Binkie Update

Well, it has been a non-event. (thank goodness!). The Binkie is gone. Once we took it, he has only mentioned "binkie" 2-3 times. Each time he says the word, we don't respond, and he just drops it. No tantrum, no tears, nothing. It is like he never had one. I can't believe it has been this easy.

Binkie-less

So, we finally made the decision that we had to take Carlisle's pacifier away ("binkie"). Our pediatrician has told us from the beginning that he shouldn't have it past 2, and we have put off doing it (he's now 2.5). Binkies are not allowed at school, so he was really just using it to sleep at night. However, over the last couple of months/weeks, Carlisle has "demanded" his binkie more and more, and we knew it was time. We had to just take it away. I had planned on a grand good-bye to the binkie, etc., but last night, we just decided that we would stop cold turkey. He asked for it, and we told him "no, big boys don't have binkies". He whined/cried but eventually got over it and went to bed without a problem. He slept almost the entire night, and woke up asking for milk, not his binkie, around 4:30 this morning. He didn't mention the binkie this morning. The true test will be when he comes home from school today- which is when he has really wanted it lately. Hopefully, it will be a non-issue. We shall see...

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We had a wonderful time in Aiken on Christmas eve, spent Christmas morning at home and then went to Sumter for most of Christmas day. Carlisle enjoyed opening presents and spending time with family. Here are some videos/pictures:

Carlisle and DJ playing on Christmas eve- The boys had a blast and ran circles around us all day! (I forgot my camera when we went to Aiken, so I don't have many pictures):

Christmas morning. Carlisle didn't remember it was Christmas, so he was having a leisurely breakfast:

His "big" gift from Santa: A bike.

His other big gift from Santa: a Clemson football helmet and uniform. He has barely taken the thing off since he got it.

Opening his other presents:

We gave him Rockin' Elmo: He loves to sing and dance with him:

Playing football in Sumter:

Carlisle got a Mr. Potatoe Head. He loves it!

And a baseball and baseball glove- which he also loves. He is currently demanding that he can sleep with it on.

Playing doctor with his new doctor set:

Here he is walking out to see his presents from Santa on Christmas morning. He is very concered that Elfie (elf on the shelf) is not there:

Opening his helmet:

Playing football:

Dancing with Elmo:

Playing with DJ:

Merry Christmas

Longer post on Christmas to follow, but wanted to get Santa pictures posted. Carlisle was not a huge fan this year, the only pictures we could get where he'd sit still is if we would give him m&ms...

Carlisle and his cousins, DJ and Katie:

Carlisle's Christmas Program

Carlisle's Christmas Program at school was today. Each class did a song which told a part of the story of Jesus' birth. Carlisle's class was in charge of being animals in the nativity scene. Carlisle was a cow. His class did a great job. Carlisle, however, never made it on the stage. Despite Vance telling me to stay out of Carlisle's view, I wouldn't listen and tried to get close so I could video tape and take pictures of the performance. Let's just say I should have listened to Vance. Here is what went down:

Here comes Carlisle's class headed up to the stage (Carlisle hasn't spotted me): He has now seen me, and the teacher is still trying to get him up on stage. I can hear him saying "MOMMY" over and over again:
That is as far as he made it. He wrestled loose, and ran to me, where he sat on my lap the rest of the performance. I tried to video this, but as you will note, I clearly should not be in charge of the video camera:



We then made our way back to our seats for the rest of the performance.

Sitting with his Nana and Papa:

Sitting with Yanni:

Here is Carlisle singing his cow part in the car on the way home. (and yes, he is saying "mooo on back" instead of just "moo" as he is used to the song The Wheels on the Bus, where the bus driver says "move on back").

More pictures from October

It has been a crazy couple of months, so I haven't had much time to post. I did, however, want to post some pictures from the rest of October 2011.

Carlisle at the pumpkin patch, 2011:

Pumpkin patch 2010:

Carlisle and Henry, 2011:

Carlisle and Henry, Pumpkin patch 2010:

Carlisle and Henry, pumpkin patch 2009:

Back to 2011:

We also visited the SC state fair. Carlisle loved riding the rides. I got no pictures, except for one where he fell asleep on the way home while eating his ice cream cone:

Carlisle and his cousin DJ got to spend some time together. They have had a blast playing outside:

Carlisle's great Uncle Bill made him a cornhole game just for him. He and DJ love playing with it:

Happy Halloween

Carlisle was a football player for Halloween. There aren't many football player costumes available, so the one we ended up with wasn't my favorite, but he seemed to like it. He refused to wear the helmet though. He is obsessed with football and baseball right now. It is all he wants to play and read about. On Sunday, he wanted to only watch NFL football and was NOT happy when it was halftime. He is really good at throwing- we are still working on catching. He also likes to fall down and roll on the ground when he catches the football. This is him pretending that he is being tackled.

He did a great job trick or treating, although at the first house we went to, when the door opened, he said "trick or treat" and he ran into their house. Here are some pictures from Halloween:

Yes, that is a baseball, not a football.

We went to a fall festival at the church. Carlisle had a great time. I tried to get a picture of all his friends in their costumes, but this was all I could get.

Carlisle and Henry were much more interested in throwing pumpkins:

Alle, Henry, Carlisle and I riding on the train: