also needing to drop his reliance on the nightly dummy – when he’s really tired, he just “NEEDS” it (and tells us so) – but again, that will change in time – and it’s better than sucking his thumb – that’s a bit harder to get rid of (the habit, not the thumb).

His allergies and such are under control – just avoiding dairy like eggs, milk, cheese, yoghurt – and nuts. He has special soy milk, and “squeezy fruit” desserts – instead of yoghurt (like his brothers) and we do different desserts that he loves. When we go to Macca’s, he just has a ‘junior’ burger – and “chippeee’s” – and an Apple juice.

Activities

Charlie was attending the “EdGym” classes until later last year, but we’ve stopped that until his body/joints have been reset a little.

He does some tennis with his Grandpa coaching, along with his brothers & cousins – and we might start him into Karate with his brothers.

And – he has been doing swimming lessons all along – and really enjoys getting in the pool.

One of his favourite thing is to zoom about on the scooter – the kids often ask us to back out the cars – and they have a big flat area to ride their bikes.

Charlie is soooo fast on the bike with training wheels – and his balance bike – I’ve recently taken the training wheels off – and he’s had ONE try without them.

He did amazingly well – but then got scared when he fell sideways – and hasn’t had the courage to go back and re-try.

I’m planning to take him out for some more rides on the ‘half-wheeler’ – and he’ll see how much fun that is – and hopefully want to ride more himself.

Swimming

Charlie loves getting into the pool – we had a great summer this year – with a few visits to Mark & Mandy’s house – and in/out of the pool. And – a day at the beach.

** Some pictures from *IN* the pool – using my GoPro !

Bike Riding

Charlie has mastered the ‘balance bike’ – and can cruise along with his feet off the ground – just running along to move faster.

He really ZOOMS quickly on his bike – up and down the driveway – still with training wheels – but ready to go without them…

Even in the NUDE ! (during summer)

Wearing Dad’s cycling hat…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE !!

For all the chaos & mayhem that he has brought (simply being a kid !) – he’s full of love, laughter & happiness. He’s just adorable – as you can see !

Hope you had a great 4th birthday – we love you, buddy…

Love, Mum & Dad. x