Summer Camp

Quinn started summer camp two weeks at Dilworth United Methodist, where he will be attending Weekday School starting in September.  We thought it would be a good idea to get him familiar with the surroundings and teachers and give him a chance to be away from Mommy...OK, and give Mommy a chance to get use to being away from Quinn ;)
Mommy packed his lunch (which she and Daddy KNEW he wouldn't eat - and they were right), put on the sunscreen and we were on our way!

Where are you all going? Can I come??

Daddy carried Quinn into the school and I snapped a few shots on the way.  Hey, this was a big day!!

When we got into the classroom Quinn was instantly at ease and loved all the new toys!

I love to vacuum!

So, since he was so happy Mommy and Daddy decided to make a break for it!

He had a wonderful week and is back there again this week.  He LOVES the teachers and blows them kisses each day when I pick him up - and takes loooong naps when we get home!!  They said he has quite the personality and asks everyone, "How are you??"  They also said he has the cutest laugh ever - which I must agree with!
I'm so happy he likes them because they will be his teachers this fall when he starts Weekday School.
Today I put him down and he went right over to the activity table to play and turned around and said, "Bye!" So I guess this was a great idea after all!

lookin good

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!?!

As you may remember, Quinn had his first haircut back in the summer by Great Aunt Annette while we were on vacation.  His hair grows like a weed and he has since had another haircut in November by Aunt Jennifer. 

Well, we thought we could wait until we saw Aunt Jennifer again to get another haircut, but the hair just did not stop growing!  He was starting to look like a little hippie, so something had to be done.

I did some research (what did we do before the internet?!?) and found a children's salon in the area called Doolittle's, http://www.doolittlecharlotte.com/ that had some great recommendations-and a great price tag....geez! I'm in the wrong business!

I must say, I was beyond nervous that he was going to freak out at the whole situation, but I was pleasantly surprised!  As I set him in the fire engine chair he was instantly distracted by the bell.

Man, I need a haircut!

The woman that cut his hair, Erin, was so great.  She gave him a comb and let him "do" his hair before she got started.  He enjoys brushing his hair.  He held onto the comb (and a rice rusk) the whole time!

I normally part it here

Being a good boy!

He was so great through the entire thing.  The only time he got upset was when she took out the clippers.  He was not a fan.  She only used those to make sideburns!  It looked so adorable when she was done and I think he liked the attention.  All the ladies in the salon were telling him how cute he looked ;-)

First salon haircut - done!  Another milestone down!

More haircut pictures here!

Adorable!

 

 

 

first snow

As you may have heard Charlotte got "a blizzard" on Monday.  Seriously, that's what the local news called 5 inches of snow - the blizzard of 2011.
I thought maybe, just maybe, the weathermen might be right this time, and went out on Sunday and bought the little guy some snow boots.  When we woke up Monday morning I was glad that I had because the snow had arrived!  It really was so pretty!  
We bundled up to venture outdoors.  Quinn was not a fan of the layers.  He was even less of a fan of tucking his pants into his boots.  What a mess!  There were a lot of Puffs consumed in order for me to get those boots on securely! Don't even get me started on the mittens ;-)  

Finally, after taking about 20 minutes to get dressed, we were ready!  We went into the backyard and looked around, watching Sally run happily through the snow.  I put Quinn down and he plopped right down.  He had no interest in going any further!

Hmm...what is this-and where are my fingers??

After a few minutes though, he decided it would be OK to touch it and move it around-maybe even eat it.

Our neighbors were out cleaning off their cars and had a good laugh watching Quinn.  He seemed perfectly content to just sit in the snow and observe!

We didn't stay out too long, because I suspected his little tush was getting cold!  Overall he seemed to like the snow.  Who knows, maybe next time we'll actually try walking in it!!

Quinn is 1!

Believe it or not, Quinn is 1!!!  Where in the world did time go?!?!

We had a wonderful birthday party for him at Aunt Jennifer's house on December 23rd. 

Wow!!  A tag!!  The little things amuse him :-)

This wrapping paper stuff is cool!

Aunt Christie, Uncle Chris, Maggie, Aunt Jennifer, Nonna, Grandma, Great-Aunt Cathey and Great-Aunt Malinda were all in attendance - and of course Mommy & Daddy were there too!

Before the cake...

 Daddy made Quinn's birthday cake - it was apple spice cake.  It had no eggs and no sugar....but it was COVERED in cream cheese icing ;)  So, the sugar rush was in FULL EFFECT for a good hour after the cake was eaten!!

After some initial hesitation, he truly enjoyed smushing the cake and icing between his fingers. 

What is this stuff?!?!

Eventually he did eat some of the cake and seemed to really like it!  He tried to share, but Daddy said no thanks.  He's not a fan of cream cheese :-)

Daddy! It's so yummy!!

 So, he decided to share with me.

