My Sunshine

Charlie is growing and learning at rates that seem to be much faster than my first two children.  This past year has flown by at speeds that I did not expect.  I know my kids grow up way too fast but even knowing that I was not prepared for how quickly my baby would turn into a toddler.

A few short days after turning 10 months he was walking across the living room, by 11 months he never crawled anymore. 

Charlie loves to eat.  If you are eating he better be eating as well or he'll grunt and beg.  He was never a big fan of jarred or homemade baby food, by the time his birthday rolled around he rarely ate any of it anymore.  He does like the little pouches of food and we still use them for when we are out and about or just need a quick snack.

Little words are popping up.  He is great for repeating something and not saying it again for a while.  He can be nearly as stubborn as his sister when it comes to showing off his newly learned speaking skills.  Ask him to repeat a word that he says on a regular basis and you get nothing.  He says what he wants when he wants and that's it.

Some of the words that he will say are Dada, Mama, Es (wes), aSiii (outside), ni ni (to Daddy every night when I carry him to bed), up, down, sit, bye, hi, wow, wee (on the slide and swing), no, hot and panu (Peanut).  There has been other words that he will say once and not again for a while.  Matt and I are both certain we have heard him say tractor when he points to them in the back yard but it is not a common word yet. 

One thing he does that I absolutely LOVE is if you tell him "I love you" he will start making kissing sounds at you.  I need to capture this on video so I will never forget how sweet it is!

Charlie loves to be outside.  He will walk around pushing his toy lawn mower or smalls push cars for long periods of time.  I am very impressed how he is able to maneuver them and turn them so they don't run into other things in the lawn.  He often carries the lawn mower up the porch steps in an attempt to convince me that it should come inside. 

His little hands can now reach items on the table and counter tops.  Not much is safe.  He has even pushed a chair over to the counter to get something that he wanted that was just out of his reach.  He climbs on everything.  Going up and down the stairs are not a problem for this little mountain goat.  He has the sure footedness (pretty sure that's not a real word) that his brother and father have.  If Wesley can do something, Charlie thinks he can too and will try his hardest to do it.

He is a sweet happy blue eyed boy but as a friend recently explained so well, "he is so happy but he is just waiting for someone to tick him off."  It is so true.  My happy go lucky little dude has a nasty temper.  When something doesn't go according to his plan or doesn't happen as easily as he would like, his ugly shrieking side comes out.   It's not pretty or quiet.  We are working on it but I am pretty sure it will be a life long battle.

There is just something so special about this boy.  From the way his hair flips out over his ears to the way he runs after the chickens to how he falls to sleep in my arms, Charlie is my very favorite Charlie in the whole wide world!