Tricky People

I had to have a talk with Jack the other day. A very serious talk.

I had a moment that was very scary in the grocery store last week. A man tried to take Jack from me.

I think he was just old a senile, but it was still scary and weird how the whole thing went down.

We were standing in the checkout line in Smith's. Jack was in front of the grocery cart and I was unloading the items onto the conveyor belt. I was in a hurry and distracted because it was lunch time and nap time for both of my boys and they were starting to loose it.

I noticed the man, trying to communicate with Jack, touching his nose and making coochy-coo noises at him. I just thought, "that's weird, but he's old and probably just likes seeing kids when he gets the chance". Jack was a little weired out by it too, but I didn't think much of it. I continued to unload the groceries.

The next time I looked up, I realized that this guy didn't speak a word of English, as he was still trying to communicate with Jack, but hadn't said anything. Then I saw the man put his finger to his lips, whisper, SHHH!! and he motioned for Jack to come to him.

That was it. My weird monitor was going into hyper driver. He wasn't just a cute little old man any more. Something weird was happening here. I pulled Jack closer to me, behind the cart, and continued unloading.

I looked up again, and the man was holding Jack's hand, and starting to walk away with him, as Jack looked back at me completely confused.

I quickly grabbed Jack away from the old man, and put him back in the shopping cart and kept a hand on him the entire time. Meanwhile, the man who was bagging my groceries was yelling at the man in some other language that I guess might have been Russian.

I think he was senile. Maybe, in his old mind, he thought that Jack was his kid or something.... but what he was doing was definitely not okay.

He finished checking out and stood there the entire time we were being rung up. If he started following me to my car, I was going to have to have an employee help me to my car because I definitely was not feeling safe at this point. Fortunately he didn't follow us.

When we got to the car, I had a talk with Jack about tricky people. About how some times people pretend to be nice, but are really bad, and that he should never, ever go with someone who he doesn't know. I taught him how to yell, "NO YOU"RE NOT MY MOM" and "HELP! KIDNAPPER" if anything like that ever happens again.

Sometimes I just get so sad about this world we live in. I wish that I could just trust the cute little old man who seems like he just wants to play with my kid ya know? But it's unfortunate that I can't. Moral of the story people: teach your kids about tricky people, always be suspicious of strangers, and be vigilant while in public... don't get distracted like I was.

I get sick thinking about how that story might have ended differently if I just tuned my kids out for a minute so I could get the shopping finished. I'm so glad I kept an eye on him.

Charlie 10 Months

It took me forever to take Charlie's 10 month pictures, partly because we were traveling in Florida, partly because he was sick, and partly because he's constantly had a forehead full of bruises.

Finally, I realized that conditions were never going to be perfect, so I went ahead and tried taking them... Only it took me two weeks. Aye aye aye. 

I also forgot to keep a list of things I wanted to remember about Charlie this month because of our long vacation, so I  have to try to pull from my memory, which id really difficult.

Charlie is so, do cute when he calls for mama, but he is a daddy's boy through and through. He gets highly offended if Gord walks into the room without paying attention to him.

Charlie loves balls!

This month, Charlie started pulling himself up and cruising around on the furniture, he's even been letting go! Hence, all the bruises. Poor guy. He always has some kind of bruise on his head. 

Charlie loves the water. He's so relaxed every time we put him in the pool or hot tub.

Charlie loves to feed himself. He's really good at feeding himself finger foods, and he even attempts to feed himself with a spoon occasionally.

I've been trying to wean Charlie, but he isn't having any of it. He hates formula, so we got permission to try whole mill, but he doesn't really care for that either. We've tried just about every kind of bottle and silly cup you can think of, but to no avail. He's s man who knows what he wants.

Speaking of knowing what he wants, while feeding him, he'll grunt until you figure out exactly the thing on the tray that he has his eye on.

Charlie has had a runny nose all month long. At first I thought it was a virus, then the entire rest of the family got better except for Charlie. Then I thought it was teething, or dramatic climate change from Utah to Florida and then back again... And now we think it's allergies, so he's been on zyrtec for about a week now.

Charlie is a really calm and easy baby generally.

Charlie loves to watch rio and signing time. Those are the only two things that will occupy him for a few minutes.

Charlie loves to bang on things. He's our little drummer boy.

Charlie still takes two naps a day, but I think he's starting to phase out of the morning nap.

We still have to let him cry it out most nights, but it usually only lasts a minute or two.

Charlie has the cutest big hazel eyes ever!

Poor guy still doesn't have much hair to speak of, but I love his little bald head!

Charlie loves to play peek-a-boo by hiding behind a piece of furniture and standing up and saying "boo!".

He's beginning to resist the car seat now. It had to happen sooner or later I guess, and I guess we did have a long run with him loving/falling asleep in it. Sad day for me tough.

Now that he's mobile, he's decided that he hates having his diaper changed and will try everything in his power to get away from me...

We sure do love our Charlie. We love the ways. He snuggles, and plays. This has not been an easy month with all of our traveling and sicknesses, but he is such a sweet litte guy and he's handling everything like a champ.

Family Pictures