Here Mommy, check this out.

  Quinn really wanted Daddy to try the cake!! He tried launching it at him!

 Quinn got some great gifts - lots of clothes and LOTS of toys!  We successfully pulled off a Christmas-free birthday!!!

Now, the challenge begins of finding room for them in our house ;-)

There are tons more pictures on our Shutterfly site if you want to check them out!

The Putnam Family

Yeah for Quinn!

 

What a great time we had!!

peek-a-boo!

After a long drive home from a very long visit in Maryland for Thanksgiving and the birth of our niece and Quinn's cousin (Yeah Maggie!! We're so happy you're here!), we arrived back in Charlotte this evening and stopped to get some food. John ran in to get it and "The Monster," as John calls him, Sally and I stayed in the car.
Always the happy-camper, Quinn decided to start a game of peek-a-boo. We've played it many many times but this was the first time he ever did it all by himself!! He was laughing and having a ball!
I quickly grabbed my cell phone to capture the moment. Please forgive the quality of the video!

I have a lot of pictures and videos to post from our Thanksgiving adventure, but I wanted to hurry and get this one up so everyone could see it!!

first haircut

Quinn was born with a head full of hair and everyone said, "Oh, it will all fall out!" Well, we waited and waited, but it just kept growing! As the days turned into months an adorable mohawk appeared, which then turned into a sweet comb-over and lately you could almost tuck some of it behind his ears!! So, while we were at the lake we decided it was high time for a little trim!

Great-Aunt Annette did the honors! Aunt Jennifer and Mommy tried to distract Quinn from what was going on and the kitchen scissors and Nonna followed Great-Aunt Annette's cuts around with a plastic baggie to catch every last hair! This was the same day as Aunt Christie's baby shower, so there was an audience, to say the least! Not every kid can say that he had so many witnesses to his first haircut! Here's the video-it's a bit long, but cute!! You can hear everyone cheering him on!

i like to move it, move it

Well, it's official-we have a crawler!! Quinn started sitting up just shy of 6 months, then he began to perfect the "tripod" stance, which is getting on his knees & hand & rocking back & forth. Then, he started scooting and we knew crawling was going to be soon to follow-but not this soon!

He was officially off and running last Friday. Believe it or not, he went after Sally's kong! Not sure what it was about that toy, but he wanted it! Sally has now moved her toys and bone out of the living room ;-)

He will be 8 months old next week and already on the move! He's in a hurry to get somewhere I suppose! Check him out in action below . Sorry about the quality-it was shot on my cell phone!

Today he discovered that he could crawl under his precious Jumperoo. Perhaps it's a fort in the making??



Now that he has learned how to crawl he is off!! He has gotten so fast in just a few days! John and I watch him in amazement! Bring on this new adventure :-)

michael phelps-watch out!

Yesterday we went to our first swim lesson at the Little Otter Swim School. Quinn had a wonderful time and did so well!! Grandma and Great Aunt Cathey were down for a visit and got to see him in action which was so nice! Aunt Cathey took lots of pictures and videos! I've posted the photos to the shutterfly account and will get the videos up shortly, http://putnamfamilync.shutterfly.com/
Quinn was so busy looking around & checking everything out! He loved the water!

We will be going once a week to lessons. I was talking to a fellow Mommy in the class and her son, Alex (6 months), went completely underwater in one activity. I told her that was great & she said it only took 3 classes! Oh boy!
I put his face in the water once and his teacher did once as well (see the video below) and he did great! Just kept right on going-he's a natural :)

the tale of two teeth

A few weeks ago I noticed a small white spot on Quinn's bottom gum. "Oh boy," I thought, "here comes the first tooth!" I was right-but as I would soon find out, it wasn't just one but TWO TEETH! His bottom front teeth had arrived! The left tooth began to emerge rather quickly and low and behold-the tooth next to it decided it wanted to come in too!!
Getting a picture of this, as you can imagine, has not been easy! I was finally able to snap one yesterday! If you look close-you'll see them!

I tried to zoom in a bit to help you see them better!

He's been great with the teething though! No fussing really, just less sleep, which isn't all that new! He's getting use to them. He sucks on his bottom lip now, which I am guessing has something to do with how the teeth feel against it. When he does this he makes the best face. We call him "Old Man Chubby Cheeks."

Now we have started brushing our teeth!! You can never start too early!

get up, stand up

Today I was putting away Quinn's clothes after doing laundry. As I sometimes do, I set him in his crib with some toys and he is perfectly content-well, for a little while ;-)
I turned around and to my surprise, I see this:

Yep, he's learned how to pull himself up in his crib!! Looks like it's time to lower the mattress! He mastered sitting up a few days before he turned 6 months. Can't believe he's big enough to now do this-I feel like he just rolled over yesterday!!!

He was so very proud of himself :-)