Charlie had his one year appointment last week and has finally stopped gaining weight like a madman. He is staying steady at 25.3 lbs, but has grown almost 3 inches from his 9 month appointment and is now 31.5 inches tall. Everything looked good and Charlie was showing off his steps to the doctor and smiling until...shot time. Three Elmo bandaids seemed to make it better...

We are struggling with the bottle to sippy cup protocol. Seems that Charlie's solution to the bottle being gone during the day is to survive the day on a few sips of milk and then just slam 16 ounces at bedtime when he finally gets his dear old bottle back. We're going to have to figure out a new plan...

He's also started to take pleasure in "sharing." This means that when he is eating or drinking anything, he stops to offer it to Mom or Dad or whoever is near by. This is cute until you get caught off guard and a slimy graham cracker is shoved in your face!

More birthday moments and messes

Charlie was pretty excited to come down on the day of his party and see balloons everywhere!

Charlie gets into the party spirit...

Hangin' with Uncle Jon

Cousins, Charlie and Lincoln (9mths), play at Aunt Jan's

Leaving no crumb unsmushed...

"I'm One!"

Charlie's birthday didn't quite turn out as expected, but he turned 1 regardless and definitely enjoyed all the cake! I, Jen, was in Baltimore for work the week prior and got stuck due to a "snow storm" (they called it a snow storm in Baltimore, but needless to say, it was minor at best). Anyway, the airline delayed my flight from Friday night to Wednesday! Since I wasn't interested in sticking around in Baltimore for an extra five days (and I was missing my boy's birthday!), I rented a car and drove home on Saturday. Meanwhile, that day Charlie was busy turning 1 year old without me! Luckily he had his Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Jon with him so he had lots of family around. We had to postpone his party to the next week and we weren't sure what to do with the huge sheet cake we had ordered. But...everything turned out well in the end. I got home safe and sound--even in time to wake up little Charlie and sing him a sleepy Happy Birthday. Then...the next day we all got together at Aunt Jan's to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Charlie's birthday too. That took care of the sheet cake! The next weekend we had a wonderfully chaotic party with all of Charlie's pals. So...in the end, Charlie was lucky. He got to celebrate for two weeks instead of one day and, in all, that meant more fun and more cake!!

Our little chef!

Charlie spent the day at the Watsons and had a ton of fun hanging out with three beautiful girls!! [He'll realize later how lucky he is]. Kat said that Charlie loved playing in "the kitchen" mostly swiping everything off the counters and out of drawers. I don't know if I believe it, look how innocent he is in this photo:)

Charlie goes sledding (a.k.a. Charlie sits in a sled)

We decided we should document Charlie's first winter so that we would remember how coooooold it was and how we got almost three feet of snow in one week. So...we bundled Charlie up and plunked him in a sled atop a snow drift so that he could revel in all that is winter. He looked around, ate some snow and that was that. Then we all got cold and went inside for some hot chocolate. Well, Charlie had apple juice.

"How I beat the winter blues"

Charlie is learning to swim! Well, more accurately, Charlie is learning to splash and kick around while a bunch of shivering parents sing silly songs like, "I'm a little pancake nice and flat...flip me over on my back..." He loves it-- especially the part where he gets to chase after his rubber duck! It is a little harder for Mom and Dad to enjoy it...obviously "heated" pool is a subjective term in Irondequoit.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

Charlie has reached an exciting (and painful) new phase of babyhood. He motors over and pulls up to any surface above his head and cruises from one available piece of furniture to the next. The problem is that his journeys inevitably end in a fall that usually involves a loud smack, a pause, and a cry. His little bald head is sporting quite a few bruises from his spills, but he still insists on being vertical constantly. He's not a big fan of crawling. As soon as we put him down on the floor, he scans the room for something to get him upright and crusing. Once and a while he'll let go with both hands and stand alone for a few seconds, but he has yet to take a step...

A Funny Photo

For the majority of viewers, this merely demonstrates Charlie's love for magazines (ripping them up mostly). Others of you (Bannister Fam) may find this photo more amusing...:)

Photographing three young cousins...

...Is not as easy as it looks!
(Lincoln -6 mo, our boy -9 mo-, Aaron 15 mo)

Bannister Family Christmas

We went out to Hempel Hill for "Little Christmas" and to hang out with the rellies. Grandpa played the world's smallest harmonica and was quite impressive!

Charlie's Great Grandma, at age 88 (!), bounced Charlie on her knee and sang to him. Charlie loved it! As soon as she stopped jigging her knee, he would clench his legs and jig on his own until he started again!

Charlie got to meet his cousin Aaron for the first time or "Big Aaron" as he's know in the Bannister clan now that there is a "Little Aaron." Charlie was ecstatic to be hanging out with an LA movie star:)

There's that cheesy smile again!

One of the greatest things in the world, Aaron's "cheesy" smile. He also has a cheesy laugh, but you'll just have to use your imagination!

Charlie was so excited about the gift he picked out for Aaron, he couldn't wait for him to unwrap it. It was a pretty cool present...a Veggie Tales "Bob the Barber" play-doh set.

Cousin Aaron's a pretty good gift giver too. Gave Charlie his very own Woody doll and a Buzz Lightyear cell phone. Funny though, seems that kids have an innate gift for distinguishing the real from the fake. No matter how exciting and realistic you make a toy remote control or cell phone, kids don't fall for it. They know, and decidedly prefer, the real thing.

Notice the baster in Charlie's grip. He was fascinated with this thing and didn't let it leave his sight all of Christmas day. Needless to say, this was not one of Charlie's gifts, but oh well, baste away!

"All for me?...Sweet!"

Charlie quickly caught on to the process of unwrapping of presents. He needed some help getting started, but then took over the tearing like a pro. He especially liked the push popper from Uncle Jon, his construction shirt from Aunt Koo, Buzz Lightyear cellphone from Cousin Aaron and Fridge Farm from Gram and Gramps. "Wow, guess I was a good boy this year...!"

Christmas at Cherry Creek

Some cute pics of the boys under the Christmas tree...and reading with Grandma.

Sharing Christmas Joy

A group of kids and moms meets each week at The Friendly Home, a Rochester nursing home, to spend time with the residents. Charlie and I headed there the week before Christmas to sing carols and meet some new friends. The kids usually play in the middle of the circle so the residents can get a good view of the action. One older woman was so taken with Charlie and wanted so badly to hold him, so I gave him to her for a while. She went on and on about how big he was and how cute, until Charlie latched on to her necklace--then her earrings. After wrestling with his strong grip for a while, she was happy to give him back to his mom!

Charlie meets Santa (again)

"Why do I have to keep sitting with this guy?"

"I hate this guy!"

Charlie was all tuckered out after an early morning Breakfast with Santa at the zoo. We got to eat in the polar bear viewing area and watch the sea lions swimming as we ate.

This is Charlie's friend Benjamin sporting a very cute reindeer sweater. He felt much more comfortable in his stroller than on Santa's lap.

The Christmas Penguin (I guess)

Merry Christmas to All!

Here is a photo of the Koepp family at Thanksgiving, Charlie had already changed into his pajamas since it was past his bedtime

We think Charlie looks a lot like his Grandpa Adams!